Thunder Down Under – the 2016 Bathurst 12 Hour race

Report by David Harbey

6 February 2021

The Bathurst 12 Hour race has really found a place in the heart of GT racing fans around the globe. Whilst it doesn’t have the decades of sportscar heritage of some tracks in Europe and America, it does take place on the same track on Mount Panorama as the Bathurst 1000 – Australia’s premier motorsport event (and I am aware of the F1 at Melbourne and the MotoGP at Phillip Island). The 1000 – “The Great Race” - remains firmly on the bucket list …

Those of us of a certain age will remember the ITV World of Sport highlights of the 1000 on a Saturday afternoon featuring the early use in-car cameras and big V8 engined competition between Ford Falcons and Holden Commodores.

More recently, the prescient decision to offer free streaming of the 12 Hours for GT cars has attracted a global following. Which is why our holiday to Australia in 2016 had to include a trip to Bathurst and the 12 Hour race.

It is a superb track to watch racing with lots of low fences and the added bonus of many great places to take photos. The 1000 is a very different prospect to the 12 Hours with a much bigger attendance and a somewhat rowdy reputation at the top of the Mountain.

Andrew Swift of Motor Car Diaries made it to Bathurst a couple of years before we did – he went for The Great Race and here’s a flavour of what he saw; thank you for sharing !

There’s probably nothing that prepares you for Bathurst; it is public road most of the year – complete with speed cameras so you won’t be emulating the racers. Alas, the road was not open the days we were there.

The narrow ribbon of track snaking up and across the top of the Mountain before plunging off the edge of the world (or so it seems at Skyline) seems far too narrow for either Aussie V8 Supercars or the current breed of GT3s.

We started out on the Start / Finish line where it leads to Hell Corner (or Michelin Corner as it was branded when we were there).

There’s a fair climb up from Murrays Corner (Meguiars) to Hell Corner that the TV doesn’t really show before the drag up to Griffins Bend which is where the fun really starts !

Bear in mind that the 12 Hours starts at 05.45, half an hour before sunrise, meaning the full field piles into Hell and Griffins in the dark.

There’s a really nice panning shot with the pit buildings in the background. The entry was broad-ranging even to the extent of a Nurburgring livered Porsche Cayman.

You can get arty with the trees and a locally built, V8 engined, Donut King sponsored, hot pink Ford Focus. Or there is a Martini livered AMG Mercedes or a works NISMO GTR.

While we are at this end of the track, there is viewing from the top of the pits.

We’d bought the pass that allowed us to park at the top of the Mountain and that was where we headed next.

Here there are panoramic views back to Bathurst town, the pits complex and Caltex Chase, the fast left, right, left put in to slow progress down the hill towards the final corner.

This area, McPhillamy, has good locations for head on shots.

It's also a great location for panning shots.

Or for rear shots, McPhillamy has it all.

Time to head downhill now.

Over the apparent cliff edge at Skyline and down into the Esses, the Dipper and on to the tight left at Forrest’s Elbow. The whole sequence across the top of the Mountain is magical on in car coverage. We will start at Skyline.

Then the Esses and the Dipper.

Then Forrest’s Elbow.

There’s a brilliant rear shot of the cars too.

I was still using my trusty Olympus E500 at that time, so the quality of the photos isn’t so good and not for the first time writing up these lockdown retrospectives, I find myself wishing I could go back to the event with my current experience and photographic kit.

But, we can’t travel, never mind time travel currently, so memories it will have to be for now.

On race day we had started up on the Mountain and finished off on the inside of Hell Corner.

The day was very hot, the sky was blue and we had only been in Australia for a few days, so towards the end of the afternoon some time was spent in the paddock eating an ice cream, seeking shade and watching the action on the big screen.

In time, the Tekno McLaren of Van Gisbergen, Parente and Webb #59 were declared the winners and received the spoils of victory.

You can find coverage of lots of action from the 12 Hours, including the full 2016 race and the sunrise, on YouTube.

You can see more of David’s work on his Social Media accounts and his extensive collection of motorsports images on Flickr.