Detour #283: Mighty Mount Panorama, Australia
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Home to the legendary Bathurst 1000 race, the Mount Panorama circuit in New South Wales is actually a public road.
GT racers descend for the 12 hours each February and Australia’s Supercars lap for 1,000 km every October, with Easter hosting a six-hour production car race in between.
For the rest of the year anyone can tackle the track – albeit rather more slowly, to take advantage of the views rather than the potential pace of the route.
Opened on 17 March 1938 as the Mount Panorama Scenic Drive it was the brainchild of Bathurst Mayor Martin Griffin. The city had already hosted racing on its Vale and Peel circuits but Mayor Griffin had ideas for something on a grander scale and the four-mile circuit features the fastest corner in touring car racing along with narrow winding and steep sections that led Nürburgring 24 Hours sinner Kévin Estre to declare: "Half of the track is the Nordschleife, half of the track is Macau.”
Photo Martin David / Unsplash
Pay a visit to the National Motor Museum and then you can join the circuit on the Pit Straight, before the first 90-degree left onto the Mount Straight, which rises and then falls into the tightening right-hander known as Griffins Bend. From here you begin to climb through the left-hand turns three and four, The Cutting, where the road ascends rapidly with a gradient of one in six.
You’ll keep climbing to the highest point of the track through the right at Quarry Corner, and through the curves of Frog Hollow and McPhillamy Park to Brocks Skyline at 862 metres, which as the name suggests reveals a fabulous view of New South Wales below. Next is a tricky descent through The Esses, and the Dipper with the road diving down through a series of hairpins. Forest’s Elbow is a sketching, downhill, off-camber left that leads to the monumental Conrod Straight. Here the V8 Supercars top 190mph, but, as with the rest of the track the speed limit is just 60 km/h (37mph) so you’ll have plenty of time to take it in
The flat-out right hander and much tighter left-right combo of The Chase require bravery and skill from the racers, who will quickly find themselves at the final 90-degree left at Murrays Corner to complete a lap.
Allow at least ten minutes to get around in a road car and then consider that the lap record is just one minute and 56 seconds set by Romain Dumas in the crazy electric Ford Supervan.
If you fancy having a go at beating that yourself then the circuit is available in plenty of racing games such as Gran Turismo, Project Cars, Forza Motorsport, iRacing and Assetto Corsa.