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Day 44 - Willowbank Raceway
Well there was no early night for us last night as Allan our ‘next door neighbour’ at Willowbank came past rocking the caravan so we had a few jars before he headed back to his own pad after another hard day! He’s a great character and shows us snaps of his bar at home which is full of memorabilia ranging from a genuine, signed Queen guitar and lots of AFL and motorsports collectables to thousands and thousands of caps! Allan works with All Crowd Catering who provide the meals at Willowbank for the corporate and racer facilities, they do a really good job and we’ve enjoyed a few of their treats over the weekend!
Today is another day of packing up for the hard working Willowbank team and everyone has jobs to do. We take down a couple of signs and pick up some litter and help with a collapsible marquee but as normal the team has everything covered and Jeff is as ever, hard at work but always makes time for a chat.
Allan comes round to bring us some left overs, blimey, we need a bigger fridge! We’ve now got everything we
could ever need for a fabulous cheese platter every night until we come home to the UK!
There’s a team testing today, they’ve hired the track and by 10.30 have already put down a practice launch with a 12.30 @ 66.16mph. It’s a very impressive set up and the car is amazing. It’s a blown camero and is campaigned by Vicious Rumour Racing. There is nothing about this car that could be described as ordinary, it’s an amazing “Top Doorslammer”. Even the rig has finger print recognition to allow access! We check that they don’t mind us taking photos of the runs and they don’t so we gleefully get the cameras out! The team has been working on the car for about a year and the next run will be their 4th. They’re back out again just after 1pm and this time they’re going for a full pass. The fire crew and ambulance are in place and the team signal to the man in the tower, it’s that jack of all trades and master of an ever increasing list, Jeff, that they’re ready to get things going! Darryl stands at the back of the burnout box using the little
camera to do some videoing and I’m standing in the centre box with the big camera and no ear plugs (stupid girl!). It’s a strong burnout followed by a hard launch and run that’s straight and true. 6.03 @ 225 mph and the team go nuts! Ship to shore tells the pilot the good news and they head off to the collection area at the top end of the track. Fantastic!
We’d set up camp in the corporate section beside the track but hot footed it back to the caravan for a bit of lunch before the team were due to come out again for their final run of the day. With ear plugs in place I decided to try out the film crew platform at quarter track! By now you should all know how great I am with steps so just imagine how long it took me to climb up the very short, angled ladder and clamber on to the platform! I’ll allow you a quick chuckle! It was a very strange feeling being up there and my heart was really pounding! What a great view I had! Another great burnout, I was so excited I nearly forgot
to press the buttons on the camera! The team weren’t totally happy with the parachutes so shut down after the back up from the burn out and sorted a couple of things out. They fired up again and did a 2nd short burnout and then came the 6.07 @ 235.36 mph right past my nose! That was amazing and now we can’t wait til tomorrow to see if they can run a 5! How fantastic would that be!
Anyway, back down to earth as there’s washing that needs to be done and food that needs to be bought! Yes we know that Allan gave us loads today but we can’t live on cheese and biscuits alone!
Before we go Darryl gets chatting to Nick who is the driver of the Shannon insurance promotional trailer. We’d seen it set up over the weekend next to the track and seen that it’s got the play-stations set up and the viewing platform on the roof. However, Nick reveals it’s secret hidden talents to us! The living area at the front of the trailer is just fantastic, just like our Sweetie but newer and it’s got a shower and toilet! Coming out
of the living quarters you take the stairs to go through the ‘secret doorway’ and you’re out on the roof where Nick can sit with the table, chairs and the sun umbrellas for the best view at any event! Back down in the trailer are the play station seated units and a full size old fashioned petrol pump, loads of memorabilia from yesteryear and the front end of a Studebaker! Even the headlights are wired up to work at the flick of a switch! Nick has 50 events to do this year and lives on the road but loves his job as he just finds meeting different people very enjoyable and invigorating. Well good on you Nick and remember us when you fancy retiring!
We said a sad farewell to Allan this afternoon when he headed home to wife Sharon. Another top chap that we really hope we get to see again on our travels.
We finally make it off the property to head over to the laundrette the other side of Ipswich. With a fistful of dollars we get two loads washed and dried in record time and before we know it we’re filling up baskets in
Woolworths getting the weekly shop!
Night will be about sorting out a schedule for the next couple of weeks. There’s plenty to see and do around Brisbane before we head up further to the Sunshine Coast so we’re going to spend some time in Surfers Paradise although we’ve resisted the temptation to go lord it up in the Crown Plaza! We love our caravan so much that we’d rather stick to the parks or the free camping! How funny is that!! There’s the mountains to explore too and of course we have the bikes so we want to do a couple of treks around Brisbane itself! Oh and the Whales are in town around Straddie Island so fingers crossed we catch a couple of those too! It’s going to be hectic so we’re chilling at the track again tomorrow hoping for a 5 second run!
Love to all
Dar and Sar
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Clive
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Vicious Rumour!
What a setup!!! Now thats racing in style! There times arnt bad either ...pmsl