Bathurst 1000, Supercars 2026, preview: What attending Mount Panorama for the race is really like, pictures, history

The Bathurst 1000 is here, where some of the biggest motorsport enthusiasts in the country gather on the Mountain to watch Australia’s greatest race.

And for those who have been making the trip for decades, there are plenty of stories to tell.

From the famous ‘slab-a-day’ drinking rule and cars being set on fire, to wheelie-bin rides down the track and even exploding cans of baked beans, there have been some wild moments on the Mountain over the years.

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But behind all the crazy stories is what makes Bathurst so special – and why thousands of fans keep coming back year after year.

Fox Sports Australia spoke with two diehard fans, who have made Bathurst their second home for close to 50 years, about the wild stories, traditions and moments that make the event what it is.

Few people know the Bathurst experience quite like Tony Hawton and Dale Sudholz.

For Hawton, this year marks his 49th trip to the Bathurst 1000 after first making the journey to Mount Panorama in 1977.

He fell in love with the event almost immediately and, outside of the COVID-affected 2020 event, has returned every year since.

But for Hawton, Bathurst has become about much more than simply watching the racing.

After spending five years camping on top of the Mountain, Hawton eventually made his way down to the paddock behind the pits in 1983.

Then, in the early 2000s, a group of friends came together to create what they now call the ‘Flagg Inn’ – a collection of 10 campsites behind the pits that has become their home for the week.

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This year, around 26 or 27 people are part of the group, with roughly 80 flags flying above the campsite.

Some travel from different parts of New South Wales and some Hawton only sees once a year.

Now, almost five decades after his first trip, he is also sharing the tradition with his grandson, who is attending his seventh Bathurst.

Sudholz’s history on the Mountain goes back even further.

He first made the trip to Bathurst in 1969, driving for two days from a farm outside Horsham in Victoria with a couple of mates before sleeping in the car.

He has also missed just one year since, with 2020 because of COVID but his Bathurst story goes far beyond simply watching the race.

Sudholz went from being a fan to running race teams at the event in the late 1970s, before returning to the Mountain as a camper and eventually starting the ‘Bathurst Hilton’ with a couple of mates in 1983.

What started as a 12×12 tent and a barbecue has since become a 43-year tradition.

Between them, Hawton and Sudholz have seen just about everything Bathurst has to offer.

And as Sudholz puts it, once the Mountain gets hold of you, it is pretty hard to let go.

“Once you get hooked on this place, well, it’s in your blood and you’re here for life,” Sudholz said.

THE ‘MANDATORY’ SLAB-A-DAY

Of course, you can’t talk about the fan experience at Bathurst without mentioning the drinking culture that has surrounded the event for decades.

And while there are restrictions on how much alcohol fans can bring, the daily limit is still pretty significant.

According to the event guidelines, each person is allowed to bring in one of the following each day:

• One carton of full-strength beer – up to 24 cans of 375ml or less and five per cent alcohol or less;

• One carton of light or mid-strength beer – up to 30 cans of 375ml or less and 3.5 per cent alcohol or less;

• One carton of pre-mixed spirits – up to 24 cans of 375ml and six per cent alcohol or less;

• One carton of cider – up to 24 cans of 375ml or less and five per cent alcohol or less;

• One sealed cask of wine totalling four litres or less and 14.5 per cent alcohol or less;

• Two 375ml plastic bottles of spirits at 38 per cent alcohol or less, which must remain sealed in the manufacturer’s original packaging; or

• One 750ml plastic bottle of spirits.

But when restrictions around how much alcohol fans could bring onto the Mountain were introduced, Sudholz remembers the ‘slab-a-day’ rule creating a pretty funny misunderstanding around the world.

“A few years ago when you talk about the slab-a-day caper, when that came in there was a report [that] went viral around the world that it was mandatory that you had to drink a slab-a-day,” Sudholz said.

“And some of the comments on forums and groups around the world [were], ‘How do you get to see the race on Sunday if you’ve got to drink a slab-a-day?’

“So, a little change of word, ‘you have to’ or ‘you’ve got to’, compared to it’s not mandatory, it’s optional, you can bring a slab-a-day in.”

Fans obviously weren’t being forced to knock back a carton every day, but drinking has long been part of the culture around the Mountain.

Sudholz remembers fans cracking open a beer first thing on race morning during the 1970s, although he believes things have become much more civilised over the years.

“They’re certainly cracking a tinny first thing Sunday morning when we’re up there in the 70s, for sure,” Sudholz said.

“But as I was saying, they’re getting a bit older too up there, so they probably don’t dive out of bed as early or as quick as they used to.

“So, they might not have a tinny quite as early.”

Hawton has also watched the drinking culture change significantly throughout his 49 trips to Bathurst.

“We’ve always brought grog in. But, you know, back then, they didn’t have a limit,” Hawton said.

Having spent five years camping on top of the Mountain himself, Hawton saw first-hand what could happen when some fans enjoyed themselves a little too much.

“Probably some of the worst memories are the people that were drunk and asleep on the ground when the race started,” he said.

