The Circuit In Detail
Apart from the actual start, each successive
crossing of the start line will see the cars
rocketing past in excess of 200km/h in 4th
gear, then brake hard for a 2nd gear turn into
Hell Corner. Apart from being the first, Hell
Corner is also one of the most critical.
Get
it wrong, and you will have washed off valuable
speed needed to propel the car as quickly as
possible uphill along Mountain Straight. Then
comes Griffin's Bend, a treacherous turn at
the top of Mountain Straight that requires
precise braking and 3rd gear.
Thankfully the
fact that its uphill, and has a mild camber
change halfway through, usually (but not always)
allows most competitors to negotiate this without
incident.
But there is no time to rest, drivers
forced to keep the power on so they can enter
and exit the slowest part of the track that
lays just ahead, "The Cutting". A
4th to 2nd gear change is usually required,
particularly given the steepest part of the
course lays ahead.
Powering up to 3rd gear
for the run along the fence at Reid Park and
into 4th gear for the sweep through the left
hander on towards McPhillamy Park is required,
and while this sounds easy on paper, the timing
of the gear changes is one of the most technically
challenging on the track.
Get it right and
you can set the car up nicely for McPhillamy;
get it wrong and the car will be kerb hopping
all the way across the top, losing time and,
worse still, possible control.
McPhillamy is
a blind corner, the drivers never know what
is on the other side until they get there,
which doesn't take long at over 200km/h. It
is taken virtually flat in 4th gear, with a
slight confidence lift off the accelerator
as you crest the brow and the car leaves the
track for a moment, just before the sweeping
left hander.
The short blast to Skyline will
usually see cars hit the limiter in 4th before
braking hard for the run down the Mountain,
which again begins blind.
Get it wrong here
and you'll never recover. The key to Skyline
and The Esses is to try and straighten them
as much as possible. Most drivers tend to drop
back to 3rd for Skyline and to 2nd for The
Esses to keep as much throttle on as possible.
In the middle of The Esses comes “The Dipper”,
sounding more like a circus ride than a part
of a race track, we can only guess what it
feels like for the drivers as the sheer speed
and momentum of the cars usually means the
inside wheels lift clear of the track.
Most exit “The Dipper” in 2nd
gear, accelerating hard for the run to Forrest
Elbow. This is a tricky corner, particularly
given the camber change. Again it is paramount
that the drivers set it up correctly so that
they can benefit from the longest straight
in Australia, Conrod. Getting it right allows
most drivers to reach speeds of around 300km/h
in 6th gear, before a quick right hand sweep
that requires hard braking for the left hander
at Caltex Chase.
Usually negotiated in 3rd
gear, then its the foot to floor for the right
hander over the brow, onto the short straight
down the hill to Murray's Corner. Murray's
is arguably the best passing spot under brakes
at Mt Panorama (but we do say that as armchair
experts, having never had the opportunity to
try). It’s back to 2nd for the corner,
on the gas for the exit, and up through the
gears on Pit Straight to cross the Start/Finish
line. Only 160 to go!
The Main Straight:
The
main straight of Mount Panorama, which is adjacent
to the pit complex, has a different start line and
finish line. For the standing start only, the start
line is 293m closer to Hell Corner because 161 laps
would otherwise be 1000.293 km, it also has the added
benefit that traffic does not go too far around Murray's
Corner, while the finish line is underneath the overbridge.
Hell Corner:
Aptly named because of the crashes it has seen, Hell
Corner is the first bend that drivers meet on their
way up the Mountain. It is a 90 degree left hand turn.
Mountain Straight:
Mountain Straight is a long straight that begins the
climb up the mountain towards Griffins Bend. V8 Supercars
reach speeds up to 250 km/h as
drivers race over the crest immediately prior to braking
for Griffins Bend whilst shitting bricks.
Griffins Bend:
Also known as GTX Bend (the corner's first sponsor),
Griffins Bend was named after the Mayor of Bathurst
whose vision it was to create the scenic road/race-track.
Drivers heading around this right-hander have to be
careful not to drift too far out of this negatively-cambered
turn and hit the wall upon exit.
The Cutting:
Referred
for many years as "BP Cutting", this is a
pair of left hand corners, leading into a steep 1:6
grade exit. Overtaking is virtually impossible here,
and it is very hard to recover from a spin here because
of the narrow room and steep gradient. This corner
was the location of the infamous "race rage" incident
between Marcos
Ambrose and Greg
Murphy, after Murphy collided with Ambrose, while
Ambrose was attempting to make a pass around the outside
during the 2005 Bathurst 1000, his last before he moved
to the United States for racing.
Reid Park:
After exitting the Cutting, drivers have a right hand
turn, heading up, then into a left hand turn. This
is Reid Park. The most famous incident in the history
of the Bathurst 1000 was here when
Dick
Johnson crashed his Ford Falcon in the early laps
of the 1980 Bathurst 1000 race avoiding a large rock
that had fallen from the spectator area. The car was
destroyed, taking with it Johnson's means of supporting
his racing ambitions. An emotional public appeal followed
during the race's telecast which re-launched Johnson's
career and restored flagging public interest in touring
car racing.
