This years Bathurst 1000 was certainly one to remember.
Firstly, the whole event was dedicated to racing driver Peter Brock who died on September 08 2006 (News report of his crash: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drSYGCHEGgg) after crashing into a tree during a road rally.
Secondly, there was the big crash between Mark Porter in his Holden and David Clark in his Ford during the final laps of the V8 development series at Bathurst on the Friday. Both drivers were rushed to hospital.
Thirdly, many big names in the main event on Sunday were knocked out/didn't finish. Mark Skaife, the pole sitter, didn't even make it to turn three on the first lap because he was hit from behind which destroyed his car. He'd had severe clutch slip ever since the green light went on and even in fifth gear the clutch was still playing up. After going up a rise and then down again he was hit from behind from another driver who came over the (blind) rise and came apon the slow-moving Holden at such a pace that there was not enough time to react and thus rammed into the back right corner of Marks car which pushed him into the wall and then it bounced across to the other side of the track with race ending damage.
The second quickest car, Ford's Jason Bright also didn't finish as engine troubles put an end to their day early on. Other drivers who didn't finish were Greg Murphy (second driver Cameron McConville slid sideways into a tire wall at speed and damaged the whole right side of the car), Paul Radisich (head on into a tyre wall at about 150 km/h or more which flipped the car on its side. The Rat was cut out of the car from the roof and taken to hospital for scans.), Jim Richards (slid into wall), Jason Richards (went off the track at about 300 km/h, through the sand trap, jumped well over a whole section of track, landed and then into another sand trap where he finally stopped - they checked the car over in the pits and let him out again only for him to smash into a wall that same lap about three laps from the end of the race) and far too many more to mention. I think out of the 31 cars in the race only 16 or so finished. :o
There were about nine or ten safety cars also, some just a couple of laps after it had just gone back into the pits!
Craig Lowndes in the Ford Falcon GT eventually won the race half a second ahead of second place man Todd Kelly in his Holden Commodore. They had an intense battle over the last 15 laps or so of the race and it was getting so crazy that i nearly changed channels because i was holding my breath for so long (well, not really ;)).
He most definitely deserved the win over anyone else though, last year it looked like he was going to take it out until a couple of unfortunate incidents (hit a wall, and then later had a whole wheel smash into his windscreen which resulted in huge damage and both front and rear windows being taken out so he could resume racing) put an end to hopes of winning. This year i believe he was doing the race moreso for the late Peter Brock who he was great friends, and former teammates with.
The win was also the first time Ford had won on the mountain since 1998 - the reaction of some Holden fans around the internet though has been slightly predictable, immature and generally it just seems as though they are a bit too much behind the red teams. This quote below from a forum member at the GTPlanet.net forums sums it up quite nicely; "When Holden wins, Ford fans just keep going about their business and let Holden celebrate. When Ford wins, Holden fans have tantrums and whinge and moan for weeks to come."
Sadly, about two hours after the race had been completed the announcement came that New Zealand driver Mark Porter, involved in the huge crash on Friday, had died which is (yet) another great loss to the motorsport community. :( He had great potential and was likely going to end up racing in the V8 Supercars in the next year or so. In my opinion his death has overshadowed Craigs Bathurst win.
I really hope we don't lose any more people in this way anytime soon. The same weekend someone in Australia was kiled a a karting event and somewhere else in the country a Japanese racing driver was killed at a drag strip when his car hit a railing at about 300 km/h or so. Just goes to show that motorsport is a very dangerous sport, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be taking place at all. Despite all the deaths of Kiwi race drivers (Denny Hulme - heart attack while racing at Bathurst in the 80's, Ashley Stitchbury, Possum Borne etc) and other drivers around the world i am still determined to get myself a track car one day and race around in motorsport events in it. Be it circuit racing, drag racing, tarmac rallying (Targa), sealed hillclimbs or other such things. You just have to accept that what you are doing is dangerous, even with all the safety precautions in the world.
