Tracking Down The Big Race

Yes, This Is The Formula One Circuit

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

This is the circuit that the Formula One drivers will be racing on tomorrow in the Australian Grand Prix, the first race of the season. You see, Albert Park, the venue of the big race, is a street circuit that is very much a public thoroughfare for 51 weeks each year. At lunchtime on Monday, a few hours before the circuit was closed off, I decided it would be a great idea to drive through the straight and the chicanes and past pit lane and give you an idea of what it looks like.

And because this week's theme for Photo Hunt is "I Spy", I've posted a series of photographs and I want you to "spy" something. All through the week, crews have been busy putting together the myriad things that make up the necessities for the race, but there is one thing amid all that feverish activity that has to come down, not up. Your challenge is to see if you can "spy" it in these photographs ....


This is what pit lane looked like (above). It was full of massive cargo loads waiting to be unloaded - probably the most expensive single airlift into the country last weekend.

At first I thought I was trespassing because I couldn't see any other vehicles on the track, apart from the odd forklift, a ute (utility vehicle) and construction trucks and vans. Was I going to be stopped and escorted off? Then I saw the traffic cones and security personnel and I realised what I was doing was perfectly legal in the last few hours of public access.


This forklift was coming toward me and I waited till I could frame just one shot, using the bright yelow and orange, with the white chairs and canvas awning in the background - and to ensure that the forklift driver could not be identified.

This was what the gravel trap looked like on one of the bends. Of course, it was nowhere near complete - and the finished product got rather a rigorous workout yesterday as the drivers tested their new cars on the circuit and Lewis Hamilton finally beat Mark Webber's lap time for the fastest performance of the day.

As you can see, I was lucky enough to be able to stop on the track a few times - just fleetingly, to be able to take a few shots. The colours of these plastic seats caught my eye - especially as they are green and gold, the Australian colours.

Yes, there were even cars. Four of them here were waiting in the scorching heat. Look carefully and you can still see the cross-bars above the cockpits to enable the crane drivers to lift them gently onto the tarmac.

Okay, time for me to sign off now. But have you spotted the one thing that needs to come down before the race starts on Sunday? Hazard a guess - leave me a comment and tell me what you reckon!