Garry Jacobson and his V8 Supercars cohort have banded together to bring some much-needed entertainment beginning tomorrow night.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
While the coronavirus crisis has delayed the Supercars season, the drivers would not let that stop the racing, with a 10-week E-Series to be contested via online simulator iRacing.
Physical racing was suspended until at least June shortly before the season's second round at Albert Park, where the Supercars were to play a support role for the Australian Formula One Grand Prix.
Jacobson said he, and his rivals, quickly realised a need for the industry to rally and come up with a plan B.
“(Round one) was an international event with people coming from all over the world for it, so it made sense for that to be cancelled, but we were wondering what the AFL would do not being an international competition,” he said.
“It did its first round and we thought maybe that would mean Supercars could race with no crowds. It was a weird adjustment seeing the AFL with no fans, it was well done by the AFL to try and still support all its commercial commitments. But when round two was cancelled, we wondered what that would mean for us.
“In the end they cancelled testing too, it got so serious so quickly. Once that happened, it was just about what we could do to try and help support the business in general. There's still a lot of people involved with teams relying on that wage from what they do to the car.
“Plus there's sponsors who have committed to teams for the year, so it was about what we could do as an industry for them, as well as what we can do to support the fans.”
The best option quickly became using the iRacing platform for a competitive virtual series in which the Supercars’ high-profile stars would swap tarmac for technology and continue to battle it out.
A steering wheel, pedals and some quality WiFi is all that is needed to run the game from the comfort of the drivers’ homes, with Jacobson in Shepparton for his isolation period.
“It's really funny, these simulators can be purpose-built, I know some of my competitors have got ones worth $50 000,” he said.
“I used to have a simulator about 10 years ago when I was driving Formula Ford, but that was just to learn tracks, having never been to certain tracks and never driven street circuits. I'd sold it, but I actually had to buy it back. It's 10 years old, but it still works.”
The racing will be broadcast on Foxtel, Kayo, Supercars.com, Twitch and social media channels — while it might be fun and games, plenty of pressure remains on the star speedsters.
“The drivers are all fully committed to the cause — we're trying to adjust to it, but at the end of the day there are people struggling a lot worse than us at the moment,"Jacobson said.
“Our job is to be on a simulator, I punched out 10 hours on Saturday doing as many practice races as I could. When I got off it I actually felt quite nauseous, I took a day off as I just needed a break.
“Some guys aren't into it, the more old school guys that had never touched a simulator. But all the young guys, they've been doing this for the last 10 years.
“In some way, shape or form, we just want to provide some entertainment for the people out there. I think the fans are really getting to know the drivers a bit better through this, being able to ask questions as we're racing and things like that, I think they're really enjoying that connection.
“For me, it's been really exciting and also quite daunting. But when we all hopefully get through this, I don't think we'll be judged too much or critiqued for how we've gone.”
While he understood the virtual series was about putting smiles on faces more than anything, it's fair to say other parts of Jacobson's life have suffered while he makes the E-Series his number-one priority.
“My relationship with my partner Naomi is certainly at risk,” he said with a laugh.
“She's not really seeing much of me, it's like there's this third person in our relationship now and we'll see if I'm still in it once we're through this.
“But I am really committed to this, we all like to joke and have fun, but things like this get pretty serious pretty quickly among drivers.”
As has been a staple throughout his motorsport career, Jacobson continues to endeavour to look after Shepparton-based sponsors, seeking to shift the business names that would usually feature on his helmet to his pit wall.
“We've got commercial commitments that are national and even international, but I think everyone knows at this point I'm a very, very proud member of the Shepparton community,” he said.
“Once we get through this, we really want to see Shepparton bounce back, obviously the small businesses are taking a pinch at the moment and if there's any way I can provide local businesses with some recognition I want to do that.”
21°C