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    Bathurst 1000: The Bathurst 1000 2020 Wasn't Going To Happen But Now The Engines Will Roar On Sunday
Forming the third element in the holy trinity of Australian sport (AFL Final, NRL final & The Bathurst 1000), the Bathurst 1000 is the most prestigious race in Australian motorsport, held on one of the world’s greatest race tracks.

Bathurst 1000: For 2020 Supercars Australiahas announced a daily limit of 4,000 people to the ticketed event that normally attracts 50,000 visitors per day.

Sod the virus ! Australia's unforgiving, mountainous track is the ultimate battleground – where a 1000 kilometre endurance race is won and lost on the very last lap.

Normally thousands of sports fans make the annual pilgrimage to Mount Panorama, to see legends of the past and present immortalised in Australian sporting history. Be there for the power, the glory, the noise and the heart stopping atmosphere across four thrilling days of racing action.

The Bathurst 1000 is a 1,000-kilometre (620 mi) touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as a championship event for Supercars.

Widely regarded as the pinnacle of motorsport in Australia, the Bathurst 1000 is colloquially known as The Great Race among motorsport fans and media.

The race concept originated with the 1960 Armstrong 500 at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, before being relocated to Bathurst in 1963 and continuing there in every year since.

The race was traditionally run on the Labour Day long weekend in New South Wales, in early October. Since 2001, the race is run on the weekend after the long weekend (NRL Final), normally the second weekend in October.

Race winners are presented with the Peter Brock Trophy.. This trophy was introduced at the 2006 race to commemorate the death of ace driver Peter Brock.

The Mount Panorama Circuit was first used on 16 April 1938 for the Australian Tourist Trophy meeting for motorcycles, followed two days later by the Australian Grand Prix for cars.

The track follows public roads and is known for its 174-metre difference between its highest and lowest points.

The first turn, Hell Corner, is a ninety-degree left-hander. Mountain Straight, a gentle climb where the cars reach speeds of 255 km/h (158 mph), leads into Griffin's Bend, an off-camber right-hander which then leads into The Cutting, a sharp left-hander with a steep incline.

Reid Park follows, a complex corner where a number of drivers have spun after not short shifting at the apex.

The course continues down to Sulman Park and McPhillamy Park.

Drivers are unable to see the descending road and enter Skyline and the first of The Esses at 220 km/h (140 mph) before The Dipper, one of the most famous corners in Australian motorsport.

Cars then negotiate Forrest's Elbow before powering down Conrod Straight, the fastest section of the track where cars can reach 300 km/h (190 mph).

The Chase is a long sweeping chicane where cars are on the rev limiter turning at 300 km/h before a large braking zone to exit at 130 km/h (81 mph).

Murray's is the 23rd and final turn, and also the slowest part of the circuit, before cars return to the start-finish straight. The start-finish straight features an offset start, with the finish line towards the back of the starting grid closer to Murray's Corner.

Spectator areas have spread along the track over the decades but there are a number of private properties bordering the track so spectators are unable to access all trackside vantage points.

Spectator vantage points have also become less intimate to the track over recent years, with increased run-off size and debris fencing being installed around the track due to increasing international FIA standards

In 1966 and 1967 an Irish tobacco company sponsored the race, which became known as the "Gallaher 500".

1966 was the last four cylinder victory for more than two decades.

Rauno Aaltonen and Bob Holden drove their Mini Cooper S to a hard-fought win against stiff competition which mainly consisted of other Coopers.

1967 rule changes mandated a minimum number of pit-stops to negate the advantage economical smaller cars had of requiring fewer stops.

This change favoured the larger, thirstier Fords and Holdens.

The Minis handled the corners well and could, theoretically, run the entire race on a single tank of petrol, but the larger-engined cars were faster in a straight line.

Ford's development of the 289 cubic inch V8 Ford Falcon GT signalled the end of small cars as outright contenders

1967 was also the first year that starting grid positions were allocated according to practice lap times rather than by class groupings

This was also the first year that an official trophy was awarded to the first team to cover the 500 miles.

The 1967 victory of the XR Falcon GT over the smaller Alfa Romeo 1600 GTVs and Mini Coopers surprised many pundits as the Falcon GT was unproven

The highly regarded, and more expensive, Alfa GTV had been seen as the emerging force in touring cars.

