Motorsport News Issue 374 - August 2008

FORget beijing! Drivers go for gold in MNews GAMES

No. 374 AUGUST 2008 Australia $7.95 NZ $8.50 inc GST

Skaife lays it on the Line I’m

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Issue 374 AUGUST 2008

www.mnews.com.au

NEWS 4

General Alert

Ambrose looks to 2009 – and Chevy?

7

Greyed Scot

What David Coulthard is going to do next

8

Bruce of Dakar Garland readies to take on desert classic

10 Suzuki double

No, not Garland’s navigator, the car!

OPINION 12 Motor Mouth

Ford goes Full Circle

20 Box Seat

The Family First Party

Photos Cover: Dirk Klynsmith Honda Racing Contents: sutton-images.com Ford Racing Media

82 The Back Page When Skaifey arrived at Clayton

FEATURE 18 Five Minutes with Craig Lowndes 22 Life begins at 40-something Mark Skaife has unfinished business in V8 Supercars 30 Boys will be Boys Motor racing left out of the Olympics? Not in Brighton!

36 Howard, re-elected Mark Howard has big plans for the future 42 An Aussie in Roger Penske’s neighbourhood Ryan Briscoe gears up for more wins in IndyCar

RACE 48 Hidden Valley V8s: Richo heads FPR’s first 1-2 52 Silverstone F1: Lewis wins, who cares about the rest?

54 Magny Cours F1: Massa cleans up, Kimi exhausted 56 MotoGP: Stoner wins, Rossi and Dani flying solo 58 WRC: Suzuki is chasing the leaders and getting closer

ON TRACK 60 National Velvet: A month of action from around the land 72 I would walk 1000 feet: NHRA shortens the track!

74 Son of Gorgeous: Brooke Tatnell lays it on the Line

TRADE 77 Race Shop/Industry News/Classifieds

September issue on sale August 27 www.mnews.com.au P003 Contents2.indd 3

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A Determined Skaife Faces U MARK Skaife has shrugged off speculation of an impending retirement and is looking forward – perhaps, to a sixth title.

The Holden Racing Team owner/driver has downplayed suggestions that his best days are behind him, and told Motorsport News that his role with the team is still to win races and titles.

“I would dearly love to win another championship and I probably need to reassess a little bit of where we are at,” he said.

“I am disappointed about the current position, I am certainly wanting to be higher than 15th or 16th in the championship.”

While Skaife has struggled for consistent results this season, the speed appears to be as strong as sutton-images.com

Ambrose in a Chevy?

JTG Daugherty holds the future for NASCAR’s Aussie – maybe with a Bow Tie

ever, witnessed by his front-row performance at Barbagallo.

“Any time you out-qualify Garth Tander and then beat him in the first race, you are going alright,” said Skaife unapologetically.

“Our speed was better than, probably, people thought at Darwin, but there were circumstances.”

Skaife, who co-owns the team with Tom Walkinshaw, says that his role with the team is the same as it has been in the past, despite recently making the change to a sequential gearbox, as favoured

by Tander, with whom he will drive in this season’s V8 Supercar endurance races.

“It is not necessarily [about] what Garth wants, it is what, combined, is needed for HRT to do a good job in the endurance races.”

For more from our exclusive interview with Skaife, see pages 22-28.

MARCOS Ambrose is heading towards a bigger NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule in 2009 – but it may be in a Chevrolet, not a Ford.

Ambrose looks set to split with Wood Brothers, the team he has raced for since he moved to the USA three years ago and for which he is entered in seven Cup races this season, and race full-time for JTG Daugherty Racing in the future.

JTG owner Tad Geschickter has formed a partnership with Brad Daugherty, best-known here as an analyst on 10’s NASCAR telecasts. The former NBA All-Star owns a Truck team and is a successful businessman based in North Carolina.

Ambrose has signed a deal to race for the team until 2010 and Geschickter has said that his team will run with whatever marque offers him the best deal in the future, and that his is “open” to a deal.

“He’s adapting to the ovals quickly,” Geschickter told scenedaily.com.

“He’s proven he’s ready to take the next step in his development for me to provide the equipment he needs to do the Cup series. Cup is where we need to be.”

The two-time V8 Supercar champion is committed to stay with JTG. “I have some great sponsors over here in the US that have supported me, and will continue to support me in 2009,” Ambrose told Network 10’s RPM. “But what series, what car, what make is all up in the air right now. We just have to let it really play out here.”

He told ESPN.com, “I can’t think of a better partner

to be involved with this team than Brad. He’s a real racer. I hope I can deliver the results for him.”

Ambrose now has no formal links with Ford. His personal sponsorship deal concluded at the end of the 2007 season and the men who supported his move to the USA have gone. Former Ford Australia President Tom Gorman has left the company and Ford Racing boss Dan Davis is due to retire this week.

What does appear likely is that, regardless of the make of car he races, Ambrose’s sponsor mix will be largely similar. He has become the public face of snack foods brand Little Debbie, which looks likely to stay with JTGD. Little Debbie owners, the McKee family, are Seventh Day Adventists, so they do not allow their signage to be run on the sabbath, Saturdays. It is likely that rounds that feature a Saturday Cup race, like the recent Chicagoland event, will see Ambrose run in the colours of a brand owned by The Clorox Company, which owns Kingsford Charcoal and STP, sponsors Ambrose has carried in the Nationwide Series this season. Clorox also owns other brands like ArmorAll and Glad.

Along with the expanded Cup program, JTGD is expected to continue in the Nationwide Series next season with two cars. Ambrose’s current team-mate Kelly Bires looks set to be be joined by Coleman Pressley, son of NASCAR veteran and Ambrose’s ‘driving coach’, Robert Pressley.

JTG is set to make its first appearance at Sprint Cup level this weekend at Indianapolis, where Ambrose is entered to race the team’s #47 Ford Fusion for the first time.

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news

es Up

John Morris

y?

We got the sponsor wrong: When our James Cormick produced this artwork of a Russell Ingall/Caltex Hyundai Genesis last year, it was meant to be largely hypothetical.

Now, we’re not so sure ...

GOOD THINGS COME IN THREES Ford’s recent decision opens the door for a third make – but not just yet ...

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The Tale of the Tape WHICHEVER car, if any, is the next V8 Supercar, size is all-important. Here is how four, four-door sedans measure up, in millimetres, in production trim.

Car Holden Commodore VE Ford Falcon FG Toyota Aurion Hyundai Genesis, below

Wheelbase 2915 2838 2775 2935

Track F/R 1592/1608 1583/1598 1575/1565 1575/1580

Hyundai

Ford Racing

www.mnews.com.au

WHILE it appears unlikely that a third manufacturer could enter V8 Supercars in time for the 2009 season, there is plenty of talk about which company might take the plunge eventually.

Both Toyota and Chrysler have stated that their interests lie elsewhere, and Honda has said that it will also pass; “As we don’t have a V8 production engine in our global product portfolio, we have no plans to enter the Australian Domestic Touring Car series in Australia,” said spokesman Mark Higgins.

“Perhaps the time is right to re-introduce a more production car based series that allows all manufacturers/importers to enter.”

But the most intriguing, and brief, comment has come from a Hyundai spokesman; “Hyundai has nothing to add to this discussion.”

That would appear to be a comment of no interest, if the Korean manufacturer had no suitable car. But it does; the new Genesis sedan, which went on sale on Korea earlier this year and which hits the US market next month, is Commodore and Falconsized [see breakout] and, if you were planning a new racer, would be almost a perfect starting point.

The latest version of Project Blueprint, the technical guidelines applied to Holden’s VE and Ford’s FG racers, dictates a large number of carryover components between cars. In the words of one V8 Supercar team principal, switching to a new model would be “straightforward, and not complicated” but would involve designing, developing and gaining approval for a new model.

There are challenges facing anyone who might want to build a Genesis V8 Supercar. One is that Hyundai does not manufacture a pushrod V8 engine. To enable a new type of car to use an existing Ford or Chevrolet-based motor, and indeed to allow the car into the category in the first place, the board of V8 Supercars Australia would have open up its Vehicle Specification regulations.

Compliance to these rules takes the place of what used to be occur with Homologation and, in itself, would not present a massive hurdle to overcome.

Hyundai would also have deal with the ‘problem’ of racing a car that is currently manufactured only in LHD form and which is not likely to be sold here for several years, if at all. This is far from unprecedented in Australia; in the 1990s, Nissan and BMW raced their Skyline GTR and M3 respectively, neither of which was sold here at the time.

Another potential drama is recent reports that Hyundai’s head office has a firm marketing direction and policy that, currently, does not cater for any racing activities, in V8 Supercars or anywhere else.

But any automotive maker, currently the fifthbiggest in the world, and eighth-biggest selling brand in the country – and with clear aspirations of climbing much higher – would hardly let those apparent problems stand in the way of a program, were it deemed to be a positive.

16/7/08 2:00:23 PM

www.mnews.com.au

The enews of the month Ford’s big two

Tander’s new development

Compression Ratio

Bush or Bust

Cheap Power EXPERIENCED V8 engine man Rob Benson is joining Supercheap Auto Racing in a bid to get the ‘almostthere’ team right up to the pointy end.

Benson is returning from a stint in NASCAR, and will compliment current engine guru Jamie Noonan.

Long time coming

sutton-images.com

THE WA saga took another step recently with rumours emerging that Barbagallo Raceway will be extended.

Changes are expected at the circuit in a bid to keep a V8 Supercar round.

sutton-images.com

SYDNEY is in danger of not hosting a V8 Supercar round next season, with a seemingly insurmountable difference of opinion between Tony Cochrane and Eastern Creek officials.

With Oran Park about to become houses, it would seem a Homebush street race will be the only saviour ...

sutton-images.com

THE announcement of a March 29 date for next year’s Australian Grand Prix has indicated a more compressed calendar for next season.

With no Olympic games to factor in, V8SA told us there wouldn’t be less events, just less time bwteen events.

The new-for-2009 Townsville race was also confirmed for July 10-12.

sutton-images.com

A FURTHER expansion of Garth Tander’s TanderSport operation may be on the cards, with news that he and wife Leanne are eyeing the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series as soon as ‘09.

PIONEERED by Red Bull Racing earlier this year, the ‘Shark Fin’ engine cover is becoming a regular fixture in Formula 1.

While at first glance the extended bodywork might have been viewed as just another dramatic aero tweak likely to last no longer than a race or two, its effect on the RBR car has seen it adopted, at least in testing, by almost every team in the field.

Scuderia Toro Rosso was, obviously, the first team to follow suit, while Renault were soon on board as well. At the British Grand Prix, Force India showed up with its own version. Immediately after, McLaren and Toyota tested ‘Shark Fins,’ although neither raced them at the German Grand Prix (despite Hamilton topping a pre-Grand Prix test at Hockenheim with the anvil wing fitted).

McLaren’s reasoning was that crosswind was potentially a problem (it was named as the cause of Giancarlo Fisichella’s testing accident at Silverstone recently).

“The new top body engine cover has been designed to improve aero performance, particularly through high-speed corners,” said Heikki Kovalainen, “and we feel it had an advantage during the Hockenheim test.

“But it’s still too early to say; maybe Hockenheim is not the best place to try this new wing and we need to see if it is affected by crosswinds. It was quite windy at the Hockenheim test, but we didn’t seem to be too affected by the wind. “[But] it’s definitely encouraging for the future.”

But despite the crosswind theory, the anvil wing is working for a solid percentage of the grid.

According to MNews’ Technical Editor Paolo Filisetti, it is all about getting the air to the rear wing.

“The aim, of course, is the same that inspired the other teams, to improve the quality of the airflow directed towards the rear wing, hence increasing its efficiency in terms of downforce loads provided and reduced drag.”

There is also the advantage of having a better billboard for advertising stickers.

Thankfully, the modern versions of the ‘Shark Fin’ are much prettier than the experimental version McLaren used back in 1995, pictured right.

D

Paolo Filisetti

HOT on the heels of the news about a potential Ford Dealer Team, the Blue Oval has announced its budget for next season onwards.

The winners were Ford Performance Racing, obviously, and, more surprisingly, Stone Brothers Racing.

That meant the losers were Triple 8 Race Engineering, Dick Johnson Racing, and Britek Motorsport. Those teams will get FG bodyshells in place of financial assistance.

There have been two questions thrown up by the news; Will Holden follow suit, and when will we see a new manufacturer.

‘Shark Fin’ all the craze

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s y a S David The official statement released

by Coulthard at the British Grand Prix

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THE announcement of David Coulthard’s retirement has become one of the keys to the 2009 Formula 1 driver line-up.

As exclusively predicted by MNews’ sister publication GPWeek.com in its pre-British Grand Prix edition, the wily veteran chose his home race at Silverstone to confirm he would retire from his Red Bull race seat at the end of this season. The news came as little surprise, but while paddock rumours had already began to link drivers with the empty seat, and subsequent empty seats elsewhere, the confirmation sent the rumours into over drive.

One widely acknowledged theory is that Sebastien Vettel will move from Scuderia Toro Rosso to fill Coulthard’s seat in the main team. It’s a solid theory, as Vettel has been fast since joining the team, and has long been a part of the Red Bull ‘family.’

Even Coulthard himself has recently been advocating Vettel’s promotion, telling www.formula1. com that “Sebastian Vettel has everything that a future winner in Formula 1 needs. Also his maturity and approach shows me that he is the best man for the job. So I am very confident that he would be able to do a very good job for Red Bull Racing.”

When asked by Autosport reporters if he would take the job, Vettel simply said “why not? Yes.” There were some more complicated suggestions for Coulthard’s replacement, such as one story emerging about Fernando Alonso, born from

comments made by Coulthard in his ITV column.

“If the team could get him, that would make sense because he has great credentials as a double world champion,” Coulthard said.

But an Alonso/Red Bull deal has been made to look unlikely by rumours that Spanish bank Santander will move its sponsorship from McLaren to Ferrari, seemingly paving the way for the Spaniard to be wearing red by 2010 …

Should Vettel move to Red Bull Racing in 2009, it will leave another seat to fill – his one at Toro Rosso. And the current favourite for that role is Bruno Senna, the 24-year-old nephew of the late Ayrton Senna.

Senna is currently frontrunning in GP2, although he is not officially part of Red Bull’s

development team.

The team’s co-owner, and former team-mate to Ayrton, Gerhard Berger, revealed on Autosport.com that the issue will considered.

“We have not discussed this yet,” he said. “[Sebastien] Bourdais is under contract for 2008 only and the team have an option on him for 2009. Vettel might be moving to Red Bull but it is not fixed yet.

“If we have to replace a driver than preferably by one young guy out of the Red Bull system but I am afraid the GP2 drivers do not have the level for F1 yet.

“If we take one out of GP2 he has to be champion there or at least a multiple race winner. Of course, Senna has moved into the spotlight by winning in Monaco.

But ideally it should be a Red Bull driver.”

sutton-images.com

sutton-images.com

www.mnews.com.au

DC out, but who’s in? sutton-images.com

“I WOULD like to announce today my decision to retire from racing in Formula 1 at the end of this season.

“I will remain actively involved in the sport as a consultant to Red Bull Racing, focusing on testing and development of the cars. I have an open mind as to whether or not I will compete again in the future, in some other form of motorsport, so I am definitely not hanging up my helmet!

“My decision to retire was taken earlier in the year and is based on a desire to stop while I am still competitive and enjoying the immense challenge that Grand Prix driving represents. I also have the desire to look for new challenges within the sport.

“The decision to make this announcement at the British GP should be an obvious one for all to understand, as I have achieved two of my 13 F1 victories at Silverstone and I am a member of the British Racing Drivers’ Club, which hosts this event.

“I am proud of my work at Red Bull Racing and will continue to race with the same focus until the last lap in Brazil.

Thereafter I will continue to help the team develop and move towards their ultimate goal of winning races.”

news

16/7/08 1:38:50 PM

Ford kicks the habit

The Blue Oval changes direction in V8 Supercars – but it’s business as usual for the teams FORD’S renewed V8 Supercar racing policy will be not much different to the end of tobacco advertising in the sport, according to the principal one of the category’s rising teams.

Paul Cruickshank has made the comparison about the decision, which will see the Blue Oval focus its funds on Ford Performance Racing and Stone Brothers Racing, and said that he will carry on as normal, with Fabian Coulthard and sponsor Glenfords locked in for 2009.

“I think this is a phase we are going through, like when the cigarette money left the sport,” said the New Zealander team owner.

“We will go through this and the category has to get used to life without manufacturer money. But, will it effect me day-to-day? No. It won’t affect us technically and, at the end of the day, we will peel off a Ford sticker and put something else on.”

Backing up Cruickshank’s view is the performance of his team

this season. Coulthard has been one of the revelations of the season in the team’s solo T8-built, SBR-engined Falcon BF. And the blue car’s surge through the V8 Supercar hierarchy has happened after the team’s Ford sponsorship came to a conclusion at the end of last season.

“We got dropped out of the system in 2007,” said Cruickshank.

“We were last on, so we were first off.”

In the meantime, the teams that have been dropped from

Ford’s direct support program will continue to get technical and parts support.

Jim Beam Racing and Britek Motorsport are pressing ahead with their programs to build two FG racers for 2009 and, while TeamVodafone boss Roland Dane would only confirm that his team would race “two, Triple 8, Vodafone Supercars” next season, anything other than a Falcon (albeit, with no Ford ID on it whatsoever) would be a major shock.

– PHIL BRANAGAN

“We were last on, so we were first off”

– PAUL CRUICKSHANK

Garland ready for Desert Storm BRUCE Garland’s return to the Dakar is right on-track, with confirmation that his entry to next year’s desert raid has been accepted.

All that Garland and co-driver Harry Suzuki have to do now is compete in the Australian Safari and the UAE Desert Challenge in Dubai, build a brand new Isuzu D-Max, and then go racing in the world’s most gruelling rally.

“When you go for the Dakar, you don’t automatically get an entry,” said Garland.

“You have to apply with everyone else, and your credentials go up, so its not 100 percent that you’re going to get an entry. We got confirmation yesterday, which is great.

“The prototype that we’ve got is doing the Safari, and then its going straight from the Safari to Dubai with everything in it. Then we’ll know how long everything will last, and we’re building a new

car to send in mid-October from Australia to go to the Dakar. It’ll be a whole new car.”

The D-Max is similar to the Rodeos that Garland has campaigned before, with the Holden-badged trucks also built

by Isuzu.

Garland hasn’t competed in the Dakar since 1998, when he became the first Aussie to tackle it on four wheels.

“I think it’s the biggest, toughest most dangerous race on the planet, so yeah, we’re very excited.”

And just to make the whole ordeal a little bit tougher: “Harry and I have got an unusual combination. Normally you see Japanese drivers with English speaking co-drivers, but we’ve gone the other way.

“It’s a bit of everything; when it gets a bit difficult it comes in Japanese. I can swear in Japanese!”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

Returning to the sand: Bruce Garland will compete in the 2009 Dakar with co-driver Harry Suzuki.

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NEWS

James Smith

Howard Racing’s future plans

The Queensland team wants to become the ‘One Stop Youth Shop’ for the next batch of racing stars HOWARD Racing has expanded its racing reaches this year, and it isn’t about to stop yet.

Known best for its successful multi-car entries in the Fujitsu V8 Series over the past six years, the Gold Coast-based team added two Formula Fords and a V8 Utes to its stable this year.

And in the future, the team has mentioned Formula 3 as the next category it would like to try its hand at.

Team manager Warren Davis said that taking on F3 has been briefly discussed.

“We’ve muttered it a few times this year,” he said.

“We want to get the Formula Fords running well first, though. I don’t think we’ve had too bad a year with that, but we need to get to the stage where we’ve got a bit more success in that area.

“You can bolt on too much too quickly if you’re not careful. You’ve got to get to the

stage where you’re comfortable with whichever category you’ve got before you add another one on.”

This news almost definitely rules the 2006 FV8 Series-winning team out of competing in the ‘main’ V8 Supercar Championship Series – for the time being.

Team owner Mark Howard, as well as Davis, say that you can ‘never say never’ although it won’t happen in the next few years.

“I think it’s low percentage now,” Howard admitted.

“We aspire to do it, but it’s not on the current agenda.”

What is on Howard Racing’s current agenda is a youth program. Inspired by the team’s new Formula Ford outfit (called ‘The Red Barrons’), the team is pushing the youth policy within its organisation – and this is where Formula 3 would fit the team’s immediate future nicely.

While Howard Racing’s driver development programs intend to see junior drivers stay and

P008-009 news.indd 9

For an in depth look inside Howard Racing and its future plans, turn to page 30.

Dirk Klynsmith

John Morris/Mpix

www.mnews.com.au

race locally, having F3 in its shop would mean that drivers could use the team as a platform to overseas competition.

“The F3 thing could work both ways,” he says.

“It could work towards the V8s, or it could work towards getting overseas.

“Primarily, we’d like to keep a driver rolling along in-house and towards a V8 career which is an achievable goal in a lot of ways, compared to the European route.

“For a start, you need a lot of talent, but you need a bucket load of money for that too.

The step from a Formula Ford to a Supercar, financially, is massive. Formula 3 isn’t much different again, so it’s a matter of biding your time.”

– GRANT ROWLEY

Young at heart: Howard Racing team manager Warren Davis, left, is considering adding Formula 3, far left, to the Queensland team’s expanding racing interests. The introduction of the Formula Ford program this year, steered by Chaz Mostert above, has given Howard Racing the incentive to look at even more categories ...

16/7/08 4:12:51 PM

news

P-G wants more grunt!

POWER and development time are the to biggest problems for the fledgling Suzuki World Rally Team, according to its star driver P-G Andersson.

The young Swede has been campaigning Suzukis in the Junior World Rally Championship since 2004, winning the title twice (2004 and 2007). This season, his efforts were rewarded when he was invited to step into the World Rally Championship with the manufacturer’s new squad.

But while the SX-4 has proven to be fast on occasions, it has

been hampered by reliability problems, caused by a lack of development time.

“We are lacking power, that’s the biggest issue,” Andersson told MNews.

“Handling-wise the car is okay, and if we can do some more testing before the next round, hopefully we can make the car a bit quicker – even with the parts that are in it at the moment, just by fine tuning it a bit more.

“The biggest problem or issue we have is that we have not been testing at all. All of our testing has been on the rallies, and that isn’t

POSITION VACANT – RACE FABRICATOR Brett Stevens Racing is seeking a qualified and experienced race fabricator for its world leading Drag Racing operation and chassis shop.

This full time position will be based in our new state of the art workshop at Deception Bay north of Brisbane, QLD. The successful applicant will be reliable, display an ability to work independently, a strong and professional work ethic, and capability to work as a team player.

Skills in TIG and MIG welding are essential and experience in a similar position is preferred.

All applications will be treated as strictly confidential.

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the best way to do it …

“We need a lot of testing and developing and fine-tuning before we can get as much power as [Ford and Citroen] have in their cars. But first we need to work on reliability of our cars, make them a little stronger, and then work on

more power.”

Suzuki will debut a technically revised version of the SX-4 WRC at the upcoming Rally Finland.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN For more with PG-Andersson, turn to page 58 for an exclusive interview.

Stockcar Superstar HE might be known for his antics off the beaten track, but WRC star P-G Andersson is pretty handy on the black stuff as well.

Before joining the WRC from the J-WRC this season, Andersson was a front-runner in Sweden’s answer to V8 Supercars – the Camaro Cup. And even now he is fully entrenched in World Rallying, he has found the time to step back into a stock car for a oneoff meeting last month.

“It is different to the rallying because there are 20 other cars around you and you have think a little bit differently,” he told MNews.

“I enjoy it, but the rally is for sure number one for me. It’s always good to have another option to do when you get older.

“I drove the whole series last year and I think I finished second. I won five of eight races, I think. I won most of the races,

but then I had some offs and failed to score.

“It is run on the same weekend as the Swedish Touring Car championship. I’ll only do one round this year.”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

10

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opinion

History never Repeats.

Or does it?

I I

T can’t be that I am getting old – can it? – but I have been thinking about the past a fair bit recently.

