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Issue No. 232 November 22 - 28 2011
TROUBLE IN TEXAS BUT ANOTHER AMERICAN CIRCUIT PUTS ITS HAND UP FOR V8 SUPERCARS. FULL DETAILS ON WHERE AND WHY INSIDE!
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EXCLUSIVE: ALEX DAVO’S BACK-UP PLAN www.mnews.com.au
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LOLA T332 1977 Australian Grand Prix 4th Place Oran Park Driver Alan Jones Limited Production Of 1000 pcs Worldwide
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Item #18416
The battle for pole position for the 1977 Australian Grand Prix at Oran Park was held over three qualifying sessions, with the top 8 places separated by only 2 seconds. Pole position would be set by Warwick Brown in a Lola T430 with the time of 65.7s. The cars were set to race, with the starter ¾EK PMJXIH XS MXW LMKLIWX TSMRX .SRIW´ 0SPE XSSO SJJ WIGSRHW FIJSVI XLI ¾EK LEH HVSTTIH /RS[MRK LMW QMWXEOI .SRIW TVIWWIH LEVH XS XV] and limit the damage from his inevitable 1min WXST KS TIREPX] ;MXL .SRIW WIIQMRKP] SYX SJ contention the race was between Brown in LMW 0SPE 4IXIV +IXLMR MR E 'LIZVSR ERH .SLR Goss in a Matich. .SRIW GLEVKIH JVSQ XLI FEGO SJ XLI ½IPH SR his way setting the fastest lap of 66.4s. He was able to catch up to Goss who sat in 3rd TPEGI FYX LMW GPMQF XLVSYKL XLI ½IPH [EW LEPXIH [LIR LI VER SYX SJ PETW .SRIW ½RMWLIH forth only 2s behind Goss, Brown won the VEGI [MXL +IXLMR ½RMWLMRK W FILMRH MR RH
Available 4th Quarter 2011
With the engine cover removed the fine craftsmanship of the V8 can be appreciated. 2
The race cockpit dash features detailed instrumentation with chrome trim.
For more details contact Classic Carlectables on Freecall 1800 088 564 or visit
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Issue No. 232 | 22-28 Nov 2011
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Seca Megadrive? Laguna flags V8 interest 6 KR squared Reindler close to locking in ‘12 8 Heading home Miedecke eyes FV8s 12 Everything’s bigger in Texas ... ... even dramas for F1 venues 17 “It’s so 2006” FV8 Reverse Grids under fire
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comment 24 Branagan: Hooray for NASCAR 25 van Leeuwen: Taking the Mikk
race 26 V8 Supercars 36 Fujitsu Series 40 Touring Car Masters 42 V8 Utes 44 Australian GT 46 Goldenstate Titles 50 NASCAR
trade 58 Classifieds 3
LAGUNA SECA INTERESTED IN V8 TEXAS BAILOUT V8 SUPERCARS
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AGUNA Seca has emerged as a potential new hub for V8 Supercar racing in the USA if the planned race at Austin in Texas does not go ahead. The Circuit of the Americas is facing very tough times, with question marks over the future of Tavo Hellmund, the man who forged the Formula 1 alliance with Bernie Ecclestone, throwing extreme doubt on the plan for V8 Supercars to go to America in 2013. But Laguna Seca says it was interested in an Australian
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connection before the Texas deal, and is still keen. “When we started catching wind that the V8 Supercars wanted to come to the US it was all hands on deck to find the right contacts. I think we were just too late, and Austin came on,” said Barry Toepke, vice-president of communications and historic racing at Laguna Seca. “We are always welcome and open to new series coming into the US.” He is planning a trip to Australia before the end of the year and is keen to meet with V8 Supercar officials on the Gold Coast. “We would be open to discuss
what the budget would be, sanction fees and so on, and we’d take a look at the budget line and see what we could work out.” Laguna Seca is one of America’s oldest tracks and, with a genuine road racing heritage, hosts a range of top-class championships up to MotoGP. There are also two major historic meetings each year including the Porsche Rennsport gathering. Toepke says there is growing interest in V8 Supercar racing in the USA off the back of the expanded coverage on SPEED Television. “It’s exciting. It’s great racing,” he added.
