Regular readers will know that this place means a lot to me. It has been at the top of the bucket list for a long, long time.
After a 24 hour plus journey via Hong Kong and Sydney (with a stunning view of the city as we flew in) the grey and increasingly cold days back at home seem thousands of miles away.
A 15 minute cab ride from the Airport and my modest loaner car was ready to take the trip up to Mount Panorama.
To answer the immediate questions:
It’s a Bentley Flying Spur W12,
It’s not purple it’s damson,
Yes it’s awesome,
No I didn’t get a speeding ticket,
No I’m not allowed to keep it!
It was a leisurely trip up to Bathurst, on a gorgeous day with old friend Jon Hart to keep me company, Australia again served up the sights, over the Harbour Bridge out of Sydney and up into the hills with big skies, glorious views and roadkill in abundance that looks scarier dead than most UK fauna does when fully functioning.
On arrival there was the first sight of the famous hillside sign at Mount Panorama, and time for a couple of gentle laps of the circuit.
First Impressions?
At the awesome end of awesomeness! It’s so familiar yet so very different, the run down out of Turn One is vastly longer than I imagined, the local allotments easily visible over the wall on the right, the camber of the turns too catches your eye, and your attention. The road was packed with walkers, but barely a single car.
Up on the mountain the twists and turns are insanely tight, and then they get tighter, twistier and altogether even more insane. This is like no other circuit anywhere!
When you consider the speeds here, and the lap times that the cars produce it is an astounding tribute to the skill of the drivers, this is no Bedford Autodrome, no consequence free trackday venue, this is a barrel chested, hairy arsed mountain of a track that will punch your lights out if you take liberties. I absolutely love it!
