Instead, the week-long event for amateur drivers will be held at Sydney’s Eastern Creek circuit, robbing the Bathurst economy of an estimated $5 million windfall.

The Western Advocate reported in August that FoSC was threatening to pull out of Bath-urst, citing difficulties dealing with council.

At the time, Mr Jardine said if he could not quickly come to an agreement with council then he would have to abandon thoughts of bringing FoSC to Mount Panorama next Easter. And yesterday he sent out an email to all interested drivers confirming their fears.

“I don’t really know how best to say this: we are not going to be conducting a FoSC Mount Panorama Easter event next year,” he said in the email. “... Unfortunately, circumstances have conspired so the team that is FoSC cannot overcome them for 2011, so we have decided to retain our sanity, go to Eastern Creek next Easter for a different but new event and keep our Mountain powder dry for another time.”

Mr Jardine yesterday told the Western Advocate he had made the decision to go to Eastern Creek some weeks ago but had held off making an official statement in the hope that issues at Mount Panorama could be resolved. But he was reluctant to outline the specifics of the those issues, saying only that Bathurst Regional Council did not seem to want them here.

He said he had been overwhelmed by the number of responses he had received from disappointed motor enthusiasts.

“My email went out this morning and I’ve already received about 200 responses,” he said. “The ones I’ve read so far all say how bloody terrible it is.

“We have had a magnificent time in Bathurst for the past three years but council has not been very helpful.

“We’re going to Eastern Creek at Easter and they want to do everything they can to support us. It’s a hell of a lot cheaper and they want us there.”

Mr Jardine said FoSC had been offered a long-term contract at Eastern Creek but he remained hopeful of bringing the festival back to Bathurst in 2012.

“We all want to get back to the Mount – it’s a magnificent track, the best track in the world,” he said.

FoSC this year attracted 840 drivers over seven days.

At the end of the event, Mr Jardine sent a questionnaire out to all drivers asking them how much they had spent in Bathurst for the week. Those responses showed FoSC injected about $5.5 million into the local economy.

A report from the Western Research Institute found the 2009 festival generated expenditure of about $3.9 million in Bathurst.