“And you think, ‘What are they here for?’

“Whereas I always come for the racing and, yes, have a beer or two.”

And while there are plenty of stories about the lengths fans would go to make sure they had enough alcohol for the weekend, Hawton insists he never got involved in some of the more creative methods.

“As far as, you know, smuggling beer in and burying it, I’ve never done anything like that, never had to do anything like that,” he said.

“With me, it’s more about, well, it’s 100 per cent about the racing.”

WHEN THE MOUNTAIN GOT WILD

But the drinking is only part of some of the crazy stories to come out of Bathurst over the years.

After first coming to the event in 1969, Sudholz has pretty much seen it all.

And when the weather turned bad, things could get particularly interesting on the Mountain.

“You know how little boys run through puddles?” Sudholz said.

“Well, little boys who might be 30 or 40 years of age … want to play in the mud too.

“Cars doing skiddies and people splashing people and getting out and doing mud slides down a bit of an embankment and that sort of thing.

“Yeah, just crazy stuff.”

But even that doesn’t really compare to some of the things Sudholz remembers happening in the old days.

Before changes were made around 2000, there was an area at the top of the Mountain known as the ‘Bull Pit’ and things could get pretty wild.

“There used to be a bit of an area up the top where it was doing wheelies and it was called Bull Pit,” Sudholz said.

“People used to bring old bomb cars and used to just drive them until they blew up sort of thing.

“They’d tip them over and throw some petrol on them and set them on fire, really seriously getting out of control up there through boredom, people doing that.”

Things have changed a fair bit since then.

Sudholz said new rules were eventually introduced and, although it took a few years for everyone to get used to them, the Mountain is now a much safer and more family-friendly place.

That doesn’t mean people don’t still find ways to have some fun though.

“It doesn’t stop people from getting in a wheelie bin and going sliding down the racetrack after hours or doing something like that,” Sudholz said.

“Again, it’s the imagination of people here that find ways of amusing us.”

But one of Sudholz’s funniest memories didn’t involve a car, wheelie bin or anything particularly crazy.

All it took was two blokes, a campfire and a can of baked beans.

“There was a couple of blokes opposite us one time back in the early 80s that were a couple of young guys out of Sydney and they built a little fire out of kindling,” Sudholz said.

“They sat a can of baked beans in the middle of it and they didn’t spike the can.

“We could see what was going to happen.”

The two blokes clearly didn’t.

“They’re both sitting around this thing, looking at it, watching it to see what was going to happen,” Sudholz said.

“And all of a sudden the can blew and baked beans went up over them.

“That would be 40, 42 years ago and I can still visualise the baked beans dripping off the front of these people’s faces.”

More than four decades later and it is still one of the biggest fails Sudholz can remember seeing at Bathurst.

MORE THAN JUST A RACE

For Hawton, the excitement starts before he even gets to Mount Panorama.

“When I drive down the Great Western Highway, honestly, I might sound silly to you, but as soon as I see the Mount Panorama sign, as hard as I try, I cannot stop going goosey on the back of the neck and the arms,” Hawton said.

“I just love this place so much. I really and truly do.

“Might sound crazy, but to this day, it still gets me excited.”

After 49 trips to Bathurst, you could probably forgive Hawton if some of that excitement had worn off.

It hasn’t.

But what Bathurst means to him has changed.

“It used to be all about just coming here for the racing,” Hawton said.

“Now, as I said before, it’s catching up with friends I haven’t seen for 12 months of camp with us here.

“It’s about the whole atmosphere of the place.

“It’s not just about the race anymore. It’s about everything from yesterday morning when we got here till next Monday when we go home.”

And now he gets to share it with his grandson.

This year is already his seventh Bathurst and Hawton hopes one day he might be the one keeping the tradition going.

“Hopefully he’ll take over for me one day and keep coming up here when I’m too old to do it,” Hawton said.

“Or he’ll bring me up here when I’m too old to do it in my wheelchair or something.”

For anyone heading to Bathurst for the first time, Sudholz also has one pretty simple piece of advice.

“You’ve got to walk the track,” Sudholz said.

“You’ve got to walk the track and understand the steepness of it going from turn two up to the Cutting.

“Once you get up to Reid Park and up to the top, it’s a hell of a climb, I can tell you, and you need a V8 to get up there.”

And apparently coming back down isn’t much easier.

“You get to Skyline and start to come down into the Esses and then it’s downhill and your toes are going out the end of your shoes because it is so steep going downhill through the Dipper and down to Forest Elbow,” he said.

After more than five decades of Bathurst for Sudholz and almost five for Hawton, there are obviously plenty of reasons they keep coming back.

But for Hawton, the countdown to the next one starts pretty much as soon as this one finishes.

“When I go home on Monday, I’ll be saying to my wife, you know, ‘It’s only 51 weeks and we’re back up there’,” Hawton said.

“And I do do that.

“I swear to God, I’m a nutcase.

“But I’m just still as passionate about coming here 49 years later as what I was when my brother first brought me up here in 1977.

“Just absolutely love coming here.”