🏆 Sport

The Bend’s hot lap pilot returns to race in the Airtouch 500

Racing driver Brad Vaughan will this weekend race a Supercar on a track he knows well.

Brad Vaughan will be a co-driver in the #14 Toyota at this weekend's Tailem Bend 500. Photo: Brad Jones Racing.

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As thousands of people pour into the Murraylands this weekend for the region’s biggest annual car race, one Supercars driver will be right at home.

By day Brad Vaughan, 22, works at the Bend Motorsport Park as a pilot for the venue’s hot lap experience.

On Sunday, for the second year running, he’ll be hugging those same turns in a V8 Supercar for the Airtouch 500.

Vaughan will serve as a co-driver for Cameron Hill in his #14

An accomplished Super2 Series driver and former Super3 Series champion in his own right, he has guested as a co-driver in each of the past two Supercars championships.

In his spare time, he also competes in 410 sprintcars, saloon cars and Hyundai Excels.

Watch out for him in the #14 Toyota GR Supra, which Vaughan promised would be in “very South Aussie colours” for this event.

He won’t be the only person with local connections in a prominent position at the track, either.

Murray Bridge-based commentator Matt Naulty will play a role in the support categories.

The play-by-play man made his own Supercars debut last year, but missed out on a full-time gig to Richard Craill earlier this year.

It'll be a big weekend at the Bend. Photo: Littlelion PR.

Peter Brock remembered with legendary touring car exhibition

This year’s race event will also feature a special tribute to a legendary driver.

Peter Brock will be honoured with an exhibition in his memory, days after the 20^th anniversary of his passing.

Displayed in the lobby at the Bend Motorsport Park will be 11 of the nation’s most famous touring cars, worth a total of $12 million, including the #05 Holden Torana in which Brock and Jim Richards won the 1978 Bathurst 1000 by a record margin.

Also included will be the VK Commodore Brock raced in 1986, Craig Lowndes’ 1998 VT Commodore, Chaz Mostert’s 2025 title-winning Mustang, Mark Skaife and Russell Ingall’s Commodore and Falcon from the 2003 “Shriek at the Creek” and more.

Bayley Hall and Craig Lowndes look forward to this weekend's race. Photo: Andre Goosen.

“It’s hard to believe it has been 20 years since Peter’s passing,” said Lowndes, a three-time Supercars champion, this week.

“I learned an enormous amount from him.

“He could climb out of the car after a difficult result, put a smile on his face and still give his time to the fans.

“He was ahead of his time in the way he brought people together and made the fans feel like part of motor racing … a pioneer and a larger-than-life personality who embraced every part of the sport.”

Adam Brook checks out the legendary touring cars on display at the Bend. Photo: Littlelion PR.

Brock was also, of course, a three-time touring car champion and nine-time winner of Australia’s most prestigious race in the category, the Bathurst 1000.

Curator Adam Brook hoped fans would appreciate an exhibition he described as “a love letter to everyone who grew up with these memories”.

Access will be available to grandstand ticket-holders from Friday to Sunday.

What about the race?

Meanwhile, South Australian driver Todd Hazelwood will aim to retain his Tailem Bend 500 title alongside co-driver Brodie Kostecki in Sunday’s 500-kilometre endurance event.

Another seven home state drivers will vie to dethrone them, including Vaughan and the all-SA tandem of Kai Allen and Tim Slade.

All race categories will be staged on the 3.4km west circuit at the Bend this year, rather than the longer international circuit used previously.

Eight South Australian drivers will compete in this year's race. Photo: Littlelion PR.

Hazelwood predicted that the higher number of shorter laps would make for more intense racing.

“When we raced (on the west circuit) back in COVID, the racing and the amount of passing was really good and there was a tight field spread,” he told supercars.com.au.

“The international circuit is great, it’s very fast, very flowing, but you get huge spread over a short amount of laps.

“I think it’s going to put real importance on strategy, making sure you’ve got the car in the window to still execute a long race.”

The weekend will start with practice and qualifying on Friday, continue with support categories and a top 10 shootout on Saturday, then conclude with the main event at 1.45pm on Sunday.

A crowd in the tens of thousands is expected to descend on the Bend; fill every hotel, shack and spare room in the surrounding region; and pump millions of dollars into the regional economy.