However, the Falcon GT's V8 power was well suited to the Mount Panorama circuit, particularly on the long straights.

Thus was forged the adage that "there is no substitute for cubic inches", which became synonymous with racing at Bathurst.

Initially the Geoghegan brothers' Falcon was awarded victory but some hours later Harry Firth and Fred Gibson were declared winners.

During the race the Geoghegan car had entered the pit area through the rear access lane off Mountain Straight and erroneously accumulated an extra lap on the ARDC timing board.

The popularity of the race grew rapidly during the 1960s.

Most Australian manufacturers and assemblers became heavily involved.

A good result in the long and tough race added credibility to the car and its brand, especially in terms of performance, durability and reliability.

An outright or class victory was a significant opportunity to increase sales and market share.

It was during this period that the famous Holden-Ford-Chrysler rivalry originated. The production car battle between the "Big Three" was fought at Bathurst.

This rivalry spawned Australia's most famous muscle cars, reverentially known as "Bathurst Specials". Ford's Falcon GT and later GT-HO, Holden's Monaro and Torana, and Chrysler's Pacer and Charger models were the result of constant development of race-worthy cars that the general public could buy

In 1968, sponsorship changed again and the race became known as the Hardie-Ferodo 500.

It was also the year that advertising was first allowed to be displayed on the cars. In response to Ford's 1967 Bathurst victory, Holden entered the Monaro GTS 327.

This was a coupe based on the HK model four-door Kingswood family sedan. Engineered as an affordable personal luxury car with the ability to win Bathurst it had a 327 cubic inch Chevrolet V8 (as the "GTS 327" name implies).

This engine enabled the Monaro GTS 327 to outperform the updated, yet smaller-engined, 302 cubic inch Falcon GTs and win in 1968. This was Holden's first Bathurst 500 win.

The 1969 Hardie-Ferodo 500 saw the first of the Ford Falcon GT-HOs, the fastest 4-door car in the world at that time.

This Phase One GT-HO Bathurst special Falcon was powered by a 351 cubic inch V8 sourced from Ford America.

It's 'HO' specification included upgraded suspension components such as front and rear stabiliser bars. At Bathurst it was fitted with race tyres.

Holden upgraded the GTS 327 Monaro to the GTS 350, which included better race-style handling and a more powerful Chevrolet V8 engine of 350 cubic inches.

The new GTS 350 Monaro, in the hands of Colin Bond and Tony Roberts, was able to hold out Ford to claim the second victory for Holden.

In 1969 there was a multi-car accident on lap one. After the first 10 cars passed through The Esses, contact between two Falcons caused one to roll over.

Several cars coming around the blind corner crashed into the stationary car. The track was almost blocked with wreckage but expert flag marshalling enabled the cars to pass through in single file until the debris was cleared.

The race was a disaster for Ford as many Falcon tyres failed due to the speed and weight of the Falcons.

Ford even a ran a post race advertising campaign using the slogan "we were a little deflated".

The 1969 race also saw the début of Peter Brock. Brock and Bond were drivers for the semi-official Holden Dealer Team (HDT), which had been formed earlier in the year to counter the official Ford Special Vehicles division that was churning out ever evolving GT-HO Falcons.

Peter Brock was anointed 'King Of The Mountain' at Bathurst and 'Peter Perfect' for his 9 victories at that circuit.

And the rest is history.


Bathurst 1000, 2019 NSW, Australia

  • This Weeks 'Featured Stories':
    The Funny & The Weird:

    Australia, You're Standing In It!

    A British man is visiting Australia. The customs agent asks him, “Do you have a criminal record?”

    The British man replies, “I didn’t think you needed one to get into Australia anymore.”

    Why are murders in Tasmania so hard to solve?

    Because there are no dental records and all the DNA matches.

    What do you call an Aussie in the finals of the World Cup?

    A referee.

    You know you’re a hipster bogan when

    Your coffee machine costs more than your washing machine.

     

    BOGANS**:

    "What are the only two seasons a bogan can name?

    Football and cricket.

    What is 10 metres long and has 37 teeth?

    A bus full of bogans.

