The first Bathurst winner in the V8 era of Australian Touring Cars will be part of the PremiAir Hire Bathurst winners’ category on March 16-17.

The Castrol Commodore has been a seven-year restoration by Perkins Engineering. It was powered by a Perkins-developed Holden V8 engine, rather than the Chevrolet V8s that the other Holden entrants ran.

The premier touring category moved away from the international Group A regulations at the end of 1992 to the homegrown V8-powered Holden Commodores and Ford Falcons from 1993. That marked  the start of the V8 era which continues to this day in Supercars.

The Commodore comes to the Festival courtesy of Perry Bitsikas’ Muscle Car Warehouse private collection. It will be driven at the event by Perkins’ son Jack Perkins, a Supercars race winner.

The PremiAir Hire Bathurst winners’ category is new for the Adelaide Motorsport Festival. It will  feature original Bathurst 500/1000 winners such as the two-time winning Holden VH SS Commodore (1982 and 1983) and Holden ZB Commodore (2020 and 2022) plus the Nissan Skyline GT-R R32s that won in 1991 and 1992. There will also be the Ford Cortina MkI GT500 from 1965, the Holden Torana SL/R 5000 L34 from 1976 and the Ford BA Falcon from 2006.

Held the week prior to the Australian Grand Prix, the Festival is a museum in motion, with displays of historic, rare and significant racing vehicles on the Victoria Park section of the Adelaide Street Circuit.

Categories to feature are Formula 1, V8 Supercars, Group C and A Touring Cars, sportscars and race cars over the course of the weekend in addition to on-track demonstrations, off-track displays, villas and more.