TBK-Light.com

It's time for the most popular race of the year in Australia, the biggest race of the Aussie Supercars season and probably the greatest touring car race in the world. This weekend, the 2017 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 will happen. 26 cars with two drivers each will be battling for the Peter Brock Trophy through 1000 kilometres (or 621 miles) of racing on one of the world's most awe-inspiring circuits. Not coincidentally it will be the last 1000 for the foreseeable future featuring only the big V8 sedans that have been the dominant force in Australian motorsport for the past twenty years and beyond; with the race being held only two weeks before the Australian car manafacturing industry that first helped etch them into the culture of the race back in the late 60s will shut up shop for the final time.

Can Australian motor racing's most successful active driver Jamie Whincup break his streak of bad luck and mistakes and take his first win in the race since 2012? Or can current series leader Scott McLaughlin take his first win in the race and the first for the legendary Dick Johnson team since 1994, and their first in their partnership with the even more legendary Team Penske? Will one of the other flying Kiwis (like Shane van Gisbergen or Fabian Coulthard) win it for New Zealand? Can Craig Lowndes win his 7th 1000 and join Jim Richards (also with 7 wins) and the all-time great Peter Brock (with 9 wins) as one of only three drivers to have won 7 or more editions of the race? Will Waters/Stanaway repeat their Sandown victory or will one of their teammates take home the crown? There's only one thing for certain and that is that the race is almost guaranteed to be great.

ENTRY LIST
car # / main driver / co-driver / team / car
#3 - Aaren Russell/Taz Douglas - Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport - Holden Commodore VF
#5 - Mark Winterbottom/Dean Canto - Prodrive Racing Australia - Ford Falcon FGX
#6 - Cameron Waters/Richie Stanaway - Prodrive Racing Australia - Ford Falcon FGX
#7 - Todd Kelly/Jack Le Brocq - Nissan Motorsport - Nissan Altima L33
#8 - Nick Percat/Macauley Jones - Brad Jones Racing - Holden Commodore VF
#9 - David Reynolds/Luke Youlden - Erebus Motorsport - Holden Commodore VF
#02 - Scott Pye/Warren Luff - Walkinshaw Racing - Holden Commodore VF
#12 - Fabian Coulthard/Tony D'Alberto - Dick Johnson Racing Team Penske - Ford Falcon FGX
#14 - Tim Slade/Ash Walsh*/Andre Heimgartner - Brad Jones Racing - Holden Commodore VF
#15 - Rick Kelly/David Wall - Nissan Motorsport - Nissan Altima L33
#17 - Scott McLaughlin/Alexandre Premat - Dick Johnson Racing Team Penske - Ford Falcon FGX
#18 - Lee Holdsworth/Karl Reindler - Charlie Schwerkolt Racing - Holden Commodore VF
#19 - Will Davison/Jonathon Webb - Tekno Autosports - Holden Commodore VF
#21 - Tim Blanchard/Todd Hazelwood - Tim Blanchard Racing - Holden Commodore VF
#22 - James Courtney/Jack Perkins - Walkinshaw Racing - Holden Commodore VF
#23 - Michael Caruso/Dean Fiore - Nissan Motorsport - Nissan Altima L33
#33 - Garth Tander/James Golding - Garry Rogers Motorsport - Holden Commodore VF
#34 - James Moffat/Richard Muscat - Garry Rogers Motorsport - Holden Commodore VF
#55 - Chaz Mostert/Steve Owen - Rod Nash Racing - Ford Falcon FGX
#56 - Jason Bright/Garry Jacobson - Britek Motorsport - Ford Falcon FGX
#62 - Alex Rullo/Alex Davison - Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport - Holden Commodore VF
#78 - Simona de Silvestro/David Russell - Nissan Motorsport - Nissan Altima L33
#88 - Jamie Whincup/Paul Dumbrell - Triple Eight Race Engineering - Holden Commodore VF
#97 - Shane van Gisbergen/Matt Campbell - Triple Eight Race Engineering - Holden Commodore VF
#99 - Dale Wood/Chris Pither - Erebus Motorsport - Holden Commodore VF
#888 - Craig Lowndes/Steven Richards - Triple Eight Race Engineering - Holden Commodore VF
*Walsh had a big crash in unrelated testing a few days ago and was replaced by Andre Heimgartner on Friday as a result of him not being well enough to drive after being injured in that crash.

