Motorsport: Legends of Bathurst to become annual event

The 2018 Legends of Bathurst line up for a photo at Hampton Downs. Photo / Supplied

Hampton Downs owner Tony Quinn has confirmed the 4Guys Autobarn Legends of Bathurst will become an annual event to be held in January every year. The festival, celebrating all things Bathurst, concluded today with hundreds of fans turning up to meet their heroes and watch some classic cars in action.

"It's exceeded my expectations and this weekend has given us confidence to go bigger and better next year," says Quinn. "Bathurst has such a great history and there have been so many New Zealand drivers and cars who've made their mark at Mt Panorama. Then there are countless drivers and cars we can bring over from Australia."

"We haven't decided on the format but next year we'll have a much more focused event. We might celebrate a particular year; we might look at reuniting a driver and the team they raced for because I reckon some of the crew will have much better stories than the drivers! Or we might celebrate Greg Murphy's 'Lap of the Gods'."

"We could have a 'father and son' theme and bring over Dick and Steve Johnson and Larry and Jack Perkins. That would give us an excuse to bring Jim and Steve Richards back again and I'm sure some of the other legends here this weekend would be happy to come back. They've been so generous with their time, they've been fantastic with the fans and I know they've really enjoyed themselves."

John Bowe was one of eight Legends of Bathurst — Jim Richards, Steve Richards, Allan Moffat, John Goss, Fred Gibson, Paul Radisich and Charlie O'Brien were the others — who did signing session for the fans over the weekend and entertained the crowd at last night's dinner with their memories of Mt Panorama.

"I've had the best time ever in my motor racing career and I've had a long, long, long career," says Bowe. "It's a fantastic race circuit and a great facility. I've been driving the Volvo 240T that I first raced 30 years ago. Man, the time has gone fast but it's been so much fun."

Bowe teamed up with Garry Carter to win the feature race, the 20-lap Legends of Bathurst Invitational while Australian driver Charlie O'Brien once again dominated the Archibalds Historic Touring Cars category winning Race 2 & 3 in the Nissan Primera ST to make it a hat-trick of wins over the weekend.

Hampton Downs owner Tony Quinn won the second Matos Formula Libre and NZ Sportscars race of the day ahead of the evergreen Kenny Smith who spun out on the last lap while leading the race. David Glasson won the first race of the day.

Martin Lucas won Race 2 of the Historic Formula Ford category with Malcolm Oastler taking out Race 3. In the Enzed Central Muscle Cars category, Chris Boote won the first race of the day while Greg Honnor wrapped up the meeting by taking out Race 4.