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Mark "Frosty" Winterbottom FRP Ford V8
Supercar. (Image source: motorsport.com)
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Don’t
Y’all just ‘LUV how time SCREAMS by these days? Whale at least it does for Mwah,
your humble No Fenders scribe – who seemingly is suffering a most acute case ‘O
ADD when it comes to deciphering what story to scribble and when, with this
year's just concluded 'OZ Grand Prix, blink! A
FREAKIN' MONTH AGO! Reminded Mwah I hadn't posted this yet...
Clipsal
500 (March 17-20, 2011)
V8 Supercars - Adelaide, Australia
Some Quick Notes taken during my 'OZ Holiday 'Wayback in 'Twenty-Eleven, albeit
very sketchy & incomplete now while trying to cleverly craft a story outta
them some four Bloody years later, Mates!
Thus, the OZ Grand Prix is already becoming
another fleeting memory, albeit a very good one, as I still cannot believe it
all went so damn smoothly ‘Down Under! Of course this was helped immensely by
my cadre of travel experts: Krista, my AWESOME Hostess (with the MOSTEST...)
Paul, our logistics officer; Jake – my most Excellante Sighted Guide, Patrick,
our lyrical entertainer, and last, but not least, Deb & Steve’s Crew, our
wonderful Melbourne Host committee.
Friday, 3/18
Jumping ahead of thee main course, nee
Australian Grand Prix, Mates, thanxs largely to my 'OZ Host Committee, I was
able to make my debutant trip Down Under into the ultimate ‘'REV-HEAD holiday,
by arriving early ‘Down Under in order to soak in some Petrol Head activities
at the ‘Mega V8 Supercars race held annually on the Streets of Adelaide, which
much to my chagrin... I quickly stepped outside my Parlour Friday morning as I
think I can hear racing cars? Err; I THINK I HEARD SOME V8 SUPERCARZ? (I CAN, I
CAN!) I said out loud joyously... As why did that make me think of Good ‘Ol
TweetyByrd? As we can
most definitely HEAR ‘DEM! The V8 Supercars from the house &
backyard...
Saturday, 3/19
So I was unawares of the term ‘RevHead –
which is used quite commonly to describe us motorsports freaks, until arriving
Down Under, where I learned other good slang like Cactus; Hya! And thus it was
a Boyz day out, as Paul, Jake, Patrick and I made the quick trip to Downtown
Adelaide for the day’s running of the V8 Supercars, along with the support
classes, i.e.; Ute’s & various 'OZ racing cars.
V-8
Ute’s
This was a term I was unfamiliar with until
arriving at the Adelaide Street race, as Ute refers to Utility, having been 'Australianized,
with the two main protagonists being the very same Holden (GM) and Ford manufacturers
who contest the main V8 Supercars series. As these vehicles are typically
2-door car chassis with a "package
tray" in back; ergo 'PickemUp trucks! And although they're good,
fun racing, I don't recall being overly impressed by them...
'OZ
racing cars
Funny, how I don't remember any of this NO
more 'cept for the afternoon's sprint race, which to Mwah seemed to be vintage
racers, or as Artiste Dave says: "Old Men in Old Cars!" Remembering
casually mentioning to Krista, who took cursory notes for Mwah, (below) not
only could I S-E-E the cars, I could feel 'em too!
As thankfully, I managed to find an 'Aussie
recap of that long ago day's support races on Zed Internetz, and hence I'll
defer Y'all to that instead, since I don't recall seeing any single seater
action that day, although the Australian Formula Ford class was racing in the afternoon. As I tend
to recall we went home after the V8 Supercars race...
Whilst the article also denotes that the other
ARS; NOT American Racing Series, forerunner of Indy Lights, but the Australian
Racing Series was on hand...
But I do recall Bloody 'Ol Murray
Walker being on
the PA system, finding that a treat while jotting down: Murray Walker’s Extreme Speed event – whatever that
was? Which actually is Murray Walker's Extreme Machines, for which I cannot
find which exact vehicles participated 'Wayback in 'Twenty-eleven, but such
Supercars as these were listed for the 2009-10 events: Pagani
Zonta, Koenigsegg CCR, Lamborghini Murcielago, Gallardo, Porsche 959, GT40,
Ferrari 599, F430...
And I'm pleasantly
surprised, that like the Support Race Wrap web link the following article from
the local Adelaide newspaper I'd found four years ago is also still active.
Notes
- F-18 flyover.
- Patrick & his Army tanks = Armored Personnel carriers; 2-onhand.
- Watched them everywheres' Mates!
- Garth Tander won Saturday's event – rain soaked Sunday event won by Jamie Wynncup...
Otay, it's
all very foggy now, but I do somewhat recall the day's outing, which thankfully
we went on the sunny, dry day vs. Sunday morning's deluge!
Recall
sitting on the grass during the morning or was I-T afternoon slog? Although
remember watching the V8 Supercars blitz by on the cordoned-off four-lane street, which was a blur with A-L-L the
various white lane striping.
And
know we walked around the Paddock, since remember thinking how the Commodore
Utes' reminded me of some ugly modern day bulbous El Camino's. And perhaps we
did look at some Formula Fords? Since I think I remember looking at some tiny
single seater racing cars?
Then
we moved to the opposite side of track, as just Jake & I went off to watch
the V8 Supercars 'Qualie Top-10 Shootout from afar, as it was really fun
watching the individual Commodore's and Falcon's blasting along the
straightaway into the corner, which reminded Mwah of Formula 1 Knock-out
qualifying, since the times kept getting quicker 'N quicker before DRAT! Garth
Tander in a 'Chebbie; Err Holden
Commodore took Pole.
As Jake good
naturedly jibed Mwah 'bout my boy' Mark Frosty' Winterbottom not getting the
job done; Hya! Since being a "Ford Guy," naturally I was rootin' for
Frosty in the FRC Ford, since think he
was Ford's top performer then...
Yeah,
we actually sat on that "Grassy Knoll" in the afternoon for the day's
race, since I remember now how we kept wonderingg if they'd ever finish the
race after multiple late race wrecks! Before we left for the day, Mates!
While in-between
the Shootout and race, while on the courses backside, I later mentioned to
Krista at one point they were so close
to the track, that every time a car came past, my face got covered by sand! As
that was what I'd loosely deemed vintage racer's, although they were actually
denoted as Touring Cars Masters, which I tend to think included a vintage
'Stang? As its pretty funny to Mwah that the Ford Falcon name still lives on
Down Under, since whenever I think of that name, I think of the original
pre-Pony Car original Falcon instead...
To
continue reading, see; RETRO: ’RevHead continues
Roaming Down Under on Motorsport Holiday...