EXCLUSIVE TACH COVERAGE

Australian Grand Prix: Arrival Day

by Nicholas Frankl

TACH European Bureau

It's finally here. Yes, that's right, the start of the new GP year. After the long and laborious winter test season, which was won quite easily by William's and McLaren with, I might add. Ferrari left to clean up the pasta sauce! The real thing is now only a few hours away from starting.

Melbourne is a long way from London. Come to think of it it's a bloody long way from anywhere. Consequently most of us (the press pack) and some of the teams too, are not quite acclimatized yet. Coulthard was saying earlier that he had arrived especially early so as to give his body as much time to "catch-up" as possible. Whatever your state of mind you can't but be excited by the prospect of such a great event. The track and the venue are new, and so to a large degree are the driver/car combinations. The city is going crazy with desire and nothing is too much hassle. Hill in his first pre-race press conference this afternoon (+18 hours) was in buoyant mood, clearly delighted to be back in a Country which gave him his last victory in November.

"I've driven round the circuit in a road car for the last couple of days and it feels quick, I think it's going to be a mixture between Adelaide and Canada, and the fact that no-one has raced on it should make for a very interesting weekend"

The Albert Park site has been totally transformed for the event and with the prospect of environmental demonstrations, ringed with a steel fence and closed off to all except pass holders. It's even been suggested that the protesters may attempt to interfere with the unilateral TV transmission having previously failed to stop the completion of the track itself, whether this becomes reality we'll see but in the mean time spirits are high throughout the town. They aim to show their embittered rivals in Adelaide how to put a real GP party into action.

Back on the track most of the drivers have been round the track, either walking (David Coulthard Mercedes-McLaren), rollerblading (Johnny Herbert, Sauber-Ford), cycling (Mika Salo Tyrrell-Yamaha), or just plain jogging (Gerhard Berger-Benetton). The cars have all finally arrived, Tyrrell having been delayed some 30 hours, and look as you might expect: shiny, new and different. All now support new "ears" which extent the cockpit around the driver and more importantly their heads for more side-on crash protection. It's a welcome addition for the drivers if not the ascetics of the cars. The bottom line of course is who's going to win. I asked the same question to Stirling Moss an hour ago, I assume if you're reading this site you don't need me to explain who Stirling is. Suffice to say that when Letterman was in London recently, doing his show, the only person who got a special mention was Mr. Moss. And I understand now that he's a real star at his condo in Ft Lauderdale. "Hill, Villeneuve, Berger" was the reply, but then he added about another 6 names just to cover himself, and I reckon that if it's that close for him to call there really is no point in me bothering.

First "familiarization" is tomorrow - Thursday -at 11-12am. I expect nothing of any interest to emerge until the second session at 13.30 to 14.30. And don't be to surprised if it's an English car with French horses at the front.