Eastern Creek Raceway

I have to admit, I am not the biggest racing fan to grace God’s good earth. In fact: I am not a racing car fan by any stretch of the word. So it came as a surprise when I found myself invited out to Eastern Creek raceway for the 4th round of the inaugural A1 world series racing. The last time I was at the races was when I was about 10, the Thunderdome outside of Melbourne. It stuck in my mind because try as I might I could not understand what was going on. Cars, go round and round, much noise, hot, dirty… right. To cut to the chase, today was one of the more enjoyable days out I have had. Surrounded my new things, an entirely new sport, new people and new locations the day was one of embracing every aspect of racing in order to get the most from the day. It’s good to know that if you watch the cars long enough, they do become interesting. With a trio of experts (Dad, my godfather and their mate) to guide me it was only minutes before I was watching with keen interest as a Chrysler Viper did battle with a Ferrari over seven laps in a sprint off. There was an amazing moment when the Viper, already doing in excess of 300km/h took off and sprinted past the Ferrari. Where did it draw the energy from?

The main draw of the day was the 2 part A1 world series race. By this point in the day I was jiggy with ‘rolling starts’, ‘warming the tyres’, ‘pass buttons’, ‘the hazards of the safety car’ etc, so it was all set to be a good afternoon. Every car was identical so as to highlight the skills of the driver rather than the quality of the machinery. The first race dictated the drivers’ place in the second race. Now, I am not normally the first to praise the French. Not through any fault of their own, well actually yeah it is: any country capable of earning the ultra cool nickname of ‘surrender monkeys’ deserves a little bit of a tough time. Honestly: how cool is that nickname! So given my normal aversion to supporting the French this arvo came as quite a surprise. The French driver romped it home, displaying an obviously superior set of skills, overcoming the pitfalls of the safety car (lots of spin outs and prangs), and claiming the $300,000 prize at the close of the day. The guy had serious talent.

For someone who knew nothing about racing at the start of the day, I am happy to say I am now a convert and would happily go back. Long live Eastern Creek Raceway, so much better than the Dog Track.