The Easter break is just around the corner, a time to unwind and indulge in chocolate and family company…
Although when you’re in the middle of a tight turnaround from Melbourne to Tasmania, things can be hectic – we’ve had to transport our trailers back to HQ in Brisbane and turn around the cars before driving them back down to Tassie (on a barge, of course).
By putting in some extra hours (extra on top of the already extra hours) we will, for once, manage to take the four days off; although we all spare a thought for our truckies, Wazzy and Pom, who pulled the short straw and will be on the road all weekend (don’t forget to give them a wave if you see them).
So, what are our crew doing with their well-deserved break? We had a quick chat to find out…
Will you get a break this Easter?
Jamie “J-Dub” Whincup (Car #1 Driver): *We think J-Dub started his Easter break early… We still haven’t heard back from him!*
Shane “SVG” van Gisbergen (Car #97 Driver): Yes, we will make the most of the break before Tassie as we’re pretty full on with racing after Tassie.
Mark “Dutto” Dutton (Team Manager): The team has pushed hard to be able to have most of the Easter long weekend, although spare a thought for our truckies who will be driving to Tassie from Saturday.
David Cauchi (Car #1 Race Engineer): We have tight a turnaround at the moment but everyone has been putting in long hours so that we are able to spend some time with the family over the Easter weekend.
Romy Mayer (Car #1 Data Engineer): We have been pushing hard this week and it seems all is going well; the cars will be on their way Saturday and we can have some days off.
Grant “Shippy” McPherson (Car #97 Race Engineer): Everyone has worked really hard this week, and we were fortunate to leave Albert Park with minimal damage so we’re able to have the full Easter weekend off.
Martin Short (Car #97 Data Engineer): I’ll be having the weekend off but I’m not sure about Friday yet…
What are your plans this Easter? Do you have any traditions?
SVG: I was looking at going home but the weather is not very good in New Zealand either so it’ll be a nice, cruisey weekend for me. We haven’t had one for a while so will be good to cruise and eat chocolate.
MD: I will have a big family catch-up which I’m really looking forward to; I will meet my first niece when my brother and parents land this weekend. As for traditions, growing up Mum used to buy up big after Easter when they all went on sale, so we would be eating the little chocolate eggs for months.
DC: I normally head back to Sydney to see family except this year I will be spending some time with my motorsport family.
RM: It looks like there’s some nice swell on the way so you will find me in the ocean down the coast most of the time. I’m also looking forward to spending time with my partner and friends – maybe a hike, trip to another beach, just being outdoors. It’s lucky we live in a place where we just need to go out into the backyard to get that holiday feeling. It’s good to get a couple of days to relax and switch off. After Easter, we have races every second weekend which will be a busy time.
GM: This weekend we’ll just enjoy a well-earned rest at home.
MS: My girlfriend is coming over from NZ so we will try and explore a bit of Brisbane or go to the beach, depending on the weather (hoping we won’t be shopping for shoes too much).
Will you be switching off and forgetting about everything Supercars or will you be sneaking in some work?
SVG: Nothing planned; maybe a little bit of training but that’s about it.
MD: Haha, no chance of that. Hopefully I will actually be able to catch up on some work while everyone else has their phones and laptops off.
DC: It’s a bit hard to fully switch off and forget about motorsport but I will try and back it off to part throttle for a few days.
RM: I try not to use my work laptop on days off. We’ve had a short turnaround from the AGP and as always, there are a lot of jobs at the beginning of the season. We need to make sure the open jobs are ticked off before heading to Tassie.
GM: There is plenty of time to think about racing, but that won’t be occurring this weekend.
MS: I’ll still have emails and phone on just in case I need to do work or research over the weekend but hopefully I won’t have to do any.
Will there be any Easter egg hunts in your household come Sunday morning?
SVG: I haven’t done one of them for a while – I’ll probably have to hide it from myself and do one!
MD: We’ll definitely have an Easter egg hunt; I am more of a hide-them-outside kind of guy so you just have to be careful if the grass is dewy so as to not give away where they are hidden. And remember to count how many you hide!
DC: I hope so!
RM: Last year I was camping with friends and it was me hiding the Easter chocolate eggs. Hopefully this time I can go hunting for some 😉 (hint, hint…)
GM: Probably, who doesn’t love chocolate?!
MS: Not sure, I live with Mitch (Design Engineer) so I think I might have to hide some eggs for him.
What’s your favourite Easter chocolate?
SVG: Cadbury egg.
MD: Cadbury eggs are my favourite, for sure, the small ones. If I’m really lashing out, the small ones with caramel… Happy Easter to all, please drive safe!
DC: Lindt dark chocolate.
RM: With chocolate, I prefer Lindt. But these hot cross buns you have over here, I’m a big fan of them! We don’t have them in Germany.
GM: Cadbury eggs, for sure.
MS: I just like the marshmallow eggs.
Well, Cadbury… Looks like you’ve got a few fans around here. And for the family and friends out there, we don’t think you have any excuses for not knowing what chocolate to get 🙂
Happy Easter everyone.
