March is known in Adelaide and South Australia as “Mad March”, because of all the events that are held during the month such as the Adelaide Festival of Arts, The Fringe, Womadelaide and the biggest event of the all the Clipsal 500 V8 Supercar Race.
My involvement in all these events is the position of “Emergency Coordinator” at the Clipsal 500. This involves the coordination of all the fire trucks, tow trucks, recovery vehicles and equipment vehicles on track.
The day started at 6:00 am with sign-on at the “Turn 3 Marquee” where all of the 800 volunteer Officials meet in the morning to collect lunches, drinking water and hold briefings on the days proceedings.
From here the Officials, disperse to around 50 points around the street circuit, in various roles such as fire, flags, track and spectator.
My home for the day is in Race Control which sits on the top floor of the new $20 million Pit Building overlooking the start line. It must be the best seat in the place and has air-conditioning as well.
The morning started with Radio Checks and then various practice, qualifying and race sessions.
The day got off to a bang with a rollover in the Mini Challenge, 3 crashes in the GT Championship and this was all before 9:00 am.
It got quieter through the day with an impressive crash in the Aussie Racing Cars but when the Touring Car Masters and V8 Utes came out in the afternoon, the manure hit the fan.
The Touring Car Masters were mainly breakdowns – after all the cars are getting old. But the V8 Utes had fires and crashes to keep the crowd and our firies and towies, not to mention my team in Race Control on our toes.
I have included some photos up to the Fujitsu V8 race – not sure what is going to happen in that – hopefully a little quieter.
Enjoy.
