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  Four-time Bathurst winner Craig Lowndes says the key to driving a fast lap at Bathurst is being smooth.

Four-time Bathurst winner Craig Lowndes says the key to driving a fast lap at Bathurst is being smooth.

"Smooth and committed," he says. "Especially across the top of the mountain you have to be committed, hit all your marks and carry the momentum." Lowndes says the way he drives the Mt Panorama circuit is almost identical to how his teammate, Jamie Whincup, attacks the track.

"The beauty and the strength of this team is that we drive the car very similar in all respects; in line, set-up and what we want out of the car," he says. "For us it's very similar even in our comments to the pit crew and how we read the car."
Lowndes said that despite the extra fuel stops this year for the less-efficient ethanol fuel, he and Whincup would be likely to swap at every stop, rather than doing double stints.

"The pit stops will be long enough to do a driver change and a fresh driver is better than doing a double stint. "One of our team's strengths is that the two of us are consistently fast, so it doesn't matter who is in the car." In a break from the past three years, the team is using Lowndes' race engineer, Jeromy Moore, for the endurance races.

"Phillip Island was a good warm-up for him and there is no doubt he's up to the challenge," Lowndes said. "If he needs a hand we have a great depth of talent in the pits."

Lowndes talks us through a flying lap of the 6.213km anti-clockwise circuit. "Exiting turn one, or Hell Corner, is important as Mountain Straight is long and you want to get as much terminal speed as you can by the end. "I select fifth at top of the crest and carry it all the way through to turn two. You know if you are on a good lap if you hit the rev limiter just before braking marker into turn two. "Then it's back to third through the Griffins Bend and dodge the kangaroos and stray tyres. "I grab fourth leading up to and into the first part of The Cutting, because there is a little kink entering the corner. "Then I grab second and hold a tight line close to the concrete wall on the exit and short shift to third as it runs over a little bump which kicks the car into oversteer.

"I hold that gear all the way up the right hander under the tree and grab fourth which you carry all the way across the top into Skyline. "There's no chance to catch a breath here, thought, because there are areas where you need to pinpoint your track position or you will crash. "You know when you have that line right because you hit the limiter just before Skyline.

"You brake back to third as you drop off Skyline and go down through the Esses, braking back to second for the Dipper. "On the exit to the dipper you are hard on the throttle up to third for the run down to Forest Elbow. "Here you can lock up the front right tyre so you have to be careful as you grab second and fire it into the exit.

"You need a good clean exit because from there you are flat all the way down Conrod Straight working the gear up to sixth. "You are flat into the Chase at 297km/h which is the fastest on any circuit in Australia. "To pass on the left like I've done before you have to be committed. Get it wrong and you are gone. "Then it's hard braking back to third for the left and right out of the Chase.

"You grab fourth gear just as you approach the last turn into Murray's Corner, then hard on the brakes, into second and then hard on the gas for the run to the flag."