When it comes to bucket lists, racing at the Bathurst 1000 would feature highly for many on the New Zealand motorsport scene.
Dunedin men Paul Clarke and Steve Scoles will be able to tick that off next month, as they are set to race in the Central Muscle Cars, or Touring Car Masters, section at the famous Australian V8 Supercars event.
''It's a trip of a lifetime, I reckon,'' Clarke (40), who will race a 1967 Ford Notchback Mustang, said.
''I've watched it since I was a kid and never thought I'd get there, apart from in a rental car.''
The pair will race individually in a 52-driver field that includes racers from New Zealand and Australia. They will compete every day from October 7-9, with the final race being held directly before the main event on the Sunday. Several ex-V8 Supercars drivers will be in the field.
The event will fall on the 10th anniversary of the death of Bathurst legend Peter Brock. This is a large reason for the class being included on the programme, as it is filled with models raced in Brock's era.
Both drivers have plenty of experience in different forms of racing around New Zealand, although they said they expected Bathurst to pose new challenges.
''We've only ever raced on a flat track because all New Zealand tracks are flat,'' Clarke said. ''But Bathurst is quite steep uphill and downhill and quite fast and twisting and turning, so that will be totally out of my comfort zone.
''It's going to be a rolling start, so with 52 cars in the field it's going to be very busy. Turn one will be very busy, which is a bit daunting.''
The track is 6.2km long and the races are between six and eight laps.
Scoles (53), who will drive a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro, said he had driven at Bathurst before but this would be his first race at the track.
Getting the cars to Australia proved a big job. Scoles' wife, Joanne, played a big part in the organisation, acting as the math officer for all the New Zealanders heading over.
All 26 cars were driven to Auckland, where they were shipped to Australia in containers. That meant a long road trip for the Dunedin duo and a few hairy days for Clarke after he got stuck in Picton, unable to cross Cook Strait for four days.
The Scoles would arrive in Australia on October 1, while Clarke and wife Michelle Lindsay-Koni would get there two days later. They would unload the cars on October 4 before taking them for a practice run the next day.
Afterwards, they would get them back on the boat to have the cars back in New Zealand for the Hampton Downs 101 in late October.
-By Jeff Cheshire
