What You Must Know About The Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000

Some Race Prep...


Article heading image for What You Must Know About The Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000

So here we are.

The biggest weekend on the Aussie motorsport calendar is upon us and all eyes are on Mount Panorama.

It's a place which quickly sorts out the men from the boys and where legends are born.

A simple mention of the word "Bathurst" is enough to ignite the hearts of most Supercar fans, young and old.

The diehards have been coming here for years, booking a campsite a year in advance and making the trek up the top to stake out their patch of the Mountain for 3, 4... hell, even 7 days.

Bathurst, it's that sort of place.

The thing is, Mount Panorama was never going to be a race circuit to start with.

It was built in 1938 originally as a scenic tourist drive before becoming what is widely recognised as one of the great racetracks of the world.

Over the decades it's hosted everything from the Supercheap Auto 1000 in all its carnations, the annual 12 hour GT race, 24 hour endurance races, the Australian Grand Prix (yep) and even motorcycle meets.

In fact, there's been a 500 or 1000 kilometre endurance race here every year since 1963.

From 2006, the winners of this undeniably "great race" have been taking home the Peter Brock trophy named in honour of 9-time Bathurst winner who died in a rally crash in September that year.

So with the history lesson out of the way, let's get down to some nitty gritty.

Brocky won the 8th of his 9 victories at Bathurst in 1984

WHEN'S IT ON?

The Supercars emerge for the first time on Thursday for not one, but three practice sessions with the first one kicking off at 9:45am (AEDST).

There are two more practice sessions on Friday before qualifying begins at 3:50pm.

Saturday's feature event is the Top 10 shootout which will see the fastest cars go up against each other (and the clock) for the prime grid spots.

You'll catch that 5:10 at the track or on the telly.

Before that though is some extra Supercars practice as well as the Dunlop Super2 race featuring a number of up and coming drivers.

Sunday is when we really get down to business with the warm up session from 8:05am before 161 laps of racing begins at 11:05am (AEDST).

 

HOW CAN I WATCH OR HEAR IT?

Every single session of the Supercars - be it Practice, qualifying and racing - will screen on Fox Sports Channel 506.

Channel Ten's also televising on free-to-air - from 12:00pm on Friday, 11:30am on Saturday and 7:30am on Sunday (AEDST).

Hearing it is as easy as flicking on your radio with Triple M broadcasting live from the track on Saturday and Sunday.

Your local Triple M Network station will also be broadcasting hourly updates through the day.

Allan Moffat on pole in 1972 

CAN I STILL GET TICKETS?

Of course. If you've got to scratch your Bathurst 1000 itch, then click here.

 

WHERE ELSE CAN I FOLLOW THE ACTION?

If you're on the go or near the laptop, keep a browser window open to triplem.com.au for the latest stories over the weekend.

We'll also be posting stories and picture on Facebook and Instagram over the weekend.

Check out the hashtags #Supercars, #Bathurst1000 and #V8SC on the socials for more awesome stuff.

If you're after some live timing, Supercars.com is the place to find it.

 

SOME NUMBERS... (courtesy of Supercars.com)

Length: 6.213km

Direction: Anti-clockwise

Average Speed: 178km/h

Top Speed: 300km/h

Qualifying Lap Record: Jamie Whincup, Triple Eight Race Engineering, Holden Commodore VF, 2m04.9097s, 2015, Dunlop Hard Tyre

Race Lap Record: David Reynolds, Erebus Motorsport, Holden Commodore VF, 2m06.2769s, 2016, Dunlop Hard Tyre

Holden had the podium all to itself in 2016

 

Race wins by driver

9: Peter Brock

7: Jim Richards

6: Larry Perkins, Mark Skaife, Craig Lowndes

4: Allan Moffat, Greg Murphy, Jamie Whincup, Steven Richards

3: Dick Johnson, Garth Tander

2: Harry Firth, Bob Jane, John Goss, Allan Grice, John Bowe, Russell Ingall, Tony Longhurst, Rick Kelly, Will Davison

1: George Reynolds, Rauno Aaltonen, Bob Holden, Fred Gibson, Bruce McPhee, Colin Bond, Barry Mulholland, Tony Roberts, Ian Geoghegan, Kevin Bartlett, Brian Sampson, Bob Morris, John Fitzpatrick, Jacky Ickx, John Harvey, John French, Graeme Bailey, Armin Hahne, David Parsons, Peter McLeod, Thomas Mezera, Gregg Hansford, Jason Bargwanna, Win Percy, Midge Bosworth, Geoff Brabham, David Brabham, Rickard Rydell, Jason Bright, Todd Kelly, Nick Percat, Paul Dumbrell, Mark Winterbottom, Chaz Mostert, Paul Morris, Jonathon Webb

 

 

Triple M's coverage of Supercars is presented with Mobil 1. Purchase any Mobil 1TM SuperTM product for the chance to win a share of three HSV vehicles and $15,000 worth of VISA gift cards. Visit askformobil.com.au 

Sean Maynard

4 October 2017

Article by:

Sean Maynard




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