Peter Brock’s family opens up on The King of the Mountain in a new book

It’s 50 years since motor racing legend Peter Brock’s first Bathurst drive but his family’s memories are still vivid. A new book by Bev Brock reveals what it was like to go to the Mountain with the King.

Peter Brock was many things to many people: a teammate, a friend, a celebrity, a brand, a champion and an adoring father. To the Australian motorsport community, he will always be the King of the Mountain.

If Brock was King, then Bathurst was his kingdom.

Bathurst was always an event for the entire Brock tribe. Each year, Peter’s parents Ruth and Geoff, along with Aunty Marj and Uncle John, would head north in their caravans as the big week approached. They would proudly claim their regular spot in the camping grounds adjacent to the pits at the track. In the first few years after Peter and I got together, we’d share their camping site and join them for meals whenever possible.

When my son James attended his first Bathurst at just a few months old, my involvement in the race was extremely limited, but Ruth and Aunty Marj were only too happy to look after him whenever they could. This occasionally left me free to feed the crew and help out. In subsequent years, as our family grew, we worked on how best to manage young children with the demands of a hectic, unrelenting race program. As new babies, they would sleep in their cocoons on the floor beside our bed. Peter was never OK with the thought that I would not be there for him for the endurance races. I did the sewing for new badges, promotional outfits, and even for the initial Mobil driving suits, as this was before bespoke driving suits existed.

Bev Brock and her husband Peter during his last V8 Supercar race in Bathurst. Picture: AFP

My sewing machine and kit went everywhere.

My studies in nutrition and skills as a home economist meant that Peter depended on me to provide him with the perfect diet to help him to get the very best from his body. Oh, and I must not forget doing the timekeeping — tending to Peter was more than a full-time job.

Racing at Bathurst was easily the most exhausting week of my life each year. It proved to be a double-edged sword: it was easily the most adrenalin-filled, vital event of the motorsport calendar but was also the most demanding, unpredictable week that I found physically, emotionally and mentally draining.

But the combination of all of those factors meant that each victory at the Mountain was the most rewarding outcome that everyone involved could wish for.

ROBERT BROCK

Bathurst as a kid — where do I begin? We had such a unique experience as a family when it came to Mt Panorama.

Once us kids were old enough to not be left with babysitters, the annual drives to and from the Mountain were always quite the trip. From the moment the packed car started the all-day drive before dawn, we fell back into that same interesting ritual — one that we’d often perform twice a year, for the Easter enduros too. On some of the earliest trips I remember being woken early in the morning by Mum and Dad to wish us a happy Easter.

Brock at Bathurst by Bev Brock.

Motor racing legend Peter Brock in 2005.

We’d wake up usually a few hours later, to the cars all starting up and making their way out on to the grid. Back then though, camping in the centre of the track was very similar to how it is now, only there were so few facilities; there weren’t the modern hospitality suites that there are now. There were large marquees and tents with catering at the choice spots around pit straight and later at the Chase.

Watching the cars enter what was Fuji Hell Corner in those twilight hours was so cool. It was often so cold, but you could get right up to the wall next to pit exit and watch the cars under heavy brakes enter the corner with their discs under so much friction that they were glowing.

Spending those cold mornings on our own, we discovered we could really use having other kids our own age around. We’d befriend other kids with big-race names so we could talk our way into any of the hospitality suites to entertain ourselves throughout the entire event.

Peter Brock with Bev in 1996.

A young Peter Brock with co-driver Des West on debut in 1969.

There were also some scary moments at Bathurst, like when there was bright sunshine down on pit straight, and we’d hear across the team radios in the pits that it was actually snowing across the top of the Mountain. Then you’d see all of the teams scramble to try and set up the cars so they stayed competitive.

Favourite Bathurst memories are hard to pick — there are so many truly unique experiences and characters that you meet.

Mt Panorama has a lot of intense moments tied to it: strong friendships, cherished moments with Dad’s parents, keepsakes that help preserve those memories for us as alive and new.

Peter Brock with Robert and James in the early ’80s.

Alexandra Brock dons her dad’s GM Dealer Team jacket.

ALEXANDRA BROCK

I made the journey to and from Bathurst every year of my life from when I was born until I was 14 years old.

A few years, we even did the journey twice: first in April for the 12hr race and again in October for the Bathurst 1000. Most of my memories are condensed into the years surrounding 1990, when I was a newly free-to-roam seven-year-old, through to 1997.

When the 12hr came about, I was not impressed. It meant another week of my holidays eaten up hanging around, doing not much, and now I had to miss out on Easter too.

Somehow the Easter Bunny always found us, but the bag of chocolate or carob at the end of our camp beds did little to remedy being woken at 5am by fireworks and loud cars.

Those years, we camped at the track, staying in my grandparents’ caravan annex. I remember managing to use all the water in the temporary shower block, because we realised we could use the space under all the stall walls as a slip ‘n’ slide when we turned on every shower.

Usually we stayed at people’s houses just outside town, never quite close enough to have the freedom to get around by ourselves.

Almost every year, some poor sap was charged with keeping me entertained and my parents unhassled. This noble endeavour was mostly unsuccessful, as yelling for and distracting my mum while she kept lap times in the pits was my favourite attention-seeking pastime.

My most vivid Bathurst memory is the painfully long and hot nine-hour drive we had to endure to Bathurst and back again. Now and then I’ll hear a song and be taken back to a stuffy car with a Discman that skipped on every bump.

Dire Straits was one of Dad’s favourites. John Williamson was another. Dad also loved Roy Orbison. Then there’s Kitaro — the more hippy side of my parents, a synth warbling music you’d hear in a crystal shop that would instantly send me into sleep-like stupor. And finally, Enya’s Orinoco Flow will always remind me of Bathurst. Because to me, nothing screams V8s and the smell of burnt tyres more than the peaceful melodic work of this Irish songstress.

James Brock in 1979.

JAMES BROCK

It’s been 43 years since I attended my first race at Bathurst. As a kid I mostly remember spending many long hours in a car driving up to Bathurst listening to Dad’s music — usually John Williamson’s Raining on the Rock or True Blue.

Once we reached the track, we’d initially just hang around the back of the pits and try to find something to do with the other motorsport kids who also happened to be dragged there by their parents.

As a kid, none of us had that much interest in the lead-up to Bathurst. Fortunately, the race itself was always thrilling, but the rest was really very boring.

Having said that, growing up around Bathurst was definitely special because there was a level of respect for the place. You could tell it meant so much to so many people just from the way everyone talked about it.

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Mt Panorama is without doubt a great, uncompromising and amazing piece of road. It’s both daunting and impressive, which I learned in my 1999 race there. I ran Team Brock at the time, which was a bit of a backyard effort with my mates. Peter was constantly around to give “advice”! We put a lot of time into the build-up, so it was a great result.

In retrospect, my 1999 Bathurst win was a lot of hard work, but it gave me an even greater appreciation of what Dad had achieved.

This is an edited extract from Brock at Bathurst by Bev Brock (Affirm Press, $39.99), out now