EVENTS for everything from old lemons worth just a few hundred dollars up to state-of-the-art racing teams valued in the millions have expressed an interest in becoming the fifth annual event on Bathurst's Mount Panorama.
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Bathurst Regional Council last month called for expressions of interest for the Mount's fifth event and had received six expressions of interest when submissions closed this week.
The circuit currently hosts four major events that require full-track closures: the Bathurst 12 Hour, Bathurst 6 Hour, Bathurst 1000 and Challenge Bathurst.
If a fifth event is added to the calendar, it would mean that the main circuit would be fully booked out and no other events requiring full-track closures could be held.
Council received six expressions of interests from Mountain Motor Sports, Australian Racing Group and CAMS, Ontic Sports Pty Ltd, Supercars, 24 Hours of Lemons Australia Pty Ltd and Creventic International.
One of the six that have expressed interest - 24 Hours of Lemons - said it's keeping the faith they will be selected, but organisers know they're going up against five other respected organisations in the motor sport world.
"We're a grass roots event, where people can afford to get onto a race track safely and compete at not super high speed races," event organiser Sean Herbet said.
"It's for the kind of people who have been standing in the rain watching and supporting the Bathurst 1000, to now have an opportunity, if the gods allow it, to race on Mount Panorama.
"The 5000 members we have signed up are people who wanted to do motor racing, but couldn't afford it. Now they might be able to do it. It would be quite amazing."
24 Hours of Lemons claims to be the biggest and cheapest motor sport event on the planet.
Entrants are required to buy a stock-standard "lemon", attach safety gear onto it, decorate it with a certain theme and drive for up 24 hours.
Money raised during the event will go towards cancer.
However, 24 Hours of Lemons is going up against some stiff competition, including the likes of Bathurst 1000 organisers Supercars and Dutch motor sport body Creventic International.
Dutch organisation Creventic International is seeking to organise a 24-hour race according to Speedcafe.com.
CEO Ivo Breukers said Creventic has been checking the possibilities of hosting an all-day race since 2018.
"We tried to approach the council in combination with Austrade Dubai. We learned that it only would be possible if a fifth event could take place in Bathurst," he told Speedcafe.com.
"Creventic has the experience, knowledge, the international customer base to make this race a great race for Bathurst.
"Creventic believes it would be no conflict with the existing and well established 12 Hour race. It would be an addition to the Australian motor sport scene."
Bathurst mayor Graeme Hanger said it's heartening to see such strong response.
"Council will now undertake assessment of the EOIs and is unable to make any further comment until this process is complete," he said.