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Mark Skaife shows current Nissan Motorsport driver Michael Caruso around his 1991 Bathurst 1000 winning Nissan GT-R Group A machine.

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In streaming rain on Bathurst’s 190mph Conrod Straight, the yellow BMW M3 appeared to aquaplane gently onto the grass verge. It glanced the wall and crossed the track, still clearly under control, to be braked safely to a halt.

It was October 4, 1992, on the 33rd lap of the Bathurst 1000. At the wheel was the 1967 F1 World Champion, Denny Hulme. The 56-year-old had suffered a fatal heart attack.

Twelve months earlier, Hulme had driven a similar BMW M3 to fourth at the mountain classic. The following day, he and I travelled to Tasmania to tour the route of the inaugural Targa Tasmania road rally.

Michael Stahl reflects on time spent with 1967 F1 World Champion, Denny Hulme, in this 2013 profile for Motor Sport Magazine.

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During the lead up to the 2012 V8 Supercars Bathurst 1000, Porsche ran a number of demonstration laps around the iconic 6.2 km Mount Panorama circuit with Dutch sportscar ace Jeroen Bleekemolen at the tiller of their dominant RS Spyder LMP2 car.

Although not officially timed, the lap record didn’t stand a chance.

Official press release.

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Peter McKay for Wheels Magazine:

The surprise move to purchase the rights to promote and run the 12 Hour certainly triggered a tsunami of comment in the grown-up media as well as the usual gossip – much of it ill-informed and hysterical – on blogs, Twitter and Facebook.

In some quarters, the bold act by V8 Supercars – the same rival category that earlier this year blocked its drivers from competing in the Bathurst 12 Hour – could be interpreted as being bad for the future of that enduro.

Some even suggested the V8s only wanted it to kill off a rising threat, a race with real momentum and one that in recent years has been emerging as an increasingly popular and significant event internationally.

Not so. V8 Supercars Australia (using owner Archer Capital’s money) wanted the 12 Hour for many fascinating reasons – mostly very positive for V8SA and some potentially beneficial for the race.

Let’s hope he’s right on this one.

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Mark Oastler for Shannons Club:

From the moment its entry was proposed late in 1978, the little rotary-powered sports coupe from Japan challenged traditional thinking on what an outright contender in 1980s touring car racing could be. And that was enough to trigger a farcical political stoush over its acceptance, which played out from late December 1979 to January 1981.

The fascinating story of Mazda’s foray into the Australian Touring Car Championship.

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Mark Oastler recounts Peter Brock’s battle to homologate parts for the VH Commodore to race at Bathurst.

As “Peter Perfect” put it himself:

“It’s a police car without a siren!”

(via Motorsport Retro)