JACK Perkins won't be the most experienced co-driver on the grid in this year's Bathurst 1000, but he can boast to have one of the strongest links to Mount Panorama.
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The son of six-times Bathurst 1000 winner Larry Perkins, Jack Perkins has been at Mount Panorama during the Supercars' Great Race week every year since he was born in 1986.
The now 34-year-old made his Supercars debut in 2006 and competed in 151 races as a full-time driver between 2007 to 2014.
He has also had a taste of that Bathurst podium when he secured a memorable third at last year's 1000 alongside James Courtney. Since his debut, Perkins has had 14 starts in the 161-lap epic.
This October Perkins will be back as a co-driver for Jack Smith in the Brad Jones Racing SCT Logistics Commodore.
"It's been a crazy year, having had a deal locked in with another team and then having all that fall over was pretty tough to deal with, however, it's great to be at Bathurst with a top team like Brad Jones Racing and also cool to be in a Holden Commodore in their last year officially supporting the sport," Perkins said.
"I'm looking forward to driving and working with Jack Smith in the SCT Logistics Commodore, it's a bit of a different mindset for me to be working with a rookie on the mountain, but hopefully I can lend him some of my experience."
Smith is looking forward to the knowledge and experience Perkins will bring to the team.
"Having Jack on board is a huge win and I'm looking forward to driving with him," he said.
"He comes with a vast amount of experience and understanding so I think that will be a big advantage for me being a rookie and hopefully I can learn a lot from him.
"We're both quite calm guys so I think we will work together well and hopefully come away with some good results. Anything can happen at the mountain so we just need to stay focused on our own race and I have to do my part as best as I can.
"I'm excited to have the finale there also, what a weekend that will be."
This year's Bathurst 1000, which also acts as the Supercars' championship finale, will be held from October 15-18.
