Anticipating the Great Race: Bathurst 1000 and Supercars Updates

Last month, we wrote about endurance racing and where we find ourselves this weekend—the Great Race – Bathurst 1000. This iconic race, often referred to as the ‘Mount Panorama ‘, is a pinnacle event in the motorsport calendar, attracting fans and drivers from around the world. Twenty-six cars from both Ford and Chevrolet will take on the mountain on Sunday 13/10/24. 161 Laps of the 6.2km Street Circuit. A circuit that is a tourist route every other day of the year. The mountain will call on all 52 drivers (2 per car) to dig deep and lap the circuit in nearly qualifying speeds to ensure they stay on the lead lap and that they can be in with a chance by the last 20 laps to make it to the top step. By the time you are reading this, there have already been practice sessions and qualifying with more practice sessions today, Saturday, and then the top ten shootouts this afternoon to determine how the grid will be set for the start tomorrow morning on Sunday.

During this race, mandatory stops must be made, and the co-driver must complete minimum laps. Endurance racing, as the name suggests, is a test of both man and machine over a prolonged period. It’s a massive game of strategy, where races have been won and lost in pit stops. Shane Van Gisbergen’s experience in 2014 is a perfect example. He was leading the race with 11 laps to go, on course to win his first Bathurst 1000. However, he needed to pull into the pits to take a quick splash of race fuel to make it to the end. The pit stop was executed perfectly, but Shane stalled the Tekno Autosports Commodore and could not restart it. The emotion on live TV from the whole team was devasting to watch, highlighting the unpredictable nature of endurance racing.

There has been a bit going on in Supercar Land since the Sandown 500. Supercars and Walkinshaw Andretti United confirmed that Toyota will enter Supercars in 2026 with the Gazoo Racing Supra, with WAU becoming the homologation team. It’s great to see another brand coming into the series during the ‘car of the future’ era, which has seen significant changes and innovations in the sport. The Gen2 era, which preceded the ‘car of the future ‘, saw Volvo, Mercedes, and Nissan competing with Holden and Ford, creating a diverse and exciting mix of cars on the track. That was a great mix of cars, and to see them live at the tracks was even better. Welcome aboard, Toyota Australia.

During the Sandown 500, Richie Stanaway, in his Penrite Racing Mustang, had an engine failure relatively early in the race. Engine failures in race cars aren’t uncommon. When you push them to their limits for 500 km, you will likely see something like that happen. Another three Mustangs suffered engine failure after the Sandown 500 during the scheduled ride day. This sparked a supply rush from Ford Performance for the Mustang GT3 crankshafts suitable for use in the Ford Coyote engines. Unfortunately, there may not be enough crankshafts for all eight Mustangs in the field for Bathurst.

More news from the driver market is that Tim Slade, who has raced in the series for 15 years, will hang his helmet up on full-time driving. This has left a vacant seat at PremiAir Racing. Tim has had a great career in Supercars; he has celebrated 17 career podiums and will have competed in 450 Supercars races at the top level by the end of this year’s championship. What a significant milestone to achieve. Tim will become hot property in the Co Driver market for endurance races in 2025 and beyond.

Growing up in a blue oval family, I have always followed the Ford teams. Watching the Bathurst 1000 as a child curbed my enthusiasm for motorsports. Bathurst Day today is a little different, and for many years, I have celebrated with close family and friends, sitting about chatting all day, eating great food, having a few beverages, and sticking the banter to the other brand of car racing. There is always that one friend who goes for the other team. You need these people in your life. It’s entertaining.

The whole weekend of racing has support categories from V8 Superutes, Toyota GR86 Racing, Porsche Carrera Cup, Dunlop Super 2 Series, and the cars from the past Heritage Touring Cars. Local Superute Racer Dave Casey will be steering the Barnseys Truck and Trailer number 5 Triton this weekend. Have fun, Dave. Superutes have Races 2 and 3 today and Race 4 early tomorrow morning before the 1000 starts. Supercars will head into the Top Ten Shootout at 5.05 pm Saturday. The race starts on Sunday at 11.30 am.

Have a great weekend, and Happy Bathurst Day on Sunday!