TATTOO studios are among the many Bathurst businesses that are benefiting from an influx of race fans for this year’s Great Race.
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While many people make an annual pilgrimage to Mount Panorama for the event, others make a beeline for one of the city’s tattoo studios.
Professional tattoo artist Peter Standen said it is an incredibly busy time of year for his shop Skin Fantasy Tattoo and Body Piercing.
“These fans are passionate about their sport because they permanently mark their bodies,” he said.
Mr Standen said many of the same Supercars fans come back year after year for another tattoo to celebrate their love of car racing.
“We’ve been here since the 1980s. We have the same blokes [coming in], we’re growing old with them,” he said.
On Friday, Queensland man Troy Hofmeier was keen to add to the Ford tattoos on his arm.
“I’ve been coming here [to the Bathurst 1000] for 26 years straight,” he said.
His new tattoo to mark the end of the production of the Ford Falcon on Friday were the words ‘Falcon end of production 7-10-2016’ with a FPV (Ford Performance Vehicles) logo alongside.
In the past he has had the iconic Mount Panorama circuit tattooed on his upper arm, he also has an autograph of his all-time favourite driver.
These fans are passionate about their sport because they permanently mark their bodies.
- Professional tattoo artist Peter Standen
“Dick Johnson signed it [his upper arm] and I went to a tattoo place straight away and got it done,” he said of the tattooed autograph.
Mr Standen said the most common request he receives for tattoo autographs is that of the King of the Mountain, Peter Brock.
He added that even though Brock might have been killed in a racing accident 10 years ago, requests for the tattoo autograph are still very popular.
Mr Standen said the most common request for tattoos during race week is one simple word – Bathurst.
Second most commonly asked for tattoo is an outline of the circuit on Mount Panorama.
Meanwhile, at the track a Supercars spokesperson said there have been big crowds on Mount Panorama on Thursday and Friday.
“It looks huge, we’ve had lots of people tell us it looks fantastic,” he said.