GREATER RACE

Sitting track-side watching the recent Bathurst 12 Hour event got me wondering about the ‘other’ Bathurst race event. You know, the biggest, baddest, carbreaking challenge Australian motorsport can serve up: The Bathurst 1000.

But you see, therein lies the issue – it’s not. The Bathurst 1000 was once all of the above. But with the advancement of the cars, greater reliability, safety car periods and in-race repair rules it’s become more of a 161lap sprint.

TV promos that use words such as ‘ultimate’, ‘gruelling’ and ‘toughest’ are wearing a bit thin.

The 12 Hour event is like the Bathurst 1000 of old; the endurance, the fatigue on both the cars and driver and, of course, the big “What if?” factor.

My grand plan – extend the Bathurst 1000 race to 1500km. Take the event from from161161 laps to 242 laps. The ‘real’ endurance will return to the actual event – and so will I.