20 years on: The flashpoints that led to fiery Murphy/Ambrose clash

It's the on-track confrontation that had been brewing for 12 months and, 20 years on, the run-in between Marcos Ambrose and Greg Murphy at Bathurst in 2005 still splits Supercars fans right down the middle.

But what led up to the two tangling on the run up to the Cutting on lap 145 of that year’s Great Race had its roots elsewhere from nearly a year earlier. In late 2004 Ambrose was fighting for his second V8 Supercar Championship crown.

The then-Stone Brothers Ford driver was copping the heat from a range of Holden drivers and teams, including the Kmart Racing operation for which Murphy drove.

Feelings bubbled and then boiled over on the Gold Coast in 2004 in the wake of Murphy’s teammate Rick Kelly collecting Ambrose’s teammate Russell Ingall in the first race at the opening chicane.

The Kmart young gun served a drive through penalty for the contact and came back on track directly behind Ambrose’s Pirtek Falcon BA.

The two-time Bathurst 1000 winner shadowed the Ford for the remainder of the race, something the Tassie champ took umbrage to, promptly brake-testing the Commodore driver after the cars had crossed the line to finish the race.

He marched to the Kmart Racing pits post-race to confront Kelly, where Murphy soon also intervened in the slanging match.

Officials fined Ambrose $10,000 for careless driving and failing to exercise reasonable care after crossing the control line at the end of the race, however Murphy went on with things in the post-race media conference the following day.

He grilled Ambrose as the two sat in front of the media pack and they began trading barbs.

“I’m fighting for a championship here, I’m trying to do the right thing and I’ve got guys getting in my way …” said Ambrose, to which Murphy shot back immediately.

“We’re not going to just pull over for you and let you win the championship, that’s not car racing,” exclaimed the Kiwi in response.

The tensions settled in the aftermath, Ambrose went on to win the championship before announcing at the start of 2005 he would leave V8 Supercars at the end of the season to tackle NASCAR racing in the United States.

Murphy moved teams in the off-season to the Supercheap Auto-backed PWR Racing and the two tangled again that October at Mount Panorama.

With neither driver willing to yield, the two came together on the run up to the Cutting while running fourth and fifth behind the eventual podium finishers; the HRT Commodore of Mark Skaife, the Tasman Holden of Jason Richards and the Betta Falcon of Steve Ellery.

Their collision initially blocked the circuit and created an instant car park, leaving the two to square off verbally before they separated and moved off the track.

Unsurprisingly, each had their views of the collision, one that nearly sent Ambrose’s blue Ford over the concrete barrier.

“After Murph messed up the previous corner, I got alongside and past on the way up the hill,” Marcos explained to Motorsport News post-race.

“I turned across in a wide arc, not to the apex. I gave him a car and a half’s width, I gave him racing room, and he chose not to take it.

“You can’t just drive into somebody under those circumstances - even though they’ll claim that, following the ruling in Perth (where Marcos and Mark Skaife collided at Turn 1), you have to be completely past before you can turn across ...”

Murph, unsurprisingly, saw it differently.

“Yes, I stuffed up the previous corner, and yes he was ahead of me, but he just carved across aggressively, towards the apex, as if I wasn’t there. I was. Our fate was sealed. I couldn’t back out!”

Race officials deemed it a racing incident and no penalties were handed out, but fans have continued to disagree about who was at fault for two decades since.

Now, 20 years on, Ambrose and Murphy are back together, this time celebrating their run-in among the advertising campaign for this year’s Repco Bathurst 1000.