It’s been some kind of year in the V8 Supercar Championship Series and again it looks like the title could be decided in the very last round, the Sydney Telstra 500 at Homebush in December. Of course we’ll be there with Sportsnet, but it forced me to think back to the 2010 Homebush V8 event and I remembered how there was a unique feel to the whole Sydney V8 experience. I’ll try to explain.

Sydney of course is one of Australia’s premiere tourist destinations with 9.7 million visitors from both overseas and domestic ports popping in last financial year. With this in mind I was still surprised with how ‘normal’ things were in the CBD, The Rocks, Kings Cross and Circular Quay. There was hardly any indication at all that the V8’s were even happening. Having been to Clipsal, Bathurst, Townsville and Hidden Valley where it’s ALL about the race, it was somewhat refreshing. I’ll explain.

Homebush was V8 heaven. New track, extraordinary garages (actually IN a pavilion), brilliant grandstands and a ‘Merchandise Alley’ to die for. It was jam packed with hardcore V8 fans and the smell, noise and excitement rivaled any V8 event on the calendar. We even got to see James Courtney wrap up his title on the Sunday and celebrate in style! I loved it!

Flipside. Sydney was Sydney and it needn’t be anything more. We still climbed the Bridge, did breakfast at Bondi (via Harley no less!), flew past the Opera House and under the Bridge on insane Jet-Boats and enjoyed some of the finest cuisine and beverages that Sydney has to offer. It felt like another world. It felt like another holiday altogether!

Off to Bondi for brekkie!

Some of the people in our group weren’t total V8 enthusiasts so this unique combination of destination based attractions unaffected by the race – and the hardcore V8 action at Homebush was, for them, just what the doctor ordered. For myself, and the other full-on V8 fans, it was actually really cool to see more than the track, your hotel and the inside of every bar in the hosting destination for a change.

Tranquil start to V8 race day. Nice!

It may have been proximity. Homebush IS 40 minutes from the CBD. It might have been the sheer size of the city and her population. Or it may simply have been that there is so so much to do in the Harbour City. Whatever the reason, it was refreshing to everyone no matter WHAT they were looking for. It felt like I got 2 brilliant experiences for the price of 1. All I can say is bring it on for 2011 man…I’m already working on how I can fit everything into 5 days. This is going to be awesome.

Click right here right now to join me!

(From Sportsnet’s guest reporter. Yvonne Adele)

As a conference speaker, I’m on a plane multiple times a month with rarely a moment to spare for sightseeing. If you’re preparing to go on stage, you rarely get to enjoy the dinners, events and social activities.

BUT – a couple of months ago I was invited as a GUEST (no official duties!) to Townsville for a cruise to Magnetic Island and some R & R. YES, I said – without a second’s hesitation.

Today, the itinerary arrived. Somehow I’d skimmed over the bit on the original invitation where it said we’d be travelling to Townsville for a whole day of V8 Super Car action. On the track. Up close. There. With all of those people you see pushing their faces into the camera and poking their tongues out as far as they go. With the grid girls teetering on too-high-heels. With all the beer.

(the Magnetic Island cruise is actually a ferry which takes us to our hotel the night before the big race day)

Me on the left. Pip from Meet Me At Mikes on the right!

Uh oh. What to do? I’m a glass-half-FULL gal. Let’s see: I have been a motor-head in my day. I used to spend whole 3 day weekends at SummerNats with the Street Machines (nothing to do with the boys, honest!). I did own a ’65 V8 Mustang back in the Ms Megabyte days and I’ve always said my dream car is a Monaro.

My treasured client, SportsNet Holidays actually sell tickets to the Townsville V8 Event, so I’ll be able to report back with event news maybe.

I jump onto the V8SuperCars website and see what I can find out. OK, it’s called the Sucrogen Townsville 400. What is a Sucrogen? Does anyone know? There’s an image of Pink standing on a V8 Racing car, looking fabulous. OK – maybe it won’t be so bad?

I get in touch with SportsNet Holidays and ask if they’d like me to guest blog/tweet/facebook my experience and they say they’d be delighted. I’m going to grab a whole bunch of merchandise from them and organise a tweetup at the track.

I jump onto Twitter and Facebook to see if anyone I know is going. Within 12 minutes, one of my Twitter mates connects me with one of HIS mates who turns out to be a reporter for Bundy Racing and Holden Racing and he offers me a garage tour at the track.

Now it is getting interesting.

Over on Facebook however, it is a different story – the most common comments are about the booze and the boobs and the bogans. Eek! I am hoping everyone is wrong and I’m happy to try and get the real story.

I’m going to blog, tweet, facebook about it in words, pictures and videos.

Maybe there are gals who’d like to know what it’s really like. Maybe there are guys who want to decide whether to go next year.

Is there anything YOU would like to know/see/hear about?

If I was going to ask the racegoers 3 questions, what should they be?

And if you’re a V8 fan, what do I NEED to know?

Yvonne Adele is the Chief Idealist at www.ideasculture.com