It’s that time of year again! On the one hand, doesn’t time fly? It doesn’t seem like we are over two-thirds of our way through the calendar already. On the other hand, we’ve been waiting for this one all year.
It’s the biggest race of the year and here are some Bathurst 1000 stats just to prove it…
Red flags!
The Bathurst race has been red-flagged a total of four times in its history. The most recent was in 2014 after the track broke up at Griffins Bend. The race eventually resumed after an hour-long delay while the circuit was patched up.
Safety Car!
The Safety Car has appeared in all but two races since it was introduced in 1987. The most it’s been out is 13 times in 2000, with the average number just over 7 since then.
It’s our longest race!
This may seem a little too obvious, as in, it takes the longest time to complete. A usual race has a time-certain finish, where after that the chequered flag is waved the next time the leader crosses the line. However, Bathurst is the one and only race to not have a time cap. The longest race took a whopping 7hr 58m 53.2052s to complete back in 2014!
We’ve got the race record!
We may still be chasing that podium finish (although we came really close in 2014), but we were fast enough to claim the Supercar lap record last year with a time of 2:06.2769 on lap 141.
It’s close to, well, nothing!
It’s 200-kilometers from Sydney and 772-kilometres from Melbourne, which means a long way from anywhere. For this reason, the team opt to dig out their favourite playlists and make a road trip out of this one.
It’s got the most corners!
Everybody assumes (correctly) that the reason the drivers are knackered after this one is because it’s so very, very long. That’s not untrue – you’d expect to be tired after 161 laps. Just one lap is hard work, so times that by the amount we do and you’ve got 3,703 corners, and about 5,152 gear changes.
It’s not any easier for the crew!
The crew really do earn their corn this weekend – it’s hard to describe just how demanding and intense the week is, but imagine 12+ hour days consecutively for seven days!
You don’t have to start on pole!
57 races at Bathurst, 11 won from pole, a few won from last! In fact, eighth grid position is the only spot in the top ten to have never produced a winner. Did we mention it’s a long race? So, anything can happen!
To finish first, first you must finish!
It’s as the old saying goes… everyone wants to finish first, but speed is not important if the car can’t endure the distance and cross the finish line. Our engineers have always said you just need to make sure you are still there for the last ten laps (and still on the lead lap), that’s when the race really starts!