Mount Panorama

Every year in Oz, used to be the first Sunday in October, but these days it’s malleable in order to fit into the calendar, there’s a motor race held on a tourist road which winds around a mountain known as Mt Panorama. It’s the most challenging road race for high performance race cars in the world. Here in Oz, we have a category of racing we call V8 Supercars, which are based on the road-going versions of what we call ‘Holdens’ and ‘Falcons’. Mind you, the real race cars bear only a passing resemblance to the road cars they take their lineage from.

Mount Panorama is not for the faint of heart, even from a spectators perspective and accomodation in the town of Bathurst and surrounds is booked out year after year. It’s a matter of trying to get something, even if it’s just a tent site in a camping ground, as soon as one years racing is finished.

Speeds are high, talent huge, bravery aplenty and heartbreak copious. I made the pilgrimage to the mountain in 1982 and have yearned to go back ever since. I seriously doubt 2005 will be the year, but maybe 2006?

Oh, the pic included with this entry shows the after-race crowd gathered around the winners dias. You can see the winning car in the immediate foreground. The face circled is mine. The picture is from the annual book written about each years racing. I’m in print and archived for posterity.