After reading Jo‘s article in the club magazine about being an official at the great race, I thought I would give it ago myself as I had been promising to go again.

I haven’t been to Bathurst for over 20 years so I was looking forward to seeing what changes have been made.

The first step was to get my officials licence through Motorsport Australia. This was a simple online training course that took about 20 minutes to complete.

The next step was to volunteer as an official. This was completed on the Supercars website where I was also able to select my preferences for the type of work I wanted to do. Given I haven’t done this before I opted to be a general runner which meant I would be doing all sorts of odd jobs across different areas.

To my surprise the very next day I got excepted.

The next challenge was securing a camping spot!

Unfortunately, all of the officials campsites were booked out so I was on a waiting list. I took the initiative to see if I could get accommodation somewhere around Bathurst even if it was a nearby town. I had a caravan so was pretty self-sufficient.

No surprise, everything was fully booked. After a bit more searching I did manage to find a farm that had unpowered sites available. The property was about 20 minutes from Bathurst so I thought it was better than nothing.

In the meantime, I was getting regular updates about my progress on the waiting list but wasn’t feeling too hopeful.

I had my caravan in getting a few repairs and originally told the mechanic to take his time as I wouldn’t need it until November. Thankfully he was able to finish it early for me so another box ticked in my preparation.

Supercars were pretty good with all of their communication so I was getting regular emails with more information about the event.

To my surprise, about a week out from the event I got confirmation that a campsite had become available in the officials campground. My checklist was quickly becoming complete!

A few days out from the event I completed all the food shopping, had a good list of all the clothes I thought I would need and completely ignored their suggestion that I bring gumboots due to the wet weather, soon to be regretted!

I kept an eye on the weather forecast for Western New South Wales and started to panic a little bit with all the rain they were having and how soggy the ground was. I really wasn’t sure what to expect for arriving on site, getting my van in an all set up so decided to leave a day early expecting that I would be around the middle of the pack arriving on a Wednesday before the great race.

I headed off Tuesday afternoon from Melbourne to make it to Gundagai for an overnight stay. So far uneventful and all the repairs on the caravan were holding up.

The next day I had only around 3.5 hours to get to Bathurst but it rained pretty much the whole trip. With all of the rain they have been having the roads were in bad shape with lots of potholes and roadworks being done.

Thankfully I made it into Bathurst early afternoon, signed in at the accreditation centre and collected my uniform, lanyard and respective passes.

Once I arrived at the track, to my delight the access to the officials campground was straight up the main straight, what an entrance!

I couldn’t believe how many people were already there and the number of grandstands/corporate tents that are now in place compared to my last time at the Mountain.

I was one of the last campsites to be filled in my lane, I later found out that most people had arrived on the Monday.

An uneventful set up leaving me time to have a wander around to start taking the whole experience in.

On the Wednesday night Supercars hosted drinks to welcome the volunteers and it was great to see so many drivers mingling with the crowd getting photographs and signing shirts, flags, anything the volunteers wanted. It was clear they appreciated the help the volunteers do and you that the event couldn’t possibly go ahead without them.

I had to work from the Caravan on Thursday.  It made it difficult to explain to my staff and customers that I really was working even though all they could hear was race cars in the background.

I received the great news that I wasn’t to start at 6:30am but 5:30am the next morning….. brilliant!

I was working in the support shed which was where all the other volunteers came to pick up their food packs for the day. We also ensured they had plenty of water and kept their radios fully charged. Basically anything that they needed to do their jobs. It also meant that we looked after the media centre and the race secretary with refreshments and other errands.

It was clear that many of my colleagues had done this many times before as they all had a system for meeting up with their friends, collecting their food packs and anything else they needed for the day. It was amazing how much food everybody got, they certainly weren’t going to go hungry during the day.

After about an hour and serving hundreds of volunteers, the shed emptied out and it was time to do a clean up.

Later that morning we had deliveries of food for dinner and the next day that all had to be put into container fridges etc just to keep fresh. I also got the chance to go around to some of the other stations delivering water and batteries etc which was a great opportunity to meet other volunteers and see what jobs they had to do.

A highlight for me was constantly being able to walk past the pits and all the VIP areas passing many of the drivers. My biggest regret was walking past Zach Brown (CEO of McLaren) and part owner of the Andretti Walkinshaw United racing team. I wasn’t quick enough to get my phone out to get a photo.

Several times I went to the media Centre and was amazed at the hundreds of reporters there for the event. I was told the biggest number they’ve ever had! (Just so you know, reporters love junk food, we regularly had to top up their food boxes!).

I was fortunate to have a few gaps in the day where I could watch some of the action in the pits, around the track and also on the big screen TVs.

With four or five support categories also racing over the weekend it made for a very full pit area with all the race trucks, caravans and motorhomes and other sponsors vehicles. It seemed every meter was being utilised.

Some of the setup‘s were incredible and obviously lots of money invested in equipment and staff.

The weather was horrible. It rained constantly through Friday and Saturday making the racing fun to watch but also kept the pace car and recovery vehicles flat out. Anywhere off the track it was mud.

I was fortunate to be sleeping in a caravan where I could stay warm and dry, I felt sorry for some of the campers and people in swags that couldn’t get off the wet ground.

Nonetheless, with all of the rain it didn’t seem to dampen the spirits too much, everyone just got on with it and dressed appropriately. I think by the second day most people didn’t care any more about their shoes knowing that they were going to have to bin them after the weekend. If only I had packed gum boots!

After heavy rain Saturday night, it was encouraging to hear that the weather forecast was for a mainly dry day on race day but as many of you would’ve seen from the footage it was still a challenge for the drivers to stay on the limit without crossing the line. Soon as they came off the track they had no grip and you would’ve seen many accidents as a result.

I had to get back to Melbourne for work so left shortly after the race ended, to my surprise I got out of the campground pretty easily and the police were well organised directing traffic through town. Within 40 minutes of the race ending I was on the highway heading South.

The traffic was constant but moving along at a good pace. I pulled up in Young for the night before continuing to Melbourne on the Monday with beautiful clear skies and sunshine all the way.

I thoroughly enjoyed my few days in Bathurst, the event has changed in many ways over the last 20 years but in other ways it hasn’t.

It’s still an iconic track and is a great challenge for the drivers. The fans are there in bigger than ever numbers but pleasing to see a much more family orientated event.

I enjoyed seeing the behind-the-scenes of running a big event like this and the almost unlimited access I got to all parts of the track, pits etc.

For me, I think I picked the right area to be working as I enjoyed the variety of jobs. They are extremely long days, I was starting at 4:30am on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday and not getting back to the van until around 6:30pm.

I will most likely be back again next year and would encourage anyone to get involved.

Tim Trainor | Member #745
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne