Bathurst Motor Festival

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The Bathurst Motor Festival is held at the Mount Panorama Circuit. Mount Panorama Circuit Map Overview.PNG
The Bathurst Motor Festival is held at the Mount Panorama Circuit.

The Bathurst Motor Festival is an annual motor racing event held at the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia during the Easter long weekend. [1] The event was first held in 2011 as a replacement for the Festival of Sporting Cars and as a way to give a higher number of drivers the opportunity to drive on the circuit. [2] The event plays host to a variety of racing categories, including production cars, sports cars, open-wheel racing cars and historic cars, which take part in sprint races, endurance races and regularity sessions. [3] Around 300 vehicles are entered for the event each year, with crowds of up to and over 10,000 people attending the event. [1] [3] [4] Car clubs also attend the event, displaying their cars within the confines of the circuit and performing parade laps. [5] Since 2016, the Bathurst 6 Hour production car race has been the showpiece race of the event. [6]

Contents

History

During the 2014 event, Formula 3 driver Simon Hodge set a new lap record for the circuit of 2:02.6701. [7] Hodge's time remained as the lap record until the 2016 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, where Shane van Gisbergen set a time of 2:01.567 in a McLaren 650S GT3. [8]

During the 2016 event, Nathan Morcom and 2014 Bathurst 1000 winner Chaz Mostert won the inaugural Bathurst 6 Hour, which also saw the event's biggest weekend crowd to date. [4] In winning the 2017 Bathurst 6 Hour, Paul Morris, driving with Luke Searle, became the first driver to win all of the three current major events at Mount Panorama; the 6 Hour, the Bathurst 1000, which he won in 2014 with Mostert, and the Bathurst 12 Hour, which he won in 2007 and 2010. [9]

Racing categories

Production Sports race start 2015 Bathurst Motor Festival.JPG
The start of a one-hour Production Sports car race at the 2015 Bathurst Motor Festival.
TCR Australia race start Bathurst 2021.jpg
The start of a TCR Australia race during the 2021 event.

The following categories have raced at the Bathurst Motor Festival.

CategoryLast appearanceMost recent winner
Aussie Racing Cars 2012 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Kyle Clews (Commodore-Yamaha)
Australian Drivers' Championship 2014 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Chris Anthony (Dallara F307-Mercedes-Benz)
Commodore Cup 2011 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Ross McGregor / Flag of Australia (converted).svg Drew Russell (Holden VS Commodore)
Formula Ford 2011 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Rob Storey (Spirit WL07-Ford)
Formula Vee 2013 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Daniel Reinhardt (Sabre 02-Volkswagen)
Group N Touring Cars 2021 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Brad Tilley (Ford Mustang)
GT World Challenge Australia 2021 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Yasser Shahin / Flag of Australia (converted).svg Garth Tander (Audi R8 LMS Evo)
Heritage Touring Cars2019 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Terry Lawlor (Ford Sierra RS500)
Historic Formula Ford 2018 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Oliver White (Reynard 89FF-Ford)
HQ Holden 2022 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Andrew Magilton (Holden HQ)
Hyundai Excel Racing 2021 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Cam Wilson (Hyundai Excel X3)
Improved Production 2019 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Matthew Cherry (Holden Monaro)
Production Sports2019 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Yasser Shahin (Audi R8 LMS Evo)
Production Touring 2022 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Thomas Sargent / Flag of Australia (converted).svg Cameron Hill (BMW M2 Competition)
Radical Australia 2021 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Peter Paddon (Radical SR3 RSX)
Saloon Cars 2015 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Travis Lindorff (Holden VT Commodore)
TCR Australia 2022 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Aaron Cameron (Peugeot 308 TCR)
Trans Am Australia 2022 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Nathan Herne (Ford Mustang Trans-Am)
Sources: [3] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]

Bathurst 6 Hour

Bathurst 6 Hour
Bathurst 6 Hour logo.png
Venue Mount Panorama Circuit
Corporate sponsor Hi-Tec Oils
First race 2016
Duration6 hours
Most wins (manufacturer) BMW (6)
Lynton Leahey 2019 Bathurst 6 Hour.jpg
As of 2021, BMW has won every running of the race. Pictured is the M3 F80 Competition of 2019 winners Beric Lynton and Tim Leahey.

The Bathurst 6 Hour, currently known as the Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour for sponsorship reasons, is a race for Group 3E Series Production Cars and other invited cars that has been held as part of the Festival since 2016. The race is held on Easter Sunday, with practice and qualifying sessions taking place on the preceding two days.

History

The race is not to be confused with the 1962 Bathurst Six Hour Classic, a one-off event held for production touring and sports cars.

The Bathurst 12 Hour was an endurance race held for production cars from 1991 to 1995. It was revived in 2007 and continued as a production car-only race until 2010, before GT3 cars were made eligible for the race in 2011. Over the following years there was growing focus on the outright GT3 cars, while the number of production cars in the race declined. In April 2015, the former promoters of the 12 Hour, Yeehah Events, announced a six-hour race for Group 3E Series Production Cars, called the Bathurst 6 Hour, to be held at the Bathurst Motor Festival in 2016. [6] Cars conforming to other regulations, such as V8 Utes and Saloon Cars, were also allowed to compete in the Invitational class. [15]

The 2020 running of the race was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was to be part of the inaugural Bathurst International event in November, [16] however this event, along with the 6 Hour, was eventually cancelled due to border closures within Australia arising from the pandemic. [17] The 6 Hour returned to its traditional Easter date in 2021.

Class structure

Entrants in the Bathurst 6 Hour are divided into six classes:

Winners

YearDriversVehicleEntrantLapsDistance
2016 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Nathan Morcom
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Chaz Mostert
BMW 335i E92 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Direct Plasterboard Outlet125776.625 km (482.572 mi)
2017 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Luke Searle
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Paul Morris
BMW M135i Hatch F20 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Roadchill Freight Express113702.069 km (436.245 mi)
2018 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Grant Sherrin
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Iain Sherrin
BMW M4 F82 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Sherrin Rentals109677.217 km (420.803 mi)
2019 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Beric Lynton
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Tim Leahey
BMW M3 F80 Competition Flag of Australia (converted).svg Bruce Lynton Bodyshop131 1 813.903 km (505.736 mi)
2020Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Shane Smollen
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Robert Rubis
Flag of New Zealand.svg Shane van Gisbergen
BMW M4 F82 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Prestige Connex120745.560 km (463.270 mi)
2022 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Thomas Sargent
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Cameron Hill
BMW M2 Competition Flag of Australia (converted).svg CHE Racing130807.690 km (501.875 mi)
Source: [18]

^1 Race record for laps & distance covered.

Multiple winners

By manufacturer

WinsManufacturerYears
6 Flag of Germany.svg BMW 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022
Source: [18]

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References

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  7. "Anthony wins again as Bathurst record smashed". Speedcafe. 20 April 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
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  14. "2016 Results". Bathurst Motor Festival. 27 March 2016. Archived from the original on 29 March 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  15. "Entries Set to Flow for Bathurst 6 Hour". Bathurst Motor Festival. 31 August 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  16. "Bathurst 6 Hour Re-scheduled". Bathurst 6 Hour. 17 March 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  17. "Bathurst International cancelled for 2020". Speedcafe. 7 October 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  18. 1 2 "Bathurst 6 Hour Winners". Mount Panorama Circuit. Retrieved 14 May 2022.