Been an interesting day... The Good Shepherd David Ogg met me at the Olsen this morning and we had a hot slow run through the Melbourne traffic to get the TR Roadworthiness test completed, then we went up to VicRoads to get the "Club Permit" red plates that mean we are now road legal here at long last (although gaffer taping them the inside of the front and rear windscreens may not be 100% 'by the book'!)
Off we go to Phillip Island. I arrive mid-afternoon to find I'm missing a briefing for International drivers that no-one had told me about, and not only that but there were familiarisation laps available to overseas drivers this afternoon. Now this was a small snag ... When we'd parted this morning we hadn't been too concerned about what stuff went in which car, so Nic and the kids had my race suit, gloves, boots etc., but very handily I had a bag of dirty kids clothes and a fresh packet of nappies/diapers for Freddie. Fortunately I managed to get a briefing, two laps of the track with the organisers, and Nic was on the island and bundled the kids back in the car to come and bring me the stuff I needed.
So, completely unexpectedly i have been out on track this afternoon, they may have been familiarisation laps officially, but I guess some were more familiar than others as a few boys were not far off race pace ... only a small number of cars out though, so plenty of track. Sadly my first run was curtailed after just two laps when one of 3 Maserati 250Fs here span into the pitfall ... Ouch, driver unharmed, but that's a bad way to start the weekend. On the third lap of my next run I come across my own pit garage buddy - Jonathon Ornstein from California in a CanAm car - pulled off the track with what turned out to be a terminal engine failure... Felt very sorry for him, just hope Garage 12 isn't jinxed... I ran another 8-10 laps, then pulled in for fuel and to check the car over; with lots of people coming up to chat I never got back out again before the track closed. No problem, I wasn't expecting to get out at all today, and the few quiet laps will stand me in good stead tomorrow.
Super circuit, lots of long corners, and more undulating than it appears on tv. Great meeting and everyone very friendly, and excited to see a Pom come all the way to take part! At one point I was on track with 2 250Fs, a GT40, a Lola T70 Spider, and a couple of F1 cars, of which one was Alan Jones' 1981 World Championship winning Williams!
Been folowing this with great interest from the UK (fellow 10-tenther). Good news re early access to the circuit.
ReplyDeleteHope the family are enjoying the holiday side of things. It's a great part of the world. If you get chance go on a tour of the Melbourne Cricket Ground - even if you don't like cricket it's very interesting and also gets you into the national sports museum there. That covers all sorts of sports - really very good to see.
Good luck in the races!
Gary Clarke