2014 Bathurst 12 Hour - Best Moments!

Illustration of the start of Bathurst 12 Hour

This is yet another Endurance event I live streamed. Even though I missed almost 45% of the race length, knowing that the race started at 2am my time (GMT +7), I still get the fact that I followed the race from the fifth / sixth hour approximate to the end. I have to say that Bathurst 12 Hour have fulfilled its promise of epic racing action at the renowned circuit Down Under Mount Panorama, notoriously known for its elevations and turns. GT3 cars, touring cars, and modified cars, even three Abarth 500s raced around the clock at this circuit while they tried to survive all the difficulties, whether if it's from the track, from the rivals, or from their own teams.

This year is memorable due to one of the facts that Nissan returned to the round-the-clock Bathurst racing for a long time thanks to its Nismo Global Athlete program, pitting their GT-R to the track. However, the real immortalization of this season is the fact that Maranello Motorsport's Ferrari 458 Italia with Il Bello Rosso sponsorship on it won by a small margin against HTP Mercedes Benz SLS AMG. Thanks to Craig Lowndes's driving skills, they have secured their first ever win in this endurance race not only for themselves and their own team, but also for the late Allan Simonsen, who drove for this very team before he past away at Le Mans.

However, while you're seeing this post, you might be wonder what I will do in this post... Some of you might say "Oh, he's gonna recap everything bla bla bla", or even "Ah, he's going to teach us new things unique to this event...". Wrong and wrong, as you know that this post about this year's Bathurst 12 Hour isn't about the recap of things or even a thing unique to this race as this is just an ordinary event. Except... Yup! It's not an ordinary event because not only is this race being held at a special place close to every Australian (and world) petrolhead's heart, but also have this year's running of Bathurst 12 Hour a series of great moments that, well, you will cringe when you find out you're missing everything out!

Here are my top moments of this year's Bathurst 12 Hour. So, what's in store then? (in no chronological order)

A ROO THAT ATTACKED A BUFFALO

Image courtesy of Bathurst 12 Hour's Facebook Fanpage

Just within minutes of racing, a Lamborghini was attacked by a Kangaroo that it broke the car. The number 23 car competing in the A class (one of the GT3 classes) must painfully retire the race despite they only managed to run two laps... Sad that I couldn't see the roo that attacked the car though or it wasn't televised at all... I guess Ripper Roo may have done this... SCREW YOU RIPPER ROO!!111!!1111!

"TROLOLOLOLOLOL MY Roo fellows have crashed a Lamborghini BWAHAHAHAHA They were all screwed and you can see the driver's face HUEHUEHUEHUE They just ran two laps in the 12-hour event..." -Translation of the above laughter, kind of :v

NISSAN - A RETURNEE WITH A BAD LUCK

How to ruin Nissan's return in Bathurst 12 Hour, especially when they have Nismo Global Athlete in its pocket?

1) Crash Spin a McLaren Ferrari

2) Make other drivers go bananas (read: trying to avoid the crashed car)
3) Dust everything up so everyone can't see what's going on

4) ???
5) BOOM! PROFIT!

Image courtesy of Force GT

Note that no Tinkerbell is involved during the making of this dust... :v

MERC'S AERODYNAMIC GONE WRONG

This was how HTP's SLS AMG's "active aero" gone wrong. No, seriously, it tried to joke on the Mountain Straight and... it kinda succeed. Not bad :)

ROMANCE OF THREE MAKERS - MERCEDES. MCLAREN, and FERRARI

A three-way fight somewhere in the race's midpoint provided a great spectacle from fans. The fight for position in the A Class has never been this exciting, even in any of the Endurance events held elsewhere! At the race's early hours, V8 Supercars Australia superstar Shane Van Gisbergen headed up against DTM star Bernd Schneider and former F1 racer and now endurance racing extraordinaire Mika Salo. This three-way fight made up an exciting, close and tight, race no endurance racing event has matched, even lasted at the last hours albeit it's a different team's Merc.

BAD LUCK EREBUS

Sadly the event favorite #1 Erebus Motorsports's Mercedes must suffer a long reparation of their brakes, costing them the fight for the top place against McLaren and Ferrari which they should've done if only it didn't happen. Fortunately, HTP subbed in for Mercedes in the three-way romance, but that IS HTP not Erebus :v

However, they didn't lose the race empty-handed as they had Allan Simonsen trophy as their consolation prize for scoring a pole in the event's qualifying session. Better luck next time, though.

MEANWHILE IN ANOTHER DIMENSION...

McLaren and Ferrari... Where we saw this fight before? It sounded familiar...

BEHOLD! IT'S THE MARANELLOWNMOWER!

How you turn a Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 into a lawnmower in seconds? Lowndes knows how. And you know that it's epic when you realize Lowndes and Maranello has "OWNING" in their names. ;)

Order this lawnmower now and you will also get all the perks this car has, and also its drivers who will come right to your door! Call 1-800-123456789 NOW! :v

LEAVINGTHEBOARDINPITSITIS SYNDROME

Apparently Maranello's victory wasn't that clean; a mistake involving a pitboard costed them a drive through, even though it didn't affect their position. However, this infected one of the Audi entries too. Pro tip: Don't put a pit board on the driver's left side when pitting, especially if someone's gaining behind...

DAYTONA COUPE THAT HAD ITS BATHURST MOMENTS

Daytona Coupe wasn't an exemption from the round-the-clock race event. It's quite a car and was competitive in its class. One moment had it crashed in the qualifying session, but granted the mechanics spent hours for getting the car to its competitive shape once more. Kudos to the car that I knew from Gran Turismo 2 with different livery!

LOWNDES BEING MASSAGED

Well...

THE CLOSE RACE TO THE FINISH!

If Lowndes weren't that great, then HTP could easily take Maranello's victory. The run was an All-out one from the moment the green flag waved after the race was under safety car minutes before the race ends. It was definitely an all-out game, but Maranello could maintain their first place and finish the race without a scratch! Congrats Maranello! :D

HELL YEAH MARANELLO!

And those are the underlined moments that made up this year's Bathurst 12 Hour! It was an endurance event packed with endless fights that lasted long, on-track and pit lane dramas, as well as a variety of cars from GT3 to Daytona Sports Coupe and small-but-powerful Abarths. What a way to waste your 2 GB's worth of your internet quota in 12 hours, from the dawn to the afternoon! This event is definitely to die for, either you'd like to see it in person or live stream it in your home! The Live Streams were flawless by the way...

Special thanks to all organizers of Bathurst 12 Hour and its competitors for making it a moment not to be missed by every racing fan all over the world, including me! Will definitely return next year as a live streamer, but if my economy allows me I would definitely like to attend the event in person!

~[R]

EDIT: The mkalty.org picture has its anti-hotlink nag screen activated so I have to replace with another one. :v