R.I.P. Mark, you will be missed. :(
October 09, 2006
October 07, 2006
Tailgaters - objects in the mirror are closer than they should be?
I wish there was something the Police could do about tailgaters or people who follow you so close that you can nearly see the back of their car... (slightly impossible but you get the picture ;) ).
I've tried reporting a couple of tailgaters before, went into the Dunedin Central Police station one time after a Mr Impatient in his (i think?) Honda Accord station wagon was following us too closely for a while on the way back from Palmerston in my brothers Skyline (now wrecked and being stripped for parts, thanks to a gravel road, inexperienced driver and an embankment - R.I.P. Skyline :( ) and gave them the details including licence plate and so on but as far as i'm aware nothing was done about it. The Policeman just said they can't really do a whole lot but will look to see if Mr Impatient has any previous driving convictions.
And then the other day (Sept 30, '06) while coming back from the car racing at Levels Raceway in Timaru we had this 'boyracermobile' type Mitsubishi Mirage or something black and hatchbacky follow us too closely for a while.
I tried the recommended brake tapping move (hitting the brakes only so much so that the brake lights go on but you don't slow) a few times but it (as usual) didn't do a thing - i've pretty much lost faith in this technique, i think it has only worked once out of the ten to fifteen or so times i've tried it.
So yeah, i ended up going 50 km/h in a 60 km/h zone because i was starting to get a little bothered by them, especially as it was at night and anything might be on/run across the road which could force me into evasive maneuvers. So as i got to the 100 km/h sign i floored it up to 100 after passing it and they caught up after a short while (bear in mind i was driving a 130 hp or so Mazda MS-6 five door so wasn't exactly in the quickest of cars).
When they caught up they were even closer so i braked and slowed kinda abruptly (but not excessively) down a few k's and they got closer. I kept slowing down and when at about 70 km/h or so i booted it up to 100 again and they could *nearly* keep up with us.
While going down the long straight alongside the Moeraki Boulders entrance i was getting even more annoyed with them (and i pretty much never get road rage of any sort) being so stupid and dangerous as they were probably closer still. So i basically then just kept braking and slowing down until i was doing about 50 km/h or so in the 100 km/h zone - they had MILES of safe room to pass but instead decided to get so close that their headlights were no longer in view. After they likely realised i was just going to keep getting slower (and perhaps the car approaching us from behind played a part) they pulled out, apparently very close to our back bumper according to my brother, and finally passed us while making all sorts of hand gestures and likely yelling unrepeatable stuff too. My youngest (20) brother gave as good as we got though (with hand gestures), while i played them a cheerful tune on the horn (beep beep beep-beep beep, beep beep!). The approaching car also passed us, just after the idiots did and we had the road to ourselves again.
A stop at the beach was in order so that we wouldn't catch up to them or anything (funny how sometimes the tailgaters finally pass you and then go way too slow around corners - just proves their lack of driving ability i suppose) and i hadn't eaten the rest of my 'Bonaza Burger' - bought from the fish and chip shop across the railway in Temuka - these burgers are huge, at least to me anyway!).
I realise now that what i did in the tailgater scenario likely made the situation as worse as it was, but tailgaters annoy me to no ends because insurance isn't compulsory in this country so in the event of a tailgating related crash they probably wouldn't pay up even if forced to by the courts. And i never want to be involved in a crash, even on the racetrack in a racecar (latter of which i will build/buy one day).
From now on though in the event of some low life following too close i will pull to the left as much as i safely can and keep gradually slowing down. If in a car that handles well and am approaching some tight or winding corners i may try (safely) lose them a bit through the corners and then fid a place to pull over or let them pass afterwards for the reasons i briefly mentioned in the second paragraph above this.
