AUSSIE RULES

THE SAFETY CAR IS OUT AGAIN AT BATHURST. Not for a crash or a breakdown. Not for a spin or an oil spill. Nope, there’s an echidna on the track: think large hedgehog. The field bunches up, the spiky mammal is returned to the bush, and the race essentially starts afresh. Only in Australia.

Also only in Australia, V8 Supercars, the star attraction at the Bathurst 1000. Like kangaroos and koalas, these indigenous racers are peculiar to the land down under. A sort of silhouette series, V8 Supercars have a common chassis, roll-cage, basic suspension design, brakes, tyres, wheels, clutch, ECU, transaxles and axles. As implied by the championship’s title, motive duties are performed by a V8, the block of which can be sourced from Ford, General Motors or, bizarrely, the Nissan Patrol, with capacity restricted to 5 litres, forced induction prohibited, and revs limited