A crippling shortage of accommodation in Orange and Bathurst and a chance phone call prompted Gail Copping to open her home to a race-going couple dying to go to the Bathurst 1000 for more than 12 years and counting.

However courtesy of Gail’s overwhelming generosity, the married duo will be put up at Gail’s Summer Street home all weekend completely free of charge.

“Well not completely free, they’re gonna to take me out to Chinese on Saturday night,” she said yesterday.

“I have a spare room and putting them up for a couple of nights isn’t really going to cost me anything so why not? This is a prime example of people who normally couldn’t have come to our area because of accommodation shortages but now they will come here, spend some money at local businesses and then go back home at the end of the weekend and talk about Orange and hopefully come back with their friends.”

Describing herself as a “voluntary tourism ambassador”, Gail said she would spend all Saturday showing her mystery couple around before they headed off to the races in Bathurst on Sunday morning.

“There’s no way you would get me at the races but that shouldn’t stop me from extending a helping hand. I’m going to make some new friends out of it so why not, live it up a little I say.”

Other rev heads and race-goers looking for a bed this weekend are being forced to look for accommodation as far afield as Cowra, Katoomba and Hill End.

Almost every hotel, motel and bed and breakfast in Orange has been forced to put up their no vacancy signs despite still receiving daily requests from desperate Bathurst 1000 fans who rather forgot to organise accommodation in advance.

Bathurst visitors’ centre manager Felicity Baines said beds in both Bathurst and Orange were overflowing.

“From what I understand, the police who will be at the event have to stay in Cowra,” Ms Baines said yesterday.