Home
A Cruel Mountain: 2014 Bathurst 1000
It’s now history that Chaz Mostert and Paul Morris won the Supercheap Autos Bathurst 1000 for 2014.
It’s now history that they did so by, as silly as it may sound, leading on the last lap. Why that point is important is because it was the ONLY lap the car had been in the lead in the 161 laps the event has. However, the preceding near eight hours had seen scenes unprecedented in the history of V8 Supercars. In fact, the days leading up to The Great Race witnessed just how cruel “The Mountain” can be to drivers, both veterans and inexperienced.
On most days of the year, the road is a tourist drive, limited to 60 kilometres per hour. It’s six thousand, two hundred and thirteen metres in length and has an elevation change of 171 metres from Pit Straight to the section called Skyline. It leads into a tight, twisty, steeply downhill inclined part of the circuit called The Dipper, which itself becomes the world famous Conrod Straight. However, this year, it was Griffins Bend or, innocuously, Turn 2, that saw most of the incidents that will entrench this year’s race in folklore. Practice on Saturady saw a mighty coming together of two cars, two drivers, two former team mates; Warren Luff had a brake system failure and, in an effort to wash of speed coming into the 120 degree uphill right hand turn, saw the rear of his car snap left, collecting the car of Lowndes and forcing both into the tyre barrier. The impact left the Luff vehicle on its side and the crowd witnessed the sportsmanship that we expect, with Lowndes sprinting back to his stricken friend, helping to extricate him from the car. Luff’s co-driver, Garth Tander, a previous Bathurst 1000 winner, could only watch on and lament that the crash had left the car too badly damaged to be repaired in time. Lowndes, however, would go on to race the 888 Commodore with co-driver Steven Richards.
The Porsche Carrera Cup saw their own share of carnage, with Michael Patrizi finding the wall on the second last lap of arace, with Nick Foster then having what could only be described as a brain explosion on the final lap, again at what would become the infamous Griffins Bend over the weekend. Diving down the inside of David Russell, Foster succeeded in taking out Russell, Warren Luff (suffering no ill effects from the V8 crash) and Steven Richards. Russell was able to continue, albeit at the end of the field.
It was the Sunday, the race day, however, that showed just how cruel a mountain Mount Panorama can be. Chief amongst the moments that will be talked about is the red flag that put a pause on racing for an hour. The road surface had been relaid some months before and at Griffin’s Ben, yes, the very same, the surface was lifting, tearing and eventually seen to be potentially dangerous enough that it needed to be resealed. Controversy reigned as cars were worked on, out on the main straight, with the question being: “should this not have been a parc ferme’ situation?” Unfortunately for a member of the local wildlife, the Lockwood Racing entry of Fabian Coulthard and Luke Youlden happened to occupy the same space it wanted to be on, triggering a safety car. This led to the Dale Wood and Chris Pither Commodore ramming the rear of the Brad Jones Racing entry of Jason Bright and Andrew Jones. Crowd favourite Scott McLaughlin, in one of the two Garry Rogers Motorsport Volvos, took himself out of contention late in the race after clouting the wall at The Cutting on the way to Skyline, in almost exactly the same spot as team mate, Robert Dahlgren. Fellow Kiwi, Shane van Gisbergen, suffered heartbreak in pit lane 
after the car stalled in a refuelling stop. Russell Ingall also had a brain explosion, trying the same inside move as Foster, coming into Griffins and having to brake late, hit the Erebus Mercedes of Lee Holdsworth, with both cars hitting the tyre barrier and Holdsworth’s car being lifted up and on its side before rolling onto the roof. The yellow Nissan of James Moffat and Taz Douglas had also hit the wall in the same spot earlier in the day, reentering the race with kilometres of race tape holding the front of the car together.
