The Crittenden Automotive Library

ALEX DAVISON - DRIVER DIARY, SBR ROAD TRIP DAY 2

Topics: Dunlop Townsville 400, Shane van Gisbergen

ALEX DAVISON - DRIVER DIARY, SBR ROAD TRIP DAY 2

Alex Davison/Stone Brothers Racing
July 5, 2009

Again we had an early start this morning, jumping into the Winnebago and leaving Rockhampton at 6am... not that fun after maybe not getting to bed the night before as early as we should have! Luckily for me, Shane jumped into the driver’s seat this morning so I was able to relax a little bit on the 308km drive to Sarina where we visited the CSR Sugar Mill and Ethanol Distillery.

We arrived at Sarina to meet Jim unloading the IRWIN Falcon and there was already a great turnout of people waiting to have a closer look at our car.

After quickly getting kitted out in all the required safety gear, we got taken on a tour of the Sugar Mill and learned how a big pile of sugar cane arrives at one end of the plant and pops out the other end as a bag of sugar! I was really impressed at how efficient the whole process is as absolutely nothing is wasted and they end up even making energy which is put back into the grid.

Obviously one of the waste products of this process, Molasses, is what goes to the ethanol distillery to make the fuel which our race cars run on.

Overall it was a great experience and all the guys at from CSR were great to take the time to show us around.

After we packed up we travelled to Mackay and headed out into town to eat dinner and kick back by the water. Tomorrow we will be driving to Airlie Beach which we are all obviously looking forward to. Shane is flying home tonight to take part in a shakedown test for his new car. He lucked out as he will miss out on the best day of the trip, sailing to Whitehaven Beach!

To read Shane van Gisbergen’s daily diary visit www.autofocusstore.com.au