REPORT: Australian racing fans limited to just 24 beers per day
Bathurst 1000 fan enjoying a coldie during The Great Race
You know what's not aces? When you're just trying to drink a little amber fluid and watch the Bathurst 1000 and the man treats you like a total bogan. What business is it of his how many coldies you drink when it's time to hit the turps? This makes us so mad we could eat a trough lolly! No doubt a pommy bastard thunk this 'un up...
And that marks the end of our silly attempt to sound Australian. However, it does not end our amusement over the fact that Australian officials have set a 24-beer per day limit on fans attending the Bathurst 1000. As in, you are allowed to drink 24 beers, but not 25. Cause you know, there's a huge difference. Why are they enacting this draconian alcohol policy? To cut down on booze-related crime of course.
If you don't know, the Bathurst 1000 is known in the Land Down Under as "The Great Race." Only V8 Supercars are allowed to compete. These days in Australia V8 Supercars consist of either the Holden Commodore or the Ford Falcon. That's it. Thousands of blokes and sheilas turn up in the town of Bathurst to watch the cars run, and turns out they like drinking.
Says police assistant commissioner Alan Clarke, "This is one of the greatest motorsport events in Australia and for some it is a pilgrimage that they make every year... Every year thousands of race fans attend and enjoy the event and Police will not allow their safety to be compromised by a drunken few." So there you have it. Drink your 24 beers, keep your nose clean and you shouldn't have any trouble. Oh, if you drink low- or medium-strength beer, the cops will let you have up to 36. Sweet! Hat tip to Bumbeck.
[Source: Reuters | Image: Ryan Pierse/Getty]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Polly Prissy Pants 6:38PM (10/07/2009)
So would that be 24 twelve ouncers or 24 oil cans?
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Joe 6:52PM (10/07/2009)
New rule request to AB -
Stop posting about all the cool $hit AU gets that we don't ! :)
I think I need to move there...
xtasi 7:26PM (10/07/2009)
or 40 oz?
@Kam: You sir, must have gone to a party college... cuz that's where young creative minds come up with that elaborate... nice touch on the balloon. It will work even when you pump it.... nice.
In any case, what's what's the difference to one beer per our for 24 hours or drinking 24 beer in 1 hour. One will get you plastered, the other will not do a dam thing.
larry raines 6:42PM (10/07/2009)
how on earth do they know how many beers you have had?
maybe they will have a card that they punch holes in at the vendors and outlaw BYOB?
OMG - who can drink that much anyway during one race, this is not a 24 hou race?!
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Phil Perman 6:47PM (10/07/2009)
Its BYO, and basically they limit you to bringing in one slab per person (thats a case of 24 cans)
Kam 7:18PM (10/07/2009)
The race goes for a couple hours, but ya usually camp out at the mountain for 2-3 days, so you can only take 75 beers or so for each person, 24 VBs or Carltons a day. Effin bullsh*t.
This crap was pulled last year too, but we'll get around it again anyway the same way we did last year - buy a 1 litre bottle of sunscreen (like this http://www.ecoenvironmental.com.au/eco/images/ppe_sunscreen_1litre.jpg), unscrew & empty it out into another container, then thoroughly wash it out and pour 1 & 1/4 bottles of Bundy in (you need to fill it up so that it doesnt slosh when shaken). Then you stick the pumper with the straw into the sunscreen and give it a few pumps to prime it so's it's full of sunscreen, and seal a deflated ballon full of sunscreen over the inside end with duct tape so that it pumps sunscreen when tested. The last bit is optional, some people jus seal the end of the tube, but I include the ballon so it pumps better, and so the tops of ya ears dont get so burned this time round.
Craig 9:21PM (10/07/2009)
Kam, I think you are understating the length of the race.... Maybe your Bundy stash shortens time :)
It goes for about 7 hours, starts at 10 am and generally finishes by 5 pm.
BigMcLargeHuge 6:45PM (10/07/2009)
It's really to prevent the overflowing of portable urinals. They can only hold so much. =P
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nrb 6:49PM (10/07/2009)
How much were they drinking?
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Samurai Jack 6:52PM (10/07/2009)
Good choice on the barley pop there... Victoria Bitter is a fine brew indeed.
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Jonny Lieberman 7:11PM (10/07/2009)
Thanks for noticing -- we actually spend 30 minutes picking it out.
turbo-quattro 7:28PM (10/07/2009)
love vb!
Berto 10:26PM (10/07/2009)
VB for the Win!!
I think I know that horse dude... is he from Perth?
Lee 12:58AM (10/08/2009)
Which reminds me, i need to head in to San Francisco to get me a case.
Berto 6:06AM (10/08/2009)
That's the one thing I forgot to bring down with me when I moved back to SD from the Bay Area a couple months ago.
I guess I now have an excuse to go back up there haha
VB here I come!
Samurai Jack 7:03PM (10/09/2009)
Wait, you mean you can get VB in the States? Why is this not widely known?
0crash 6:54PM (10/07/2009)
That's too harsh and strict, only 24 beer cans per day ??? lol.
how much beers were they drinking?
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Joey Mazz 4:32AM (10/08/2009)
Isn't 24 beers a day the average daily intake for an Australian man anyway? I imagine they'd have to double that number before they actually start to feel the alcohol.
Some Guy 7:09PM (10/07/2009)
This drinking limit has actually been imposed for a few years now, but many people get around this by visiting Mount Panorama a few weeks in advance and burying their beer on the mountain, so it can be dug up during the 'Great Race' (and I'm not making that up!).
One of the beer companies is also providing inflatable couches to try and prevent people participating in the post-race tradition of setting fire to their regular couches. It's quite a site...
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Farmboy 7:42PM (10/07/2009)
Hmmmm....I believe that the person in this picture is still over that limit.
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