Monday 29th June dawned sometime around 6.30am.. not that you could tell with the freezing fog blanketing the area! Those of us who received Mark’s text warning of a possible delay repaired to Rose’s Cafe in Goulburn for a coffee and something to line the stomach (or in my case possibly slow me down!) – oddly when Tim Mackie and I walked in there were four coppers already there – they must have known we were coming.
Once at the track, the car inspections were dispensed with pretty quickly, and the drivers’ briefing turned from a brief to a joke telling session to fill the time while everyone hopped from one foot to the other to keep warm. Best guess was an 11am start, but in the end the fog just wouldn’t play the game, so some cars went out on “sighting” laps – not sure what they sighted.
Eventually we were able to catch a glimpse of the full length of the straight, then the marshall point at the Fish-hook loomed into view, and finally we could just see the top of the hill, so off went the first race session at around 12.
Thereafter Race Solutions ran a faultless day, as always, and managed to squeeze four sessions in for everyone, including the obligatory handicap race as one of the last sessions. That turned out (with one notable exception) to have been very well ordered, with everyone battling for places in the last few laps and several great place-swaps going on. The exception was the winner, Rob Bryden, who took a leaf from David “Sandbagger” Mottram, and didn’t manage better than 1.08s all day until the race, when miraculously he pulled 1.05s out of the bag! So Rob took the Handicap Trophy away (well, he will when it returns from South Australia) and everyone else seemed to have had huge fun too.
As always, the planning and execution were perfect, and we would like to send a very grateful thanks to Mark O’Connor, Lee and the team at Simply Sports Cars, and of course the crew of volunteers from Race Solutions for such a successful and enjoyable day. Even hanging around in the fog was fun, giving us a chance to chew the fat with friends and meet up with interstaters (well done to all who came from Queensland, Victoria and South Australia).
The next Lotus Only Track Day will be held on November the 21st at Winton, and is already shaping up to be a great day. Watch your email for the notification, and get in early!
By Ashton Roskill, image thanks to Simon Kalis.