Mount Panorama Circuit
Mount Panorama Circuit is a motor racing track located in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is situated on Mount Panorama/Wahluu and is best known as the home of the Bathurst 1000 motor race held each October, and the Bathurst 12 Hour event held each February. The track is a long street circuit, which is used as a public road when no racing events are being run, with many residences which can only be accessed from the circuit.
The track has an unusual design by modern standards, with a vertical difference between its highest and lowest points, and grades as steep as 1:6.13. From the start-finish line, the track can be viewed in three sections; the short pit straight and then a tight left turn into the long, steep Mountain straight; the tight, narrow section across the top of the mountain itself; and then the long, downhill section of Conrod Straight, with the very fast Chase and the turn back onto the pit straight to complete the lap.
Historically, the racetrack has been used for a wide variety of racing categories, including everything from open-wheel racers to motorcycles. With tighter safety regulations and less tolerance of risk, motorcycle racing is no longer conducted at the circuit, and open-wheel racing events did not occur for many years until a Formula 3 event was added as a support race for the Bathurst 12 Hour in 2012. It is registered as a Grade 3 racing circuit by the FIA. Grade 3 racing circuits are permitted to hold FIA-sanctioned events with cars with a weight/power ratio of 2–3 kg/hp, which includes all current Australian domestic racing categories except S5000.
As a public road, on non-race days and when it is not closed off during the day as part of a racing event, Mount Panorama is open to the public. Cars can drive in both directions around the circuit for no charge, though the speed limit of is strictly enforced by the Bathurst Police who regularly patrol the circuit. The National Motor Racing Museum is located next to the Mount Panorama Circuit.
The venue's infield and pit parking served as the home of the 2023 World Athletics Cross Country Championships.
Early history
Prior to European settlement, the area was home to the Wiradjuri people. The Wiradjuri called Mount Panorama Wahluu, meaning "to watch over", and it was an initiation site for young men. According to the Dreamtime, a warrior named Wahluu was killed by his brother in a dispute over a young woman – the bloodspill upset Baiame, who caused a volcanic eruption around Wahluu's body to form the mountain of today.The area's racing history dates back to the 1900s. A man by the name of Dr. Machattie persuaded two local builders to drive from Melbourne to Bathurst- a drive in his steam-powered Thomson. Various circuits made up of public roads made up of dirt and tarmac were raced on starting in 1906. Until 1913, races took place on the Peel-Limekilns circuit, then from 1914 to 1925 the Yetholme circuit was used, then the incredibly long Sunny Corner circuit was used from 1926 to 1930 and the Vale Circuit was used from 1931 to 1937. Construction of the Mount Panorama circuit commenced in mid-1936. The first race meeting, for motorcycles, was held on 16 April 1938 and the first race, the 1938 Junior Tourist Trophy, was won by 20 year old Queenslander Les Sherrin riding a Norton. The first car race, the 1938 Australian Grand Prix, was held two days later and was won by Peter Whitehead driving an ERA.
The circuit
It also has the fastest corner in touring car racing,, the kink at the entrance to the Chase. French sportscar driver Alexandre Prémat, who later raced as a Supercars regular, once described the circuit as "A mix of the Nordschleife, Petit Le Mans and Laguna Seca". Nürburgring 24 Hours winner Kévin Estre claimed that "half of the track is the Nordschleife, half of the track is Macau".The Pit Straight
The Pit Straight of Mount Panorama, which is adjacent to the pit complex, has a different start line and finish line. For the standing start only, the start line is closer to Hell Corner so that traffic does not go too far around Murray's Corner when the start grid is formed. The finish line is positioned such that all of the pit bays are located after it.Hell Corner
The common misconception of nomenclature due to the accidents that happen at this turn are widespread. Hell Corner was named after a tree stump that existed on the apex of the turn. It was believed that any motorcycle riders who hit the stump would die in an act of folly and thereby be doomed to an eternity of birth.Mountain Straight
Mountain Straight is a long straight that begins the climb up the mountain towards Griffins Bend. V8 Supercars reach speeds of up to before the braking point for Griffins Bend. In the days before modern aerodynamics, drivers would have to lift off the throttle to prevent becoming airborne over the crest halfway up the straight. The crest also caused problems during the old Easter motorbike races at the circuit with a number of riders having serious crashes due to not lifting before the crest and their bikes becoming airborne.Since late 2022 a campaign is being run to have Mountain Straight renamed to Moffat Mountain Straight or Moffat Straight, honouring the Ford driver Allan Moffat and his fierce competition with Holden's Peter Brock, which personified the uniquely Australian Ford vs Holden rivalry. This rivalry popularised the annual 500 mile race and made it a national event, even for non motor sport followers.