The early days of what is now known as V8 Supercars looked much different to how it does today. The mix between the Holdens and Fords was much different; both marques supported their frontline teams but, after that, dollars were pretty thin on the ground.

“We got bodyshells and panels,” says Glenn Seton. “It wasn’t until 1994 that we got financial support. Before that, it was nothing.”

Seto is far too modest to mention that in the previous year, 1993, and without Ford’s support, he won the championship, so I will.

From that point two teams – Seton’s and Dick Johnson Racing – got Ford funding and anyone else was … not discouraged from racing a Falcon, so much, as left with the impression that they would be on their own – or in a Holden.

All that changed in 1999, when Howard Marsden returned to Ford’s racing department, succeeding Greg Harbutt. I recall Howard saying that, apart from listening to what his teams had to tell him, his pressing priority was to redress the Holden-to-Ford imbalance.

At the race before he officially took over the role, the Adelaide 500, 14 Falcons took on 25 Commodores.

The problem was clear. Even if the four ‘Ford’ cars ran at the front, the best of the Commodores was going to be right behind them. But if the track suited the Holdens, there were going to be a lot of them in contention.

There were simply not enough competitive Falcons to take the points off Holden men.

wonder whether that will happen now?

Ford’s news that it would continue in V8 Supercars, but focus its financial support on Ford Performance Racing and Stone Brothers Racing, opens the door for nowunbranded teams to look elsewhere for the best deal possible. Holden appears unlikely to further open its purse strings but there is the possibility that there will be ‘Fords’, ‘Holdens’ and ‘Xs’ running next season, Xs being cars that don’t have any brand ID on them.

What will the fans do? V8 Supercars is a tribal sport, much more so than any other form of racing, even NASCAR. What has been shown clearly this season is that, while American fans do have brand preferences, they clearly follow their favourite drivers. Both Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart switched from Chevy last season to Toyota this year and, while the Japanese make has its critics, both drivers and Joe Gibbs Racing remain hugely popular.

Will that happen here? If a marquee driver either swaps sides, or runs ‘unbranded’, how will the fans react? Will the fans still support Jamie Whincup with the same passion if he drives a Holden, or a ‘Vodafone’, next year?

Of course, much of this can be seen as a compliment, that TeamVodafone and Jim Beam Racing (to be commercially correct) are considered to be big and strong enough to leave the Ford nest without crashing to earth.

No matter which way Ford went on its ‘two team’ policy, there was bound to be some negative press.

A

nd, nothing lasts forever. Before we start assigning definites to what is and isn’t

MOTOR MOUTH Phil Branagan Executive Editor

Had the tipping point gone the other way, Mark Skaife could have been a Ford driver in 1993 possible in this scenario, consider this.

Returning to the formative days of V8s, we recall that Fred Gibson faced a tough decision in 1992; without Nissan, he had to choose between racing a Ford or racing a Holden.

Having been a factory driver in the past, his heart favoured Ford and his major sponsor, Rothmans, also leaned that way, since Fords were what the company’s reps drove.

Gibson met with both manufacturers, and Holden offered him the better deal. Gibbo held firm, and Holden got Gibson Motorsport.

Had the tipping point gone the other way, and Ford’s policy been different, Mark Skaife could have been a Ford driver in 1993 – and the sport, surely, would look much different today …

12

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PICTURES OF THE MONTH py a new s e r e h t Is g emergin scandal ula 1? in Form u be the yo We’ll let e. f that on o e g d ju Dirk Kl yn with h smith wasn’t is last ‘P satisfie ic d Month ’ entry tures of the so his effo rt with he bettered this be Darwin auty fr . om

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p014-015 POM.indd 14

16/7/08 11:29:12 AM

Darwin is a great event with bundles of atmosphere.

Here MNews snapper Dirk Klynsmith captures how racing is done up in the Top End.

Ryan Hunter-Reay, above, poses in front of his own billboard in NYC while his boss watched on just down the road.

NASCAR celebrated 50 years of Richard Petty in NASCAR with a crazy hat dance, above right. While, right, the Penske boys were in formation at Nashville.

We couldn’t complete ‘Pictures of the Month’ without another sweet crash photo.

This time Nathan Caratti stars after trying to push his way through the pack.

p014-015 POM.indd 15

16/7/08 11:30:35 AM

1979

WINDING BACK

The year that was ...

Honda Pro Images

The Oval Racer

Honda’s NR500 Grand Prix racer was a two-wheeled testbed for many technological concepts. It set up a winning era – but it was actually the least successful GP Honda of all time PHIL BRANAGAN

I

T sounds odd to say this but one of the most significant racing motorcycles of the last 50 years was also one of the least successful – Honda’s NR500.

While we watch Honda and Nicky Hayden get to grips with the pneumatic valve version of the RC212V, almost three decades ago, the Japanese giant set out on a radical and ultimately doomed quest – to win a 500 Grand Prix with a four-stroke motorcycle.

The background for the mission was fascinating. Inside what was then known as Honda RSC (which evolved into the Honda Racing

Corporation, or HRC) there were two factions. One was loyal to the preferences of company founder Soichiro Honda, who disliked two-stroke engines and, under whose patronage, the company developed the four, five and sixcylinder GP bikes in the 1960s.

The other faction wanted to win races, and saw that despite its shortcomings, the two-stroke engine possessed a huge power advantage under the old 500cc rules.

Had the company had no rule restrictions, Honda would have preferred to build a V8. So it did;

but it did so inside only four cylinders. Project leader Shoichiro Irimajiri, the same engineer who perfected the fabulous ‘60s racers and who later conceived the classic six-cylinder CBX road bike, started work on a single cylinder test engine, with eight valves. The problems soon became apparent; to give the piston enough room to use its valves efficiently, it would need to have a very, very short stroke. And to produce the horsepower required, the early versions revved to 22,000 revs.

The other big challenge was getting the piston rings to seal.

This was a particular passion to Mr Honda, whose involvement in motorcycle manufacturer grew from making piston rings, and would prove to be something on an Achilles heel.

The oval piston bike was first track tested in 1978 and the following season, Honda felt confident enough to think about giving the bike its GP debut. For the task, the factory chose the

Honda Pro Images

When Worlds Meet: Not even the mercurial Freddie Spencer, left with ace tuner Erv Kanemoto, could coax a GP point out of the NR500. He went on to win the 500 title on the two-stroke NS500, top.

British Grand Prix at Silverstone, and Takazumi Katayama (the first Japanese rider to win a GP World title in the 350cc class) and local hero, Mick Grant. To call the appearance anything less than an absolute disaster would be guilding the lily; Katayama failed to qualify but Grant did, only to fall on his own oil at the very first corner.

Apart from the engine problems, the problem was that the bike was just too radical in too many areas.

The first bike had a monocoque chassis, which was quickly replaced with a conventional frame. The forks featured carbon fibre, then fully two years away from being used for making Formula 1 chassis. The more conventional bike finished the same race a year later – last, and lapping at a speed slightly slower than the 350s. While Zooming Taxi and Grant were good riders, this exercise clearly called for someone exceptional.

While the engineers continued refining the concept, Honda grabbed American teen prodigy Freddie Spencer to headline its GP efforts. He prepared to race the four-stroke as the two-stroke faction inside Honda was gaining influence and, it was clear, the days of the NR were numbered, unless Fast Freddie could pull a

16

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P Honda

rabbit out of the hat.

Briefly, it seemed like he could. In a 200mile race at Suzuka in 1981, the bike not only finished but Spencer won, admittedly against modest opposition. Later in the year, on the other side of the Pacific, he won another nonchampionship race, this time at Laguna Seca – and Kenny Roberts was in the field, on a factory Yamaha.

But Honda was not spending all this money and emotional investment just to win a few local events. It needed GP success, and none came. The best result that the genius from

Count the Valves: You will need a few hands, and feet. The NR500 featured oval pistons and eight valves in each cylinder.

Louisiana could muster out of the V4 was to qualify ninth in England and drag the bike up to fifth before, inevitably, it blew up. Again.

That was the last straw. RSC’s two-stroke armada produced the NS500, which featured a radical three-cylinder motor and which would prove to be just what Freddie ordered. The American developed the stroker while Ron Haslam raced the NR, producing finishes in the 1982 Dutch TT (12th), Belgian GP (11th) and British GP (15th). Then the bike disappeared into the mists of history, having never scored a world championship point in the 500cc class.

The Mobile Laboratory The influence of the NR reached far beyond the GP tracks THE NR500 – NR for ‘New Race’ – featured so many technological tweaks, it is hard to know where to start.

The 1979 bike’s aluminium monocoque, below, was quickly discarded for a conventional frame, and subsequent versions of the bike had carbon fibre everything – bodywork, wheels, swing arm, front forks and brake rotors, which were not even used in F1 until the early 1980s.

The motor’s crankcases were cast from magnesium, with a number of titanium internals, and there are continuing but neverconfirmed reports that, at some stages, the bikes ran ceramic pistons.

Whether or not this is the case, the significance of the NR is not in question. Its lack of success underlined the need for Honda to develop a two-stroke if it was to beat Yamaha in GP racing, and that led to the NS500 and

fearsome NS500R V4, which carried Wayne Gardner, Eddie Lawson, Mick Doohan et al to their titles.

Honda never abandoned the notion of oval-pistoned V4 engines and after proving the concept in endurance racing, eventually developed an NR750 road bike. Needless to say, even with the astronomical price of US$60,000, each of the 700 hand-made, 125hp bikes is considered a collectible classic.

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ww

5 Minutes with ...

CRAIG LOWNDES

‘Crackers’ may be a three-time V8 Supercar Champ, but he is also a farmer, a local in Mount Kilcoy, a pub critic, an Essendon fan, and a former billycart test driver ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

You have always been ‘The Kid,’ but now that’s a mantle that probably better describes Jamie Whincup and his generation.

How do you feel about that?

It had to get to that point. When I came into the sport, looking up at the established drivers at the time, I remember Glenn Seton being the Baby-Faced Assasin, and it got to a point where he lost that tag.

For me, it’s a time now where the next generation is getting entrenched in motorsport with Jamie, Will Davison, Rick Kelly, Mark Winterbottom. It’s not a shock to me to finally lose ‘The Kid’ tag.

I wanted to ask you about when you first started. Do you ever think back to 1996 and think, ‘wow, I beat everyone in my first year. That was a big deal …’

Definitely. The preparation I’d had really prepared me for what we achieved. We had open test days, we did a lot of development in tyres that we can’t do now, so I did a lot of miles in the car before the season started. In today’s era you can’t do that.

I suppose that is more frustrating for the younger drivers than it is for me because I know the circuits, I know what to expect, but when you have a young bloke coming into the sport now, he doesn’t have that time in the car to prepare for the start of the season.

Looking back on it, I was fortunate that both me and the team were keen and eager, and we had the flexibility to be able to go and do all of that.

John Morris/Mpix

MOTORSPORT NEWS: Is it hard to keep smiling sometimes?

CRAIG LOWNDES: Not really. I’ve been in the sport long enough that I know about the ups and downs. I suppose when you win it makes it more special.

If it’s out of my control – like the axle at Sandown or the engine in Darwin – then you’ve just got to accept it, move on, and try and work out why it broke. If I make contact with another car and, say, break a rim or something silly like that, then I get upset.

Is the lack of testing the biggest difference between your job now and your job in 1996?

We do more races now than we did back in 1996, but you’re right.

It was probably more condensed back then as well. We started after the Grand Prix in late March, and Bathurst was the last race of the year in October, so it was more intense.

We have a longer season now, but we spend less time racing.

Its frustrating because we’re in this business to drive cars. I love driving cars, that’s why I do it, so it’s hard sometimes, especially with a six week gap coming up …

What are you going to do with yourself on the break? A holiday?

Yeah Nat and I are going to go away for a week, so that’s one week of the six! We’ll probably just spend some time with the kids at home, and do some stuff around the house. It’s going to be frustrating.

We’ve got a test day planned, but we only get four of them a year, so we’ve got to use them wisely!

Have you got some big bales of hay to throw out to the cattle for while you’re away? (laughs) Luckily enough we’ve got enough pasture on the property to look after the animals, so the cattle and the horses can look after themselves.

We hear a lot about your farming activates. How much land do you farm?

We have 420 acres and we utilise all of it. When you say farm it, we

prepare paddocks for cattle, but we probably only do that for 200 acres of it. The other 200 acres is more natural, and it runs into the mountains, so it is pretty much only accessible by cattle, not by people – unless you like bushwalking. You can’t drive a tractor up there.

I was out there this morning repairing fences and all that stuff.

It’s an ongoing thing.

Is that your post-V8 Supercar career planning?

I don’t think so – it’s more of a way to recharge the batteries. With the hustle and bustle and everything that happens on a race weekend, you’ve got deadlines and functions and race cars to worry about, it’s mentally draining more than physically straining. It’s nice to be able to go home, relax and watch the grass grow, so to speak.

And that’s what we do, because we want to look after the pasture for our cattle.

When you pop into town, do the people still get excited about seeing you, or are you just another local now?

That’s more the case. We go into town every day and, at first, it was a bit like, I wouldn’t say star-struck, but people wanted to know about us moving into the area. Now it doesn’t happen.

It’s a great country place, you know. We’ve got two pubs and all of that.Nowadays it is more visitors, people who are passing through, who come up to us when we’re having dinner at the pub. Their first question is always “what are you doing here?” I say

“we live here!”

People don’t expect me to have that country life. They expect all of us to live in cities or on the canals or somewhere like that?

Which is the better of the two pubs?

We support both pubs, and each pub has a band on each weekend, so it depends on the music, and the meals. We call them the top pub and the bottom pub ...

Your nickname is Crackers. Why? When I was younger my older brother used to create billycarts and motorbikes, and I was the test dummy, so I had plenty of accidents growing up. Actually one of the guys who used to work for AVESCO, Ray Robbins, was close by when I did my apprenticeship. He used to be a panel-beater and I used to go and annoy him. I think he came up with the name, because I was a test dummy, out doing silly things.

Finally, and most importantly, you’re from Victoria. Please make me the happiest journalist in Australia and tell me you’re a Geelong Cats supporter …

No, I’m a Bombers fan …

That’s disappointing! (laughs) Everyone thinks I support Collingwood and I don’t.

I support Geelong a bit, because we’ve got some great friends who live down there, and through the Ford link we’ve done some stuff with them. But I go for the Bombers. It actually doesn’t go too well with our Vodafone sponsorship (laughs) ...

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CHAT

Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

P018-019 Five Mins.indd 19

19

16/7/08 11:35:19 AM

Lewis’s Perfect Storm

T

HE British Grand Prix was, I hope, a turning point in the career of one Lewis Hamilton.

He came into the weekend on the back of one his most difficult periods as a Formula 1 driver. The British press – as is traditionally their way – had managed to rip the poor lad to pieces in the run up to the race. There’s nothing like a talented kid to get the British media into a frenzy, and when he or she doesn’t quite live up to expectations, they slam them down and rub their faces in the dirt.

After two races without any points, poor old Lewis was feeling the heat. His rivals – and not even the supposedly good ones, but some Polish chap that the tabloids had forgotten to mention – were ahead of him in the championship. On a week when the nation’s hopes were sure to be crushed with another limp exit from another underachieving British tennis player at Wimbledon, what chance was there for the crash-tastic Hamilton to pull anything out of the bag at his home Grand Prix?

Lewis had spent the week running up to Silverstone as every modern sportsman

should prepare for a major event. He went out with his popstar girlfriend to have dinner with Nelson Mandela, then went and partied at Mr Mandela’s 90th, and then took his hangover onto a boat at Cowes Week and got mullered in the face by a swinging piece of something or other.

I

t was rather refreshing then, to hear in the press conference on Thursday that the young Brit wasn’t feeling any undue pressure despite his nation’s media turning against him and calling him a failure.

No, instead what Lewis did was actually pretty ballsy. Lined up alongside David Coulthard and Jenson Button, the pair of which he’d pulled down in recent interviews, he actually held his own. JB challenged the young hotshoe to a triathlon, and Lewis – good on him – accepted the challenge.

What news! Imagine the images … Lewis and Jenson dunking each other on the swimming section, slipstreaming each other on their bikes

or fighting for the line at the end of the triathlon. Mano a Mano. This was going to be awesome, and not without its risks for Lewis, as Jenson is a keen triathlon competitor.

Then came the news, not 30 minutes later, that Anthony Hamilton had decided to pull his son out of the event.

Oh. You can imagine the immediate comments, can’t you? On the back of the 372 other PR screw-ups this season, pulling out of a triathlon – and after Lewis and Jenson had agreed to wager £10,000 for charity on the conclusion – was a bit of a stinker.

McLaren’s very new ex-journalist PR men, who are more used to writing about the news than trying to defuse it, were at sixes and sevens as the Anthony Hamilton machine rolled on regardless.

You had to feel for them. For once, a fantastic PR opportunity arrives on your doorstep and,

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Formula 1 HAMILTON IS A GLOBAL PHENOMENON, BUT HE NEEDS THE CORRECT COUNSEL AND ADVICE

BOX SEAT Will Buxton Formula 1 Correspondent

sutton-images.com

like that, it’s gone. And the reason? Lewis is in the middle of a championship challenge.

Well, not only is that going to make Jenson feel like a prize gold chump [“sorry chap but your realistic seasonal aims just aren’t on the same level as ours”] but it makes the whole Hamilton entourage look stupid.

I mean, on the balance of realistic expectation, which would you think would be better preparation for a sporting championship challenge? Competing in a triathlon, or presenting an MTV award … or going to Nelson Mandela’s birthday concert … or flying through the air wearing a nappy in a bloody awful rendition of the battle of Troy?

So the news that Julian Jakobi, the man who somehow managed to look after both Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost’s careers at the same time, was apparently being lined up to take over Hamilton’s management, resulted in a

www.mnews.com.au

P020 Box Seat.indd 21

huge sigh of relief. The sad thing is, however, that the story appears to be completely false.

This is an issue however. McLaren needs to do something about the way in which Hamilton is managed. This isn’t go-karts any more. Nor is it F3 or GP2. What worked in the junior formulas, will not work in F1. Team Hamilton and the close family network may have been enough in the junior levels, but we are now dealing with a kid who is a global phenomenon.

A superstar. And he needs correct counsel and advice. For without it, he will keep being forced into unnecessary and idiotic PR screw ups.

W

hat Lewis proved on Sunday at the British Grand Prix, is that when the chips are down he can come back fighting harder and faster than anyone.

At one point, he was setting the same

lap times on inters as was Rubens Barrichello on full wets. The kid was in a league of his own.

What the British Grand Prix showed us, and reminded us, was that Lewis Hamilton may just be one of the most talented and most naturally gifted people behind the wheel of a car that this sport has seen in a long time. But it also showed us that he is being put into positions which are not helping his career or his mindset by those around him.

Team Hamilton works best when it works for one purpose – keeping Lewis true to himself, and keeping him grounded. If he is to become his own man, let him have his own manager, let him have his own counsel. And let his family be his family.

As the old adage says, if you love someone, set them free.

21

15/7/08 5:35:14 PM

Holden Statesman

Amid much speculation over his future, Mark Skaife is quietly getting on with the business of being a V8 Supercar veteran.

By PHIL BRANAGAN

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16/7/08 10:01:28 AM

V8 SUPERCARS

MOTORSPORT NEWS: Let’s talk about this season. Where are you? Where do you see yourself at the moment?

MARK SKAIFE: I suppose that, contrary to some things I read from an expert in another publication a couple of weeks ago, and that report negated anything to do with speed … anything to do with speed is actually very good. My whole career, I have used that as the benchmark to how I have been travelling.

I feel like, in that context, things are okay. I know that we haven’t had the results that we should have got. Some of that is bad luck and some of it is poor planning, or poor judgements. There have been bad decisions from the teamand-driver perspective. It hasn’t been as good for me as I might have liked, and I know that. But there are elements of positivity there that are contrary to what a lot of people have mentioned.

Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

P022-028 Skaife.indd 23

Are people reading ‘Big Picture’ issues into things that aren’t Big Picture issues? There are some circuits coming up that are ones you tend to be strong at.

Not really. I have tried to have, throughout my career, no strong or weak circuits. Fortunately, I have had a reasonable run at all of them, so that is not really in my brain.

At Darwin, and without wanting to sound like Einstein and overanalyse the simple things, things were not bad. But in motor racing, you only take the last result.

Our performance at Wanneroo was fantastic, from the very first session. In terms of setting yourself a benchmark, any time you out-qualify Garth Tander and then beat him in the first race, you are going alright. I thought that the Steve Richards incident was one of those things that happens in racing.

Our speed was better than, probably, people thought at Darwin, but there were circumstances. Second-fastest on Friday and, with no real changes, it [the car] was a dog on Saturday. I did a good job in the second and third qualifying, with a 10-dead on two fresh tyres on one side. So there were good glimpses, but it didn’t pan out. Then, there was

25th to eighth in the race, so I knew I had driven the car well.

Is it a matter that the bar has been set so high in the past and, for whatever reason, it has come down somewhat?

I think that the expectation of Mark Skaife and HRT is always high. I suppose that the biggest expectation, and I have always said this, is a personal one. I am my biggest critic and I have always put my hand up if things aren’t going well, and say I should have done better.

My drive in the first race at Hidden Valley had me complaining, because it had such a narrow window. I made a minor bar change and it locked up the inside front, and that was the end of it. At that stage, I was disappointed because I was pressing on, probably, harder than the car was capable of doing at that point. Something like that knocks me around a little bit at the moment.

I can lure myself into being too desperate for a result. Sometimes, that leads to issues that should not be there, whether that is a mistake or getting caught up inside the framework of the race, racing with other guys. Whatever is happening, it does not always end up as I might like.

Is your role in the team different to what it was two years ago?

[Thinks] Not really ... I am not sure ... it is very similar, I think.

The reason I ask that is because, in Darwin at the Friday press conference, you said that you were getting used to the sequential shifter. You have always been a supporter of the concept of the H-pattern.

One of the things about that [change], I think, [is] at the right places, the upshifts are a bit better. At the places we need to drive together [Ed: share with Tander], like Bathurst, we need to be using the same thing. It is not necessarily [about] what Garth wants, it is what, combined, is needed for HRT to do a good job in the endurance races. continued on page 25

23

16/7/08 10:01:58 AM

Dirk Klynsmith

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16/7/08 10:02:35 AM

V8 SUPERCARS continued from page 23 There are good things about that, and bad. I feel like a professional gearchanger, rather than a professional racing driver.

But anything that makes a car less difficult to drive, I am not really a fan of. That is the skill; finding a way to get through and do those things well.

www.mnews.com.au

P022-028 Skaife.indd 25

Is part of that because, in the 1980s and maybe into the early 90s, they were racing, maybe, six guys, seven guys. Now, there are a dozen, 13 guys and more at the shiny end on any given weekend. Is the currency being burned faster now?

I don’t know. That is a really good question.

I think that, probably, you just step through that, and get into it. No question, the quality of the complete field is better than it has ever been. It was only a couple of years ago that a guy like Brad Jones and Paul Morris – guys who had won in every other category that they had been in – and were not in the top 20 in this field. At Hidden Valley, there were 27 cars within one second. It is stronger than it has ever been, certainly.

But, I don’t think that the top 10 or 12 are much different than they have ever been. If you just consider that, ‘Look at who was there in the late 80s and early 90s, and at the front were a bunch of top-line drivers’, I don’t know if that is much different now.

There are still the guys who are genuinely capable of winning.

You mention Hird and Buckley.

They have, if you like, ‘external eyes’, a support system of coaches, advisors and other guys who could help them with that they are doing. We don’t do that

Dirk Klynsmith

Comments in the media this year – third-party comments – have been asking, ‘Should Mark Skaife retire?’ I am not going to ask that, but what do you think about those comments being aired?

It disappoints me. People talk about retiring and it is almost that the level of conjecture is more prevalent than I thought it would be.

