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John Bowe at Phillip Island in a 1974 March 741 F1 racer

JB doesn’t mind putting his foot down in the old F1 car for a quick lap time

John Bowe Phillip Island in March 741
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One of Australia’s great drivers, on one of Australia’s greatest tracks, and a historic F1 car being driven close to the limit – if not at it.

What more could you want in an onboard video? Oh yeah, some telemetry and a lap timer.

Friend of MOTOR Magazine John Bowe actually has his own YouTube channel, and on it he posts some pretty binge-worthy videos.

 This short clip of him driving a 1974 March 741 Formula One car at Phillip Island should always be included.

In just eight minutes, JB hassles a Ferrari 156, a car more than a decade younger than his own, and in the middle of the video sets a truly impressive lap time.

According to the Vbox telemetry, John Bowe laps PI in just 1:28.91. If you’re not sure what to think of that, here’s some context.

 Listed at the Phillip Island website, though most recently updated on May 7 2017, is a set of lap record for various CAMS categories.

John Bowe’s name appears twice on the list, once in this car (but with a 1.29.35 lap set in 2014), and once for a lap from 2000 in a 1980s Veskanda – a healthy 1.28.98.

More recent cars have also come close to Bowe’s lap. Scott McLaughlin ran a 1.31.13 in a Porsche GT3 race car in 2015, and Garth Tander beat it in 2016 with a 1.28.78, run in an Audi R8 LMS.

The outright record for the circuit is a few full seconds quicker, by Simon Wills in a Reynard 94D Formula Holden race car.

But even then, given the awe-inspiring noise of the March hitting 271km/h before braking at end of the main straight, do the other times even matter?

If you haven’t already watched the clip, do it now. You’ll thank us after.

Chris Thompson
Contributor

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