For most of those who come to Bathurst, Mount Panorama is the big attraction.
It's here that the races are held; a ritual with its own mystique.
Ye are come to the Mount.
It is just 30 years since Australian motorcycle enthusiasts first began their pilgrimage to
The Mount.
In this short era, it has become more than a race meeting, more even than the arena where
a country's top gladiators convene to do battle.
The Mount is a religion.
It is the high temple, where disciples congregate to worship their faith, where the vestment
becomes a pair of black leathers and the incense stinks of Castrol R.
This is Mount Panorama, a four mile strip of asphalt on which are built the dreams of
the past and of the future.
The Mount is a catalyst; it can build reputations, or it can break them.
It builds young dreams and shatters them just as easily.
It can be kind, or it can be a killer.
But whatever else, the Mount is still there, immovable.
Just about all I live for is racing actually, from one meeting to the next.
And the excitement in racing is something that can only be described, it just has to
be done to be appreciated, I think,
Is part of the excitement the fear of death, maybe?
Well, perhaps it is.
I think a lot of people say that the matter of getting very close to death and just sort
of avoiding it all the time is exciting.
I don't think about the danger angle at all, when I'm riding.
Why do you race?
It's born into me, the whole family race and, more or less, I started off just through being
talked into it by my family.
Does it worry you, getting out there on the track and risking your life?
I don't think it's risking any more than riding on the road, more than anything.
Everyone's going the same way and you know the riders around you.
You get to know who's novices, who's top line and such.
I don't know, really, but excitement is exciting, as well, like any racing.
You know, never really thought about it to that extent.
What's the worst part of a race?
Just before you start.
Oh, that's the worst part, I think, I usually feel very weak and very churned inside.
And quite often I wonder how on earth I'm gonna get the bike started.
Got any idea what happened?
Yes.
Well, we sort of came down into the dip in the Esses, the front brake locked, it slid.
When the front wheel went, well, it just went, that's all there is to it.
You can't do anything about it when the front wheel goes.
It was very slippery and was just gone and over.
Do you think you were very lucky?
Oh, no not not really, we weren't going very fast there in the Esses and it's just sort
of slide off.
The leathers stop any gravel rash.
Without the leathers and the helmet you might be in a bit of trouble but they save the day.