The other side of racing life for Supercars driver Cam Waters
Tickford Racing driver Cam Waters opens up his pit garage to provide behind-the-scenes access into a day in the life of a Supercar driver at the Superloop Adelaide 500.
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It is a lifestyle seen to be full of high speed, adrenaline and hot engines, yet some days in the life of a Supercar driver are anything but.
Friday at the Superloop Adelaide 500 gave drivers just two 30-minute sessions driving their Supercars ahead of the weekend’s races.
For the most part, however, drivers lay low compared to their high-octane image, trying to relax and sitting in the shade when signing autographs for fans.
Cameron Waters, driver of the No. 6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang for Tickford Racing, said he loved being able to spend time meeting fans.
“It’s pretty special because the fans are so entrenched in it and love it so much,” he said.
“It’s something I enjoy doing.
“It’s something I wouldn’t change at all if I had to – I would do it all over again, it’s a dream job.”
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8AM
Waters wakes up.
“I got a bit of a sleep-in this morning. Yesterday it was 6.30. It’s a long day today (with last practice starting at 6pm) so I try to get more rest in.”
8.45AM
He arrives at the track and has breakfast in the team’s catering tent, behind the pits.
“I had eggs, bacon, a bit of avo; a coffee or two to get going. Then I’m ready.”
9.30AM
Waters meets with his engineer in the team truck to discuss plans for the day with the car set-up and other strategy moves that may be made. He changes from his team dress outfit into his race suit.
10.20AM
He attends a photoshoot with all the other Supercars drivers in pit straight. He has a chat with teammate Jack Le Brocq. After the group photo, he returns to the truck transporter to change out of his race suit back into his team dress outfit.
10.40AM
Waters walks from pit paddock across the track to the Tickford Racing area in Merchandise Alley for a fan signing session with teammates Jack Le Brocq, Lee Holdsworth and Will Davison.
He signs a promotional photo the team has supplied to hand out to fans, while racegoers mostly give him to be signed their Superloop trilby hats, handed out to punters for free at the track, which they are using to collect several drivers’ signatures.
Selfies also are popular requests from punters.
11.20AM
He walks back to the team transporters and heads straight into the catering tent to make himself a coffee. He then heads to his hammock to “chill out for a bit”.
His new purchase this year is a hammock, which he has strung up inside the team transporter to lie in during his downtime at race events all season.
“I need to lay down, and we can’t put a couch in there, there’s no room. The best thing is I can just hang it, I can sit in it easy.”
Waters spends the next hour relaxing and having lunch, which includes a choice of salad and wraps.
In his downtime, he may also get a massage, or before an on-track session, listen to music to get pumped up to drive.
12.30PM
Waters joins Tickford Racing teammates Jack Le Brocq, Lee Holdsworth and Will Davison in walking to the eastern side of the track for an autograph session with several other Supercars drivers.
He takes the odd selfie and signs a supplied Adelaide 500 drivers grid sheet poster for the long line of fans.
1PM
On the walk back from the autograph session, the four teammates run into the team’s former co-driver, Thomas Randle, who they all watched on-track on a big screen at moments during the autograph session.
Randle took out pole position for the Super 2 category he is racing in.
All four drivers run over, some whooping, to congratulate Randle on his pole.
When Waters returns from the session, he heads straight to the transporter to suit up for the first practice session of the day.
2.05PM
Fifteen minutes before the session begins, he emerges from the team transporter and walks into the pits, talking briefly with mechanics and engineers before putting his helmet on and sitting in the car.
His Ford Mustang is pushed into pit lane and he takes off for the first practice session of the day, which also serves as a preliminary qualifying session for Saturday’s race.
After 7 minutes, he brings the car back to pit lane.
The pits had been quiet before then but staff spring to life, rolling tyres to the car to swap with the ones already on it. Within 30 seconds, he returns to the track.
Mechanics dust off the used tyres. All staff then return to intently examining TV screens with telemetry, timing or telecast vision displayed on them.
Waters returns to the pits two more times when the session is halted after drivers crash, with tyres changed once more.
With 3.5 minutes to go in the session, he pulls the car into the garage and gets out, happy to finish being fourth fastest and 0.1890 seconds off the pace of the leader.
3PM
After a quick debrief with the engineer and an interview for the on-track big screen television coverage, he heads back to the transporter to change, where he is bailed up for another television interview for Fox Sports.
3.45PM
Having changed back into his team dress outfit, Waters walks down to the Pit Exit Hospitality suites to briefly mingle with guests in sponsor Coca-Cola Amatil’s suite.
He then heads back to the pit building for an appearance with teammates Holdsworth and Le Brocq at the Tickford Racing suite, where he is involved in a quick Q&A session.
“I’m feeling not too bad at the moment. Some days are probably worse than others (in terms of sponsor and fan commitments).
Here, Bathurst, Newcastle, the Gold Coast – there’s always a lot going on. You need to maximise your time – the time you spend debriefing, eating on the run, trying to sit down and recover in the periods you’ve got.”
4.40PM
Returns to the transporter to prepare for the second practice session of the day, which also serves as a preliminary qualifying session for Sunday’s race.
6PM
The second practice session goes much like the first, although the team gets to choose when they pit, as there are no track incidents. Waters finishes in eighth position.
6.30PM
Waters has a short debrief with his engineer, then joins his teammates and crew at dinner in the catering tent. Once they have eaten, the full team debriefs the day together, sharing information about their cars, what they notice about the racetrack, and raise issues that need to be dealt with before the qualifying session to be held on Saturday.
8.30PM
He heads to the Monster Energy Cocktail Party to mingle with sponsors.
9PM
Waters heads “home” to his hotel.
“It’s a massive day, the first session is not until 2pm and we don’t get out of here til 9pm, then up at 6.30am tomorrow. I’ll go back, shower and bed. I’m pretty tired by the time I get back there.”
Originally published as The other side of racing life for Supercars driver Cam Waters