The three-day Bathurst 500 festival on Friday, Saturday and Sunday is likely to be a one-off after the cancellation of this year's Bathurst 12 Hour left room for another event on the Mount.

If, however, life returns to something approaching normal over the next six months or so and international travel becomes more viable as a COVID-19 vaccination is rolled out across the globe then we have good reason to hope that the world's best drivers will be able to get here next February so the 12 Hour can make its comeback.

But what happens if this weekend's race festival proves an outstanding success among the drivers and fans?

There has been little fanfare across Bathurst - indeed, across the state - in the lead-up the Bathurst 500 but the new format will provide the Supercars with shorter, sharper racing on the world's toughest circuit and should make for some excellent television viewing the across the weekend.

And we've long known that Supercars drivers will jump at any chance to race around the Mount so the option of Bathurst hosting two rounds into the future may not be completely out of the question.

For that to happen, though, one of the other major annual events on the Mount - either the Bathurst 12 Hour, Bathurst 6 Hour, Challenge Bathurst or new Bathurst International - would have to fall by the wayside because the Mount Panorama Act allows a maximum of only five full-track closure events each year.

We can only wait to see if that's a possibility.

In the meantime, though, Bathurst will again this weekend prove just how important it is to the success of Supercars in this country.

Like every sporting body, Supercars suffered during 2020 due to COVID and, like every sporting body, organisers are banking on a big 2021 to aid in the recovery.

Bathurst and Mount Panorama remain the biggest drawcards for the sport and giving fans a double dose in 2021 could buy much-needed media coverage and interest.

And so everyone hopes the Bathurst 500 will be a success, but if it's too much of a success then it might create more questions than answers for the sport going forward.

That would not be the worst headache to have for Supercars, though.

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