Brock's Bathurst legacy displayed

It was found wrapped in old newsprint and discovered only by chance when Lewis, 59, was cleaning out an old machinery shed at his brother Peter Brock's Nutfield farm, located on the north-eastern fringe of Melbourne, in the weeks following the famed racer's death in a car rally in Western Australia in September last year.

Peter Brock won many trophies in an illustrious career that began in 1969. His success was astonishing. As well as three national titles, Brock claimed his first Bathurst win in 1972 and went on to rack up a record nine successes at Mt Panorama. His most prized possessions, the nine Bathurst trophies, had rarely seen the light of day until now.

“I thought to myself `what a ripper' when I first stumbled across the contents of the suitcase in a shed down the back of the farm,” Lewis Brock said yesterday. “They'd never been shown in public as a group of trophies before.

`To date, only mice had seen all these trophies, so I thought it was about time everyone else did.”

Brock spent several months restoring the trophies, dating back to Peter Perfect's first win at Mt Panorama in 1972 and going through to his last in 1987. They went on public display for the first time, resting on the bonnet of Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly's Holden in pit lane just days before the race.

“These trophies are symbolic of Bathurst,” Skaife said.

“It's quite remarkable to see first-hand the success Peter (Brock) enjoyed up here. I'm quite proud as part of today's Holden factory racing team to be displaying them in public like this for the very first time.”

As for the trophies, Lewis Brock has ensured they will have a more permanent home, in the new Peter Brock wing at Bathurst's National Motor Racing Museum.

“He is a son of Bathurst and he always came here feeling like he was home, especially on the racetrack,” Brock said.

Skaife, who missed the last round of the championship at Sandown after undergoing an emergency appendix operation, sees this weekend's race developing into a battle of four.

“The HSV dealer team of Garth Tander and Rick Kelly, clearly ourselves, (Craig) Lowndes and (Jamie) Whincup in the Triple 8 Ford and the Ford Performance Racing car of Mark Winterbottom and Steven Richards are the four stand-out cars,” Skaife said.

“Then there are a couple not far behind that — the Jim Beam car with Steve Johnson and Will Davison, and you can never discount Greg Murphy and Jason Richards either.”