Australian television personality and motor racing driver Grant Denyer has competed in three Bathurst 1000's and while he was in the spectator's seat for today's proceedings, the emotions of the race continue to travel with him.
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"I still get the tingles and the hair standing up on the back of my neck," Denyer said.
"Even though i'm not driving, it's still a magical place and I continue to feel same emotions that I do behind the wheel."
Denyer, who has become an adopted son of Bathurst in recent years, first raced Mount Panorama as part of the V8 Ute Racing Series.
Read also: Bathurst 1000: Less than 50 laps to go
He made his Bathurst 1000 debut alongside Alex Davison [competing in this year's event along brother Will], in a year where the motor racing community was reeling from the loss of Peter Brock.
"I've done thousands of laps around this circuit, and you never quite master it," Denyer said.
"The unusual sequence of corners are frustrating to get your head around, but it's so rewarding when you get close to it."
Denyer also cut his teeth in Bathurst as a pit lane commentator, a career move that would eventually see him to a TV Week Gold Logie award in 2018.
"In 1997, I was a 20-year-old [who looked 14] thumping up and down Bathurst's Pit Lane interviewing drivers in a squeaky, pubescent voice," he said.
"My media career blossomed after that and if it wasn't for those early years throwing a microphone in front of drivers' faces, I wouldn't be where I am now."
Denyer said Mount Panorama is special to him in many ways and more than two decades into his career, his affinity for the race has never been stronger.
"It's an incredible stretch of tar and there's nothing quite like it in the word," he said.
"When you finish a lap, you blink for the first time in two minutes and repeat that 160 times."
Sam Bolt
"I'm not in the business of telling people what to do. I'm much more in the business of describing things, situations and stuff like that and leaving them out there, and you can make up your minds about them." -Nick Cave
"I'm not in the business of telling people what to do. I'm much more in the business of describing things, situations and stuff like that and leaving them out there, and you can make up your minds about them." -Nick Cave
