While most agree the safety car is a necessary part of the V8 Supercars series, fans and drivers alike have been critical of its timing and use when a car which has crashed is not on the racing line.

The start of this year’s Bathurst 1000 saw Jason Bright run off at Hell Corner and suffer a puncture.

While Bright was able to get himself out of the gravel and back on the track before the leading cars came around for their second lap, the safety car had already been deployed.

It meant that Bright dropped back to last but didn’t lose a lap and allowed Todd Kelly and James Courtney to pit and get on to slick tyres without fear of losing too much ground.

The race was restarted on lap three, but many believed that the safety car should not have come onto the track at all as Bright posed no threat to any other driver.

It was an argument which gained weight given an incident which transpired later in the race when a car spun out at The Chase but was not on the racing line and no safety car was used.

In total during this year’s Bathurst 1000 there were eight safety car periods which totalled 14 laps. It may not seem like much but given it adds up to around 87 kilometres, it is a significant part of the race which was affected.

Over the past five years at the Bathurst 1000 there have been a total of 93 laps completed under the safety car – the 2006 version of the Great Race seeing the greatest use of it.

That year saw 10 safety car periods totalling 36 laps – that’s 223.6 kilometres. The longest time the safety car was out on the track was following an incident which saw Paul Radisich crash out at Conrod Straight when nearing 300km/hr.

As he had to be cut out of the his Commodore, the safety car made 11 trips around the 6.213km circuit before pulling off.

Craig Lowndes, who claimed the Peter Brock Trophy later that afternoon with Jamie Whincup, claimed that there should have been greater use of the safety car as he highlighted an inconsistency in its usage.

He believes the race should have ended under safety car conditions after Jason Richards crashed at Reid Park on lap 159.

While drivers were warned about debris on top of the mountain, that was as far as the safety measures went.

“We were waiting for the safety car but it didn’t come,” Lowndes said. “To be honest the car wasn’t in a dangerous position ... but if there had of been 30 laps to go we definitely would have seen a safety car.

“Even if we would have 10 to 12 laps [to go] there would have been one. That would have ended the race, but we’ve got to have safety first.”