Craig Lowndes was in the wars late in the race; coming into Hell Corner, turn one, Lowndes turned in and hit the rear of the 2013 champion, Mark Winterbottom. Somehow, miraculously, Frosty managed to hold the car on the track and, in a cloud of shredded rubber, continued although a few places down whilst Lowndes would be pinged and givin a drive through penalty. With just a couple of laps to go, the Red Bull Racing team were on the radio to Jamie Whincup, as he lead the race, telling him to nurse the car, watch the fuel. Whincup admitted after the race that he though he could do it. It’s history now that Whincup was wrong and the Mostert/Morris duo would win, coming from rear of grid and after their car had hit the tyre barrier with reasonable panel damage, to hold up, triumphantly, the coveted Peter Brock trophy. Douglas and Moffat would slide by Whincup for second position, as would Nick Percat and British driver, Oliver Gavin, for third.
The Great Race lived up to its reputation on Sunday, October 12th, 2014, cruel in its majesty.
http://www.v8supercars.com.au/news/championship/the-biggest-bathurst-moments
Road Safety: 'I forget that others don't actually want to die'
The title of this piece may at first seem a little strange; you could even say that it is such a logical statement that it really does not need to be said at all. It is this exact point that I wish to expand upon in this post. A few years ago I was out driving with a friend of mine and as we approached a roundabout they appeared to recoil slightly as if something bad was going to happen. It was as we cleared the roundabout in complete safety and control that they uttered to me the very quote that you see now heads this article.
When you first see a quote such as this sitting right there in front of you, it may at first seem hard to process. Of course others do not want to die on the road, why would anyone feel the need to say that? But on the other hand, if this was truly the case it does beg the question of why on earth are there some people that drive on the road as if they have a death wish hanging like a dark cloud above their head? When my friend first said that to me I found it rather amusing, but the more I think about it the more they may actually have a point. It is the view of this author that as the years go rushing by, the effects of Newton’s Third Law are becoming visible than ever before. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. For it would seem that with the increase of technology that makes both cars and the roads safer places to be on, actual driving standards are decreasing.
Road safety is taken very seriously, but does everyone heed the message?
Over the last few months I have felt increasingly unsafe on the roads, down in the most part to the other drivers on the road. For all I know it is localised to my little slice of earth in which I inhabit. However, I then come to realise that every time I open the newspaper or turn on the news I see yet another fatality as a result of dangerous or driving. People say you should not always believe what you read in the media, so it is lucky that I have also had first hand experience of sharing the same slab of tarmac as some downright lunatics. There are not enough accessible appendages upon my body to count the number of times I have had a car pull out in front of me with barely enough time for me to hit the brakes to prevent an accident. I am fully aware your jumped up Vauxhall Corsa may have a decent enough acceleration and you wish to show this off to all the girls around you while you blast out the latest RnB offerings; the crux of the situation however is not the performance of your car but the quality of my reactions to enact what is essentially an emergency stop to prevent a dangerous accident.
Yet another example I can draw from the dark chasm of idiocy is the pure insistence of many impatient doughnuts who believe that bullying their way down the road is the best tactic to get home. If I happen be pootering along down the motorway at 70mph (because I would never dare go over the speed the limit…I promise…) I really do not want to have some little bottomfluff driving less than 5 meters behind me. His logic is simple; by intimidating me with his dangerous driving I will move out of his way. There is but one flaw in this plan; what if I have to apply the brakes suddenly? The result of that can only be a trip to hospital and many phone calls to insurance companies.
And finally we come to those people who are comparable only to a spinning hamster wheel but no hamster on the inside. I am fully accepting that there are many people who waltz around with their head in the clouds, but this should not be while they are driving. When you are behind the wheel, it is only just that driving is your top priority. Chatting to your friends, doing your hair or dreaming of far off plans are not acceptable excuses for driving like a complete and utter spanner. It may well be a very important phone call in your fancy BMW but that does not excuse you driving straight over a junction and nearly T-boning me right in the drivers door. Last time I checked my life was slightly more important than your business deal. I would hope anyway.
