The young master and apprentice

Maybe it's like ducks on the water with all the furious action taking place below the surface, but V8 Supercar race driver Craig Lowndes appears to have little difficulty relaxing.

At lunch, he banters lightly with the waitress, who recognises him.

“Better make it quick,” he says as he places his order.

“That's pretty much your job,” she counters.

He chides co-driver Jamie Whincup over his cautious choice of food at the Asian-themed restaurant.

“And a steak sandwich for him,” Lowndes says. Whincup nods his bashful assent.

“I've been feeling off the last few days; bit worried about myself,” the younger driver says.

Why would he not be? Tomorrow, he and Lowndes will strap themselves into their 888 Vodafone Ford for seven hours of what most people would regard as torture.

For the BF model Falcon “touring car” that Lowndes and Whincup are hoping to pilot to victory in the Bathurst 1000 is not built for comfort. It might look a bit like the street-standard V8 manual but the similarities are strictly cosmetic.

First of all, there's the weight. The 888 car (indeed, all the Supercars, whether they carry the Holden Lion or the blue oval of Ford) is required to weigh in at 1355kg, excluding the driver's weight and fuel. The BF V8 off the showroom floor is just a shade under 400kg heavier.

Then there's the sheer power of the race car. The V8 Supercars generate about 473kW of power at their maximum revolutions of 7500. That's about 635 horsepower in old money. The V8 you or I might fancy has about 350hp.

This year a new differential ratio will mean the Supercars are theoretically capable of more than 300km/h down the famous kinked Conrod Straight.

There's also a difference in the price. The street machine sells for about $51,000. The average V8 Supercar represents at least $1million's worth of highly developed motoring expertise and componentary, hardly any of which comes from the Ford or Holden factory.

Oh, and another thing; the million dollar jobs don't come with airconditioning. Inside the car, the temperature is about 25C above ambient. So imagine it's 30C at Mount Panorama tomorrow. For Lowndes and Whincup, that means 55C inside the cockpit. Drivers can lose up to 6kg in bodyweight during the seven-hour endurance test.

“It's a constant battle,” Whincup says. “The engineers want no airflow through the car, because that means drag, whereas the drivers want lots of air flow so you're always looking for a compromise.”

So why would you do it?

Easy ... because they love it. It's what makes them want to get up in the morning. After more than a decade on the touring car circuit, Lowndes says he still gets the same adrenalin rush from the V8 monsters as he did when he started out.

His passion for the sport, for the cars themselves, is unmistakable.

Tweaking them to go just that bit faster, while remaining within the confines of the class rules is a team effort involving the drivers, the engineers and team management.

And this year, the 888 team has a new chassis, which they hope will be an important modification.

“The new car for the weekend is more of an evolution of the current car,” Lowndes says. “Some of the dash is different, the wiring layout is different. This is our next-generation car and the plan is to build a sister car to this one.”

Doesn't sound much. But in Supercar racing, where every vehicle has identical horsepower, identical gear boxes, identical differentials and almost identical steering, brakes and suspension, any gram of advantage has to be taken.

The wiring loom in the Supercars weighs between 30kg to 40kg. In the previous “evolution” most of that weight was distributed at the driver's head height. In the new chassis, it's been possible to redistribute that weight lower down, thus producing a lower centre of gravity, which is a good thing. Lowndes and Whincup are hoping the modification will be crucial as tomorrow's 161-lap event wears on.

Last year, a Holden Commodore driven by Australian Touring Car Championship arch rivals Rick and Todd Kelly was about a car-length faster than the 888 Falcon down the long straight. So Lowndes and Whincup had to make up that distance on the rest of the course. Shifting the balance of the car by as much as 40kg could be crucial.

Lowndes explains the significance of the adjustment: “Around Willowbank, (the horse-shoe-shaped, 3.12km circuit just outside Ipswich where round seven of the ATCC) was run we really didn't notice a big difference car-to-car, but Willowbank's not the most technical. When we take it to a track like Phillip Island or Bathurst, I think we'll notice a bigger difference.

“I think we'll notice a big difference across the top of the mountain (at Bathurst) because of the strength of the new chassis itself. This chassis has come up stronger than our current cars, and lighter. I think the lightness was a bit of a surprise.”

Interestingly, at Willowbank, Lowndes finished third overall to the highly consistent Garth Tander, who will partner Rick Kelly at Bathurst tomorrow.

Kelly, on the other hand, finished a disappointing eighth, while Whincup, now emerging as a serious championship contender, snatched second. So the stage is set for what should be an enthralling race.

And as Lowndes knows, it will come down to driver skill, set-up, tactics and a gram or two of luck.

“Bathurst is one of the circuits where experience counts for a lot,” Lowndes says. “You learn every year. In 1997, I had a great crash at the top of the mountain. I'd only been there a few years and I was probably too confident. It's a circuit you have to have a great deal of respect for but confidence across the top of the mountain is key.

“If you don't have confidence in yourself and in the car, and you're not sure of where to position the car, you're going to lose a second or so across the top and that's huge.”

That degree of confidence is now second nature to both Lowndes, 33, and to Whincup, 24. For both were breathing racing fuel fumes virtually from their infancy, and their careers have followed.

Lowndes' father, Frank, was a mechanical and engineering member in the famous Peter Brock Holden teams in the late 1970s and '80s, so motorsport was always going to figure in the youngster's ideas.

At eight, young Craig took up dirt bike racing but a few crashes and stern words from mum convinced him four wheels rather than two might be the way to go.

Starting out in go-karts, he progressed through Formula Ford, in which he won a national title, then Formula Three, the traditional route to Formula One, with the Tom Walkinshaw Racing team.

His first drive in V8 Supercars was in 1994, during which he finished a most accomplished second at Bathurst. Since then, he's accumulated three touring car championships, two Bathurst victories and countless podium finishes.

Whincup's story is uncannily similar. He started racing karts at age seven and not many years later went on to win the Champion of Champions trophy in the class before he moved on to Formula Ford where he caught the eye of the Supercar talent scouts.

Early last year Whincup was offered a three-year contract with 888 Vodafone team. He thinks of it as “an apprenticeship” in the gruelling sport. And so far he has made every post a winner; victory with Lowndes at Bathurst last year, victory in the opening round in Adelaide this year and victory, again with Lowndes, at Sandown. At present, he's third on the championship points table, behind Rick Kelly and Tander, but in front of Lowndes, who is fourth.

So tomorrow's race is crucial. Should Kelly and Tander win, they'd be well clear with four rounds to go. But if Lowndes and Whincup win, and Kelly and Tander fail to finish, for example, the 888 boys would hit the lead.

And both are confident, committed to do whatever it takes to clinch Australia's most famous race. Early this year Whincup made what he says was one of the toughest decisions of his young life; breaking up with his girlfriend so he could focus on his racing ambitions.

“Yeah, that was very tough. Huge, in fact,” he says.

They had been together for 11 years. You do the sums.

The sense of focus and purpose is unmistakable. The time for bantering is over.