The Great Race – Bathurst 1000 2006

Last weekend saw the running of the 2006 Bathurst 1000.

To those non Australians, the Bathurst race is the penultimate motor race in Australia. This year it unfortunately was also an opportunity for us to say farewell to the ‘King of the Mountain, Peter Brock.

Peter Brock was arguably the best race car driver in Australia in the 1970’s and early 1980’s. He holds the record for the most Bathurst race wins at 9.

Peter died in a motor accident in Perth  in September 2006 and will be sorely missed by fans.

In Peter’s memory, his Bathurst winning cars where driven in a parade lap around the track the morning of the race. It was a poignant moment not lost on the many fans at the track and the millions watching the telecast.  It bought a tear to many there, including Craig Lowndes who Peter mentored throughout his career. One thing I was disgusted by was when they had a minutes silence in Peter’s memory, Mark Skaife kept his hat on – poor form in my book. Take the hat off you goose and show some respect  

This year saw the trophy named after Peter, with the current drivers all vying to have their names etched on the trophy for the first time. The race in a word was a ‘cracker’. It had it all and being a Ford fan I was happy to see the HRT #2 car driven by Skaife and Garth Tander having a crash on the first lap ruling them out. There was some fierce driving by all with the main players trying to out strategise each other.  

I think there was 10 safety car periods throughout the race   and I am sure Chrysler who supplies the safety car where very happy about that!! As usual in these races, it always comes down to the last laps.

This is incredible as it is a 161 lap race and to have it come down to under a second is testament to the drivers and their teams. 

Fortunately for Ford fans such as me, Craig Lowndes / Jamie Whincup bought the 888 car over the finish line in first, followed by the Rick Kelly / Todd Kelly and James Courtney / Glenn Seton.  

Craig was in tears at being the first winner of the Peter Brock trophy, and it was the first win by a Ford since Jason Bright won in 1998.