As I touched on at the start of this post, it would seem as safety based technology increases, driving standards begin to decrease. I do have a theory that there are some that believe because road safety is improving, in-car safety devices are getting ever more developed and of course medical care is forever more advanced, it means that they feel more comfortable driving at a lower standard; they feel they are better protected and will be better looked after. On a similar tilt to that of progressive safety measures, we are living in a world of increasingly intense devotion to insurance, claims and of course suing. There are some characters I have had the mispleasure of meeting who have given me ‘top advice’ in the world of road safety and insurance claims. They genuinely told me that if it looks like I will be involved in a crash that I should not try and stop it and let it happen, as long as I make sure it is the other persons fault. Apparently I then get ‘free money’ as a result. They claim in good confidence (..so I am told) that because of all the increased safety devices on the road, that the rewards are greater when things do go wrong.
…there really are just no words. It says so much about the modern world that some people are actively encouraging accidents as just another excuse to make some money.
Interesting insurance claim that would have been…
Maybe all that time ago my friend was actually on to something when they said what they did. There are those that drive with the appearance of one who may be open to serious injury or death. Why else would they act like they do I wonder? And of course more worryingly there are those who seem to be open to possible injury for nothing more than a small financial gain. Maybe it is the ever advancing technology surrounding safety that is to blame. It is almost poetically ironic that the devotion to safety is the one thing that may be making our roads less safe. The one fatal flaw as it always has been appears to be the human element. If this proves but one thing, perhaps self driving cars are the best option for all of us. Maybe they are the answer to the question no one realised really needed to be answered.
Whatever I may have said, do not forget to keep driving people!
Follow me on Twitter @lewisglynn69
Peace and Love!
The Latest Crop Of Record Breakers
I came across a copy of the 2015 Guinness Book of Records in the library the other day. 2015. Either Guinness Publishing uses a peculiar sort of calendar or my local library has a time machine sitting out the back somewhere. Alternatively, the concept of L-space that interconnects all libraries and bookshops throughout time and space from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld is true. But anyway, these official record books often have some fun automotive, transport and car-related records, so without any further speculations, let’s have a look at some of the latest beauties showcased. Might win you a bet or two at the pub.
Country producing the largest number of cars in one year: China. No surprises here, really. The majority of cars are made in this country now, even marques you usually think of as being European. However, the European car manufacturing industry is far from dead: Germany holds the Number 3 spot behind Japan.
Red Cherys ripe for the picking, fresh off the factory floor.
Largest producer of vehicles: Toyota managed to break General Motors’ 77-year run back in 2008 and the two companies have been fighting it out for top spot ever since. Toyota is the current record holder… at least according to the official book.
Tightest parallel parking of two cars: Two Chinese drivers parked their cars in a space that was just 42 cm longer than the combined length of their cars. The make and model of the cars is unknown, but I’m guessing they were little hatchbacks.
Biggest engine in a current production car: Chrysler’s SRT Viper has a whopping 8.39-litre V10 powerplant. This adds up to 640 horsepower and 600 pound-feet of torque. This vehicle can do the 0–60 mph sprint in less than 3.5 seconds (the official Chrysler website claims “low threes”). It does the reverse (60–0 mph) in 106 feet. Top speed is 206 mph. Translating this into SI units, we get 470.72 kW for the power, 813 Nm for the torque and 331.52 km/h for the top speed. I don’t want to even think about its fuel economy. Let’s just say that it’s not for the frugal driver.
First folding car: The Hiriko Fold, which is a two-seater that folds its chassis so three of them can park in the space needed for a normal four-door saloon. Not in general production yet.
The Honda FCX Clarity – a hydrogen-powered beauty.
First hydrogen powered car: The Honda FCX has the honour of being the first vehicle powered by hydrogen technology, as it came out in 2002. Because of the super-low emissions, hydrogen fuel technology is the newest and sexiest kid on the sustainable motoring block. This Honda is in production somewhere in the world, but both Honda and Toyota are thinking about pumping out a few more.
Average amount of time the typical commuter spends stuck in traffic in a year: 38 hours.
