Bathurst 1000: Dodo Racing Team preview

PERKINS AND WOOD DEBUT NEW COLOURS AT BATHURST

Jack Perkins and Dale Wood will debut a brand new livery as the two Victorian youngsters head to the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 at the famous Mount Panorama circuit in New South Wales on October 8-11.

Perkins and Wood will race a striking new BET 247 livery on the #247 BET 247 Holden Commodore in The Great Race, ensuring the Commodore stands out from the pack as the pairing aims to capitalise on the solid 14th place finish at the L&H 500 at Phillip Island in the first endurance race of the season.

The entry will run #247 at Bathurst before reverting back to the famous #11 of the Perkins family at the Nikon SuperGP event on the Gold Coast, while the entry will run the livery of BET 247 for the rest of the 2009 season.

BET 247 (pronounced 'bet twenty-four seven') is a newly launched online betting agency, offering consumers competitive odds on sports from all around Australia and across the globe via http://www.bet247.com.au/

Perkins will be making his fourth Bathurst start, following in the famous footsteps of his father Larry Perkins, who is a six-time Bathurst winner and V8 Supercar legend.

Wood is making his ninth V8 Supercar Championship Series start and has one previous Bathurst to his name, finishing a solid 13th on his debut in The Great Race when partnered with Mark Noske at Sprint Gas Racing last year.

DODO RACING TEAM QUOTEBOARD

Jack Perkins - #247 BET 247 Holden Commodore:

"The BET 247 Commodore looks awesome," said Jack Perkins.

"It's the first time I've driven a white car and it looks different to all the other cars in pit lane. It looks really cool and I can't wait to drive it at Bathurst."

QUESTION: You also had a lot to do with getting the new livery ready for Bathurst.

"Both Dale and I work in the signwriting shop at Kelly Racing and we've basically started from scratch to sticker the car up with the new livery.

"It's good fun and I really enjoy it. You get to play around with different stickers, designs and colour schemes and work towards the best outcome."

QUESTION: What are your thoughts on the chances of the #247 BET 247 Commodore at Bathurst? Is a Top 10 result your goal?

"Bathurst is the ultimate. I love the track and love the race. A solid result at Bathurst is what every driver wants.

"Building on eighth last year with Nathan Pretty is what I'm aiming for and if we can stay out of trouble and bring the BET 247 Commodore home I'm sure we will have a good, solid top 10 finish."

QUESTION: Your family has so much history at Bathurst so it must be very special to race there. Do you have any early memories that come back to you each year at this race?

"This is my 23rd year of living and my 23rd visit to Bathurst.

"I haven't missed one and I've been through all the wins that Dad has had and you see the amount of effort that goes into winning the thing and if I could win just one of them in my career I'd be really happy.

"Definitely the memories of winning in '95, coming from last to first, being part of that as a good family win was pretty cool. It definitely holds a soft place in my heart, that's for sure."

Dale Wood - #247 BET 247 Holden Commodore:

"They say a change is as good as a holiday," said Dale Wood.

"The BET 247 Commodore has come up really well and it's something a little bit different. It's pretty 'out-there' and bright, so it will catch people's eye.

"It's a good time of year going to Bathurst. You'd be happy to run a 10-event championship with every race at Bathurst, it's that good a place.

"It is exciting to have something different out on the track for Bathurst this year."

QUESTION: You had a solid Bathurst debut last year with 13th place. Is your goal to improve on that and crack into the top 10?

"Absolutely, you always want to improve and a top 10 would be great and a top 5 would be fantastic. We just need to keep our goals realistic and chip away at it.

"We made a couple of mistakes at Phillip Island so hopefully we've got them out of the way and we now look forward to having a solid day and a solid 1000 kilometres at Bathurst."

QUESTION: Bathurst is such a tough race, so is minimising mistakes one of the major focuses for the team?

"If you look at the way Phillip Island was run, it was almost like a 500 kilometre Sprint race.

"Bathurst isn't like that so it's just a matter of being smart and staying in the race until 20 laps to go and then hopefully we are on the lead lap and in a position to race home.

"It's an exciting time of year and a huge challenge for everyone."

KEY FACTS:

- Jack Perkins has three Bathurst starts with three very different outcomes ...

* starting his debut Bathurst race in a car run by his famous father's team in 2006, Perkins was taken out due to contact with the stricken car of Mark Skaife on the run up Mountain Straight on the first lap of the race
* the following year Perkins brought his car into the pits while on fire, calmly bringing his smoking machine into pit lane with an electrical fire
* last season Perkins scored his first Bathurst finish, shedding the bad luck of the previous two seasons to bring his Jack Daniel's Racing Commodore home in eighth position with co-driver Nathan Pretty

- Perkins and Wood in the famous numbers game ...

* Number 11 is famously associated with the Perkins family, but both Larry and Jack Perkins have campaigned with different racing numbers at Bathurst. Jack used the number seven of Jack Daniel's in 2007 when partnered with Shane Price, and will use #247 this year at Mount Panorama
* In Dale Wood's solitary Bathurst start, the young Victorian campaigned the number 51 made famous by Greg Murphy at Sprint Gas Racing when partnered with Mark Noske. This year, Wood joined Perkins with the famous number 11 at Phillip Island and will now run #247 at Bathurst. Earlier in the season Wood raced with the number 16 for seven events, the same number used by Garth Tander to win the 2007 V8 Supercar Championship

-credit: kellyracing.com.au