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A driver more closely aligned with the Emirates Melbourne Cup than anyone else in Australian sport will take to the start line at this year’s Australian Grand Prix, after being extended an invitation from TAG Heuer to drive in the hotly contested Celebrity Challenge.
Wallace Bishop Jewellers Chief Executive Officer, Stuart Bishop has had the prestigious honour of being charged with the design of Australian horse racing’s holy grail, the Melbourne Cup for the past 26 years.
More recently the Queenslander has also overseen the design of Australian V8 Supercar racing’s equivalent, the Peter Brock trophy, which is presented to the winner of the Super Cheap Auto Bathurst 1000.
Bishop will add yet another notch to his racing portfolio this weekend in Melbourne, when he takes his place among a starting list of 26 drivers steering BMW Series 1 vehicles in the AGP Celebrity Challenge.
More at home campaigning across the quarter mile in his 3500 horsepower ’67 Camaro Diamond Doorslammer, Bishop admits it’s going to be a tough ask trying to negotiate corners and the various deviations around the 5.3 kilometre Albert Park circuit.
“This is a fantastic opportunity and a huge learning curve. The past few days have been focused on getting all the drivers up to speed with what’s required on the race track. It’s not as easy as you would think,” said Bishop.
“Driver orientation started last Monday and we actually got to drive on the Albert Park circuit during our familiarisation session on Wednesday afternoon.
“From all the training, I’ve come away with a CAMS (Confederation of Australian Motorsport) licence which is something I’ve always wanted to do so I must thank TAG Heuer for setting up this whole deal.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge of working on my braking markers and apexes which is going to be a whole new ball game from what I am used to.”
Among the starters list for Sunday’s AGP Celebrity Challenge will be numerous sporting, media and television identities including men’s and women’s World ASP Surfing champions Kelly Slater and Layne Beachley, swimming sensation Brook Hanson, Jules Lund from the Getaway program, Australia’s 2006 Miss Universe entrant Erin McNaught, actor Daniel McPherson and Beaconsfield Mine survivor Brant Webb.
The AGP Celebrity Challenge will be televised on Channel 10 this Sunday from 10.45am.
Bishop’s regular ride in competitive drag racing, the Diamond Doorslammer has all the trimmings, including a special customised variable, courtesy of the Wallace Bishop Jewellers enterprise.
“On the roof there are more than 540 cubic zirconia featured in a diamond configuration and among them we’ve incorporated a half carat, 50 point diamond, valued at about $5000 as part of the engrained work,” added Bishop.
“It gives the car a distinct air of mystery and from a girl’s perspective it provides a challenge to pick out the diamond among the assortment.
Proving there is plenty of go to match the show of the Diamond Doorslammer, Bishop only recently returned a personal best time of 6.180 seconds across the quarter mile during Sydney’s Summernationals.
The competition radar for the SBR team is now set a little closer to home when Bishop contests the QT Tin Top Titles at Ipswich’s Willowbank Raceway on April 28.
Drag racing fans young and old are encouraged to involve themselves in the Wallace Bishop Jewellers National Photographic competition and be in the running to win some great cash and prizes.
Opportunities abound Australia-wide to shoot images at your local race track and forward them through the website www.stuartbishopracing.com.au to enter.
Simply by taking photos of all the drag racing action on and off the track, then submitting images into the competition, individuals will go in the running to win cash and prizes worth more than $20 000, courtesy of Wallace Bishop Jewellers.
The length and breadth of the country will play host to a vast array of quarter mile drag racing action, coordinated at the three major venues in Ipswich, Sydney and Perth, plus plenty of smaller hotspots in between.
It’s not just the major venues that will be pumping with quarter mile drag racing action in 2007, as some of the smaller quarter and eighth mile facilities get in on the act.
Stretching along the East Coast of Australia, Victoria’s South Coast Raceway at Portland has regularly scheduled race meetings and it’s a similar story at Tasmania’s Motors-ACDelco strip.
Mildura’s Sunset Strip in Victoria, Darwin’s Hidden Valley Drag Strip and Queensland’s Palmyra Dragway (Mackay), Benaraby Raceway (Gladstone) and Warwick Dragway are also bound to have plenty of high speed thrills in store during the year.
Full details of the Wallace Bishop photographic competition are available at www.stuartbishopracing.com.au as is all the new up to date information relevant to the SBR team and the ’67 Camaro Diamond Doorslammer.
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