Eric Thompson: Drivers heed Bathurst's call

Craig Lowndes will be hoping to add to his 2006, '07 and '08 Bathurst wins with another victory this year. Photo / Paul Estcourt

What is it about men and mountains?

The drivers and teams for the second of the endurance rounds in the V8 Supercars championship are about to make their annual pilgrimage to the mecca of tin-top racing - the Bathurst 1000 at Mt Panorama.

While the Rugby World Cup may hold a few folks' fascination, anyone who has a passing interest in watching big race cars tackle big tracks will already have October 6-9 marked in the diary.

That single race, over a single weekend, has caused more ecstasy, despair, humiliation and humbling than any other race meeting in Australasia. Over the past 48 years, the battle of man versus mountain has mentally, and at times physically, broken many an emerging race car driver, even killed a few. But it has also forged some of Australasia's best. Some to have made their names on Mt Panorama include the legendary Peter Brock, Allan Moffat, Jim Richards and Larry Perkins. And more lately Mark Skaife, Greg Murphy, Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup.

Next weekend will be no different. Due to the new driver pairing rules, no two series' full-time drivers can now be in the same car, so the likes of a Whincup/Lowndes (winners in 2006, 2007 and 2008) pairing probably won't be seen again.

However, Lowndes does have Skaife with him and last year was yet again another classic Bathurst battle. Lowndes and Skaife came home in front of teammate Whincup who shared the driving with Steve Owen. Garth Tander and Cameron McConville finished third with the best Kiwi on the day four-time Bathurst winner Murphy driving with Allan Simonsen.

It was TeamVodafone's fourth Bathurst victory in the past five years and just the third time in race history that a team has taken a 1-2 form finish.

The victory gave Mark Skaife six Bathurst crowns, and Lowndes a fifth, on a day where Holden once again took a clean sweep of the podium positions. Ford started from pole position thanks to Mark Winterbottom, however co-driver Luke Youlden suffered a delaminated tyre and they eventually ended up ninth.

Tander and McConville overcame all sorts of problems - a hit with the wall, a narrow escape with a mad kangaroo and the driver's door falling off at a pit stop - to make it to the finish. A record 19 cars finished on the lead lap of the 161-lap race.

Bathurst is an unforgiving place where cars travel at extraordinary speeds in, for all intents and purposes, a concrete chute.

The first left-hander off the grid, Hell Corner, has claimed a few dreams at the very start of the race. Reid Park is a tricky little number that'll catch a few out and put them into a spin. After Sulman Park and McPhillamy, drivers won't be able to see where the track goes after Skyline where it drops away on the entrance to the Dipper - a place to gain on the rest if you have a big enough heart.

Then there's Conrod Straight where drivers definitely do not want to either have a mechanical malfunction or head into The Chase too hot - it won't be a pleasant experience. Just ask Fabian Coulthard who experienced one of the most spectacular accidents ever caught on film at Bathurst.

The track

* Mt Panorama, Bathurst, NSW.

* Originally built in 1938 as a scenic tourist drive, it has hosted all types of motorsport. The circuit is a public road on non-race weekends.

* Circuit length: 6.21km.

* Race direction: Anti-clockwise.

* Top speed: 300km/h.

* Average speed: 178km/h.by Eric Thompson