The Commodore was delivered to the track in style, taken by helicopter to the top of Mount Panorama and placed near Brock Skyline, where Lowndes and Bev Brock jumped in and drove to the pits to be greeted by a large crowd of fans.

While Lowndes doesn’t expect to repeat Brock’s effort of winning by six laps and setting the lap record on the final lap, he does hope that it brings him luck.

“It’s a great honour for me. I grew up watching from the couch, seeing this livery go round the Mountain and hoping to come and compete. Now I hope I can do it justice,” Lowndes said.

“Vodafone have been fantastic to allow us to sticker the car the same way it was in the late 1970s when Peter drove here, and to have Bev here beside me is fantastic. 

“We were talking as we drove down Skyline through the Dipper and Bev said she was reminded how harsh the cars were and how difficult they were.

“For me it’s going to be a very difficult and very emotional weekend, the same way it was in 2006. This brings it all back up again.”

Bev Brock said she was delighted to see one of Peter’s liveries being re-done and said there was no-one more fitting that Lowndes to be sporting it.

“It’s mind-blowing,” she said. “You don’t expect this sort of thing. Here you are on the 40th anniversary of Peter’s first victory and to have Craig in this car out there, running all day and hopefully finishing first – Peter would be so unbelievably proud,” she said.

Brock said that if Peter was around to give Lowndes advice, it would be to enjoy the race and soak up the atmosphere, rather than just focusing on the win.

“He would say to Craig, this is the greatest race track in the universe, it was never just on Earth, it had to be the universe, and you are the flagbearer for the motorsport fraternity so go out there and focus on lap after lap,” she said. “Don’t get ahead of yourself and who knows, you might cross the finish line first.

“Peter did say that some of his greatest races were the ones he didn’t win, the ones where he had the greatest challenges. We tend to focus on the winner but we know that everyone out there has driven an amazing race to end up making it. To Peter it was the pinnacle of his year and he would be so honoured to see this.”

Lowndes is playing down any suggestions that he and co-driver Warren Luff are the favourites for Sunday’s race but form is on their side, with the pair producing a near flawless effort to win the Sandown 500 last month. 

“It will be a tough week of motor racing”,” Lowndes said. “The 500 proved that. The fast cars will come to the front but there’s 1000 kilometres, 161 laps. It’s going to be one hell of a day. Jamie [Whincup] and PD [Paul Dumbrell] are pretty pumped, Warren and I are delighted obviously. It’s the best possible week of lead-up, coming out of the 500 the way we did,” Lowndes said.

“There’s no doubt that Jamie and PD will be fast. FPR and Stone Brothers will also be there. This is one of the races that everyone lifts for. It’s no surprise the number of people who are here. We went through town and the atmosphere was unbelieveable. There’s not doubt that everyone has come here with their best race car and best preparation to give it their best shot.

Team Vodafone have put plenty of effort in, with Lowndes and Warren Luff wearing race suits similar in design to those that Brock and Jim Richards wore. 

Those race suits will be auctioned after the race, along with panels of the car, to raise funds for the Peter Brock Foundation.