    What do you call an Aussie with 100 girlfriends?

    A farmer.

    Why did Tasmanians evolve to grow two heads?

    So they can have an intelligent conversation when they visit the mainland.

     

    AUSTRALIAN BOGANS

    What’s the last thing a bogan says before they pass away?

    “Hey mate - check this out!!

     

    YOU KNOW YOU’RE A BOGAN IF...

    * You think the stock market has a fence around it.

    * Your boat hasn’t left the driveway in 5 years.

    * There are more than 7 McDonalds wrappers in your car.

    * You’ve taken out a loan to pay for your tattoo.

    * You know every driver racing at Bathurst.

    * You think the French Riviera is one of them fancy foreign cars.

    * Holden vs Ford is equivalent to good vs evil to you. 

     

    ** Bogan is the most significant word to be created in Australian English in the past 40 years. It is defined as "An uncultured and unsophisticated person who normally resides in an Australian metropolitan suburb, drinks a lot of beer & drives either a Ford or a Holden".


John Frankenheimer's 'Grand Prix' 1966

Nearly every motoring enthusiast has a favourite racing film, but 50 years ago, MGM released possibly the ultimate Formula 1 screen drama.

Grand Prix employed no second unit work as the director John Frankenheimer personally supervised every detail of the production.

The film’s technical advisor was Carroll Shelby – best known for the performance cars that bear his name  and Frankenheimer collaborated with the cinematographer Lionel Linden to devise a system of harnessing an electronic remote control pan-and-tilt-head camera, originally designed for NASA, to the right side of the car.  

For other motion shots, the director employed helicopters, an AC Cobra and Phil Hill piloting a Ford GT40 prototype with a remote-control Panasonic camera mounted in the front boot.

Director John Frankenheimer approached the cameraman John M Stephens with the memorable words: “How would you like to be the cameraman going at 180mph in a specially built camera car while photographing the actual Grand Prix circuit?”

Multiple split screen and layered superimpositions are employed throughout the narrative to emphasise the drama and the result is a picture that after 50 years still has the power to amaze, from the Saul Bass opening credits to the final reel.

There is no undercranked footage a la Hell Drivers and nor are there any shots of helmeted actors gripping a steering wheel apparently borrowed from a Ford Consul against some obvious back-projection. 

Location work commenced in May 1966 and finished in October, and focused on six Grand Prix races – Brands Hatch, Monaco, Spa, Monza, Zandvoort and Clermont-Ferrand. The last-named was the only occasion in the film where the racing footage was not shot during a 'live’ weekend, as Frankenheimer did not use the actual Reims circuit.

Few actors could have delivered the line “Something to do with the possibility of death and to survive it is to feel life and living much more intensely” with Garner’s low-key sincerity.

Before shooting commenced Garner undertook stints at the Willow Springs Road Course under the tutelage of Bob Bondurant and at one point Lloyds of London were somewhat distressed to learn that the star of Grand Prix had piloted a racing car that caught fire during a stunt.

For the rest of the production, Garner drove without coverage, and he was to subsequently to reflect that "When you are in a Formula car or any race car, you don’t worry about acting. You just concentrate on your braking and your turning points and just driving"

After the completion of the Monte Carlo scenes, Frankenheimer sent 30 minutes of footage to Enzo Ferrari, resulting his granting the film crew access to his works.

Grand Prix also boasts appearances from Jimmy Clark, Jackie Stewart, John Surtees, Jochen Rindt, Bruce McLaren, Dan Gurney, Richie Ginther, Jack Brabham, Denis Hulme, Lorenzo Bandini, Joe Bonnier, Jo Schlesser and Juan Manuel Fangio. Graham Hill was even given some dialogue as the British driver 'Bob Turner’.

The use of such figures was more than a casting gimmick; from the outset, Frankenheimer used footage of actual pit crew and crowds in Monte Carlo, mixing reality with Robert Alan Arthur’s screenplay that resembles a Second World War fighter pilot drama, combined with 1960s soap opera.

Some prefer the taciturn McQueen approach of Le Mans, but others cannot have enough of “Yes, I definitely think you should go to the Greek islands with your American boyfriend. I think you should go to hell!” and other gems of dialogue.  

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