Hands up who likes V8 Supercars? Good, thought we'd have your attention. Hands up who also likes V8 Supercars at Bathurst? Excellent, you're in for a treat then...
From 4-7 October the 2018 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 takes place, as significant a race as any other in the motorsport calendar. While the series may simply be 'Supercars' now, the crux of the charm remains in V8 touring cars doing battle over an incredible race track.
The 2018 race will hold special appeal, as it marks 25 years since Larry Perkins won the Bathurst 1000 in a Commodore run by his own Perkins Engineering team. The factory Holden and Ford teams couldn't match the pace of Perkins and teammate Gregg Hansford, despite the fact the duo had stuck with an older Holden V8 rather than the newer Chevrolet lump offered for '93.
Anyway, to mark the anniversary, Nissan Motorsport will field one of its Altimas in the Castrol livery for the Bathurst weekend. And if you're thinking that a Nissan carrying a livery made famous by a Holden is odd, bear in mind that the Perkins Engineering team was bought by driver Rick Kelly in 2008, who switched the team from Commodores to Altimas in 2012.
Keeping alive a tradition that includes Honda NSXs, Toyota Supras and Jaguar XJR-9s, the Altima looks fantastic in a Castrol livery. But of greater note are the eight minutes of highlights from Perkins' 1993 triumph; V8s thunder, tyres squeal, panels are bashed and the racing is close. If 2018 can be half as entertaining as this seems, Bathurst is in for another epic.
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