NIKI LAUDA TRIBUTE TO THE TOUGHEST CHAMPION SINCE 1971
.COM.AU COM AU
CHAZ HAS BIG DECISION TO MAKE
CRUNCH TIME
MOSTERT MULLS OVERSEAS OFFER AS SILLY SEASON HOTS UP LE BOSS VS THE FOGES
TCR’S STORMING START
Jean Todt grilled on racing’s future
Issue #1762
May 30 to June 12 , 2019
$7.95 NZ $8.50
www.autoaction.com.au
PLUS
What Supercar team bosses think
SANDOWN SAFE TRACK CHANGE SECURES FUTURE
Ken Block’s Cosworth Escort is a serious bit of kit, built specifically to compete in rallies around the globe at the highest level.
the first inspiration. Then where the gymkhana thing really comes from is autocross, which is grass roots competition that’s quite big in the States, were you have to slide the car to be quick. So I did a couple of those events and I was like ‘Hey, this is really fun. This is getting to slide a higher horsepower rally style car around a course.’ That’s where I learned. “The guy doing the events in southern California where I lived then quit doing those gymkhana events, so I had this car, but nowhere to go compete with it. So I went back to one of the places where I did a gymkhana race, which was El Toro airfield and that’s when we made the first video. “We had no idea that itt would do what it did. It went viral right away. So it was quite a surprise to us and after a couple of months, my sponsors were like ‘So, when are you doin’ another one of those?’ It just kind of escalated from there.” Block’s “Cossie World Tour” will next take in the classic Donegal tarmac rally in Northern Ireland next month, followed by the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Rally Legends at San Marino, Rally du Valais in the Swiss Alps, the Gymkhana GRiD event in Poland and then back to America for demos at the SEMA show. “It’s just been fun for me to put this together to go out and do a lot of unique events around the world that are some of my favourites,” he said. “At the end of the day, I’m a rally driver. I love rallying, and I love to promote rallying and Ford’s involvement. It’s a lot of fun for me.” Block has done 10 Gymkhana videos in the past nine years, thrilling audiences with his spectacular driving displays in city centres and industrial sites. Two turnin’ and four burin’ is his mantra. There is more to come from the don of drifting, with ‘Gymkhana 11’ set for later this year, although they won’t be numbered from now on. “We’re not going to number them anymore, but we’ll continue making them,” he revealed, enigmatically. “My sponsors still want me to make stuff and people are still watching them. There’s a new one that we’ll film this year.” Block’s most iconic Gymkhana machine is the Hoonicorn – a 1400 horsepower, all-wheel
32 AutoAction
Ken K Ke e Block describes his hhi i ‘Hoonicon’ Ford Mustang as both M ““frightening “f f to drive” aand the “funnest car an I’II’ve v ever driven.”
KEN BLOCKED IN SYDNEY
drive, 1965-shape Mustang monster. It starred in Gymkhana 7 and again in the latest 10th edition. The Hoonicorn is powered by a twinturbocharged 6.7-litre Ford V8 that gets Block’s attention. “It’s actually a frightening thing to drive,” he said. “It doesn’t act like a normal car. An all-wheel drive car, you pitch it sideways and tell it to go that way. But with the Mustang, the wheels spin up so fast that it’s a real handful. “It just does things unlike any other car I’ve ever driven.” His favourite Gymkhanas are 5 in San Francisco, including an unexpected run across the Bay Bridge, and 7 in LA with the Mustang Hoonicorn. “Gymkhana 5, doing the city thing for the first time, was really wild. That’s one of the coolest driving cities in the world. There’s just so much elevation change everywhere. “And then Gymkhana 7 with the Mustang was really fun because I grew up in the LA area and that Mustang is just the funnest car I’ve ever driven. Nothin’ like it.” Block’s Hoonigan brand is a conjuncture of hoon and hooligan. His videos carry the
