Twenty years after losing his mentor and close friend, Craig Lowndes is once again drawing on the wisdom of Peter Brock as he prepares to tackle the Bathurst 1000 for a remarkable 33rd time. The seven-time race winner will share the No.15 Team 18 wildcard entry with Super2 series racer Bayley Hall, carrying forward a tradition of mentorship that traces directly back to the man widely regarded as the greatest ever to conquer Mount Panorama.
This year's Great Race carries added emotional weight, with Australian motorsport marking two decades since the nine-time Bathurst winner's death in 2006. For Lowndes, now 52, the anniversary sharpens a connection that has never dulled.
Passing on what Brock taught him, corner by corner
Lowndes described walking the circuit with Hall earlier this week and finding himself relaying, almost instinctively, every piece of advice Brock once gave him. From Hell Corner at the start of the lap to Murray's Corner near the end, the lessons came flooding back.
"I'm somewhat gone full circle," Lowndes said. "Bayley, we did a track walk the other day, and I literally recalled everything that Peter taught me, from Turn 1, from Hell Corner, all the way around to Murray's Corner. For me, I'm hopefully passing on that legacy in some way."
The advice Brock passed down was precise and practical — do all your braking over Skyline, look for the kink on the inside of the Elbow as your turn-in point. In Lowndes' hands, those tips are condensed into roughly a minute of guidance that now flows on to a new generation of drivers.
"Peter was more than just a teammate," Lowndes said. "His legacy will live on forever. He was bigger than the sport in some regards. He was just very much a person that could capture people's attention, hold their attention, but also inspire them for greatness. Those are the parts that I miss 20 years on."
The 2006 win that meant everything
Just weeks after Brock's passing, Lowndes delivered one of the most emotionally charged victories in Bathurst history, taking the 2006 race alongside a then up-and-coming Jamie Whincup. The winning margin that day was 0.5 seconds — the same number Brock had carried on his car for so many years.
"History shows that the gap at the end of the day was 0.5, and that was Brock's number for a long time," Lowndes recalled.
Whincup, who co-drove that emotional triumph, said the minute's silence held before the race remains one of the most powerful moments of his career. "Even the birds stopped chirping," he said. "It was my first win for the team and a memory that I'll take to the grave."
Whincup will not be part of the grid this year for the first time since his debut in 2002, having stepped back from driving duties to focus on his role as Triple Eight team principal.
Title contenders, technical changes and what's ahead on track
With Whincup stepping aside, Broc Feeney — currently second in the championship standings — will be joined by Nick Percat for Triple Eight. The pairing will be eager to bounce back after finishing 24th out of 26 cars at last month's The Bend 500, which served as a curtain-raiser for the Great Race. Feeney has yet to win the Bathurst 1000.
Leading the championship is Matt Payne of Grove Racing, the defending race winner who heads into the weekend as a strong favourite.
Ford teams will be monitoring changes made to the Mustang engine after pre-event testing revealed a loss of power at altitude due to barometric pressure conditions at Mount Panorama.
Four practice sessions are scheduled before Friday qualifying at 4.10pm AEDT, with additional practice sessions on both Friday and Saturday ahead of the main event. Live and free television coverage will be available across Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
For Lowndes, though, the numbers and the technical details are secondary. Every lap around Mount Panorama remains, in some sense, a tribute to the man who shaped him. "It is a milestone year," he said. "There's no doubt about that."
