24 hours: Johnny Hepburn
BY JEFF TOLLAN
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As the petrol fumes rise above the Timaru International Motor Raceway today, Timaru V8 driver Johnny Hepburn will be among the racers vying to lead the pack.
I'm up at 7am. Then I have breakfast. I'm old school: a piece of toast and a cup of coffee. To be honest, I'm not a big eater. I've just always been like that.
Then it's a quick shower to be at the track by 8am. We normally have a quick team meeting, because all the guys get there at 8am and the boys set the car up depending on the day: if it's a hot day, cold day, wet day or dry day.
They will pull the suspension out if it's a changing morning and just leave it hanging there until half an hour before our first session.
I don't really get nervous any more. When I raced bikes years ago, I used to get a bit nervous, but it's sort of gone away.
Our first practice session is at 9.45am. We're up and ready to go by 9.30am. By that time, I have taken in a lot of fluids, checked my helmet and safety gear, cleaned the windows and made sure my water bottle's full.
I check with my team that the car's ready to go, it's full of fuel and the tyres' air pressure is right – all the things that could be overlooked.
We have a 35-minute practice session and the team works frantically if I want any changes made. It might be suspension, bar changes – there are lots and lots of things. There are so many variables and so many things that can go wrong and quite often do. There are also times things go sweetly.
At the end of that session, I come in and have a debrief with the team and they make any major changes that need to be done and the car gets cleaned again.
At 11am, I've got a drivers' and team managers' meeting – I'm both. In the meeting, we talk about different stuff. Normally, the head steward comes along and tells us all not to drive over the white lines, basic stuff and where the control lines for restarts are after a safety car.
Then at 12.30pm, most drivers have corporate rides, for our sponsors or MotorSport New Zealand sponsors.
It's a good thing. It helps the sport move forwards and gives something back to the people who support us.
The boys in my team will then finish off any work on the car that they were doing before I took it off them. I want to be seeing some good things by then.
It is a bit like deja vu. We sit down, have another debrief and get the car ready for qualifying at 4pm. By that time I would have had something to eat and drink – to keep the fluids up.
It's important, because the cabin temperatures can get up to 50 or 60 degrees Celsius. You do lose a lot of sweat. You need to keep fit to keep up with that. Fluids are vital. If it comes out, you've got to put it back in.
About 3.30pm, the car will be rolled out to the dummy grid ready for qualifying. You have three races in a row: the first where all the cars race, then the top 20 and finally the top 10 shootout.
We've been in the top 20 each time and that's where it's most competitive, because everyone is trying to get into the top 10.
If you do happen to get into the top 10, that's a single lap, by yourself. You get one warm-up lap, then one fast lap and your run-down lap to get down to the pits.
We're hoping to get into the shootout this weekend, but we will see.
Back to the pits, it's another debrief with your team, where you give the car a good inspection and fix any issues.
In Teretonga last weekend, we had to replace the gearbox, which took about two hours.
We do a complete spanner check over everything, the brakes are checked, that sort of thing. I will leave the track when the car's ready to race the next morning, I don't want to turn up the next day with a list of things to do.
Then we have a cold beer and head home or to a motel, depending where we are. We have a meal together, either bought, or sometimes my partner, Carmen, will have left a little before us and cooked us a meal.
We might have another couple of beers, but the mechanics might sneak into town after I've gone to bed – about 10pm or 11pm – but they're allowed.
Then it starts all over again the next day.
Johnny Hepburn heads into this weekend's challenge in 18th position and on 189 points. He will be racing his Holden Commodore, No 52.
- © Fairfax NZ News
