The Bathurst 1000 covers 1,000.29 kilometres on the Mount Panorama Circuit — a partially public road course defined by a dramatic 174-metre elevation change, blind crests, high-speed straights, and demanding corners including Hell Corner, The Dipper and Conrod Straight. The circuit's character demands both outright speed and mechanical endurance from the cars and tactical discipline from the teams, making it the ideal setting for a race that became embedded in the Australian sporting consciousness.
The race traces its origins to the 1960 Armstrong 500, held at Phillip Island. It moved to Bathurst in 1963 and was extended to its current 1,000-kilometre distance in 1973. In the decades since, it has been run under a succession of regulations: Group C, Group A, Super Touring, and the current Supercars Championship rules. Whatever the category, the race's character — long, unpredictable, shaped by the mountain and by the rivalry between manufacturers — has remained constant.
The informal title "The Great Race" arose organically from the race's outsized place in the annual Australian sporting calendar. For decades it was Australia's most-watched annual sporting event, attracting massive crowds to the mountain and enormous television audiences. The race sits alongside the Melbourne Cup horse race as one of the country's genuinely cross-demographic spectator events.
Much of the race's mythology was built around the rivalry between Ford and Holden — a battle between marques that mapped directly onto broader Australian social identity. For the Bathurst 1000 races from 1995 to 2012, the Supercars regulations mandated that only Ford Falcons and Holden Commodores could compete. Holden has the most overall victories at 34, followed by Ford with 21.
Peter Brock's nine victories between 1972 and 1987 are the foundation of the race's mythology. His nickname "King of the Mountain" was earned at Bathurst, and the trophy awarded to race winners was renamed the Peter Brock Trophy in 2006 following his death.
The 1979 race stands as the most dominant single performance in the event's history. Brock and co-driver Jim Richards won by six laps — a margin so large that changes in race regulations, particularly the introduction of the Safety Car in 1987, mean it is unlikely to be broken. Other defining moments include Allan Moffat and Colin Bond's famous 1977 formation finish for Ford down Conrod Straight, Jim Richards' controversial 1992 win with Mark Skaife in the Nissan Skyline GT-R, and Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup's hat-trick from 2006 to 2008.
The race's first fatality came in 1986, when Sydney driver Mike Burgmann died on Conrod Straight. The tragedy led to the circuit being altered for 1987 with the addition of The Chase chicane, which reduced approach speeds at Murray's Corner by approximately 100 km/h.
In 1987, the Bathurst 1000 was a round of the World Touring Car Championship, bringing European factory teams to Mount Panorama in a clash that produced considerable controversy. The Eggenberger Ford Sierra entries finished first and second on the road but were later disqualified for bodywork irregularities, handing the win to Peter Brock — his ninth and final Bathurst victory.
The Mount Panorama Circuit has become one of the most replicated race tracks in motorsport simulation, appearing in numerous sim-racing titles. The Bathurst 1000 event itself is frequently recreated in online endurance competition, with "The Great Race" naming convention carrying over into the sim-racing community's own long-distance events inspired by the original.
The Bathurst 1000's identity as "The Great Race" is inseparable from Mount Panorama itself — a circuit that demands more of drivers than almost any other in the world, and that has produced moments of triumph and tragedy in equal measure. The phrase does not belong to any single sponsor or governing body; it belongs to the race's history, to the fans who have camped on the mountain for generations, and to the drivers who have staked their reputations on 161 laps of the most demanding road course in Australian motorsport.