One of the things is, I think that we have become used to looking at racing drivers differently to other sportspeople. If you were a real sports fan, to see James Hird or Nathan Buckley, late in their careers, you could not wait to see them. You wanted to view them, at a time that, although they were not getting 30 possessions a game, they had such great presence, they made such great contributions to their clubs and into the games, you could not wait to see them.

I used to watch Bucks in the forward line. He was a superstar in the forward line, and you could put him anywhere and he would do that. However the team used him, he was such a great talent and had such presence that he was able to do a ripper job.

In a weird way, that seems different in motor racing-land.

When you make those yearly comparisons, of how Jim Richards, or Peter Brock, or Dick Johnson, or Larry Perkins, or John Bowe were going throughout their careers, and look at them

now, and then look how that corresponds to Mark Skaife’s [career], I would be about 10 years younger than any of those blokes were when they thought about retiring.

That’s weird. Sometimes, it feels a bit disingenuous that it is viewed differently, for some reason.

“People talk about retiring and it is almost that the level of conjecture is more prevalent than I thought it would be” Skaife on that media speculation

continued on page 27

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Dirk Klynsmith

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WeSTerN AuSTAliA Kostera’s Tyre Service 7 Mead Street Kallamunda WA 6076 P 08 9293 3500

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TASmANiA Fulton Enterprises 41 McKenzie Street Mowbray TAS 7248 P 03 6326 9199

SouTH AuSTrAliA NTT Motorsport 55 North Terrace Hackney SA 5069 P 08 8362 4417

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16/7/08 10:03:16 AM

continued from page 25

Dirk Klynsmith

Man in the middle: In 2008, Skaife is a middlegeneration man between team-mate Garth Tander, above, and former team-mate Jim Richards, below.

Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

P022-028 Skaife.indd 27

in racing. Jackie Stewart says he thinks that we could have driver coaches in the sport. What do you think of that?

Would I consider that? Allan Grice said that to me, when I was about 18 or 19, and I thought it was a valid point.

You create a bit of a network for yourself and, in that network, there are people to talk to about things, and not necessarily just about driving the car. But if you take the weekend by itself, I clearly talk to Dave Swenson, and I have for some time over the years Robbie Starr and now, Rob Crawford.

And Mark Henry and others in the team about how we are travelling and looking at the data. The comparisons that are made are almost from a coaching perspective, if you want to take that line.

What happens then, and this definitely applies to me, is I have had some key figures, over the last five or eight years, who I talk to quite a lot. Tom Walkinshaw is one, John Crennan, Craig Kelly, David White, my dad. When I look at how I have fared, I don’t mean that we have a full-on meeting, or a teleconference, but I value their comments on how it looks.

I know this is a long-winded answer. You don’t necessarily have a team of people like you do in a football team. But if you are genuine about doing a good job in your field of endeavour, you will look for that. I look for that too.

It is definitely a requirement for people to have good coaching. It is, probably at all levels, necessary. To be a complete racing driver, and you and I have spoken about this before, you need to have lots of input.

What happens when some of those people change roles? There have been some ins and outs at HRT this season.

Sometimes, it takes a while for people to speak the same language, and to feel like the level of input is right. Mike Henry, for instance, has tried very hard with me to talk about areas where he can figure out what is my language. Driver language is different, and things that Garth might have complained about once, Mike is looking for different triggers with me.

Rob Crawford [now HRT team manager] looked after me in 1998. So we, probably, have a head start that makes that part of it easy. Richard Hollway and Rob Starr have been so close and they understood that language. I could get out of the car and say whatever about the car and they knew what I was referring to. It is an important part of being able to be spontaneous, to think on your feet and get those things done quickly and spontaneously.

Where are you on the ownership issue at the moment? Is that an active part of your involvement, is it passive during a race weekend? How does that work?

I am active on the bits that I need to be involved with. I am quite diligent on the parts that I need to be, as much as I was.

I go to a race weekend as a racing driver, I don’t feel like I need to be there as a team owner. I get there and purposely stay away from controversy when I need to. In other ways, some of the guys will come and see me, like Tony Cochrane and Wayne Cattach.

At the right time, I have no problem about discussing issues about the game and where we are headed.

Away from the race weekend, I love the game and I am interested in it, and I have, obviously, a vested interested in how it all works. I get involved as much as I need to be.

I get involved commercially, quite a bit, not just generating sponsorship but maintaining the levels of sponsorship required today for a top-line team. That is important, and that sounds simple, but it is important to do those things well, and almost over-deliver. It is such a serviceoriented business.

Has the relationship between HRT and Walkinshaw Performance evolved to the point where there is no more evolution happening in the short-term?

Yes, it has. The way that things have happened in the last couple of years, since Tom bought Holden Motorsport, apart from having to sort some stuff out at the start of last year, is fine. continued on page 28

27

16/7/08 10:03:38 AM

V8 SUPERCARS continued from page 27 We have weekly communications about it, so it’s no problem.

John Morris

From your point of view, are your goals still the same as they were a few years ago?

They are. Certainly, I would dearly love to win another championship and I probably need to reassess a little bit of where we are at. I am disappointed about the current position, I am certainly wanting to be higher than 15th or 16th in the championship.

I need to make sure that I am doing my very best, and organising myself to be able to do my very best. That is important, to be able to enjoy the challenge.

Sometimes what I do is I get too bogged down in the graft, the work and all the stuff, rather than valuing it all. You really need to step back from time to time.

Craig Kelly is pretty heavy on that, in terms of putting it into perspective for me. That makes a lot of difference, in terms of how I go about it, maybe not as intensely as I would normally go about things.

Peter Bury

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16/7/08 10:04:00 AM

Untitled-1 1

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8 tor 0 0 2 hton ural Mo

Brigames of the inaug The G

AUSTRALIA Representing Australia: Dean Canto Age: 27 Real job: Fujitsu V8 driver, FPR enduro man Why Australia? Could have been Australia or Italy, but lost the spaghetti-eating contest.

d

mpia y l O s ew N t r o p s

And the Wi nn

CANADA

GREAT BRITAIN

Representing Canada: James Moffat Age: 24 Real job: Carrera Cup driver Why Canada? James Moffat is the son of Allan Moffat – ex-pat Canadian.

Representing Great Britain: Tim Slade Age: 22 Real job: Fujitsu V8 driver Why Great Britain: Slade’s grandparents, uncle had a dog who might have been British.

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16/7/08 11:12:32 AM

Wi nner is ... Brighton!

Six countries, six events, one winner. The Brighton Games will be remembered for its scenic views, competitive nature and controversial conclusion.

The Motorsport News team conducted a truly memorable games ...

ITALY Representing Italy: Tony D’Alberto Age: 22 Real job: V8 Supercar driver Why Italy? Born is Australia, but his family were born and bred in Italy.

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MALTA Representing Malta: Eli Evans Age: 24 Real job: Australian Rally driver Why Malta? Grandparents are from Malta, but he is the world’s only red-haired Maltese!

NEW ZEALAND Representing New Zealand: Jason Richards Age: 31 Real job: V8 Supercar driver Why New Zealand? NZ through-andthrough (he even speaks like one, bro).

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16/7/08 11:13:06 AM

Peter Bury

THE first event on the schedule was basketball – a pretty straight-forward game – you’d think ...

Get ball, throw ball into hoop, celebrate. Thing was, it wasn’t so simple ...

Any of the six althletes could have won. Moffat, Slade, Evans, Richards and Canto all had many chances to take the gold, and after what seemed like 10,000 shots at the ring, Moffat took the main prize to the elation of the huge crowd.

Malta and Australia were the surprises. Evans was one of the last to get off the mark, but when he did, he quickly moved into medal contention.

Ditto for Australia. Canto stormed from nowhere to be in gold contention, however, he couldn’t sink the last basket and finished last.

Peter Bury

NEW Zealand entered the Remote Control Car trial with a cool and calm attitude, and it was rewarded with the win.

Althetes were given one battery and two sessions to post their time. Australia led after the first attempt, only to be beaten by NZ. The car was kindly donated for competition by Aladdin’s Cave in Brighton.

Canada’s battery allegedly had a “dud charge” and he failed to post a competitive time. Did this cost him gold?

Corruption rumours spread through the Olympic village like wild fire. The media later refered to the controversy as ‘Batterygate,’ but as MNews went to press, there are no conclusive findings ...

Basketball James Moffat Tim Slade Eli Evans Jason Richards Tony D’Alberto Dean Canto

4th 5th 6th

Remote Control Car Jason Richards Dean Canto Eli Evans Tony D’Alberto Tim Slade James Moffat

4th 5th 6th

12.60s 13.15s 16.95s 18.21s 21.98s

Peter Bury

AFTER a heavy and involved study, the organisers of the Brighton 2008 Games decided that they could not trust a group of race drivers with a javelin.

In its place, a cricket ball was used as the instrument to gauge who was the Champion throwist.

To the Olympican’s credit, there were no foul balls thrown, no windows smashed and no Brighton officials hit with the ball.

Great Britian were the greatest, Australia not far behind (despite a fall, below) and Italy were a trying third.

However, some of the althetes noted that the long throw was possibly the riskiest sport on the program. Evans (Malta) has recently undergone shoulder surgery and ultimately struggled with the throw.

12.37s

Frustration: Bronze was all TD could muster.

Long Throw

Peter Bury

Peter Bury

4th 5th 6th

Tim Slade Dean Canto Tony D’Alberto James Moffat Jason Richards Eli Evans

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16/7/08 11:13:43 AM

BRIGHTON 2008

Peter Bury

THE Brighton Olympics did not have the proper Bocce facilities, so a surface with long grass was used. Not ideal, and the Italian organisation was outraged.

Regardless, Italy entered Bocce supremely confident of winning the gold medal, but it was the delicate touch of Canada that spoiled the Italian’s party.

After three random elimination games, Canada, Italy and New Zealand advanced to the final, with Moffat dominating the event.

“It was an unexpected, yet very rewarding victory,” he said.

“I’d never even heard of the game before this!”

Australia was the best of the rest in the fourth-fifth-sixth match, with Malta and Great Britain wrapping up the tail of the field.

GREAT Britian came, saw and conquered the bike race.

Slade set his fast time in the his first timed run, and was on course for an even quicker time in his second, only to fall off the bike, grazing his hands.

It was a testiment to the commitment required to win gold at Brighton 2008.

The race drivers in the Olympians came to the fore in this event, with every althete peaking their head over the scorers shoulder to see what time they needed to do to get up the front.

In the end, there was no stopping Great Britain.

Bocce James Moffat Tony D’Alberto Jason Richards Dean Canto Eli Evans Tim Slade

4th 5th 6th

Bike race Tim Slade Dean Canto Tony D’Alberto Eli Evans Jason Richards James Moffat

Peter Bury

4th 5th 6th

50.88s 51.29s 51.48s 51.49s 53.74s 56.82s

IPO

U turn: Slade led at the turn, but dropped down.

ter.

Peter Bury

MELBOURNE’S bayside Brighton suburb has many redeeming features – it’s rich and exclusive lifestyle, endless choice of coffee and the historic bathing boxes, located on the Dendy Street Beach.

The boxes are a cultural and historical part of the town, but 2008 may go down as their most significant moment in time – hosting the Brighton 2008 Grand Finale – the Beach Sprint.

The Olympians lined up for a 25 metre dash,

www.mnews.com.au

p030-035 b2008.indd 33

picking up their marker and sprinting back to the finish. GBR’s Tim Slade led at the marker turn but an excessive amount of sand over his marker slowed him.

Old rivals New Zealand and Australia were also in the hunt, but a collision at the turn cost them.

Interesting to note that the two althetes on the inside and outside lanes were the clear victors ...

Beach Sprint 4th 5th 6th

Eli Evans James Moffat Jason Richards Tim Slade Tony D’Alberto Dean Canto 33

16/7/08 11:14:06 AM

BRIGHTON 2008

Peter Bury

Contenders and pretenders: Above, Canto, D’Alberto, Evans, The Hog, Slade, Richards and Moffat at the Closing Ceremony at Hogs Breath Cafe.

Peter Bury

What those involved had to say ...

Jason Richards (New Zealand): “My bronze medal has brought me fame and fortune, especially around the Brighton traps! I was successful in my chosen sport (remote control car race), where the other athletes were more successful in the ball sports. It highlighted some areas where I need to improve for the 2012 Games.”

Eli Evans (Malta): “It was good to represent Malta, and, to tell you the truth, I don’t think they’ve ever been so close to winning a medal. Just quietly, I am a bit of a hero among the Maltese now, but I don’t know if that news has made it across the Mediterranean ...”

Tony D’Alberto (Italy): “They cancelled all the street parties. No one went to the airport to greet me, I had to catch a taxi home. That’s what happens when you don’t meet the high expectations of your nation.”

Dean Canto (Australia): “I was in the lead coming into the last round, but a nudge from NZ cost me the event.

“I struggled at the basketball due to a height deficiency, but in the events where skill was involved, I think I was generally second best!

Grant Rowley (President of the Brighton IOC and Games Day referee): “I declare Brighton 2008 as ‘the best games ever!’

“I also declare that it was great to have none of the Olympians punch the referee in the back of the head.”

Andrew van Leeuwen (IPO): “There will be ongoing investigations from the Brighton 2008 games. For instance, Malta’s performance in the basketball, a sport they are not traditionally strong at, was, put nicely, surprising. And as for the Bocce, Canada’s victory was equally suspicious.

“Also on the Bocce, we are investigating some foul play regarding Italy’s uncompetitveness, although early indications are that their athlete was quite simply bad at it ...”

Phil Mahoney (volunteer): “I feel I made a difference. I was glad I could help out in such a world-class event. Thanks, Brighton 2008.”

Jayne Uthmeyer (Official scorekeeper): “You’re meant to bribe the scorekeeper before the games started, boys.”

Oriana Kennedy (Brighton 2008 sponsorship liason): “The meal that we had at Hogs Breath Cafe was fantastic. Hogs Breath was the best bit of the day. For me, Hogs Breath Cafe was the winner.”

Gold for GBR

Peter Bury

James Moffat (Canada): “The Canadian Olympic Commission is pressuring me to go to Beijing. But I’ve been saying to them that I don’t know how they are going to live up to the standards of Brighton 2008. ”I was very pleased to get the silver medal. I’m ruing the battery problem in the remote control car events, but I’m pretty happy and I’m now looking forward to many, many sponsorship endorsement deals.”

IT was a gold, silver and bronze day for the Commonwealth countries, with the homeland taking gold, the maple leafs second and the kiwis a tied third.

So, Tim Slade, how does it feel to be an Olympic champion?

“I’m very proud,” he gleamed.

“To have represented my country was a feat in itself, and to have won gold was a dream come true.

“I enjoyed the more physical events. I’ve worked hard in the past on the my fitness and it’s paid off.

“I feel as though I should have won the Beach Sprint, but I coved my marker with sand on the hand brake turn and lost out there.

“But this is what I’ve been training my whole life for.

I’m looking forward to living the high life.”

Official Medal Tally Olympian

Tim Slade James Moffat Jason Richards Eli Evans Tony D’Alberto Dean Canto

Points

2 2 1 1 0 0

1 1 0 0 1 3

0 0 2 2 2 0

23 22 22 21 20 20

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16/7/08 11:14:31 AM

Full Page ads.indd 3

16/7/08 11:52:08 AM

Finding Howard T There is more to Howard Racing than meets the eye. GRANT ROWLEY was invited into the heart of the team’s Gold Coast workshop to look at its expanding racing portfolio

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16/7/08 10:36:31 AM

INSIGHT

T

d Towers

Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

p036-040 howard.indd 37

HERE is a long-standing joke between Motorsport News and Howard Racing’s team manager Warren Davis that ‘Howard Towers’ is where the you’ll find him during work hours.

Imagine it. Beach on one side of the street, 10-story high race centre on the other. Inside, stainless steel benches surround the state-of-the-art technology, with robots attending to the race cars while Metre Maids serve refreshments to the staff during the lunch hour.

Hmmm, what a team. The facts are, though, that less than half of this is actually true ...

But there has never been a reason for MNews to think that Davis doesn’t work out of anything other than state-of-the-art. Team owner Mark Howard is a very successful property developer, and an equally impressive individual. His success off the track has allowed him to enjoy motor racing in Australia at its highest-level, and his cool, calm and charismatic nature has made him one of the most liked characters in pit lane.

So, to dispel the ‘Howard Towers’ dream, Davis invited MNews to take the grand tour of Howard Racing – the longest-serving Fujitsu V8 Series team, with expanding racing interests.

And as we were warned, there was not a ‘Tower’ in sight. Not that it was a disappointment, as there are less impressive Main Game workshops around the country. If these guys ever do step up the Championship Series, they certainly wouldn’t look out of place ...

As this story is published, Howard Racing has no intention on entering the Main V8 Series. Twelve months ago, it was a distinct possibility, but as history shows, it didn’t happen. Why? We’ll get to that later. In the meantime, Howard explained how business and pleasure can co-exist – with a few associated benefits.

“I’ve always approached any business like there’s a job to do,” he said.

“Even though it was a hobby, there was still a job to get done. And there’s a lot of money invested too.

“Having the race team adds some brand value to our overall business. Development can be quite exciting and risky, and you can link the two together. Car racing is the same. And obviously V8s are the ultimate category in Australia.

“I get a lot of people who still ring me and say ‘how did you go on the weekend?’ They don’t ask about their business matters, they ask how did the V8 team, or how did Dean (Canto) go, or how did the Formula Fords go.

“I think for a lot of the people that we do business with, the brand has worked.”

Focusing on business has been something that Mark has been able to do more of lately. At the conclusion of last year’s Fujitsu V8 Series, Howard retired from driving duties. To this point, the ex-pat Canadian still holds the record for the most Fujitsu rounds ever entered, and admitted that he has missed strapping his helmet on.

“With not driving this year, I’ve found that I miss it. I miss fitting it in,” he says.

“Last year I was busy, and this year I’ve been busy too, but last year I was fitting it into my life.

“But, I’ve stopped racing because I’m too old and too slow!”

Mark’s driving days may now be over, but his passion and vision for his team remains very strong.

Together with Davis, the pair have devised a clear direction for the team – and the key word is ‘youth.’

New for 2008 within the ‘Howard Towers’ are a continued page 38

37

16/7/08 10:36:44 AM

INSIGHT

Dirk Klynsmith

Dirk Klynsmith

Dirk Klynsmith

John Morris/Mpix

Howard Racing in pictures: Top, round and championship winning wreathes. Above from left, Dean Canto (Fujitsu V8s), Chaz Mostert (Formula Ford), Stephen Robinson (V8 Utes), and Adam Macrow (2006 FV8 Champion). Below left, Warren Davis and Mark Howard. Below right, Sam and Jack Howard.

Dirk Klynsmith

continued from page 37 couple of Formula Fords and a V8 Ute. Add to that a bunch of karts for Howard’s son’s junior racing program and they’ve slowly built themselves the makings of a ‘One-Stop Youth Shop.’

Howard and Davis have both seen their share of young V8 guys through the team already – 2006 Fujitsu Series Champ Adam Macrow, Andrew Thompson, Karl Reindler – and the next wave is just about there. The team has taken on young 16-year-old debutant Formula Forder Chaz Mostert this year, and both of Howard’s karting sons, Jack, 15, and Sam, 13, have race car aspirations.

Youth is the aim of Howard Racing’s game, and the plan is simple – create stepping stones, mentor, support and ultimately win.

“Warren and I sat down and had a chat a little while back and looked at Generation Y,” Howard says.

“We looked at where our overall business plan is going, and it’s about youth. And we wanted to create stepping stones. We’ve got good relationships with Main Game V8 teams, so these young kids can come here and learn how to drive V8s, and then move on.

“I hang around go-kart tracks and speak to a lot of them and every young kid wants to become the next Michael Schumacher. But it’s just impossible, isn’t it? The cost involved is just horrendous and that’s the part where we thought we should just go back to the grass roots and start running Formula Fords.

The only other one we might add to that is Formula 3.”

Unearthing and developing the next crop of young guns is clearly the goal, but unlike other youth programs, Howard Racing sees it self as a training ground for future ‘local’ stars.

“I think now, kids have drivers who have come out of their era and they can identify to,” Howard says.

“If I look at one, I look at (Mark) Winterbottom, as being someone I knew in Formula Ford, arrived in the Development Series, saw him progress through the Stone Brothers to Mark Larkham’s team, and now he leads the V8 Championship.”

Talents like Winterbottom aren’t too frequent, though, and finding out if someone has the skills and smarts to get the job done behind the wheel of a race car is tricky business.

Davis agrees that having all of the stepping stones in place – karting, Formula Ford,

possibly Formula 3 and V8 Supercars – may help the process.

“Yeah, that would be an exciting way to go if the right guy came out of our kart team,” Davis agrees.

“It would probably be a three of four year program. Ideally, a two year program in Formula Ford and a two year program in Fujitsu, and hopefully then they go on to V8 Supercar.”

So, this begs the question, could a young driver work their way from karting to the V8 Supercar Championship Series, having driving for only one team? Never say never, and Howard seem very intent on making it happen, but there’s just one missing element here – a Howard Racing entry in the Main V8 Supercar Series.

This inquisitive journalist was given the “not yet” line by both Howard and Davis, and their reasons seem fair.

“In the past we’ve been quoted as wanting to go to the main game,” Howard recalls.

“Maybe back then, it was a 50-60 percent opportunity to do it. But I think that the Main Game has got that big and that hard, that it’s too hard to break into.

“If you say you have to crawl before you walk, then we need to lead the Development Series, and we need to win another title.”

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16/7/08 10:38:26 AM

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visit www.crimsafe.com.au 15/7/08 4:56:26 PM

INSIGHT

Dirk Klynsmith

Meet the team Andrew Simpson n Karl Reindler’s

Number 1

n Workshop

manager

Phil Bailey n Dean Canto’s

Number 1

n Subassembly

Dave Carter n Formula Ford

Preparation

Doug Howland n Transport

logistics n Tyre technician

Scott Auld n Kart Preparation n Formula Ford

driver

Nicky Howard n Marketing

and commercial manager

People are the best tool At Howard Racing, the guy who owns the store doesn’t run the store HOWARD may be the name on the front door of the shop, but Warren Davis is the racing brain behind the operation.

After doing his V8 Supercar apprenticeship with Stone Brothers Racing and PWR Racing, the Kiwi-native was employed by Mark Howard in 2003 to set-up and control Howard Racing. Six years on, Davis remains in the role and has helped the team grow to its current stature.

Davis’s key ingredient is his staff and suppliers, and he places a lot of emphasis on having the right relationships in place.

“We’ve got an extremely good group of guys with good skills and we aim to do well,” he says.

“I’ve always put a lot of emphasis on making sure we have good people. I feel we have that now.

“We’ve geared up accordingly. In V8s, our partnerships are with Triple Eight and DJR. On the Formula Ford side, we’ve got a great alliance with the guys from Borland, plus some other guys with some experience in that field. We’ve always employed the services of people who will help us along the way.”

Implementing the Formula Ford and V8 Ute programs into the business has been a new step for Howard Racing in 2008, but the team’s V8 Supercar always remains their public face. And an important element of that is to be seen at the front of the field. If you look back over the years, the team has always had a lead driver – Cameron McLean, Adam Macrow, Andrew Thompson and now Dean Canto. According to Davis, that was by design, not luck or chance.

“It was a decision between both myself and Mark. We always make sure that happens,” he said.

“You’ve got to have good staffing, good funding, good equipment and a driver who can compliment that as well.”

– GRANT ROWLEY

Dirk Klyn smith

Name: Warren Davis Age: 39 Family: Married to Anita with three children (Preston, Jensen and Aston) Hobbies: Motorsport and family Racing highlight: Fujitsu Series 2006, Bathurst 1998 Racing lowlight: Mallala 2005.

Two smouldering wreaks Fantasy driver line-up: Two young, committed, focused kids who can win Pre-race ritual: Prepare well Favourite track: Bathurst and Adelaide

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16/7/08 10:38:54 AM

It’s what’s inside that

counts

Just like a V8 Supercar, it’s what’s inside a Fujitsu Smart Inverter Air Conditioner that counts. We’re talking grunt, and buckets of it.