ONE OF Ken Block’s internetO bbreaking Gymkhana videos could have been set in Sydney. ha Think of Block sliding and ddonuting one of his fast Fords th through the centre of Sydney, aaround The Rocks and over the H Harbour Bridge. It nearly happened. His 2016 Gymkhana 9 was supposed to take place in Sydney. It was all set until city officials got involved. Crucially, they demanded ed that Block kept to the speed limits – 80 km/h on the bridge, as low as 40 km/h in the CBD. It was a huge missed opportunity. Following’s Sydney’s rejection, Block took Gymkhana 9 to an abandoned industrial site in Buffalo, in upstate New York. It was, of course, a viral hit. “It was really disappointing,” Block recalls. “We tried to be very plain and clear about the fact that everything we do is done in the safest way possible. “We wanted to do Gymkhana 9 in Sydney and we went about all the right steps – film permits, work with the police and all that – but at the end of the day, the hierarchy got to a certain point where that person said ‘OK, well, if I’m allowing hooning on my streets, you can only go the speed limit’. “That was actually one of the criteria that came down. It just didn’t make sense. I thought it would’ve been really cool, but it
is what it is. We invested a bunch of money to scout and do the work there, and got nothing for it.” Block’s advance party had mapped out a route through Sydney’s CBD and The Rocks, plus a run over the Harbour Bridge. “It was all around downtown Sydney,” Block remembered. “I think we were even supposed to have the Harbour Bridge, but that’s one of the places they said I couldn’t go faster than the speed limit (80 km/h). “That wasn’t going to make a very good video!” Had it happened, Block would’ve used his 600 horsepower Ford Focus RS in Sydney. NSW authorities were just as squeamish when Mark Webber drove an F1 Williams across the bridge in 2005. Webber was also limited to 80 km/h, but exceeded that by at least double out-of-sight on the northern side of the bridge. MFF
AUSTRALIA’S LARGEST SUPPLIER OF HIGH PERFORMANCE ENGINE PARTS!
SHOCK THERAPY
THE SULTAN of slide, the King Of Hoons, is a closet fan of electric racers. Ken Block admits that he’s been thinking about an electric Gymkhana car for some time. “I’ve actually wanted to do one for a long time,” Block revealed. “It’ll happen eventually. Ford has a very nice electric car coming. I’ve seen it.” Block was referring to the all-electric Mustang Mach E that Ford will launch next year. Although excited by motoring’s electric future, he admitted he would miss the sound of combustion engines. “I am a big fan of internal combustion engines, but I like technology and I like change,” he said. “I don’t look at the electric thing as a negative. I look at the positives of what can come from it. “I’ll miss the sound – I think all of us will, we’re old. My kids won’t give a shit. They’ll be like ‘Electric cars, cool’. They’ve grown up driving electric karts. “The next generations aren’t going to have the same love that we do for the combustion engine. Watching some of the electric racing, I definitely miss the sound. “But I do embrace it. I think that there are some interesting ideas that we can do with them.” Block added that he saw the car eventually going the way of the horse. “I think that no matter what, there’s always going to be cars that people buy that they drive,” he said. “I don’t ever see that enjoyment going away. I think it’s too much fun. “Maybe it’ll be more recreational, as a dirt bike is. The future of all that stuff is really quite unpredictable at this point.” M
advice to ‘Hoon Responsibly’. Although inspired by the Australian term, it has a very different meaning in the USA. “In America, hoon is much more a term of endearment,” Block explains. “Of course, it has a negative connotation in Australia. Everywhere else, it’s like ‘Oh, you’re having fun with a car’. Block lives in Park City, Utah, a tranquil mountain resort east of Salt Lake City. He now defines his future as helping his three children – two girls aged 10 and 12, and an eight-year-old boy – achieve their racing dreams. “Well, the future for me really has to do with my kids,” he said. “They’re actually getting old enough to race. We just bought my son, who’s my youngest, a kart and my eldest has what we call a trophy kart, like an off-road version of a kart, a little bigger, so she’s been racing that. “I’m going to continue what I’m doing now, kinda the world tour thing, seven or eight events a year, but I’m starting to pay more attention to them at home now, to help develop their skills. “I have three kids and they’re all interested in racing at some level, so I’m going to give them the best opportunity. I started so late in life that I’m going to give them the proper opportunity to start young, which is what I wish I could’ve done. “They already want more horsepower.” Block competed sporadically in the WRC from 2007 – just two years after he started with Subaru in the States – and did more events from 2010-14 when he switched to Ford.
