Clipsal 500

On Friday (3/18) and Saturday (3/19), I decided to be a racing fan.

Well...not really.

I don't think I would ever be a racing fan. Big engines and looping around a track have never really interested me. Yet it interests so many people back at home. The Nascar culture is just huge in America. Well....it's no different here.

They, of course, do not have Nascar here in the Land Down Under. Australians have other sorts of race circuits. One of the more popular is the v8 Super Car Series. The event held in Adelaide is known as the Clipsal 500.

The Clipsal 500 begins setting up right after the Fringe Festival ends. The set-up is a massive undertaking. You see, the Clipsal is a street race. It is done partly on the streets of downtown Adelaide. The problem being, of course, you can't have your city covered with seating, barriers, and the like year round. So all the set-up for the massive race (drawing thousands and thousands of fans) happens in the weeks prior to the event. And the set-up is on a large scale. They have to put concrete barriers everywhere along the track, erect a huge stage, construct seating for thousands, and a ton of other things. It is amazing to walk into the event and know that, two weeks ago, none of it was there.

The event itself is a three day race. The main feature is the V8 Supercar races (souped up Ford and Holden (or GM) street cars). Surrounding these races are a whole mess of other ones (amateur leagues, truck races, mini-cars, muscle cars, etc.). There is almost always something going on along the track. Each day of the race ends with a big concert. The concerts tend to have a common theme. This year, the "young-adult" bands were playing on Friday evening. The Doobie Brothers, ironically enough, were ending the whole event on Sunday.

Jon had never been to the race before and thought it would be a good idea to go with me. We figured, even if we were not into the racing, it would be a good to experience. So Jon was able to scrounge up some free tickets. The ticket for Friday came from the lovely Ms. Jodie. Her father is one of the volunteer fire marshals for the event and has access to some tickets because of that. Saturday's tickets came from Katie's Dad who buys season tickets every year.

I was glad that we had a chance to go, as it was really impressive to see what they had done to the quiet streets of Adelaide. The clientele of the event is similar to the "local color" you would see at a Nascar or Indy event back in the states (translation: Not particularly classy). Scantily clad girls walk around as billboards for various companies and take pictures with drunken old men. You know...really fun stuff.

What we saw of the racing on both days was quite good. We honestly did not watch a lot of the racing, however, as neither of us were all that interested. The main attraction of Friday was the concert! I love music, as you all should know. They had a pretty decent lineup of bands set for the night (even though, at that point, I had really never heard of any of them). Since I didn't know any of them too well, I decided to mosh with reckless abandon. It was great fun! I got so nasty, sweaty, and gross. It reminded me of when I used to go to concerts a lot (I haven't been to many lately). The last band of the night, Birds of Tokyo, really impressed me. I commend them to your attention: http://www.birdsoftokyo.com/ They have won several awards for their music and I found their show really enjoyable.

So that was the Clipsal: I gave racing a good try and I still say it is not for me. Glad I went though and I had a blast at the concert Friday night.

In Christ,

Chris