V8 Supercars drivers in Wollongong | September 26, 2023 | Illawarra Mercury - video Dailymotion

Illawarra Mercury

Warren Luff and Scott Pye spoke to an energetic crowd of revheads at Wollongong Lighthouse on Tuesday, ahead of the Bathurst 1000.

Transcript

00:00 to sober up and spend a lot of time out there. So it's sad that it's gone but unfortunately that's

00:04 the way it goes sometimes. And mate you and Scott here as well you both stood on the famous podium

00:12 there at Bathurst. What's it like being up there? I mean we've got a hell of a crowd here in

00:15 Wollongong. What's it like in Bathurst when you see all those people underneath you? Yeah look

00:19 it's amazing. It's like I remember walking out onto the podium for the very first time. It's sort

00:23 of a, it was such a surreal moment because as a kid growing up you'd watch it on TV, you've seen

00:27 it plenty of times and to be there and actually to walk out onto that podium and as you said there's

00:32 that sea of people down there and everyone's cheering and all that sort of stuff. It's kind

00:36 of one of those kind of pincher moments where you'll never really forget it and obviously to,

00:40 we've had some great success there and Scott and I've been on the podium twice. We just missed out

00:44 on that top step. We'd obviously love to go that one step higher this year and we'll be giving it

00:48 our all. And I reckon you've got a few fans here in Wollongong. Any Luffy and Team 18 Scott Pie

00:53 fans? Yeah there we go. Yeah. Oh and my mum. My mum's never watched a single thing on supercars.

00:59 She's turned up today because she thought I was in meetings in Wollongong and she's come all the

01:03 way from Barrack Point. So yeah, yeah, Boo Shell Harbour. Dad's here too. He's in the Cooper's hat.

01:11 So yeah but I mean you've got so many fans around the world that you know tune in to Bathurst.

01:16 What's it like? You've done Bathurst once or twice or how many times now? I think this is my 22nd

01:21 Bathurst. So look, Bathurst is amazing. It's that, I think the thing that makes it extra special is

01:27 it's not a regular race circuit where there's races on every weekend. You only get to race there a few

01:31 times a year but you sort of forget how special it is because especially since the Bathurst 12-hour

01:36 has been on the last sort of 10 odd years. It's amazing how many of the internationals are just

01:41 really sort of, they want to come and race at Bathurst. It's that one iconic track that they

01:45 all want to come and sort of visit. As much as we sort of want to venture off overseas and go and

01:49 do some of the great races over there, they're just as keen to come out here and obviously Kevin

01:53 Estra is teaming up at Grove Racing this year. So he's super excited. Obviously he did Sanddown so

02:00 it really, it's not only a great circuit here in Australia, it's a great circuit around the world.

02:04 It's held in such high regard all around the world and everyone wants to come out here and race.

02:08 How are they doing? Scotty, you've stood on the podium there at Bathurst. I mean

02:12 what is it about Bathurst? Why is it as a kid growing up you want to race there?

02:16 I think it's just that nostalgia of watching it with your parents and you know as a young kid in

02:20 Adelaide I always remember, I don't know if the race started later, I don't think it did but I

02:24 always have a memory of my old man cracking a beer at the start of the race but now I'm old I think

02:28 it was actually too early in the morning to be doing that but I think it's memories like that

02:32 that make this race extra special. So it's not just competing in it but it's that nostalgia of

02:36 watching it on TV as a young kid growing up and as someone who always loved racing it was just a

02:40 dream to go to the track let alone race there and the first time I ever went there was actually a

02:46 race in the 1000s so it's just been a special place for me and to stand on the podium as well.

02:51 We've all seen iconic moments on the podium there. The Riccio one probably stands out the most where

02:57 he said everyone's a lovely bunch of people but for me you know you see moments like that on TV

03:02 and then to stand on the other side and get the different perspective is a pinch yourself moment

03:06 like Luffy and to have done it twice with the same bloke is a very cool feeling. Obviously we

03:11 want one more coming second two years in a row that the second time it did suck a little bit but

03:16 Bathurst is the craziest track we go to it is one of the coolest tracks in the world. I've

03:20 been fortunate to race on a few different tracks outside Australia and this is probably the best

03:25 best there is so yeah always look forward to going back there to a day that there's no guaranteed

03:30 winner. I heard Scotty Mack once said it's like Christmas morning no one's guaranteed it but no

03:34 one's guaranteed a present and that's how you feel you wake up with that excitement but you just don't

03:38 know what the day is going to hold. Now we'll talk more about Bathurst probably a bit later but

03:43 Wollongong your first ever trip here what do you reckon? Yeah it's awesome I actually I did watch

03:48 a bit of I'm a big fan of CrossFit and I had the championships here only recently and you got a

03:54 good yeah yeah yeah I won't go there actually. But yeah you got a good CrossFitter from Wollongong

04:03 as well as Ricky Garay but yeah you know I think it's a beautiful looking place and yeah unfortunately

04:08 I'd only seen it on TV and in photos so it's cool to come here I'm glad you just turned on the

04:12 sunshine for us and the beautiful weather. I actually was optimistic I forgot my jumper

04:16 thinking it wouldn't be too bad but it's like Melbourne this is beautiful Melbourne by the beach.

04:20 All right well I'll get you boys to head over here.

V8 Supercars drivers in Wollongong | September 26, 2023 | Illawarra Mercury

Category

Transcript

Recommended