Things were a bit different when George Fury claimed pole position for the 1984 Bathurst 1000.

For starters, Mount Panorama was covered in snow.

“As I drove into the track, the mountain was white and I thought `I’m not sure I want to be here’,” the long-time Nissan driver recalls.

The entire complex was at least half the size of what it is now.

“It’s certainly grown – it’s huge. It’s hard to comprehend in some ways, how much bigger it is than it has been,” he added.

The fences separating the road from the rowdy fans also weren’t as big.

“I remember breaking down at the top of the hill on one practice session and bikies took me over and they tried to fill me with beer,” he laughed.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Fury’s record-breaking lap behind the wheel of a Nissan Bluebird in the `84 Top 10 shootout.

It was the first time a manufacturer other than Ford or General Motors had earned pole position.

It was also the first pole for a turbo-charged car in the Great Race.

His lap of two minutes, 13.85 seconds pales in comparison to V8 Supercars’ new generation vehicles which this year are clocking well below the 2:06 mark.

But Fury, who hasn’t been back to Bathurst since 1990 having been kept busy on his Talmalmo farm in south-west NSW, knows times have changed.

“The cars are much more aerodynamically efficient, so they’re much quicker over the mountain than we ever were,” the 69-year-old said.

“These guys have a lot more horsepower as well … and they use different tyres.”

To celebrate Fury’s milestone, Nissan have adopted a retro-themed livery on Michael Caruso and co-driver Dean Fiore’s car to match the colours worn on the famed Bluebird.

Fury will also cut a few laps around Mount Panorama in the car he took to pole on Saturday morning.

There’s a chance history could repeat itself later in the afternoon, with fellow Nissan driver James Moffat the manufacturer’s sole Top 10 shootout contender for Sunday’s race.