“The world is larger than Bathurst – and television rights can take us to the world.”
That was Bathurst mayor Les Wardman speaking in October, 1976, not long after the dramatic, emotion-charged victory in the Bathurst 1000 for Bob Morris and John Fitzpatrick in their Ron Hodgson Motors Torana L34.
But the mayor wasn’t talking about a global TV deal for the Great Race. His ambitions for the Bathurst region and the Mount Panorama circuit were rather more grandiose than that: what he had in mind was a World Championship Formula 1 Grand Prix at Bathurst in 1979.
With the benefit of 45 years of hindsight, the idea appears absurd. But like anything a bit left-field, one needs some context to understand the rationale behind this bid.
Even before the F1-flavoured Tasman Series left our shores for good in 1969 there had been huge interest in holding a World Championship F1 Grand Prix in Australia. Warwick Farm had been put forward for 1970 but a
