CAROL Dobbie, whose hometown of Bathurst means the world to her, says she was "gobsmacked" to hear the Mount Panorama second circuit project has lost its funding.
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The former Bathurst resident, who had to move to Shoal Bay in 2008, has been a passionate motor sport fan her entire life.
The famous mountain is the pinnacle of motor sport in Australia and Mrs Dobbie has long thought a second circuit would be the perfect addition to the precinct.
She recalled hearing about the idea around 2006, the year that champion driver Peter Brock died.
"This has been going on ever since Peter's unfortunate death; there was talk of a track," Mrs Dobbie said.
"... I know I'm not there anymore, but I still class myself as a Bathurstian. I thought we'd get the motorbikes back there [with a second track]. I thought that would be fantastic."
She couldn't believe, all these years later, the money Bathurst Regional Council had been granted to help build the circuit had been lost.
"I was just absolutely gobsmacked. I can't believe that after all these years it's just going to fall to the wayside," she said.
On June 16, 2023, council released a statement to advise that $12.5 million in federal government funding for the development of a second circuit at Mount Panorama had been withdrawn.
The two grants of $10 million and $2.5 million included requirements for a facility to be constructed and the money spent by June, 2026 - a deadline council would be unable to meet.
The project was officially put on hold.
Since then, Member for Calare Andrew Gee has called on the federal government to keep the money in Bathurst, but so far these calls have been unsuccessful.
During parliament question time in June, Infrastructure Minister Catherine King encouraged Mr Gee and Bathurst council "to put in an expression of interest to the Growing Regions Fund, a $300 million fund, that opens on July 5".
Mrs Dobbie said Bathurst council should be doing everything it can to secure money for the second circuit and finally deliver the project.
In her eyes, it would be of great economic and tourism benefit, helping to bring people into the city.
Part of why she is so passionate about Bathurst maintaining Mount Panorama's racing legacy and adding to it is her own family connection to motor sport.
Her father, Ron Brown, raced at Mount Panorama in 1948 and continued to be involved in the motor sport community beyond that.
"It was the first race after the war and he was the on-board mechanic in those days. They used to race with them and he was seen pumping the oil in Hell Corner into the car," Mrs Dobbie said.
"He was in a car with Norm Tipping, who was a local, and they were in a car built special for the race. It was a Hudson Terraplane and it was a six cylinder.
"I've got a photo of Dad leaning out the side of the car pumping oil."
With her father's involvement in the sport, Mrs Dobbie was brought up around car racing and met a lot of interesting people, including Brock himself, whose workshop her dad worked in.
She still watches the Bathurst 1000 every year on television.
If the second circuit is ever built, Mrs Dobbie said she would return to Bathurst to see it in person.
"I'd love to come back and have a look at it. I'd be only too proud," she said.
"I love my home city."
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Rachel Chamberlain
I have been a journalist at the Western Advocate since 2014.
I have been a journalist at the Western Advocate since 2014.