Enough to reach the desired room temperature more quickly and to handle greater extremes in temperature. Plus they’re up to 30% cheaper to run than conventional air conditioners and they’re much quieter both indoors and out. No wonder Fujitsu is……

McNABB FG8515

FUJITSU GENERAL (AUST.) PTY LIMITED www.fujitsugeneral.com.au For more information call 1300 882 201

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11/5/07 10:58:35 AM 16/7/08 11:47:42 AM

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16/7/08 12:12:06 PM

INDYCAR

Red, white, but no blues

Ryan Briscoe hasn’t got too many reasons to be down at the moment. He’s just won his first IndyCar race, is driving for one of the best organisations in the business, and has found a happy home in the USA. He spoke about all this and more with ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

T

HERE are plenty of ways in which being a motorsport journalist is easier than being, say, a newspaper reporter.

For instance, as a motorsport hack, you don’t have to visit grieving families to get quotes about an untimely and often gruesome death. You do, however, have to speak to racecar drivers after a bad race.

Okay, so our version isn’t quite as intrusive, but consider this; after a race, drivers, even at the best of times, are generally more concerned about a doing a debrief, having a shower, and then going to sleep. When they’ve had a bad race, you can throw a bad mood into the mix.

So you can appreciate why, as I call Ryan Briscoe as he boards a jet chartered by Penske the evening of the Watkins Glen IndyCar race, I am keen to reschedule our chat. He’d been taken out of the lead of the race

by Scott Dixon, and it is going to be after midnight when he lands.

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p042-046 Briscoe.indd 43

Tomorrow will be fine, Ryan.

“Nah we’ll do it tonight,” he implores, “I’ll call you back when I get home.”

It has all of the makings of a tough interview. It is anything but.

Even the topic of the failed race at The Glen, where Dixon spun behind the Safety Car and took himself and Briscoe out of the top two positions, is easy to broach.

“It was disappointing, definitely, but there was nothing I could do about it,” he says.

“All I can do is take away the positives. Sure, I could be sitting a little prettier in the points right now if I’d got the win, or even second place, but it was just unfortunate. I got the pole, led the most laps, I set the quickest lap of the race, but had that one bit of bad luck …

“It was going to be a good race between me and Scott. To that point,:: I had been saving fuel and I think he had as well, so it was going to be good to see how it all turned out.”

It shouldn’t have come as such a surprise that Briscoe would be pretty happy with the world right now.

Despite not

getting a result, Watkins Glen was another example of the pace and ability he has shown all season.

“It’s been good, it’s been real good,” he says.

“It’s a top championship at the moment, and we’re going to plenty of road courses to finish the season off so that’s pretty exciting. It should mix it up a bit and for me it’s like being a fish back in water.

“Sure, [the season has] been a little bit up and

down. And sure, we’ve had a few unwanted finishes, for example what happened at Watkins Glen.

There have been a couple of thrown away opportunities.

“But then there was Milwaukee with the win, and that was huge.

I knew there were going to be some challenges going into this year, such as the ovals, and the extra competition, so I just wanted to run at the front consistently.” continued on page 44

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continued from page 43

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Milwaukee was a subject that wasn’t going to stay unspoken of for long, and nor should it.

Briscoe’s win at the AJ Foyt Indy 225 was the nail in the coffin for any of the demons that might have been clinging on from 2005 and the failed Ganassi program, and proved that when all of his ducks are in a row, Briscoe can win races. And not just races, oval races.

“I was really excited about getting [the first win] on all oval,” he admits.

“We’ve done more races on ovals than road courses this year, so a lot of it was down to that, but it was still special. Especially at Milwaukee, where I’d had some trouble in the past, it was great to come back and win. I certainly made the most of having a fantastic car, but I really had to race for it as well.

“I thought it was huge. I’ve always said that my biggest win was always going to be my first on an oval, and it was. It was good for the team as well.

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INDYCAR

“For me it was really important, and I’m still improving all the time on the ovals. It takes time, and it’s something I am working on at this stage of my career.

“But every oval is so different.

That was a short flat oval, very different to a Texas and your other Super Speedways. But I’m starting to feel like I can fight for the win on the ovals. I feel as though I’m really improving, and getting to a point where I am more and more comfortable.

“It always feels good to get the first win, but I was confident it was going to come with the team I’ve with, it was just a matter of time. I knew from the time I got the deal with Penske – that was a big turning point for me, just

being noticed by Roger Penske.

That’s the biggest thing that has happened for me in my career.”

The phrase is a telling one.

Having not had his first foray into IndyCar racing go too well, his Ganassi contract not being extended for 2006, Briscoe might have been in danger of slipping off the radar. But instead he spent 2006 racing everything that stayed still long enough for him to hop into. There was Champ Car appearances, Grand Am appearances, and IndyCar podium, two endurance races in a V8 Supercar, and an A1GP program.

And at the end of all that, and having built up a solid bank of options for 2007, Briscoe chose to tackle a whole new adventure

– racing a Penske Porsche in the American Le Mans Series.

“In motor racing, it is so important to have the right team behind you, and I had opportunities in Champ Car,” he explains, “but when I had the opportunity to go with Penske in the Sportcars program, which could be viewed as a step back, I saw it as a huge opportunity.”

Briscoe’s Champ Car opportunity was with RuSPORT, the team with which he raced two events for at the end of 2006. That was something he had admitted during an interview with this very magazine a little over 12 months ago, and, with 20/20 hindsight, it’s a decision he couldn’t be happier with.

“In the end RuSPORT downsized, and then Champ Car didn’t succeed. For me it was always clear what I should do, it wasn’t a question in my mind.”

But going to Penske for 2007 was only half the job. He then had to impress the team sufficiently for them to elevate him to the IndyCar team when Sam Hornish Jr went NASCAR racing.

“I wasn’t pressuring them at all,” Briscoe says.

“I didn’t even know that a seat would be coming available, and when talks were starting about Hornish, they hinted to me that I’d be an option, that I’d be continued on page 46

I didn’t need to pressure, penske were very forward about it. they knew when i came on board that my heart was still in open wheeler racing – RYAN BRISCOE on moving from Penske’s sportscar program to its indy program www.mnews.com.au

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INDYCAR continued from page 45

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considered for the ride. So I didn’t need to pressure, they were all very forward about it. They knew when I came on board that my heart was still in open-wheeler racing.”

While he is essentially in the same team this season, he is driving, for lack of better terminology, in a different division of a big company. Does it even feel like the same team?

“That’s a good question. In a lot of way it’s the same team. My boss is the same person, and I’ve still got Roger Penske that comes to race and calls the races. The operation is run with the same manner and the same class, and the same expectations.

“Except now I’ve got a different engineer, different mechanics, and a different race car.

“But although the people might be different, they’re all part of the same school. They’ve been hired by the same people, so it hasn’t been a huge change.”

After years of wandering around the racetracks of the world, it all seems to be settling down for the boy from Syndey. And with one

big ambition in sight, he couldn’t be happier.

“I’d like to stay here for a while. The IndyCar series is really growing and getting strong; it really is perfect. It’s such a great time and I think its only going to get stronger as the ‘transition’ teams get stronger on the ovals, and get more competitive.

“This is going to one of the toughest championships in the world.

“And a dream of mine is to win the Indy 500, so I’d like to stay here for as long as that’s going to take. For as long as I’ve got great opportunities like this, I want to hold on to them.”

Hopes and dreams: Briscoe lists the Indy 500 as his ultimate goal, and started third at this year’s classic, next to the two Ganassi drivers, above.

Back in 2005, Briscoe was a Ganassi driver himself, left, although the season ended in him not being kept on at the team for the following year ...

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EVERYTHING HAPPENS HERE FIRST! 5/29/08 3:04:43 PM

16/7/08 12:14:16 PM

John Morris/Mpix

The homecoming king?

WHEN Ryan Briscoe trundles down pit-lane at this year’s Indy 300 on the Gold Coast, it won’t be his first time.

He raced at Surfers Paradise for RuSPORT in 2006, drafted in to replace the injured Christiano da Matta. And it wasn’t a totally unspectacular debut on the Queensland streets, Briscoe coming home 11th.

But this year he will come home not as a ‘super sub,’ but as a driver fully entrenched in both a team and a series, and with it least one, if not more, wins to his name.

“It’s great to race there, and I know the circuit, so that’s going to help a lot,” he says.

“Street courses are always tough, and Surfers is one of the toughest I’ve ever driven on. Penske has won races around that track so they’ve got some good knowledge and information about how to make a car go fast around there, and my car is good wherever we go, so its going to be good going down there with a big chance of winning.”

Should he win he’ll do what Will Power wasn’t quite able to do during the Champ Car days at Indy, although Briscoe was surprised to hear that statistic …

“Will Power hasn’t won there? He’s going to be the one to beat, to tell you the truth.

He’s really quick, knows his way around that place, and he has a very fast car on the street courses this year. So it’s going to be tough going head-to-head with Will.”

And just how good would an all-Aussie front row be?

“It’d be perfect, although there are no points for pole, so let’s go for an Aussie one-two finish. How about that?”

Sounds good to us, Ryan!

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN For more info on the Indy 300 on the Gold Coast, visit www.indy.com.au

RACE AT THE BIGGEST EVENTS! Get into the Action -This is your chance to be part of Australia’s best known National category, the Aussie Racing Cars Super Series.

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16/7/08 12:14:37 PM

V8 SUPERCAR CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES ROUND 6 – HIDDEN VALLEY

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V8 SUPERCARS

A Ford win in Darwin is not that unusual.

But a Ford Performance Racing 1-2 had never happened before the teams rolled out at Hidden Valley

G

PHIL BRANAGAN

The Blue Brothers

Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

P048-051 V8 Darwin.indd 49

OOD racing teams win races. Great ones take 1-2 results and win championships.

Ford Performance Racing is yet to complete the last of those tasks but it did break through for its first 1-2 result in the Northern Territory. Mark Winterbottom led Steven Richards in qualifying but Richards had the last laugh on Sunday, albeit after Garth Tander took advantage of a Safety Car period and a Richo gearchange glitch to take out Race 2.

That win, and Tander’s third position overall, disguised the superiority of the Campellfield team at Hidden Valley.

They were way better than everyone else, and the fact that the margin was cut down at all showed how hard HRT had to work to get on anything like racing terms with its Ford counterpart. The blues marched away from the pack at nearly half a second a lap in Race 1, a number almost unthinkable these days.

The only question was that of reliability, always a consideration with the heat and the Valley’s nearly 1km straight, and which FPR car would take the Race 3 win.

Richards won the pit lane battle and Frosty was by no means displeased to be second and extend his title lead.

“It all just worked absolutely perfectly,” said Richards, his smile like a split watermelon.

“I had to get my act together to qualify a bit better, and I did that.”

As for the detail of what has brought about an upswing in single-lap speed, he was understandably reluctant to reveal any secrets.

The other Fords were the only other real opposition.

Jamie Whincup got some assistance onto the grass in the first and last races, and spent much of his weekend clearing traffic, and that left Craig Lowndes to carry the hopes of TeamVodafone. But a last-lap Race 3 engine failure – T8’s first such blowup since Whincup’s at Oran Park two years ago – left him with a DNF. Such things can never be well-timed, but this was especially bad.

There was much to be said for consistency through the weekend and, somewhat predictably, the two men who proved to be the best at that game were Russell Ingall and Rick Kelly. The Enforcer was swift in all sessions and races, keeping his nose out of trouble to score fifth overall, while Kelly did not get on well in his first date with a brand new Walkinshaw VE in qualifying and, after starting 13th, worked his way through to a bag of valuable points for seventh.

Neither of those drivers’ team-mates continue to show any similar form and the attention will be on Paul Dumbrell, in particular, over the second half of the season.

Twelfth overall is not a result that HSV would consider to be a positive after its successes of recent seasons.

On the new car front, both the Sprint Gas and Jack Daniels teams showed that their 2008 weapons are gaining performance, even if the results didn’t back that up. Jason Richards clattered Mark Skaife out of contention in a pitlane nose-to-tail, while Todd Kelly put in a great last-to-11th Race 3 effort to show that there are positives in the land of the black Commodore.

If some may consider those positives a little abstract, that will have to be enough. The 2007 form shown by FPR on the tracks that make up the second half of this season mark the team as a genuine threat, and other teams will be in the possibly unfamiliar role of playing catch-up.

And if Frosty is the title favourite, he cannot be anything but thrilled to have Richards as his ‘wing man’ when the dogfights get serious in the spring.

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15/7/08 5:15:24 PM

Hidden Valley Notepad THE ‘indigenous’ paint on the TeamVodafone Fords in Darwin was in a good cause. The one-off livery, below, which took 28 hours’ work to apply to the cars and the team’s show car, was to support Red Dust Role Models, the not-for-profit organisation that promotes positive messages to inspire the local youth community. n Steven Johnson was looking fairly healthy in Darwin, despite a few celebratory Jim Beams the week prior to the round.

Steven and wife Bree welcomed a daughter into their family, Lacey J scutineering at a bit over 3kg. Mother and daughter are doing fine, Dick and Jilly have a granddaughter so congrats all around.

n The hotel/apartment block in which many of the V8 Supercar circus stayed in Darwin was a busy place, but Saturday morning featured a particular highlight. A fire alarm went off at 0745 and there was mass confusion for a few moments, the unholy racket followed by advice that the cause of the alarm was being investigated.

It turned out to be a false alarm but, as your correspondent was driving out of the carpark, firefighters were driving in … n And the fun did not stop when the

racing did. Getting out of Darwin usually involves some sleep deprivation but the cancellation of a post-midnight Qantas flight to Sydney at almost 3am on Monday left a few people scratching around, looking for a comfy bench to sleep on.

Two of the victims were MN shutter aces John Morris and James Smith. The former reports getting home after being awake for something close to 40 hours ...

– PHIL BRANAGAN

John Morris

John Morris

n One man not so well was Ray Price.

As if the Ford Racing Manager did not have enough to worry about with the company’s 2009 program confirmed, Price contracted a cold on the way to Darwin and, added to a banged-up wrist from a traffic accident last month, was looking distinctly under the [hot] weather.

Chances Are: Garth Tander had one chance to take a race win in the north and too kit, leading home the FPR cars in Race 2.

Icy Pole for Frosty Qualifying showed that it was going to be a big challenge to beat FPR IF any qualifying session this year had a subtext, it was Hidden Valley’s.

With Ford’s recent news, and the reactions to it, all eyes were on the men in blue (and red) and a 12-3 result was no massive shock, given the recent results in the north. The margins were notably tiny, with Mark Winterbottom a hundredth ahead of Steven Richards and another 0.01s back to Jamie Whincup. Garth Tander was the only Holden man in the top four, with Craig Lowndes fifth.

The other notable thing about the session was the fact that Richo reckoned he had uncovered a qualifying tweak. Whether it was the new tyre or not, he was not saying, but it could be a big factor for the rest of the season.

Ford’s ‘other’ 2009 team, SBR, suffered. James Courtney missed the last 10 by 0.01s after a late tweak helped, but not enough to hold out Tander, who took it down to the last lap to make the 10.

Rick Kelly had car set-up woes with his brand new HSV racer, while Shane Van Gisbergen was back in ‘learning’ mode after his Sandown successes.

The other positive from qualifying was Russell Ingall, whose fourth place flies in the face of a past lack of success over a single lap.

Jason Richards was sixth, showing real speed in the Tasman car, and on his first weekend with a ‘full’ Walkinshaw Performance motor, Lee Holdsworth was eighth, both more than 10 spots up on their respective team-mates.

Qualifying

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V8 SUPERCARS

WINNERS

Dirk Klynsmith

Former Pardners: Mark Skaife was forced to fight his way past cars all weekend, finding himself behind ex-HRT man Todd Kelly, above.

The news was even worse for Craig Lowndes, who seemed to be having a good weekend until a rare engine failure on the final lap of Race 3, below.

FORD PERFORMANCE RACING: The drivers did a great job and, if not for that gearshift glitch, it may have been a blue sweep in the north. But flamin’ heck, those cars looked fast.

STEVEN RICHARDS: Has there ever been a wider grin on top of the podium?

GARTH TANDER: On what is a noted Ford track, third overall is a pretty stout result – particularly after being beaten by almost 0.5s a lap in Race 1. Also, he didn’t make a big fuss of the post-race 12 point penalty for clanging into Whinup.

RUSSELL INGALL: The form is there but there are still some round-to-round consistency issues to be sorted before we start thinking ‘podiums’.

John Morris

V8 SupercarS | round 6 HIDDEN VALLEY

Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

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Pos #

Driver

Team/Car

Q

R1

R2

R3

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

Steven Richards Mark Winterbottom Garth Tander Jamie Whincup Russell Ingall Will Davison Rick Kelly Craig Lowndes Shane Van Gisbergen James Courtney Jason Richards Paul Dumbrell Michael Caruso Paul Morris Lee Holdsworth Mark Skaife Greg Murphy Todd Kelly Steven Johnson Tony D’Alberto Fabian Coulthard Marcus Marshall Cameron McConville Michael Patrizi Shane Price Andrew Jones Kayne Scott Andrew Thompson Jason Bright

Ford Performance Racing Falcon Ford Performance Racing Falcon Toll Holden Racing Team Commodore Team Vodafone Falcon Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore Jim Beam Racing Falcon HSV Dealer Team Commodore Team Vodafone Falcon SP Tools Racing Falcon Jeld-Wen Motorsport Falcon Sprint Gas Racing Commodore Autobarn Racing Team Commodore Valvoline Cummins Commodore Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore Valvoline Cummins Commodore Toll Holden Racing Team Commodore Sprint Gas Racing Commodore Jack Daniel’s Racing Commodore Jim Beam Racing Falcon Rod Nash Racing Commodore Glenfords Racing Falcon IRWIN Racing Falcon Team WOW Commodore Ausdrill Ford Rising Stars Falcon Jack Daniel’s Racing Commodore Team BOC Commodore Team Kiwi Racing Falcon PWR Performance Commodore Fujitsu Racing Falcon

2 1 4 3 7 9 13 5 22 11 6 20 27 12 8 10 19 16 12 14 15 13 18 24 25 21 29 28 17

2 1 3 4 7 8 9 5 12 10 6 17 16 20 13 25 18 11 15 19 14 21 DNF 26 22 23 DNF 24 DNF

2 3 1 5 6 10 9 4 16 24 7 11 12 14 18 8 23 29 20 15 25 22 17 21 13 27 26 28 19

1 2 3 8 4 5 6 DNF 9 7 DNF 14 15 13 16 18 10 11 17 23 22 20 12 19 DNF 21 24 DNF DNF

6 5 1 88 39 18 15 888 9 4 3 16 34 67 33 2 51 7 17 55 111 26 14 777 11 12 021 50 25

Points: Winterbottom 1402, Tander 1332, Whincup 1276, R. Kelly 1208, S. Richards 1123, Lowndes 1051, Courtney 949, Davison 938, Holdsworth 876, T. Kelly 834, Van Gisbergen 832, Ingall 797, Johnson 788, Coulthard 759, McConville 745, Skaife 744, Murphy 690, J. Richards 660, Jones 606, Dumbrell 566, Caruso 552, Morris 547, Bright 502, Marshall 462, D’Alberto 442, Price 424, Thompson 345, Scott 320, Patrizi 246, Pither 58.

STONE BROTHERS RACING: Saying that ninth and 10th is a Winning result may seem optimistic but the Ford news from the weekend will have meant a lot to the Stones. The The Giz cracked the top 10 on his Valley debut, which is just what Ross and Jimmy wanted.

LOSERS CRAIG LOWNDES: The level of preparation by the ‘Fones is such that an engine failure is a genuine shock these days. To have it happen on the final lap just seemed cruel.

MARK SKAIFE: Some solid come-frombehind driving undone by a silly pitlane mistake by Jason Richards.

SPRINT GAS RACING: The cars are beginning to show some hints of speed – but the team does need an error-free weekend to capitalise.

JASON BRIGHT: A bunch of hits from other drivers and broken bits derailed a weekend where the team looked to be heading in the right direction.

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FORMULA 1 ROUND 9 – SILVERSTONE, GB

I

T took about 10 seconds to realise that there was no chance that anyone not named ‘Lewis’ and ‘Hamilton’ had any chance of winning the 2008 British Grand Prix.

A careful examination of the lap charts reveal that Hamilton did not lead every lap of the race but such was his speed and adaptability to the conditions that any hopes others may have held of victory – even while they were leading – were false.

He vaulted away from grid four and only conceded the lead to team-mate Heikki Kovalainen (who started from pole) after a touch – a kiss,really. At the opening round of stops, Kimi Raikkonen chose to stay on his worn intermediates and enjoyed an edge for two laps. But once the rain returned, Hamilton (on new inters) blasted off into the far distance, only a tail of spray able to keep up with the flying McLaren.

Even heavier rain sorted out the rest of the race. Nick Heidfeld

moved to second and, after Ruben Barrichello demanded a change to full wets, his Honda zoomed through to third. That was impressive, if one ignores the fact that while he was gaining positions, he was lapping no faster than Hamilton – who was still on intermediates.

That said it all. Even on the wrong tyres for the conditions, Lewis was miles ahead of everyone else. In the end, the 68-second winning margin said it all, except that he mentioned that he was always comfortable, and never pushed. The British press swiftly rolled out its Senna comparisons; in this instance, it doesn’t look unreasonable to say such things.

By the end of the race, Raikkonen righted the ship somewhat to take fourth, to draw level with Hamilton on points.

Even more remarkably, Felipe Massa failed to score, an effort down to no less than five spins as the ‘old’ Massa (rather than the one who handled a wet Monaco with

aplomb) returned to the cockpit.

That, and the end of Hamilton’s two race scoring drought, means that all three drivers exited Silverstone tied, on 48 points, for the championship lead.

Fernando Alonso went some way to making up for a wrong tyre call with sixth; Jarno Trulli scored again, in seventh and Kazuki Nakajima, again, showed signs that there may be some H2O in his DNA with eighth for a much-valued point for Williams.

Neither of the Finnish pairing of Raikkonen and Kovalainen delivered as much as expected.

Kimi was a raging favourite coming in, and Ferrari later admitted that it had let him down. Heikki started from pole position for the first time and led the opening laps, but it was downhill from there. A win appears to be overdue, and urgent.

The way that the season is swinging to and fro, it is impossible to predict what is coming next.

But if it rains, you would be crazy to bet against Hamilton.

SILVER LINING Lewis Hamilton bounced back from two zero scores with a win that put him in a class of his own at Silverstone.

By WILL BUXTON 52

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formula 1 FORMULA 1 | Round 9 SILVERSTONE

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Earth + Water = Mud: Not for Rubens Barrichello, who finished third, above.

The man who replaced him at Ferrari, Felipe Massa, had five spins, like this one, left.

Nick Heidfeld found his mojo and motored to second, below right.

But in the end, it was all about Lewis Hamilton and his Mumm, main pic.

Pos # 1 22 2 3 3 17 4 1 5 23 6 5 7 11 8 8 9 7 10 10 11 14 12 12 13 2 Ret 4 Ret 16 Ret 6 Ret 21 Ret 20 Ret 15 Ret 9

Driver Lewis Hamilton Nick Heidfeld Rubens Barrichello Kimi Räikkönen Heikki Kovalainen Fernando Alonso Jarno Trulli Kazuki Nakajima Nico Rosberg Mark Webber Sebastien Bourdais Timo Glock Felipe Massa Robert Kubica Jenson Button Nelsinho Piquet Giancarlo Fisichella Adrian Sutil Sebastian Vettel David Coulthard

Team McLaren-Mercedes BMW Sauber Honda Ferrari McLaren-Mercedes Renault Toyota Williams-Toyota Williams-Toyota Red Bull-Renault STR-Ferrari Toyota Ferrari BMW Sauber Honda Renault Force India-Ferrari Force India-Ferrari STR-Ferrari Red Bull-Renault

Laps Time Grid 60 1:39:09.440 4 60 +68.5s 5 60 +82.2s 16 59 +1 Lap 3 59 +1 Lap 1 59 +1 Lap 6 59 +1 Lap 14 59 +1 Lap 15 59 +1 Lap 20 59 +1 Lap 2 59 +1 Lap 13 59 +1 Lap 12 58 +2 Laps 9 39 Spin 10 38 Spin 17 35 Spin 7 26 Spin 19 10 Spin 18 0 Spin 8 0 Spin 11

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, on lap 18, 1:32.150s.

