WEIRD, strange and even scary - that's how Penrite Racing team boss Betty Klimenko described the atmosphere at this year's Bathurst 1000.
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Attending her first Supercars event since the Melbourne 400 at Albert Park in March - an event which was cancelled on day two due to the COVID-19 pandemic - Klimenko saw a very different scene as she watched her team's two Commdores in action.
Instead of having tens of thousands of fans watching right across the circuit and cheering on the cars, only 4,000 spectators were permitted each day due to COVID-19 restrictions.
There were no fans at the top of the Mount and no campers.
"It's strange, it's quiet, there's no fire, there's no fireworks and that beautiful smell you get over Bathurst, none of that's there," she said in a online fan chat.
"There's no noise, there's just racing noise ... for me it's just really strange.
"At night there's no people standing in the pit lane yelling at you and talking to you, it's actually quite boring.
"I miss it, I miss talking to the people, I really do."
While Klimenko has been a regular at the Mount since her team joined the Supercars grid in 2013, she admitted she had not realised how big the area around the circuit was.
Instead of seeing packed camping grounds, this year the fields are empty.
"When you're coming in and you're driving through that area near the tunnel, very, very scary, very weird, didn't know there was that many field there. I honestly did not realise how big that area was," she said.
"You're waiting for the tents and the caravans, I can't do my normal walk where I go talk to the people up in the camping [area] it's like this is wrong, this is so wrong, I need people.
"I miss the fans this week terribly.
"They should have got those cardboard cut-outs that used in the football and just lined the track with them, that would have been cool."
