Free Practice day for the Belray Six Hour was as punishing a day as I can ever remember at the track. The only one that would even come close was the King of the Weir meeting at Hume Weir in 1977. Hume Weir circuit was constructed on the floor of a quarry with high walls all around it and when it got hot, it got really, really, hot. Not a breath of wind came in through the only gap in the quarry wall and the Saturday of practice was hell. Riders were doing 5 laps of a 15 minute session and pulling in to cool down. Now I don’t know what the temperature was that day, but I do know that, at mid-day today at Oran Park, the temperature was 45.5 degrees.
The Six Hour riders did 2 x 1 hour sessions today and I can tell you that they are supermen.
I left at 1325; I’d had enough. At the top of Mount Ousley where the road starts heading down the hill, it was still 41 degrees, and, by the time I reached the bottom near the University, it was 31 degrees. It’s still 31 now as I write this, but I’m now inside with the air-con on. Blessed relief.
The race itself promises to be a cracker. A straight match-up between a crack Yamaha team of WEC-hardened veterans against a Honda team of ex-WSBK/BSB/ASC stars. Throw in a third Yamaha with an ex-WEC Champion on board and the mixture becomes even more interesting.
I’ll have much more detail for you tomorrow night after Qualifying and Superpole, but, for the moment, I need to collect my thoughts, make sense of the copious notes I took today, and refresh myself for a day that promises to be just as draining and difficult as today was.
I can’t wait.
Here’s a few pictures from today.
For some weird reason that I can’t be bothered trying to fathom out now, the captions on these photos are not showing. However if you highlight the bar at the bottom of the photo, the caption can be read….computers, eh?
gearsau says
Well..Its hot in Melbourne too, but, no way would I care to be there. I see its suppsoed to be 40C or so on Sunday in the west of Sydney.
How can they have the PETER JACKSON signage on that bike ?
Ahh…ARTHUR PARK…..Takes me back to the 60’s
Phil Hall says
Yeah, the PJ signeage is keen, isn’t it? The bike is an ex-Kevin Magee bike and runs in the “Retro” class where period colour schemes are allowed.