Drivers stunned by unbelievable conditions
By Thomas Miles
Date posted: 15 October 2025
The Bathurst 1000 made worldwide headlines with drivers racing through the clouds to the finish, conditions not even veteran Craig Lowndes has ever seen.
On top of the rain that soaked the track for the last 100 laps, drivers were literally racing through the clouds as fog covered Skyline in the closing stages.
Following a slurry of Safety Cars, the race did not finish until a record late time of 18.42m the conditions worsened.
Fans could hardly see the cars as they flew across the top of the mountain, creating some barely believable pictures.
Not even Lowndes, who has been racing around Mount Panorama for 31 years, had seen anything like it.
“No, I have never seen it that tough for a long time,” he told Auto Action.
“It was quite amazing to see the finish go on.
“It looked a little heavier when Zach (Bates) jumped in, but once you get into a rhythm, it was actually quite nice because you know what corners where you can push a bit and react to any mistakes.
“It was tricky conditions.”
BRT was one of the standouts contending for a podium, with Aaron Cameron a focal point.
The youngster could not believe what he was seeing through the visor.
“The full wet restarts were just so scary,” he told Auto Action.
“I was going up Mountain Straight and I could not see in front or the walls to the left or right.
“I just did not know where to go, and so happy just to survive.”
David Reynolds, who won the Bathurst 2017 race in similarly wet conditions, admitted he was fearing for his life despite closing in during the final laps.
“In the wet it was the scariest stint I have ever had, and I feared for my life many times in that race,” the runner-up said.
“It was so dumb. We were going like 300km/h and I could not see anything.
“I had no idea who was in front of me or beside me. It was just scary.
“The fog was really, really bad. You could not see from flag point to flag point.
“Genuinely, you go into the pits and wait for it to disappear.
“But I could not see anything, and it was super scary.
“I turned my dash down, but it was really dark and ominous.”
Grove Racing rookie Kai Allen could see so little he almost took out a kangaroo halfway up Conrod Straight.
“I could not see a thing, and even going down Conrod, I was stressed with 2m of visibility in front of me,” he told Auto Action.
“At one stage, when I was doing 260km/h, a kangaroo jumped in front of me and just missed it. I reckon I missed him by about 20cm, which is ridiculous.
“It was like driving down the old pine trees in Mount Gambier!
“If I hit him, the poor bugger, it would have destroyed him and my car, so luckily, he crossed at the right time. I got lucky.”
Experienced PremiAir co-driver David Russell said the exhibition of car control displayed by all the drivers was of worldwide quality.
“At one point the Jimmy (Golding) was asked to save fuel and warm the tyres up at the same time,” he said.
“To everyone at the end there, hats off to them because what they demonstrated today was at the highest level possible globally.
“The performance that all of those top five guys put in at the end was not only at a level of Australia’s best but I think also globally; that level of driving is impeccable.”
Simply finishing was an achievement, but the astonishing moves pulled off by the likes of James Golding, Matt Payne, Cooper Murray and Reynolds for the win will live long in the memory.
Image: Peter Norton Epic Sports Photography
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