Motorsport News Issue 151 - 23 April-6 May 1999 by V8 Sleuth

Issue 151

$4.50 (NZ $5.95 IncI GST)

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23 AprU 1999 - 6 May 1999

NEWS

i Lowndes’ Adelaide triumph He lost his first heat points, but now he’s got them back

Fold's Howard Marsden takes

over at Ford Racing. Can he make the blue

oval a winner - again?

● Morris, Watts take Lakeside ● George Tatnell story

Troy’s Island ● Besnard, Dixon at Long Beach ISBK double

● Hakkinen lucl^ in Brazii ● Lany Dixon’s 4.486!

-to

, 0 0 0, J

●i

.i1 1

Brad Jones

Matthew Coleman

Jim Richards

Mark Williamson

Jim Cornish

Jamie Wall

Audi Sport Australia

Volvo Racing

Racing Projects

Audi A4

Volvo S40

Nissan Primera

Justin Matthews

M Racing BMW 320i

David Auger Gun Racing Alfa Romeo 155TS

Malcolm Rea

Rea Racing Toyota Carina E

Lakeside

Oran Park

Mallala

Qld

(South Circuit)

Winton

Eastern

NSW

NSW 56

John Henderson

John Henderson Racing Opel Vectra

Peter Hills

Dean Canto

Team Mondeo

Ford Mondeo

BOC G/ A

BOC GASES

SUPER TOURII CHAMPlOIMSHi

INI

^:jjl]®0®[FS[p(o){70

23Aprin999

Ford; Harbutt out 3 gets David Marsden in Gardner

Brabham

WAYNE Gardner Racing has not announced any co-driver for the endurance races - but bank on

By PHIL BRANAGAN

FORD has taken bold steps to gets its racing program back on track by appointing

the bread and butter as well. “Part of what I want to do is

to present to the various Brand

Managers of Ford a case for pre senting their various brands to

Howard Marsden to the

the public through motorsport.

position of General Manager, Motor Racing.

“But, at the moment, for me to comment on any branch

Marsden took over the posi tion this week, replacing for mer Motorsport Manager Greg

to say that virtually anything

Harbutt, who has Ford’s mar

keting department as Light Commercial Vehicle Product

Specialist. Marsden, 54, will oversee all of Ford’s national motor racing activities, including its V8Supercar program. The move is seen partially as

would be incorrect other than

that has got at least four wheels and has the opportunity to be involved in any form of motorsport activity is on the table.”

While it is still very early days it appears that, in the short term, the establishment

from almost ‘making up the

“While Fred [Gibson] took

numbers’ to ‘win at almost-all

score Holden 9, Ford 0 after the

over the running of Nissan not long after I started racing, Howard gave me my first oppor tunity in touring cars and I’m

costs’ programs. As part of that policy Ford (which is now ‘Ford racing’, not ‘Ford Motorsport’) has forged new partnerships with organi sations like Prodrive (Super Touring) and Malcolm Wilson’s M-Sport (Rallying) and paid top dollar to sign former world rally champion Colin McRae

looks poor but much of the problems had been contributed to by the late delivery to Ford teams of the AU aero kit, which

looking forward to working with him,” Ford Tickford Racing’s Glenn Seton said on Tuesday.

hampered pre-season testing.

“At the same time. I’m sad to

“Ford builds and sells other

see'Greg Harbutt move away from the racing side of things he’s done a fine job.

than Falcon,” Marsden said

“Howard has an incredible

this week. “The V8Supercar is

depth of knowledge and years of experience which will be a

But

Marsden’s

role

will

extend beyond its V8 program.

bread and butter to motor rac

ing, just as Falcon is bread and butter to Ford Motor Company, but we must look at the jam on

benefit to the entire Ford

camp,” Seton said. The other significant part of

and ex-BTCC winner Alain Menu from rival teams.

Ford appears to have just demonstrated that it is pre pared to apply the same atti tude to its local motor racing activities.

