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The Bathurst 1000 is the pinnacle of Australian motorsport. A 1,000km race around Mount Panorama, one of the world’s most well regarded race tracks, it is the ultimate test.
British Touring Car Championship driver Andrew Jordan has been facing a test of a different kind, the Shannons Supercar Showdown, to win a drive at the event that every driver wants to win. Offering this prize is Kelly Racing, the four car family run V8 Supercars team which took its first race win this season. The team will be running a fifth car at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, the #77 Shannons Mars Racing Commodore, to be driven by the winner and Grant Denyer, Australian TV personality and the show’s host.
After ten episodes in which competitors have been tested on their driving, physical and mental abilities the ten drivers competing for the Bathurst drive have become two, with Jordan and 17 year-old Australian Formula Ford Championship leader Cameron Waters still in the hunt.
It might be a little over dramatic at times but the Shannons Supercar Showdown has got this reporter hooked. I had the chance to sit down with Andrew at the latest BTCC round at Rockingham to talk to him about the show.
How did the opportunity to participate in the Shannons Supercar Showdown arise?
My race engineer from last year moved over to be Rick Kelly’s race engineer so he told me that there was an opportunity of the show happening. I’ve always wanted to get into V8s but it’s very hard obviously because there are so many young drivers out there [in Australia]. Over here you speak to people in single seaters and they want to get into F1, people in Clios want to get to touring cars whereas out there even on the competition some of the guys doing Formula Ford want to get to V8s. It’s very hard to try and get out there at all, especially with no experience in a car like that. So I saw it as a good opportunity to try and break into it that way and in the long term to try and get some endurance drives and stuff like that. So I contacted Rick and Todd and managed to get a place on it. It was good fun and a good experience.
How familiar were you with V8 Supercars and Bathurst beforehand?
I like watching it and as I said I’ve always wanted to try and get out there. So I knew quite a bit so I didn’t feel out of place because it’s very big over there. I made sure I was as clued up as I could be on previous Bathurst winners and stuff like that.
So V8 Supercars is something you are looking to do in the future?
Definitely! I want to earn a living from driving and I think my view has probably changed since being out there. It would be very hard to just up sticks and go out there and get a full time drive, that won’t happen. So you’ve got to look try and look at either getting into the Indy race [Gold Coast 600] they do with international drivers or then trying to get out there and do some of the endurance racing like Allan Simonsen does. So I want to try and get in that way and hopefully what I’ve done will stand me in quite good stead for that.
What would winning the opportunity to drive at Bathurst mean to you?
It would mean a lot. It was quite hard going there not knowing anyone, they all knew each other. We were locked away and so literally just stayed in the caravan then went to the circuit, stayed there and then went to the circuit. Actually the guys out there were very nice, probably the biggest difference I noticed. If that had been in this country there’d have been a lot more backstabbing going on. They all seemed really genuine and nice and friendly. I really think that if that had been in this country or a European country it wouldn’t have been like that, it would have been a lot more intense. It might have been different if we were racing alongside each other on a circuit but because we do challenges where they can’t influence our result it might have been like that. They all seem like really nice guys. It was good, it was good fun I had a good laugh with them.
So you were in Australia for a couple of weeks for the filming?
It was two weeks and I stayed out there for an extra week because my sister lives out there with her and her fiancé, so that was good.
Did you see a bit of Australia while you were there?
Yeah I went out in Melbourne a couple of times and had a look around. It’s a nice city.
And you’d be used to the weather?
Yeah I know. It was wintertime and it was a bit cold. I took shorts and everything and I didn’t wear them once! It was nice to go and have a look around... just a long flight, a very long flight, but it was worth it.
So logistically how are you going to do it if you do win, given Bathurst is the weekend between the last two 2011 BTCC rounds? Did you have any jetlag issues going over for the competition?
We flew on the Sunday night of Croft so I was tired anyway. I was only awake for about four hours the whole journey. We got there 5:30 and then didn’t get to bed the next night until half two in the morning because there was so much filming to do initially. So that was a long day I was tired by the end of it, but the jet lag was fine, I didn’t struggle that much with it. It would be busy if I had to go out there. As you say it’s in between our last two races.
Unfortunately we’ll all have to wait another week to find out whether Andrew Jordan will be on the grid at the 2011 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 in the Shannons/Mars Racing Commodore. The final episode will air on 7 Mate on Sunday at 5:00pm AEST and those outside of Australia will be able to watch it (and previous episodes) here: http://www.shannonssupercarshowdown.com.au/ By Chelsea Woods
Worth checking - Motorsport news - F1 news - Chelsea Woods
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