10 big moments from the Bathurst 1000 of the past 10 years
From fairytale wins, to big smashes, race controversies and qualifying laps to leave jaws on the ground, here are 10 of the most unforgettable Bathurst 1000 moments from the past decade.
V8
Don't miss out on the headlines from V8. Followed categories will be added to My News.
From fairytale farewells to big smashes, running out of fuel and qualifying laps to leave jaws on the ground, Mount Panorama has seen it all. As we close to the end of the decade, REBECCA WILLIAMS takes a look a some of the big moments from the Bathurst 1000 in the past 10 years.
1. SEVENTH HEAVEN
Who doesn’t love a sporting fairytale? As far as motorsport ones go, this ticked all the boxes. After announcing mid-year the 2018 season would be his last as a full-time Supercars driver, Holden hero Craig Lowndes was the sentimental favourite to claim last year’s Bathurst crown.
The undisputed modern-day King of the Mountain, Lowndes combined with Steven Richards to claim his seventh Bathurst title. In his 25th and final race as a lead driver, Lowndes cemented his status as the mountain’s greatest racer since Peter Brock to move to within two wins of his late mentor’s benchmark of nine victories in the Great Race.
Lowndes’ 2018 victory came 22 years after his first triumph on the mountain and at the age of 44.
“It’s almost like the ’06 (victory) back again I think,” Lowndes said, referring to his 2006 triumph which came just weeks after Brock’s death.
“It is a dream come true. You never know what is going to happen when you come here and we got it done.”
2. MOUNTAIN MAULS MOSTERT
Chaz Mostert returned to Bathurst as the defending champion in 2015, but there were no celebrations for the Ford young gun.
In one of Bathurst’s biggest crashes, Mostert suffered a broken leg, shattered wrist and ligament damage in his knee in the sickening collision at Forrest Elbow in qualifying.
Mostert lost control at more than 180km/h. His Falcon clipped the inside concrete safety barrier and ricocheted across the track into the opposite wall before it smashed back into the inside wall.
The impact launched Mostert’s car into the air as it grinded along the top of the wall, taking out a marshal’s shelter along the way and sending officials diving for cover.
The sickening crash destroyed the front and the entire left-hand side of Mostert’s Ford, leaving debris strewn across the track.
It not only ended Mostert’s hopes of defending his Bathurst crown, but put him out of action for the rest of the 2015 season.
“The whole time I was crashing I never thought I was crashing until the car came to a stop because it happened that fast,” Mostert said.
“I was just holding on for the ride and came to a stop and saw the car was wrecked. All the adrenaline through my body, I didn’t feel any pain or broken bits until about three or four minutes after the accident.”
3. FUEL FAUX PAS
In a dramatic finish to the Great Race in 2014, Holden star Jamie Whincup was denied a fifth Bathurst crown when he ran out of fuel on the final lap, allowing Chaz Mostert to take his first win at the mountain.
Whincup came under fire from team bosses for ignoring orders to back off and conserve fuel in the dying stages of the race.
The Red Bull Racing driver had held a three-second lead ahead of Mostert in the closing laps as his team urged him to back off on the gas to ensure he could finish the race only to get radio silence from the four-time Bathurst champion.
Whincup ran out of fuel late on the 161st and final lap. He was unable to hold off Mostert despite his best defensive driving efforts and spluttered across the line in fifth place.
Mostert’s win with co-driver Paul Morris came after starting in 25th position on the grid.
Whincup later explained he had understood he needed to conserve fuel, but was working to a wrong set of numbers.
“The thing was that the game changed when we hit the reserve fuel tank, we know it’s capacity is 2.5 laps, but we had three to go,” Whincup said. “It was clear then that we were in a bit of trouble and the numbers we were working to weren’t correct.”
4. LAP OF THE GODS #2
Since 2003, New Zealand driver Greg Murphy’s blistering qualifying lap of Mount Panorama had been held on a pedestal at the famous track, dubbed the ‘Lap of the Gods’.
Murphy became the first driver in history to complete the mountain circuit in under 2min 07sec after slashing a whole second off the previous qualifying lap record.
Drivers had bettered Murphy’s time since, but Scott McLaughlin set the track alight in 2017 when he produced a top-10 shootout lap so brilliant it was also worthy of the “Lap of the Gods” tag.
McLaughlin ventured into uncharted territory when he became the first driver to crack the 2:04min barrier on the mountain after smashing the record mark he had set just 24 hours earlier in Friday’s practice.
But McLaughlin came crashing back to earth after his blistering shootout lap when he lasted just 74 laps before retiring in the race with mechanical issues at a wet Mount Panorama.
