Sandown 400

[senator_sig]

Hi all,
I hope i dont offend anyone, but as a spectator we thought the Sandown 400 pretty damn ordinary. This was our first sandown and unless we happen to be in Melbourne for some reason at the same time that it is on, we wont go again.
We were disappointed that from the main grandstand (where we had seats) you were lucky to get a glimpse of the starting grid infront of the pits, and as it turned out the uneventful turn 1 was the only chance of seeing the cars trying to pass. Venturing around the track didnt really seem to help as a spectator. Maybe we are spoilt here in adelaide with our race but you couldnt get anywhere near the cars in the pits unless you were a corporate pass holder.

Before going to phillip island last year for the first time, we heard that the facilities there were really bad etc etc... but we thought the weekend was brilliant and intend on going again this year.

Im not saying the weekend was a total loss as the cars that were on display around the back of the stand were very impressive, and we did see a top fueler roll it after not being able to stop at the end of turn 1. It was also good to be able to get up close to the fujitsu's and the minis.
...Besides Todd was the first holden home, so finally we are getting some sorts of results!(we are team perkins fans) this was a plus... the negative was that there were 4 fords infront of him.

The V8 supercar website said that the total attendance for the weekend was only 40,000 people!!! poor considering that it is so close to melbourne, but not really a surprise after the experience. Definitely a track to stay home with a carton of beer, packet of chips and watch it on telly.

I have added a couple of my pictures from the weekend, and look forward to hearing what other people thought of the weekend.

[lowgto]

Nice post SS.
Its always good to get someones views who have actually attended the event.
Wouldnt be surprised to see the organisers do away with the Monday racing though.

[HRDHSV]

Yes i must say that the viewing from the grand stand wasnt the best, good luck catching them shirts they were shooting out ay. That top fueller monaro was a godd damn crack up man :) You Would've seen HRDHSV out the back on display then? Phillip island is a great track mate i should know i only live round the corner.

[senator_sig]

we would have walked past your car several times! there were so many hot cars there!

It was amazing how dark it was when the race finished!

It would be great to live near a track like Phillip Island. Last year we were able to walk to the track from where we were staying, and the amount of hsv's,ss's and general hot holdens... and i suppose Frauds that drove to and from the track was amazing. It was good to go to a race where it was the majority of motor racing fans (and the atmosphere there reflected that).
we get the same tickets every year in the chicane at the clipsal 500, but you get a bit crapped off with the amount of people that are purely there to drink and are there for the concerts.
my cousin inherited a business that buys lots of mack trucks, and they rubbed my nose in it by letting me know that had a full pit tour including through the perkins pit and cars by larry himself... and yet they hate holdens and barrack for lowndes! they dont even watch any other v8 event on tv through the year!

if you see two people walking back on the main road at phillip island decked out in perkins clothing... give us a toot! thats probably me and the wife.

I didnt get any pics of the newer hsv's but there is a few of the older holdens on display.

[Rick Kelly is awesome!!!]

Im not too sure how sandown is coze ive never been there, but i go to the clipsal 500 every year and its great, you can get real close to the pits, this year i even got to go in the HSV DT's pit. I can post up a few pics if you like, most are of Rick and me tho.
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RHODE ISLAND DISPENSARIES (http://rhodeisland.dispensaries.org/)

[senator_sig]

I think it would be a surprise to everyone to hear that you had pictures taken with Rick Kelly!!! any picture that you post would be greatly appreciated... always happy to see pictures that someone else had taken. This year i got to meet Paul Dumbrell and he was happy to sign all my 1:18 certificates from my Perkins collection and happy to have a chat... he'd lost that much weight i don't think people recognized who he was, as people were all walking past us and not really paying attention the way they do to the more common drivers.

[Rick Kelly is awesome!!!]

here's the link to see the pics, enjoy ;)

http://www.hsvforum.com.au/Gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=12286
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Toyota Fxv-Ii (http://www.toyota-wiki.com/wiki/Toyota_FXV-II)

[senator_sig]

Great pics... its great when a driver spends some time with the fans, my wife drools over shane price, but we have never been invited into a pit bay like that.

you get the feeling when you see some of the drivers that spending time with the fans is a hastle... its good to see that not all of them have forgotten the Brocky attitude to the fans.

I have a friend who got full access to pits in 06 (Clipsal)... so before race 1 when richo and dumbrell were racing with Perkins he took a heap of picture for me as they were about to get into their car. Ive attached a couple here, i was so jealous... he had the best standing position that anyone could have.

[Rick Kelly is awesome!!!]

Omg your friend is soo lucky!
sometimes i kinda understand why the drivers dont really wanna talk to fans coze after the race you'd be all hot and sweaty so you'd wanna go have a shower and especially if you didnt go too well in the race you'd be a bit pissed off.
Lol im a bit lyk your wife in the drooling part, but over Rick not Shane.

So Rick if u see this, call me ;)
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YAMAHA WX5 SPECIFICATIONS (http://www.yamaha-tech.com/wiki/Yamaha_WX5)

[HOLDEN 1]

senator_sig i do agree with ya mate, i been going to Sandown for over 10 years,
(haven't missed a round yet) I took my son (first time on the Saturday) just for practice
and he loved it, he was saying look at this dad, look at that, he loves his trucks and Holdens. I went back to Sandown on Monday, Dandenong Rd side (as always).
I just felt let down, firstly paying $70 to get in (yes for ONE person)
Also waiting around for something to happen, then came out the burn out guys doing their thing which was fantastic, but over all the whole Monday was a let down plus Holden didn't win. So hopefully Tony has learnt a lesson from this.........