We go behind-the-scenes of an iconic ad
Torquecafe was invited to see how our friends at Supercheap Auto make their annual ‘Best Performing Oils’ ad. This is what it’s like.
It’s quite often that the universe reminds me how useless I am. On a track I’ll get overtaken by most others. I’ve never won an award for writing. And, as I discovered a few weeks ago, I’ll never make an ad.
Over the best part of the past decade, one of the highlights of the automotive year for me has been the release of Supercheap Auto’s annual ‘Best Performing Oils’ ad, bringing together some of the biggest stars of motorsport and Australia’s motoring media.
With this year’s ad yet again being filmed in Queensland, our partners at Supercheap Auto invited us to come see what goes on behind-the-scenes of the ‘BPO’ – and I underestimated how much happens.
Like an iceberg, what you see above the surface – in this case the seven minute and 27 second video that serves as the finished product – pales in comparison to the effort which goes into putting it all together.
This year’s zombie-themed video was the first with ex-Speedcafe alumni Justin Murray taking the Project Lead role, with his team helping put all the puzzle pieces together across 10 months before the video went live this week.
The filming itself took place across four days, with three back-to-back, 12-hour shoots on location at a wrecking yard in Brisbane’s southern suburbs, transformed to look in part like the scene of a zombie apocalypse.
A full wedding-sized marquee was erected to keep the crew, stars and hangers-on protected from the Queensland sun when needed, and it also served as the base for the makeup team to work their magic, transforming some of the most recognisable faces in the industry into the undead.
When I arrived on location during the second day, the wrecker’s employees were carefully positioning a former airport transfer van between two other cars, with the aim of providing just enough space for a Ford GT40 replica to slide underneath.
While the height of the GT40 wasn’t an issue, the oil bottles strapped to its engine cover would have just clipped the underside of the van. Bring back the forklift, readjust and check again – a process that takes time.
That is the surprising thing about it all to an outsider: everything takes a lot more time than you think. From when the van was initially perched into place until the GT40 came sliding around, the best part of 90 minutes had passed, all for something which lasts for less than 10 seconds in the resulting video.
And then the extras arrived, all of whom had to spend the day in the sun waiting for their time to shine, standing close to sliding, loud cars in an effort to convey a sense of danger.
Arguably the best protected stars were Marty and Moog from Mighty Car Mods, whose 1990s-era inflammable tracksuits provided protection to their skin, but made sure anyone who looked their way lost the gift of sight for a few minutes.
Just next door there was something even more amazing happening, even if it never got celebrated on the screen.
Vehicle coordinator Rob Whyte’s WR Blue Subaru Impreza WRX was the unfortunate victim of a drift gone wrong on the first day of filming, causing decent damage to the left-rear side of the car.
Broken and battered in the morning (left), fixed in the afternoon (right)
Thankfully, next door to the wrecker’s was a body repair shop, which promptly straightened out the Subie in less than 24 hours, ensuring it had minimal downtime from the set.
That was all just a snippet of the action captured by the camera crew, producers and directors of the shoot, all of which landed on YouTube more than two months later for us all to enjoy.
It was an eye-opening day, and an honour to be able to see what so many others don’t. I’m just glad that no one thought I was a ready made-up zombie.
To see more photos of the behind-the-scenes action, visit our sister site Speedcafe below.
Speedcafe.com 3 Jul 2026 Speedcafe.com
