Mount Panorama

                                             Mount Panorama

Mount Panorama Circuit is a motor racing track located in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is situated on a hill with the dual official names of Mount Panorama and Wahluu^[1] and is best known as the home of the Bathurst 1000 motor race held each October, and the Bathurst 12 Hour event held each February. The 6.213 km (4 mi) long track is technically a street circuit, and is a public road, with normal speed restrictions, when no racing events are being run, and there are many residences which can only be accessed from the circuit.

The track is an unusual design by modern standards, with a 174-metre (571 ft) vertical difference between its high.

Highest and lowest points, and grades as steep as 1:6.13. From the start-finish line, the track can be viewed in three sections; the short pit straight and then a tight left turn into the long, steep Mountain straight; the tight, narrow section across the top of the mountain itself; and then the long, downhill section of Conrod Straight, with the very fast Chase and the turn back onto pit straight to complete the lap.

Historically, the racetrack has been used for a wide variety of racing categories, including everything from open-wheel racers to motorcycles. However, the factors that make the track so unusual, and tighter modern safety standards, make it unlikely that major race meetings in these categories will be held there again, and as such it has become the near-exclusive province of closed-bodied cars.

As a public road, on non-race days and when it is not closed off during the day as part of a racing event, Mount Panorama is open to the public. Cars can drive in both directions around the circuit for no charge. However, a strict speed limit of 60 km/h (37 mph) is enforced, and police regularly patrol the circuit.

The National Motor Racing Museum is located next to the Mount Panorama Circuit.

It also has the fastest corner in touring car racing, the kink at the entrance to the Chase. French sportscar driver Alexandre Prémat, who later raced as a V8 Supercar regular, once described the circuit as "A mix of the (Nürburgring) Nordschleife, Petit Le Mans (Road Atlanta) and Laguna Seca". German driver Maro Engel described the circuit as the "Blue Hell", as a play on the Nürburgring's nickname "Green Hell".

e common misconception of nomenclature due to the accidents that happen at this turn are widespread. Hell Corner was named after a tree stump that existed on the apex of the turn. It was believed that any motorcycle riders who hit the stump would die in an act of folly and thereby be doomed to an eternity of death.

Mountain Straight

Mountain Straight is a long straight that begins the climb up the mountain towards Griffins Bend. V8 Supercars reach speeds of up to 250 km/h (155 mph) before the braking point for Griffins Bend. In the days before modern aerodynamics, drivers would have to lift off the throttle to prevent becoming airborne over the crest halfway up the straight. The crest also caused problems during the old Easter motorbike races at the circuit with a number of riders having serious crashes due to not lifting before the crest and their bikes becoming airborne.

Griffins Ben

Named after Martin Griffin, the Mayor of Bathurst whose vision it was to create the circuit, drivers heading around this right-hander have to be careful not to drift too far out of this negatively cambered turn and hit the wall upon exit. Allan Moffat spun his Ford XA Falcon GT Hardtop here in the 1973 Hardie-Ferodo 1000, narrowly being missed by a couple of Minis he had just passed going up Mountain Straight.

The Cutting

A pair of left hand corners leading into a steep 1 in 6 grade exit, overtaking in this section of circuit is difficult and it is very hard to recover from a spin here because of the narrow room and steep gradient. This corner was the location of the infamous 'race rage' incident between Marcos Ambrose and Greg Murphy. The pair collided when both drivers refused to give the other racing room late in the 2005 Supercheap Auto 1000, with the resulting incident partially blocking the circuit.

Reid Park

Following the Cutting, there is a pair of uphill right-hand corners then a left-hand turn. This is Reid Park, named after the Bathurst City engineer Hughie Reid, who redesigned sections of the track to be more suitable for motor racing. One of the most famous incidents in the history of the Bathurst 1000 occurred here when Dick Johnson crashed his Ford XD Falcon out of the lead on lap 18 of the 1980 Hardie-Ferodo 1000. Johnson was unable to avoid a large rock that had fallen from the spectator area as he was passing a quick-lift tow truck at the time and had nowhere else to go. The car was destroyed after running over the rock and hitting the outside concrete wall which the car almost leapt over (the wall had only been put in place prior to the 1979 Hardie-Ferodo 1000; before then the fence had consisted of railway sleepers and fence posts), taking with it Johnson's means of supporting his racing ambitions. An emotional public appeal followed during the race's telecast which re-launched Johnson's career

Sulman Park

After Reid Park, there is a steep drop which flows into a climbing left-hand turn, heading towards the highest point of Mount Panorama. This is the location of Sulman Park and its nature park. Peter Brock had his first major crash at Bathurst here when he crashed his Holden Racing Team VP Commodore into retirement on lap 138 of the 1994 Tooheys 1000. Jason Brightcrashed here in his Ford EL Falcon in practice during the 1998 FAI 1000. The car was then rebuilt in time to scrape into qualifying in the dying minutes before Bright and Steven Richards went on to take victory in the race. This corner was also the scene of a crash in a V8 Supercar Development Series race in 2006 that claimed the life of Mark Porter.

Known for many years as "Caltex Chase", this three-turn sequence was added in preparation for the World Touring Car Championship round in 1987 to comply with a FIA requirement that a straight could not exceed 1,200 metres (1,300 yd). It interrupts Conrod Straight with a fast right hand bend that international motorsport commentator Mike Joy compared to Road America's kink during a United States broadcast of the Bathurst 1000 in 2011, descending to the right away from the crest prior to the spectator bridge, before a sharp 120 km/h (75 mph) left-hand bend. A right-hand corner then returns the cars to Conrod Straight for the run down to Murray's Corner.The section was dedicated to Mike Burgmann, who died in an accident at the chicane's spot in the previous year.

This corner was the scene of Peter Brock's only rollover in his motor racing career when he rolled his Vauxhall Vectra during practice for the 1997 AMP Bathurst 1000. The Chase has been the scene of numerous other rollover accidents: Tomas Mezera during the 1997 Bathurst 1000, John Cleland during the 2004 Bathurst 1000, Len Cave during the 2000

8 WPS Bathurst 12 Hour, Allan Letcher in a V8 Utes race during the 2009 Bathurst 1000 event and Fabian Coulthard during the 2010 Bathurst 1000.

Don Watson was killed in an accident at the Chase during qualifying for the 1994 Bathurst 1000 when his Holden VP Commodore blew a brake disc when he attempted to slow for the kink, leaving him without brakes and limited steering. His car failed to slow and take the right hand kink, instead continuing at undiminished speed across the sand trap before hitting the tyre wall head on and flipping on to its roof, coming to rest on the wall. Watson initially survived the crash but later died from his injuries in Bathurst Base Hospital. The accident occurred in front of former race winners Peter Brock and England's Win Percy, who described it as a "major accident".