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Morris and New Zealander Radisich will drive a Sirromet Wines-Team Kiwi Racing Commodore in the 10th round of this year's championship and both are chasing their first victory in the 1000km race on the 6.2km Mount Panorama circuit.
"Like every kid with an interest in motor racing I grew up wanting to win Bathurst one day because it's Australia's biggest touring car race," said Morris.
"So far I haven't been able to win it, but if it does happen in my 100th start in the championship it would be something extra special."
Radisich will be 43 years old on October 9, and it will be the first time he has celebrated his birthday on race day at Bathurst after 14 previous starts in the event.
"I've been second at Bathurst on two occasions, and if Paul (Morris) and I can take the extra step up on the podium and win this year it would be the perfect birthday present," said Radisich.
"We should be in with a shot at it this year with the support of a good team, a strong car, and two drivers who race regularly in the championship."
At Bathurst Morris will become the 18th driver in championship history to make a century of starts, and will draw level on 100 with four-times Bathurst winner Allan Moffat. Peter Brock, who won the 1000km race at Mount Panorama a record nine times, heads the championship start list on 212.
Morris made his championship debut in 1992 at Amaroo Park in Sydney, finishing 14th and fifth in the two races driving a BMW M3 when the series was contested under the former Group A regulations.
There are only five other drivers who Morris raced against at Amaroo Park in 1992 who will be among the starters at Bathurst this year – Mark Skaife, Glenn Seton, Jim Richards, John Bowe, and Tony Longhurst.
"So much has changed in the championship since then," said Morris. "In '92 there were turbo Nissans and Ford Sierras, BMWs, Toyota Corollas, a handful of Commodores, and no Falcons."
"I remember going to Symmons Plains (Tasmania) and there were only 14 cars, and now we have grids with up to 35 Commodores and Falcons."
"We don't go to tracks like Amaroo any more – these days you need a passport to go racing because we travel overseas to New Zealand (Pukekohe), China (Shanghai) and next year there's Bahrain."
Morris nominated Tasmanian Bowe, who will race a BOC Falcon at Bathurst with Albury's Brad Jones, as the driver he had most enjoyed racing against in the championship.
"When I first came into it I had some 'ripper' races with John," said Morris. "He's always been hard, but very fair and a good sportsman."
After finishing ninth in the 1992 championship, Morris continued racing a BMW in 1993, before switching to a Holden Commodore in 1994. Between 1994 and 2000 he won four Australian Super Touring Championship titles in BMWs, and spent a year (1998) racing in the PPG Dayton Indy Lites series in the United States.
Morris returned to the (V8 Supercar) championship for the 1999 endurance events and partnered Mark Skaife to third place at Bathurst in a Holden Racing Team Commodore. The following year he established his own team, Paul Morris Motorsports, and contested the championship fulltime in a Commodore.
In 2001 Morris broke through for his first championship victory by winning the round at Calder Park in Melbourne. Since 2002 Morris has been sponsored by Sirromet Wines, and his team, now located at the Holden Performance Driving Centre, designs and manufactures the Commodores raced by himself and TKR as part of a technical partnership.
"Winning at Calder (Park) has been the highlight results-wise, since I came into the championship, plus it's been very satisfying getting my own team up and running and building our race cars 'in-house'," said Morris.
Joining Morris in celebrating his 100 championship starts at Bathurst will be wife Alana, son Nash, and parents Terry and Lurleen Morris, who attend most V8 Supercar races.
Morris, who qualified seventh at Bathurst in 2004, and Radisich go into this year's race at Mount Panorama fresh from finishing eighth in the Betta Electrical Sandown 500 in Melbourne on September 11. They completed preparations for Bathurst with a test session at Queensland Raceway on September 27.
Radisich, a dual World Cup touring car champion, is certain the decision to team up with Morris at Sandown and Bathurst, after driving separate PMM-built cars in the opening eight championship rounds, will pay dividends.
"The days of bringing in a part-timer to do the lunch-time stint at Bathurst are long gone," said Radisich.
"If you want to win Bathurst you need two drivers who are racing in the championship, as we've seen in recent years, so it makes sense for Paul (Morris) and I to be in the same car."
"The cars our teams are racing this year came out of the same workshop and we've done Sandown to sort out seating positions, and run through pit-stop routines."
To date Morris has made 12 starts at Bathurst and his 1999 podium finish with Skaife remains his best result.
Radisich's most successful campaigns from 14 starts on the 6.2km Mount Panorama circuit were finishing second with Briton Jeff Allam in a Shell Ford Sierra in 1990, and second with Jason Bright in a Shell Ford Falcon in 2000.
The Morris-Radisich Commodore will be one of two PMM-built Holdens racing at Bathurst. The other will be driven by experienced New Zealander John Faulkner and Queensland-based Alan Gurr.
Faulkner has made 18 starts at Bathurst with a best result of fifth in 1997 in a Commodore with Englishman Win Percy. Gurr, who has raced at Bathurst the past three years in Commodores, has been driving a Porsche in the Carrera Cup series this year. He is employed on staff at PMM's headquarters at the Holden Performance Driving Centre.
BATHURST – FAST FACTS
CIRCUIT LENGTH: 6.2km
RACE FORMAT: 1 x 1,000km race
RACE LAP RECORD: Garth Tander (Holden) 2-mins 8.672-secs (2003)
2004 WINNER: Greg Murphy-Rick Kelly (Holden)
CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS (after round 9): Ambrose 1,486; Ingall 1,408; S. Richards 1,367; Lowndes 1,261; T. Kelly 1,253; Skaife 1,202; Tander 1,144; Bright 1,096; Johnson 1,042; Seton 1,038. Other: Radisich 1,022, Morris 839
WEBSITE: http://www.paulmorris.com.au