Even as the Australian automotive industry has gone through enormous change in recent years and even as electric cars start making a real impact on the market, it seems motor racing fans cannot get enough of racing on Mount Panorama.

It’s still more than three months until the Bathurst 1000 returns to the city but tickets for the much sought-after campsites will go on sale today.

But they aren’t expected to last long, with organisers expecting all 7100 to sell out in just a few days.

That’s even allowing for the extra spaces available thanks to a new campground on the Mount that has been developed by Bathurst Regional Council.

The Orchard is located next to the existing Chase Campground, within walking distance of the track.

The new release can cater for an additional 600 sites, adding to the existing 6500 camping spaces around the famous circuit, and will feature powered and unpowered sites with toilets and showers.

More camping sites will again be available in the Paddock, Chase and Enduro Campgrounds, Motorhome Park and Max Cameron Campgrounds as well as the McPhillamy Park and Reid/Sulman Park sites on top of the Mount. It is these sites – and the characters who inhabit them – that add much of the brilliant colour to each race weekend.

There will no doubt be some rumblings in the community from people tired of seeing what appears to be an endless river of council money spent on the Mount but, the reality is, such spending makes good sense.

Most councils have few options for raising revenue outside of jacking up the rates, so Bathurst residents should be celebrating the fact we have such a cash cow in the Mount.

The money spent on developing The Orchard will be paid back many times over in coming years, and all that money can then be spent on other facilities for the community.

That’s one of the reasons Bathurst boasts such beautiful parks as Machattie Park and Kings Parade, why we have museums like the Chifley Home and National Motor Racing Museum, and why council is now looking at developing Stage 2 of the wonderful adventure playground.

Those facilities make no money for a council, so we should be thankful every day that the Mountain does. Roll on, October.