27/02/2005
NEWS STORY
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On Sunday morning the BMW WilliamsF1 Team gave Australia its first taste of Formula One action of 2005. With the season opener in Melbourne just one week away Australia's best known landmark, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, became a Formula One track when Mark Webber drove over it at the wheel of the team's Formula One car.
At 8.10 am exactly the Australian set off and crossed the bridge a dozen times. The TV channel Network 10 provided nationwide live broadcast of the event, while spectators followed the event on a huge video screen.
Webber was delighted: "Thundering with 900 bhp over that time-honoured structure was an amazing feeling. The engine sound over the ocean was fantastic. I just can't thank everybody enough in my home state New South Wales who made this show for the fans possible."
For Webber's crossing, the "coat hanger", as the Australians have nicknamed their bridge, was blocked off for a couple of hours. Usually traffic runs over the 50 metre wide deck in eight lanes, plus two railway lines, a walk way and a bicycle way.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge, opened in March 1932, is the biggest (but not longest) steel arch bridge in the world. At its highest point, the arch reaches 134 metres above sea level. The deck of the bridge is 49 metres above Sydney harbour. The bridge has often been the centre of international events. In the year 2000, the pictures of the Olympic Games closing ceremony went around the world.
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