Hamilton Vs. Performance Garage

As part of their events in the week leading up to the 2012 Australian Grand Prix, Vodafone Australia organised for Lewis Hamilton to make the trip to the Eastern Creek International Karting Raceway to race against a selection of Vodafone customers and media.

The format for the day would be a time trial / race scenario, where Lewis Hamilton would take to the track alone in his kart for five laps. Of these five laps his quickest would be recorded and then it would be up to the customers and media to try and get somewhere near this time. To make the challenge harder for the customers and media, they would be sent out in groups. This gave them the challenge of both trying to deal with other racers on the track and try to record a time somewhere near one of the best current F1 drivers in the world.

Given an invite to attend, we assembled a motley crew of racers including: Adrian Hodgson - Editor Performance Garage, Igor Amedov - Creative Director Performance Garage, Liam Quirk - Editor Street Commodores, Ryan Lewis - Editor Fast Fours Magazine and Mark Boxer - Hoon TV. Of course with pride on the line the team were ready to go all out in the quest for victory.

The toxic combination of pre-race nerves, anxiety, adrenaline and enthusiasm lead to a lot of boasting amongst the team, as they suited up and listened to the drivers briefing. Each member was keen to outdo the other and come out on top. Of course, everyone was confident of obliterating Lewis's 46.9 second fast lap.

Finally after much anticipation it was time to hit the track. Taking to their allocated karts the guys sat and finally had a moment to contemplate the very real task at hand, before the karts were fired up and they were waved out of pit lane and onto the track.

Of course, as with any competition between our staff members, the rules went out the window. Check out the video below to find out who ultimately walked home with their head held high and who couldn't live up to their great imaginings of driving ability. We think our race may even prove to be more exciting than the F1 event this weekend.