Sandown tribute for Brock confirmed - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Sandown tribute for Brock confirmed

By Laine Clark 14/09/2006 06:56:40 PM Comments (0)

A 90-minute "celebration" of Peter Brock's life will be held at Melbourne's Sandown Raceway next Friday, the motor racing legend's family said.

The tribute will be held just three days after the nine-time Bathurst 1000 winner's state funeral in Melbourne.

A special farewell will also be held at October 8's Bathurst 1000 where the victors will receive The Peter Brock Trophy.

The front row of the grid will also be left empty in tribute.

Brock's brother Phil said the Sandown tribute would be held to cater for the legendary driver's legion of faithful fans.

"The public were incredibly important in making Peter the person he was and we'd encourage as many people as possible to come along and share in the day," he said.

"It will be a very special day at a place that holds many happy memories from his racing career."

Brock died last Friday when his racing car crashed into a tree during the Targa West rally, north-east of Perth.

He may be synonymous with the Bathurst 1000 but Sandown was also a happing hunting ground for the three-time touring car champion, winning the Melbourne endurance race nine times.

He grabbed pole position at Sandown a record nine times and contested the race - considered the traditional Bathurst 1000 lead-up - 29 times from 1970 to 2004.

The Sandown front straight was named after Brock in 1997 when he retired from full-time racing.

Brock's family and friends including Australian motorsport legends John Harvey, Allan Moffat, Fred Gibson and Mark Skaife will also attend.

A parade of vehicles Brock used throughout the 1980s as well as a replica of an Austin A30 - the car in which he started his career in 1967 - will also take centre stage.

"We really want to use this day as a celebration of Peter's life and involve the many thousands of people from the general public who supported him throughout his career," Sandown promoter Jon Davison said.

"Not everyone who can attend the state funeral will actually be able to so this is a fitting way to gather and pay our respects."

Earlier, it was revealed Brock was to have made his acting debut next year.

The race ace was to have played himself in King of The Mountain, a tale focusing on a fictional local Bathurst driver called Pace McDermott, and with a script largely inspired by Brock's life and career.

In a local-boy makes good story, McDermott joins the racing circuit and finds himself going head-to-head with the race legend, nicknamed King of the Mountain for his nine wins in the Bathurst 1000 event at Mount Panorama.

The homegrown film will begin shooting in March as scheduled, with actor David Campbell to play the part of Pace McDermott.

Jack Thompson will play a team manager and the search is now underway to find someone worthy of playing Brock in the film.

The project had Brock's full support and its director and writer Sam Genocchio spoke with Brock about it on the morning of his fatal accident.

"Peter was looking forward to his film acting debut and he provided great input into the motor racing scenes and other elements of the script," Genocchio said.

King Of The Mountain will be released in late 2007.

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