23/04/2025
Bathurst '25 edition - redemption at the mountain!
As everyone is aware, we have made the annual pilgrimage to Bathurst on Easter long weekend to take on the mountain since 2023. With 2 failed attempts at a podium we were hoping that this was our year.
We did abit of testing with the new control Hankook tyre a couple of weeks out from the race to try and get a grip on what they could handle. We unfortunately blew 2 tyres during our long run testing, unsure if it was a temperature, car set up or a bad batch issue we went into the weekend with a little uncertainty around the rubber.
We used practice 1 as a session to scrub some tyres and get a heat cycle into them for our big race, also to get both the drivers to test out the track yet again as Nathan hadn't driven the car since last year.
Brakes were a little average as we were trying to use up old pads and rotors before changing to our improved set up to no longer require a wheel spacer (which we deemed to be the cause of our wheel falling off last year) we also had a look at the logs from our Plex Tuning data logging dash which saw a 20psi drop in oil pressure.
After some deliberation it was decided to change the oil pump and balance shaft assembly due to the age of the current engines parts. Upon removing the Sump there was plastic galore inside, a small part that stops oil splashing into the breather system had disintegrated and blocked the pick up partially. After getting the sump back on and tested, we regained the oil pressure back to where it should have been.
Practice 2 was a session of bedding in new brakes and checking the oil pressure throughout. Both drivers had a crack and we decided the brakes needed one last bleed to confirm they were all OK.
After this session we had found the mechatronics in the gearbox had decided to no longer enjoy its life inside of a racecar gearbox.
Practice 3 was riddled with red flags during the session and we didn't actually set any lap time at all. The choice then was to change the mech unit before qualifying or leave it and hold our breath.
Deciding to leave it in we were set ready to qualify.
Qualifying was amazing, Pat strapped in the car and ready to see what he can get out of our little Lucy. He went out to set a banker incase of red flags like the previous session which saw us sitting around p3 in class. After a tyre pressure check and driver reset we had a good battle with our garage mates. They had set an awesome lap time in the final stages which made us all a little nervous for our ultimate starting position. But in typical Pat fashion, he came through with a lap time of 2:35.202, surpassing our current PB and setting a Class lap record in Qualifying! That secured us pole for the class and had our spirits nice and high ready for the race!
After Qualifying we decided it was a good time to change over to our spare mechatronics in hope we could rectify our gearbox issue. Unfortunately this issue was not fully resolved with the 2nd hand, untested unit but made it better and that is all we could do.
Nathan took the car out for a warm up Sunday morning before the race, having a wild ride through turn 2 and spinning the car, avoiding the walls thankfully! He completed a few more laps and ended the session ready to go... or so we thought! We found oil leaking around the LHF hub and couldn't work out exactly where it was coming from, after a better look after removing the shock we had realised the CV boot had a tiny split in it flicking oil (which looked to be melted grease) around the place. A quick change of the drive shaft and we were ready to go racing!
Nathan started our race and did an awesome job of keeping the car in the right direction and straight, with tyre pressures climbing a little higher than we wanted there was a little balance issue with the car but he kept powering through to hand over to Pat. Re adjusted the tyre pressures and away he went, the first half of the race was riddled with safety cars so there wasn't too much green flag running in our quest for Pat to catch our class competitors. Around the half way point we had Nathan jump back in the car and strapped a new set of tyres on, a little nervous from what happened last year we managed to get them on without a worry and off he went.
This stint had a little less safety cars in it, but the traffic was very wild having 70 odd cars on the track! Again kept it nice and clean, we pushed out his stint to make sure we could get Pat back in without having to come in to re fuel. Once Pat was back in the car again we had a stint with not many safety cars and the car was drinking through the fuel at a high rate, getting a little nervous we were considering coming in for a splash to get us home, how ever this came after the 30 minutes to go mark which had closed our pit window to do that without penalty.
Deciding to keep Pat out there and attempting to tell him to slow down a little to conserve fuel (which is near impossible when you are a racecar driver). We were praying for a safety car so we could save abit of fuel for the run home. Thankfully our prayers were answered and a very late safety car gave us the perfect break we needed to save what we needed too! There was then a 1 lap dash to the finish line after that safety car, unfortunately the traffic was wild so the call was made to pull out of the way of the faster cars racing extremely hard all bunched together.
After 6 hours of faultless racing we ended up crossing the line in 1st place in class!!!!!!
We finally did it! We have won the Bathurst 6 hour, the biggest race for our category in the country. One of the most grueling things you can do to a production car and come out on top of was an amazing achievement by the team! The curse had been lifted and Pat and Nathan got to lift that 1st place trophy up high on the top step of the podium!!
A huge thank you to Pat and Nathan for bringing us along for the ride, we couldn't do this without you guys and extremely happy for the opportunity! To all the team, the cooks, the support and everyone that makes this happen. Thank you all!
We are now Bathurst winners!
Enjoy a few photos of our weekend from Mick at MTR images who always does an amazing job!
\- Team MRPS/Iolar/AED
