Motorsport: Four decades of Bathurst and Gentleman Jim still loves it

Jim Richards is one of the most successful Bathurst 1000 winners.

The annual October Mt Panorama race weekend isn't just all about the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000. Sure, it's the sparkly, shiny, precious stone in the V8 Supercars calendar, but rest assured there will be thousands of fans making their regular sojourn to the mountain for other reasons.

Chief among them will be round six of the Touring Car Masters (TCM) series. The three races over the weekend have attracted a 29-car field made up of 20 different models from six different manufacturers of muscle cars built between 1964 and 1976.

Two of the drivers racing in the class, Jim Richards and John Bowe, are former winners of the Bathurst 1000.

Ex-pat Kiwi Richards is one of the most successful Bathurst 1000 winners, having stood on the top spot of the podium seven times -- second on the all-time list to Peter Brock's nine, of which Richards shares three wins. He set the record as the oldest winner at 55 when he and Mark Skaife won in 2002 and has been racing at Mt Panorama in various machines continuously since 1974, another record.

"I moved to Australia after that race and just kept coming back every year after that," said Richards.

"I kept being asked back to drive people's cars and then I had my own car and then the HDT asked me to race with Brock. It was, and still is, the biggest race of the year."

Known as Gentleman Jim, Richards has only thrown his toys out of the cot once and that was in 1992 on the winner's podium with Skaife. He'd just heard his mate Denny Hulme had died of a heart attack during the race when the crowd started booing because a Japanese car (Nissan GT-R) had won.

Just part of what he said is often rolled out, so here's the full quote.

"I'm just really stunned for words, I can't believe the reception. I thought Australian race fans had a lot more to go than this, this is bloody disgraceful. I'll keep racing but I tell you what, this is going to remain with me for a long time, you're a pack of arseholes," he said.

Richards stayed true to his word and has kept racing every year since then and this weekend he'll be punting his 1964 Falcon Sprint.

Only three Kiwis in the past 51 years have stood on top of the podium -- Greg Murphy (four wins), Richards (seven), and his son Steven (three).

"I'm pretty sure I'm the oldest driver [67] racing this year and I still remember my first race. There were barbed wire fences on the side of the mountain to stop you rolling down the hill.

"That was what Bathurst was all about. You were never going to go through the barbed wire because you were too good a driver and we had a lot of respect for the place.

"I've seen massive changes in the circuit, huge changes in the cars from when I first started racing there and all for the better," he said.

Richards lies second in the TCM 48 points behind Bow. He's the only driver to have won two rounds (2009 and 2010) in TCM competition at Bathurst. His consistency has been key to his success at having finished on the podium in 14 of 18 races.

Championships won
1985 Australian Endurance
1985 Australian Touring Car
1986 Australian Endurance
1987 Australian Touring Car
1990 Australian Touring Car
1991 Australian Touring Car
1995 Australian GT
1996 Australian Nascar
1999 Australian GT
2000 Australian Nations Cup
2001 Australian Nations Cup
2002 Australian Nations Cup
2003 Australian Carrera Cup
2010 Touring Car Masters
2013 Touring Car Masters