Meanwhile, V8 Supercars Australia has been unusually quiet on the Austin matter, with Tony Cochrane toeing the “no comment” line. “V8 Supercars will not comment on the contractual issues between Circuit of the Americas and Formula One Management,” he told SPEED.com. “This is a private, commercial matter between those parties that does not involve V8 Supercars.” – PAUL WARD/STAFF
For more on the Circuit of the Americas debacle, turn to Formula 1 news on Page 14.
motorsport news
NEWS
TWO MINUTES WITH BARRY TOEPKE BY PAUL WARD
MOTORSPORT NEWS: Is Laguna Seca interested in hosting a V8 Supercar race in the USA? BARRY TOEPKE: We are always welcome and open to new series coming into the US. We obviously have an historic track, that’s 57 years old, and I think the track would be fitting for that type of series.
Has there been any contact between Laguna management and V8 Supercars in Australia? There was an initial contact but that was right when Austin was going online and I don’t think we ever made the official contact. What is the situation, as you know it, with Austin? From what I’m hearing right now, it doesn’t look real good for the facility. With Tavo pulling out and the contract that Bernie has with Full Throttle Productions, I would assume it’s null and void right now and a new contract is trying to be negotiated with the Circuit of the Americas. It’s anyone’s guess, but it doesn’t look good for a Formula 1 race coming in right away. What championships are currently hosted at your track? We have the Grand Am Rolex sports car series, we have [the American Le Mans Series], we also do have MotoGP as one of our largest events, and a historic racing program. What sort of crowds do you draw? For MotoGP we had 136,000 people over a three-day period, and our second-largest event is the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reuion, the
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Dirk Klynsmith
What is the appeal at Laguna? I think we are a very technically demanding track, and it provides the drivers, sponsors and participants with a real treat to go through that facility.
historic racing in August, and we just did a little over 50,000 for that. V8 Supercars like to deal with governments because they have sizeable budgets. Do you think you could afford the category? We would be open to discuss what the budget would be, sanction fees and so on, and we’d take a look at the budget line and see what we could work out. V8 Superars has close ties with SPEED TV in the USA. Does Laguna Seca have any sort of association? We work very closely with SPEED TV. SPEED covers MotoGP with us. We have a separate agreement with them for the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, and we just had the Porsche Rennsport festival in October and SPEED covered that as well. What do you think of V8 Supercar racing? It’s exiting. It’s great racing. I’ve seen a little bit of it. When we started catching wind that the V8 Supercars wanted to come to the US it was all hands on deck to find the right contacts. I think we were just too late, and Austin came on.
IS McLAUGHLIN GARRY’S MAN FOR 2012? V8 SUPERCARS COULD the driver to fill Garry Rogers Motorsport’s vacant V8 Supercar seat have been right under everybody’s noses? That was the question being asked at Sandown when Scott McLaughlin’s name emerged as the latest to be linked to the seat in the #33 Commodore, which will be vacated by Lee Holdsworth after the Sydney 500. The NZ teenager, currently fourth in the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series, shares his sponsor support with GRM and while the current plans are that he will race another season in the FV8s in 2012, his manager Chris Jewell did not rule out graduating to the Main Game. “We are talking to Garry but I wanted to talk about long-distance race potential,” he said. “It’s a long-shot. We would take it if it’s there, but I don’t think it’s there.” While the 18-year-old races a Stone Brothers FG, and even works at SBR during the week, Jewell is keen to emphasise that does not mean that he is tied to SBR for any endurance races. “I am not doing my job if we do not talk to others,” he said. “I think he has plenty of options for next year.” McLaughlin has Sydney FV8 events to look forward to, as well as a start to the NZ V8 SuperTourers Series before resuming whichever V8 Supercar Series he will be in for 2012. 5