THE race action has yet to start on Mount Panorama, but already councillor Warren Aubin has forecast a 100 per cent chance of Skippy making an appearance on track.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Kangaroos regularly make their way onto the circuit at race events at Mount Panorama, on some occasions being hit, and Cr Aubin expects that will continue to occur until the track is permanently fenced in its entirety.
Bathurst Regional Council this year has spent approximately $30,000 to erect temporary fences around the circuit in an effort to keep the kangaroos off the bitumen.
These add to some permanent fencing already at the circuit, and council's director of Engineering Services, Darren Sturgiss, said "extensive monitoring of animal movements also occurs".
Cr Aubin, though, doesn't think it's enough and will continue to push for a fence around the whole track.
"The money's a little bit thin at the moment, just for the fact that COVID has rocked the boat, so I didn't get it above the line in the budget," he said.
"But I'll be pushing next year. Push, push, push. It's got to happen.
"If we're going to continue to run international events and actually get international drivers to feel safe when they're coming out here ... we need to make those safety measures 100 per cent so everyone feels safe driving around there."
For drivers this weekend, though, Cr Aubin is certain they'll see 'roos.
"I'll sit on the fence and say there's a 100 per cent chance, only because I've been doing a bit of a walk around the Mount lately and there's loads of them," Cr Aubin said.
"They're bloody everywhere."
Supercars driver Rick Kelly made a similar observation on Monday afternoon, posting a video on Instagram showing a kangaroo sitting on the Mount Panorama sign.
Cr Aubin said his biggest fear is for a kangaroo to not only get onto the track, but to do so on Conrod Straight, the section where cars are at their fastest.
"Three hundred kilometres per hour, car versus animal, it's always not going to be very pretty. I don't like that idea," he said.
"I just feel there's a lot of them around there. I reckon we'll see Skippy make a cameo somewhere."
The four-day Bathurst 1000 race meeting will start on Thursday, with the first cars to hit the track bright and early at 8.55am.
