Bowe: OzEmail's Bathurst records are safe.

Few could argue that OzEmail Racing's Bathurst campaign in 2002 was dominant, as perfectly engineered race car and two drivers that were in 'personal-best' form had given Ford fans reason to believe that it could be the Blue Oval's year. However, the team had just one milestone to take away from the mountain after its race went awry.

After woeful practice sessions on Thursday and Friday, which included an untimely engine change, John Bowe came out on Friday afternoon and did what no other driver had done before - ran a lap of 2min 08:38secs that made him the fastest ever driver around Mount Panorama.

Team-mate Brad Jones then started the race, and went on to complete what he later claimed was one of his greatest moments of an illustrious career as he rocketed away from the grid to lead into the first corner, and then opened up a six-car length advantage over fellow front row starter Mark Skaife. During that opening stint, Jones once again proven why he is considered one of the best 'racers' in the business as, while putting daylight between himself and the rest of the field, he managed to fit in a race lap record of 2min 09:57secs that remains etched into the record books.

"There's no doubt that we had the fastest car and the fastest combined driver pairing last year," Bowe reflected, "But we knew that going into Bathurst. Brad and I are close to the perfect combination, and we have plenty of the one thing that you need to do well at Bathurst - experience.

"Phil Curtis and the team had also prepared a rocketship of a car. Other than having to fit our race engine two days earlier than we had planned, the performance of the OzEmail Falcon was just fantastic."

When questioned on whether he thought his and Jones' names would still appear in the record books after the 2003 Bathurst 1000, Bowe said that he doubted whether the records would be beaten this year.

"It's not that I don't think there are cars and drivers capable - it's more about the track surface," he explained, "I don't think that it will be as good as it was last year.

"The BA Falcon is capable of doing it - in fact, the OzEmail BA Falcon is more than capable of breaking records - but it won't happen this year. In reality, it's really the last thing on our minds. After the disappointment of not being able to convert our dominance last year into winning, we are very hungry to get a great result this year."

While Bowe and Jones compete in the black OzEmail Falcon, the white #888 entry of John Cleland and Andrew Jones will also be looking for a strong run in this year's classic. The two drivers fought hard in tough conditions during the Sandown 500 and will be looking to capitalise on the credible result three weeks ago.