Want to camp at the Bathurst 1000?

If you have lived in Australia long enough you would of heard of Bathurst, or at least the Bathurst 1000. It’s the greatest motor race in Australian Motorsport and has been since 1963, when it was moved from Phillip Island Racing Circuit, having started life as the Armstrong 500 (500 miles).

After our little stop in Denman, we headed to the coast for a quick stop in Anna Bay.  The purpose of this was wholly and solely to get our van serviced at JB in Raymond Terrace.

While the van was getting serviced we actually headed into Newcastle for the day. I have been to Newcastle a few times but Lyndall never has.

 I Decided to take her up to For Scratchley for a look around.  I have been here a few times, but have never done any paid tours, so took the opportunity to jump into a tour. They take you down inside the fort, through the many tunnels underneath and it is well worth the $13 for adults or $33 for a family to do it. The guides and staff are all volunteers and have a great passion for the Fort. Built in 1882 it has plenty of stories to tell!!

Picking up the van that arvo, we head out of town and pull up for an overnight stop.

Destination now is Winmalee and a chance to catch up with my Nathan, my son, his Partner Paris and the kids.  We had a great week here with them, and not see them for a few years it was good to catch up and spend some quality personal time with them.

On to the Bathurst 1000

Back earlier in the year, one conversation led to another and one night over some beers, we made a decision to attend the race again this year. A mate, Martin had never been and was keen to tick it off the bucket list.

Now, to go and camp at the Bathurst 1000 isn’t just a turn up and grab a site on the day.

How does it work?

You need to book a site through the supercar’s website. Seems easy right?  Well not quite.  How it works is if you bought a site through them the year before, you get a pre public release offer to re-buy your site. If you chose to re purchase, the site gets taken off the public list.  After a few months, in about July          each year, the remaining campsite go out for sake to the public.

So what happens is, and especially for the long term people, is they just keep buying their sites again year in year out, also people will buy their site again even if they don’t go that year, so they don’t lose the option for the following year.  See what is going on here.

But its not as bad as it seems. A lot people who continue to buy their site and can not go, are happy to “Rent” them to you for the one year they cant go, and most do it at whatever the site will cost them that year. 

So you have two options really when it comes to getting a site, there is some Facebook groups set up for the private selling of site for “that year only” where you can join up and try and find someone willing to “rent” their site for you, or you can wait for the public sale, and be there online waiting and hope to grab a site before they sell out.

What did we do?

Well, we bought some sites (2 sites ) off a gentleman that we have bought sites off before. So for us, it was easy as I already had his contact details, I just sent him a message and basically secured the sites within a few days of making the decision to go, so it made it easy.

How much is it?

Sites for the 2022 event were in the $300 dollar range.  This is for the whole week. So we had 2 sites and split it between 3 of us.  Price wises its pretty good.  But then you need your track passes and all the other costs on top of living away for a week at a major event.”

How did the week go?

Well. Our first day there was awesome, beautiful clear sunny skies. And that was it, until race day. The heavens opened up, we spent a week in mud, rain and gumboots.  Some of us had gumboots, others didn’t. Some had gumboots that were to small, and that same someone also decide to melt his other shoes under a fire. No I am not laughing, too much.

The week really is about, motor cars, racing and camping. Overall, a good week.

If you are a real motorsport fan, make sure you experience it once, even if, like Martin, you are not a huge fan, still put it on your bucket list as it is still a great experience.

Other similar events, could give you the same experience just on a smaller scale, are The Bathurst 12hr in late January early February, or the Bathurst 6 hr at easter time. 

Which ever you chose, you can still have fun.