MOUNT Panorama is calling motorsport fans from across the globe yet again for the annual 1000km race at Bathurst, NSW and for one Limestone Coast resident, this year marks a special occasion.
It has been 20 years since Peter Gazzard conquered the mountain as a privateer.
Back in 1997 Gazzard raced a VS Commodore around Mount Panorama and claimed the top honours in the Privateers Cup with owner/driver Malcolm Stenniken.
The pair teamed up in the Scott’s Transport Commodore and finished an impressive seventh overall.
It was the year the V8 Supercars took on their new name and therefore the inaugural Bathurst event for the category, known as the V8 Primus 1000 Classic.
The day saw Peter Brock chasing his 10th Bathurst title, which he unfortunately did not achieve in what was set to be his farewell to the mountain.
Brock was one of many drivers who failed to go the distance in the gruelling event.
But Gazzard and Stenniken pushed hard all day, coming from 33rd on the grid to complete 154 laps of the 161 allotted.
Gazzard completed 87 of the 154 laps, passing the class leader in the final stint to bring the car home in front.
Since then no other privateer has finished as high up the standings, making the achievement even more special.
At the end of the day Gazzard and Stenniken stood tall on the podium, alongside race winners Larry Perkins and Russell Ingall, something Gazzard said is still a highlight of his career.
But it was not all plain sailing, with Gazzard and former teammate Mark Poole parting company shortly before the big race, not an ideal preparation for the biggest race of the year.
The car he eventually drove lacked power steering and was not as quick as others on the mountain, but in an endurance event such as Bathurst, it is all about being there at the end of the day.
That is how the race would pan out, with many cars failing for various reasons, while some clever strategy in the final stint ensured the Privateers Cup would be in safe hands.
Speaking to The Border Watch after the race back in 1997, Gazzard said it was hard to believe, describing the result as a fairytale and to this day he still holds the race dear.
“I don’t think I could have been happier,” Gazzard recalled to The Border Watch this week.
“I think you can only be so elated and I was maxed out that day.
“I felt like I had won the race.”The achievement was not just a one-off run at the mountain, with Gazzard competing in the event since 1990.
“Mr (Allan) Scott supported me from when I first won Search for a Champion,” Gazzard said.
“I would have only done that year without Mr Scott, but then we went back with Peter Janson first, then with Stuart McColl and quite a few others.
“You never know whether you’re going to do another year or not – the first year I thought it might be the only one.
“I kept going, but had never really got a result, then to come seventh and win the Privateers Cup – it felt like I won the Formula 1 championship.
“I did three or four more V8 1000s and some three-hours and 24-hours and finished third in the 2007 12-hour race in a Mitsubishi Evo 9, but nothing ever came close to the feeling, the fun and the result on that day.”
Gazzard said to stand on the podium was a bit surreal.
“It was big because that was to be Brocky’s last race,” he said.
“I didn’t even know we were meant to go to the podium.”
“I was in the car when we finished the race and was that exhausted I couldn’t get out.
“The officials came running down and said they were waiting for me up on the podium.
“The first person I saw was Brocky and his wife Bev – they were so happy because they knew we had been going up for a few years.
“Next thing they chuck you out on the podium, then Perkins and Ingall came out, then it was off to the press conference.
“It was all a pretty big deal for a boy from Mount Gambier.”
To come from 33rd on the grid may seem like a tough day at the office, but Gazzard said it was not as brutal as it may seem.
“I had plenty of other races where we had done it a lot tougher,” he said.
“It was one of those days – I commented at the time, if a brick wall had been put up in front of us, just before we got to it the wall would have fallen down – everything went our way.
“We thought we had a problem with the car before we started and the guys did a make-shift repair on it, but it went faultlessly all day.
“Every other time I have been to Bathurst I have nursed the car, I haven’t revved it to its full potential, had to look after brakes.
“I drove that car as fast as I could and the thing went like clockwork.”
The luck continued throughout the race right to the final lap, which Gazzard was unaware off until after scrutineering.
“We did gamble on the fuel,” he said.
“We could have had one more fuel stop, but I was just doing what I was told over the radio.
“After we stopped in parc ferme, they checked the car for hours to make sure it was legal, then they gave it back.
“When the guys went to start the car, it didn’t have enough fuel in it to start.”
Gazzard’s passion for the mountain dates back to his early years, watching the race on television from his home in Mount Gambier.
“My mum reminds me – I think I was about 12, or 14 – Bathurst was on the TV and I used to watch it all day,” he said.
“I told her I was going to race there one day and she mocked me, told me to be realistic.
“I ended up doing the main race 10 times.
“It is such a beautiful bit of road, the best track I have been to.
“There is nothing like a lap of Bathurst.”
At the end of the day it is an experience that will clearly live with Gazzard forever.
“It was just fantastic, a motor racing highlight,” he said.
“Anything I have won, Bathurst is the best.
“I have been so lucky to do what I have done.
“I’m not the best driver, I know that and I knew that from the start, but I have been lucky enough to do those 10 Bathurst 1000 starts and a heap of other stuff.
“I am very lucky and very satisfied.”
This year, rather than head back to the mountain, Gazzard said he will meet up with the rest of the team from 1997 in Melbourne, where they will watch the race on television and enjoy catching up after so many years.
“Malcolm has rented a penthouse in Melbourne and the guys are going to get together there and watch the race all day,” he said.
“I’m really looking forward to it – there will be about 70pc of the team I haven’t seen since Bathurst that year.
“The scary thing is it doesn’t seem like 20 years – it has just gone in the blink of an eye.”
