ONE of the biggest crowds ever has descended on Mount Panorama for the 60th edition for the Great Race.
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This year's Bathurst 1000 came in at 204,069 across the four days and while it won't break the record set 11 years ago, Bathurst mayor Jess Jennings said he pleased with the crowd.
"We got really close to beating that record," he said.
"In the 60th year, it was great to see so many fans here in Bathurst, on a glorious day.
The record attendance for the Bathurst 1000 before 2023 was the 2012 edition, which attracted a massive 207,205 across the four days, for an average of 51,801 per day.
Cr Jennings said the event brings a massive windfall to not only the Bathurst community, but the wider Central West region and the entirety of NSW.
"What we're seeing is a $21 million injection into the local Bathurst economy," he said.
"We're also seeing $25 million into the Central West economy and $55 million into the state economy.
"Those figures are probably 30 per cent lower of what the current dollar figures are because that was taken from a report that's about 11 years old, so it could be higher.
"If you multiple 60 years by $55 million economic benefit, you get around $3.3 billion that this mountain has delivered to the NSW economy."
Cr Jennings described the Mount Panorama Motor Racing Circuit as a valuable asset for the city and said that council is "quite smart" in the way it runs it.
"It's massive. The way council runs it I believe to be quite smart," he said.
"People have looked into this would know that it's essentially a break-even cost for council, yet it still delivers a monumental economic impact."
Camp sites were in hot demand for this year's Bathurst 1000 too, selling out in a record time of 90 minutes back in May.
A total of 195,578 people attended last year's Bathurst 1000, with an average crowd of 48,895 each day, the first Great Race at full capacity since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The last Bathurst 1000 to crack the 200,000 attendance mark was in 2019, which brought 201,975 (average of 50,494 per day), the last edition before COVID-19.
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