Bathurst is the unchallenged spiritual home of Australian motor racing, but how much of the long and diverse history of motorsports in the city do you really know?
This is a journey that must, of course, start at Mount Panorama/Wahluu. 6.213km long with 174 metres vertically between base and summit, the track is world famous and to take a lap (at 60kph maximum!) is always a thrill.
And the National Motor Racing Museum, located on the track at Murray’s Corner, is THE place to celebrate the rich history of Australian motor sport.
But before there was Mount Panorama, there was the Old Vale Circuit which established Bathurst’s reputation as a centre for motorcycle racing. You can still drive this circuit today, marvelling at the skill of those who once rode it as a dirt track. Want to go back even further? Then you must visit what is possibly the ultimate ‘man-cave’, Ash’s Speedway Museum – the largest collection of speedway memorabilia in the southern hemisphere. Speedway in Bathurst dates back to the 1920s, and we even had a home-grown world champion in Bluey Wilkinson.
