A minor spat has broken out on Youtube over whether or not a Lotus Exige GT3 traveling close to 250km/h [155mph] should have passed in between a Mazda MX-5 and a Porsche Boxster during the Production Sports Cars CUE Enduro Series held at the Phillip Island circuit in Victoria, Australia.
If you watch the first video shot from an inboard camera on the MX-5, it looks like a rocket ship flew by inches away from the Japanese roadster. In fact, it all happens so fast that you have to actually pause the video to see the Exige GT3 driven by Barton Mawer.
According to the Philip Island Circuit's official website, the driver in the No66 MX-5 was Michael Hall. Here's what he said on Youtube:
"I'm chasing down a Porsche Boxster in the #66 Mazda MX5 whilst trying to hang onto the lead of Class E. Meanwhile Barton Mawer is trying to hunt down Alan Simonsen in the Lambo for the overall lead, and obviously not in the mood to waste any time."
Asked by a commentator if Mawer made a "safe pass" in his opinion, Hall answered:
"From my footage you'd certainly say it was touch and go, but I'd like to see the footage from his car before making that call. I did see him coming onto the front straight as I pulled up beside the Boxster but I was surprised by the speed at which he caught us. The car does get buffeted around at those speeds for sure, so it wouldn't have taken much for either of us to drift a few inches one way or the other."
Shortly after, the owner of the Exige GT3 being driven by Mawer, who we only know by his Youtube handle "GT3CR1", uploaded a video filmed from inside the car that shows the view from within the Lotus.
He went on to reply on Halls's video:
"Hey, I'm the owner of the lotus that Bart was driving. I thought I'd wait to get my hands on my in-car footage before I responded to some of these posts, but from Bart's perspective, the 2 slower cars, which should have seen him coming left him no choice but to run straight down the middle. It was a ballsy move, but every time you pass a slower car, you're depending on them not to make any sudden moves. Everyone held their line, a spectacular move was made, and the race went on!"
And here's Hall's response:
"Hey Angelo, thanks for posting your video footage. I did see Barton coming around the last turn onto the front straight just as I pulled out to pass the Boxster, but was a little surprised at just how quickly he caught us. From your footage, it seems that Bart had enough time to size us up, realize that there was enough space and that both cars were holding their line to make the pass. I never posted the footage to make an issue of it, just thought people would enjoy the video."
You can have a look at both videos and have your say in the comments section below.
11 Comments:
Looks like a fair pass to me. I agree with the owner of the Lotus, you depend as much on other drivers in racing, as you do your own skill.
Balls made of steel !! That's what I call driving!!
Hey Carscoop.. the load comments thing is crap. Comment posts are the life blood of a Blog. The website in nothing without feedback. Its more complicated.
It's an I called "all in" gamble, but very legit pass, anything can happen if other drivers react differently
Slick, but not so smart. ONE wrong move by either of those cars could have spelled disaster. The Lotus driver, while talented, I'm sure, was foolish risking his own well-being, as well as two other's, to catch the Lambo (DID he ever catch it? Did the Lotus win?).
I wouldn't call it either.
I would say that this is a confident move. The man was confident in going through, yet also confident in the others not making a mistake.
Just racing. It's on a track not the highway
Now that's a driver! Why can't everyone be like this?
agree 110%....idiot makes passes like these doing the same speed on freeways/highways. (far from being progressional drivers)
There is just too big a performance gap between these two classes, much like what we saw at Le Mans, it's the kind of foolhardiness on the part of the race organizers that eventually leads to someone dying.
As this was a racing situation I would agree it was a fair pass especially when looking from his vantage point. I would have expected far more controversy if the mazda and boxster set the "pick" for the lambo
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