So the race that stops a nation; and no, it’s not the Melbourne cup, has been raced and won at the home of Australian motorsport in Bathurst New South Wales for 2016 by Will Davison and Jonathan Webb, who both started the race from a good way back in 17th position on the grid. It was a race that was quiet for the majority of the time until the closing stages when Jamie Whincup was involved in a racing incident. That racing incident would ultimately cost him, and his co-driver Paul Dumbrell, victory that ended with them finishing 11th outright because of a 15 second penalty. Like any good race everything all comes at the end with a number of safety car periods along with drivers having to save fuel and look after their tyres in order to get their race cars home over the 1000km distance around the iconic Mount Panorama circuit. This would ultimately make for great viewing for the fans at the track and for the even bigger audience on TV in Australia and abroad. But does the Bathurst 1000 still give you the fans the buzz at the race track and on TV as it had done say 10, 15 or 25 years ago.

For me, and like so many other people, the Bathurst 1000 race started when I was a young boy sitting in front of the family TV watching and cheering on the late great Peter Brock in his number 05 Holden Commodore. It wasn’t until the year 1999 that I got my first taste of the great race with two mates that involved us driving out to Bathurst on the Saturday before that race and then camping out at the local showground. At that stage in my life all I ever really talked about was Holden’s whether it be Commodores or Torana’s, and the occasional Monaro. I was part of the ‘red team’ aka Holden and the enemy as the ‘blue team’ aka Ford. I backed up my street cred by owning a 1981 VH Commodore, which was also my every day driver. Yeah, it was at the time, 18 years old and it wasn’t in the best condition per say but I had a Commodore and that was all that mattered, along with my mates who had Holden’s as well. I remember Bathurst being a hive of activity on the Saturday evening especially around the pubs and clubs in the town, and you would see many classic Holden’s and Ford’s driving around that would have raced at Bathurst in bygone years. From a car spotting prospective I remembered seeing on the Sunday heaps of these classic and modern Holden’s and Ford’s parked everywhere. This was also the case for the following year in 2000; then again in 2002, which was the last time I headed out there to see the 1000 race with my dad and two mates. That year Peter Brock made his 1st come back from retirement to end the great race disappointingly in 24th place, but as Brocky used to say “you don’t want a DNF against your name”.

So I was thinking would you; the motor sporting community, and I still feel the buzz that I got to experience around 14 to 17 years ago. This year for me was a last minute decision to head to Bathurst because my work commitments had changed, as well this year I had also developed a new interest in photography and video making which as a great excuse to go to Bathurst instead of watching the race on TV. The plan was to wake up on the Sunday morning around 3pm and do the two and half hour drive out to Bathurst in my everyday car, which is a 2016 VW Polo GTI. Yes most people would; and did say, I’m crazy for getting up at that god forsaken hour, but when you love cars and motorsport you don’t even give it a second thought. So I set off on my cruise out to Bathurst that any car person would love to do. Heading out and over the road known as Bells Line of Road into the old township of Lithgow for a quick coffee. Then it was onto Bathurst as the sun started to rise over the old gold mining town that was founded just over 200 years ago.

Because Bathurst is an old and historic town it’s one of the first things you notice while driving through the town on a beautiful fresh spring morning with its old buildings and homes lining its streets. But on race day morning around 6:30am the town was only starting to wake up and had that feeling of serenity with no real hustle and bustle. For me I had the perception that I’d be spotting V8 classics or modern day sports cars heading up through the town towards Mount Panorama, but sadly I didn’t. There could have been a few reasons for not seeing some cool cars driving around town due to it being too early in the morning, or any other opportunities for car spotting had been the day before. But one thing I hadn’t really thought of was that in 2016 Australians are big V8 supercar fans who really drive Hyundai’s or Toyota’s etc as their everyday cars. These companies have been the top selling manufactures each year in Australia for at least a decade or more and maybe the automotive landscape has even changed in a place like Bathurst over the historic race weekend. Even when I rocked up at the race track and parked my little German sports hatchback, I thought surely I would get to spot some ‘wicked cars’ parked in the car parking area, but all I saw was one Nissan Skyline GTR R32 as well as a brand new HSV GTS Commodore and one new Ford Mustang. Everything else as far as I could see was plain and drab which really didn’t leave me feeling good and was somewhat disappointing, because when I had been in Bathurst all those years ago my optic nerve would have been getting a good work over with all the cool cars parked everywhere outside the track. I’d experienced all of that which was and should be part of the festive atmosphere that I perceived over the Bathurst 1000 race weekend.

But hey, I was there to see some racing and to hear those awesome V8 supercars going for it around the mountain which is always music to any car nut’s ears. Once I walked through the gates I felt immediately at home and could see that, even that early in the morning, I was at a race track and there were a lot of people a.k.a. motor sporting fans. Any thought or doubt I’d had in the car park that the Bathurst 1000 had lost some of its lustre was completely forgotten with people wearing apparel supporting their race team. For me I was wearing my Team Brock pullover from 2002, but for me I was going for last year’s winners Craig Lowndes and Steven Richards in their Team Vortex VF Holden Commodore. Then it was show time and the 1000 race had started, but sadly Lowndes and Richards had mechanical problems that dashed their plans of fighting for a win.

If you haven’t ever been to Mount Panorama there are a few areas that’s a must see and one of them is the pit area. It’s where you can get up nice and close to the back of each and every one of the garages for all of the teams competing, and from time to time you get to see your favourite driver for a quick moment walking from the garage to the car transporter. The pit facilities are by far the most modern compared to any other race circuit in Australia, even more so than the F1 GP circuit in Melbourne because Bathurst is a permanent facility. The diehard fans will always head to top of the mountain to watch the drivers push their cars to the limit, but for me this year I found a new place to stand and watch the cars. It was on the mountain straight behind the pit area where heaps of fans have their own little community that’s full of tents and caravans with BBQ’s full of good food. It’s a great place to park yourself for a while and not think about anything else in the world and watch the cars come through Hells Corner (turn 1) and hammer up mountain straight. It was here I was able to lose track of time and just enjoy the sound and see the speed of cars head up the straight.

2016 Bathurst 1000 was by many reports, within the main stream media, stated that this year’s attendance numbers was the second biggest in the events history.  For me I wasn’t looking for numbers of people attending but more of a spiritual connection compared to the previous times I’ve been there, which had been some time ago. Bathurst is really the home of motorsport in Australia even more so than the F1 GP in Melbourne. But in recent times with the automotive industry shutting down, and on the very same weekend Ford rolling off the production line the last ever Ford Falcon to be made in Australia, I had the feeling that some of the Australian sporting culture, and even more so, the Australian car culture had been lost. But my one take away from the weekend is that the Bathurst 1000 isn’t going anywhere. The V8 Supercar organisation or what will soon be only called the ‘Supercars’ championship has plans into the future to allow other types of cars in different variants, than just V8 sedans, which should appeal to greater cross sections of car people. But as for the Australian automotive industry and a greater Australian Car Culture I have a more positive outlook even with factories closing down this year and next year. I think the industry will surprise most car people and non-car people as well as businesses in general over the long term. It could and should open the doors to a more organically grown automotive industry, which is ultimately linked to the ever evolving car culture in Australia that I’ve seen years ago and also at the 2016 Bathurst 1000.