THIS year's Bathurst 1000 is on track to have one of the biggest crowd figures on record, if not the biggest.
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Mayor Bobby Bourke said numbers in the first few days of the event were higher than usual, indicating that a new record could be set.
"We'll have a big crowd here this weekend," he said.
"There's not quite as many here today, but I can see this afternoon with the top 10 shootout that the grandstands will be full.
"The great indication was Thursday when I was up here and the car park was full, you could not get a car park on Thursday. You used to be able to just walk around easily on a Thursday or a Friday, but not this time."
The smaller crowd on Saturday could be attributed to the cold and drizzly weather that has been around all day.
Cr Bourke said he was happy with the conditions, as Bathurst is in desperate need of rain to boost the dam.
"I spoke about that at the Legends presentation yesterday. I said, 'Rain might not be good for the drivers, but it's going to be good for our town'. We want it to rain," he said.
Saturday aside, Cr Bourke's observations that it might be a record crowd are supported by the figures from Supercars.
"Over 200,000 people will come through the gates over four days. They got the numbers on Thursday and Friday, and they were up from last year," Cr Bourke said.
He added that the National Motor Racing Museum is also doing a roaring trade, serving as another indicator the crowd could break records.
"And I'm talking about Thursday, I'm talking about Friday," he said.
"I haven't spoken to them today, but take Saturday, take Sunday and even Monday before they go home, there's a record crowd going through the museum."
This is Cr Bourke's first Bathurst 1000 as mayor and he is thoroughly enjoying the experience.
He said he has enjoyed meeting all the different people who come to the event and they were all speaking highly of Mount Panorama and Bathurst.