Full Throttle

This a followup to my race report on the Bathurst 1000 V8 SuperCar event in Australia. During the event there was a highly unusual black flag for Series points leader and his co-driver that involved both drivers failing to wear their fire resistant balacavas. The local race officials are pissed and will start checking to see if the proper underwear is being worn.

MOTOR racing officials are upset that the sport’s highest paid professionals are ignoring the most basic safety precautions.

V8 Supercar drivers decided among themselves not to wear fire-resistant underwear, which includes full-length body suits, socks and balaclavas.

They were exposed at the Bathurst 1000 when two-time champion Marcos Ambrose and his co-driver, Warren Luff, were penalised for not wearing the head piece.

The drivers’ agreement has angered both the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) and the Australian Vee Eight Supercar Company (AVESCO) who govern the series.

Regulators have promised both to conduct random underwear checks and impose harsh penalties on drivers who do not comply to the ruling, was adopted from the Federation Internationale De L’Automobile (FIA) in 2004 and must be adhered to for the series maintain international recognition.

Oh well, you knew the FIA would get involved. They were partial architects, along with the Bernie and Max clown show, to the FIAsco called the US Grand Prix that saw 6 of 20 cars take the green.

I make light of a serious situation but it’s very hard not to. Ambrose was quoted after the race admitting there had been a “gentleman’s agreement” about the balaclavas and that he hadn’t worn one in two years. It’s safe to assume “other agreements” will take precidence from now on.

I re-pose my question: Will the drivers be asked “to cough” during their mandatory underwear checks? And what is random, will they draw numbers from one of those Aussie bush hats? Will we see long lines of drivers in their fire resistent skivies on television as part of the pre-race show? And just how long before we see underwear adorned with commercial sponsorship?

The mind reels with possibilites! Excuse me, Mr. Ambrose, Mr. Skaife are those gearshifts or are you just happy to see me?

V8 SuperCars, Auto Racing, Sports