You were once able to show up to the Bathurst 1000 and race in your family car

The separation between what the Bathurst 1000 is today and what it was when it first started is a stark contrast. You were once able to be a regular person and race in the same car you carted your family around in.

Easily the biggest race on the Australian calendar, the Bathurst 1000 has captured the eyes of Australians for decades, irrespective of whether they follow the V8 Supercars series or not.

It has even amassed an international viewership with the track becoming world-renowned for just how difficult it is to sustain max-pelt for 1000km.

Yet 1995 marked a shift from a diverse racing field to the beginning of the Ford vs Holden rivalry, which later gave rise to the ‘V8 Supercars’ series.

Fast-forward 30 years, and the cars that lap Bathurst are unobtainable off the showroom floor