The biggest news I’ve got this week is that the driver pairings for the Phillip Island and Bathurst endurance races have been confirmed. Cameron McConville and I will be driving together in the BOC car, while Brad Jones and Max Wilson will be driving the WOW racing car. I’m really excited about driving with Cameron. He and I have been driving V8s all year so I think we’ll make for a strong pairing.
Even though we’re on our break at the moment, I have still been very busy. Last Friday I once again headed to Winton to do a road track comparison of some cars for Motor magazine. I got the opportunity to drive the new HSV 427, the Ford GT40 Le Mans car and also the new Nissan GT-R four-wheel drive twin turbo V6, which is the new version of the Godzilla. That was really good, all three cars were absolutely beautiful and it’s pretty hard to split them and say which the best was.
I was really surprised by the braking on the HSV. It was a big car and big cars with lots of horsepower usually underperform a bit in the brake department. But the HSV was very good. The Nissan was awesome. It had everything you could want in a car – plenty of grunt and it handled really well. Four-wheel drive, twin turbo, V6, it’s just an amazing car. I don’t really do much of that type of thing but because we are on the break I jumped at the chance to do it. It was a lot of fun.
Also last weekend Brad and I took the show car for a few visits to Bunnings stores around our area. We went to Wodonga and then up to Wagga. It was great to spend a bit of time with Brad. With him retiring last year, we used to drive together and do a lot of that sort of thing, but we haven’t really had the chance this year, so it was a good to get out and have a catch-up.
Appearances like that are great because we get to meet people away from the track and all the stuff that’s usually going on there. It’s a lot more relaxed and we can actually have a talk to people. It’s always great to see the level of interest in V8 Supercars and people are always interested to have a chat and check out the show car. Even though it’s not our actual race car, it’s done up like one and looks pretty cool, so people like to see it and have a good look.
This particular time we actually drove the car up on the highway. It usually gets delivered but we drove it up to Wagga ourselves this time and we always get some pretty unusual looks on the road! If we were speeding there’s not much chance the police would miss us, we definitely have to keep to the limit.
On Tuesday we came up to Queensland where I am now for some driver training stuff. I was fortunate enough to bring my family up with me. It was Koby’s first flight but to Mish’s credit, she did a lot of hard work to make sure it was all smooth. The little man handled it really well and there were no dramas at all. He seemed to enjoy it which is good to see because he’s going to have to do a fair bit of travelling to keep up with his dad.
On Sunday we’re off to Hamilton Island for some more driver training activities as part of the yachting race week up there. It’s an awesome atmosphere there at that time and there’s some serious partying going on in the evenings. Brad and I have been there before for it and it’s lots of fun.
So it’s a good chance to make the most of the break and just getting away from the southern winter and thaw out a little in Queensland is a good thing.
Until next week!
Jonesy
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Hi Andy,
Good to see you managed to escape the southern climate for a bit of time back up here in QLD.
Hope you have enjoyed the break and time with Koby and Mish.
My wife and I had our first (little Xavier) just over a week ago now and I dont know if its the most exciting or terrifying time of my life.
Looking forward to see you and Cam racing together for the Island and also looking forward to seeing Brad hit the track once again.
Hope to see you guys this year at Indy just working out the details with my wife to see if I am allowed to go.
Keep enjoying your break and get as much time with your little man and wife as you can,
Cheers Adam.
http://andyjones.bigblog.com.au
AWESOME Adam!
Congratulations on the safe arrival of Xavier in to the world. I hope that the labour wasn’t too long. Now comes the great things that you get to do with him for the first time, like bathing, changing the nappy(although there will be plenty of them!), first smile. I hope that you enjoy them all.
Came home yesterday and the weather is nicer here in Albury than what we had in Queensland, so must have not timed it very well.
Take care and enjoy your little man.
Jonesy.
Long time no visit in here!
I was so busy trying to finish work.
Anyway, It is so great that you and Cam are going to be pair up, I really think that you and Cam have an awesome skills that I bet,you are going to finish in top 10.Hopefully, well, off to work see ya
MAC
hey jonesy
how are you???
you might not remember me, but my name is cassandra karibalis, i meet you and cam at the wow sight n sound underwood store earlier this year…. you guys were really nice to me…. thanx so much
just came in to wish you, cam, brad and max all the best for endurance races, i know that you guys will do really well and i give you all my good luck!!!!
i will be watching from home and cheering loud and proud!!!!
i hope i can get to indy to watch you guys race, i had a great time at QR watching the practices.
good luck to you and the rest of the team
cassie k xx
p.s: i hope little Koby liked his teddy bear, hope he’s well!!!
G’day Andy.
Great to see Team WOW/BOC have the brains to put you and Cam in the same car. I reckon Cam is the most underated driver in the field and could shake up a few ‘Big names’ come time for the great race.
Just wondering who will be the lead driver?
I reckon if Cam qualifies at Bathurst and the car is right you may well find yourselves starting from the top 5. And if you stay out of trouble who knows????????
You can probably tell that i rate Cam McConville. And after seeing what you are capable of this year Andy I hope you stay with holden because we dont need to loose another superstar to ford.
Anyway you probably dont want to hear that from a 14 year old kid but anyway best of luck for the rest of the year and shove it up those FPR fords……………..
Adam
Hey, it’s Mac.
On phillip Island race 3, it was awful, some guy post the video about the flip of your car, and it was a disaster but it was really good to hear that you walked away uninjured. It could’ve been an awesome race but I think I’m pretty happy that you are uninjured.
What I can really say now is that forget everything and make the most of it for Bathrust.
Have a nice vacation.
Mac, from your biggest fan in Hong Kong