Griffins Bend
Named after Martin Griffin, the Mayor of Bathurst whose vision it was to create the circuit, drivers heading around this right-hander have to be careful not to drift too far out of this negatively cambered turn and hit the wall upon exit. David Besnard suffered a fiery crash here in 2011 after he arrived at the corner in his Ford Falcon FG with insufficient front brake pressure having come straight out of the pit-lane with new brakes.The Cutting
A pair of left hand corners leading into a steep 1 in 6 grade exit, overtaking in this section of circuit is difficult and it is very hard to recover from a spin here because of the narrow room and steep gradient. This corner was the location of the infamous 'race rage' incident between Marcos Ambrose and Greg Murphy. The pair collided when both drivers refused to give the other racing room late in the 2005 Supercheap Auto 1000, with the resulting incident partially blocking the circuit.Quarry Corner
Sometimes confused with Griffins Bend, Quarry Corner is a right hander that immediately follows the Cutting. The corner is named after the quarry below the outside wall of the corner, accessible via an access road between it and the Cutting. As the circuit briefly flattens at the apex, drivers are sometimes required to short-shift between gears to avoid wheelspin. One of the most famous incidents in the history of the Bathurst 1000 occurred on the exit of this turn when Dick Johnson crashed his Ford Falcon XD out of the lead on lap 18 of the 1980 Hardie-Ferodo 1000. Johnson was unable to avoid a large rock that had been pushed from the spectator area as he was passing a quick-lift tow truck at the time and had nowhere else to go. The car was destroyed after running over the rock and hitting the outside concrete wall which the car almost leapt over, taking with it Johnson's means of supporting his racing ambitions. An emotional public appeal followed during the race's telecast which re-launched Johnson's career.Reid Park
Following Quarry, there is a loaded right-hand turn followed by an open left-hand turn. This is Reid Park, named after the Bathurst City engineer Hughie Reid, who redesigned sections of the track to be more suitable for motor racing. At the 1982 Bathurst 1000, Kevin Bartlett had a tyre blow out in the right-hander and pitch him into the inside wall for the left-hander, rolling his Chevrolet Camaro Z28 onto its roof and skidding across the track. Another high-profile incident occurred in the 2013 Bathurst 1000 when four-time winner Greg Murphy crashed at the exit of the right-hander on a dirty and dusty track surface.Sulman Park
After Reid Park, there is a steep drop which flows into a climbing left-hand turn, heading towards the highest point of Mount Panorama. This is the location of Sulman Park and its nature park. Peter Brock had his first major crash at Bathurst here when he crashed his Holden Racing Team Commodore VP into retirement on lap 138 of the 1994 Tooheys 1000. Jason Bright crashed here in his Ford EL Falcon in practice during the 1998 FAI 1000. The car was then rebuilt in time to scrape into qualifying in the dying minutes before Bright and Steven Richards went on to take victory in the race. This corner was also the scene of a crash in a V8 Supercar Development Series race in 2006 that claimed the life of Mark Porter. Sulman Park is also commonly nicknamed "Metal Grate" after a drainage grate on the outside apron of the sequence at the point of maximum lateral and longitudinal load.McPhillamy Park
McPhillamy Park is a fast, downhill left-hand turn which is guarded by a crest prior to the turn-in point, rendering the corner blind to approaching drivers. Drivers have to stay close to the wall while turning so as not to run wide on exit. However, going too close may cause the car to clip the inside kerbing, which Allan Moffat did in practice for the 1986 James Hardie 1000, crashing the Holden Commodore VK, which he was sharing with long-time rival Peter Brock, head on into the concrete. British driver Win Percy, driving Allan Grice's Roadways Commodore VL, would complete an almost carbon copy of Moffat's crash in practice for the 1987 James Hardie 1000. McPhillamy Park is the location of the longest-running campsite for those who camp at the track. The park was named after Walter J. McPhillamy, a previous mayor of the Bathurst City Council and the owner of most of the land occupied by the Bald Hills/Mt Panorama which he donated to the people of Bathurst as a scenic picnic area.McPhillamy was the site of Bill Brown's rollover during the 1971 Hardie-Ferodo 500 when the front right tyre on his Ford Falcon XY GTHO Phase III blew at over, sending Brown up an earth bank before barrel-rolling along the fence. A pair of marshals stationed at that point were lucky to escape being hit after taking evasive action. Amazingly, Brown suffered only minor cuts and bruises in the accident largely due to the driver's seat breaking in the initial impact. The famous corner was also the site of the crash between the Falcons of Bob Morris and Christine Gibson that blocked the track and stopped the 1981 James Hardie 1000 on lap 120, 43 laps short of race distance, giving Dick Johnson and John French the win.
In the interests of safety for both drivers and spectators at McPhillamy, the banking that had been just off the outside of the track was removed and pushed back approximately on an angle to allow a sand trap and concrete retaining wall to be put in place prior to the 1985 James Hardie 1000. With the increased speed of the cars over the years as both Supercars and GT3 cars lap the circuit approximately 20+ seconds faster than the Group A cars did in 1985 with most of the gains being a much faster run across the top of the mountain, for safety reasons this sand trap has grown larger over time.