“Yesterday will always be pretty special in my mind, knowing that we were the fastest car in the dry,” McLaughlin said after his race ended.
“Sometimes luck is not on your side and you need luck on a day like this.”
5. TRIPLE TANGLE
The history books show Will Davison and Jonathan Webb as the winners of the 2016 Bathurst 1000, but it was a dramatic late three-way incident involving Jamie Whincup, Garth Tander and Scott McLaughlin that was the defining moment of the race.
As he attempted a pass on McLaughlin as they battled for the effective lead, Whincup made contact forcing McLaughlin off the track.
When Whincup slowed to redress the incident, Tander was caught behind and nudged Whincup before he and McLaughlin hit, taking both their cars out.
Whincup went on to cross the line in first place, but he was slapped with a 15-second time penalty for his contact with McLaughlin which relegated him to 11th place.
The controversy ended up in the courts after the race as Triple Eight appealed the penalty, which was later dismissed.
6. SUPER STINT
The Bathurst 1000 is a physically and mentally gruelling enough race as it is, let alone having to back-up for multiple stints in the car.
That's what happened to Craig Lowndes in 2010 after his driving partner Mark Skaife popped a rib mid-race.
Lowndes was forced to do a triple stint in the car after Skaife's injury, but emerged with one of his famous victories at the mountain.
“I had to do almost 80 laps consecutively because Skaife had popped a rib out. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t do anything,” Lowndes later recalled.
“To win the race in those circumstances was incredible.”
7. SAFETY FIRST
Jamie Whincup’s Bathurst hopes were cruelled again in 2015 when he illegally passed the safety car and copped a costly penalty.
Rather than following team orders to pit and take his final stop — which would have meant double-stacking behind his teammate and the eventual race winner Craig Lowndes, Whincup chose to continue around the track under the safety car conditions.
Whincup should have pulled up behind the safety car, but he broke race rules and drove past under the belief he had seen the green light allowing him to pass. His error cost him a drive-through penalty, resulting in an 18th place finish for himself and co-driver Paul Dumbrell.
Whincup said he was unaware the race was under safety car conditions, but accepted the error he had made.
“I’m just kicking myself … I should’ve just taken the direction and did it (pitted),” Whincup later said.
“There’s no way I would’ve passed the safety car if it didn’t have it’s green lights on. I got green lighted so away I went.”
8. REYNOLDS AGONY
David Reynolds’ dream of defending his Bathurst crown fell apart last year when his body gave up on him late in the race.
Having started in pole position, the Erebus Motorsport driver and 2017 champion had looked the man to beat, leading for the 112 of the first 134 laps.
Then, just 26 laps from the finish, Reynolds succumbed to serious cramps and exhaustion. The team fed him electrolytes, but it failed to help and he had to hand the car over to co-driver Luke Youlden. The pair eventually finished 13th.
Images of a distraught Reynolds slumped over in the team garage after the race were telling.
Reynolds later blamed a hectic build-up to the race as the defending champion.
“I didn’t handle the build-up very well,” Reynolds said.
“I haven’t looked after myself the last couple of days, been run off my feet.
“It’s probably the saddest day of my life, as far as my career goes I feel like it is.”
9. COULTHARD ROLL
It was one of the most spectacular rolls seen at Bathurst.
But fortunately, Fabian Coulthard was able to walk away from it unharmed.
Hammering along at 290km/h on the first lap of the 2010 race, Coulthard lost control and rolled over and over after skidding off the track at high speed at The Chase.
In a spectacular and scary crash, his car shed panels and debris everywhere as it tumbled before finally coming to a stop.
“I was still flat-out so it was 290km/h plus … better than any ride at Dreamworld,” Coulthard said after the crash.
“That was pretty full-on, that's the biggest shunt I've ever had in my career … I'm just lucky to walk away from it.”
10. RESURFACING DRAMAS
Breaks for incidents during races are nothing new in motorsport, but this was a stoppage like no other at Bathurst in 2014.
The race had to be stopped for more than an hour during the middle of the race after the recently resurfaced track fell apart on one of Mount Panorama’s high speed turns.
Drivers were forced to park their cars in pit straight and wait while workman undertook emergency repairs on the track.
The section of the track at the second turn that had caused the dramas began to break away early in the race and by lap 61 it was deemed too dangerous to continue.
The stoppage left some teams fuming and others simply scratching their heads.
“I have never seen anything like it,” Garth Tander said at the time.
“I don’t think anyone has.”
Originally published as 10 big moments from the Bathurst 1000 of the past 10 years