{"id":658996,"date":"2026-05-09T03:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T03:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/658996\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T03:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T03:04:12","slug":"bathurst-seeks-70-million-for-mount-panorama-upgrades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/658996\/","title":{"rendered":"Bathurst seeks $70 million for Mount Panorama upgrades"},"content":{"rendered":"

The iconic Mount Panorama circuit at Bathurst could be in line for a raft of upgrades following a funding proposal sent to the federal government by Bathurst Regional Council (BRC).<\/p>\n

According to V8 Sleuth,<\/a> the upgrades are worth around $70 million and include everything from safety improvements to a full resurfacing of the 6.213km circuit, which is a public road when race events aren\u2019t being held.<\/p>\n

The news comes after a pre-election pledge for funding<\/a> in 2025 described upgrades for the world-famous circuit, which hosts the Bathurst 12 Hour enduro and the legendary Bathurst 1000 Supercars race, as \u201coverdue\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Mount Panorama layout has not been fully resurfaced since 2014.<\/p>\n

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The latest proposal also covers items such as permanent grandstands at the venue, replacement of ageing tyre barriers, and a refreshed pit complex including new fibre-optic communications for race control and media.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be transparent, this list has no ceiling, so we\u2019ve created everything we wish we could have into one big list,\u201d BRC deputy mayor Ben Fry told the Western Advocate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mr Fry said the changes would put safety upgrades above all else.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely, crowd experience and tourism-centric projects are further down the list, and we\u2019ve all been approaching the relevant ministers for this as well at a later date,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cBut safety has always been prioritised in compiling this list.\u201d<\/p>\n

By seeking federal funding, the council would avoid needing to contribute additional funds towards the venue, after including more than $10 million in its 2024\/25 budget for Mount Panorama works, dependent on grant funding which did not eventuate.<\/p>\n

A separate package of almost $15 million in upgrades came as an election promise from Nationals candidate Sam Farraway, who contested the seat of Calare at the November 2025 federal election.<\/p>\n

The seat was retained by independent MP Andrew Gee, who has led the latest round of requests to the federal government.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In its latest 2025\/26 budget, the council provisioned $100,000 for upgraded barriers and $400,000 for proposed fibre-optic installation, while allocating $5.5 million to operations at the circuit.<\/p>\n

Potential upgrades came into greater focus after drainage issues impacted the 2022 Bathurst 1000 weekend, when unseasonably heavy rainfall caused the cancellation of the Saturday afternoon Top 10 Shootout.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Repco Bathurst 1000 is scheduled for October 8-12, 2026.<\/p>\n

MORE: Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Bathurst edition revealed for Australia<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The iconic Mount Panorama circuit at Bathurst could be in line for a raft of upgrades following a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":658997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-658996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/658997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}