Kilometres put on the clock by all driverless cars combined: 300,000 km. All these have been part of the testing process of the driverless cars being worked on by Google. They haven’t been in any major incidents so far during all this trial period. I still don’t like them. If I’m going to just sit there and do nothing during a commute, I’ll take a bus instead.
Smallest roadworthy car: a homemade job measuring 63.5 cm high, 65.4 cm wide and 1.26 m long. It might be road legal (in the USA, at least) but can barely fit a passenger and is rather short on safety features.
Longest motor racing circuit: The (in)famous Nürburgring.
Fastest drift: A Polish driver in a Toyota GTR 86 managed to drift safely at 217.97 km/h. The car in question had been modified to the eyeballs, so don’t try this at home if you have a Toyota 86.
Happy driving,
Megan
You Are Getting Sleepy… Very, Very Sleepy
It’s about that time of year when a number of states start getting into Daylight Savings mode (New Zealanders did the change last weekend). This peculiar hangover from Victorian England often leads to an increase in traffic accidents as the entire country (minus those sensible, sensible states that don’t bother with the whole palaver) goes through jet lag. Especially the springtime changeover where you have to get up an hour earlier than usual.
There has been some research into how the Daylight Savings changeover affects traffic responses. found that accidents immediately after the springtime shift but accidents drop immediately after the autumn shift when the clocks go back. According to these researchers, it’s the amount of sleep lost or gained that causes the change in patterns. We tend to lose an hour of sleep during the spring shift but we get that precious extra hour to sleep in come autumn. The researchers concluded that it’s fatigue and lack of sleep that causes the problem, not merely shifting our body clocks.
It’s not that people are falling asleep at the wheel, either. Analysts and experts have commented that driving tired is as bad as driving drunk or under the influence of drugs when it comes to slowing your reaction times and preventing you from concentrating. Unfortunately, the cops can’t do random breath testing to see how tired you are. Or perhaps fortunately – most of us don’t get the right amount of sleep.
Some car manufacturers are cottoning onto the role of fatigue in traffic safety. Some of the latest models of Mercedes are able to tell by your driving style that you are getting a bit tired and will start alerting you. This is all very well when it comes to getting tired during a long interstate drive when the white lines flickering through the darkness in a steady rhythm on a long straight road have their hypnotic effect on you, gradually lulling you into la-la land until the car bleeps at you suddenly. However, it’s not so good for those times when you lose concentration for half a second at the traffic lights or at an intersection… although a lot of modern cars have fancy crash sensors that will detect this sort of low-speed problem and try to deal with it.
So what can we all do to improve our driving and reduce fatigue-related accidents? We can’t all shift to Queensland or Western Australia where they don’t do the Daylight Savings thing. And even in those states, fatigue-related accidents are still a problem. The answer is not to be found inside our vehicles but inside our bedrooms. If we all got the sleep we needed, we could probably avoid 20–30% of current accidents (according to the Transport Accident Commission ).
- Have a set bedtime routine and stick to it. This programmes your body into knowing that it’s time to go to sleep.
- Avoid “screen time” (TV, DVDs, laptops, smart phones) for half an hour before you plan on nodding off. There’s something about those screens that stop you nodding off.
- Go for calming, soothing activities as part of your wind down. In other words, don’t try doing your tax returns or drafting a letter to your lawyer last thing at night.
- Watch the caffeine. Yes, it helps jolt you up in the morning but it has quite a long half-life in your body, preventing good sleep. It’s best to avoid coffee and other caffeinated drinks after 3:00 p.m. just in case. It’s also unwise to try to use coffee to keep you awake if you are doing a long, late drive. It will work in the short-term, but you end up with a horrible cocktail of fatigue chemicals and adrenaline in your brain at the same time that makes you even more error-prone.
- Save the bedroom for sleep, relaxing and sex. This means that having the home office in there permanently is a bad idea.
Safe and happy driving,
Megan
Level 2, 9 Help Street