Behind-the-scenes at the Adelaide 500

The 2023 Supercars grand finale, the race to rule them all, and it was down to the wire on the streets of Adelaide. The incredibly talented Brodie Kostecki held a solid points lead in front of the NASCAR-bound Shane van Gisbergen, but crazy things can happen in motorsport, and boy, did they. Besides Bathurst, this was the Supercars event to be at for 2023.

While my life primarily revolves around two wheels these days, my love for four wheels always draws me back. For years I covered the Supercars Championship with Network Ten, met some great friends and watched the best in our business go to work. Any opportunity to reimmerse myself in the world of four wheels, I take it and run. The chance to attend the VAILO Adelaide 500 appeared, and I feel like I must have manifested it.

READ MORE: Behind-the-scenes at MotoGP

I headed there for the Friday, as a VIP influencer; or as Chair of Supercars commission Michael Masi preferred to call me, an ‘influenza.’ The aim of the game was to arrive at the track and capture as much content as possible, and that meant engaging in every rad, fun activity I could find.

We kicked off with a custom car reveal from the Kindig crew, fresh out of the USA. Dave Kindig and Kev Dogg, with a massive following in the custom car community, brought over two insane custom jobs. People were losing their minds over these guys; the crowd was at least six-feet deep. Adelaide has a huge custom car and motorsport community, making it the perfect place for the Kindig boys to exhibit. The Adelaide 500 custom car show featured over $20 million worth of vehicles, and the top 10 made it into the show tent where the Kindig’s two cars were being displayed.

These custom jobs were insane, and I was thrilled to bump into my good mate, race car driver Ron Goodman. If you know Porsches, you know Ron Goodman. He bleeds Porsche and has even patented the ‘Ron Goodman grey’, which he paints all his Porsches (he’s lost count of how many he has). He owns a premium repair and detailing workshop, so you can only imagine what he can do to these cars. This particular Porsche he brought for the weekend was his Porsche 356 Outlaw named AERO, powered by a Radial Engine generally designed for airplanes. The AERO ended up winning the best car at the event by the Kindig crew, a massive feat considering the competition.

Next, I met with other influencers/influenzas. Have you heard of Shepmates or Marmalade? Me neither. They are sports comedy Instagrammers and YouTubers with massive followings. Very good humans, especially the Shepmates out of Mornington Peninsula. Living the dream they were!

Our duty was to do as much rad stuff as possible over the weekend, and we all took our jobs very seriously.

To do that, we needed sustenance. Shepmates and I headed up to the State corporate suite on Turn 14. Holy moly, I could have very easily stayed there all day and all night. The location and view were insane. It was a massive suite with lots of couches, big screens, a huge outdoor area, open bar and food all day. This was living. I’m not sure I can do GA again. It’s like flying first class and then heading back to economy.

Next on the schedule were ‘get to da chopper’ rides; to quote Arnie. I headed up with the Marmalade boys, and the view over the track was excellent. Stalking their Insta after, I realised that while I was looking at the view, the boys were flicking through Tinder. Chopper Tinder. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to find out how successful that was.

I then headed to the Triple Eight Race Engineering transporter to see my buddy, the ultimate boss bitch, co-owner of the team – Jess Dane. She’s about to take off to the USA with her NASCAR-bound plus one. I hope he can keep up; she’s heading over to conquer the world. The US won’t know what hit it with those two.

Once we’d run out of chat, I popped over to see my mate from God’s Country, the walking Supercars encyclopedia who rides a fringed and tasselled Indian, and likes his coffee lukewarm – Mark ‘Larko’ Larkham, who always seems to be getting dressed when I see him or playing country music. He’s a strange fellow.

Time for Supercars qualifying. It’s always a good day when you get to see a Supercar in the flesh going full tilt around a track. Especially at a street circuit with no runoff for a grand finale when the stakes are high, and mistakes need to be kept to zero. The start here is so important, and to get into the Top 10 Shootout is absolutely key.

The track activities wrap, and it’s a quick run to the hotel to throw on a frock and head to the State Dinner. Many Honorables and politicians were in attendance, but also some of Australia’s top motorsport figures like former Formula 1 driver Vern Schuppan, Michael Masi, Jess Yates, Mark Skaife, Channel Seven’s Mark Beretta, and some of Adelaide’s top exports like Sunrise’s David Koch and comedian Merrick Watts.

After a deeply moving welcome to country by Uncle Moogie Sumner, many Honorables were welcomed (the host said ‘Honorable’ like 17 times), and Hans – an aspiring German cabaret superstar and icon of Adelaide (known for his work on America’s Got Talent) – took to the stage for a highly entertaining panel chat with Kochie, Merrick, and former ALFW star Erin Phillips.

A great way to end a mega day.

Saturday morning, the Shepmates and I were up bright and early, arriving at the track for a 7am fang around the track in a course car. I was a little underwhelmed when a Hyundai i30 rocked up, but it was actually a red-hot i30 Sedan N and our driver wasted no time in flooring it, and I’m now a big fan of Hyundai i30 Ns. What a buzz. He hit every apex and got uncomfortably close to the walls. Huzza, I cried.

From there, we grabbed a coffee in the media center, which is always alight with excited energy on race mornings. Busy photographers and journalists hovered over their computers, with cables and cords everywhere.

I got to see the Shepmates Instagramming in full swing, chatting back and forth with their Insta editor. Everywhere we went, the boys had fans asking for photos. I wasn’t totally left out, a couple of young girls from the Girls On Track program came and got a snap… my ego needed it.

On the eastern side of the circuit, Former Monster Energy/Extreme sport nut/partnership management Dave Ellis was running the BMX Olympic qualifier, so that was our next stop. This weekend, two of the country’s best BMX riders would be selected to go to the Olympics, we were witnessing history here! The competitors were made up of World champions and X Games medalists; their performances were incredible.

From here, Shell V-Power took us through their garage, which is always an impressive sight. We heard about the inner workings of the team on race weekend and the details of these incredibly fast cars.

My final duty for the day before the Supercars went racing was to pop over and have a chat with Port Adelaide AFL football player Charlie Dixon, and what a good human he is. Charlie has a massive property and showroom on the other side of the city where he builds custom cars and hosts a YouTube channel ‘Drivin’ with Dixon’; make sure you look it up.

Alright, the countdown to race time was on. I latched onto Lara Lowndes (who is a top notch legend) and headed out with my exclusive grid walk pass to rubberneck and take selfies, something I excel at. Lara’s plus one, Craig Lowndes, needed rescuing from about 10 middle-aged men that wanted selfies, so I selfishly dragged him away for a photo with me next to pole position, aka Brodie Kostecki’s #99, aka the soon-to-be 2023 Supercars champion.

Once that was done, the boys were in their cars and it was time to sit back, have a vino, and watch the mayhem unfold. I was departing Saturday night, and considering the Championship was decided after a truly insane first lap where Shane van Gisbergen was wiped out, I think I timed it quite well.

What an experience! Thanks for having me Vailo Adelaide 500; hope to see you next year!