TASMANIA!!

Jason's arrived, Geoff sorted the car and we're in Tasmania, at last ... Probably not a bad time to remind ourselves what we are doing here ... This is a serious event, it's a huge field of 360 competitors, both modern and classic, and the level of competition will be high. We are not here to take those guys on! The roads are supposed to be pretty impressive, and well worth a bit of 'respect' - we are novices, not just on this specific event, but in this type of event - not that there are many of this type of event left in the world. Having been down here a few weeks now I can tell you that when I tell people that we have come down to do this event their first response will be either a) fantastic effort, you'll love the roads and the event, or b) be careful, it's dangerous - a good number of racers, and 'people who should know' have given me response b) ... It's enough certainly to make us refocus on what we're doing. Since we've been here we've found that some of the guys we speak to have a disarming way of saying 'oh, you'll love this stage, and that stage, but watch out for that one, you REALLY don't want to off on that one..."

Of course, both Jason and I, and the car, are Circuit Racers, that means we drive on a bit of track we probably know quite well, if we make a small mistake then we maybe lose a bit of time or a place, but we can come round again less than 2 minutes later and have another go, obviously a bigger mistake can be more costly. Here we have just one go, on narrow, bumpy roads with very little or no run-off.

We are here to have fun, and the primary goal is to make it to the finish line in Hobart on Day Six. We're going to drive the road we see in front of us, not merely trust the pace notes and our ability to interpret them; we are also going to keep a good eye on the mirror for faster guys, who might be just recovering from the last time they overcooked it, and we don't want to be in their way if they get it wrong again. We are going to keep a close eye on the road surface, aiming to avoid loose gravel at the edges and T-junctions etc. We are aiming to conserve the car too, it's a long event, 2,000kms - I thought it was pretty well prepared when it left the UK, but less than two laps into Free Practice at Phillip Island I was on a tow rope back to the paddock, and that was circuit racing which we've done for 7 years, this is something completely new. Fair to point out too that Jason and I haven't spent time together in this sort of claustrophobic environment, so it would be nice to finish the event still chums!

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