Baby You can Drive my Car

Bathurst 1000, NSW

A car race. The car race; as far as most of Australia's V8 SuperCar following are concerned. 1000kms raced on a Sunday for a place in the history books... Ford Vs Holden (GM/Vauxhall/Opal).

We headed up on the Friday after work for the weekend, and after about 4 hours of driving, we arrived in Bathurst and shacked up for the night with some family friends. The following morning, we headed to the track, and got acclimatised to the corporate box with free beer/food that would be our home for the weekend.

We were fortunate enough again, to have a contact of someone in the pitlane, so I got to have a nose up close to one of the Bathurst racers. A ver

y well oiled machine. The excitement amongst the fans was obvious the entire time, with all the guys around attempting to out-stat one another with Bathurst race history. Everyone's first question to you: "Ford or Holden", to which I would reply "Honda".

Some exciting stuff, including some fires in the pit lane and some spectacular crashes, the weather was so-so, so the beers and photography took a front seat. We ended the final day of qualifying, very drunk indeed and hit the hay looking forward to the big race-day. A Holden had made it to the front row of the pit with about 4 Fords breathing down its neck.

Race day came, and some of the most exciting stuff was the air show where some military jets paraded along the finish straight at eye-level; quite a rush! As the track flooded with sponsors and officials, I figured "there are so many people down there, they wouldn't notice an extra one", so I tried my luck. I managed to slip past a dopey security guard and I was on the starting grid with the drivers, pit crews and everyone else it would seem. I behaved myself, got some pictures and legged it. The race started, and with around 5hours of lapping to go, I was getting quite into it. Lots of thrills and spills littered the laps and eventually, it would be the same Holden that got Pole, that would take the Bathurst 1000 crown. A fun weekend, especially for all rev-heads...