2 Geckos Travelling Australia: Thurs, 9th Oct, 2014 Bathurst V8s

The alarm went off a 5am, turned on the heater – thanks mum. At 6am it was 3.2 degrees outside as we left for work!! I put on leggings, thick socks, long sleeve shirt under my long sleeve uniform shirt, my new Supercheap Auto coat and gloves. Signed in at the Volunteer Sign in shed and headed down to the main gate – called Gate 4. We were shown how to use the scanner and at 7am the racegoers were allowed in. It was ok as we learnt how it all worked. Got to see lots of drivers etc – Steve enjoyed seeing all the promo girls!!! Chatted with different people – one chap had his program labelled so he could go to the correct page to get it autographed by each driver – he was 70!! We slowly warmed up as the sun rose – but we were under the big tent so when we left at 12.30 we were just warm.

We were supplied with lunch, drinks, muffins and fruit so headed back to the van and had our lunch. It was certainly worth working as it saved us $200 each for the tickets, $270 for the camp spot, plus we got 2 uniform shirts, 2 caps, great coat and great lunch etc. Changed clothes and met up with the boys to watch some of the practice sessions at the Chase.

Great view back over the Paddock Campground.

How keen are these guys – making their own bar – had all the tools too.

If you drink Pepsi Max you could win a ride in the Sky Lounge – wouldn’t want to be up there if it got a bit windy. Ian went to check out the crane lifting it as that is his job.

Brian arrived with Lexi etc. Got some good shots as the drivers whizzed by.

Mark Winterbottom

Scott McLaughlin

Shane Van Gisbergen

Craig Lowndes

David Reynolds

Jamie Whincup

The guys had finished their bar – they even had darts.

Our shadows.

Steve and Brian “on the track”. Great poster.

Brian took photos of us. Will put that on Facebook.

Dropped into Supercheap to check if we had won anything – I got another beer mug, Steve won business card holder!!! After I had confirmed our membership we both also have $10 credited to the cards to use sometime.

We climbed up onto the high grandstand opposite the start line to watch a two seater Formula 1 ride car. What a noise – a high whine till it came into the pits and blew up.

We checked out a few seats on the grandstand to work out if we paid for a seat which one we would like. M is the back row and 41-44 or 61-64 are great as you can see Murray’s corner, the pits and pit straight and even past the control tower you can see them go through Skyline up on the mountain above where the Mt Panorama sign is.

Steve liked this seat.

Our next event.

I could also see our van and to the right a bit was Lou’s motorhome.

The Channel 7 commentary box – I had the girl come through the gate to do their makeup and had to direct her how to get there – also Mark Larkham too.

The Supercheap car driven by Tim Slade went for a few laps around the track with the winner of the competition – a 70 year old who had a ball. Then James Courtney in Holden Racing Team’s 22 to do a drive around the track doing the commentary for Channel 7.

Craig Lowndes, Mark Winterbottom and Will Davison went out together. Found out later they were doing a segment for Channel 7 too as they three talked around the track and passed each other etc. They finished with a formation finish.

Then the Backhoe came out revving up and making lots of smoke. Took a video of it. Noisy but it didn’t do anything amazing – we thought it was going to do wheelstands but it was just trying to set a land speed record.

Back into Merchandise alley – great sign for Scott McLaughlin. Certainly created a sensation when he passed Jamie Whincup to go into 2^nd position at Clipsal 500.

The sign at the entrance to the Paddock – the pits and our campground.

Back to the boy’s motorhome for drinks and dinner. Passed this camp where they even had a Playstation to entertain them. They were playing the Bathurst race.