Maybe the car or the track he was using for his training in rFactor, were not as good as should be ;-)
I think it's because of track, the "tipical welcome to Bathurst". I guess that's the hardest track ever for a sim racer debut in real life motorsport.
thats invaluable experience for a 17 year old, even the error at Forest Elbow will teach him good things! oh....and what a close finish.....god I love the V8s
Good on him, I think they still finished just a few laps down though. Bummer an iracer won though, next year it'll be a rf2 racer I'm sure!!
I think putting a 17 year old around Bathurst for debut is not great managing. Somewhere like Queensland raceway would have been a better starting point.
I was in Europe following the F1 circus since August and only returned back to my home here in Australia 2 weeks ago, so no, I don't know the full story and never claimed to have I've been following Bathurst for the past 30 years and having been there multiple times it's quite clear it's not a place for a young driver making his V8 debut... yes I know he won a competition as it was drilled all over channel 7 for the past week, it's logical that Bathurst is not the place to learn!
I'd probably agree with that, but imagine what it would have done for the team, sponsors, etc, if he had shined. That's probably why they took the chance.
I give you Trevor Bayne at Daytona earlier this year, young lad up and coming and BAM...wins the 500, not saying Cameron would've won Bathurst but he had as good a chance as anyone in an Enduro!
I live in Bathurst, reckon it would have been rather scary to make your debut here. Driving around the track at road speeds really gives you an appreciation for how challenging it must be to drive at race pace. Perhaps it wasn't the best place to start out but as Tim points out, if he had achieved a high result the exposure would have been great for both the team and driver. Bathurst is without a doubt the biggest race here in Australia so I can understand the team decision, pity it didn't work out the way it could have but as the saying goes, that's racing.
Not sure whether Tim is aware of this but Cameron has been given a drive in the last two rounds of the Fujitsu series using the Shannons Insurance sponsored VE out of Kelly Racing. These are the result for Cameron at last weekends Sandown. Race 1 Sandown 15. 77 Shannons-Linde Racing Cameron Waters Holden Commodore VE 5000 15 20:53.8518 11 1:13.2782 Race 2 Sandown 7. 77 Shannons-Linde Racing Cameron Waters Holden Commodore VE 5000 15 21:48.6381 7 1:13.2698 Race 3 Sandown DNF. 77 Shannons-Linde Racing Cameron Waters Holden Commodore VE 5000 6 7:36.2687 5 1:14.3827 Ok so he got a DNF but you need to note so did 222 Coates Hire Racing Nick Percat who is one of the top ten drivers in the series currently in 7th after round 6.
Very few young drivers thrive in being thrown in the deep end. Unless you are an exceptional talent (read Sebastian Vettel), then it will more likely taint your image than build it. For every successful young driver thrown in the deep end, how many unsuccessful young drivers have their been, lost in the annals of time? There are many many many more 'Mike Thackwells' than there are 'Sebastian Vettels'....
Madison Down should get a drive plays rf and iracing and is now 5 times iracing champion even beats the real v8 drivers over there. not Bathurst race but would be good to see what he is like in a real v8, worth a shot at giving him a drive day see how good he is
Mad is a talented sim racer no doubt but I doubt you can throw him into a 600HP touring car and expect him to compete with the professionals.
I'm just posting here to be seen in the same thread as some of the legends of Rfactor lmFao CheerZ everyone!
I paid lots of money to drive @ Bathurst and to make sure I knew the track beforehand I used rFactor as well, now I'm no race driver just a league driver and it was invaluable to be familiar with the track, even though it's not exactly the same it did help btw here's the vid... http://youtu.be/Su4_WEov8LE It was amazing to drive at speed on Australia's greatest track and a letdown, watch and you'll see why SS
