Darwin getting hot

But as far as I'm concerned the hotter the better.  The hot temperature seems to suit me better than most drivers who suffer from heat exhaustion.  I think it's because I don't sweat a lot. Some drivers are like that.

So I intend to put a little heat on my teammate (Jamie Whincup) and JC (James Courtney) and close the gap this weekend.  I'm excited about coming to Darwin after a five-week layoff.

That's something all the teams will have to get their heads around again for qualifying and racing on the Saturday.  But just to throw a spanner in the works and make things interesting we get one sprint tyre to run in the Sunday race.

Balancing the cars for the two different sets of circumstances is going to be taxing on the race engineers, in particular.  A lot of people have pointed out that I've had better results than Jamie on the sprint tyre and wonder why one side of the garage can get it so right and why the other side can't.

Apart from car balance and set-up, it probably also comes down to driver styles.  The sprint tyre gives me what I'm looking for which is front grip. That gives me confidence in the turns.

The Falcon I raced over the past few years had more turn-in grip than the Commodore I'm in now which is where I struggle.  Jamie struggled early on with the sprint tyre, but he's started to get on top of the problem and was achieving some good performances in the last round in Winton.

He's also got a new brand new car this weekend, so that should build his confidence and help him bounce back into the lead again.  It seems like an eternity since we last raced at Winton. The five-week break was because the Perth round was dropped.

One of the things I've been doing to keep my mind and reflexes sharp over that time is clay target shooting.  My wife Nat is more the shooter than I am. For her it's an enjoyable pastime, but for me it's another angle I use to sharpen my hand-eye co-ordination.

The clay target machine we've had for the past 12 months oscillates so you don't know which direction it will throw the target. You really have to have quick reflexes to hit the targets.

The next stage for me will be to turn it into an Aussie version of the winter Olympic cross country skiing event where they ski, then stop and shoot at five targets, then ski on to the next stop. Only I'll include running instead of skiing. 

The idea is you have to develop aerobic fitness and steady your heart so you can hold the rifle still enough to hit the target.  Maybe we can develop that into a summer Olympic sport. 

Most fans would know I've had photos of my kids on the back of my racing helmet for a few years now.  But they grow up so quick. So at the start of the season I had photos taken of them to update my helmet.

However, I'm still waiting.  The guy who is doing it rang me and said he has only just got the undercoat on.  He's a perfectionist and a real artist so you can't hurry him.  Hopefully I'll have it for the first of the enduro rounds at Phillip Island after our nine-week mid-season break.