Bathurst by the numbers

Motorsport fans around Australia will have their eyes glued to the set this weekend, as the thunder of the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 echoes around Mount Panorama once more.

But while the V8 Supercar faithful revel in the annual spectacle, it's worth sparing a thought for how the teams, their cars and all their equipment actually make it to Bathurst in the first place.

Freightliner Liner racing, a part of the Brad Jones Racing outfit, has provided an insight into transporting a race team to the nation's famed and historic enduro.

The Freightliner Racing Argosy hauls two race cars and a vast array of gear within its B-double set, which when loaded weighs in at around 57 tonnes. Another two Argosys haul single trailers for BJR, also with two cars apiece.

Freightliner Racing's Fabian Coulthard sits alongside Team BOC's Jason Bright and GB Galvanizing Racing's Dale Wood in the BJR stable, with all three campaigning Holden VF Commodores.

Coulthard will pair with Luke Youlden for his Bathurst assault, while Bright will pair with Andrew Jones and Wood with Macauley Jones.

Running six cars at Bathurst spells a massive logistical exercise, with all the gear painstakingly arranged within the trailers to maximise the use of the available space. It's like a massive game of Tetris, Freightliner says.

In total the three Argosys have hauled six V8 Supercars, 66 wheels, 24 bumpers, 12 complete doors, 12 bonnets, 30 front brake sets, 18 rear brake sets, 48 suspension dampers, 15 door mirrors, 10 sets of headlights, six tail-shafts, three steering racks, four gearboxes and four spare engines on the relatively short run from BJR headquarters at Albury to The Mountain.

Then there are the 12 large toolboxes, with each tool itemised on an inventory, and the folding walls for the workshops.

Add in catering for the 60 people working for BJR at Bathurst – amounting to 1080 meals over a six-day period up to and including race day, plus 80 slabs of water and 50 slabs of soft drinks and energy drinks – and tackling The Great Race requires a monumental effort on all fronts.

Will all the effort pay off? Like everyone else, the BJR team will have to wait until Sunday to find out…