V8 Supercars put on a show during testing

Friday, 12 February 2010 13:25

Imagine this, you are standing on pit wall among team bosses, chief engineers, crews and other spectators as your favourite drivers roar past on the race track.

You wait for them to come back around again but this time they spear off onto the pit entry and you turn around as they crawl through pit lane behind you, their engines coughing a little as they are held back by the limiter. The car then brakes suddenly and you watch as members of the crew rush out to push the car into the pit bay and begin working on it, as the driver is assisted out of the car. He hops out takes off his helmet and begins discussing the run with his engineer.

Does this sound thrilling to you? I certainly found it thrilling when I had the opportunity to watch the V8 Supercar testing at Queensland Raceway from pit wall, a place usually reserved for teams, media and those with a corporate pass. Queensland Raceway, which is a 3.12km circuit located approximately an hour’s drive from Brisbane, is the test track of the Queensland V8 Supercar teams. While the Victorian teams test at Winton Motor Raceway, a 3.0km circuit located ninety minutes drive from Melbourne.

Test days are important across all forms of motorsport and V8 Supercars are no exception. Teams are only allowed four test days in each season, so they are not to be wasted. I don’t find test days particularly interesting to read about because each team is usually pursuing a different program and it’s difficult to determine how performance during a test day can be translated into race results. However I would definitely advise you to consider attending one as a spectator if you get the chance.

This is because the official V8 Supercar test days offer you the opportunity to see the new cars and liveries in the flesh for the first time as well as get a lot closer to the teams and drivers than you can on a typical race day. It also gives you the opportunity to watch crews and drivers having a laugh and working together in a seemingly more relaxed environment. Although the Queensland testing was disrupted by scattered showers fans did get plenty of opportunity to see the cars on track, watch teams practice pit stops and one driver was even doing a seat fitting.

That’s not to say that the test day times are not important though. Stone Brothers Racing’s young gun Shane van Gisbergen was quickest in Queensland. While in Victoria it was Kelly Racing’s Jason Bargwanna who was on the top of the timesheets. The times set by both drivers were under the lap records for the respective tracks.

As well as getting up close to the action the Queensland test day also gave me the opportunity to give my camera a good workout and if you’d like to see the results you can find them here: flickr.com/photos/awhisperer/sets/72157623274452105/ By Chelsea Woods www.girlracer.co.uk