Bathurst

oigle

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Porsche 1. Aston Martin 2. MB 3.
A race with almost no safety cars until the last half hour. Plenty of swings and roundabouts but Porsche deserved their win. Aston Martin pulled a surprise getting 2nd. The MB's ran well and led a lot but failed in the end due to Porsche better economy and less fuel stops. Good race at the end.
 
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oigle

oigle

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No Aussie v8s?
GT3 sports cars plus some lesser groups only. International rules.
As an aside, Oz V8's would make for an interesting mix with them as their lap times are within a second or so and they have different areas of expertise. Won't happen though.
This was Porsche's last race with the current GT3 model. They have a new one in the wings for the next event.
There were 7 cars on the lead lap at the end of 12 hours which was good. NO major prangs.
 

rorywquin

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Yep - I lived there (Oz) for 8 years and every year promised myself that I'd go. I did manage to get to the Clipsal 500 when I lived in Adelaide - there is something about the noise (music) those big V8s make.
 

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This looks like fun

Love they way they lift a wheel in the bends :)

 

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Always used to love watching the Aussie V8s....

sadly its game over

whilst the western world cut wages by 50% in last 25 years, no one bothered to let the Ozzy boys know... they then dug out the next 100 years of their mineral wealth and sold it to the Chinese for 50p... and thus they have now priced themselves in to a unique triple the cost economy on the verge of the biggest collapse in history

in an attempt to get out before the end Ford 2016, Holden 2017 and Toyota 2017 gave up production of real cars forever

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-07/timeline-ford-australia-ceases-production/7911742

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-08/holden-closure-australia-history-car-manufacturing/9015562

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10...s-altona-after-50-years-manufacturing/9007624
 
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oigle

oigle

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Unfortunately, most 1st world economies have suffered from their costs of "standard of living" in recent decades with China, India et al supplying goods at very cheap prices - just ask Donald!! Our vehicle industry is little different to England - it too lost many manufacturers and maybe on brink of losing more with Brexit mess. Our relatively small population is an issue too. Vehicle production needs volume to exist at economical prices. The other issue was a decline in demand for "large" vehicles like Holden and Ford produced - SUV's, light trucks and small cars now dominate sales. The economics became unsustainable. Toyota tried to stay but wages costs and union demands along with poor work ethic compared to Asians, ended their venture. Shame. USA, GB etc have all felt the same pain.
Surprisingly our economy generally is doing quite well on the world stage. Our housing bubble has burst somewhat which is going to have some ripple effect though. Sydney and Melbourne were waaaay overpriced though so needed a correction. Other cities are doing much better.
I think we will be around for a while yet :)
 

00slk

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Always used to love watching the Aussie V8s....

Me too, if I want to watch Aussie V8 action now I'd have to dig out the old Video tapes, though I lost a bit of interest in the early 80's when the cars started to become 'not the cars you could actually buy' on Monday! I've also got tape of the Armstrong 500 at Phillip Island......Come to think of it, I got loads of video tapes of racing and some with me caught on camera too.
 

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the OZ plant I know (not cars) has to stop as too expensive to pay to work through weekends.... and even then costs nearly twice any European site.. OZ wages there are 110% of one's in the UK to do 24 5 vs 24 7 here (with UK 20% less than DE or NL !!!)

my sister went out 30 years ago and they've done very well..... double the UK, when she first got there she thought 4ltr plus engines was stupid... as they did better, she now thinks they are quite nice
 

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Just for info, Aussie V8's at Bathurst is being re-shown on Freesports to-morrow at 5pm. That is a great race, got that set for recording !!
 

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Just for info, Aussie V8's at Bathurst is being re-shown on Freesports to-morrow at 5pm. That is a great race, got that set for recording !!

Turns out that it was the Liqui Moly 12 Hour and not Aussie V8's after all
 

rorywquin

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Unfortunately, most 1st world economies have suffered from their costs of "standard of living" in recent decades with China, India et al supplying goods at very cheap prices - just ask Donald!! Our vehicle industry is little different to England - it too lost many manufacturers and maybe on brink of losing more with Brexit mess. Our relatively small population is an issue too. Vehicle production needs volume to exist at economical prices. The other issue was a decline in demand for "large" vehicles like Holden and Ford produced - SUV's, light trucks and small cars now dominate sales. The economics became unsustainable. Toyota tried to stay but wages costs and union demands along with poor work ethic compared to Asians, ended their venture. Shame. USA, GB etc have all felt the same pain.
Surprisingly our economy generally is doing quite well on the world stage. Our housing bubble has burst somewhat which is going to have some ripple effect though. Sydney and Melbourne were waaaay overpriced though so needed a correction. Other cities are doing much better.
I think we will be around for a while yet :)

Living there (2008 -2015), I always felt that people were living beyond their means, everyone had to have a McMansion , 2 or 3 new cars usually a 4x4/UTE and something nice for the wife, a tinnie and 2 overseas holidays a year etc. I was on an excellent wage (coal seam gas) there and didn't live like the people around me.

I don't think you have seen the end of the "housing bubble' as soon as interest rates rise you are going to have a mini "sub-prime" crash. LNG, iron ore and copper have just managed to keep the economy going. People are barely managing to service their debt and banks (the biggest cartel in OZ) have allowed really poor/risky loans.

I have a friend in Sydney with a tiny terraced (2 small bedrooms, 1 bathroom, loft, kitchen/dining/lounge) house admittedly a 15 minute walk to the CBD valued at $2M. Totally nuts. We lived in Wellington Point and even there, prices were crazy. I never owned a house in OZ - I worked out that I'd be wiser tying up my money in Europe and rented.
 
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rorywquin

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the OZ plant I know (not cars) has to stop as too expensive to pay to work through weekends.... and even then costs nearly twice any European site.. OZ wages there are 110% of one's in the UK to do 24 5 vs 24 7 here (with UK 20% less than DE or NL !!!)

my sister went out 30 years ago and they've done very well..... double the UK, when she first got there she thought 4ltr plus engines was stupid... as they did better, she now thinks they are quite nice

Unions are killing it - Oz has probably the most expensive and biggest "sense of entitlement" workforce in the world. When I was there, there was a union that were negotiating for bereavement leave for the death of pets......."my snake died...I need time off to mourn boo hoo.....". The cost per joule to build a LNG plant in OZ is the highest in the world by far (I spent a lot of time in that industry).

Supervisors in the spray shop at Toyota (around 2009) were making better money than doctors - go figure!

I have worked all over the world (I've had a homes in 8 countries) and found the Aussies were / are like the spoiled kids of the world's workforce.

Obviously, I generalise and there are great people and workers in OZ but ..........IMO, that generation with the ANZAC / Gallipoli ethos that made Oz great is on the way out.

In-spite of my ramblings above, it is a wonderful place to live (if you can afford it) and the people are generally very nice.
 

Botus

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regarding the 10 year long service holiday.... entitling him to 10 weeks paid leave (to return home to motherland) my sisters husband qualifies for 12% extra on top of his std. wage "to cope with spending so much when on leave" they've been back twice on this jolly... last time renting an E class
 

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