Philip Island 2009

Jon stuffed up some dates for Philip Island so Jude ended up with a day to spare in Melbourne. Luckily Marcus & Mel were around and they went for a nice breakfast in the St Kilda area, followed by a great hike in the Dandenongs for Jude and Marcus. They even saw 2 lyrebirds on their hike and caught a couple having fun at a waterfall…

Marcus hiking in the Dandenongs

another pretty bird we saw in the Dandenongs

Marcus on the trails

After seeing the 2 lyrebirds we also heard them – they really sound amazing too! (the photo isn’t ours, but since we had never heard of a lyrebird before we saw them we thought we’d add one here so you can see what they look like. This is the female, the males are – as usual in the animal kingdom – even more impressive. We saw 2 females.)

female lyrebird

It was a very cold and wet Philip Island this year…

Jon attends practice on Friday and manages to crash all by himself. Something about a water filter leaking and spraying directly over the tyres, causing him to spin and put a dent in the nose. Luckily with some help (read gear) of friends, they are able to fix it and Jon can race on Saturday and Sunday.

Jon trying to fix things

Compared to last year it is a bit sad as there is no race for the Formula Juniors and there is only 1 other car in Jon’s class.

Jon driving through pitlane to the starting grid

Jon on the starting grid

and they’re off…

Jon locking his brakes

Philip Island has a stunning setting for racing

Phil in the Penrite colours

Jon coming in after his race

Jon in the garage

Jon in the garage

Jon and team looking at the gopro footage

And then it starts to rain and half of the races are cancelled. It was cold… we have never before seen Ken or Phil wear anything more than their Penrite t-shirt – this weekend they were both fully rugged up in jumpers and anything they could find 😉

Phil helping Jon into his seatbelts

Jon getting ready to go out – sexy look…

Phil pushing Jon back as he has no reverse gear

Jon racing

Jon racing

Marcus and Mel came over on Sunday and we drove back to Melbourne with them. Unfortunately they didn’t even see Jon race as he decided it was too wet to go out before they eventually also cancelled this last race.

Still a great weekend though! And hopefully one day Jon will write a bit more about the races and the crash…

George racing in his Bugatti

Ken about to go out in the Cheetah

starting grid

the view of the paddock

the Melbourne start / finish line