Sun, 16th Nov, 2014 Phillip Island V8 Campground - Race 35

Light rain all night. 16 degree in van, 12 outside and a bit windier. Dreary and wet start but the cars are rolling in. The seagulls have moved in with us.

Steve set up our seats under a tarp near the Museum just down from the start. We have a good view of nearly all the track and a big screen too. Just a quick walk back to the van. 

Had a cuppa as the Aussie Race Cars came out and watched it on the TV and listened to the local commentary on the radio. The commentator said for everyone to get down to the track for the True Colours Grid Walk so off we went. 

Once they had the cars lined up and rails around the cars we were let onto the track. We were just behind this lot so didn’t make it onto the TV.  Everyone was very orderly too. 

Texted my boys and the Bathurst guys with a photo of us on the grid!!! Pose shots under the start with the Bass Strait behind us. 

Great crowd, we didn’t realise there were so many people here. 

Worked our way down from Jamie Whincup in Car 1 to the end. Jamie being interviewed for Channel 7 broadcast. 

Looking over the cars all in a row. 

Got photos of the drivers and their cars and even got a couple with me and the drivers like Tim Slade and Michael Caruso as they didn’t have a big line up of people. Too hard to get too Ford or Red Bull and even Volvo now it is so popular!! My little camera is the best.

 Craig Lowndes

 Red Bull Racing

 Ford Performance Racing

 Tim Slade - Supercheap Auto

 Scott McLaughlin being interviewed by Chad from the Track Commentary team.

 Michael Caruso from Norton Hornets

 Will Davison from Erebus escaping - they were getting ready to clear the track.

 The crowd as we are being herded back off the track.

 Mark Winterbottom being interviewed by Chad.

Missed getting Russell Ingall as security turned us around as they needed to clear the track.

One last photo of the cars. 

Steve at the Pit Exit. 

Me at the end of Pit Lane. 

Steve wanted a photo of this Nissan Skyline with its huge turbo to show Dan as these are similar to his Soarer. 

They race Renaults in the Super GTs section – thought of Dad and Uncle John Beal as they liked the French cars. 

Walked down to the end of the support paddock and looked out to “Siberia” from the middle of the track. 

Looking back to our chairs still hiding under the tarp. 

Back in our chairs - Watched the other support races. Great view of the track, but missing the last corners and pit straight. 

Back to the van to watch qualifying on the TV as we had lunch. What a great idea for a generator cover!! 

True Blue’s rig packs up to head off after the poor car got a bit beat up. 

Everyone was lining up for “pit walk” which they got with their grandstand ticket. Looked a bit boring as they just filed past the front of the garages on pit lane. 

Spotted Neil Crompton on the phone – took one photo then he looked up and apologised he was “in another world” then smiled for another photo. 

Picked up a poster card of Tim Slade’s. It had all the facts of the Holden Commodore VF V8 Supercar Specifications. It takes 720 man hours to construct each car. All cars must meet the minimum weight of 1400kg (including driver) at all times. The cost of an engine is approx. $120,000. They have a minor service every 1500km and a major rebuild every 3000km. The cost of the transaxle is $25,000, with each car having 2 spares. Each wheel and tyre assembly weighs 22 kg. The total value of a V8 Supercar is $400,000. 

Mocopan Coffee still on the side of the Red Bull trucks. 

This helicopter is taking some great shots of the track and flying very low at times. 

The cars are lined up ready to race 200 km. Got a photo from our chairs through the trees. 

Lou & Ian texted throughout the day. Lou said he saw our caravan on TV a few times. Will have to watch the replay on Tues and Wed arvos. Was a great race with Garth Tander in front till the last few meters when he ran out of fuel and Scott McLaughlin who had been trying to get past him for ages, won the race. All the Holden fans stood to cheer then realised the Volvo had won. Tander got 2^nd and Mark Winterbottom got 3^rd. Scotty enjoying the win with some doughnuts.

We left our chairs and headed to the track to watch the presentation. Volvo, Holden and Ford on the podium. 

 The Winner, Scott McLaughlin for Volvo

 Trophies handed out

 Time for the champagne

 Shiny trophies

Hung around watching the Volvo crew celebrate then all the cars get scrutineered and packed up. Chatting with a chap from Tassie so got some more spots to check out. 

Team owner, Garry Rogers, was very happy with the win. Not sure who the chap is in the middle but he was very excited ringing everyone and reliving the end – we could hear him as he walked up and down the pit wall. 

Time for team photos, shame they didn’t face us a bit. 

Back to the van for dinner as it was already 7pm. Lots of campers have packed up and left and there is hardly any of the day visitors left. After such a miserable start to the day it turned out to be beautiful – hot in the sun but the wind was still biting.