The Australian Racing Drivers’ Club (ARDC), which kicked off the now annual and iconic Australian motorsport event, the Bathurst 1000, has paid tribute to the race, the place and the club’s racing heritage with the announcement of its newly named Turn 9, dubbed ‘Panorama’. The ARDC, which celebrated its 60th anniversary last year, formed an alliance in 1954 with the Bathurst Light Car Club to purchase land between Murray’s Corner and Hell Corner in order to build the Mt Panorama pit lane and establish the Bathurst circuit. In 1962, the ARDC ran the first six-hour race at Bathurst to prove that Mt Panorama could handle a then-500 mile event. One year later, the Armstrong 500 race meeting moved from Phillip Island to Mt Panorama, and the Bathurst 500 was born. “Given the ARDC’s place in Australian motorsport history in presenting and developing this country’s most iconic race, the Bathurst 1000, it is only appropriate that we recognise this part of our history in naming Turn 9 of the circuit ‘Panorama’”, said ARDC CEO, Glenn Matthews. Panorama sits atop the new Brabham Circuit, and appropriately its position is the highest point of elevation at the Sydney Motorsport Park track, with an amazing vista to the equally iconic control tower. The 4.5 kilometre Brabham extended circuit was created by combining the original Eastern Creek International Raceway layout with an exciting and undulating extension designed by Apex Circuit Design from the UK, and launched with the re-branded Sydney Motorsport Park in May, 2012. Racing this still-new circuit on August 31 and September 1 in the Touring Car Masters as part of the annual Australian Muscle Car Masters, Bathurst masters John Bowe and Jim Richards were on hand to launch ‘Panorama’ to the motorsport world. “It’s fantastic that we have two Bathurst legends here at the 2013 Muscle Car Masters to help us celebrate its naming this weekend, at an event that celebrates the Bathurst cars of the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s,” added Matthews. Now in its ninth year, the Muscle Car Masters is a weekend-long celebration of Australia’s muscle car heritage, and a tribute to the drivers who raced them. On-track action includes races for historic touring cars, Bathurst beasts, Formula 5000 V8 open wheelers and production sports cars, with the Touring Car Masters one of the major drawcards of the Fathers’ Day weekend festivities, and most categories will use the Brabham circuit and fly past ‘Panorama’ over many a lap.
MORE INFO:
www.sydneymotorsportpark.com.au
www.ardc.com.au
www.musclecarmasters.com.au