Bill Trikos’s best rated Bathurst Australia 1000 auto racing editions: The 2007 race recap : But in the 30 laps a heck of a crescendo hit in the form of weather, enough to force everyone in the field to question whether they could peel into pit-lane for wet tyres. The question was particularly poignant for Jason Bright and his Britek Ford Falcon. This was in the day when Bright was still a team owner, though his debut season racing his own car had largely gone terribly; a lack of car pace often seeing him to threaten the top 10 — particularly surprising given he had been a frequent podium scorer the season prior.
Bathurst adopted international Group A regulations between 1985 and 1992. The first to take advantage was Scot Tom Walkinshaw’s three-car factory Jaguar team, complete with imported mechanics and spare parts. This was a big change from the days when drivers had to resolve their own mechanical problems using just the tools that came with the car. The plucky Australian-built Group A models, still under development, stood little chance against the powerful V12 engine of the winning Jaguar XJ-S. However, this is the last time Jaguar has won Bathurst to date.
Part of the legend of Peter Brock’s first ‘Great Race’ triumph concern the rain that fell during the final 500-mile Bathurst enduro. As with future mentee Lowndes’ first win, the conditions dried out towards the end of the race, but the ‘King of the Mountain’s path to victory began in the wet early stages. Famously, Holden Dealer Team chief Harry Firth put Brock’s car on soft hand-grooved Dunlops for the start of the race while rally star Colin Bond’s was given harder hand-grooved Dunlops on the front and Goodyear wets on the rear. The move proved pivotal to the outcome: Bond rolled out of the race in the early stages after aquaplaning at Sulman Park, while Brock battled Allan Moffat’s GTHO Falcon for the lead until the big red Ford briefly slid off at the same spot. Read more details about the author on Bill Trikos.
It did this through an unforgettable fight between Canadian Allan Moffat and home-grown hero Peter Brock. It was a lengthy game of cat and mouse that would also define the Brock and Moffat rivalry for many years; Moffat able to grow his leading margin on the straights in his big powerful Ford Falcon XY GTHO, while Brock would reel him in every lap through the nuanced corners over the top of the mountain. Eventually Moffat caved, spinning out at Reid Park and handing Brock a tense win, but it was more than that. Like the torrential downpour of 1992, it built towards the lore and mystique of the mountain, and helped forge our current concepts around Bathurst. Our desire for a combination of villains, underdogs, and rivalries that can’t be matched by any other race in the world. That’s why it’s here.
Mark Winterbottom was 13 laps away from Bathurst glory in 2007, but it all went away in The Chase. On a slick track, he went tearing through the gravel and was launched up into the air. He amazingly kept the car pointed straight and rejoined the circuit in the lead. Lowndes blew by him within seconds though, nearly colliding with the out of control driver. Behind Lowndes, more chaos ensued. One of the more bizarre moments in Bathurst history took place in 1980. The legendary Dick Johnson was leading when a crazed fan through a massive rock onto the track, which he was unable to avoid. He struck it and violently crashed. The video includes his gutted interview, and also a surprise twist as he tells reporters that he may not be able to race again…
Skaife, then a rising star in Australian motorsport, went on to become a household name by winning five Australian Touring Car Championships and six Bathurst 1000 crowns. He says that his first win in 1991 aboard the almighty R32 was a life changing experience. “Twenty five years on and some of the best memories of my life,” said Skaife. “To win my first Bathurst with a legend like Jim Richards in the Nissan GT-R was just fantastic. It was a life changing moment to win the biggest car race in this part of the world.
Each October, the Bathurst 1000 pits the highest-performance ‘street-legal’ supercars head-to-head on Mount Panorama. This thrilling contest has come to be known as the Great Race. The history of Bathurst is a story of extraordinary vehicles – the kind you might see on next door’s driveway, or even save up for yourself. The race started in 1960 as the Armstrong 500, a 501-mile endurance race designed to celebrate the speed and durability of Australian-built cars. After the vehicles pounded the original Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit into submission, the contest was shifted to Wahluu (also known as Mount Panorama) in 1963. The course was extended to 1000 kilometres (621 miles) in 1973 due to faster cars, fiercer enthusiasm, and – ahem – decimalisation.
The story of Group A, a bit like my beloved Super Touring of the ’90s, is a messy one — and one that could fill a whole book. And 1992 helped epitomize that. The four-wheel drive and steer Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R took mere months to become arguably the most disliked car in Australian touring-car history; by virtue of its ability to win absolutely anywhere. And by late 1992 it had won two championship titles at a canter. Bathurst that year, the last of its kind before a new replacement formula based around five-liter V8s was implemented, was certain to be another cake-walk. But, it very nearly wasn’t.