Early October for race fans in Australia and New Zealand means Bathurst time. The great endurance race for touring cars, over Mount Panorama, on the outskirts of the sleepy little New South Wales town of Bathurst, is deeply ingrained in Australian and New Zealand culture. The first Bathurst race was held in 1963, over a distance of 500 miles. Up until 1972, the race was held for standard production vehicles. From 1973 – 1984, the Confederation for Australian Motor Sports (CAMS) introduced Group C regulations, to partially do away with the need for manufacturers to build, effectively, road registered race cars. The 1973 event also saw the race distance increase from 500 miles to 1000 kilometers, which it remains to this day.
From 1985 – 1992, the race was held to international FIA Group A regulations, while homegrown V8 Supercar rules were introduced from 1993, to replace Group A.
Today we're used to seeing V8 Supercars run flat out from the drop of the green right throughout the race distance. The cars are effectively bullet proof. But in the '60s and '70s, this wasn't the case. The race was still very much considered an endurance event, and the race start and early laps were usually fairly gentlemanly affairs, with plenty of racing room given, and positions often not fought for. Car conservation was as important as outright speed.
But in 1978, that all changed. Actually, the early laps of the '77 race gave some indication that teams were becoming more confident in the ability of their cars to be pushed hard and not break, but the opening laps of the '78 race were an all-out dog fight. After being so dominant throughout 1977, finishing 1-2 in the Australian Touring Car Championship and at Bathurst, Allan Moffat was told by Ford that funding for 1978 would not increase. The Ford execs sat on their laurels, thinking they'd be as dominant as they were in '77.
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