Only Ten Days Until The Great Race Bathurst 2014

**disco man** · 8th October 2014, 04:40 PM

Originally Posted by Dizza

Im rooting for Mclaughlin this year. One hell of a driver and that Volvo seems as though it's really well set up.

This article gives a little glimpse of Scott McLaughlin's mindset.

Scott Mclaughlin has embraced his status as the Bathurst dark horse and says his current championship position in relation to the race favourites will work to his advantage. The Volvo driver is effectively out of championship contention,but says that's an advantage leading into the biggest race of the year. "I'll be pushing a lot harder," he said. "A lot of these guys are going to be trying to get some points. We all want to win,but at the end of the day,I haven't really got much to worry about. We're in the top-10 in the championship it's not like i have to conserve points to maintain a lead. I'll be dive bombing if i need to and having a bit of fun. We've been a dark horse all year and we'll continue that." The Kiwi added the impressive form of teammate Alex Premat has boosted his confidence after the Frenchman was the fastest in the co-driver only sessions at Sandown. The former full-time driver will attack Bathurst for the third time and qualified in the top-10 shootout in last years race.

"He was awesome," Scott said. "He made the right moves at the right time. He really proved as a driver what he can do with a great car. He was aggressive when he needed to be and in some ways made the car look quicker than it actually was because he is really fast in regards to the other co-drivers. Raw pace is what you need and he has plenty of it." McLaughlin downplayed the tyre performance concerns of the Volvo,citing the track surface as a large unknown for everyone. "I don't know what the tyres are going to do," he said. "The track surface is different grip wise so i think no one exactly knows how hard they can push the car and how much grip you'll have,and mid-corner is an unknown until we get there."

**robbotd5** · 8th October 2014, 05:29 PM

No prizes for guessing who I hope wins or gets a good place!!
In case your guessing, Volvo has a history at the mountain since the '60's with the 122S. A stock 242GT ran and narrowly missed a top twenty finish. Then the all conquering 240T (in Europe anyway) that took out the ATCC in 1986. It was the only car that could mix it with the Jaguar XJ12's up the mountain and down Conrod thanks to 340Hp pushing 1050kg. More money and development and maybe a 240T could have one the great race. Fast forward to the 90's and the 5 cylinder 850 then the S40 took European tin top racing by storm. Ending up with Rickard Rydell and Jim Richards winning the Bathurst 1000 in 1998 after setting a lightning qualifying lap.
So yeah, go Scotty and the S60, even though it is "less" Volvo than it's racing predecessors.
Regards
Robbo

**disco man** · 8th October 2014, 07:42 PM

Originally Posted by robbotd5

No prizes for guessing who I hope wins or gets a good place!!
In case your guessing, Volvo has a history at the mountain since the '60's with the 122S. A stock 242GT ran and narrowly missed a top twenty finish. Then the all conquering 240T (in Europe anyway) that took out the ATCC in 1986. It was the only car that could mix it with the Jaguar XJ12's up the mountain and down Conrod thanks to 340Hp pushing 1050kg. More money and development and maybe a 240T could have one the great race. Fast forward to the 90's and the 5 cylinder 850 then the S40 took European tin top racing by storm. Ending up with Rickard Rydell and Jim Richards winning the Bathurst 1000 in 1998 after setting a lightning qualifying lap.
So yeah, go Scotty and the S60, even though it is "less" Volvo than it's racing predecessors.
Regards
Robbo

G'day Rob, Volvo has had quite a history at the mountain and hopefully that will continue with Scotty and GRM. They were deverstating in the British Touring Car Championship. Quick Question though,why do you say they are 'less' Volvo? As far as i know Polestar has had a huge hand in development of the S60. Is it because you can't buy a V8 S60?

**disco man** · 9th October 2014, 10:16 AM

Originally Posted by LandyAndy

Would like to see Frosty go back to back.
If they can keep the Volvos going all day they will do well,they seem to have more torque than their rivals so will do very well going up the mountain.
Andrew

FPR Seeking Bathurst Redemption.

Despite returning to Bathurst as defending champions,FPR is seeking redemption at Bathurst. Mark Winterbottom,s engineer,Grant McPherson,has said that after a tough result at Sandown his half of the garage is looking to make amends at Bathurst. Winterbottom has slipped to third in the championship points after a strong start to the season and 10th at Sandown was the third lowest of the FPR fleet. Howerver, McPherson added Winterbottom's record at Bathurst makes it the ideal platform to reignite the team's title push. "We had a disappointing Sandown so we're both very focused on Bathurst," he said. "He runs well there consistently and we've got to make sure we get on top of the new track conditions quicker than everyone else. Bathurst is typically different to other tracks we run on,but this year its going to be another step again. The team that gets onto sooner in the weekend and can work on the fine tuning aspects will show up greatly for qualifying." Co-driver Steve Owen underscored his speed alongside his new teammate at Sandown when he finished third in the co-driver qualifying race.

**robbotd5** · 9th October 2014, 07:39 PM

Originally Posted by disco man

G'day Rob, Volvo has had quite a history at the mountain and hopefully that will continue with Scotty and GRM. They were deverstating in the British Touring Car Championship. Quick Question though,why do you say they are 'less' Volvo? As far as i know Polestar has had a huge hand in development of the S60. Is it because you can't buy a V8 S60?

Mate, to answer your question.
Yes, it has to do with the fact that you can not buy a V8 S60. Although the Polestar straight 6 version with 508 HP is an impressive piece of kit!!.Yeah ok, you could not buy a factory 242 Turbo here in the '80's either but at least it was a Volvo engine unlike the current V8. The 850/S40 used the 5 cylinder Volvo engine as well. Both are now legendary.
Personally, I would like to see more production car racing like in 1995 where at Bathurst , the late great Peter Brock and Tony Scott drove an 850 T5 that mixed it with the RX7's ,Porsche's and Maserati Shamal until the manual gearbox cried enough!!
Regards
Robbo

Thread: Only Ten Days Until The Great Race Bathurst 2014

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