FORMULA 1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Drivers’ Points: Massa, Raikkonen and Hamilton 48, Kubica 46, Heidfeld 36, Kovalainen 24, Trulli 20, Webber 18, Alonso 13, Barrichello 11, Rosberg and Nakajima 8, Coulthard 6, Glock and Vettel 5, Button 3, Bourdais and Piquet 2.

Manufacturers: Ferrari 96, BMW 82, McLaren-Mercedes 72, Toyota 25, Red Bull 24, WilliamsToyota 16, Renault 15, Honda 14, Toro Rosso-Ferrari 7.

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IN any other circumstances, the combination of Mark Webber, a Red Bull, a front-row start and a wet race would be worth a flutter. Add to that the word ‘Silverstone’, a stone’s throw from his adopted neighbourhood, and you would expect nothing but good news.

Webber finished 10th. Ouch.

It all went wrong after three corners. At the fourth, Webber touched a white line and, in a trice, was motoring backwards down Hanger Straight.

WINNERS LEWIS HAMILTON: Rain, and a Pom wins in brilliant fashion. Who needs Wimbledon?

NICK HEIDFELD: Two second places in three races is a great run. Beating team-mate Robert Kubica just makes it that little bit better.

RUBENS BARRICHELLO: Drove like he was only 35 again.

DC may be retiring but the Brazilian has plenty left in the tank.

RED BULL: Okay, not the result most Aussies have been waiting for.

But the car was fast all weekend and that is a bit of a win.

KIMI RAIKKONEN: Not a win but more points from a tough weekend in the wilds of Northamptonshire.

SILVERSTONE FANS: They came in big numbers – even for qualifying – and stood in the rain and the mud to see their hero win. Think of them when you see an empty grandstand at [insert name of new GP venue here].

LOSERS

After recovering, he made ground (at one stage, he was the fastest man on the track) but there were no points to be had.

“It was a difficult day to go car racing and it just didn’t go our way today,” said the disappointed Aussie after the race.

If there was any good news, it was this; he was fast through the sessions and the team wanted, desperately, a dry race. At Silverstone, the Red BullRenault was a fast car. Let’s hope that lasts.

FELIPE MASSA: Three words; drove like crap. He was actually a menace.

MARK WEBBER: Should have been a result.

Same three words.

Slip Sliding Away

ROBERT KUBICA: There’s been plenty written about the mercurial Pole but this race showed he is not ready to take on the big boys just yet.

DAVID COULTHARD: We hope he does a better job at Silverstone next year, for the circuit’s final race. Of course, he will have a microphone by then. sutton-images.com

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JENSON BUTTON: There would have been a lot of Poms hoping for points for their lad but none came.

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FORMULA 1 ROUND 8 – MAGNY COURS, FRANCE

Two-for-One Sale Kimi Raikkonen was thwarted by a broken exhaust but Felipe Massa was on hand to pick up the pieces at Magny Cours. By WILL BUXTON

S

OMETIMES, a little luck holding up Mark Webber in Q1, is needed to win World and Lewis Hamilton serving a Championships. drive-through penalty for hopping Felipe Massa had luck on his over a kerb after passing Sebastian side in France. Kimi Raikkonen Vettel in the race’s opening stanza. started from pole and had the race, While battle lines were drawn seemingly, in his pocket when, on the justification of the decision mid-race, an exhaust broke on the – British journalists almost Finn’s Ferrari. He struggled for a universally decried it as a decision few laps but it was obvious that from the Red Rule Book – what his lead, which had been as much is not in doubt is that, parallel to as 10 seconds, was not going to BMW’s decline, and even if it is be sufficient. Massa took over and, temporary, Toyota stepped up in while he drove conservatively in France. Jarno Trulli started fourth the damp conditions that came and finished third, boldly fighting later, he was never under threat. off Kovalainen as the race ground “I saw he [Raikkonen] had a great to its conclusion. pace and a bit better balanced It was, of course, a week after car and I didn't want to risk. Even the death of team founder Ove second was a great result, but Andersson and the result, earned first is even better,” smiled Massa on merit, could hardly have come who, with the win, became the at a better time. first Brazilian to lead the Drivers’ If a red-on-white car on the championship since Ayrton Senna podium was a shock, a Renault in did it, 15 years ago. seventh was less so. That it was the The even better news for second Renault-powered car is not Ferrari was that, while it thrived, a huge surprise, given the recent its opposition floundered. The speed and, at last, reliability of the BMW.Saubers were nowhere to Red Bull underneath Mark Webber. be seen and were confined to But, if it was unexpected to supporting roles, while McLaren’s see Nelsinho Piquet at the wheel, penalty count rose as the weekend it was a bolt from the blue that wound on, with Heikki Kovalainen he took the spot from Fernando docked five grid spots for allegedly Alsonso in the closing minutes of

the race. The beleagured Brazilian qualified ninth, impressive until one counts the six spots he started behind Alonso, and it must be said that the Spaniard was many strokes over par on Sunday in what was an ordinary performance, beginning with a bad start and only getting worse from there.

The other disappointment for the weekend was the lack of form from anything resembling a Williams. Neither Nico Rosberg nor Kazuki Nakajima could cajole any speed from the dark blue cars, on a weekend when a Toyota motor was, obviously, not a bad thing to have behind one’s shoulders.

Patrick Head summed up the performance as “mediocre” but that goes only part-way to identifying the close competition in the seven-to-16 group.

But, before anyone in that group starts thinking about winning a race, here is what they are up against. On lap 47, Raikkonen did a 1m17.8 lap, which at that stage was faster than everyone except Massa and Trulli. Even wounded, the Ferrari F2008 is a formidable beast, as hard to kill as it is to beat.

Massa may lead but Kimi and his car will take a power of beating ...

Red Alert: Kimi Raikkonen led away but it was Felipe Massa who took the spoils for Ferrari after a broken exhaust, right, intervened and forced the Finn to slow.

Jarno Trulli, below, gave the Toyota platoon much to smile about with a hard-earned third place.

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FELIPE MASSA: Being the first Brazilian since Ayrton Senna to do anything is a big honour. Getting the championship lead is a massive bonus as well.

Green, with Envy

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THING could have been worse for Honda in France. Actually, we are lying – it is hard to see how they could have been.

After Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello failed to make it into Q2 by 0.3s, the team made the worst report possible – that there was nothing that went wrong with the cars. In other words, the hardware worked to, for want of a better phrase, its optimum potential, but that was well short of what was required to get a decent result.

So, hopes were not that high for Sunday. Historically, Magny Cours is not known as a great car breaker, as opposed to the tracks on which the engines ride the rev limiters for seconds at a time and, as a result, explode.

Even so, you would have thought that Jenson Button’s race would have lasted more than a lap. JB clonked into the back of Sebastien Bourdais at the first corner and motored around with the nose of the Honda folded back.

When he got back to the pits a new one was fitted but it soon became clear that residual damage was done, and the aero of the car was compromised.

With new wings set to be tested at Silverstone two days later, team principal Ross Brawn shrugged his shoulders and ordered Button to park it. And that was all in the DNF column in France; the 19 other cars motored around, all day, pretty much untroubled.

A bad weekend for Honda.

FORMULA 1 | Round 8 MAGNY COURS sutton-images.com

POS # DRIVER CAR LAPS 1 2 Felipe Massa Ferrari 70 2 1 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 70 3 11 Jarno Trulli Toyota 70 4 23 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 70 5 4 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 70 6 10 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 70 7 6 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 70 8 5 Fernando Alonso Renault 70 9 9 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 70 10 22 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 70 11 12 Timo Glock Toyota 70 12 15 Sebastian Vettel STR-Ferrari 70 13 3 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 70 14 17 Rubens Barrichello Honda 69 15 8 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 69 16 7 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 69 17 14 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 69 18 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 69 19 20 Adrian Sutil Force India-Ferrari 69 Ret 16 Jenson Button Honda 16 Fastest lap: Raikkonen on lap 14, 1m16.689s (156.794kmh)

RACETIME 1:31:50.245 +17.9s +28.2s +28.9s +30.5s +40.3s +41.0s +43.3s +51.0s +54.5s +57.7s +58.0s +62.0s +1 Lap +1 Lap +1 Lap +1 Lap +1 Lap +1 Lap Accident

QUAL 2 1 4 10 5 6 9 3 7 13 8 12 11 20 15 19 14 17 18 16

FORMULA 1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP sutton-images.com

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WINNERS

Drivers Points: Massa 48, Kubica 46, Raikkonen 43, Hamilton 38, Heidfeld 28, Kovalainen 20, Webber and Trulli 18, Alonso 10, Rosberg 8, Nakajim 7, Coulthard 6, Glock, Vettel and Barrichello 5, Button 3, Bourdais and Piquet 2.

Manufacturers Points: Ferrari 91, BMW 74, McLaren-Mercedes 58, Red Bull 24, Toyota 23, Williams-Toyota 15, Renault 12, Honda 8, Toro Rosso 7.

KIMI RAIKKONEN: We classify Kimi as a Winner here because, had he not been in a Ferrari, he would have been black-flagged (McLaren), the car would have exploded (Honda) or stopped quietly (anything else).

TOYOTA: Third, on merit, less than a week after Ove Andersson’s passing. It will take a lot to convince us that the Swede did not arrange all this from somewhere near Valhalla.

NELSINHO PIQUET: We just wanted to include him on this list, this once, even if it never happens again. He didn’t look great in France – but ‘pretty good’ is a decent start.

LOSERS LEWIS HAMILTON: Given that he is in a McLaren, surely someone in the team should have played the realism game and told him to redress the Vettel pass. Lesson; the car is silver so the stewards won’t let this stuff go unpunished.

BMW.SAUBER: It seemed a long, long time since the Canadian two-step.

JENSON BUTTON: At least it was all over quickly.

FERNANDO ALONSO: Q3 was a great effort and, while the car was light on fuel, it was not that light. From there on, it was all downhill, ending with the ignominious sight of a world champion passed by his under-threat team-mate.

WILLIAMS: The cars were all at sea in France. And to make matters worse, the identical engines in ‘real’ Toyotas went like rocket ships all weekend. That hurts.

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Driver Trulli 2 Vettel 5

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MOTO GP ROUND 8/9/10 - DONINGTON/ASSEN/SACHSENRING

The State of Play After an off-season of change many thought they knew what the 2008 MotoGP season would look like. And many would have been wrong ...

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T the start of the 2008 MotoGP season it appeared that all the battle lines were drawn for a perfect war at the highest level of motorcycle

racing.

And, while the on-track action has been nothing sort of mesmerising, what has actually happened has been far from what anybody expected.

Despite the level of technology and the speed of the bikes, reliability has not been a huge issue. But all three of the title-contending teams – Ducati Corse, Fiat Yamaha and Honda HRC – have faced the situation where they have only been able to rely on their Superstar riders.

Of course, for Yamaha, this was by design – or, rather, as a consequence of Valentino Rossi’s single-minded determination to be on the same tyre as Casey Stoner at all cost. His move to Bridgestone split the Yamaha factory team, quite literally, into a Bridgestone team and a separate Michelin team, and the irony is that the former took some time to get on top of the latter.

At Ducati, the opposite seemed to be the case, with World Champion Stoner welcoming Marco Melandri into the team with open arms.

While the Australian was not expecting a fight from the Italian, the arrival of a five-time GP

winner (most recently on Bridgestones) could hardly have been seen as a negative.

Finally, the political machinations that saw Dani Pedrosa emerge on top of Nicky Hayden last season appeared, from the outside, to be set aside as the Spaniard missed all but a few laps of pre-season testing after a heavy fall.

Surely, the 2006 world champion would go into the season with a heavy advantage, while Dani Boy found his fitness?

No, no, no …

Jorge Lorenzo came to grips with riding a MotoGP bike better than anyone expected (in fact, better than anyone in history) and, until he started a distressing program of falling from the bike in China, looked to be heading to, perhaps, a season from heaven. Melandri has gone from being a race winner to the slowest rider in the field in one season. And Pedrosa has been fast, fearless and smart, on a Honda many thought was ready for a museum.

Such is the Spaniard’s speed that Hayden has given up on valve springs and set to tuning the new pneumatic Honda to his liking, or, rather, the linking of whoever takes his place next season as he, no doubts, searches for a new ride.

So, we have a three-man war for the title and none of the three can much depend on getting

any assistance from their team-mates.

That being said, the one who is crowned champion at the end of the year will be he who has been able to minimise their losses, rather than maximise gains throughout the season, without making mistakes.

“Last year in Sachsenring I made a mistake and crashed,” said Rossi, “and in Assen I also made a mistake, so I hope that I’ve now had my bad moment for this year.

“We need to be at 100 percent from the first practice and hopefully we can have a good [season] with no more mistakes.”

After his emphatic title year, Stoner and Ducati appeared to lose their way after winning the opening race in Qatar, but summer brought a new poise which, perhaps, has rather more to the team tuning the GP8 to the current-spec Bridgestone tyre rather than the other way around. While Rossi and Stoner appear to be fast (if not comfortable) on the latest hoops, everyone else on the Japanese rubber have had their problems.

There have been some other promising vignettes, from veterans Colin Edwards and John Hopkins, and rookies Andrea Dovizioso and Alex de Angelis, but the small-ish grid is polarised. There are three guys out the front and, maybe, support roles from Hayden and Lorenzo. All eyes are on the leading men.

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MOTOGP

Back in business

THE last three rounds of the MotoGP Championship have been all about Casey Stoner.

After having an unexpected tough first half of the season, it seems that Ducati and Stoner have hit their straps by taking three wins in three races as his championship rivals faltered.

At Donington Stoner was unstoppable and rode away from the opposition all weekend to take pole and the race win.

Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa could all but watch as the Aussie disappeared into the distance, settling from second and third respectively.

The championship then headed to the Dutch TT at Assen for one of the favourite races of the year.

Stoner took his third successive pole and once again rode away into the distance. This time more convincingly than at Donington and again all his rivals could do was watch.

Pedrosa finished second to consolidate his championship,

while championship leader Rossi faltered crashing out on the first lap.

The Doctor recovered to finish 11th but lost the championship lead to Pedrosa.

Colin Edwards always goes well at Assen and continued his consistent year with third place aboard the Tech 3 Yamaha.

The Sachsenring was next and last year it was Pedrosa who won by a mile in searing temperatures.

It looked to be a temperature repeat as Stoner knocked up his fourth pole in a row, but come race day and the heavens opened to deliver a wet race.

Not normally known for his wet weather riding abilities, Pedrosa quite literally rode away from the field until he too faltered and crashed on the run down to Turn 1.

Casey was left to fend off Rossi and controlled the remainder of the race to bring him right back into title contention, while Aussie rain-man Chris Vermeulen was third aboard his Suzuki.

MOTOGP | Round 10 SACHSENRING

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POS # 1 1 2 46 3 7 4 15 5 4 6 50 7 65 8 14 9 56 10 13

Have another Chupa Chup: Jorge Lorenzo, above, made the step to MotoGP this year and looked to be a real contender for the title. But a number of falls have left him well behind as the season enters its next phase.

RIDER Casey Stoner Valentino Rossi Dani Pedrosa Colin Edwards Andrea Dovizioso Jorge Lorenzo Nicky Hayden Chris Vermeulen Shinya Nakano Anthony West

BIKE Ducati Malboro Team Fiat Yamaha Team Repsol Honda Team Tech 3 Yamaha JiR Team Scot MotoGP Fiat Yamaha Team Repsol Honda Team Rizla Suzuki MotoGP San Carlo Honda Gresini Kawasaki Racing Team

LAPS 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30

BIKE Ducati Malboro Team Fiat Yamaha Team Rizla Suzuki MotoGP San Carlo Honda Gresini JiR Team Scot MotoGP Alice Ducati Team Rizla Suzuki MotoGP LCR Honda MotoGP San Carlo Honda Gresini Kawasaki Racing Team

LAPS 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30

RACETIME 47:30.057 +3.7s +14.0s +14.1s +42.0s +46.6s +1:04.5s +1:04.6s +1:16.8s +1:29.3s

Q 1 7 14 10 4 15 13 6 9 17

Fastest lap: Stoner on lap 23, 1m32.749s

MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Riders Points: Rossi 187, Pedrosa 171, Stoner 167, Lorenzo 114, Edwards 98, Dovizioso 90, Vermeulen 73, Hayden 73, Toseland 65, Nakano 64, (18th West 22).

MOTOGP | Round 8 DONINGTON POS # 1 1 2 46 3 2 4 5 5 4 6 48 7 69 8 7 9 56 10 13

RIDER Casey Stoner Valentino Rossi Chris Vermeulen Alex De Angelis Andrea Dovizioso Sylvain Guintoli Loris Capirossi Randy De Puniet Shinya Nakano Anthony West

MOTOGP | Round 9 ASSEN RACETIME 44:44.982 +5.8s +8.4s +12.7s +14.8s +15.7s +18.2s +21.7s +29.4s +41.0s

Q 1 2 9 5 6 17 4 3 10 7

POS # 1 1 2 2 3 5 4 69 5 4 6 48 7 7 8 56 9 52 10 50

RIDER Casey Stoner Dani Pedrosa Colin Edwards Nicky Hayden Andrea Dovizioso Jorge Lorenzo Chris Vermeulen Shinya Nakano James Toseland Sylvain Guintoli

BIKE Ducati Malboro Team Repsol Honda Team Tech 3 Yamaha Repsol Honda Team JiR Team Scot MotoGP Fiat Yamaha Team Rizla Suzuki MotoGP San Carlo Honda Gresini Tech 3 Yamaha Alice Ductai Team

LAPS 26 26 26 26 26 26 26 26 26 26

RACETIME 42:12.337 +11.3s +17.1s +20.5s +27.3s +28.6s +32.3s +34.9s +38.6s +38.8s

Q 1 2 6 4 11 7 8 9 13 10

Fastest lap: Stoner on lap 5, 1m28.773s

Fastest lap: Stoner on lap 5, 1m36.738s

MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Riders Points: Rossi 162, Pedrosa 151, Stoner 117, Lorenzo 104, Edwards 82, Dovizioso 68, Hayden 57, Toseland 53, Capirossi 51, Nakano 49, (11th Vermeulen 48), (18th West 16).

Riders Points: Pedrosa 171, Rossi 167, Stoner 142, Lorenzo 114, Edwards 98, Dovizioso 79, Hayden 70, Toseland 60, Vermeulen 57, Nakano 57, (18th West 16).

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Long Service Leave

P-G Andersson may be a new name to the WRC, but he certainly isn’t a new name to Suzuki. The Swede is debuting in the main series this year, but has been campaigning Suzukis since 2004, having won two Junior World Rally Championships along the way.

He spoke to ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN about loyalty, and making the SX4 a winner

MOTORSPORT NEWS: How are you enjoying your first year as a WRC driver?

P-G ANDERSSON: It is a dream that has come true to be in a world rally team. Sure, we knew we were going to find out some problems with the new car and that’s what happens when you are developing around rallies.

But I’m happy with the driving performances of me and my codriver, and we are doing it step by step. I hope in Finland we can find out some more solutions for the car to make it more reliable.

There are problems with the car, but surely that will always be the case with a whole new package.

Forget reliability; are you happy with the speed of the car?

Sometimes it has been okay. We

are lacking power, that’s the biggest issue. Handling-wise the car is okay, and if we can do some more testing before the next round hopefully we can make the car a bit quicker even with the parts that are in it at the moment, just by fine tuning it a bit more.

The biggest problem or issue we have is that we have not been testing at all. All of our testing has been on the rallies, and that isn’t the best way to do it …

Can you guys bridge the gap to the likes of Citroen and Ford, or are they too far ahead?

They are too far ahead. We need half a year, one year, maybe more, before we are at their speed. We need a lot of testing and developing and fine-tuning before we can get as much power

as they have in their cars.

But first we need to work on reliability of our cars, make them a little stronger, and then work on more power.

Your best result of the year came at Monte Carlo this year with eighth … but was that your best rally? Or have there been events where you might have done better if it hadn’t been for the car breaking?

I could have achieved a better result in Mexico if we hadn’t had a failure with the car, for sure. We were top six, top five positions, but you have to do the whole rally before you get the results.

Just how disappointing are things like that?

It is important to say ‘okay, it is

our first year,’ but the longer the season goes on the more you want some results. We have done a lot of rallies without results but I have seen my stage times and I see we have the potential to get results in points scoring positions, so of course I want to finish a round now.

You’ve been competing in Suzukis since 2004 – what has made you so loyal to that particular manufacturer?

They were showing great potential when I started in the juniors, and they were putting a lot of effort and money into the junior series. I was unable to find any better drive at that moment.

I think in the juniors we were the best team, most of the time, although we had a big challenge

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WORLD RALLYING

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Looking forward, looking back: This year is P-G’s first in WRC, left, bit it certainly isn’t his first in a Suzuki, the Swede’s winning association having started back in 2004, above. from Citroen and Renault.

Also I knew the future plans, so the best place for me was to stay with them, because their future plan was to come into the WRC. Now we are there, so I am very, very happy with the decision.

You spent a long time in the JWRC – and you won two titles in that time (2004 and 2007) – but what kept you out of the WRC for so long? Was it out of loyalty for Suzuki?

That was one of the reasons, and also the WRC has been getting tougher and tougher every year, and there are not many seats in manufacturer cars. You have to bring a lot of money to buy

RACE

a seat these days, and I was not interested in that. I wanted to show my potential to get a drive – not pay for a drive.

So I spent five years with a very professional team.

You’ve got so little experience in 4WD cars, the least out of your factory counterparts … has it been hard to adapt?

In some areas I am not 100 percent. I find there are many stages where I could learn and go faster. I need to spend more time in the car to get everything flowing, and its when you are not thinking and just letting everything happen that you get most out of the car.

SUPERSPRINT

all of the events in a WRC car?

When we were in Turkey it was suiting the cars okay, the mixture of fast and then very technical stages. In the WRC car if we have too many uphill sections we are losing a lot of times, as with highspeed stages, because we are lacking the power.

I don’t find it hard, of course it is different speeds and you have to adapt your pace. But I think its going good, it hasn’t taken me a long time to work it out. There are areas where we can still improve, but on the fast flowing stages I have no problems with the fourwheel-drive. In fact, it is much easier than the front-wheel-drive.

What was your favourite rally in a JWRC car?

I liked New Zealand and Finland where there are high speeds, and Sweden, the home event, on snow and ice. So there were some favourites.

Will that change when you drive

TARMAC RALLY & TRACK DAYS

What about the new rules in 2010? What direction would you like the WRC technical regulations to take?

They are talking about Super 2000 with a turbo charger, and that might open up the market for drivers if the cars are more the same and it is easier for drivers to fight for victory.

DIRT RALLY

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16/7/08 10:42:13 AM

Chris Gilmour leads the National Class in Australian F3. He spoke to LACHLAN MANSELL about winning his class, racing against Mark Winterbottom and the possibility of retirement ...

FORMULA 3

MOST of the 2008 Australian Formula 3 Championship focus has been on the drivers in the Championship Class.

After all, the championship class drivers have been the ones battling for outright race wins, and the series is all tied up between Leanne Tander and Nathan Caratti with two rounds to go.

However, the National Class drivers should not be overlooked, because the racing between the drivers in the older-model F3 machinery has been very entertaining in its own right.

The National Class drivers race the 2002-2004 F3 chassis, this year powered by a control Opel Speiss engine, as opposed to the Championship Class drivers in their newer 2005-2007 chassis.

