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The ShowTime Entertainment Group behind the stunt shows at Movie World and Sea World will temporarily house Walkinshaw Andretti United at its Gold Coast facility.
In an effort to safeguard the BetEasy Darwin Triple Crown in August, non-Queensland teams will move to the sunshine state temporarily.
Already several teams have firmed up new digs with Erebus Motorsport set to move into the Norwell Motorplex while Team 18 has taken up an offer to move into Ross Stone’s workshop.
After news broke that teams would have to move, ShowTime Entertainment Group boss Gary Reid contacted Walkinshaw Andretti United and Tickford Racing to see if they could help.
“We’ve got a tie in with a lot of teams because we’ve been involved with V8 entertainment for a long time,” Reid told Speedcafe.com.
“When I heard that the teams had to relocate to Queensland, we reached out to Tickford just to see if they needed anything.
“They ended up needing a whole area for their four cars, so we lined up Sea World Resort for them.
“Warren Luff, who is one of my managers at Movie World and drives for Walkinshaw, I said to him to just ring the boys and see if they needed anything to let them know we can try help out.
“Luffy rang back and said they were looking for somewhere to prep the cars and park up.
“We’ve got the room at our ShowTime workshop, so we moved a few things around and got them enough room to set two cars up and park up the B-double and be ready for Darwin.”
The Gold Coast base has a workshop and 1950s-style cafe and lunchroom that the team will be able to use.
Reid has also sought help from associated businesses including painters and alignment specialists.
With at least a two-week window in which the teams are expected to be based on the Gold Coast, Reid said they’ll look to do some cross-promotion with the teams and drivers.
“We’re actually talking about putting a couple of Tickford cars in our show in Sea World and having the drivers make a cameo at the start of the show,” he said.
“We’ll probably take Chaz (Mostert) and Bryce (Fullwood) out to Movie World and somehow put them in the show.
“We’ve got a couple of comedy roles where they can act like policemen and sheriffs and we all get a bit of a laugh out of it.”
Reid said he was keen to make the teams feel as at home as possible amid an uncertain period away from home.
“I think that’s the important thing, I feel for the teams that have got young families at home with partners, it’s a tough slog,” said Reid.
“My wife and daughter have put up their hand to host a barbeque at home and try to get a homely feeling back to some of the teams.
“I know Paul Morris has organised a bit of stuff for the boys to have fun. I think it’s great that everyone is pulling together and helping out.
“With the Tickford thing, I made one phone call to Sea World Resort and they said they would do whatever they could to help.”
Practice 1 at the Truck Assist Sydney SuperSprint gets underway at 11:45 local time/AEST.
