On the warm up lap for the final tour of Mount Panorama for the weekend, Andrew had a quiet sense of refection going over the top. With very few fans who would normally line the fences to cheer on their heroes, he was thankful for the extreme privilege to be able to still come and partake in racing at this iconic place and represent Jesus to the hundreds of thousands watching on screens around the country.
Starting from P7 with several faster cars behind Fishtail knew the task was going to be a tough one. As the lights went out and he headed into turn 1, Fishtail’s side of the grid backed up a little. He was able to hold his position however the speed of the cars in front over the top of the mountain meant that he was not able to pull a big enough gap to the Lamborghini he had beaten the day before and unfortunately lost a vital position going down Conrod Straight.
“Perhaps I should have blocked him as I knew if I fell behind him my race was done” said Fisher. “The problem is that he is way too fast on the straights and then I catch him over the top of the mountain to only have him drive away again which means the guys behind you are able to keep up as well”.
On top of this the car was not as good as the previous day and Fishtail struggled the whole race with a long brake pedal and locking rear wheels into the corners under brakes.
On lap 6 on the run into turn 1 (Hell Corner), the rear wheels locked on the downshift, forcing the Jesus TA2 Camaro which is fondly known as “Ruth” as a tribute to Andrew’s sister, to run wide. Gathering it all up, Fisher stayed on the black stuff but had dropped down to 11th and 3rd in class. Fishtail put his head down and caught the cars in front however with the issues he was having in the braking zones and knowing that he didn’t have the car underneath him to he was content to bring the car home in one piece.
After the race Fishtail found that the team has made a shock adjustment at the rear of the car which had caused the rear locking that he experienced in the race.
“It’s good to know why the car behaved the way it did” said Fisher. “Hindsight is a wonderful thing but we still managed to set our fastest lap, a 2.16, during the last race which is a good effort given the car we had under us”.
“It was certainly a strange weekend not to have the crowds, however the interaction that we have with the other competitors was at a much higher level than normal so that was a positive” continued Fisher.
“A big thanks to the Dream Racing Team who prepared and ran the car for me, we learnt a lot and even lead the class in the race at one stage, it was the most relaxing Bathurst weekend I’ve ever had, with no crowds and time to focus on racing rather than all the other aspects of running a full team” said Fishtail.
Normally the Jesus team would spend the following weeks touring schools and goals in the Bathurst area, but with the COVID restrictions it will be back to the workshop to continue the development of the Jesus Racing XY GT Abigail and finalising the digital programs Andrew has developed for the Life Choices Program that are now being rolled out to High Schools across the country.