His late-life tilt at WRC was decent, but far from outstanding. “WRC for me was a great opportunity, but compared with most rally drivers that grew up in countries like Finland or France, or even here (Australia or NZ), my pace notes development was not what it should’ve been going in at that level,” he admitted. “I could drive the car quite well. My testing times were very similar to the factory drivers, but the experience on the events and writing those notes wasn’t what it should have been. “I was doing it in such a rushed way, too – usually you take a couple of years developing your notes on those events in a lower class. But I didn’t have that kind of time. I went straight to the top class and tried to compete. “Looking back on it, it just wasn’t the ideal situation. But it was what it was. I was dealt a certain set of hands based on what the sponsors wanted and I went for it. “It was a great experience. I wish it had gone a little better, but it is what it is.” Ken Block is one of motor sport’s great characters. He created a huge following among a younger generation and continues to be a social media superstar.
Xxxx Xxxx Xxxx Xxxx
*Express Orders available via UPS *Huge Catalogue range of race parts to choose from *Technical support second to none 6 Cronulla Court, Slacks Creek, Q 4127 PWA: 07 3808 1986 QSS: 07 3808 4333 performancewholesale.com.au speedwayspares.com.au
AutoAction
33
p ra w S L A N NATIO NOTHING SHORT ABOUT MARK’S WIN WITH LESS cubic capacity than anyone else, Mark Short took his Suzuki-powered Prince LSR to victory in round one of the Australian Prototype Series. He took the points at SMP ahead of a tie between Mark Laucke and David Barram for second. It was a battle in the first half of race one but ultimately Barram pulled away in his Hondapowered Chiron to win by over 12s. Short clambered all over the race leader for a while but didn’t have the straight-line speed to stay with him. Third place saw the battle of the Peugeot turbo-powered Wolfs for several laps before Jason Makris emerged third ahead of Daniel Gonzalez and Laucke. John-Paul Drake was in the mix early but spun his Honda-engine Wolf out at turn 10 and then pitted. Behind the Wolfs it was on between the leading Radical SR3s where Peter Paddon came out on top ahead of Stephen Champion and Carmelo Bonaventura. Short won the second 15-lapper after initial leader Barram had a big brake lock-up and an off-the-road excursion at turn six on the first lap. Short was unchallenged to take the win while Gonzales held second until he was passed by the similarly mounted Laucke. Makris held fourth until he had a tyre blow. That left Drake to cross the line next before he was disqualified later. Fourth eventually went to Bonaventura over Champion and fellow Radical pilots Zig Fuhrmeister, Bill Medland and Michael Whiting. Barram finished ninth and a lap down. GOB
JONES GETS BREAKTHROUGH PORSCHE VICTORY HARRI JONES scored a maiden victory in the Jim Richards Endurance Trophy race at the second Porsche Michelin GT3 Cup Challenge Australia round and won overall on May 18-19. Driving for McElrea Racing, he was the third race winner after Sonic Racing’s Max Vidau won race one and Ryan Suhle tasted victory in the second outing. Second overall went to Aaron Love with Christian Pancione third. Meanwhile Sam Shahin, with two class wins, topped the TAG Heuer Pro-Am ahead of Brett Boulton with Michael Loccisano taking third. In Class B, Andrew Goldie completed a clean
sweep of three wins. Vidau converted pole to a race one victory. Love was second and made it a Sonic Racing one-two, while Jones and Suhle were third and fourth. Cameron Crick finished fifth, despite a 5s penalty for rolling at the start Next was Shahin, although Boulton had led Pro-Am for most of the race. A late spin saw Boulton drop down the order, while a post-race penalty for overtaking under yellows saw him relegated further. A failed clutch left Vidau stranded at the start of race two. Love assumed the race lead and extended an early margin following the safety car
Images: Insyde Media
period. But he ran off at turn two which allowed Suhle to take the top spot. Shahin recorded a career-best second, defending ahead of Jones, Tom Taplin, Pancione and Crick in a furious five-car dice. Taplin was handed a postrace penalty that placed him seventh behind Boulton. Goldie drove his older 997 GT3 Cup Car to a strong 12th outright. At the start of the longer Jim Richards Endurance Trophy over 25 laps Suhle suffered a clutch failure and was left stranded at turn 3. Shahin led from the outset but would incur a 5s penalty for his start and soon surrendered the lead to
Jones. Jones opened an early buffer and then had to fend off a charging Love in the closing stages after he stormed through from 10th. Love and thirdplaced Pancione chased down the leader, and finished just behind Jones in a tight finish between the top three. Meanwhile Boulton passed Shahin in the second half of the race, finishing fifth outright behind Crick and ahead of Shahin, Taplin and Vidau, who started 23rd. Vidau progressed to fifth by mid-race, only to leak places as he struggled following damage to his front splitter early on. GOB
