WILL Davison admits that he can’t take much credit avoiding disaster in his spectacular 200km/h double-spin across the top of Mount Panorama during Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour practice.
The back end of his Team WRT Audi snapped around at 203km/h as he came through the fearsome McPhillamy Park curve, remarkably completing two neat spins and staying off the walls before Davison continued on his way across Skyline.
“I’ll claim 50 per cent of control in that second pirouette, but the first one nothing.” Davison joked.
“It was quite nervous the way it was set up and it snapped on me pretty quick. My initial thoughts were this is not good, there’d not many good outcomes when you’re going backwards here.”
“I was on and off the brakes, steering it how I could and I thought halfway around the second one ‘oh my gosh, I’m not even going to hit the grass, this is going to go well.’”
With no television coverage or big screens in operation on the Friday, only the spectators at the top of the Mountain were treated to the sight of the red and black Audi spinning like a top.
Not even the crew were aware of what had actually happened — but their jaws dropped once they downloaded the on-board video from the car.
“I got straight on the radio, thinking they’d seen it on the TV screens, and said ‘I’ve had a pretty big spin, I’m going to bring it in because the tyres will be flat-spotted,’” Davison explained.
“They’d not seen it and were asking if I’d hit anything or been in the grass. I said no, and they said the tyres are fine, there’s not a mark on them!
“Then one of the boys downloaded the vision out of the car and everyone realised it was a pretty big moment.”
Davison is sharing the Belgian-run Audi with veteran sports car racers Mathias Lauda, Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana, his co-drivers trying to get up to speed with a new car while reacquainting themselves with Mount Panorama.
“I was a little bit more timid across the top (after the spins) just until we understand the car,” Davison said.
“We made some pretty significant changes based on making it more comfortable, especially for the other guys who haven’t driven it much.
“We’re not too bad but I’m not at one with the car yet. Hopefully we’ll do a reasonable number today and for us, it’s just about not making mistakes and getting a result that way.”
