This was the run where legends were made!
They came from all directions and we all met at The Bend Motorsports Park on a very pleasant mid Saturday morning.
The sight from the main road does not give you a full perspective on what lies beyond the high chainmesh fence! A lot of building work has been created and an up to the minute motor-sport park exists which we should all be proud of.
We were all directed to park in front of the two story building – The Paddock, very impressive! which incorporates the Rydges Pit Lane Hotel, the Administration & Motorsport areas and the large foyer displaying some very spectacular racing machines and some delightful classic cars.
After we had all signed on and received our wrist bands we were asked to return to our vehicles and get ready to join the line for our controlled run around the two race tracks.
This caused some consternation as some were not quite ready!
One of our very important couples travelled a bit slower than the rest who sat on 80kph via Wellington while the rest of us drove at the speed limit of 110kph from Callington to Tailem Bend. Dave Bullivant drove as fast as the Austin A30 would allow and arrived not long before we were asked to assemble for the track and Sally was gasping for a coffee which Dave dutifully ordered for them both.
So the excitement level grew seeing the Course Car covered in Racing type paintwork! we were being let out onto the racetrack with the pace car allowing us to drive with an 80 Km limit. So off we set! One after another able to take cor-ners finding the apex and accelerating out of the corners on both of the two tracks, one 7.7kms long called the GT Track and the other under 4kms.
Now the race tracks are very challenging and the course is not flat, there were many corners which started high and sloped away, and it was on one double apex corner that caught Dave out and he had to take a bit of a different line to those behind! And this was with passen-ger Sally holding her coffee cup between her legs while holding onto the doors; no seatbelts in an Austin A30 you know! I was told another cars passenger screamed all the way around, but not Jan D, she was singing to our John Denver disk all the way, not a problem!
Cont
I think that we all had a ball within the speed limit set and would have liked to go around again!
After the track exit and we had parked our cars excitement was the order of the day with all feeling that the visit was well worth the effort.
Then we were given an insight into the workings of The Bend Motorsport control centre .Obviously a lot of thought has gone into the design of this building. We were all shown down the southern end of the building. Here in one room, stepped with rows of desks, so all could see the wall of large screens each showing corners of the track in sequence, so technically the control room could run a race without any track marshals however this would not be the case in real racing conditions.
After all this very interesting information we adjourned for lunch and what a wonderful lunch it was; a choice of grilled steak or pulled pork, with the crackling and salad.
I will not add all the names as there was over 30 cars on the track for our run and we did have one couple who had de-cided to stay the night which was very smart of them, I know that they praised the staff and the accommodation, right beside the main straight, one wonders what the cost will be for this room on a V8 weekend? Whatever the price I am sure it would be worth it.
So we all headed home having enjoyed a real experience, something a little bit different to our normal runs eh!
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