Walking down from Newcastle Interchange, the sound could have been mistaken for Friday’s unrelenting wind.
Up against the barricades with Raymond Terrace’s Trevor Davis, it was clearly rubber against ashphalt interspersed with popping from the exhaust.
Mr Davis’ guide dog, Josie, was the one wearing ear plugs.
“I mainly listen to the engines,” Mr Davis said.
“I love it. I am a car nut. Been mad for it ever since I was a little boy.”
Attending the Newcastle 500 on a weekend pass, a gift from his son, Mr Davis said the event was a “birthday made”.
In the arms of his parents, seven-month-old Oliver Anderson experienced the thrill of a high-performance vehicle bolting past for the very first time. And definitely not the last.
“We are Supercar fans,” Oliver’s father Chris Anderson said.
“We hope he becomes a Supercars driver. That would be nice.”
Smiling in a pair of miniature ear-muffs, Oliver certainly took the extra noise and attention like a natural.
“He loves it,” Mr Anderson said.
“He tends to fall asleep.”
Down beside the track spectators said there was a bigger crowd than the event’s first day last year.
However, there were some stands in the eastern part of the course still empty by Friday afternoon.
It was definitely quieter in the residents-only zone where 69-year-old Anne Lyons watched from under the shade of a palm tree.
She said she was a recent convert.
“The first year I wasn’t too happy. I was going to boycott the race,” the Shepherd’s Place resident said.
“The first day I thought, ‘I may as well get a look.’
“I fell in love with it,” she said.
“I love the Holdens, they’re my favourite.
“I like the fellow who is retiring this year, Craig, and Whincup. Anyone who is driving a Holden.”
Back in the throng of Foreshore Park, school uniforms were just as common as team shirts.
North Lakes Public School teacher Grant Cooper linked his school with Supercars back when the event was held at Olympic Park.
"It's our second year here, we did three or four years down in Sydney," he said.
"We let the kids have an experience that they may never have again.
“We contacted Supercars and they gave us 50 free tickets. We hire a bus, charge the kids $20 a head and use it as part of our school reward program.
"It sells out in one day."
Looking over groups of students prying their lunch boxes open, there were spectators who had paid top dollar for their seats.
Julian Morton, the Newcastle face of property developer Thirdi Group, dined with twenty friends and colleagues on the balcony of Customs House, while cars whizzed by in his periphery.
“It’s a great thing for Newcastle,” he said.
“I don’t know the first thing about cars but I’m supportive of it for that reason.”
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