BATHURST 6 HOUR REPORT
Car #53 Started 66th finished 37th outright
What an epic weekend!! Podium on the best track in Australia!! 
The weekend started out pretty straight forward on Wednesday with the RaceAway Track Time team travelling up to Mount Panorama Bathurst and setting up. As you drive into Bathurst and see the big sign on the top of the mountain in the distance you can’t help but get a little shiver as the realisation of what is about to unfold sinks in.
Thursday was scrutineering for the cars and apparel checking for the drivers, crew and refueling team. All passed with flying colours 
there was a lot of time to kill during the day so the drivers went on a track walk around the iconic Mount Panorama circuit. We were lucky to have a very experienced Super 2 driver in Ryan Gilroy as our Team Manager for the weekend and he provided some mega tips on the track as they walked around.
there was a lot of time to kill during the day so the drivers went on a track walk around the iconic Mount Panorama circuit. We were lucky to have a very experienced Super 2 driver in Ryan Gilroy as our Team Manager for the weekend and he provided some mega tips on the track as they walked around.Friday was a big day. Bright and early at the circuit with 3 big practice sessions. These are the key times to road tyres, bed brake sets, sort the setup out and get the drivers up to speed. Car #35 started strong and was quick out of the box with all 3 drivers delivering very similar times. Jake and Matt had been here before, but Gino had flown in from the USA the day before and was impressively quick first time out. Car #53 must have got out the wrong side of bed as it had a few problems with the front geometry of the car and significant brake shudder. The crew got on top of this quickly replacing the rotors in the first session but this didn’t fix it, so during the 2hr gap to the next session they replaced essentially the whole front end of the car as we didn’t want to jeopardise any more track time. The car was then wheel aligned and corner weighted. Huge effort by the crew to complete this in 2 hrs 
. From there the car was perfect and they could get down to business. The legendary Phil Alexander jumped in and was straight on the pace within a couple of laps. He jumped out and Rod jumped in and was comfortable and confident in the car straight up with good times. After a couple of laps Rod hoped out and we put Paul in who flew over from Western Australia for the race and had never been here before, so he did the majority of the practice. All the drivers worked with Ryan and Phil in reviewing the data to further refine lines and approaches to getting quicker times. The whole time concentrating on race setups to look after the car and tyres.
. From there the car was perfect and they could get down to business. The legendary Phil Alexander jumped in and was straight on the pace within a couple of laps. He jumped out and Rod jumped in and was comfortable and confident in the car straight up with good times. After a couple of laps Rod hoped out and we put Paul in who flew over from Western Australia for the race and had never been here before, so he did the majority of the practice. All the drivers worked with Ryan and Phil in reviewing the data to further refine lines and approaches to getting quicker times. The whole time concentrating on race setups to look after the car and tyres.Friday was qualifying day and this is when things get serious. It’s only a 20 minute session which means about 5 flying laps to get it done. We tweaked the cars to make them more aggressive in their setup and Jake and Rod jumped in for the session. Both drivers managed to run 6 seconds faster than the practice times and that netted us 4th and 5th in class. Friday afternoon we put the cars back to “race” spec and serviced the cars. All new fluids throughout, new tyres and new brakes. They were now ready for the race in the morning.
Sunday is race day. There’s a nervous calmness when you arrive bright and early at the track on race day. You open the roller door and see the cars sitting there all clean and shiny and can only imaging what the day will bring. Paul and Matt jumped in the cars for the morning warm up, this was mostly roading tyres, bedding brakes and just warming up, it’s not about going fast it’s about making sure everything works and is ready to go. The cars were great! Bring on the main event!!
Jake and Phil were starting the cars. They left the pit lane on time and headed around the track. The whole team walked to the grid and met them at their grid spots of 64 and 66. There’s hundreds of people around and the atmosphere is epic. The National Anthem plays, the cars fire up and we all leave the grid. It’s now go time!
The Race: Both cars got a great start and held the leaders in sight the whole time. There was a number of safety cars (which would become a theme for the day). Some of the other class E cars pitted early, but team manager Ryan stuck to his plan and we soldiered on.
Almost 2hrs in and we were getting ready for our stops when Jake in car #35 lost power going up the hill. This proved to be an issue that despite the best efforts of the crew and the relentless testing and replacing of parts could not be resolved. The car ultimately stopping on the way up the hill again with Matt behind the wheel and was an innocent victim of the heavy crash that we have all seen so much of. The impact of this damaged the suspension of the car bringing an end to it’s day. We are so fortunate our driver is ok and once again our thoughts are with the other drivers and families involved.
Car #53 pitted and Paul jumped in for the midday session. Paul was super consistent and quick in the car, staying out of trouble and looking after the car. We were out of step on strategy with the other Class cars, but we stuck to Ryan’s plan and Paul pressed on again through a number of safety cars.
Car #53 pitted again and Rod jumped in for the final stint. This is when the plan started to come together.
When all the strategy played out this meant car #53 finished 3rd in class and a mighty 37th outright. Ryan’s strategy was a master stroke of genius, the crew were outstanding in their execution and everyone involved executed to perfection. All the work behind the scenes, car preparation, admin, paperwork, coordination, socials, media, catering, planning, transport, etc, etc. it’s seriously a huge amount of work and financial commitment to put two cars on the grid for the Bathurst 6 Hour and to have one of the cars on the podium makes it all worthwhile.
We’ll celebrate the success of car #53 and hug the drivers and crew of car #35 who were on for an even better result. Sometimes Motorsport can be bitter sweet, but we’ll dust ourselves off, reset and go again next year!
A massive thank you to our team - absoloute trojans through out the entire week: Joel Monty Ryan Gilroy Nathan Gregory Phil Alexander Eleanor Webber Nigel Fuke Ben Alexander-Swatton Karen Alexander Canobolas Motorsport Services Nigel Buttriss Kinzey Alexander-Swatton 
An enormous thanks to the officials, volunteers and everyone at the Bathurst 6 Hour
And we couldnt do this without our excellent partners and sponsors: Pheasant Wood Circuit One Raceway On Pah Grading Hextall Motorsport, RBT Motorsport Chematek Australia Eni Shane Fowler MWM Racing
