Tim Edwards says he has a much better relationship with his crew having gone from Tickford Racing team boss to chief chef for over 100 days.
Tickford Racing was among the five teams forced to abandon Victoria in a last-minute border dash in an effort to keep this year’s Supercars Championship running.
Teams were forced to temporarily relocate, most taking up residence across the Gold Coast.
Edwards moved his four-car stable to Sea World Resort, transforming its convention centre into a makeshift workshop.
The affected teams travelled to Darwin, Townsville, and Tailem Bend for double-headers at each circuit then finally to Bathurst for the season finale all without once going home to their respective home bases in Melbourne.
For team boss Edwards, the time on the road brought him closer to his crew, who he cooked for and shared his wife’s recipes with.
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“I’ve got different relationships with the guys in the teams than I typically had before,” he told Speedcafe.com.
“I spend most of my time sitting in the office, looking at spreadsheets, on the phone, et cetera, but I found myself chief chef for 30 blokes and a few girls for the last couple of months.
“I’ve cooked five times in 20 years, and now all of a sudden I’m doing three meals a day for 30 people. So it’s put me out of my comfort zone.
“I think I’ve personally got some much better relationships with all of the guys, every single one of them.
“So, if I’m feeling like that to them, no doubt they’re feeling a similar thing towards their other colleagues.”
This year’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 closed out the 2020 season, marking 105 days since the teams had left their homes.
Tickford Racing capped off their campaign with a second place finish in the race for Cameron Waters and co-driver Will Davison.
That effort propelled Waters to second in the drivers’ championship while the team claimed third and fourth in the teams’ championship.
Edwards said while it was a bittersweet finish to the season, he was pleased to see his team happy after a long slog.
“It’s a testament to the group of people that I’ve got that they were still smiling,” said Edwards.
“I take quiet comfort from people from other teams and from Supercars actually coming up and complimenting our guys, saying just how great they’ve been to work with, how they’ve interacted with other teams, and helped other teams.
“They’ve really stepped up to the plate in so many ways. It’s great.”
“It’s not just our team though, every team has stepped up,” he added.
“Clearly, the Victorian teams have done more than most. I know everybody’s been thanking them. It’s hard to explain what they’ve gone through, because it’s not what they signed up for.
“They didn’t sign up to join the Navy or anything like that. They’ve all been doing jobs that aren’t their jobs. They’ve all had to do other things, including myself.”
Edwards paid tribute to his crew who are now back at their respective homes across the country.
He also noted support from sponsors who have donated to the team throughout their time away.
“I just can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done. You actually can’t put into words what they’ve done,” he said.
“Also, a lot of the businesses that have supported us along the way; we’ve had some Woolies around the country donating food for us.
“We’ve had Sea World Resort donate, at no cost, their conference centre for us to call home for so long.
“(It was) a bizarre relationship where we now know everybody at Sea World. You walk out into the foyer area in the morning to the bar for a coffee, and it’s ‘Morning, Tim. Small double shot?’
“We were actually talking about it, it almost seems strange, you were there for so long that that was normal for us. It’s been great.”
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