Street Machine Australia — June 2017

2: Bathurst Autofest was first time out

for Mark Wilson’s beautifully finished

LH Torana. There are no tubs, blowers

or custom paintjobs to speak of, but

the quality is simply superb. “It’s been

a 12-year build,” Mark said. “It’s been

painted for the past five years, but I just

wanted to get everything perfect. It’s

taken a very long time to source some

of the parts I’ve needed; I really wanted

to follow that restomod theme and keep

it true and to its original form. It’s an SL

Torana, and we wanted to dress it as an

SL Torana”

1: Everyone has that one car from

their past that they wish they never

sold. Sydney’s Glenn Coburn is one

of the lucky few who have had the

opportunity to rekindle lost love; he

recently bought his first proper street

machine back – some 20 years after

parting with it! The razor-sharp VB/VH

Commodore has still got it, too, picking

up Top Sedan (Street Car) at Bathurst

12

MOUNT PANARAMA

T

HERE is no patch of bitumen on earth

that resonates with Aussie revheads quite

like Mount Panorama in Bathurst, NSW.

Bursting at the seams with motorsport

history, it’s difficult to imagine a better place

to hold a car show than The Mount.

The iconic race track is also public road, so most

days of the year there’s nothing to stop you tootling

around the place in your streeter at the posted

speed limit. However, it tends to be heavily policed,

and as such, opportunities to tear up Pit Straight

with the right pedal buried to the floor are few and

far between – unless your name happens to be

Craig Lowndes or Jamie Whincup, of course.

For that reason, we reckon Bathurst Autofest

is a damn cool event. Pit Straight is closed for

the duration between Murray’s and Hell corners,

and it’s utilised for events like the Super Sprint (a

rolling start drag race) and the Go-to-Whoa, which

is conducted in a heads-up, side-by-side format,

making it exciting to watch.

The pit precinct plays host to the rest of the

event, including a static show ’n’ shine, tarmac

driving events and a very well-patronised skid

comp. The rest of The Mount remains open to

the public, which means you are free to cruise

Australia’s greatest race track with your mates

in your street-registered car whenever the mood

takes you, as long as you behave yourself.

We’ve tagged along to Bathurst Autofest from

the very beginning, and always had a great time.

In 2017, that winning atmosphere that only Mount

Of all the kick-arse skids at Bathurst

Autofest – and there were plenty of them

• Adrian Cuthbertson’s were found to be
  the best. Adrian piled all of his mates
  into SKIDMA, then went out and put on a
  hell of a show – a performance befitting
  the title of Overall Burnout Champion in
  the Pro class