Australian motorsport veteran and double Bathurst 1000 winner Tony Longhurst will drive in his last motorsport meeting this weekend at Mount Panorama.
Currently racing for Williams Race Tech in the Auto One V8 Ute Racing Series, Longhurst is set to hang up the helmet at the scene of his greatest racing triumphs at the iconic mountain circuit.
“I had had my turn,” explained Longhurst.
“I would obviously love to race forever but you can’t.
“I have had a good year; I got a lap record – not bad for an old bloke.
“I’ve really enjoyed racing with the young guys in the Utes. I remember what it is like to be young and fearless.”
Longhurst’s career has been a long and colourful one.
After driving with Jim Richards in the 1984 Sandown 500, Longhurst joined the Frank Gardner-owned JPS Team BMW outfit on a permanent basis the following year.
Upon JPS’ closure at the conclusion of the 1987 season, the Sydney-born driver established his eponymous privateer operation with Gardner, which would win the Bathurst 1000 at its first attempt in 1988.
Tony Longhurst Racing continued as a single-car ATCC team for a further eleven years, as well as one two-car campaign in Super Tourers in 1994. Longhurst won the latter championship, but is arguably better remembered for an infamous on-track punch-up with team-mate Paul Morris after the two tangled at Winton.
Joined Stone Brothers Racing in 2000, he very nearly took a Caltex Havoline AU Falcon to the win in the Bathurst 1000, before colliding with backmarker John Faulkner while leading on Lap 151.
Dumped by Stone Brothers for co-driver David Besnard, Longhurst moved on to Rod Nash Racing in 2001. However, it was with the Holden Racing Team, which acquired his services for the enduros, that he won The Great Race for a second time with Mark Skaife.
A return to Ford followed in 2002 with Briggs Motorsport, before Longhurst was reunited with not only HRT but also Jim Richards for an enduro-only campaign in the following year which yielded fifth at Bathurst.
After a fruitless resumption to full-time driving for Team Perkins Racing in 2004, Tony Longhurst Racing experienced a rebirth of sorts when the Gold Coast resident bought into Team Dynamik in 2005, but the team would cease operations that year with the millstone of an illegal testing scandal still hanging around its neck.
Longhurst’s V8 Supercars swansong was to be in 2006 when he finished seventh at Bathurst with Steve Owen in a Rod Nash Racing Commodore.
However he was called into action again as an injury replacement for an appendicitis-affected Skaife for the 2007 Sandown 500.
Mount Panorama was a scene of triumph for Longhurst again in 2009 when he, Damien White and Rod Salmon, combined to take outright victory in the Bathurst 12 Hour, before joining the V8 Utes full-time in 2013 after wildcard entries in 2011 and 2012.
Bathurst will be an appropriate end of the road for the journeyman driver, who made 24 starts in The Great Race as well as the single start in the 12 Hour.
“The Bathurst gods have looked after me in all my years here,” reflected Longhurst.
“I have had a great finishing record at Bathurst – a couple of firsts, some second and thirds, and heaps of fourths.
“If I can get that this weekend I will be very happy.”
