The stepson of the late nine-time Great Race winner Peter is making his racing return aboard a V8 Holden Commodore in the Heritage Revival class.
A dabble in production car racing six years ago aside, it’s Brock’s first fully fledged race outing since a stint in Australian GT with Erebus Motorsport in 2012.
Brock is driving the only Future Tourer in the diverse Heritage field that also features Group C, Group A, Super Touring and early V8 Supercar machinery.
The Commodore is a car that Brock briefly raced in period, although not the one that he famously drove to victory in a rain-soaked 300km race at Bathurst in 1999.
“The gracious owner Rod (Rodney Templeton) gave me a call and asked if I wanted to come and have a play,” Brock told Speedcafe of how his Bathurst race return came about.
“I’d met Rod the previous year or so, he’d been toying with the idea of buying some race cars and somehow, he’s ended up with two of my old cars. He’s clearly got terrible taste!
“He bought the Torana which I started my career in and PB drove in Group Nc. We took that out to Winton a couple of months ago just to blow the cobwebs out.
“A lot of it you don’t forget. It feels like yesterday I was driving around in a similar car to this back in 1999, it all felt familiar. I felt at home.
“I think the nicest way I can describe this car is that it’s very original. It looks like it hasn’t been touched in 20 years and probably some of it hasn’t!
“But it makes the right sounds, it’s been reliable so far and it’s been a bunch of fun. To be inside the top 10 against the calibre of some of these cars and drivers, I’m stoked.”
Brock’s victory in a Future Tourer at Bathurst 25 years ago kick-started a brief V8 Supercars career that included two Bathurst 1000 starts.
His time in motorsport also involved racing in various other classes, working for a variety of race teams and building up his own successful Brock Race Engineering business.
These days he’s a public servant, working for the Department of Defence in an engineering role.
“It’s something different. It’s an engaging role, an interesting job,” said Brock, 48.
“I still technically have the [BRE] business and I might do some stuff with it from time to time, have a tinker with race cars and bits and pieces.
“But unfortunately I realised that all my years of misspent youth racing cars left me with a pitiful super balance and I needed to get a real job that pays me some money, so I can at least think about retiring at some point in the next 30 years!
“[Returning to racing] is just some fun,” he added.
“If there’s opportunities to [race more] I’ll happily jump in, but I have one rule these days; I will not spend my own money in racing. I love it, but my bank balance does not!”
Brock makes no secret of the fact his infectious enthusiasm for racing this weekend is based around the opportunity to once again compete at Mount Panorama.
He was also on track at the Bathurst 1000 last year, driving an ex-Holden Dealer Team VK Commodore in a series of sprint sessions celebrating the event’s 60th anniversary.
“I wouldn’t come and do this at any track,” he said. “Any opportunity you get to drive around Bathurst is special.
“You’ve got to count yourself lucky, there’s very few people in the world who get to do this. There’s no bad day when you get to drive a Holden V8 at Mount Panorama.”
Bathurst 1000 competitors will on Sunday race for the Peter Brock Trophy, named in the legend’s honour following his death in 2006.
This year’s Great Race is the first since the passing of James’ mother, Bev, who was also a significant figure in Australian motorsport and earned an Order of Australia Medal for services to charity.
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