Sulman Park:
After Reid Park, drivers brave a steep drop, flowing
into a climbing left hand turn, heading back towards
the highest point of Mount Panorama. This is also the
location of Sulman Park and its Nature Park. Jason
Bright crashed here in his Ford Falcon in practice
during the
1998 FAI Bathurst 1000, then saw the car rebuilt
in time to scrape into qualifying in the dying minutes
before Bright and Steven
Richards went
on to victory. This corner was also the scene of a
shocking crash in a support race in 2006 that claimed
the life of Mark Porter.
McPhillamy Park:
McPhillamy Park is a downhill, deceptively fast left
hand turn which is guarded by a crest prior to turn-in,
rendering the corner blind to approaching drivers.
Drivers have to stay close to the wall while turning
so as not to go out wide upon exit.
To go too close
however may cause the car to clip the inside kerbing,
which
Allan
Moffat famously did in practice for the
1986 Bathurst
1000, crashing heavily, head on to the concrete. McPhillamy
Park is the home of the 'McPhillamy Mob' a group of
die hard enthusiasts who return year after year to
watch the 1000 km race. Other campers around the area
should expect little sleep after this group have had
a few beers.
Brock Skyline:
A short straight connects McPhillamy to the next corner.
Now named 'Brock's Skyline' after the legendary Peter
Brock, Skyline is a sharply descending right hand
corner which signifies the beginning of the descent
from the top of the Mountain. The corner acquired the
name from the visual effect of looking upwards at the
corner from below, such is the sharpness of that initial
plunge. During the 1970 Bathurst 500 Tony Roberts launched
over Skyline backwards after losing control of his
Ford Falcon, before tumbling down the hillside.
The Esses:
The Esses are the series of corners which begin at
Skyline and stretch down the Mountain towards Forrests
Elbow.
The Dipper:
The most famous of the Esses, the Dipper, the fourth
in the sequence, is a sharp left hand corner, so named
because, before safety changes, there was quite a dip
in the road surface and then a steep drop not far from
the edge of the road. Many cars used to get two wheels
off the ground in the pursuit of getting 11 tenths
out of their car, sometimes having their left front
wheel dangling off the side of the track before the
concrete walls were put up.
Forrest's Elbow:
'The
Elbow' – named after Jack Forrest, a motorcycle
racer who scraped his elbow away after laying down
his bike – is a slow, descending left-hand turn
that leads on to the long Conrod Straight. The corner's
line drifts towards the outside wall on exit and drivers
have to be careful of getting too close. It was here,
during the pole qualifying session (the top ten drivers
from Friday's qualifying session participate in a final
session to determine the top ten starting positions
for the race) for to the 1983 James Hardie 1000, that
Dick Johnson clipped a
tyre barrier just after exiting
the corner, which sent his Ford Falcon careening into
a grove of trees, totally demolishing it.
Conrod Straight:
Formerly
known as Main Straight, Conrod Straight was so named
because of a con-rod failure that ended the race of
Frank Kleinig in his Kleinig/Hudson race-car. Conrod
Straight is the fastest section of Mount Panorama,
with today's V8 Supercars just reaching 300 km/h. The
straight is a roller-coaster ride featuring two distinct
crests, the second of which was rebuilt in 1987. It
has been on Conrod where five of the six car-racing
deaths on the circuit have occurred – Bevan
Gibson, Tom Sulman, Mike Burgmann,
Denny Hulme and Don Watson. All except Hulme (heart
attack) died in high-speed accidents.
The Chase:
Known for many years as 'Caltex
Chase', this three turn sequence was added in preparation
for the World Touring Car Championship round in 1987
as Con-Rod Straight exceeded the FIA's length for an
un-broken straight (2,000 meters). The section was
dedicated to Mike Burgmann who had died in an accident
at the chicane's spot the previous year.
It interrupts
Con-Rod Straight with Australia's fastest right hand
bend, descending to the right away from the dangerous
crest prior to the spectator bridge, before a sharp
120 km/h left hand bend then second right hand corner
returns the competitors to Con-Rod Straight for the
blast down to Murrays Corner. This corner was the scene
of
Peter Brock's only rollover in his motor racing
career in a Vauxhall Vectra in practice for the 1997
Bathurst 1000.
Murray's Corner:
Murray's Corner is
the final corner before Pit Straight and the lowest
point of the circuit. It is a 90 degree left hand turn,
and is a favourite overtaking spot as driver's hold
braking duels for the corner.
Circuit Statistics:
- Length Of
Track= 6.213km
- Length Of Conrod Straight = 1.916km
- Length Of Mountain
Straight = 1.111km
- Height Above Sea Level = 862m
- Steepest Grade = 1
in 6.13
- Racing deaths (Tragically there have been 4): Mike
Burgmann (1986), Denny Hulme (1992),
Don Watson (1994),
Mark Porter (2006)
