Impressive results for the MPS3 at the Bathurst 12hr Production Race

[mav2777]

A mate who is a V8 meat head & I camped at Mt Panorama for the weekend to watch the 12hr production race. There was only 1 MPS competing & it qualified 25 out of 48. 6 x Subaru WRX competing with only 2 of them qualifying better than the MPS, 20 & 22 the rest of them were behind the MPS. An Mitsubishi EVO RS qualified 1st with a BMW 335i 2nd & another EVO 3rd. During the racing the MPS was clocking some quick lap times 2:35 very similar to 2 the WRXs the other 4 WRXs were slower than the MPS. There was 10 V8 Holdens from R8 Clubsport to SS Commodore & 4 Ford Falcons from XR6 Turbo to FG GT-P with 10 of qualifying better than the MPS. On race day all of the Holdens & Fords could not keep up to the pace of the MPS with only 1 of them the R8 Clubsport doing better lap times than the MPS, 2:33 compared to 2:35. 16 of 48 cars DNF, 5 of them were Mitsubishi Lancers, 4 Subaru WRX, Nissan 350Z Track, Ford XR8, a few Commodores etc, but the MPS continued till the end. The definite King of the Mountain was the EVOs finishing 1,2 & 3 lapping at 2:30. I think the MPS won in it's class "Hot Hatch Performance Cars" competing with the BMW 130i. The MPS did have some problems because it was a couple of laps down, not sure what it was but I emailed the team to get more info.
Presso

[kmh001]

Thanks for the report and the photo's, very interesting. And a good result for the MPS.

[Mr Nasa]

all i can say is 'MPS power'

[ChaMPS]

Worlds fastest hatch..... Top ten best engines ever built.... Some big claims there?

[kmh001]

He's almost right, the Mazda 2.3T DISI won the Wards '10 best engines award' two years in a row.

[mav2777]

Worlds fastest hatch..... Top ten best engines ever built.... Some big claims there?

I did my research & it was the fastest hatch in the world in 2006. Now the new Subaru hatchback is that little bit quicker. It also did win awards for the top 10 engines ever built.

[remotegt]

i was gonna go up to that race but went fishing instead. then had a cricket match on saturday.

my mates workshop tuned that Evo Rs that qualified first, and they were the pit crew. i ws supposed to go and support their pit crew activities but just didnt go. pity the Evo they tuned let go of 5th gear a few hours in.

[mav2777]

That would have been Superbarn Supermarkets Team with the Koundouris drivers ?
Yeh it was a good weekend, with plenty of room for camping & roaming around the track without crowds to contend with. On the Saturday night we spent hours in the pits, try doing that in October when the big V8s are on.

[Team Green]

I worked at the 2008 race as a flag Marshall and was going this year but due to family commitments on the south coast I couldn't go...

I heard from a petrol head mate that Jakes mps ran out of fuel at one stage...

anyway there will be a 3hr package of the race on Ch7 March 14 from 14:00-17:00....

http://www.bathurst12hour.com.au/fin...,50&Pagecat=50

Check out eligibility list

http://www.bathurst12hour.com.au/fil...ept%2025_1.pdf

[kblume]

Some great pics there mate, the MPS's are a very under rated car.. 9 seconds a lap quicker than the XR6T too!