Chris Gilmour is the driver that leads the National Class with two rounds remaining, thanks to his consistent performances throughout the season. Gilmour leads the National Class by 44 points – a full round – and is understandably confident about his chances of winning the

secondary title.

“The last two rounds are at Phillip Island and Symmons Plains, which are tracks I’ve raced at before, and because I’ve got such a big lead, I can afford to have a semi-bad round,” Gilmour said.

“However, I’ll be aiming to wrap up the championship at Phillip Island.

“At the beginning of the season, it was really close between (Irishman) Lee Farrell and me, and it looked like we were going to be battling hard for the championship. At Oran Park, Lee had a shocking round with two DNFs, and I won both races, so I was really able to take advantage.

Lee is obviously a very talented driver, and it has been good to race against him. If he hadn’t gone so badly at Oran Park, he would have been a lot closer to me in the points, but I’m not complaining!”

Gilmour actually came extremely close to winning the Championship Class in 2004.

“I was leading the championship coming into the final round at Surfers Paradise,” he recalled, “but I got taken out of the first race and scored a DNF, which cost me a lot of points. In the end, Karl

Reindler won the series by three points. It was really unlucky, but that’s motor-racing.”

Prior to racing in Formula 3, Gilmour raced Formula Ford and go-karts.

“I won the Queensland state championship in Formula Ford, and eight state championships in karting,” he explained.

“I actually finished runner-up to Mark Winterbottom in one of the championships as well.”

Chris Gilmour’s racing plans for 2009 are still uncertain.

“I’m thinking I’ll probably sell my race car,” he said.

“There’s $40,000 up for grabs for the winner of the National Class, but I’ve invested a lot more than that into running the car this season, so it will recoup some of the costs. Next season, we’ll see what happens, but I don’t know if I’ll even be racing. I’m not really interested in racing tin tops, and F3 is the pinnacle of open-wheel racing in Australia, but it has been really expensive to compete in. I might just focus on running my real estate business (All Properties Group). I’ve always wanted to get into real estate, and the business is keeping me busy enough in the weeks when I’m not racing.”

Dirk Klynsmith

National Pride

FORMULA 3, ROUND 6 EASTERN CREEK RACEWAY LEANNE Tander bounced back into title contention with a solid round at Eastern Creek.

The fast femme won Race 1 and finished second to fastman James Winslow in Race 2.

Tander’s top results have levelled the championship lead with two rounds left after Nathan Caratti had a shocker.

Caratti qualified on pole for both races, but dismal starts dropped him down the order, and a clash with Mat Sofi in Race 2 made life even worse for him.

The only positive is that now we have a close championship to look forward to (We aren’t sure if Nathan agrees with us!).

Winslow also put himself in the frame to challenge for the title with a superb performance. He looked set to win Race 1 but was judged to have jumped the start. He cruised to a big win in Race 2.

Points: Caratti 145, Tander 145, Winslow 137, McFadyen 99, Sofi 88, Kostera 57, Percat 38, Chamberlain 37.

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ON TRACK

Dirk Klynsmith

Percat gets the cream FORMULA FORD MOTORSPORT NEWS: How difficult was it to get your head around going to a new circuit for Formula Ford?

NICK PERCAT: For us it wasn’t too bad, because we had a bit of Carrera Cup data. But just rolling out and not knowing if any of the ratios were going to be close, and not knowing what the car was going to be like, was pretty interesting.

But the way our cars rolled out of the truck on Thursday was pretty much how they rolled back in. We were spot-on.

But it wasn’t even as if you could ask someone where the braking markers were, or what gear to use at what corner. How long does it take a driver to get his head around that?

It took close to all of Practice 1 just to get your eye in to where everything was. Practice 2 was to see if you could improve on that, but even in the last race people were learning where their braking markers were, so some took a

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long time and some didn’t. [Paul] Laskazeski was pretty much on it on Lap 3!

a bit hesitant into the next corner, but I think with the heat, it didn’t seem to affect them at all.

Did the fact it was a new circuit make it that little bit more satisfying to win?

It was good to be able to roll up and show everyone I can learn a track quickly. That’s a good thing.

You went into the championship as one of the favourites, but half-way through you’re a bit out of contention. Are you disappointed?

I’m not happy about where we’re sitting in the championship, but that’s come down to decisions I’ve made more than anything else.

We’ve had the pace at every round. At Sandown, we smashed everyone in practice, and then we had a mechanical failure in qualifying. But in the three races, I just made wrong decisions. I didn’t race for the championship.

What did you think of the circuit?

I rate it, it’s pretty awesome. The whole layout suits the way I like to drive a car. Over the back, I was really able to pull a gap.

You had a pretty big scare in the first race with that off. Was there a moment when you thought you’d thrown away the win?

Just as I was leaving the track, that thought went through my head!

I was pretty lucky. Where I ran off there was a walkway with some bitumen, and that saved me.

When I came onto the straight, I could see Mick Ritter (Sonic team boss) shaking his head at me.

Were your tyres dirty when you came back on the track?

I thought they would be, so I was

Is the championship still a realistic goal?

If we can keep scoring points for the next four rounds we still have a chance. Laskazeski hasn’t had a DNF, and he’s been on the podium every round, but he only needs to have one slip up and the gap comes right down. So we’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing, and put him under a bit of pressure to start beating us.

John Morris/Mpix Marshall Cass

Sonic’s speedster was too good in Darwin, dominating Formula Ford’s first visit there. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. He spoke to ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

FORMULA FORD, ROUND 4 HIDDEN VALLEY THE Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship’s first visit to Darwin was always going to be interesting, if for no other reason than the 1km long front-straight.

But while the straight did provide plenty of slipstreaming, it wasn’t enough to stop Nick Percat, who won the round ahead of runaway title leader Paul Laskazeski. Percat’s only scare was on off in the first race. Other than that, his weekend was all about three wins from three races.

Ben Morley was third, while the standout was Andrew Waite. The young kiwi qualifying fourth on debut in the championship. He finished the meeting eighth.

Driver’s points: Laskazeski 182, Morley 123, Percat 121, Adam Graham 110, Kristian Lindbom 104, Scott Pye 104, Daniel Erickson 71.

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Washington: Having a Rad season Bryce Washington is in the midst of his best season yet – but there’s more to come. GRANT ROWLEY reports CARRERA CUP MOTORSPORT NEWS: It’s been your best season so far in Carrera Cup. Is it the fact you’ve focused solely on Carrera Cup, or you’re back racing with Sonic?

Bryce Washington: I guess it’s a few things.

Obviously, doing the one category allows you to focus more.

Doing both Carrera Cup and Australian GT really burnt me out and it was pretty difficult at times. Getting in and out of the cars made it tough, to be honest.

But also, being back with Sonic has pushed me up the field. I’ve driven with a few different teams in Carrera Cup, but coming back to Sonic, you really realise how good they are and how well they operate.

You want to do well for Michael Ritter (Sonic Motor Racing Services owner) because he wants to do well. It works really well.

Also, having team-mates that are so close has helped as well. James Moffat has been really good, as well as Dean (Fiore) and Rodney (Jane).

It’s been good to have those guys to push you along.

When MNews spoke to Ritter at the start of the year, he certainly had high-expectations of you …

Mick’s always got his expectations of his drivers, it’s the way he operates, and I think when you have high expectations, you perform better.

I’ve probably had a couple of unlucky years, and this year hasn’t been that smooth sailing, either. I’ve made a couple of errors.

I was pinged for jumping the start at Clipsal.

We went to the Grand Prix, I was in third and ended up in the fence. Then at Perth, I had a gearbox failure, so we should probably be a bit further up, but it’s just one of those things.

What about your future? Sonic certainly aren’t going to stand still forever and has made its intentions clear. Would you like to follow them to V8 Supercars?

I’m definitely going to try and get out of Carrera Cup this year and move into the Fujitsu Series.

I don’t know which way to go yet. If I can do something with Mick, I’d love to, but it’s a matter of having the right equipment and doing it properly. I know Mick won’t do anything unless it’s the best opportunity.

Ideally, if I was going to do anything else, I’d like to do it with him because we’ve got a good track record together and I know how he works.

Forgetting what team you do it with, is V8s where Bryce Washington wants to go?

Initially, I had the desire to go over to Europe to do Sportscars, and I did a couple of rounds in the Le Mans Series, but for me, I work in the family business, and I need to be in Australia.

I can’t really walk away from that, so I want to try and concentrate on V8 Supercars in Australia. That also allows me to be close to work between rounds.

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16/7/08 1:53:44 PM

Breakthrough results

Glenn McNally had his best-ever Ute results at Hidden Valley. PHILLIP MAHONEY found out how and why ...

V8 UTES

GLENN McNally is a new face to the V8 Utes series, but after his performance at Hidden Valley in July, he is becoming just a little more well-known.

Having struggled slightly for pace in the opening rounds of the championship, McNally very nearly landed himself on the podium in his first visit to the Top End. Unfortunately for the WestAustralian, he was unable to get the result he was chasing after contact with last year’s Champion Grant Johnson. But his speed up north did not go unnoticed.

“We’ve just got to try and take the positives out of the weekend,” said McNally.

“We had some real good car speed and having come from where we were on the Friday having never driven there [Darwin] before. Where I ended up running in the last race was pretty good.

“It was just a bit of a bummer the way it all panned out in the end.

“I ended up smacking into Grant, which took us both off the podium, which wasn’t what I wanted to happen at all. But then, that’s motorsport.”

Aside from the slight hiccup

www.mnews.com.au

V8 UTES, ROUND 4 HIDDEN VALLEY, NT

Dirk Klynsmith

s

ON TRACK

in the final race, it was a great weekend for McNally having never before been to the Hidden Valley circuit.

“I really had to do my homework,” he said.

“There were a lot of track walks, even after the Friday practice and first thing on Saturday morning with our driver coach Tim Shaw and my brother Mark just really trying to get my head around it.

“Not having been there before it was a matter of going out and really studying the track and trying to piece it together and chip the lap times down over the weekend.”

McNally was also debuting a new car in Darwin, swapping from the VY to the current VE Ute, something which other Holden drivers have struggled to get on top of early in the season.

“I really liked the new VE,” he said.

“It just puts the power down really well and being a new car its nice and new and tight so really I was quite impressed with it.

“They don’t quite have the braking of the old cars, but I think the main thing is it’s a new car with a nice fresh engine and all the rest of it so that was probably on of the biggest factors.”

With McNally really wanting to get to the top of the Utes before heading anywhere else, it seems that he is taking the necessary steps towards running with the quick guys.

“It [running with the top guys] will defiantly make me work harder on and off the track.

“I know I can do it, and having basically one leg up on the podium and then not getting there will just motivate me to get there more and when I do get there, I’ll enjoy it that much more, I’m sure.”

LAYTON Crambrook won the fourth round of the Yokohama V8 Ute Series at Hidden Valley Raceway, taking the lion’s share of the wins.

Crambrook, originally from Darwin, won Races 1 and 3 to secure the round victory. He continues to lead the series.

He was also debuting new sponsorship from Mother Energy Drink.

Holden VE driver Kim Jane took second overall after taking advantage of others misfortunes.

Reigning series Champion Grant Johnson was poised for a podium, but a clash with Glenn McNally in the last race dropped them down the order.

McNally took his best finishing result for the year with second in Race 2’s reverse grid race, and was running well in the final until his incident.

George Miedecke won Race 2, which helped him take third overall for the round.

Points: Crambrook 360, Jane 313, Johnson 292, Fisher 270, Harris 267, Miedecke 259, Colin Corkery 244, Gary Baxter 225, Yanis Derums 225, Gary MacDonald 224.

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Parker leads the ‘changing guard’ Nick Parker talked to MOTORSPORT NEWS about find the right formula in Commodore Cup COMMODORE CUP

Marshall Cass

THE 2008 Commodore Cup national series has featured a ‘changing of the guard,’ with regular front-runners like Geoff Emery, Brett Holdsworth and Daniel Richert leaving the category.

In their place, a host of young guns have assumed the running at the front of the field.

One such young star is Nick Parker, who in terms of pace, has been the revelation of 2008, running with Lee Holdsworth in the opening round at Oran Park and beating Marcus Zukanovic home in the second race at Phillip Island. Unfortunately, mechanical problems in Round 3 at Eastern Creek cost Parker valuable series points, compromising his title bid.

Parker’s rise to prominence in Commodore Cup should come as no surprise to karting spectators. Parker raced against (and beat) the likes of Mark Winterbottom, Jamie Whincup and John Martin in karts, and he took out the Australian Karter of the Year crown in 2001 before a limited campaign in Formula Ford.

“I never really liked Formula Ford,” Parker said.

“I moved to Commodore Cup in 2005,

because it seemed more relevant to where I wanted to go.

“We’ve always had the speed, especially in the wet, but we’ve been caught up in other people’s incidents or had mechanical problems.

This year, we’ve really nailed the setup and we’ve had the pace to run right at the front.”

Like many Commodore Cup drivers, Parker

wants to race in the Fujitsu Series.

“Hopefully we can contend for the title this year and get some good sponsorship for next season,” Parker said.

“I know we’ve got the pace to be a title contender with Michael Tancredi and Adam Lloyd, we just need to do it consistently and iron out the problems we’ve been having.”

John Morris/Mpix

Who’s the fastest?

SUPERKARTS WHEN the Superkarts were on the support program for the V8 Supercars at Eastern Creek back in March, they were the fastest category at the track that weekend.

Being faster than the ‘Best Touring Car Championship in teh World’ was a great feat, but when the dynamic Superkarts arrived at the Shannons Nationals last month, they weren’t the fastest anymore.

Both Sports Sedans and Formula 3 were outpacing the quick karts – by two and seven seconds respectively

Regardless, the Superkarts put on an entertaining show.

Darren Hossack took the round win at Eastern Creek with two wins and two secondplaces. Defending Champion Warren McIlveen won one of the other races after a seized engine in the first race put him at the back of the grid for the second race. Sam Zavaglia was the other race winner.

Anton Stevens, who crashed heavily last year, finished in the top-10 overall after running as high as fourth in Race 2, while Anthony Lappas and Brad Stebbing battled for honours in the 125cc class.

– LACHLAN MANSELL

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ON TRACK

The four-year Sprint race Finally, Jim’s Sprint is on the track and looking fast. GRANT ROWLEY reports IT’S been four years in the making, but finally at Hidden Valley, Jim Richards’s Falcon Sprint hit the track.

And depending on who you believe, the car won a race on its debut weekend.

Not once during the long build process did the seven-times Bathurst winner rush the job.

He wanted to make sure it was right for the Biante Touring Car Masters Series. So, after the long wait, has the Sprint lived up to the expectations of Richards?

“Yes, it did,” he says.

“I think it more than met my expectations because I didn’t think it would go as well as it did.

“I knew how well it would go, but until you have it on the race track against other cars, you don’t really know what its potential is.

“But I was very pleased. It went great.”

Officially, Richards finished fourth, second and second in the three races at the Darwin circuit, but according to Richards, he says he won the last race.

“For a reason unknown to myself, they deemed that we finished second when I crossed the line ahead of (John) Bowe. It was a first for us, that’s what we reckon!

“On that particular track, we managed to go very, very well.

It doesn’t start off the line that well because it’s only a little 289 engine, so it bogs down a bit. But we managed to catch everyone

John Morris/Mpix

BIANTE SERIES

Model contender: Jim Richards’s new Falcon Sprint was one of the star attractions at Hidden Valley, and when the large cars wore out their tyres, the Falcon pounced and came very close to winning on debut.

else and pass them, and then battle with all the big cars. That’s basically what we built it for.”

When Richards was considering entering the Historic race car series, he didn’t want a big car that was going to thump the opposition. He wanted a car with less engine capacity so that he can eventually thump the opposition.

“It didn’t want to build a car like the Camaro or Mustang, with a 350 engine that was the biggest and looked the best.

“I wanted to build something that was a bit of a sleeper. When you think about it, if anyone had

said a year ago that a Falcon Sprint is going to keep up with the Camaro, they would have said ‘don’t be stupid!’

“That’s why I wanted to build something that wasn’t going to be a winner. I didn’t think that guys like myself should go and build a car and come and dominant.”

In that case, Jim’s ride has already exceeded his expectations, although he says that Hidden Valley’s track layout and conditions are unique and the same results are less likely to flow at other circuits.

“It’s only a small engine

and it doesn’t a have a lot of horsepower,” he says. “but at the same time, it’s light, it’s 250kg lighter than the 350 Camaro, but it’s probably got 60-70 horsepower less, and probably 100 (ft lbs) less torque.

“It’s strong points are that it uses its brakes better, so the brakes last longer because its lighter, and the tyres don’t go away as much.

“When we go to tracks where the tyres don’t overheat and wear out, we might struggle, but hopefully we’ll be able to be competitive and mix it with the guys at the front.”

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You might have heard of my b Eli Evans is determined to become more than Simon’s brother. He spoke to ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN Aus RALLYING ‘YOU must be Simon’s brother.’

You can bet that’s a phrase Eli Evans has heard many times before. It’s a curse, or blessing, that is inevitable when you’re trying to make your way in the sport in which your brother has already achieved two Australian Championships. But the bottom line is, the Evanses just love rallying.

Nowadays Eli is stepping out of his big brother’s shadow, a process he accelerated rapidly by taking his first heat win at the Coates Rally Queensland recently. And

it was almost his first round win, too, a puncture on the final stage robbing him of Heat 1. It was a painful hit at the time, but 24 hours later, the pain was gone.

“It was a big relief, especially after the Saturday of the event when we were so close on the last stage,” Eli says.

“I got a flat tyre and gave it away, so we were close then. The disappointment on the boy’s faces, and on myself and Chris’s (Murphy, Eli’s co-driver) faces, we were shattered, because we were so close and you think ‘when am I going to get this opportunity again?’ And then it happened the next day, which was a big relief.”

Evans is no stranger to being the fastest man on a rally. He had won stages and contested heats before, but there were often little mistakes that cost big. And that’s why the Queensland result was such a relief.

“On the last stage of the day there was a 300m straight before the finish line, and I was punching my fists in the air,” he adds.

“Chris looked over at me and started laughing, but it was jut because I could see the finish line.

We’ve been working on it for a few years now. We’ve shown good pace for 12 months and we could potentially win a heat, we just had to put a day together and make no mistakes.”

Mistakes is undoubtedly a buzz word around the Evans’ dinner table. Back in his younger days, Simon was known as being pretty much the fastest and hungriest rally driver in the country. But he was also seen as being wild and, as a result, inconsistent. But those days are long behind the older Evans now, and he is a two-time Australian Champion because of it. The question is, can Eli do the

same?

“That’s what I’m trying to achieve now. I’m spending more time mentally preparing, more so than I used to, just getting into the right frame of mind so I don’t get overexcited if we’re leading. A lot of drivers know the feeling where they think ‘if I could just finish this now,’ but they’re not concentrating on the job.

“Simon used to make mistakes but he’s got it all sorted now.

He’s slowed down a little bit and refined his driving, and now he’s close to unstoppable, so that’s something I am trying to do. “[Simon’s] a two-time Australian Champion, and its bloody hard to win the Australian Championship, so I listen to his advice and try not too repeat too many of the mistakes he did along the way, which accelerates the learning curve.”

In there is a good point. Eli has access to one of the best teachers in the country. But surely there are downsides to being related to the sport’s front man …

“There can be, but not a lot of people put pressure on,” says Eli.

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ON TRACK

my brother ...

“You can get wound up in it yourself, like I could think, ‘gee I’m Simon’s brother, I need to be fast.’ But no one has really put a lot of pressure of me, if anything they’ve been supportive, because Simon’s fans get behind me because I’m his little brother.

They follow the Evans family, not just Simon.

“So it’s definitely helped me get recognised. When I first started rallying, outright pace wasn’t quite there, but I was always mentioned in articles as Simon’s little brother.”

The thing is, Simon’s little brother wants to be much more than that. Evans Jr makes no secret of his desire to be a professional rally driver, and he is also happy to admit he wants that chance to happen overseas.

“I’d love to be a professional rally driver, because at this stage I don’t get paid to do it. I’m at work right now! I’d love to be able to get up every day and think, ‘what road am I going to drive today?’

And then get paid for it.

“And at whatever level I can achieve that, then fantastic, whether it be the Australian championship, or, the best

case scenario, in the World Championship.”

Evans has competed overseas before, running the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship back in 2006. It was the steepest of learning curves, but a season he looks back on with fondness.

“It was my first year in a turbo car, so I didn’t have a lot of expectations, except to get the car home and learn as much as possible in that 12 month period,” he says.

“It was satisfying when I was beating full-time drivers, professionals from Japan and Finland. I’d take a stage or two off them here and there, or be right behind them, and they’d come up and say ‘oh did you like that stage?’ They’d ask what I did and I’d say ‘I’m not a rally driver,’ because at the time I was an electrician. It shocked them and they’d tell me I was doing well and I should keep it up. When you do an international event you always want to beat the local drivers and stamp your authority.”

Evans will be back in the Asian region later this year, tackling Rally Malaysia in hope of winning the Pirelli Star Driver Award. If he is the best under-27-year-old

driver at the event, Pirelli will pay for him to compete in a handful of WRC events in 2009.

“That’s my main priority at the moment. If something was to go wrong in the ARC and it was going to cost a lot of money, we’d think about pulling out, and put all our resources into Malaysia.

We’ll be going with a car that is rebuilt; new motor, new gearbox, essentially a brand new car. So I don’t think reliability will be a problem “We’re putting all of our efforts into getting there. Once we’re there, it’s entirely up to me …”

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AUS RALLY CHAMP, ROUND 3 COATES RALLY QUEENSLAND NEAL Bates kept his amazing winning streak alive in Queensland, taking his third win in as many rounds.

The wiley veteran had some luck along the way, with Heat 2 winner Eli Evans suffering a blown tyre on the verge of winning the first heat, which would have given him the round. Evans’ brother and Bates’ Toyota team-mate Simon Evans was taken out of the running by a big crash.

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Red karts go faster

MARK WICKS spoke to the Redspeed team about its amazing Queensland success – and how it came about KARTING

WHEN a karting team or manufacturer earns a blue plate by winning an AKA state karting championship, it’s newsworthy stuff. But when they haul four of them from the one meeting, it’s an achievement normally associated with only the big teams.

So when the small Redspeed outfit achieved this feat at the Queensland State Bitumen Sprint Kart Titles at Rockhampton last month, it was a top-shelf effort.

Granted, Arrow won more titles (six) on the day, but from a much larger pool of drivers. Redspeed’s four titles came from just over a dozen team members.

“Percentage wise, we killed them,” team manager and Redspeed importer Jason Burns said.

Team Redsters grabbed the top spot in Clubman Super Heavy (Ben McKinlay, with team driver Scott Simpson second), Clubman Light

(Burns), Junior Clubman (Max Johnstone) and Senior National Light (Ryan Reynolds – appeal pending).

Johnstone’s win was noteworthy as he used the unfashionable aircooled Yamaha KT100S motor in a field dominated by the watercooled ARCs. Despite opening a huge cushion over the field, Johnstone was under pressure in the closing laps and was awarded the win after a last corner move by another competitor was deemed inappropriate and saw them both off the track.

Long-term team member Reynolds took a fortuitous victory, leading only the final lap as an initial 11 kart lead group selfdestructed around him. Burns charged from back in the field (courtesy of a DNF in the heats) while McKinlay was simply the class of the Super Heavy field.

Just like Kosmic and Alonso Kart (and Trulli before Alonso), the Redspeed is manufactured in Italy by the famous Tony Kart company

and utilises the renowned OTK range of running gear and components. The karts started appearing on the Australian and Japanese markets in 2003 and are now increasing numbers in Europe, particularly Denmark.

The now Queensland-based team draws its engine pool from right across Australia. Most of the motors are serviced by Flat Out Karts in WA but also Pro Karting in Victoria and Stones in NSW. Burns also continues to build a few engines himself.

“We have 12 (Clubman) Yamahas between us (Burns and Simpson) that we’ve collected over time. We use each other’s and share them around and other team members use them too,” Burns said.

“It was one of our engines that Max used to win Junior Clubman.”

