Motor Racing legend Greg Murphy finally got to the Bathurst 1000 start line and was in prime condition thanks to an intense training regime by HBCFCT Strength & Conditioning Coach Roy Haffner.

Murph (as he’s commonly known) was set to race in “the great race” in 2021 but COVID19 and travel restrictions put an end to that campaign. Having done most of the training, Murph vowed to have another go at a final drive in a Holden supercar alongside Ritchie Stanaway, and Roy was invited to be pit side.

For Roy, it was a once in a lifetime experience, to spend the week with Murph and the BOOST mobile team at Bathurst. Roy has spent the last two years preparing Murph for the 12 hour race and the event surpassed all expectations – from the motor racing fans that spend up to 2 weeks at the site "mostly drinking and playing in the mud” through to the professionalism of the race teams, and their sponsors.

“I’ve never really been a motor sport fan and I probably didn’t appreciate that it is very much a team sport with everyone playing their part, regardless of whether it’s changing the tyres to the marketing team or driving. There’s no way drivers can be successful without their teams.”

Roy flew over to Australia with Murph and was alongside him throughout the week – getting a real insight into the Kiwi driver that is famed for his ‘lap of the gods’, a lap record he set in 2003. Returning at 50 years of age, the four time champion beat his previous lap former record.

“He knew everyone and they all wanted to spend some time talking to him. I didn’t realise just how well respected and how highly regarded he is. He’s a legend over there.”

The Boost mobile team did much better than pundits expected, finishing 11^th out of 28 with Ritchie excelling on the wet track and Murph’s intuitive feel for the track and his competitive nature also coming to the fore. Roy says the hard work in the gym paid off especially when the race suit’s cooling system failed, placing additional pressure on the body. He says there were also some key takeaways to help prepare other drivers in the future.

“Supercars are nothing like a normal car, apart from the vehicle body, ergonomically the driver set up is very different. I would have probably focussed more on the biomechanics as part of our training as the driver set up is more like a Formula 1 car than I thought. The training Murph did alongside his mates Rusty (Greg Rust) and Rabs (Mike Rabbitte) especially in the last 8 week stint did pay off and during Bathurst he reached a new max heart rate of 182. He really did do the physical preparation and I haven’t yet worked with someone that pushes themselves so hard. He would have jumped off a cliff If I had asked him to.”

Roy didn’t have an official role at the race, he was an observer, saying it was a fantastic learning experience that he is keen to include in any future work with motor racing drivers.

“I soaked up as much of the experience I could and to see first-hand the physical and mental pressure drivers go through. Going forward it would be great to look at HBCFCT offering high performance training as part of motor sport camps for up and coming drivers. I’ve worked with Murph’s son Ronan and from what I hear there’s little physical training, so perhaps there’s an opportunity to offer more specialised physical programmes."

While at Bathurst Roy also got to experience the track as part of Murph’s ritual of driving the track on arrival, albeit in a Kia SUV.

“It was great to be in a car going around Bathurst with two professional race drivers, even though we were only going 50 kilometres an hour. Murph and Ritchie knew every part of the track and shared stories about their experiences over the years."

Article added: Monday 28 November 2022