Bathurst 2012: Jesse hits the hill

Shannons Supercar Showdown winner Jesse Dixon had a mind-blowing but successful first day’s practice at the Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama yesterday. The Team Carsales V8SC driver logged quick times in his Bathurst debut. He had previously only been to the Mountain as a spectator.

The 20-year-old Queenslander, who currently races in the V8 Super Utes series logged laps within 0.3sec of those initially set by his co-driver, the 2011 Shannons winner, Cameron Waters, who has been racing in the V8 Supercar Development series this year.

Waters had a few big scares in the first practice session for lead drivers when the steering on his VE2 Commodore began to freeze in high-speed corners and the team lost valuable track time replacing a power steering pump. Dixon did not get to drive in the first session and had to wait until later in the day for his turn.

Waters' best time to that stage – set on old tyres – was 2:13.99sec (Michael Caruso set the quickest time, a 2:08.40sec) but he couldn’t push because of the steering problem.

“Every time I loaded the front of the car up in corners or in the major braking zones the steering wheel would lock-up and the car wouldn’t turn,” Waters said.

“One time it went really sideways; I just didn’t have any control over the car. It was really unpredictable and it’s pretty hairy when you can’t steer and you’re flat in fourth gear. It wasn’t fun.”

Dixon said he felt a little nervous before his first stint in the co-driver session but after 14 laps got down to a 2:14.22sec time. Warren Luff was quickest with a 2:09.17sec. Dixon, though, was exhilarated, flashing a big smile and thumbs up when he got out of the car.

“I just tried to block out the fact that I’m debuting in V8 Supercars at the biggest race of the year,” he said.

“I just focused on my own job and contained my eagerness to push hard straight out because that could end in disaster.

“What a track! This morning I hitched a ride in one of the Channel 7 camera crews vans and they let me drive it around for two laps at 40km/h which was beneficial, but nothing like the real thing.

"The top of The Mountain is one crazy racetrack. I had a bit of a moment at McPhillamy, which is flat in fourth gear, and going down Conrod Straight is the fastest I’ve ever gone, by far.”

Waters eventually logged a 2:12.00sec lap in the last session (quickest was Jamie Whincup with a 2:07.35) but was still not happy with the steering.

“If we get around the steering thing I should go heaps quicker tomorrow,” Waters said.

The goal for the young pairing, which with a combined age of 38 will be the youngest ever to start the 1000 on Sunday, is to get through practice and qualifying unscathed and finish the race.

Look out for more news on the Team Shannons Carsales crew in our news pages or check out carsales.com.au's facebook page or follow us at Twitter for regular Bathurst weekend updates.