Burns’ win in Clubman Light was on an engine he hadn’t originally planned to use. After destroying his primary powerplant in practice when a piston failed (“it was a bin job”), Burns bolted on an untried

Pro Karting engine.

“So it ended up being a first up win for the Pro Karting engine,” he said.

In future, Burns has decided to restrict his participation to just the Clubman class.

“I’m going to concentrate on Clubman and put Leopard on the back burner for a while. We all pit together in the one tent, but running two classes and looking after the team is really difficult.”

Queensland Championship winners in the other classes were Jason Hryniuk (CRG, Clubman Heavy), Jordie Lindstrom (Tony Kart, Rotax Light), William Yarwood (Arrow, Rotax Heavy), John Grother (Gillard, Leopard Light), Justin Schneider (Arrow, Leopard Heavy), Garry Jacobson (Arrow, Junior National Heavy), Matthew Brabham (Arrow, Junior National Light), Jake Dixon (Arrow, Midgets), Brock Plumb (Tony Kart, Rookies), Remo Luciani (Monaco, Clubman Over 40s) and Norm Trost (Arrow, Senior National Heavy).

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ON TRACK

How do you beat the red and black?

SPORTS SEDAN

Dirk Klynsmith

THERE always seems to be a dominant driver in the Australian Sports Sedan Series, and so far this year, the results have had competitors asking: “How can we beat Darren Hossack?”

Last year, it was “How can we beat Tony Ricciardello?” that was the main question on everyone’s lips.

One competitor who admits that challenging Hossack and Ricciardello is a little out of his reach is Phil Crompton.

The category manager of the Kerrick Australian Sports Sedan Series, and also a veteran of the class, currently races a Ford Mustang that he bought from New Zealand in 2003. Crompton’s Mustang uses a 6-Litre Ford V8 and a Hollinger HTA gearbox.

“Realistically, my car probably doesn’t have the pace to run with Hossack or Ricciardello,”

Crompton said.

“To compete with them, I would need to build a completely different car with less weight and a lower centre of gravity.”

Crompton acknowledges the current problem with the Sports Sedan category, which is the large spread between competitors.

“We need to discuss, as a category, ways to make the racing closer. At the moment, you have

Hossack and Ricciardello finishing 30 seconds in front of the rest of the field. We could introduce revlimit penalties, for example, but it’s a tricky situation because we don’t want to penalise people like John Goulay, who have worked hard to build really fast race-cars. At the same time, we don’t want to scare potential new competitors away from the category because they don’t think

they could ever compete with the likes of Hossack or Ricciardello.

“Realistically, there are never going to be 20 people with the resources to build cars like Hossack’s Audi, although Kerry Bailey is building a new Aston Martin, which should be really quick. However, we need to look at ways of attracting new people into the category.”

– LACHLAN MANSELL

Holdens doing the hard yards Fords are running away with the Saloon Cars, but LACHLAN MANSELL spoke to the leading Holden runner SALOON CARS

www.mnews.com.au

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John Morris/Mpix

THE Saloon Car Series has reached the half-way point, and Ford drivers Steve Kwiatkowski and Matt Lovell are leading the way, with both drivers taking round wins.

Third place in the points, Kevin Weeks is also the best-placed Holden driver, and the man who owns Supaloc, the company that sponsors the series.

“We’ve been supporting the Saloon Car category for three years,” Weeks said.

“It’s been a great category to sponsor because of the popularity of the Holden versus Ford competition and the closeness of the racing.

“We’ve found that we get a lot of hits on our website after the Saloon Car events are televised, so it has given our business really good exposure.”

Despite his strong series position, Weeks is concerned about the parity between the

Holdens and the Fords.

“The Fords have always had better torque lower in the revrange, and have been faster out of the corners, while the Holdens have had better top-end speed and been faster on the long straights,” he explained.

“However, (engine-builder) Chris Milton has done a lot of work

on the Ford engines, and their top-end speed is improving as well, so the Holden drivers are starting to struggle a bit. Bruce Heinrich is a very talented driver and an excellent engineer, but he’s really struggled to get his new Commodore up to speed.

“At the moment, I think we’re level with Kris Walton in terms

of pace, but he’s still running the older-style cylinder heads, which I don’t think will be the case for much longer.

“Realistically, we probably don’t have the pace to challenge Steve or Matt for the series at the moment, but we’re trying very hard and we’ll give it our best shot,” Weeks concluded.

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STATE SCENE

EDITED BY PHILLIP MAHONEY

THIS MONTH’S COVERAGE OF AUSTRALIAN STATE MOTOR RACING Brian White

LES

Hammond’s winning ways Western Australia

taking on Mount Panorama as part of the huge field of Vees at the Bathurst Motor Festival. And according to Hammond, it was the best fun he’s ever had in a racing car.

“My name went down for that one straight away,” he says.

“When you’re driving along, and come through Skyline, you look around and think ‘I’m at Bathurst!’ We got punted twice by the same person at the same place, which was disappointing, and we had a lot to learn. By the end of the last race, I thought, ‘okay I’m racing now.’”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

Marshal Cass

JEZ Hammond is the Michael Schumacher of Formula Vee racing in Western Australia.

In fact, Schumacher would probably envy Hammond’s winning record, such is his domination. The last couple of seasons has seen him clean-sweep almost every round, only very rare mechanical gremlins keeping him from taking the chequered flag. It’s a surprise he can even recall the last time he didn’t win a race.

“I can actually,” he says with a modest chuckle.

“It was the first one of the season, and we missed qualifying through an electric bug, so I started at the back.”

Hammond’s domination has come thanks to the perfect marriage of his ability in the car and Anthony Lees’ ability out of it. Lees builds the state-of the-art Ajay chassis in Perth, and in the hands of Hammond, the car is so fast that none of the other 1600cc cars can get close to it.

“The car is gorgeous,” says Hammond.

“Its one of those cars where you jump in and everything is square and everything is balanced. As far as a Vee goes, I’ve never driven anything like it. It’s much closer to the Formula Ford (a class Hammond also competes in). I know we haven’t had much competition to

speak of, but considering the limited time we’ve spent on development, it is a nice car.”

But does he ever get tired of winning?

“It’s good in a way, because it is easier to chase. In the Ford, I have a lot more work to do, because I’m midfield there, but learning to drive at the front is also very important. I still try, even if we spend a lot of time at the front, I still try as hard as I can. But it would be great to have some more competition come through; it surprises me that we haven’t had that.”

Earlier this season Hammond and the Ajay represented WA on Australia’s east coast,

Mount Vee: This year at the Bathurst 12-Hour the Vee’s got to run at Mount Panorama and Jez Hammond put his name doen right away to tackle the mountain.

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16/7/08 10:31:40 AM

Always Room for Improvement NEW SOUTH WALES

John Morris/ Mpix

Over the last decade or so, one of the most popular forms of Australian motorsport has been Improved Production racing, formerly known as club Car racing.

There are Improved Production Championships in every state, and a national championship event is held in a different state each year. But what exactly is Improved Production racing?

Improved production cars are based on road cars, but substantial modifications to improve the performance are permitted. These modifications include engine capacity and induction, suspension, body kits, brakes and gearboxes, as well as the obvious safety modifications.

The huge number of cars that are eligible for improved production racing, plus the low

costs of entry fees for state level events, make it an ideal category for those drivers looking to start their racing career, or recreational racers.

Leanne Tander, right, is one notable driver to have come out of Improved Production racing, winning both the NSW and Victorian championships in 2005.

In NSW, the category has been so popular that the field has been split into two separate races for over 2-Litre and under 2-Litre cars at some events. Mazda RX7 rotaries and R32 Nissan Skyline GTRs are the cars of choice in the over 2-Lite class, while there are a range of Toyota Corollas, Honda Civics, Nissan Pulsars and Mitsubishi Mirages in the under 2Litre class.

Ryan Brown leads the over 2Litre class in the NSW Improved Production championship, having won all three rounds of the series so far, although he was closely

challenged by Justin Keys in the last round at Oran Park. Bob Jowett and Jacky Yick have been very closely matched in the under 2-Litre class.

Other category winners at Oran Park were Shane Hart (Formula

Vee), Peter Lucas (Production Sports), Ryan Simpson (Formula Ford), Chris Jackson (Sports Sedans), Bob Brewer (Combined Touring Cars) and Peter Green Jnr (HQ Holdens).

– LACHLAN MANSELL

Mark Jones

s

State scene

Refreshing an old favourite QUEENSLAND After 29 seasons most categories might be getting a bit tired.

And truth be told, 2007 was a backwards season for Queensland’s famous nursery category, Gemini racing.

Heading into 2008, the class faced a reduced schedule, with only three state championship rounds.

Long-time supporter of the class and Wilson Brothers Racing team principal Cameron Wilson quickly got the QR Hire Karts Challenge series up and running on Queensland Raceway’s QRDC meetings.

“Geminis don’t often get a chance to race

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here on their own,” said Wilson.

“With a big gap in the CAMS Championship series, there was an opportunity to run a smaller series. Queensland Raceway on the long track is a fabulous Gemini racing track with the long straights.”

With points for qualifying and a reverse grid format, the racing has been exciting.

The star of the series has been Melissa Thompson, who won Round 2 on July 6, fighting her way through the grid each time taking a win and two minor podiums over three races.

Ben Tomlin and Dan Cassar were second and third for the weekend on a day when over half the field held the race lead.

Other winners over the weekend were

Jamie Furness, Dion Cidoni and Ian Mundell (HQ), Andrew Wilson (Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV) and Charlie Clements (Ferrari 308 GTB) (Italian Challenge), Peter Baguely (Historic Touring Cars), Jason James (Sidecars) and Mark Papendall (Sports Cars and Sedans).

The previous weekend, QR also hosted a Top Gear Classic.

Terry Knight (Porsche GT3 Cup) won the big Sports Car division. Steve Morcombe won Racing Cars,while Bodine Antrobus (Gladiator) claimed Superkarts on consistency.

Nathan Assaillit (Subaru WRX) and Dwayne Taylor (LH Torana) won the under and over two litre Sedan classes respectively.

– MARK JONES

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BRIEFLY...

NHRA’s new safety task THE NHRA has announced the formation of a safety task force, created to investigate, analyze and determine ways of implementing the initiatives recently outlined by the NHRA to enhance safety.

The current task force is made up of NHRA officials and several Top Fuel and Funny Car drivers and crew chiefs. The task force is headed up by Dan Olson, NHRA director of Top Fuel and Funny Car racing.

He is joined by Austin Coil, Jim Head, Alan Johnson, Jon Oberhofer, Mark Oswald and Tim Wilkerson. Other representatives from NHRA and the Professional Racers Owners Organization (PRO) will also participate. n In a move to ease some of the financial burdens on touring race teams, the monetary fines that the NHRA imposes on professional category teams regarding oildowns have been eliminated until further notice. However, the points deductions associated with oildown violations at national events will continue to be enforced.

Currently, Pro teams are allowed one oildown violation prior to any penalty and can earn an additional credit after 25 consecutive oil-free runs at NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series events.

Although the monetary fines will be eliminated, Professional teams will still lose 10 points for each infraction during eliminations Sunday and additional point deductions for multiple violations during the same event.

Teams having an ongoing problem with oildowns at national events will be reviewed by NHRA, if necessary, further action may be taken. n Beginning in 2009, National event winners in both Top Fuel and Funny Car will each receive $50,000, an increase of 25 percent. Pro Stock national event winners will receive $25,000 and Pro Stock Motorcycle winners will receive $10,000.

At the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, winners in the top two nitro classes will collect $100,000 and Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle winners will take home $50,000 and $20,000 respectively.

Increases at national events also were announced for runners-up, semifinalists, and second-round finishers. n Following his departure from Kenny Bernstein’s Monster Energy Funny Car Team, veteran nitro tuner Jimmy Walsh has rejoined Tuttle Motorsports and the Vis Viva Living Force Energy drink Top Fuel dragster driven by Steve Torrence. Walsh previously worked for team owner Dexter Tuttle in 2006 before accepting a position with Bernstein’s team in 2007.

Walsh will work with Tony Shortall, who has been the crew chief on the Vis Viva dragster since the beginning of the 2008 season.

– DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

Creasy Jr injured in IHRA incident Champion racer suffers severe leg injuries at Rocky Mountain Nationals

TWO-time defending IHRA Series Funny Car Champion Dale Creasy, Jr the suffered severe leg injuries during a semi-final loss at the Rocky Mountain Nationals in Edmonton.

Near the finish line, Creasy’s car had a catastrophic parts failure in the drive line, where his legs became entangled with the reverser after it broke loose from the bell housing, and spun freely until the car came to a stop. He was air lifted to Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Creasy suffered broken bones in his right foot that will require a cast. His left leg suffered a crushed shin and a compound fracture that required five hours of surgery.

The doctors at Royal Alexandra performed several hours in two separate surgeries piecing Creasy’s lower left leg back

together. The surgery was successful, but Creasy now faces a lengthy rehabilitation, with doctors saying it may be six months before he may be able to walk again.

“Now they’re just waiting for the swelling to go down,” Creasy said.

“They said it would be six months before I was able to walk again. I’m going to be here for another week to 10 days because they put a lot of pins and rods in and they want to keep an eye on it so it doesn’t get infected.”

– DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

IHRA: Firsts for everything THE Knoll-Gas IHRA Nitro Jam season continued its 2008 season, conducting events at Budds Creek, Maryland and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Bobby Lagana Jr raced to his first Top Fuel victory of the season at Budd’s Creek’s Maryland International Raceway for the President’s Cup Nationals.

After trailering Spencer Massey, and Mike Strasburg, Lagana stopped low qualifier, and new point leader Bruce Litton in the final round, 4.86s/306mph to 4.99s/225mph. It was Lagana’s fourth career win.

Two-time defending series Champion Dale Creasy cruised to a final round 5.08s/294mph to defeat Todd Simpson, who slowed at 6.21s/159mph. Creasy top qualified at 4.96s/300mph, and took out Mike Smith and Andy Kelley to reach the final round.

In Pro Modified, Mike Castellana drove his nitrous injected ’68 Firebird to a 6.09s/238mph victory over Ed Hoover, who recorded a 6.10s/232mph. After taking out the world’s quickest nitrous car of Pat Stoken, Castellana defeated point leader Kenny Lang and Mike Janis, setting the fastest mph record for a nitrous car at 239.74mph.

Frank Gugliotta drove the Pirahna Z Ford Mustang to a 6.41s/219mph to 6.43s/219mph victory over Jason Collins in the Pro Stock final.

At the CARS RV & Marine & Motorsport Rocky Mountain Nationals in Edmonton, Kevin Jones claimed his second career Ironman in the Torco Pro Nitro Top Fuel class, stopping Budds Creek winner Lagana in the final round. Both drivers had to pedal their cars, but Jones was able to get his Interstate

Equipment Sales and Rentals dragster to the finish line first with a 5.27s pass at 280mph.

Matt Hagan knocked off Grant Downing to claim the Nitro Funny Car title, but his focus was on friend and team-mate Creasy who had been airlifted to Royal Alexandria Hospital in downtown Edmonton.

Creasy suffered severe leg trauma during the semifinal round, see story above.

Pro Mod’s Carl Spiering drove his Eaton-backed ’63 Corvette to a 6.55s/214mph to 6.84s/192mph win, defeating Thomas Patterson’s HeadHunter ’41 Willys in the final.

With the IHRA Pro Stock regulars skipping the long tow to Edmonton, the lone entry of Canadian Bob Bertsch singled at 6.53s/215mph to claim the Pro Stock Ironman with his ’07 Ford Mustang.

Laurie Cannister, continued to dominate the Alcohol Funny class, defeating Paul Noakes in both the Budds Creek and Edmonton finals. She has now visited the winners circle four times this season.

– David Ostaszewski

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DRAG RACING

David Ostaszewski

It has been a tumultuous time for the NHRA drag racing family. DAVID OSTASZEWSKI looks at a month of ...

Triumph and Tragedy

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Norwalk’s winner Doug Herbert raced to an emotional Top Fuel win at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, dedicating the victory to the memory of his two young sons who were tragically killed in a highway auto accident in late January.

Beginning in Denver, the NHRA shortened the racing surface from 1320 feet to 1000 feet, as part of an interim solution to reducing speeds. Once again, it was allSchumacher, as he defeated former teammate Antron Brown, clocking a 4.00s/304mph in the final to Brown’s tyre-hazing 4.17s/276mph.

Wilkerson dominance continued in Englishtown as he stopped rookie Mike Neff in the final, 4.87s/319mph to 4.88s/316mph.

Wilkerson has been the car to beat since the season began, continuing to have success against the mega-buck, multi-car teams.

Norwalk saw Tony Pedregon drive his Q-Horsepower Chevy Impala to its third win of the season by defeating low qualifier Robert Hight. Pedregon recorded a 4.88s/306mph to defeat Hight, who trailed in his Auto Club Ford

Mustang at 4.90s at 304mph.

Wilkerson again prevailed in Denver, trailering three of the four Team-Force cars before defeating Jack Beckman in the final 4.39s/262mph to 4.66s/205mph.

Greg Anderson, above, dominated Pro Stock, notching his first win since Houston in Englishtown as he defeated Dave Connolly in a final round where both competitors ran into problems just off the starting line.

Anderson recovered first, winning with a 7.57/200 as Connolly coasted through at 20.28/36.

Anderson then collected win number four at Norwalk when Larry Morgan fouled with a redlight start in the final. Anderson clocked a 6.70/206 in his Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac GXP. One event later in Denver, it was Anderson again, this time the final round victim was Allen Johnson, as Anderson scored a 7.02/196 win in the thin air.

Englishtown’s Pro Stock Bike winner Chip Ellis has reached the semifinals in four of the first five events this season, and cashed in for the first time since 2005 when Chris Rivas fouled. Ellis recorded a

David Ostaszewski

TONY Schumacher, Tim Wilkerson and Greg Anderson continued to dominate the 2008 POWERade season, padding their quickly growing point leads.

However, the racing action was overshadowed by the sport’s loss one of its former champions and a member of a legendary drag racing family.

Two-time NHRA Top Fuel Champion Scott Kalitta, pictured right, was killed following an accident at the end of a qualifying run at Englishtown. Kalitta’s Toyota Solara exploded an engine, resulting in a parachute failure.

The car continued at a high rate of speed towards the sand trap, cleared the catch net, with a second fiery explosion ensuing after a hard impact at the end of the track.

In Top Fuel racing, Tony Schumacher raced to his first-ever win at Englishtown, stopping Brandon Bernstein in the final round on a holeshot 4.58s/325mph to 4.56s/323mph.

The driver of the U.S. Army dragster became the first Pro to clinch a spot in the Countdown to the Championship with the win.

7.04s/187mph in the final to Rivas’ 7.10s/183mph.

In Norwalk, Hector Arana won his first career race in his 18-year career with a 7.02 at 187 on his Lucas Oil Buell, to hold off Craig Treble, who clocked a 7.06 at 187.

Defending series Champion Matt Smith claimed victory in Denver, defeating Steve Johnson, 7.32/180 to 7.34/180.

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16/7/08 1:34:18 PM

Tatnell: I

Y

ou’ve been heading overseas on and off for a few years now. Is it something you really enjoy doing, especially when Australia is having its off-season?

BROOKE TATNELL: I always set out to do it and I wanted to be the best there was and it is my true belief to be the best or the best there can be or however you want to look at it. You’ve got to come a cross here and try and prove yourself to do that.

I love motor racing, I wouldn’t care what I was racing, I’m just happy that I’m able to make a living out of driving race cars. Some years it’s a good living and then some years, it’s terrible (laughs).

What is the level of racing like in Australia compared to that in America?

It’s all relative to be honest. The Americans have struggled when they’ve come to Australia, as a number of Australians have struggled when they’ve come over here.

It’s not the easiest market to break into and it’s very difficult to get good competitive rides over here. Realistically I think if we all wanted to be truly honest about it, on a national scene over here up until the Roush Racing ride, I don’t believe an Australian has ever had a true equal ride compared to everyone else.

You see a lot of Americans come over to Australia and end up with the best there is, but you see a lot of Australian come over here and it’s very hard because the Americans are patriotic to their fellow nation.

Is that one of the main reasons why its hard to get a really good ride? Are the American market is more interested in backing their guys rather than Aussies heading over for the season?

A little bit of it is that, but also just being at the right place at the right time.

If I’m in Australia and hear about a free ride in the US, it’s already done and there have already been 50 phone calls and normally someone is hired before we even knew it was available.

That’s one aspect that makes it tough.

Ash Budd

The Speedway scene is obviously a lot bigger over in America than what it is in Australia. Are the top drivers any faster or are there just more of them?

There are more of the top guys over here but the big thing is laps. When your racing 100 times a year compared to a guy racing 30 times a year, it makes it hard.

Max Dumsney was right on top of his game and as competitive as anyone when he was coming over here but if he came over now he would be that tenth of a second off. Why? Because of that seat time, your just continually turning laps. Give Max three months over here and he’s going to be on the pace and beating the Outlaw guys.

One thing you’ve really got to look at when your racing night in and nigh out. There’s no hesitation with lapped traffic your not second guessing anything.

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16/7/08 1:30:12 PM

SPEEDWAY

l: I want to be the best Brooke Tatnell is undoubtably one of the greats of Sprintcar racing both here and in the US. PHIL MAHONEY spoke to the US-based Aussie as he pushes through one of his toughest seasons yet

So I don’t think that the competitors are any tougher over here compared to home, there’s more of them but that’s because the season is a lot longer and you can race a hell of a lot more.

I notice that when I first get over here I was on top of my game more so than a lot of the Americans because I was racing [in Australia] during the off-season.

The Outlaws Down Under used to help the American guys because it meant that they had already done seven odd races before their season really starts.

Obviously racing over in America does provide you with some sort of advantage when you come back to Australia for our season?

It does, it defiantly does. You can look at it both ways, it can be an advantage but it can also be a bit of a hindrance as well.

For me it’s an advantage because I enjoy my racing and I never get to the point to where I’m burnt out or sick of it, so for us it is definitely an advantage.

This year has definitely been our leanest year.

We’ve only raced about 15 time for the whole year, which is normally the first three weeks of the season we spend racing over here. Its just one of those things, that’s how life goes.

Bearing that in mind, have you been happy with how the season has gone so far?

No, miserable. I keep joking to people about how I’m going to have to get a job at Wal-Mart, but the American government still hasn’t given me a Green Card to get a job.

It’s been pretty grim. Its been a year where

we’ve only had one win and I think a bit of luck went our way because I don’t necessarily think that we were the fastest. I’m the first to admit that.

But that being said, we should have already had four wins on the board. We should have had one Outlaw win on the board this year, but these things are the, would haves, should haves and could haves of motor racing. We broke a conrod while leading the Outlaw show so that was a hard pill to swallow.

When you head over, do you set yourself any particular goals that you want to achieve or is it a bit about proving yourself to be one of the best?

To be the best in the best in the business, it’s not something you can do for just one year, you’ve got to back it up year, after year, after year.

I honestly believe that with similar equipment to the top guys, that we’re right there with them. The year with Roush Racing, we ran 10th and sixth in points, last year was a very lean year but we still had another Outlaw win. I think in the last three years we’ve had 12 Outlaw wins but we have never, in all the years I’ve come back here had a full year of Outlaw racing due to circumstance.

Last year with my Dad’s health and my mother-in-law’s health, there’s been a lot of interruptions for us, but I believe that with the same equipment we can be right there.

But you have to work through those tough periods, and that’s what its all about. If your going to be a fly by the night and jump ship every time things get tough and your not

competitive, then your never going to be the best in the business.

We’ve come across here this year as the ‘Aussie Battler’. We are under-funded; we don’t have the latest motors.

The way competition is these days; you can’t afford to have anything average.

Moving forward towards the end of the year.

Are you coming back to Australia to do the whole Australian season?

We’re not sure yet of our arrival date, I’m just going through the process now of getting Green Cards and everything else, so I just have to wait for the government to say ‘yep’, you’re ready to leave.

