As one of the most famous circuits in the world, Mount Panorama has been a daunting challenge to drivers from around the globe since it opened 78 years ago. Unlike modern auto racing complexes, it runs a single layout, with the current 6.2 km (3.8 mi) circuit hosting major events like the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour in February and the Bathurst 1000 in October. That will be changing in the future, with a second layout being added to the East of the existing circuit.
First brought to our attention by our friends over at InsideSimRacing, and confirmed by Aussie-based Velocity, the Bathurst Regional Council has secured the land needed to make the proposal, seen above, a reality. The project is expected to cost $50 million and change in Australian dollars, not including the cost of securing the latest 32-hectare plot of land (rumoured to be as much as $4.5 million).
With a $15 million price tag tied to the first stage of development, the Council has ponied up a cool million on its own, with another $5 million coming from the New South Wales State Government. The remaining $9 million deficit will be made up of a combination of both state and federal grants.
The new layout may not feature the same level of elevation changes that the existing circuit enjoys, but it should prove versatile. A quick glance at the proposal shows the addition will provide numerous variations.
We’re certainly excited to see the results, but that won’t be any time soon: Bathurst’s Mayor, Gary Rush, told local paper Western Advocate that the overall development plan stretches well into next decade.
See more articles on Bathurst and Mount Panorama.
Working on that in TP app…
How long is the pit straight to get the right lenght for the track? Pit straight is the only part long as the original track but i cant find the lenght of it in any site i found…
Are they still have massive fist fights between Ford and Holden fans.
well this was pretty much was given the green light back end of last year, and they had to source the land they did the whole “The Castle” thing to a land owner pretty much forced him to sell it or they would have taken it from him without any money, some of the new track will be cutting thru the existing dump (so they will have to clean and organise the surrounding area) on a road that took campers up to the top on the left (as if you were facing the mount)
while its a good thing, its going to **** up and disturb the trash collection and dumping things for the town, kill alot of “back roads” to the mount for campers (they’ve already pissed off alot of people raising campsites to crazy prices)
The second straight will be as steep or little less then the current conrod, but remember this is basically a glorified short track and you won’t see the likes of the “virgin supercars” (that name is so *********) race on it unless they have a sprint event mid year
Is it me, or are there leftover roads from a different layout where the new one is?
Those are all public roads surrounding the race track, because when the races arent on MT Panorama is actually a public road with a 60km speed limit
Just look at that straight to the east! I thing it roughly the same length as conrod if you include the bend. Wondering about elevation there and bumps.
If you include the two slight kinks in Conrod, that new straight is about half the length.
To the course maker!
All well and good that there’ll be an extra two tracks, but the original is an Australian icon and should never be toyed with! And I do hope that they’re EXTRA tracks and not INSTEAD OF tracks!
It would be nice, however, if these variations make it to a Gran Turismo ‘episode’ in the near future! Looks like they might be fun…
Did you miss the “second layout” part…?
Thank god. I hate the original.
Nah mate, the original is, and will always be, the best track ever!
Curious, do you also hate puppies and a baby’s laughter?
His profile says he hates sunsets and prefers to walk on the sidewalk instead of the beach.
How about world peace and charities? you hate them too?
Can’t wait too see what is looks like done ;)
Yay, another technical circuit. It’s getting rather monotone the past decades with circuit design if you ask me. Or am I the only one that thinks that way?
I think lots of us feel that way but in this case at least, you have the best of both worlds. Let’s just hope that the original layout doesn’t get eventually mothballed as a result….
Even if does get mothballed, it will always be available to us in the virtual world.
They’ll never get rid of the full circuit, too much history there and it still puts on a great show multiple times a year. This is just “in addition to”.
@Johnnypenso – About as much chance of the original being mothballed because of new layouts as the Nordschleife has because of the other Nurburgring layouts I’d say. ;)
Don’t tell that to the lefties and tree huggers or they’ll see it as a challenge. Car racing = global warming or some such nonsense.
@Johnnypenso If that would be the case than a full grid of cars should preduce more harmful exhaust gasses than a volcano would do when it finally blows, and that’s not even the case even if you’d race a full grid of two-stroke Trabants. :p
You can’t use logic when it comes to global warming….lol.