page_title: Mount Panorama Circuit
section_title: The Chase
hierarchical_section_title: Mount Panorama Circuit / The circuit / The Chase
caption_attribution_description: The public entrance to Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst. This photo was taken on a non-race day, when the circuit is open to the public. A strict speed limit of 60km/h applies on non-race days.
context_page_description: Mount Panorama Circuit is a motor racing track located in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is situated on a hill with the dual official names of Mount Panorama and Wahluu and is best known as the home of the Bathurst 1000 motor race held each October, and the Bathurst 12 Hour event held each February. The track is 6.213 km in length, and is technically a street circuit, as it is a public road when no racing events are being run, and there are many residences which can only be accessed from the circuit.
  The track has an unusual design by modern standards, with a 174-metre vertical difference between its highest and lowest points, and grades as steep as 1:6.13. From the start-finish line, the track can be viewed in three sections; the short pit straight and then a tight left turn into the long, steep Mountain straight; the tight, narrow section across the top of the mountain itself; and then the long, downhill section of Conrod Straight, with the very fast Chase and the turn back onto pit straight to complete the lap.
  Historically, the racetrack has been used for a wide variety of racing categories, including everything from open-wheel racers to motorcycles.
context_section_description: Known for many years as "Caltex Chase", this three-turn sequence was added in preparation for the World Touring Car Championship round in 1987 to comply with a FIA requirement that a straight could not exceed 1,200 metres (1,300 yd). It interrupts Conrod Straight with a fast right hand bend that international motorsport commentator Mike Joy compared to Road America's kink during a United States broadcast of the Bathurst 1000 in 2011, descending to the right away from the crest prior to the spectator bridge, before a sharp 120 km/h (75 mph) left-hand bend. A right-hand corner then returns the cars to Conrod Straight for the run down to Murray's Corner.The section was dedicated to Mike Burgmann, who died in an accident at the chicane's spot in the previous year.
  This corner was the scene of Peter Brock's only rollover in his motor racing career when he rolled his Vauxhall Vectra during practice for the 1997 AMP Bathurst 1000. The Chase has been the scene of numerous other rollover accidents: Tomas Mezera during the 1997 Bathurst 1000, John Cleland during the 2004 Bathurst 1000, Len Cave during the 2008 WPS Bathurst 12 Hour, Allan Letcher in a V8 Utes race during the 2009 Bathurst 1000 event and Fabian Coulthard during the 2010 Bathurst 1000.
  Don Watson was killed in an accident at the Chase during qualifying for the 1994 Bathurst 1000 when his Holden VP Commodore blew a brake disc when he attempted to slow for the kink, leaving him without brakes and limited steering. His car failed to slow and take the right hand kink, instead continuing at undiminished speed across the sand trap before hitting the tyre wall head on and flipping on to its roof, coming to rest on the wall. Watson initially survived the crash but later died from his injuries in Bathurst Base Hospital. The accident occurred in front of former race winners Peter Brock and England's Win Percy, who described it as a "major accident".
caption: The public entrance to the circuit at Murray's Corner
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