Well, the great race has been run and won for 2007. Congratulations to Jamie, Craig and the 888 Team for going back to back.

Bathurst is a funny place. Every year you head to the circuit, full of optimism, hope, determination and anticipation of a great result, regardless of which team you drive for, who your teammate is or what result you had the year before.

Many things have been written about the race, the track, the mountain and the event. We all know what place it holds in motorsport, not only here in Australia, but all over the world.

We know that it generates the most media attention for the sport throughout the year. Both manufacturers place a huge amount of importance on this one event because of the marketing and flow-on in the form of sales on the showroom floor.

Why, then, do we as drivers and teams allow this one race to consume more of our energy, passion and determination than any other of the 13 rounds we do thought the year? After all, since it has become part of the championship, shouldn’t it be treated the same as a three-race weekend at Winton or Barbagallo? Well, it never is, it’s Bathurst, it’s sacred, it’s the Holy Grail and it’s the one we all want. But do we want to compromise our chances for the sake of a championship?

There are many stories, legends even, of Bathurst. That famous vision of Doug Chivas pushing Brock’s XU-1 up pit lane in 1973 when they ran out fuel. The equally famous sight of the Moffat/Bond Falcons on Conrod as they cruised to the Ford one-two in ’77. Brock and Richards winning by six laps in 1979 and PB setting the lap record on the last lap. Dick Johnson’s incident with a rock in 1980, then with some trees in ’83. Allan Grice winning as a privateer in 1986 after years of trying. These, and many more, are the reasons why Bathurst is Bathurst. It’s the legends, the stories, the drama. That’s why we all want to win it – to be part of the story that is Bathurst.

Now Bathurst is part of the V8 Supercar championship, and every year there is the debate of whether it should be part of the championship or not. I still think it should be. After all, the Daytona 500 is part of the Nextel Cup (NASCAR), the Monaco GP is part of the F1 world championship and the Indy 500 is part of the IRL championship, so our jewel in our crown should also be there.

I do think that the race has lost some of its historical significance, though. If we are not careful the stories and legends of Bathurst could be lost for future generations as the race continues to morph into "just being part of the championship". We now start with very few cars on the grid – this year it was thirty after one car pulled out with accident damage from qualifying. For the last two years running now we have seen less than twenty cars take the restart at the late-race safety cars. That’s a fair way away from the heyday of 55-odd cars starting the race.

While I don’t think that there should be 55 cars starting the race, I do think that there should be more than there is now. Why not allow the more professional and better equipped Fujitsu Series teams enter the race? One of the big problems that the main-game teams have is finding drivers with the right speed and experience to employ for the endurance races. By allowing more teams start the race, there are more drivers getting experience around Bathurst and in a 1000km race.

I don’t know whether that will help the race continue to have some historical links, but I do know that the race is fast becoming just another race for many drivers and teams, and I am not sure that it is a good thing for the future of our sport, let alone Bathurst. – GT