We aren't walking away from Ford. They walked away from us.

I am absolutely exhausted after eight days of answering fans' concerns about our switch to Holden...

...plus a tough Sandown round and then a ride day at Eastern Creek. Last weekend at Sandown was a tough round for many reasons.

We had a lot of focus on off-track activities explaining our decision to switch to Holden next year and in some ways that hurt our on-track performance. It just goes to show that you have to be operating at 100 per cent to get the results in this category.

My championship lead has now dropped a bit, but I'm still happy to be leading with one round at Queensland Raceway to go before we head on to the dual driver mode. I hope everyone noticed that I drove very aggressively and pushed pretty hard at Sandown.

I wasn't just playing it safe. I never play it safe. I like to get out there and go as hard as I can. I think that's good for the sport and good for the fans.

Speaking of the fans, I was a bit concerned about the boos from the crowd that Craig (Lowndes) and I got. There are always some in the crowd that want to play it that way and I suppose it's understandable.

We both spent a massive amount of time talking to hard-core Ford fans at the track and I spent a whole day on the website explaining the situation to the hundreds of angry people.

I was trying to explain why we had to make the change and that we tried to make it work with Ford. We aren't walking away from Ford. They walked away from us.

I knew when I signed on with Team Vodafone for three more years that we were switching to Holden. In fact, that made my decision all the more easy.

You can't compete without some form of manufacturer support and we had none, not even for our ride days, let alone for development of the race car and the street product.

The word "support" means more than just money. Support also means things like providing cars for ride days which are a fun way to turn fans into better drivers.

I believe we've made the right call and I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't lead to the introduction of more manufacturers to the sport. If Ford can't support half the Ford V8 Supercar teams, then someone else should step in.

Meanwhile, I like Garth Tander's suggestion that if the organisers are going to continue with the soft tyre rule, they should keep it to no more than six rounds and allow two sets of soft tyres each race, although the extra expense could be a problem.

I'm not a fan of the soft-tyre rule, but I do understand it is good for our sport.

I'll tell you what else is good for the sport; the decision to run a round of the Australian Superbikes at the Phillip Island round. That's a big plus. I and most of the V8 Supercar drivers love their bikes and I'm sure most of the fans love bikes as well. I'll be making sure I have some spare time during the day to hang over the fence and watch the best riders and bikes in Australia go round.

It's just a test at the moment, but I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't at a lot more shared events with the superbikes next year. While they can't do the street circuits because they aren't suitable or safe for bikes, they should be at all the track circuits.