When Garth Tander crossed the line to win the 2000 Bathurst 1000 with Jason Bargwanna, he conquered the wettest Great Race in history.
But if forecasts for this weekend are accurate, that record could fall.
On that day, 20.8mm fell on Mount Panorama and the 54-car field produced a race record 13 safety cars.
Tander said while he remembers little of that race, experience gained in his hundreds of wet laps over his 24 Bathurst starts is what counts.
“You learn about how the weather affects the track – where there’s standing water, where there’s rivers, because given the racetrack is literally on the side of a mountain, the water will cascade down the hill,” he told Wide World of Sports.
“So over that time you learn where all the rivers are and you learn where all the more treacherous parts of the circuit are. So that database in your brain is always evolving.
“I’m probably still using info from back then because the track hasn’t changed, but in reality how you drive the car and how you go about it, I can’t remember that.”
The weather will also mean the race is now much more open in terms of contenders.
“We can come up with all the strategies in the world, but the only thing you can’t change is the weather. So we have to deal with what we’ve been given.
“You probably take less risks early in the week, because there’s more chance of causing damage to the car in wet conditions.
“You just have to rely on your experience and and just not get too carried away with it.”
