Brain Cancer Survivor Breaks Bathurst Record in Porsche GT2 RS
Porsche GT2RS circled Mount Panorama in just 2:14.2, beating the old record by two seconds.
On November 27, 2020, Jeff Morton lapped the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, Australia in his Porsche GT2 RS in just 2:14.2, setting the lap record for a production car. The previous record of 2:16.5 was set by professional racer Bernd Schneider in a Mercedes-Benz AMG GT R back in 2017, but Morton, an amateur racer, smashed that number in his 911. He captured the footage with two different recording systems, so we can ride along and experience the in-car view of the record-setting lap.
However, this isn’t the most important win of Morton’s life. He beat brain cancer back in 2010, leaving him unable to drive at all, let alone on a race track. He has since battled back to set a lap record at Australia’s best-known race track in his Porsche 911 GT2 RS.
Jeff Morton’s Story
In 2010, 30-year old Jeff Morton was diagnosed with a brain tumor which required surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Morton, a regular participant in track days around his home in New South Wales, was unable to drive on the road or the track until May 2011, when he passed the required tests to get his public driver’s license back.
Unfortunately, he would have to wait five years to get his competitive racing license back, so he participated in smaller events that only required a basic driver’s license. Those events allowed him to shake off the cobwebs from his time away and after the five years had passed, he was able to get his competition license back.
Getting Back to Racing
At first, he spent time in tarmac rally events, but he set his sights higher. He wanted to compete in events like Targa Tasmania and to do that, he purchased a Porsche 911 GT2 RS. He chose the GT2 RS for a variety of reasons, including the ease with which he could get parts and the fact that there is an approved bolt-in roll cage. He turned to the team at GWR Australia to prepare the car for tarmac rally events, naming the car Red Thunder.
Morton and his Porsche GT2 RS won the first two events in which he competed, but then Covid hit the world. All of the tarmac events were postponed, forcing Morton to change his racing schedule. He entered into a circuit event and won the class, but he wasn’t happy with his performance overall. The car was still set up for tarmac rallies, not circuit races, so the team at GWR was tasked with re-tuning the Porsche 911 for the different tracks.
The ultimate goal was to go to the Bathurst Challenge and set the lap record for a production car. At the time, the record was a 2:16.5, set by Bernd Schneider in a Mercedes-Benz AMG GT R back in 2017, which Morton set as his benchmark. He did some practicing with the new setup at Sydney Motorsport Park, but in late November, he headed to the Mount Panorama Circuit for the Bathurst Challenge.
Porsche Claims the Record
On the morning of November 27, Jeff Morton hit the track in his Porsche 911 GT2 RS and even with traffic impeding him a bit, he broke the production car lap record with a 2:15.8. Even with a new record, he knew that he and the Porsche had a quicker lap in them, so he headed out for the next session. During that stretch, he made an unimpeded lap of 2:14.2, beating the old record by more than two seconds.
So, after beating brain cancer, Morton used his Porsche 911 GT2RS to beat the Bathurst production car lap record, set by a professional racer three years earlier.
Morton provided the pictures shown here, taken by ChallengeBathurstPhotos.com, but if you want to check out more about him, his Porsche 911 or his racing progress, click here to visit his Facebook page or here for his Instagram channel.
The two videos below show the record-setting lap. The first is captured with a Vbox while the second comes to us via the Porsche Track Precision App.
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