One of the greatest motor car racers in Australian history, Peter Brock was known as “Peter Perfect”, “The King of the Mountain” (referring to Mount Panorama racetrack in Bathurst), or simply “Brocky”. Over the course of forty year career racing, he won the Bathurst 1000 endurance race nine times (a record that still stands today), the Sandown 500 touring car race nine times, the Australian Touring Car Championship three times, and the Bathurst 24 Hour once. In 2001, he was inducted into the V8 Supercars Hall of Fame, although it’s fair to say that he deserved induction earlier than that.
While driving in the Targa West ’06 rally at Gidgegannup in Western Australia, Brock’s car skidded off a downhill left-hand bend on Clenton Road for over 50 metres (160 ft; 55 yd) before hitting a tree sideways, in the driver’s door. The 61-year-old Brock died within a couple of minutes of the impact, his co-driver, Mick Hone, was taken to hospital with serious injuries, but survived the crash. Brock was given a state funeral in Melbourne, Victoria, his home state, and the trophy for the Bathurst 1000 was renamed after him.
