The 2003 Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 was a motor race for

V8 Supercars The Supercars Championship, also known as the Repco Supercars Championship under sponsorship and historically as V8 Supercars, is a touring car racing category in Australia and New Zealand, running as an International Series under Fédération I ...

held on 12 October 2003 at the

Mount Panorama Circuit Mount Panorama Circuit, officially Mount Panorama/Wahluu via dual naming, is a motor racing track located in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is situated on Mount Panorama and is best known as the home of the Bathurst 1000 motor race ...

just outside Bathurst,

New South Wales, Australia New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a state on the east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Coral and Tasman Seas to the east. T ...

. It was the seventh running of the Australia 1000 race, first held after the organisational split over the

Bathurst 1000 The Bathurst 1000 (known for sponsorship reasons as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a Touring car racing, touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supe ...

that occurred in 1997. It was the 46th race that traces its lineage back to the

1960 Armstrong 500 The 1960 Armstrong 500 was an endurance motor race for Australian made or assembled standard production sedans. The event was held at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Victoria, Australia, Victoria, Australia on 20 November 1960 over 167 ...

held at

Phillip Island Phillip Island (Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung: ''Corriong'', ''Worne'' or ''Millowl'') is an Australian island about south-southeast of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The island is named after Arthur Phillip, Governor Arthur P ...

. The race was the tenth round of the

2003 V8 Supercar Championship Series The 2003 V8 Supercar Championship Series was a motor racing series for V8 Supercars. The series, which was the fifth V8 Supercars, V8 Supercar Championship Series, began on 22 March 2003 in Adelaide Street Circuit, Adelaide and ended on 30 N ...

. The race was won by Greg Murphy and

Rick Kelly Rick Kelly (born 17 January 1983) is an Australian professional racing driver who previously competed in the Supercars Championship. He last drove the No. 15 Ford Mustang (sixth generation), Ford Mustang GT for Kelly Racing. Previously, he dro ...

driving a K-Mart Racing Team run

Holden Commodore (VY) The Holden Commodore (VY) is a full-size car that was produced by Holden from 2002 to 2004. It was the third iteration of the third generation of the Holden Commodore, Commodore. Its range included the luxury variants, Holden Berlina (VY) and H ...

. It was the fifth consecutive victory for Holden, a new record. It was Murphy's third victory in the race and Kelly became the youngest driver to win the race, eclipsing the previous record set by

Craig Lowndes Craig Andrew Lowndes (born 21 June 1974) is an Australian racing car driver in the Supercars Championship, Repco Supercars Championship racing for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He is also a TV commentator. Lowndes is a three-time V8 Superca ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

. On Saturday, Murphy also recorded what was then the fastest lap in the circuit's history to take pole position during the Top 10 Shootout. The time stood as the fastest ever in a V8 Supercar for 7 years until Craig Lowndes lapped barely a few hundredths faster in practice during the 2010 event, although neither are officially recognised as the lap record as only race laps contribute to lap records.

Entry List

Practice

Qualifying

Top 10 Shootout

* Greg Murphy became the first

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

born driver to actually set pole position for the Bathurst 1000. Murphy and fellow Kiwi racers Jim Richards and

Paul Radisich Paul Francis Wade Radisich (born 9 October 1962, in Auckland) is a retired New Zealand racing driver and businessman of Croat origin. He has competed in saloon cars for many years — both European-style tourers and the V8 Supercars of Austr ...

had previously been on pole position for the race, but on each of those occasions it was their Australian co-driver who had set the pole winning time. Murphy's time of 2:06.8594 was the first time a

touring car Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof). "Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s. The ...

had gone under 2:07.00 for a lap of the 6.213 km (3.861 mi) circuit and was unofficially dubbed the "Lap of the Gods".When Murphy Clocked His Lap Of The Gods
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*

Larry Perkins Larry Clifton Perkins (born 18 March 1950) is a former racing driver and V8 Supercar team owner from Australia. Biography Early years Growing up on a farm in Cowangie in the Mallee region of Victoria, Larry, the son of racing driver Edd ...

crashed the #11

Castrol Perkins Racing Perkins Engineering was a team contesting the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series, operating as an active racing team between 1986 and 2008. From 2009 onwards, the involvement of Perkins Engineering in the championship was wound back in ...

during Practice 4, with the damage substantial enough to rule it out for the Top 10 Shootout.

Starting grid

The following table represents the final starting grid for the race on Sunday:

Race results

Statistics

* Provisional Pole Position - #51 Greg Murphy - 2:07.9503 * Pole Position - #51 Greg Murphy - 2:06.8594 * Fastest Lap - #34 Garth Tander - 2:08.6726 (new lap record) * Race time of winning car - 6:32:55.4044 * Average speed of winning car - 153 km/h

Broadcast

Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's UK & Australia division and is one of the five national free-to-a ...

broadcast the race for the seventh consecutive year, dating back to the 1997 5.0L race. This was the last commentary appearance for Mark Oastler.

References

External links

Official race results at racing.natsoft.com.au

Official V8 Supercar website at 20 November 2003 via web.archive.org

2003 Bathurst 1000 image gallery at www.motorsport.com
{{ATCC rounds 2000–2009 Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 Motorsport in Bathurst, New South Wales