Newcastle 500 Recap Part 1 - 2019
G’day everyone! Cody here.
Wow… What a weekend!
With the race run and won, I thought id sit down and write a personal recap of how our huge weekend at the Newcastle 500 went.
As you can imagine before any event, a huge amount of preparation goes into just getting out on the grid, and with everything put in its place we had nothing left to do but to get out there and drive.
Our first session on the Friday was practice. Taking all my experience in Motorsport and training via Virtual Racing Australia’s Simulators, I took my time drive the track and learn what makes Newcastle such a challenging circuit, but I must of done it at a quick pace as out of the full 33 cars entered I was able to set a time good enough for 19th, top 20, great start.
We made some slight changes, prepped the car again and it was time to go qualifying.
A lot of Autographs, photos and new fans over the weekend.
With a spring in my step we pushed the car out for qualifying, unfortunately due to how the grid spots were organised we were pushed out in last place which meant that there wasn’t a lot of clear space to set our fastest times. Eager to push in front of the pack I took my last lap and pushed myself and the car to the limit, going quicker and quicker in times, until… Bang.
The highs and lows of Motorsport.
Pushing hard down the Esplanade I started my entry into Zarra st when all of a sudden the rear end stepped out on me. Trying to correct and catch it sent me skidding right, collecting the wall with my right hand front.
12 months of preparation, training and work all gone within a second, and with the whole of the world watching it was a gut wrenching feeling.
A quick medical check for me, which I was all good, and then we raced back to the pits to asses the damage.
The Shopping list involved
Windscreen, engine, Control Arms, Chassis Cross-members, Shocks, Oil Coolers, Bonnet, Front Aero Splitter, and many rose joints and nuts and bolts.
To say that I was upset is an understatement, what would of been a wheel dropped of track and straight back into the lap on a normal circuit meant a written off car on this street circuit, I messed with the snake and got bitten.
A lot of questions were raised, can we fix it? should we continue? Safety? what do we do! but it was the actions of others that made that decision easy. One at a time people lined up to help, spare parts from other teams were offered, phone calls of people checking if I was ok and begging to help. So with all of Newcastle behind us we made the call to get stuck in and get repairing.
What a mess!
Cut, Weld, Bend Fix, By midnight we had our spare motor in the car and the majority of the car back together, and 10 minutes before race one we put our last bolt back in the car, started her up and pushed her out onto the grid.
With everything bar cosmetics sorted we started our first race at Newcastle in 17th
Well, I didn’t think the lead up to race one would have been so involved, so stay tuned for part two to hear about all the ups and downs of our weekend!