Supercars

My son and I attended the first V8 Supercar race since it's last event in Ipswich in 2019. The racing was superb and well organized. There were many merchandise sellers and food sellers offering a vast array of product at exorbitant prices. I had packed only a couple of beers into our ice box to enjoy during the day. At the entry gate, a women's prison warder demanded to search my ice box. She discovered the contraband and refused us entry. So I removed the 4 cans and took them back to the car. By this time I was busting for the toilet after the long trek from the car to the gate. There were no toilets outside the gates so too bad if you need to go. I contemplated ducking behind something like someone's parked car but the risk was too great and it's not nice. I'd have to hold on to it, but being of senior years, the need to act on these impulses is paramount... Then spotted a convenience in the camping area. Salvation.. ! I returned to the gate empty handed and empty bladdered and caught up with my son who had procured a vantage point on the mound adjacent to the grandstand. Not a bad spot, it was ok for a start. We could see most of the track but the PA system was so ineffective and the racket of extremely loud music from the battery sponsor side show attraction made hearing the race announcements inaudible. The PA needed to be up in the crowd, not beside the track where the cars drown the sound and the rabble from the crowd and the amusements compete to reach your ears. The reason I was not allowed to bring alcohol into the event was because it was a catered event (no BYO). This would have been nice to know this before embarking on our adventure, like putting it in the advertising for the event. When I did finally cave and crave a frothy beverage, I approached the vending machine (drinks dispensing truck..!). It was an automated affair that offered three versions of the one beer. The machine was autonomous, No actual person was there to sell beer and no information was on offer to describe the contents until you proceeded to operate the machine. Only when you selected proceed to payment was the price displayed. Talk about daylight robbery..! $11.18 for one can of beer; Outrageous.. And then to add insult to injury, The food and drink gestapo insisted that I open the can before leaving the machine. Why...? We had lunch in the food hall in the "paddock". after waiting in line for nearly 1/2 an hour we finally got our food. I had a burger with the lot for $28 and a small chips for $9. The chips were chips, but the burger was suspect. The bun was yellow and a bit stale. The rest of it tasted like it was reheated from yesterday's stock. Then there was the parking. We were instructed to park about 1.5 km from the gate. This was annoying because when we started walking toward the gate, other cars were being told to park closer! This was doubly frustrating when I returned the beers to the car. I got my steps up that day..! The walkways too were not well defined and we found ourselves going the wrong way a couple of times. When the race was over, we packed up and moved with the rest of the crowd. This brought us onto a road where cars were trying to go one way while the crowd were trying to go the other. Not smart organization there.. Once back in our car, we moved only a few meters at a time. It took the best part of an hour and a half just to get from the car park to Champions Way. The traffic continued to crawl out onto the Cunningham Hwy and there was an endless stream of tail lights as far as the eye could see and no one was moving. I really felt sorry for the truck drivers and others who got caught up in this melee and could do nothing about it. We were heading back west so we took a "short cut" the long way which was quicker for us. When we saw the line of traffic again, it was all the way past the Amberley turnoff and still at a crawl. This was the biggest anti-climax of the day. I would have preferred not to have gone at all but we had no choice as the live TV coverage for the Ipwsich 440 is not supplied by the national broadcaster who usually provides this service. Shame on you TV channel who's number is between 6 and 8...! I also refuse to pay for a streaming service who put ads into their programming even after you have paid your subscription just to watch the only one show I want to watch.