But the Triple Eight crew had to deal with an uninvited garage visitor as they went about setup duties at the circuit earlier this week.
Footage posted by the team to social media on Monday showed a snake being ushered out of the team’s garage at the top of pit lane.
The man giving the slithering reptile the gentle heave-ho was Mitch Bennett, who works for the team as a mechanic on Will Brown’s #1 Camaro.
“It was just hiding underneath the bin at the back of the garage,” Bennett explained to Speedcafe.
“I was up a ladder, and the sticker guys were stickering the car. They took the bin to put all the rubbish up in it and I looked down, thought I’d dropped a cable, and it was a snake!”
A local snake catcher was immediately contacted but action was ultimately required before the wrangler arrived.
“We sort of left him there for an hour or so and he slowly woke up,” Bennet continued.
“We weren’t going to do anything with him, we’d called a snake catcher, but eventually he wanted to come and hide in our bags in the garage and we knew we’d lose him inside.
“So, we got a pole with a hook on it and slowly ushered it out to the back of the garage and leaned a wheelie bin over it until the snake catcher came.”
Now working for the Brisbane-based Triple Eight, Bennett was born in Alice Springs and spent his formative years living in the Northern Territory.
Asked whether he volunteered to tackle the scaly visitor, Bennett said: “The snake volunteered us because he was coming in regardless. We didn’t have a choice.”
Triple Eight this morning revealed its Indigenous Round colours for the Darwin event, once again teaming up with the Clontarf Foundation.
The foundation supports young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men with education, life skills, and employment initiatives.
Triple Eight is the team to catch in the Supercars Championship with Broc Feeney and Will Brown sitting 1-2 in the standings after five rounds.
Discussion about this post