Category Archives: Motorsport

We have Arrived at the Mountain …

November 30, 2021 Scott Leave a comment

Another easy day, leaving West Wyalong at 10:00Am.

The roads again were not fairing well with all the water recently with more pot holes and road surface breaking up. There were a lot of lakes on the sides of the roads where paddocks once stood and the creeks were full. You did not dare pull off the black top for the fear of sinking in the mud.

A lot of roads were closed due to flooding but not the track we were taking to Bathurst.

We stopped for lunch in Blayney at Goose Park which apparently was under water a week ago.

The clouds were building as we got closer to Bathurst but there was no rain to fall today. Jenny was a little excited as we drove up Panorama Avenue to the Mount Panorama Race Track. It was a seamless pickup of credentials, shirts, passes, caps and other bits and pieces from the Officials Credential Office.

Off to the Officials Campground. There is 2 ways to access this campground. The first is to wait for the racing to finish for today then take the circuit to the infield.

The second is to use the tunnel under the circuit. There is a height limit of 3.1m for the tunnel and I was pretty sure that we could fit through.

The guard at the tunnel had a pipe jig to check heights and it looked like I had a few cms to spare. Down and into the tunnel and we didn’t hear any scraping so foot down, close eyes and we were through and into the campground.

Managed OK to get the Taj onto our site (228), with room for the caravan with awning out and car across the front.

The Fire Chief stopped by and took me on a tour of the Pits, Support Paddock before picking up a fire truck for a couple of laps of the track to get my bearings and where all the fire trucks will be located. Jenny even tagged along for the ride.

My role for this weekend is in Race Control looking after the Fire and Supply crew.

280 kms today with fuel at an all time low for the moment at West Wyalong of $1.459 a litre

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Bathurst 1000, Holidays, Motorsport

Great day for travel …

November 29, 2021 Scott Leave a comment

No rush today to get away, leaving the Yanga Creek Rest Area around 10:30Am. Our travels took us across the Hay Plain which is normally dry, and dusty except for the rice and cotton fields. Not this time.

With all the recent rain, the place is very green with standing water on the side of the road and all the creeks full. We even didn’t see any kangaroos along the road, dead or alive, which is unusual for this run.

The roads have not weathered the rain well with a lot of damage and pot holes.

We did see some animals today. A farmer was moving his sheep along the highway north-east of Hay to take advantage of the abundant grass available on the roadside.

Our digs for the night was the Ace Caravan Park in West Wyalong. We had a great grassed site but unfortunately the mozzies came out enforce at dusk so couldn’t take advantage of the site.

Only 380 kms of travel today with fuel of $1.629 at Hay.

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Bathurst 1000, Holidays, Motorsport

Run away …

November 28, 2021 Scott Leave a comment

Even though I was involved in the Adelaide Rally for the last 4 days, I have a capable Deputy so left the Event around 2:00Pm only leaving 3 stages left for Kieran to look after.

After dropping the gear at the Rally Office, picking up the caravan from the Showgrounds then home to get Jenny, we were on the road around 4:00Pm for the run to NSW.

My plan was to get to around Balranald tonight.

An hour into the drive, I contacted the Rally Office to see how the last 3 stages went. It appeared that they didn’t.

On one of the stages, SAPOL and SES needed access to find a missing child possibly in a dam. This stage was cancelled.

Another stage had a car flip over and block the road. By the time this was cleaned up, this stage was also cancelled.

That left only one of the three going through to completion.

We arrived to the Victorian Border before sunset. There were a couple of SAPOL members checking arrivals from Victoria but no Victoria Police to check travel passes into Victoria.

We only had a couple of hours as we traversed Victoria to the NSW Border and the road was very quiet with a couple of trucks and cars over the whole journey in both directions.

We arrived at the NSW Border at Tooleybuc around 10:00Pm and there was no-one to be found and no traffic either.

It was onto Balranald for fuel then just down the road to Yanga Creek Rest Area for a sleep.

We travelled 524 kms today and fuel at Pinnaroo was $1.649 a litre and Balranald $1.619 a litre.

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Holidays, Motorsport, NT - QLD 2020

Look out for Wildlife …

August 11, 2020 Scott Leave a comment

Another relaxing start to the day as we were waiting for my sister Diana and brother in law Danny to arrive from Mataranka. They rolled into Litchfield at 1:00pm. A quick catch-up then it was onto the Old 4WD Campground at Florence Falls to set them up. We are continuing to stay at Litchfield Tourist Park, while Diana and Danny want to stay off the grid at the National Park campground.

Back in the day you must have needed to have a 4WD to get to the campground but it is a bitumen road all the way now. It wasn’t full but it filled later in the day. There were a couple of big vans in their so we could have stayed but there was no power or generators allowed.

It didn’t take long to setup the campsite, some lunch then it was an 800-metre walk to the Florence Falls. The advantage of being down at the Old 4WD Campground is that it has flat walking track to the Falls whereas the 2WD Campground and Carpark requires a 135 staircase to access the Falls.

Once again, the Falls were a lot quieter than I have seen in the past. The other difference is the Falls are not as fast flowing as when we normally visit a couple of months earlier. This is a combination of being later in the dry season and a relatively lower than average wet season.

It was a refreshing couple of hours floating in the Falls pond which ended up being a bit of a spa treatment with the small fish starting to nibble on the dead skin of the back of my heels. The first bite was not expected and gave a bit of a fright, given that crocodiles are known to be in these waters.

After making the 800-metre walk back to camp, we headed off to Buley Rockhole to finish out what was left of daylight for the day. The water up here was 2C warmer (28C) than Florence Falls (26C) even though it is the same water only 1km apart. We enjoyed some beverages in the Rockhole, was visited by one of the local Water Monitors before heading back to Diana and Danny’s camp for tea.

