It was when Murphy first stood on the podium as a winner of the Bathurst 1000.

Since that moment he shared with Craig Lowndes, Murphy has enjoyed three more Great Race success stories and when he jumps behind the wheel of the Erebus Motorsport wildcard at this year's Bathurst 1000, it will mark his 23^rd appearance in the enduro.

But the Kiwi can still remember the emotions of that 1996 campaign in the Holden Racing Team Commodore.

Murphy and Lowndes had won the Sandown 500 prior to heading to Mount Panorama and were hoping for another strong showing.

They qualified on the front row, but Murphy - in just his third Bathurst 1000 campaign - was still nervous given he had never previously raced a V8 at the iconic circuit.

He was even more nervous when he got behind the wheel for his first stint.

"It rained at the beginning of the race then Lowndes goes and tells the team that the car should have slicks on it for the stint that I get in, my first ever stint in a V8 at Bathurst," Murphy recalled.

"I drive out onto the track and into The Cutting, it was wet and I start to obviously freak out. I actually clipped the wall where Chaz Mostert had his massive crash there a few years ago.

"It got sideways and was struggling for grip and I was actually pretty slow there for a couple of laps and I thought I'd ruined it when I hit the wall. Fortunately the car was tough and didn't break."

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But the weather got better, Murphy enjoyed a good battle with Dick Johnson and began to feel something special was in the making. Special was exactly what he got.

"At that point when I started to get comfortable in the race, the sun had come out and the conditions were better, I knew we were in with a shot, but it's something that you do not count your chickens before they're hatched," he said.

"I remember sitting there at the end and watching Lowndesy in the car doing it so easy, just absolutely in disbelief of what was about to happen and you know, it's a life changing moment."

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