The annual pilgrimage to the Mountain will come to life on Thursday ahead of four days of track action at the most famous circuit in Australia.
Those four days will make up the 60th anniversary running of the Great Race.
It's been a fascinating build up to the Repco Bathurst 1000 this year thanks to several factors, such as the return of the Sandown 500, and the ongoing battle over parity.
For the first time since 2018 the co-drivers in the field have been able to cut some competitive laps before facing the stern test that is Mount Panorama.
At the same time, the Sandown results fuelled an already raging fire over an alleged disparity between Ford's Mustang and the Chevrolet Camaro.
Camaros locked out the first five spots at Sandown with season-long front-runners Erebus Motorsport and Triple Eight looking particularly strong.
That's given the Blue Oval licence to campaign for changes based on the notion that, without a parity adjustment, there will only be four cars in true contention for the Great Race.
Ford teams have readied aero changes ahead of the Bathurst 1000 and Ford itself is lobbying for changes to be approved on the eve of Bathurst weekend.
But without the official parity threshold having been reached, those changes rely on the cooperation of General Motors and Triple Eight – a nut that is understandably proving hard to crack.
Either way, the Erebus/Triple Eight quartet looks hard to beat heading to Bathurst. Broc Feeney and Jamie Whincup combined for a fine victory at Sandown and should be considered the favourites heading to Mount Panorama.
That's not just because of their Sandown speed, but because of Feeney's position in the current standings. He's third, and in touch, but could benefit from rolling the dice on the 300 points up for grabs on Sunday.
Erebus pairing Brodie Kostecki and Dave Russell will surely be in the mix speed-wise in Bathurst, but have to consider Kostecki's healthy points lead. In Sandown they settled for second rather than taking a risk, and a similar approach would make sense in Bathurst.
That is, of course, unless Kostecki replicates the blinding the blinding speed he showed at The Bend and they can drive away from the field.
The wildcard is Shane van Gisbergen and Richie Stanaway, with van Gisbergen having shown signs of distraction this season as his NASCAR move looms. At the same time, he was very speedy in the closing stages of the Sandown race and the motivation of one last Bathurst crown before he heads overseas could make the difference.
Will Brown and Jack Perkins is the final car from the leading quartet, with Brown surely keen to make amends for his mistake late in the Sandown race that dropped them from third to fourth.
Outside of the leading four it's a tough read. There are some unbelievable driver line-ups on the Ford side. Think Walkinshaw Andretti United duo Chaz Mostert and Lee Holdsworth, who ran away with the race in 2021. Or Cam Waters and James Moffat at Tickford. Or David Reynolds and Garth Tander.
Usually, they would all be considered real contenders. But the question marks over the Ford package make them all hard to read.
Three drivers will make their Bathurst 1000 debuts this weekend – including Porsche factory driver Kevin Estre. The Frenchman made a stunning Supercars debut for Grove Racing at Sandown, mixing it with the top co-drivers early in the race before he and Matt Payne finished best of the Fords in sixth.
Bathurst will undoubtedly provide a sterner test for Estre and it will be fascinating to see where he shakes out.
The other debutants are among the best in what is a stacked Super2 field this year. Aaron Love will partner Jake Kostecki in the Blanchard Racing Team wildcard entry, ahead of what is expected to be a main game promotion as part of an expanded BRT team next year.
Kai Allen, meanwhile, will partner Simona de Silvestro in the Dick Johnson Racing wildcard, as part of a development deal with the famous Ford team.
Reliability with these new Gen3 cars didn't prove to be the issue expected at Sandown, although it will still be a focus as the distances doubles.
The same goes for wheel nuts with a new design mandated for this event after Tander's failed in the early stages of the Sandown 500.
The undercard at Bathurst features the Dunlop Series (Super2/Super3), V8 SuperUtes, Toyota 86s, Carrera Cup and Sports Sedans.
2023 Supercars Bathurst 1000 session times
All times local (GMT +11)
Thursday October 5
7:25-7:45 Sports Sedans – Practice 1
7:55-8:15 V8 SuperUtes – Practice
8:25-8:45 Toyota 86s – Practice 1
8:55-9:45 Carrera Cup – Practice 1
10:00-10:40 Super2/Super3 – Practice 1
10:55-11:15 Sports Sedans – Practice 2
11:25-11:45 V8 SuperUtes – Qualifying
12:45-13:05 Toyota 86s – Practice 2
13:20-14:20 Supercars – Practice 1
14:50-15:30 Super2/Super3 – Practice 2
15:45-16:05 Carrera Cup – Qualifying
16:15-16:35 Sports Sedans – Qualifying
16:50-17:50 Supercars – Practice 2 (co-drivers only)
Friday October 6
7:25-7:45 Toyota 86s – Qualifying
7:55-8:15 Sports Sedans – Race 1
8:25-8:45 V8 SuperUtes – Race 1
8:55-9:10 Super3 – Qualifying
9:20-9:35 Super2 – Qualifying
10:00-11:00 Supercars – Practice 3
11:15-11:35 Sports Sedans – Race 1
12:35-12:55 Toyota 86s – Race 1
13:05-14:05 Supercars – Practice 4
14:20-15:00 Carrera Cup – Race 1
15:15-16:00 Super2/Super3 – Race 1
16:15-16:55 Supercars – Qualifying
Saturday October 7
8:15-8:40 V8 SuperUtes – Race 2
8:55-9:10 Super3 – Qualifying
9:20-9:35 Super2 – Qualifying
10:00-11:00 Supercars – Practice 5 (co-drivers only)
11:15-11:35 Sports Sedans – Race 3
13:00-14:00 Supercars – Practice 6
14:15-14:35 V8 SuperUtes – Race 2
14:45-15:05 Toyota 86s – Race 2
15:15-15:40 Carrera Cup – Race 2
15:55-16:40 Super2/Super3 – Race 2
17:05-17:50 Supercars – Top 10 Shootout
Sunday October 8
7:25-7:45 V8 SuperUtes – Race 4
8:00-8:20 Supercars – Warm up
8:30-8:50 Toyota 86s – Race 3
9:30-9:55 Carrera Cup – Race 3
11:15 Supercars – Bathurst 1000
