Details of pitch for fifth Mount Panorama event emerge

The Bathurst Regional Council will meet on Wednesday where a proposal for a fifth event in 2027 will be discussed.

“Mount Panorama Event” is listed in the agenda for this week’s meeting.

Speedcafe understands that a pitch is from SRO Motorsports Australia to bring GT World Challenge Australia and Monochrome GT4 Australia to The Mountain.

Those series last raced at Mount Panorama in 2024 as part of the now-defunct Bathurst International.

“We’ve made it no secret our desire to run an event at Bathurst for a couple of years now,” SRO Motorsports Australia boss Ben McMellan said in a statement to Speedcafe.

“We would welcome the opportunity to be considered if that option ever presented itself.”

The Bathurst Regional Council said it could not confirm details of the proposal due to commercial sensitivities.

“I can’t say who’s proposing what event. It’s all under commercial in confidence, but we will be dealing with a proposal this Wednesday night,” Bathurst Deputy Mayor Ben Fry told Speedcafe.

“It’s no secret I’ve been encouraging SRO Motorsports Australia to put in various options for expanding our calendar of events at Bathurst since losing the Bathurst International.

“We have under legislation five opportunities to close this public road and make it a motor racing circuit every year.

“Personally, I am of the opinion that not using those five event dates is an undercapitalisation of this asset, which is the biggest in our region for the council.

“We need to leverage Mount Panorama for the good of the economic stimulus that events bring, but also for the council’s coffers.

“We do make money off hosting events at the circuit with our valued partners.

“We’ve got a fairly good spread of event promoters at Bathurst. SRO don’t currently promote one here, but we talk to them often, for sure.”

What is being proposed for 2027 is a one-off event and has been described by Deputy Mayor Fry as a quick cash injection for the council and the region at a major profit.

The Bathurst Regional Council plans to go to market at the end of this year with an expression of interest for the fifth event, beginning in 2028.

“Council still intends to go to market for a fifth event – a substantive, recurring partnership or promoter that will bring long-term results for this community but also for motorsport in Australia,” Fry explained.

“We know the asset, we know the power of Mount Panorama as an international brand, and so really that expressions of interest process that we will launch later this year will be robust and we’ll be looking for the best promoter to fit that gap.

“Losing the Bathurst International meant we have an opportunity now to dictate to the market what we feel the best result would be for a fifth event.

“That will be a very robust and clinical decision-making process for councillors to be involved in and we’ll set some parameters in an event brief to market to see what they come back with.

“That will proceed, but in the meantime, is there an opportunity to close the circuit, make some quick cash? I think there is.

“That’s why I’ve been talking to lots of different stakeholders in the industry about how we do that on a casual basis and how we do that without affecting other events on Mount Panorama.”

Since the demise of the Bathurst International, four events have been held at Mount Panorama annually – the Bathurst 12 Hour, Bathurst 6 Hour, Bathurst 1000, and Challenge Bathurst.

The Bathurst International, formerly run by the Australian Racing Group (ARG), was initially intended to feature an endurance race for TCR cars.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic ultimately put paid to those plans with the event becoming a round of the TCR Australia Series and later the TCR World Tour.

That event last ran in 2024 as the TCR Australia Series finale alongside GT World Challenge Australia.