Sport is the home of hyperbole, but calling the Bathurst 1000 the ‘Great Race’ never feels like an exaggeration.
It is a single event which arguably eclipses the rest of the Supercars Championship which it is part of.
For one day every year, this town roughly the size of Gisborne, becomes the focus of millions of both hard-core motorsport fans and also once a year petrol-heads.
Like the Melbourne Cup, Super Bowl or a World Cup final – Bathurst captures attention far outside its regular followers.
The very name Bathurst will more often refer to the race before the town – quite something for a race which didn’t actually originate in Bathurst or even in New South Wales.
The first three 500-mile races were held at Phillip Island in Victoria, before being relocated to the 6.2km scenic loop up Mount Panorama in 1963. In 1969 Peter Brock made his debut, and four years later the race went metric, the distance stretching from 500miles (800km) to 1000km.
It’s more than just a test of speed and endurance, or even the pinnacle event in Australasian Motorsport, Bathurst’s appeal is down to the pure drama and its unfailing ability to surprise and at times shock. In todays ‘snack-able’ culture, for viewers Bathurst is a degustation; a six hour commitment.
Bathurst is Brock, Johnson and Richards. It is Greg Murphy’s Lap of the Gods … and his scrap with Marcos Ambrose. Dick’s rock and Fabian’s roll.
If you win the Supercar series, you are a champion. Win at Bathurst, you are a legend.
Newshub.