PERINI PREVAILS
A DOMINANT race one win set the scene for Chris Perini to win round three of the Radical Australia Cup ahead of Max Medland and the father and son combination of Brad and Mitch Neilson. For all but eight laps of the 30, Perini led the first 50min race. He opened up a substantial gap on his rivals in the lead-up to the compulsory pitstops and once back in front, drove away to a 26.7s victory. Second place went to Kostinken Pohorukov who had a 8.7s advantage over Stephen Champion at the conclusion while Medland was fourth, sharing the drive with his father Chris, ahead of Rowan Ross and the Neilsons. Peter Paddon and Paul Braico were early casualties after clashing at turn 2 whilst debating second place. The two-driver combination of Peter Anseline and Oliver Smith won the second 50min race. They were victorious ahead of Peter Paddon while the Neilsons were third and retained a narrow fourpoint lead at the halfway mark. The race really didn’t get underway until 13mins in after a safety car period for a first corner incident that took out Braico and John-Paul Drake. Perini led until the obligatory pitstops when the Neilsons led. Smith soon grabbed the lead and drove away. Paddon snared second with just a couple of laps to go. Ross seemingly had fourth stitched up until a late spin. That spot then went to Max Medland (on his own for this race) over Greg Kenny and Perini, impeded with a front suspension failure. Pohorukov was as high as fifth but eventually went out with a blown diff. GOB
52 AutoAction
LUIS EXTENDS F4 CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD TWO RACE wins helped Luis Leeds take out round two of the CAMS PAYCE Australian Formula 4 Championship and extend his points lead, winning ahead of teammate Antonio Astuti and Lochie Hughes. From lights out to flag fall Leeds took advantage of his pole position to win the opening encounter. The AGI Sport driver saw off the early challenge of Team BRM’s Hughes to win by 3.5s. Round one runner-up Ryan Suhle (Team BRM) didn’t figure in the results, having blown the diff at the start. Astuti was third ahead of Tommy Smith (Team BRM) while it was nose-to-tail between Jackson Walls (Patrizicorse) and
Emerson Harvey (Team BRM) for sixth. With a reverse grid start from the finish of race 1, Walls was the second race leader until passed by Astuti on lap 4. A lap later Walls fell to the charging Suhle. Hughes was an early casualty, launched off at turn two after contact with Astuti. Leeds had started on the second row but contact at turn six dropped him to last. The AGI Sport driver fought his way back to fourth until a touch with Smith pushed him to the rear again. Not done, Leeds came back a second time and
managed to pip Walls for third at the flag. In the last Leeds led throughout, holding off Hughes and Suhle for the duration. Astuti crossed the line fourth, ahead of Walls, Harvey and Smith. GOB
MEMORIAL TROPHIES HEADLINE HISTORIC THE HISTORIC Racing Car Club of Queensland’s Autumn Historic Warwick on May 4-5 at Morgan Park featured two important races for Group N, the Bill Campbell and Jack Lacey Memorials, plus several other historic categories.
GROUP N HISTORIC TOURING CARS
IT WAS a great weekend for Craig Allan and his Holden Torana XU-1, winning both the Memorial trophies. He led every lap of the Bill Campbell race and won by over 4s. Graeme Wakefield (Ford Mustang) was second initially but finished sixth. Ian Mewett started fourth and progressed to second before dropping to fifth. Peter Baguley was another front runner and he fell by the wayside stopping his XU-1 on lap four, and joining Kevin Heffernen (XU-1) who was out earlier. Second and third went to Matt Clift (Mazda RX2) and Grahame Wrobel (Mustang), having started sixth and eighth respectively. In the Jack Lacey Memorial, Allan was best away as Wakefield lost ground with wheel spin. Mewett went to second and pounced on the lead as they crossed the line the first time. Clift
had a shot at getting past both at turn six, but ran wide and lost out to Wakefield for a while. Mewett crossed the line first but incurred a 5s penalty which dropped him to third behind Allan and Clift. Wakefield was fourth in front of Wrobel and Torana drivers Ron Blake and Bruce Dummett. The first Group Nb/Group Nc up to 2.0-litre race was dominated by Mini Cooper S’ with Graham Russell ahead of Stephen Hoade and Ed Ohlrich. Norm Singleton (Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV) won the second ahead of Hoade and Adam Duce (Cooper S) who turned the tables in the third, getting ahead of Hoade and Geoff Pike (Cooper S). The Group Nc over 2.0-litre lead up races both went to Baguley, beating Mewett and Wrobel in the first and Allan and Mewett in the second.
