Marcos Ambrose has leant right into his racing return, reviving his Supercars championship-winning colours 20 years on.
The two-time Supercars champion is sporting the same helmet scheme that he ran in his two title successes in 2003 and 2004.
It’s been eight years since Ambrose last competed at Mount Panorama having retired from Supercars after the 2015 season.
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There was one blip on the radar for the 46-year-old before making his racing return at the Bathurst 6 Hour, discovering his race equipment was all out of date.
“It’s a bit of a retro feel and it still has the stamp on it to make it legal,” Ambrose told Wide World of Sports.
“It’s been 20 years since we won the first championship together and so we’re gonna do some special stuff with that idea later in the year.
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“When I decided to do this race with Andrew Miedecke, I said we better make that helmet, we better make that suit.
“So at least I can be wearing the Pirtek colours now because all my stuff’s eight years out of date, so I had to buy new stuff.”
The production car-based endurance race is a far cry from the Bathurst 1000, with cars more accustomed to showroom floors than race tracks.
Ambrose will race a 10-speed automatic Ford Mustang across April 7-9 with experienced endurance racer George Miedecke and Trans Am regular Tim Brook.
It’s been a baptism of fire for Ambrose, who has done very little in the way of multi-class racing.
“I didn’t trust anyone out there,” Ambrose said of his first laps.
“Guys are waving, putting indicators on, you just can’t trust them at this early on the weekend.
“As the race goes on, we’ll sort of get a feel for the cars and the drivers and we’ll just get a groove going.
“It’s not an easy track to pass. You really have to rely on the car in front to give you some room and move out of the way because once you commit, there’s no going back.”
After eight years away from Mount Panorama, the racing legend said he’s enjoyed the limited laps he’s had during Friday.
“It’s just good to be back in there,” Ambrose said.
“I love driving but your life and circumstances change and I’ve had a great few years raising a family and having a good time and this is a no-pressure race.
“There’s no one really looking at laptops, there’s no one studying every minute detail of what you’re doing, we’re just out here to have a good time.”
The Bathurst 6 Hour headlines round two of the SpeedSeries calendar.
The field includes two-time Supercars champion Marcos Ambrose, two-time Bathurst 1000 winner Will Davison, TCR Australia Series winners Tony D’Alberto and Will Brown, and Supercars regulars Anton De Pasquale and Thomas Randle.
The Bathurst 6 Hour gets underway on Sunday at 11:45am with coverage live, ad-free and exclusively on Stan Sport.
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