Ford Rising Stars Racing

Many people think that we all just turn up to the track, jump in the cars and then go racing. That would definitely make thinga a lot easier, but unfortunately that will never be the case!

This weekend we're in Victoria at Winton Motor Raceway, which is in Benalla, about 2-3 hours outside Melbourne. We're the premier support category for the main series, and with many corporate guests joining us at the track, its important we put on a really good show.

The trip down started yesterday (Wednesday), although the cars had been prepared in the weeks leading uo to this weekend, and many more jobs had to be done before the team even left Sydney. People underestimate how much work gioes into the preparation of the cars before they are loaded into the trailer. They are almost completely rebuilt after every race meeting! Not only are the cars cleaned to look nice, most of the time they require painting and new stickers. Then there's the mechanical side of things such as engine rebuilds, new brake discs and pads, changing diff ratios, gearbox rebuild, plus virtually every other mechanical part on the car has to be checked for wear, and anything that requires replacing, be replaced. Nothing goes unchecked.

Thanks to Europcar we were able to get hold of two mini buses, which essentially allowed the team to travel down together. At 8.30am we set off from Sydney, stopping a few times on the way to pick up various members of the team. After a quick pitstop for breakfast we're underway, although the time is closer to midday.

The trip down is actually a good time for the guys in the team to have a chat and a laugh away from the stresses that accompany everyone at the track. When everyone is so dedicated to their job during a race weekend, there's no geting to know the guy you're working next to, because everyone is simply too busy! Everyone's pretty relaxed by the time we arrive, which is a good way to start!

At about 6pm we arrived in Wangaratta where we checked in two motels. We were due at Wangaratte Racecourse at 7pm for a corporate function, so we didn't have a lot of time to dump our bags, get changed and then get there to unload the cars and have everything ready and on display for the arrival of our main sponsors Hagemeyer, and their families.

Its always good to be able to show people around the cars, as I think it opens their eyes to how hi-tech they are. In the past V8 Supercars were often considered dinosaurs, running 'old fashion' v8 engines, H-pattern gearboxes and live rear axles, but this is simply to keep costs down. The amount of technology that goes into building and running the cars astounds people. It takes a lot of knowledge and commitment to build and run one of these things and its nice to be able to show people that.

Its also a good opportunity to meet people that follow the team and its drivers. On race weekends it can be really hard to have a chat or to even explain to them whats going on, or why we're doing a particular job! It's these people that make the sport so popular and being able to talk to them about it is really rewarding.

We pack the cars back into the transporter at about 10pm and head back to our motels for a good nights sleep as its an early wake up to be out at the track by 8am to start unpacking everything.

Trev our truck driver arrives with the transporter just before us and is already reversing into our asigned truck bay. Our pit tents is aboyt 100 metres from the truck, which isn't very far, but when you have to push 2 cars, 32 wheels and tyres and a heap of pit gear, its a fair old slog! Once the cars and gear have been unloaded from the truck (approx 2 - 3 hours) everything is moved to the pit area.

Final prep is done on the cars, including heading to the dunlop truck to have our 16 new tyres mounted on rims, and having the fuel drums filled ready for the weekend. Throughout the day everyone is also fed by the wonderful cooks in the team, making ure everyone is happy!

At 7.30pm we are all loaded onto the buses and taken back to the town houses we've rented about 40 minutes from Winton. Its been a long couple of days but it's only the start.

Stay tuned for part 2 (practise, quaifying and racing).