But yes, we’re coming back, the first year with Krikke’s we never got to defend our World Series Championship, because with the birth of our daughter. I wanted to be there for that, and my reason for that is I don’t want to be away, and I don’t want someone else raising my daughter. So we missed defending the championship that year, but we won almost all of the races we attended.

I really want to defend it this year, but we’re still waiting for the government to let me know if I’ll be back for the Australian titles to defend it in early October. But we’ll just have to wait and see where we’re at.

The great thing with Krikke Motorsports is that I don’t have to worry about the budget or anything else. The guys take care of all that sort of stuff so when I get off the plane I’m jumping into what I classify as the best race car in the country and a car that anyone would be proud to drive.

Family matters most

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speedway.indd 75

at a race track you’ve got to leave all your luggage at the ‘Crying Shack’ and get about business. If your not going to be focussed get the hell out of the sport because its too expensive and too dangerous not to be 100 percent focussed with what your doing.

We’re probably trying to race harder now. I sit here and joke that I don’t know where he is, but he isn’t looking down on us too much this year he must be on vacation or something.

But we’re probably racing harder than ever now to prove to people that the loss of my Dad

hasn’t changed anything about how we do business. A lot of people wanted to pinpoint a bad year last year on the health issue that we’ve had and as I say that’s never been the case. I believe I do have that switch that I can turn on and off to leave our problems.

Even in Australia, a lot of people said, “you didn’t have a very good year”. Well again we still came away with six victories and we had a lot going on. We had a lot of races that got away from us and that’s probably why we’re driving so hard at the moment.

Phil Jordison

MOTORSPORT NEWS: You and your father were obviously very close and he was a huge supporter of your racing. Has his passing changed anything in regards to your racing?

BROOKE TATNELL: No, it definitely hasn’t. There are days when I wake up in the morning and I miss him terribly and jeez, life’s taken this big turnabout.

There’s not a day goes by that I don’t miss him and there’s not a day goes by that I don’t think about him, but the one thing he drummed in my head at a very early age is that when you turn up

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BRIEFLY...

Mike Patrick

CURRENT Aussie Champion Chris Holder has confirmed he will be back in Australia from October.

“I’ll have to get into the top three in the Australian Championships to get into the GP qualifiers.” said the 19 year-old.

“I want to go back and defend my title anyway. I want to try and keep hold of the Aussie title.”

Holder had a nightmare in the GP qualifier at Lonigo in Italy.

“I can’t remember when I last stopped twice in the same meeting, it’s just unlucky that it had to be in that meeting,” he said.

“I have to get on with my season now, obviously I want to do well in every meeting, including the GP qualifiers and I want to get into the GP, but there’s a lot of running around to get there. I will be trying again for the GP next year.”

And the authorities in Britain have stolen a march on their Aussie counterparts with 17 year-old Tai Woffinden, son of former Aussie rider Rob Woffinden, electing to race for Britain in the World Cup rather than for Australia.

“I was born in Scunthorpe, that makes me English so I tried for Great Britain, end of story”, Woffinden.

“Australia is home because that’s where all my mates are, but I am English. I am making more and more mates here as well.

“It is great that GB Manager Jim Lynch has given me this opportunity, hopefully I am ready for it.”

Jason Crump has had a tough couple of years since he was last world champion. TONY MILLARD spoke to the man as he gets his championship campaign back on track

J

ASON Crump is back!

That was certainly the case at the British Grand Prix as he won the British title for the fourth time.

With the Grand Prix series on hold until the Czech Republic Grand Prix on August 3, most of the riders will enjoy team competition, while the Australian rider will relax before mounting a serious challenge to current World Champion Nicki Pedersen.

Crump admitted that things have started to fall into place in recent weeks and his domestic form in Poland, Sweden and Britain is now being reflected in his Grand Prix racing.

It seems he is almost a different rider after his problems in recent major events.

“This is Jason Crump back to the way I want to be,” said Crump.

“It has taken a very long time because it is almost two years ago since I last rode like this.

“It was really like winning my first Grand Prix all over again. When you go from having a year and a half without winning a GP this is honestly like starting my career all over again.

“I feel I have made an unbelievable step in my career with this victory.

“I didn’t have a very good year last year and got whipped by Nicki. He has had it all his own way for too long in the World Championship and someone needed to get within 20 points of him.”

For Crump, he couldn’t have got back to where he is today without a lot of support from those around him.

“It has taken a lot of hard work and support from a lot of people who are important to me, to get back to this point.

“Going back to Belle Vue for my League racing in England was the best thing I could have done.

“I don’t care where we go, I am having fun at the moment. I’ll ride on any track at any time.”

Within 24 hours of winning the British GP Crump was back in British League action and set a new track record at Eastbourne, illustrating his determination at all levels to prove he is now back to his best.

And an extra bonus has come the way of Crump.

His UK sponsors Advanced Travel Partner have given him a family holiday to Spain for winning the British Grand Prix so the summer break will be extra relaxing for the Australian.

Mike Patrick

The Speedway family is gearing up for their own night of nights with the Hall of Fame Induction Dinner not too far away.

This year the event will take place in Sydney and will include bikes for the first time after Motorcycling Australia and the Hall of Fame reached a partnership.

The dinner will take place on July 25. n

Back on Top

Mike Patrick

Holder confirms Aus

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14/6/07

19/3/07 11:09:15 AM 16/7/08 1:25:30 PM

SELL your parts,

motorsport vehicle or anything to do with motorsport via our internet classified partners my105. com – for as little as $29.50!*

Eligible for Improved Production, Tarmac Rallies, Hill Climbs & Sprints 4age 16v TRD Engine Management, Close Ratio 5sp & Lock Diff 2 x Seats & 4 Point Belts Fire Extinguisher 4 Whl Disc Brakes CAMS log book & role cage Rally Reg til Oct 08 2 sets of wheels Complete spare engine, gearbox,. $10,000 Not Neg. Jess Harper 0421 244824.

Yes, Until Sold on my105.com, plus an insertion here in MNews, all for as little as $55. *(if directly entered onto my105.com)

HOW?

Either log on to my105.com & follow the prompts (photo must be digital, if required) OR you can still advertise via mail/fax & send us your ad & car photo if you require one ($15 processing fee applies).

Type/write your advertisement clearly (no more than 50 words), nominate your category & include your pic(s).

Mail or email (include credit card & your details) - see addresses below.

www.my105.com/66686

374

350 HT Monaro Biante Touring Car Masters Car and License, Fresh dry sump current spec engine, new Tex T101A Box, Long slider shifter, Quater Master 7 1/4" triple plate clutch, Tex 9" diff with crowned axils, 3.70:1 True Trac Center, Alcon 4 spots, Penske 7500 adj shocks, 3 sets wheels, Spares package also available. $140,000+. Dick Savy 0408 728 967.

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Sedans/Sports Cars; Open Wheelers; Speedway; Drag; Engines; Parts; Transporters/Trailers; Employment; Photographs; Wanted.

www.my105.com/40135

374

Porsche GT3 RSR This car is in immaculate condition, never been crashed. Engine, gear box and running gear almost new. Car has full 2003 updates including engine and wide body kit. Car is complete and comes with an array of spares. $260,000 Neg. Peter Floyd 0407 355 360.

$15 $55 $20 $75

CHECK LIST – have you supplied: Typed/written advertisement; category, photo; credit card details (number, expiry, name); your details (name, address, phone, email)?

www.my105.com/70430 HSV VYII GTS

Remember if posting or faxing an additional $15 must be added to cover processing fee. (not applicable if posting ad online).

SEND TO: Mail:

My105, Suite 8, 11-21 Underwood Rd, Homebush, NSW, 2140 Email: mnews@my105.com Fax: 02 9746 2100

Notice to advertisers: We are unable

to return photos supplied for advertising.

Ads will appear as soon as possible after receipt. MNews/my105 classifieds are for the sale of private goods & vehicles only. Photos marked ‘proof’ will not be used.

Everything is New. Morgan Motorsport 13B b-port. EFI hardware intake. Microtech ECU. RX-7 turbo 'box. ASK alloy hubs & 4 piston brake. Bond cage. Sparco seat. Cooling system + PWR oil cooler. Underfloor fuel system.

Exhaust, rims, Dunlops, diff, suspension and more! Log-booked. Used for two OLT's. 13500 Or Best Offer. Craig Shepherd 0409 793 233.

www.my105.com/46968

374

374

4age 20v, motec, Supra box, adjustable shocks, coilover Susp, 4 spot brakes, 3 sets of wheels, new slicks/wets, alloy cage, Sparco Seat, Current Harness Fibreglass panels/ spoiler and moulds. CAMS & ASSA logbooks, Elidgable for superTT (Front Running Car). Contact for Results, Incar footage links. Ready to Race. $17,000 Or Best Offer. Troy Harrison 0410 480 534.

Categories include:

Additional options:

Mazda RX-7 Series 2

Ke20 Sports Sedan

Ads without pics may be faxed, along with your details/contact & credit card details.

Photo Extra issues (per issue) ‘Colour’ block ad (per issue) ‘Feature’ ad – MNews & my105.com

Sedans/Sports Cars

COROLLA 4AGE + SPARES

EVO 9 Club Spec TMR EVO 9 Club Spec Team Mitsubishi Ralliart, 2nd 4WD showroom Targa Tasmania 2008. Car is built to full showroom spec. New clutch, rotors, pads, Lots of spares,13,000ks and has full registration. Koni suspension, Terra Trip, momo steering wheel, full roll cage.

Turn Key and Ready to Race. $70,000 ONO. Scott Millar 0407 438 879 / 07 5526 2346.

www.my105.com/57382

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374

Super TT Commodore Front running Aust Performance Car, eligible for Bathurst 12hr, blueprinted, balanced engine, fresh gearbox, Motec M800, ADL dash, Ohlins shocks, fuel cell, diff, power steering, coolers, 2 sets 9x18 rims. unmissable opportunity, highly competitive GTS. $55,000 Neg. Peter 0407 355 360.

www.my105.com/17697

374

Scania + Trailer Scania P92 + 42ft trailer, carries 2 large cars. Two ton tail lift, 5.5 kva generator, tyre racks, belly lockers, 240v power, workbenches, heaps of storage. Full side annexe with flooring. Long range fuel tanks.

Well maintained unit. $55,000 Not Neg. Paul Leabeater 0425 231 027.

www.my105.com/80048

374

Super tt commodore. VK commodore . Engine 5.0 L V8 year 1984 . Weight 1420 kg . Hrs on engines 6 meetings. Transmission close ratio m21 race box. Black & silver. Prepared by Mick turbo race engines r/rockers torque manifold 780 demon race carbi 55lt safe cell holley blue pump 7kg flywheel coilovers swaybars strutbrace k sport brakes 330 slotted rotors 8 piston front 6 piston rear falken tyres 235 x 40 x 18 well sorted car selling to finish other car. $24,000. Richard 0408 646 636.

www.my105.com/15169

374

Engine For Sale 23 degree 350 Chev, AFR alloy heads, Holley pro carby, MSD ignition, aprox 580hp at 7200rpm, dry sumped, 2'' exhaust, suit racecar, boat or street car. 0418 650 282 for more details. $12,000 ONO

www.my105.com/3018

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CLASSIFIEDS Engines LS7

5th Wheel.

Open Wheelers

44-foot Gooseneck Trailer. Currently towed with a F-250, great trailer will hold 2 big racecars of anytype. Tows great and has only done 2 race meets.

Will look at selling F-250 to suit if need be. Great trailer first to see will buy. $55,000. Beau Robinson 0408 0808 69

www.my105.com/29590 Mack Transporter

374

Transporters/Trailers

www.my105.com/87125

374

Van Diemen RF06

374

RALT RT4 Completely rebuilt, excellent condition, fully rebuilt Jennings Engine, has only done 1 race meeting. Spare set of wheels. $70,000 ONO. Peter Larner (03) 9439 8986 / 0419 379 024.

Isuzu Race Transport

www.my105.com/26686

www.my105.com/82478

374

Tilting Car Trailer Tilting car trailer with Hydraulic ram. Electric brakes. 3ton load sharing rocker suspension kit. 45mm square axles. 450mm checker plate flooring runners. Aluminium nosecone with cupboard with clear anodised aluminium trims. Stainless locks. Gal coated piano hinges.

Electric Winch 3000lbs. . $7,900 Or Best Offer.

Greg Doyle 0414 705 353.

www.my105.com/89598

374

Race Car Transporter Pantech 8.5m 6Cyl Turbo Diesel 15 spd Roadranger Long range tanks New batteries Good tyres Fast & reliable Loading platform Winch Tyre racks Ton of storage Huge enclosed annex Kitchen Fridge S/S sink Table & seating w/storage converts to bed Lighting 12V 240V Shower H/water system Cheap reg. $29,000 ONO. Jeff Barnes 07 5441 7700 / 0418 712 654.

www.my105.com/41404 Holinger 5 Speed

374

Very strong motor - Dyno figures are conservative (MoTeC Dyno). Steel crank/ Crower rods/JE Pistons/Isky cam/Ferrea valves/dry sump plus heaps more. Engine still in car and can be driven. Genuine reason for sale - this engine is only 12 months old and is in as new condition. Tim 0418 501 509 $7,800 AUD

www.my105.com/2005

374

Collectable/Memorabilia

Photos for sale of all class's at round three of the Shannons Nationals at Mallala 17/18 May. For details contact David Batchelor email dbmp98@westnet.com.au. $5.00.

David Batchelor 0412 181 695.

Mygale SJ96

Brand new car, 2 meetings old. new "B" spec engine. Completely restored, sandblasted on rotisserie. Built by V8 Supercar Machinist/ Engine Builder. Comes ready to race, Dorian etc. get in touch for full specs, to many to list. $33,000 ONO. James Wells 0409 859 919.

www.my105.com/65412 LS1 Chev Engine

Mallala Photos

374

Group Nc LJ Torana

Engine has just been assemble with new consumables including pistions and rods. No expense spared only the best components.

Complete clutch through pulleys etc. $21,000 Neg, Scott 0408 030 167

374

Isuzu Race Transporter. CAB Chassis, '03, travelled 90,000kms, fully serviced, with kitchen, bunks, genset, compressor, a/c in cab & pan, hydraulic tail lifter, as new $69,950 inc GST. John Briggs 04111 90 111.

www.my105.com/21571

374

Chev Supercar Engine

2007 race results; QLD national meeting 5th, 7th, 7th, Sandown 5th, 10th, Tasmania 7th, 6th, 6th (ran as high as 4th). MoTeC dash with all sensors, 2 engines, pit gear, two sets rims, 2 spare nose cones, spares for every corner, 8 sets springs, all ratios and much more. High & low bump and rebound. $65,000 ONO. Sam Sewell 0403 091 239

www.my105.com/61356

Mustang GTHO 1985 Group A Group A raced Bathurst 1985-86, Rebuilt 06. Air jacks, Harrop front, AP brakes, Tilton pedals, Getrag, Eibach springs, 2 diffs,12 wheels, power steer, Fast car easy to drive.

Raced 2007 including EC Muscle cars finished 6th, C of D, Magnificintly presented car. Documented history, Now in Sydney. $155,000. Ross 02 9979 3122 / 0409 666 302.

www.my105.com/20668

374

470HP, 18spd, 22,700 Km, less than 12mths old, no expense spared, body by Shepparton motor body, carries 2 full size cars tail lifter with hand rails, Walk though cab, large locker boxes remote central locking, Generator, compressor, fridge/frez, mic oven, TV, DVD, to much to list, must be seen. $350,000+.

Dick Savy 0408 728 967.

www.my105.com/47710

427 Genuine 7.0L Block (not sleeved) 2007 Corvette Square Port Heads Cam Choice 214/50 up to 240/50 Genuine Callies4340 Crank Shaft & Rods Forged Pistons Stainless Steel Valves Cost Price $25,000 Will Sell for $19,995 Also Avaliable 6.0L Brand new Cam & Head Mods Frm $6995, $16995 ONO 08 8582 3499

Top HP Motor, New Larner Carby, New Paint, Aim Data Logger with Lamba , Koni Damper with King Springs, 2 sets mags with tyres plus 3 spare rims, New floor, Willians Harness, Many spares ,Carby, Fuel Pump, Springs, Arms, Sway Bars, Discs, Reduced Urgent sale , Ready to Race. $18,500.00 ONO. Richard 0408 176 557 / 03 5127 7754.

www.my105.com/81690

www.my105.com/78150

374

Speedway

374

NSW 71 LITRE SPRINT

Holinger Group A 5 Speed gearbox to suit Group A Commodore. Genuine reason for sale. Complete with magnesium bellhousing, gearbox mount and shifter.

Excellent condition. Can hear running in car. $12,500 ONO David 0401 923 951

2007 Trophy Kart white in colour the ultimate fun for a the kids or smaller adult huge suspension travel brand new never been driven top speed of 50mph www.trophykart for racing action. $7,500 Or Best Offer. C.A.P.A Performance 08 85 823499 / 0418 221 164.

Winters Dir Mount Front End, AFCO & Carrera Shocks, W'wood Brakes (Front & Rear), Real & Weld Wheels, Teltac 2 Autometer Gauges, Kirkey L/W Seat 15", 16 Gal Tank, Shroder Steer Box, Oz Wings & Al Heim Joints. Nissan A15 Eng, Mech Fuel Inj, Hilbourne Pump, Elec Pulsar Dist. Sold with assorted spares. $15,000 Or Best Offer.

Paul Bevan 0413 382 802 / 0413 382 802.

www.my105.com/1402

www.my105.com/28098

www.my105.com/10004

374

Trophy Kart

374

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THE ‘A’ TEAM

TALK CONVERTOR Here is a collection of the best snippets published in enews over the past month

■ Editorial

SEND US your Thoughts: PO BOX 7072, BRIGHTON, VIC, 3186

Executive Editor: Phil Branagan

editor@mnews.com.au

Deputy Editor: Grant Rowley

grant@mnews.com.au

National Editor: Andrew van Leeuwen

andrew@mnews.com.au

Staff Journalist: Phillip Mahoney

philm@mnews.com.au

■ Production

Graphic Design & Web: Jayne Uthmeyer

design@mnews.com.au

■ Advertising

National Sales Manager: Oriana Kennedy P 03 9596 5555 F 03 9596 5030 M 0422 624 349 oriana@mnews.com.au ■ Administration

357 Nepean Highway, Brighton East, VIC, 3187 (PO Box 7072, Brighton, VIC, 3186) P 03 9596 5555 F 03 9596 5030

admin@mnews.com.au

Managing Director/Publisher: Chris Lambden publisher@mnews.com.au ■ Contributors F1: Will Buxton, Mark Glendenning, Paolo Filisetti Europe: Quentin Spurring, David Addison US: Martin D. Clark, Phil Morris, Mary Bignotti Mendez Speedway: Greg Boscato, Geoff Rounds, Darren Sutton, Tony Millard (UK), Geoff Gracie Rally: Ryan Lahiff Drag Racing: Dave Ostaszewski (USA), Ken Ferguson, John Bosher National: Mark Wicks, Mark Jones, Aaron Shaw, Daniel Powell Photographers: Sutton Motorsport Images, Dirk Klynsmith, Marshall Cass, John Morris/ Mpix, AF1 Images, James Smith, Peter Bury, Neil Blackbourn, Chris Carter, Coopers Photography, CBR Photographics, Paris Charles, Bob Potts, Neil Hammond, Joel Strickland, Mike Patrick (UK) Motorsport News is published by Australasian Motorsport News ABN 55 125 120 702 Publisher: C Lambden Printed by: Webstar Printing Distributed by: NDD Ltd

Material published by MOTORSPORT NEWS is copyright and may not be reproduced in full or in part without the written permission of the publisher. Freelance contributions are welcome, and while all care will be taken, Australasian Motorsport News does not accept responsibility for damage or loss of material submitted. *Opinions expressed in Motorsport News are not necessarily those of Australasian Motorsport News or its staff.

Subscriptions 1 year 2 years (12 iss) (24 iss) $89.50 $168.50

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A$230 A$290

Post cheque/money order to the address above fax credit card details (VISA or Mastercard) to 03 9596 5030 (int'l +613 9596 5030) email to subs@mnews.com.au or pay online at:

w w w.mnews.com.au

Thank you I’d like to aknowledge the fact that they [Channel 10] are finally listening to the motorsport fans and broadcasting the French Grand Prix on HD at 9:40 this weekend!

Thanks 10!

I hope this is a permanent situation.

Geordie Pugh is happy with F1 on HD Brisbane, Qld Parity In response to Peter Schafer’s letter, have you taken your pills lately?

The VE commodore won the championship last year and won more rounds.

Fords have had a power advantage before, so the Holden teams were given new engines to catch up.

Parity has never been closer, the brands seem to be pretty even.

The drivers have been the biggest difference.

Glen Samson doesn’t agree with Peter on parity in V8s. via email

Mixed Results WOW! What a great result for Marcos Ambrose last weekend in Sonoma.

He took on the big boys in his first Cup race and if it wasn’t for some ‘NASCAR’ style driving he might have won on debut.

Although he failed to finish on debut, Ambrose would have impressed a bunch of people along pit lane and had plenty of positives to take from the weekend.

But how things can turn around in a week.

Ambrose heads to his first Oval Cup race and fails to qualify.

Peter Ryan reviews the highs and lows of NASCAR via email The Kyle High Club Kyle Busch is on fire.

He and the entire Joe Gibbs racing team have dominated this year in Cup and Nationwide with the new Toyota engines.

John Grice is a big Gibbs fan via email

11 years ago ...

mail@mnews.com.au Hello from the US! I just wanted to pass along a big ‘thank you’ to your publication.

It is well written, has incredible photos and has comprehensive coverage – who could ask for anything more?

I also appreciate getting an Aussie perspective on how Marcos is doing in NASCAR. He brings a fresh perspective and a positive winning attitude that more drivers need to have.

Indira Newell is a big eNews fan Battle Ground, Washington Blue Blooded I am a blue blooded Ford man throuhg and through, but right now I’m seriously pissed off with Ray Price and his men.

Now, I understand that the company is doing it tough, but how could they cut their most victorious team in Triple 8 from their stable?

It just doesn’t make any sense.

Dean Turner is not very happy with Fords decision via email

Issue 106 – 01 - 14 August 1997 AS young drivers become more frequent in the Main Series, questions are often posed to those with years of experience about retirement.

Mark Skaife is one such driver who has faced such questions this year, but in 1997 it was a young Skaife who was tipped to take over from the late Peter Brock in the Holden Racing Team.

Skaife quit Gibson Motorsport to focus on driving at Bathurst with Brock in the famous 05 and, as predicted by Motorsport News, to get some seat time before his move to the factory team in 1998.

With his full-time racing commitments coming to an end, Brock vowed to compete in the 2-litre Bathurst 1000, but was undergoing pressure from “various quarters” to only compete in the ‘Australian Bathurst 1000’.

Meanwhile, following the collapse of his commercial partnership due to the cigarette bans, Fred Gibson vowed to race on and was looking to establish a

merger with Garry Rogers.

A lot was happening in the world of Formula 1.

McLaren tested its 1998 weapon in preparation for the introduction of grooved tyres, and Bernie Ecclestone put pressure on engine supplier Mercedes to supply engines to two teams. The German manufacturer refused to give away its exclusive agreement with McLaren.

Benetton announced that Gerhard Berger would be without a drive in 1998 and would be replaced by Giancarlo Fisichella, while Jordan Boss Eddie Jordan re- ‘Eco-Challenge’ class and 12th signed German Ralf Schumacher. outright.

Berger won a surprising Craig Lowndes continued his German Grand Prix from Michael F3000 campaign with his best Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen finish of the season, fourth in Italy. after missing the last three races It was short lived; a week later he giving Schumacher a 10-point spun out of the race in Germany. lead in the championship.

Brad Jones dominated Lots of well-known Aussies proceedings at Amaroo in the were OS back in 1997, with Brad fourth round of the BOC Super Jones in action at the Spa 24 Hour Touring Championship, taking race coming home third in the both wins.

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