With the season’s biggest race of the year just around the corner, there have been some long days at the team’s Albury workshop as the Trading Post Racing team prepare for another attack at the great race.
Following the disappointment of the Phillip Island race weekend, the crew went about stripping each and every component off of the car. The parts are cleaned, checked even X-Rayed in some cases before the job of rebuilding the parts and then re assembling the race car starts. Diffs, gearboxes, suspension; even the teams rattle guns get extra special treatment….!
The Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 race weekend is the season’s biggest in every way. The team will take additional crew just to cope with the workload the week creates.
Bathurst week commences with the 6 hour drive north from Albury on Tuesday morning. The crew heads straight to the track to commence the garage and infra structure build. Wednesday is spent on car set up before weekend’s practice sessions start on Thursday. By the time the race transporter door is shut at about 9.30pm on Sunday night, the crew would have put in approximately 100 hours on the job.
Winning at the iconic Mount Panorama, scene of this weekend’s Bathurst 1000, is a feat Jason Bright aims to repeat and he says this Sunday presents only his second good chance to do that since 1998.
Formerly in one-car teams, the now-Trading Post Racing driver was put at a disadvantage by the old rule, where experienced team-mates could pair together for the marathon race.
Now, with a level of parity between co-drivers and a car that is out-performing much of the field, Bright believes the odds have swung back in his favour.
Practice one begins at 10.15 this Thursday, when Bright and co-driver Matt Halliday will get their first run up the mountain.
Jason Bright - Trading Post Racing
“Bathurst is the toughest track, the toughest event, it’s the race that everyone knows about and talks about. Growing up with the heroes of touring car races at the time; Bathurst is what made them heroes.
“There’s no doubt that it’s the most dangerous track that we go to but you can’t afford to be more cautious. You can’t leave anything on the table there and expect to get a result.
“I’d hate to say it but I’ve been here on a number of occasions when, looking at the driver pairings we were up against, it was always going to be a big challenge to get a win. On some of those occasions we had a better run than could be expected.
“Now that you’re not allowed to team up your lead drivers it’s certainly the best opportunity that I’ve felt I’ve had since 2006 with Frosty and before that since 1998. The pace of the car is certainly as good as any car in the field and we’re still improving.
“I think that we should be very strong this weekend if our pace at the last couple of rounds is anything to go by. After that it’s just a matter of everything going alright on the day and making the right decisions with strategy.”
Brighty’s Bathurst Stats
Wins 1 (1998)
Podiums 3 (1998, 2000, 2002)
Fastest laps 1 (2004)
Starts 13
First V8 race 1997
Matt Halliday - Trading Post Racing Co-Driver
“Obviously growing up in New Zealand you start watching Bathurst before any other form of racing on TV and every time you go there to race later in life it is extremely special.
“The event itself is one of the toughest races in the world with the nature of the track, car and competition extremely difficult. I am really excited to get there this year; it’ll be the first time I am teamed up with a number one driver and with the focus of fighting for the win and not just a solid finish!”
Halliday’s Bathurst Stats
Starts 5
First V8 race 2004
Best result 11 (2004)