Dallara, this time it was an Elfin MS7. He scored pole in the wet and easily won the opening race ahead of Bruce Taylor (Tiga Sports 2000) and John Wishart (Welsor Clubman). Tweedie didn’t figure in race two where Taylor won ahead of Whishart and Mark Goldsmith (Elfin 400), but Tweedie returned for race three. That he won comfortably ahead of Taylor and Kevin Gray (Tiga) and took over 3s off the lap record. The MS7 was retired early out or race four when the exhaust header broke. Taylor won ahead of Goldsmith and Gray.
HISTORIC RACING CARS GROUPS Q, R & GROUP F
HISTORIC RACING CARS GROUPS V, LB & M
OVER THE four races, Bill Norman (Group R Ralt RT4) was in a league of his own, beating Robert Foster (Group R March 81A) on each occasion. Dan McCarthy (Group Q Elfin 622) picked up a couple of thirds, as did Barry Wise in his Group R March Super Vee. Of the Historic Formula Fords (Group F), Kendal Barry-Cotter (PRS) was the best in some close results as Robert Fry (Elfin) and Geoff Karger (Reynard) offered some serious challenges.
HISTORIC SPORTS CARS GROUPS O, Q & R Images: Trapnell Creations
IT WAS 10 years since Thomas Tweedie last raced the Warwick circuit, but rather than a F3
INITIALLY IT was a Formula Vee fest, dominating the opening race with Nigel Jones (Renmax) home first ahead of Don Greiveson (Spectre), Anthony Paynter (Stag), Graeme Clarke (Nimbus) and Geoff Stone (Elfin). Finishing eighth was Richard Nitschke who then steered his Group M Elfin Catalina to win the three remaining races, ahead of Jones firstly, then Paynter and Jones who were split by just 0.02s. In the last it was Paynter second which secured him Group Va overall. Jones won Group Vb as Craig Carlson (MG TC Special) and Barry Bates (Thompson Special) were the respective winners in Lb Racing and Lb Sports.
HISTORIC PRODUCTION SPORTS CARS GROUPS S, T & INVITED
PORSCHE 911 Carreras were the cars of choice. Stan Adler was best of the five entered, taking out the first three races. He won the first by 0.15s over Greg Horwill with David Cunneen and Tony Richmond third and fourth. In race two Horwill ran second until his race ended short of the flag where Kevin Luke finished second ahead of Cunneen and Richmond. Adler had another close one in race three, ahead of Luke, while Trevor Bassett (Ferrari Daytona) slipped by the dicing Richmond and Horwill for third. Adler came from the back in the last, getting as high as second before finishing ninth. In the meantime Luke scored ahead of Horwill with Richmond taking third away from Cunneen. GOB
ALL LEVEL IN B SERIES
THE SECOND round of the WDSCC Sprint B Series was held on May 11-12, with Morgan Park’s D configuration being utilised. In wild and windy conditions, there was action aplenty as Mike Collins struggled to keep his AUSCAR Holden Commodore in the right direction on old tyres. Kepping his wheels on was a struggle for Darrin Siddins after a hub failed on his Ford Escort MkI, leaving the unfortunate driver to retrieve the wheel. At the close of the weekend Bruce McKenzie and Geoff Noble were left on equal points at the top of the championship, making the next round to be held on August 3-4 a very important one in regard to the B Series title.
Time Attack Subarus and Holden Commodore AUSCARs provided some of the action, but not as much as Darrin Siddins in his Escort, left. Images: Trapnell Creations The C Series is next to complete its third round on June 1-2. A big thankyou to all volunteers and officials who braved the cold wind to help run such a fantastic event. Volunteers are always welcome and it’s a great way to get up close to the action. Spectator entry for all the super sprints is free of charge and is a fantastic action-packed weekend with a large variety of different cars competing.
CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE Geoff Noble Bruce McKenzie Matt Plowman Stephen Faulks Rob Bellinger Trent Laves Saxon Moyes Jason Patullo Zak Hudson Kees Van Der Horst
86 86 77 76 72 70 58 54 52 51
Proudly presented by Warwick District Sporting Car Club Inc for more information visit www.morganparkraceway.com.au
Next Round: C Series Round June 1-2 AutoAction
53