The Great Race

[Mad Aussie]

The Great Race or The Bathurst 1000 as it's also called is the premier motor race in Australia. The race history is 50 years long now and this ends an era in the race. For many years now the only cars allowed to compete have been the two Australian marques, Ford Falcon and GM Holden Commodore, both sister companies of the US giants, in the form of what we call V8 Supercars. Next year, other marques such as Mercedes, Toyota, Chrysler etc will be allowed to compete as well.

The following are a small sample of the photos I took in October during a very cool weekend at one of the worlds most exciting and revered motor racing circuits.
Although in the Legends and Masters categories there are US cars like Camaro's, Mustangs etc I've chosen to feature the Aussie made metal as I figure it might be of more interest to you North American continent types.

YouTube - As an extra bit of fun, here's a cool vid of Nascar Champion Darrell Waltrip going for a lap of this race track in a V8 Supercar last year ... Waltrip's Ride Of A Lifetime - YouTube


The Great Race 2012 - V8 Supercars by AstroVisual, on Flickr


The Great Race 2012 - V8 Supercars by AstroVisual, on Flickr

2001 Ford Falcon AU V8 Supercar -
"The Green Eyed Monster"

The Great Race - The Legends by AstroVisual, on Flickr

more in a sec ...

[Mad Aussie]

The Great Race - V8 Supercars by AstroVisual, on Flickr

1972 ChryslerCharger E55 in the Touring Car Masters

The Great Race - Touring Car Masters by AstroVisual, on Flickr

1971 Ford Falcon XA GT

The Great Race - Touring Car Masters by AstroVisual, on Flickr


The Great Race - V8 Supercars by AstroVisual, on Flickr

1971 GM Holden (GMH) HQ Monaro

The Great Race - Touring Car Masters by AstroVisual, on Flickr

1971 Ford Falcon GTHO - The 351 Clevo powered 'Phase 3' was, at the time, the worlds fastest 4 door production car.

Touring Car Masters by AstroVisual, on Flickr

more in a sec ...

[Mad Aussie]

The Great Race 2012 - V8 Supercars by AstroVisual, on Flickr


V8 Supercars by AstroVisual, on Flickr


V8 Supercars by AstroVisual, on Flickr


V8 Supercars by AstroVisual, on Flickr


The Great Race - V8 Supercars by AstroVisual, on Flickr

more in sec ...

[Mad Aussie]

Porsche RS Spyder ALMS - 2006 American Le Mans Series LMP2-winning Porsche, the first ever RS Spyder in competition, doing demonstration laps at Bathurst driven by Dutch sports car ace and former RS Spyder driver Jeroen Bleekemolen, four years after taking LMP2 class victory at the celebrated 24 Hours of Le Mans, also aboard an RS Spyder.

The Great Race - The Legends by AstroVisual, on Flickr

What we call a 'Ute' (pron. You teh) for 'Utility'

The Great Race 2012 - V8 Utes by AstroVisual, on Flickr


The Great Race - Carrera Cup by AstroVisual, on Flickr


The Great Race - V8 Supercars by AstroVisual, on Flickr

There are many, many more on my flickr (and more to go up yet) for those interested

[Runmonty]

Nice work MA - Looks like great weekend.

[theantiquetiger]

I liek the 72 Charger!!!

Great shots, but FYI, you must have had your film in backwards, all the drivers are on the right side of the car!!!

[Mad Aussie]

Cheers RM ... it was ... do it at least once!

AT ... look closer at the Porsche

[Realist]

Great set! Great detail in these photos even though the cars were driving so fast.

[Mad Aussie]

Great set! Great detail in these photos even though the cars were driving so fast.

You're right there. Many of these shots are the cars doing 200 kph+ ... they are capable of 290 - 300 kph down the long straight on this track.

[Marko]

wow what a fun set - nicely captured!