ENDURANCE racing at Mount Panorama has a habit of throwing up epic battles. The 2003 Bathurst 24 Hour was an all-time classic.

WORDS & IMAGES: Mark Walker

TWICE around the clock at Bathurst, a beastly Holden Monaro 427, and Peter Brock. An awesome combination.

In this #TBT, The Race Torque takes an at times behind the scenes look at a winning weekend for The King of the Mountain, in what would prove to be his final success at the venue.

For a thorough recap of the event, check out our earlier piece, The Diary of an Insomniac.

OUR COVER image comes from Friday night, with the Garry Rogers Motorsport crew preparing the somewhat controversial 427 Monaro for practice, with co-driver Jason Bright having just stepped from the cabin.

The Monaro cut an controversial figure in the Nations Cup period of the sport, essentially a Supercar fitted with a two-door body and a big powerful engine – it was a match made in heaven for the challenge of 24 hours around Bathurst.

Proven reliability, matched with the low revving engine, powering up The Mountain was simply taken in the stride of the imposing Holden, with the team’s efforts expanded to two cars following success in the initial running of the event 12 months earlier.

THURSDAY

AT HOME IN THE BUNKER. Far fewer bells and whistles than current day pit setups, the 05 machine sits in the garage behind the pit lane. Of note, this would be the last event to utilise these old sheds, as well as the pit lane facilities, which were erected 16 years earlier, with the entire paddock area being transformed in time for the 2004 Bathurst 1000. Much of the earth which was excavated from behind the current day garages was used to build up many of the spectator areas around the circuit.

PROMO time. Brock and David Brabham “plant” a tree in support of Formula Green, Ross Palmer initiative, on the spectator mount adjacent to the Chase. As documented in the insomniacs diary, the ground was too hard to break via shovel, so the tree was placed inside an in-ground water tap box.

MEET the cameras, not for the last time that weekend…

BRABHAM, Palmer, Jim McKnoulty and Brock.

COMPLETELY INSIGNIFICANT to the weekend at all, this is a photo taken by the author from the front seat of the rental car driven by Brock. The (very) disappointing thing is that the selfie had not been invented in 2003, and thus this point cannot actually be proven. Disappointing life fail of a cool thing to have happen.

FRIDAY

ON TRACK for practice at Murray’s Corner, having just passed the Mike Newton/Thomas Erdos/Manfred Jurasz/Rod Wilson Porsche 996.

ROUNDING up a Nissan 200SX past the old pit lane.

FORMULA Green press conference, in the old media centre in the James Hardie Building that somewhat felt like a dungeon.

A FAVOURITE pic of mine, one that made it to ink in Auto Action at the time, and subsequently into the Brock tribute issue in 2006.

SATURDAY

ALL aboard for the race start. A look at the reasonably basic interior of the Monaro.

ROLLING around for the race start. Monaro #427 on the pole, 05 from P2, then the Prancing Horse BMW M3 GTR of John Bowe/Neil Crompton/Greg Crick and Maher Algadrie, then the Martin Short/Patrick Pearce/Charles Lamb/Heather Spurle Mosler, tucked in behind the BMW on row three is the Paul Morris/Peter Fitzgerald/John Teulan/Scott Shearman Porsche 996 GT3, and the Paul Stokell/Allan Simonsen/Luke Youlden/Peter Hackett Lamborghini Diablo GTR.

Qualifying times:

1. #427 2:13.2856

2. #05 2:15.9739

3. #420 2:17.6832

SUNDAY

WEARING the battle scars of a long Saturday night around The Mountain, logging laps in pursuit of the number 427 Monaro.

PETE and Bev Brock counting down the laps on the pit wall.

BACK in the garage, ingredients of the yellow drink unknown.

AT the finish, this is what 0.3955sec margin looks like after 86,400 seconds of competition. By this stage Brock had somehow jumped on the photographer’s shoulder to commence the celebrations.

GRANT Denyer with the post-race interview for Channel 7.

ROSS Palmer, Steven Richards, Peter Brock and Greg Murphy on the podium.

…AND didn’t the punters love that result?

THE final press conference in the old dungeon. Greg Murphy, Jason Bright, Peter Brock, Todd Kelly, Garth Tander, Nathan Pretty, Cameron McConville, Steven Richards, Paul Morris, John Teulen, Scott Shearman and Peter Fitzgerald. I wonder what the fine was for that Holden poster?