Bathurst Preview

3 October 2007

Hi Guys,

I'm on the road....again!

I landed in Sydney last night ready for an early appearance on Channel 7's Sunrise this morning. We have two busy days of promotional activities before we hit the legendary Mt Panorama, one of the best racing circuits in the world.

It's amazing how fast the past 12 months have gone by. Winning Bathurst with Craig last year was the highlight of my career to date. Having lived and breathed Motorsport all my life, a Bathurst win was the pinnacle of my career and the feeling of standing on that podium as the winner is something I will savour for the rest of my life. To win Bathurst leaves you with an addiction that is second to none which makes me hungry to do it again.

For the past 9 months Triple Eight have been designing and building their brand new car (chassis 12) and the completed body shell returned from the paint shop soon after Sandown. We then had several team members working around the clock to complete the car for our 6th and final test day of the year last Wednesday. The car was a rocket and, in my opinion, is possibly the best racecar I have driven to date. It is an engineering masterpiece and the attention to detail is amazing.

So we are left with a big decision......... a: Play it safe and use our older car or. b: Attack the race and debut our latest creation? In motorsport it’s important to keep moving forward, if you sit on your hands for more than 5 minutes you will most likely get eaten up by your opposition. Knowing this we have elected to run the new car. We are sure the car will be fast and given the team’s reputation for engineering excellence, reliability should not be an issue. I cant wait to race the car as it will become my regular #88 racecar post Bathurst.

I have done my home work and preparation, and the body and mind are ready for the challenge. I know my championship rivals are going to be sharp and both TOLL HSV and FPR have changed their driver pairings in an effort to match the pace Craig and I had at Sandown. It is sure to be one of the most hotly contested Bathurst 1000 races in many years and as always, we never know what to expect from one hour to the next. Mechanical drama’s and accident damage aside, there are the variables of weather and safety car intervention to deal with so, as always, there is never a dull moment for over seven hours.

I hope that come Sunday afternoon, the many many hours of work by the team, Craig, myself and of course you guys – the sponsors, will culminate with a Bathurst victory. I can't promise you a result but I can promise you that Ill be giving 110% to deliver the goods.

Finally I'd like to welcome the Repco Corporation to my valuable family of personal sponsors. Repco via their “Love your Car Day” promotion will be joining me for my assault on the mountain this year. I was briefly associated with Repco earlier in my career and it is great to be back with them for the race

I hope you all have a fantastic Bathurst Sunday and the all day action on Channel 7 keeps you entertained.

May the best team win.

Cheers,
Jamie Whincup