Wed, 8th Oct, 2014 Bathurst

8.8 degrees in the van and 6.6 degrees outside at 7am. Wandered up to get the boys going. Dick Johnson and his son Steven are camped opposite them.

I took Lou into town so he could get some groceries. Got back just in time to collect Steve and get back into town for the Transporters Parade up William Street. Took a video – the drivers love being able to honk their horns – beautiful rigs.

Supercheap’s track shop was open so we signed up to see if we could win a prize. I got a beer mug, Steve didn’t get anything. Lou and Glen checked out all the marquees etc.

Wandered down to check out what was happening in the pits.Nissan did an old livery for one of their cars like the one George Fury drove when he won pole position with his turbo charged Blue Bird.

Volvo pitcrew with their viking helmets.

Scott McLaughlin’s first race car!!

Holden Dealer Team busy hammering the concrete!!! Well it was the tape to mark their pit bay needed the air bubbles hammered out of it.

Jason Bright’s car getting an engine change. As we wandered we watched the progress. The boys had a great time checking it all out.

The Ford Performance Team cars of Mostert and Morris in 6 and Winterbottom and Owen in 5 – Go FORD.

 Winterbottom won last year.

Triple 8 Red Bull – I like them too. New livery with their connection with the Airforce.  Lowndes and Richards in 888 and Whincup and Dumbrell in 1.

The two garages are beside each other.

Paul Dumbrell walked out so Lou had a chat with him. They were all getting ready to do their walk around the track.

Ludo is a Formula 1 engineer designer who helps out 888 occasionally.

Craig Lowndes and Steven Richards.

David Couch (Couchie) the engineer and Jamie Whincup.

Drivers and engineers heading off around the track. The boys were too slack to follow them!!

Hundreds of Dunlop tyres being prepared.

This should be fun – they are going for a speed record in a backhoe.

Driver spotting – Scott McLaughlin for Volvo.

Tim Slade for Supercheap Auto.

Heading back to camp up Mountain Straight was passed a permanent house called “Raceland” where Steven Richards is staying.

After a cuppa I went with Steve Foster for another lap of the track. He walks like he drives – flat out. Luckily I was a bit fitter. He gave me a breather when he stopped to check the timing spots etc.

Got to the top at Skyline and two police cars came by – they have been made with supercharged engines etc to use as educational tools – get the kids interested. They sounded great.

Another great view over the track and Bathurst.

As we headed down the Esses we saw the police cars so Steve sped up to have a look. Left one was a Ford and right one a Holden – The Ford was built by Dick Johnston Racing.

They were happy to chat about them and show him the engine etc. He was like a kid in the lolly shop!!  Checked out the Ford one first.

 The drivers had signed the Holden engine.

  

This is the Senior Constable who had a lot to do with the design etc. He is a mechanic as well.  They drove off and we heard some squeals as they went round the track then the roar of the engines as they went down Conrod straight. 

Going down Conrod straight with boys on their bikes doing crazy speeds. Saw this flash boat on display.

Found another cute letterbox.

He has a great set up to watch the race.

Went to the Welcome party for the Volunteers and received a lovely back of Darrell Lea chocolates etc. Back to the motorhome – we took our tea up in the Ecopot. There is an eclipse of the moon tonight so Ian and I had fun dashing out to zoom in and take photos. Lou had the heater on in the annexe which was lovely as it was getting very cold outside. Got hard to hold the camera still enough to get a photo as the moon became redder.