Bathurst movie in the making.
An Australian film based loosely on the legendary Bathurst 1000 Australian Touring Car race is set to be produced, with 2003 Australian Idol runner-up Shannon Noll hot-tipped to play the feature role.
Noll, a member of Australia's country singing contingent, rose to prominence in the inaugural Australian Idol competition - of the same structure to the British Pop Idol phenomenon - and has admitted to the Herald Sun newspaper that he has been reading the script for the movie.
An Australian film based loosely on the legendary Bathurst 1000 Australian Touring Car race is set to be produced, with 2003 Australian Idol runner-up Shannon Noll hot-tipped to play the feature role.
Noll, a member of Australia's country singing contingent, rose to prominence in the inaugural Australian Idol competition - of the same structure to the British Pop Idol phenomenon - and has admitted to the Herald Sun newspaper that he has been reading the script for the movie.
"I've got the script and I'm really excited about it -- I think it would be fantastic," he told the Herald Sun.
However whilst Noll may be in pole position for the title role, it would be ironic if he portrayed a Peter Brock-type character. For many years, Brock - a nine times Bathurst champion - utilised the competition number 05 due to his sponsorship from the Melbourne Transport Accident Commission's drink driving campaign. Noll was last year caught with a blood alcohol reading over the .05 limit.
Whilst a Bathurst film may require significant licensing from motorsport authorities such as the V8 Supercar Championship or the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport, the enhanced profile it would bring to the Bathurst 1000 event would be beneficial - despite strong recent ratings performances amidst Holden's dominance of the even for the previous seven years.
The real life Bathurst 1000 will be contested in October as a two-driver V8 Supercar enduro.
