AUSGP Notebook: Friday
Bloody hell – motorsport does alright to have this sort of event put on for us.
Here we continue our deep dive behind the scenes of the Australian Grand Prix, in the second edition of our race week Notebook… enjoy!
Early risers
With an 8:50am kick-off, the F3 paddock was very much alive and kicking prior to 6am this morning, which definitely makes for a long day…
The Great Melbourne Run
Each morning, a great race takes over the Albert Park precinct.
That race, is the dash to make it to the front row of the Melbourne Walk.
From what we saw, Gate 1 was the shortest sprint, or maybe they just have the fastest runners?
Check out the genuine effort – we salute you, the crazed fans of Melbourne.
The Melbourne Walk
…and here’s what the effort is for.
It’s a unique opportunity on the F1 calendar for punters to get up close and personal with the heroes of the sport.
You can’t take the rally out of George Fury
Is it just us, or did this George Fury-spec Nissan Bluebird look like it had way too much fun en route to the car club display on the golf course?
Is this some kind of bust?
Yes, it’s very impressive.
Media setup
This year, the media have been segregated into three distinct areas.
Firstly is the Supercars’ media truck, which because of the F2 and F3 paddock squeeze, is located nowhere near the Supercars pits.
Next is the national media centre, which is located close to the back of the Supercars pits, while the FIA photographers and journos have been combined in a facility above the pitlane.
Long walk
Per the previous note, the Supercars transporters are now a cut lunch away from where the cars are parked, which is surely a mild annoyance for the participants, after they lobbied for the longest time to get their own standalone pit lane.
These trucks pictured are parked outside of turn 12.
Pontoon with a view, but not of the race track
Maybe you don’t want to watch cars racing, but would prefer to relax by the lake.
These pontoons are a nice touch.
Man’s best friend, now in robot form
Lookout, enemies of Australia, we have a new secret weapon.
A feature of the Army display is this very good boy (we assume), who is currently being used for research and development purposes, and also a great deal of fun.
We are told that in time the model will be used for surveillance.
Somewhat pessimistic sponsorship
When the fence sponsors your front wing…
How the other half live: part 2
This is the Red Bull Energy Station, where we noted previously through the On the Grid Podcast that Sunday tickets were retailing for close to $4,000.
Nice.
Thursday attendance: large
Per the AGP Corp:
Day one of the FORMULA 1 ROLEX AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX 2023 saw an estimated attendance of 60,832.
This is the highest Thursday attendance since 2014, and is 5,000 more than the official estimated attendance for Thursday in 2022 (55,107).
So, what’s the theory about 2014’s epic figure? Could they not count, or did they force every Victorian school kiddie to attend – because yesterday’s turnout was a bumper.
It was amazing to see so many fans in attendance, with exactly zero on-track action from any of the open-wheeler classes.
From the Web
Yes Michael, yes – tremendous branding for Repco
Straya
Straya II
Maybe his head isn’t that big…
Dream big
Does anyone miss the celebrity race?
AGP on TRT
Mark Walker (administrator)
A vastly experienced Motorsport Public Relations operator, journalist, commentator and photographer, Mark brings his unique angle to The Race Torque in both words and imagery. As well as serving as our key photographer on the ground at major events around Australia (and overseas), Walker will often chime in with his unique and pin-point sharp viewpoint of the racing world via the keyboard too.
