260KM/H ON A WET PUBLIC ROAD: Early morning at Mt Panorama

May 2, 2010 7:53 pm Published by

I was sent an anonymous email just now with a link to this video.

For readers who aren’t familiar with Mt Panorama Circuit in Australia, it’s a street circuit in the city of Bathurst that basically consists of some very long straights up and down a mountain, with a whole lot of turns at the top that leave very little room for error. Here’s some Youtube videos of the circuit.

During non-race periods, it’s a regular street with a 60km/h speed limit that can be accessed by the public, and is regularly patrolled by the police.

Here’s what makes it interesting. This video was obviously shot very early in the morning, and that black R34 Skyline in the video looks and sounds an awful lot like Mark Berry’s car, which will be competing in the World Time Attack Challenge being held at Eastern Creek circuit in a couple of weeks.

So, is it real or a fake viral video? Right at the end, you can see the driver leave the circuit and start driving away along the public street that leads to the circuit. You can also see a car coming the other way on Conrod Straight. All I can say is either someone is either going to have some explaining to do to the Bathurst constabulary, or is very good friends with the Mt Panorama management.

Here’s a video of Mark’s R34 at Eastern Creek. Same car? You decide.

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This post was written by Alexi

16 Comments

  • richithekiller says:

    My first thought: viral PR campaign.

  • Adam Zillin says:

    Pause it at 0:58 seconds. There’s an ADVAN sticker on the right rear quarter panel…

    Who else could it be?

  • There was a case on a current affairs program where they pusued a guy who did some drifting on public roads.
    They didn’t take kindly to it. Suspended, fined and whatever else.

    If I was those guys, I wouldn’t be promoting an event they have invested heavily in, this way.
    Especially if it is real. I am sure their sponsors wouldn’t approve.

    Doesn’t look sped up or with dubbed soundtrack.

    Alexi. Australia, the land of regulation and confiscation. You wouldn’t risk that would you?

    I’m not even sure it’s wise to test in the wet. If you do leave the track, you are not in a good position

  • James says:

    I have to agree with Richi there. But I am impressed nonetheless :]

  • K_Rudd says:

    Is it just me or can you see flashing lights at the top of the mountain when it cuts to the outside shot at the bottom of Conrod straight?

  • Fury-S12 says:

    viral pr campaign for sure (its working to lol) as for the question of legal driving its pretty hard to tell as its not hard to fake the car coming the other way to give the impressions the track was open and im sure the people involved will never reveal what the go was but the only thought i have it theres no way in hell youd get permission to be that loud at that “track” in the middle of the night with out alot of effort so hrmmmm

  • Kyle says:

    I agree with Adam Zillin. The engine doesn’t the same as the other video, but he probably removed some things. Unless someone made their own copy of the car..?

  • Ben Comana says:

    Very controversial…

  • Jamie says:

    ACA is probably going to have a field day with this regardless of wether it had been allowed

    They’ll spin it as a P-plater endangering the lives of everyone in Australia, and bring in some dick like luffy and show him watching the footage while he comments on how fast and stupid hes driving

  • Liam says:

    Listen to him hooking those gears at the very start, gotta be a sequential, how many people are rolling round with sequentials

  • Max says:

    Hahaha Jamie I agree 100%. If ACA or TT see this they’ll probably blame TopGear again..

  • Adam says:

    Hahahahah, sure looks like Mark.

    Remember seeing this car in Japan when it was all stock. Had a couple response mods & tacky aero. Aside from that she was real straight.

  • Daniel says:

    has some pretty nice but short edits in there, and from the looks of it a few cameras around, i’d say it was a setup

  • Merlz says:

    http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i250/SX2NYT/advan34.jpg

    have a suss, definitely looks like the ADVAN 34

  • Matt says:

    I dont think anybody can prove, beyond reasonable doubt that it is Jim Berry. Hell, its hard enough trying to tell if it is a skyline, it could be blue/black/brown….could be any dark colour. Advan stick, probably only about 10,000 of those stickers sold in Australia …. Could be anybody, in almost anycar

    ps. Looks good Jim, cant wait for time attack.

  • Jash says:

    I would say its some very careful editing of existing audio footage to a fairly low speed run through the course. The engine note and video of the car doesnt match at the end of conrod imho. I think you could narrow the actual car down to how many 34s in Oz are running a true sequential box.