On top of the 1000 there will be five support categories. The main one is the level 2 series of the VASC, the Super2 championship which has been very solid this year but unfortunately will be not as strong for its 250 kilometre race on Saturday with only 15 cars entered and a couple of its top drivers missing. Then there will be the V8 Utes, which has historically been an entertaining category but it is in the process of being replaced and hasn't had great numbers this year and the Touring Car Masters series for heavily modified versions of 60s-70s muscle cars (plus the odd Porsche) which is generally pretty cool. Also running will be two one-make series, the Porsche Carrera Cup which I usually don't bother watching because it's generally boring and the developmental production car Toyota 86 series, which has large fields in its short history and is relatively entertaining.

The Dunlop Super 2 entry list is here: http://www.supercars.com/news/super2/bathurst-super2-race-regains-points-status-for-2018/
there's more info on the support categories here: http://www.supercars.com/bathurst1000/whats-on/support-categories/

EDIT: HERE IS THE TRACK SCHEDULE
http://www.supercars.com/2017-supercheap-auto-bathurst-1000-schedule-results/

TV & STREAMING INFO
The main live stream for the event will be here: http://motorsport.cf/

Some others might pop up once the event starts, although I wouldn't guarantee it.

There will be plenty of TV coverage for the race in Australia and New Zealand (I imagine). The info for the Australian broadcast is here. There could be some live coverage on channels outside of Australia but I don't have any information on that.
http://www.supercars.com/tv-schedule/


Here are some special liveries for the race that have popped up in the last day or two.

So many big races this week

Looks like the race is LIVE on both Motorsport.tv and Freesports here in the UK.

_________________
"Many people ask me why I always sign off Till We Meet Again, because goodbye is always so final. Goodbye Dan Wheldon." -Marty Reid

Boost Mobile is sponsoring a 2nd team this weekend, this time being the #8 Brad Jones Racing Commodore of Nick Percat and Macauley Jones

In New Zealand, the race and supports will be broadcast on SKY Sports 4.

let's hope this year's race isn't ruined by some stupid safety cars

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The V8 Utes will have 23 cars, which is better then I expected:
https://www.speedcafe.com/2017/10/03/pretty-returns-v8-utes-bathurst/

TCM will have 29 cars:
https://www.speedcafe.com/2017/10/03/brad-tilley-gtho-back-tcm-bathurst-round/

What is the start time in the UK?

_________________
"Many people ask me why I always sign off Till We Meet Again, because goodbye is always so final. Goodbye Dan Wheldon." -Marty Reid

Get in the mood

The race is on Australian Eastern Daylight (savings) Time, which is GMT+11 and it starts at about 11 local time so it would be starting at midnight at GMT+0. You should be able to figure it out from there. I put up the track schedule in the second post (I'd forgotten to add it in originally)

Is the motorsport.cf stream not working for any one else?

Anyone got a VLC stream

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It looks like they haven't bothered to set it up yet. It's only practice today though (plus a single qualifying session for the V8 Utes)

Apparently it didn't work for F1 last weekend and he shows that on that stream too.

Here's a Youtube stream:


Slade crashed hard BTW and Rullo has now hit the wall.

Man, that was quite the hit

There is a two-week free trial of Foxtel Now which will allow you to watch the weekend. I'm going to be using that personally just for the sake of reliability (and then I'll probably cancel afterwards.) Although be warned, you will have to give them your credit/debit card details.

VLC stream is running btw

Some good times at the end of that practice, getting into the 2:06's