Born in Richmond, Victoria, Brock grew up in Hurstbridge and developed an early passion for cars. After completing National Service in the Australian Army from 1965 to 1967, he returned to civilian life with a clear ambition: to race at Bathurst. It was during army leave in 1966 that he first attended the Bathurst 500 as a spectator, and the experience shaped the remainder of his life. He rose through Australian touring car ranks driving Holden machinery under the Holden Dealer Team (HDT), forging a partnership with the marque that would last more than 35 years.
Brock made his Bathurst debut in 1969, finishing third in a Holden HT Monaro GTS 350 alongside co-driver Des West. He claimed his first victory in 1972 — the last year the race was run over 500 miles — driving solo, as that was still permitted at the time.
His nine Bathurst 1000 wins spanned from 1972 to 1987, a record that has never been equalled:
1972 (solo)
1975 (with Brian Sampson)
1978 (with Jim Richards)
1979 (with Jim Richards)
1980 (with Jim Richards)
1982 (with Larry Perkins)
1983 (with Larry Perkins)
1984 (with Larry Perkins and John Harvey)
1987 (with David Parsons)
The 1979 victory stands as perhaps his most dominant: Brock and co-driver Jim Richards won by a record margin of six laps — a gap so emphatic that changes to race regulations introduced in the mid-to-late 1980s, most notably the introduction of the Safety Car in 1987, mean it may never be broken. On the final lap of that race, Brock also broke the circuit lap record for touring cars, a mark he himself would surpass in 1982.
In 32 starts at Bathurst, Brock claimed pole position six times (1974, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1983 and 1989), all but his 1989 pole achieved while driving for Holden. His hat-trick wins from 1978 to 1980 with Jim Richards, and again from 1982 to 1984 with Larry Perkins (and John Harvey in 1984), represent sustained dominance unmatched in the race's history.
Brock's endurance excellence extended beyond Mount Panorama. He won the Sandown 500 — the traditional Bathurst lead-up race — nine times as well, including seven consecutive victories from 1975 to 1981. He also won the Australian Touring Car Championship three times and accumulated 37 race wins in the national touring car series, a record that stood for many years.
In 2003, Brock claimed what he personally regarded as a tenth Bathurst win at the Bathurst 24 Hour, driving a Holden Monaro 427C for Garry Rogers Motorsport alongside Greg Murphy, Jason Bright and Todd Kelly. The car won by less than half a second.
The title "King of the Mountain" was earned through the sheer accumulation of victories at Mount Panorama, a circuit that demands respect from even the fastest drivers in the world. Brock became arguably the most recognisable face in Australian motorsport, comparable in public standing to Formula One World Champions Jack Brabham, Alan Jones and Denny Hulme.
His car number, 05, was a deliberate reference to the 0.05 percent blood alcohol limit in Victoria, reflecting Brock's long-standing involvement in road safety campaigns. He carried that number across almost every car he raced in.
Not all of Brock's story was triumphal. His promotion of the "Energy Polariser" — a device containing crystals and magnets in epoxy resin that he claimed improved vehicle performance by "aligning the molecules" — alienated Holden and many within the motorsport community. The controversy led to the dissolution of his partnership with Holden in 1987, forcing Brock to campaign vehicles from other manufacturers including BMW, Ford Sierra and Volvo in the seasons that followed. He eventually returned to Holden machinery in 1991.
Brock died on 8 September 2006 during the Targa West rally in Western Australia, when his car left the road and struck a tree. He was 61. In his honour, the Bathurst 1000 winner's trophy was renamed the Peter Brock Trophy, first presented at the 2006 race. A statue of Brock, standing on his 1984 Bathurst-winning Holden VK Commodore, was unveiled adjacent to the National Motor Racing Museum in Bathurst in 2008. The Skyline section of Mount Panorama was renamed Brock's Skyline in 1997.
His nine Bathurst victories remain the benchmark of Australian endurance racing achievement, a record that has stood for nearly four decades and that no driver has come close to matching.