CHALLENGE Bathurst’s wide entry list of cars taking to the Mount Panorama circuit this week has included a range of former V8 Supercars that once competed in the Bathurst 1000.
The event, which includes two days of SuperSprints on Thursday and Friday of this week and two days of Regularity this weekend on Saturday and Sunday, has proven to be a popular addition to the Bathurst schedule of events since it debuted in 2016.
It’s also seen a range of ex-V8 Supercars take to the Mount Panorama circuit amid a wide range of GT, performance, race and road cars turning laps of the famous circuit.
One of the cars on hands to take to the track this week was the ex-Dodo Tasman Commodore VZ driven by owner Martin Miller.
The car is the very same Holden that the late Jason Richards and Jamie Whincup drove to second place in the 2005 Bathurst 1000 and third place at the preceding Sandown 500.
Another Commodore to turn laps at the Mountain was the ex-Holden Racing Team, James Courtney VE II of Joseph Hancock.
The Melbourne-based driver is a regular at Challenge Bathurst in his Melbourne Performance Centre-run Holden, the same car driven to fourth place in the 2012 Bathurst 1000 by Courtney and Cam McConville.
His event came to an early end on Friday when he came unstuck at Forrest’s Elbow and hit the wall.
An ex-Steve Ellery Supercheap Auto Falcon BA also took to the Mountain at Challenge Bathurst in the hands of Stephen Langley.
The car is the same one that Ellery and Luke Youlden used to finish second in the 2003 Sandown 500 and third at that year’s Bathurst 1000.
Ellery talked about these races and this car in the V8 Sleuth Podcast Powered by Repco, available to listen to via our website here.
Another ex-Supercar Falcon also ran at Challenge Bathurst, the Nuline Falcon BF of Rick Newman.
That particular car didn’t race as a BA or BF in V8 Supercars, rather it was built as an AU Falcon by Briggs Motorsport and raced at Bathurst in 2002 in the hands of Tony Longhurst and Matthew White, finishing fifth in the 161-lap classic.
The chassis was later converted to BF panel work after it had finished being used in V8 Supercars and the Development Series and has raced instead in Sports Sedans.