We still had a 30-minute drive back to our camp and was worried about wildlife crossing the road in the dark. I would have expected at least wallabies but did not expect echidnas and snakes. I missed the echidna that was using the bitumen as its own road but hit the snake coiled in the centre of the road.

On return to camp and phone service, there was a email confirming the 2^nd Darwin Supercar race on the weekend of 22^nd and 23^rd August. I guess we have to stay a bit longer up here in the warmth and blue skies.

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Geocaching, Holidays, Motorsport, NT - QLD 2020

Geocaching in the City …

August 6, 2020 Scott Leave a comment

Today was a geocaching day in the Darwin City area. What I mean by that is I geocached while Jenny stayed in the airconditioned car reading her book.

Ratio of finds to “Did Not Finds” was not that good, with few finds which is normal for the Darwin area. Many in the Darwin CBD are micro caches and tend to go missing regularly for some reason.

This evening we ended up with a clash of activities. Normally the Supercars Officials night is held on the Wednesday night and I hold a geocaching event on the Thursday night at the Mindil Markets.

I organised my normal Geocaching event, Mingle at Mindil 9, tonight even though COVID-19 has stopped the Thursday market. The problem was NT Major Events changed the Officials night to Thursday night this year as well.

We attended the Officials night early around 5:30pm but it was a very different night due to the postponement of the Race Meeting. There were no credentials and every team were staggered. We grabbed a couple of drinks then made our way down the road to Mindil Beach to my Geocaching event for an hour.

There were a few locals as well as some travelling cachers from Germany. It was good to catch up with the locals and get some hints to some of the DNF’s from earlier in the day.

After watching the sunset, it was farewell to the cachers and back to the Officials night for a meal and meet all the fire crew. Even though it was a different sort of Officials night, the fire crew continued the tradition of being the last to leave.

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Holidays, Motorsport, NT - QLD 2020

Race Meeting has been postponed …

August 5, 2020 Scott Leave a comment

Today was a holiday day with relaxing around the van at the Discovery Park. A few little jobs on the Taj before doing some shopping and refuelling. Fuel is cheaper here than in Adelaide at $1.13 per litre for diesel.

We had keeping in touch with the fire crew driving up from Adelaide. Just before they arrived, we received an email indicating the Race Meeting for this weekend had been postponed with Supercars drivers and crews being placed in quarantine due to COVID-19. Looks like we will be staying up in the north for a little longer.

There wasn’t much to do now but catch up with the Adelaide crew at the hotel and chew the fat over some beverages.

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Holidays, Motorsport, NT - QLD 2020

Darwin here we come …

August 4, 2020 Scott Leave a comment

It was up earlier than normal this morning. We wanted to pack up and head down for one last soak before hitting the road to Darwin.

Once again, the thermal pool was almost empty but we did have a couple of the local wild pigs come down for a chew on the berries that abound around the edge of the pool.

Apparently, they have been around the pool since they were piglets so are reasonably tame, allowing people to pat them while they eat.

After an hour of soaking, we hit the road to Darwin. An uneventful drive had us arriving around 3:30pm and checking into the Darwin Discovery Park. We now know why we have not seen too many vans down south. They are all here in the caravan park.

Once set-up, it was a quick trip to stock up the fridge and pantry for the next week. There was even toilet paper in the supermarket here, amazing.

Jenny had organised to catch up with one of her softball buddies (Wendy and Neil) for tea at the Darwin Ski Club. Given that the credentials night on Thursday night will be a quick tick and flick event here, it was a good chance for a sit-down meal and watch the sunset (we just made it in time).

Even at 9:00pm it was still 27C. Beats the 4C at home.

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Holidays, Motorsport, Out and About

When in Coober Pedy …

August 27, 2019 Scott Leave a comment

It has taken a couple of days but I have made it from the Bend to Coober Pedy. There is not a lot to do in Coober Pedy when you are just travelling through but having a local pizza is one of the highlights here.

There are 2 places to get pizza. The first is John’s Pizza Bar and the other is Nostimo Pizza Coober Pedy. This time through I chose a Nostimo Pizza, mainly as it was located in the Big4 Caravan Park where I was camped for the night.

As usual it was a good feed before getting some rest for another big drive tomorrow.

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Holidays, Motorsport, Out and About

That’s it for the Supersprint …

August 25, 2019 Scott Leave a comment

Well that was a relatively quiet weekend at the Bend for the Supersprint. Once again, my role was the Emergency Coordinator in Race Control. If there is an on track incident, the coordination of the fire, medical and recovery vehicles is my responsibility.

Over the three days we only had 25 on track incidents but nothing of any note.

There was good opportunities at night for some crew bonding in the Officials Campground, even if it was very cold. Lucky we had a fire to keep us warm.

Tomorrow is my third week of holidays and my travels will take me to Alice Springs for the Red Centrenats.

At least it will be warmer.

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Geocaching, Holidays, Motorsport, Out and About

Time for some Supercars …

August 19, 2019 Scott Leave a comment

My time down the south east had come to an end and although I didn’t achieve all the geocache finds I had planned, it certainly made a dent in the available caches. I am sure there will be a lot more caches placed around the area prior to the GeoVenture 2020 so another trip will be in order to get them.

My next week of holidays will be a bit closer to home. This coming weekend is the Supersprint at the Bend Motorsport Park. I will be taking up residence in the Big 4 Caravan Park at the track from tomorrow, catching up with Garry and Deb.

It is only for a couple of days before moving into the temporary Officials Campground located in the East Circuit Pit Area. By being already on site, we will be able to get the pick of the campsites before everyone else moves in on Thursday afternoon.