104 Cars that won Bathurst
Volvos are suddenly cool thanks to Scott McLaughlin. The pair of Super Touring Bathurst 1000 winning cars (a Volvo and a BMW) form an important part of Mount Panorama history and packed plenty of punch from their two-litre engines. Theme song: ABBA’s ‘The Winner Takes It All’.
No fewer than three venues have hosted top-flight motorsport on the Gold Coast, all within a metermaid’s stroll of Surfers Paradise’s Cavill Avenue. The first location hosted races, including the Australian Grand Prix, in the mid-1950s on minor rural roads at Southport. And for the last 23 years the action has centred on another temporary layout, alongside Main Beach, initially for Indycars and now with V8 Supercars as the headline act.
Incredibly, the ‘Indy’ track’s longevity has exceeded that of the permanent circuit that filled the void.
The 3.2km Surfers Paradise International Raceway hosted the premier racing categories of its time for 21 years, 1966 to 1987.
If Lakeside was the epicentre of Brisbane’s motorsport scene during that period, SPIR was the glitzier, but often soggy, big event counterpart.
SPIR’s first races were for Le Mans-style sportscars and open-wheelers, before tin-tops took over as the main attraction.
Surfers also hosted 17 Australian Touring Car Championship rounds, the first three for the Improved Production muscle cars and won by Norm Beechey (Monaro), Allan Moffat (Mustang) and Bob Jane (Camaro).
In the second instalment of AMC’s new Sacred Sites series, we learn more about the site’s past, present and future...