*sigh* Sadly this is an insanely common worldwide problem and the only way to avoid it is not to drive i suppose - none of the retaliation methods (suddenly braking hard, going faster, tailgating them once they pass, using the handbrake to slow down instead so they won't see the brake lights, and so on) many suggest are safe for either party and i'm even more unlikely to ever try any of them now. People huh. *shakes head*
I've tried reporting a couple of tailgaters before, went into the Dunedin Central Police station one time after a Mr Impatient in his (i think?) Honda Accord station wagon was following us too closely for a while on the way back from Palmerston in my brothers Skyline (now wrecked and being stripped for parts, thanks to a gravel road, inexperienced driver and an embankment - R.I.P. Skyline :( ) and gave them the details including licence plate and so on but as far as i'm aware nothing was done about it. The Policeman just said they can't really do a whole lot but will look to see if Mr Impatient has any previous driving convictions.
And then the other day (Sept 30, '06) while coming back from the car racing at Levels Raceway in Timaru we had this 'boyracermobile' type Mitsubishi Mirage or something black and hatchbacky follow us too closely for a while.
I tried the recommended brake tapping move (hitting the brakes only so much so that the brake lights go on but you don't slow) a few times but it (as usual) didn't do a thing - i've pretty much lost faith in this technique, i think it has only worked once out of the ten to fifteen or so times i've tried it.
So yeah, i ended up going 50 km/h in a 60 km/h zone because i was starting to get a little bothered by them, especially as it was at night and anything might be on/run across the road which could force me into evasive maneuvers. So as i got to the 100 km/h sign i floored it up to 100 after passing it and they caught up after a short while (bear in mind i was driving a 130 hp or so Mazda MS-6 five door so wasn't exactly in the quickest of cars).
When they caught up they were even closer so i braked and slowed kinda abruptly (but not excessively) down a few k's and they got closer. I kept slowing down and when at about 70 km/h or so i booted it up to 100 again and they could *nearly* keep up with us.
While going down the long straight alongside the Moeraki Boulders entrance i was getting even more annoyed with them (and i pretty much never get road rage of any sort) being so stupid and dangerous as they were probably closer still. So i basically then just kept braking and slowing down until i was doing about 50 km/h or so in the 100 km/h zone - they had MILES of safe room to pass but instead decided to get so close that their headlights were no longer in view. After they likely realised i was just going to keep getting slower (and perhaps the car approaching us from behind played a part) they pulled out, apparently very close to our back bumper according to my brother, and finally passed us while making all sorts of hand gestures and likely yelling unrepeatable stuff too. My youngest (20) brother gave as good as we got though (with hand gestures), while i played them a cheerful tune on the horn (beep beep beep-beep beep, beep beep!). The approaching car also passed us, just after the idiots did and we had the road to ourselves again.
A stop at the beach was in order so that we wouldn't catch up to them or anything (funny how sometimes the tailgaters finally pass you and then go way too slow around corners - just proves their lack of driving ability i suppose) and i hadn't eaten the rest of my 'Bonaza Burger' - bought from the fish and chip shop across the railway in Temuka - these burgers are huge, at least to me anyway!).
I realise now that what i did in the tailgater scenario likely made the situation as worse as it was, but tailgaters annoy me to no ends because insurance isn't compulsory in this country so in the event of a tailgating related crash they probably wouldn't pay up even if forced to by the courts. And i never want to be involved in a crash, even on the racetrack in a racecar (latter of which i will build/buy one day).
From now on though in the event of some low life following too close i will pull to the left as much as i safely can and keep gradually slowing down. If in a car that handles well and am approaching some tight or winding corners i may try (safely) lose them a bit through the corners and then fid a place to pull over or let them pass afterwards for the reasons i briefly mentioned in the second paragraph above this.
*sigh* Sadly this is an insanely common worldwide problem and the only way to avoid it is not to drive i suppose - none of the retaliation methods (suddenly braking hard, going faster, tailgating them once they pass, using the handbrake to slow down instead so they won't see the brake lights, and so on) many suggest are safe for either party and i'm even more unlikely to ever try any of them now. People huh. *shakes head*
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