Who is Howard Marsden? ENGLISH-bom Howard Marsden

brings a distinguished motor racing history to Ford’s Racing department. After spending time with a young Frank Williams in the UK in the late ’60s

Marsden moved to Australia, joining the company of noted racer Frank Matich to oversee Goodyear’s introduction to Australian racing. In mid-1971 he joined Ford as Special Vehicles Manager, masterminding the

Championship series, where he will drive another front-engined V8; the new Panoz he debuted at Road Atlanta last week.

Under the direction of Ford

Ford’s five-year plan.

races, Ford’s recent record

David will commute back to his US base for the two Californian rounds of the American Le Mans

His appointment also appears to be a good fit with the company’s international resurgence in motor racing.

one-make series could fit into

AGP supports and five SCS

Bathurst, in between which time

Ford Australia has got,” Marsden explained.

a reaction to the lack of success

Commodore at Willowbank at

“Motorsport now sits on the highest level of committee that

of the Falcon AU in the early part of the season. With the

Supercars is probable and a

and the 1997 Bathurst winner will share the Coca Cola

enthusiast.

Europe’s Martin Whittaker the firm’s FI, WRC and touring car programs have been trans formed in the last two years

of a ‘Junior Team’

David Brabham getting the ride. The former world 500cc champ

Marsden’s appointment is that it elevates racing in Ford’s cor porate hierarchy. Marsden will report directly to Matthew Taylor, Ford’s Vice-President of Marketing and Sales, who his himself a motor racing

spell here, which included Nissan’s Bluebird touring car project, he joined Nissan Motorsport Europe (NME) as Managing Director. In the next six years he developed NME’s sportscar, touring car and WRC programs. Seven years ago he returned to Australia and Ford as Product Manager for Tickford Vehicle Engineering. Apart from the XR range of specialised Fords, he has worked on Tickford projects in

vast success Falcon GTHO series and

Thailand and Taiwan.

guiding Allan Moffat to a Bathurst win. In 1976 he moved to Nissan, where he was to stay for 16 years. After a 10 year

Marsden, who spent four seasons as a Channel 7 TV commentator, is married with two children.

Photo by Graemi

er/Covmtry Studios

IF Marsden’s appointment to Ford’s Racing department was a surprise to many, the man himself is down-playing it. ‘There’s no great mystery to it. The expres sion that was used was, 'Well, at least Idon't need any trainingl’ Marsden will continue to fill a role with

Tickford. “Ninety-nine percent of the job is the motorsport program on behalf of the Ford Motor Company. (Tickford Managing Director) David Flint has asked that I maintain an involvement in

the planning process of the Tickford program.” His brief at the moment is simple. “My num ber one job at the moment is to listen. I’ve got to find out from the various inputs where they stand today and try to forge a path for the blue oval into the motorsport future. “Motorsport is an important form of the pre sentation of the enthusiasm of Ford Motor

Company for building cars. They want to expand on that process. So, in the first case, my job is to find out where everyone sits today, cull the good ideas from the possibly not-so-good ideas to put together a plan that takes Ford for ward in the next five years. “Obviously, 1999 is a reasonably locked-in process. People are set; they know what they are doing in the short-term and that is running successfully in 1999. “Having then set up an agreed plan for five years, the job is then to implement that plan with all of the parties.” Has Ford made recent moves internationally that racing is now much more serious? “Yes, there has been. Ford Motor Company had an ongoing involvement with the motorsport industry since, gosh, even Iwas a lad! But there have been historic spurts where they have paid particular attention. “Ford is very aware of the opportunities that motorsport presents for their brand and overall corporate image. At this stage Ford is saying, ‘Yes, this is what we should be doing and we must do it successfully’.’’

■ Speaking of WGR, while the lack of Donut King was wellnoted at Adelaide, it appears that Pennzoil may jump ship too. The team is putting a positive spin on the relationship, and the oil company had no comment when contacted by MN, but our sources suggest that the yellow decals may have been seen on the red and black Commodore for the final time.

■ Elsewhere in oil news, Castrol appeared on the works Volvos at Lakeside last week. The two firms’ last connection was when kiwi Robbie Francevic drove Mark Patch’s Volvo 240T in

Group A 13 years ago. ■ The Porsche Museum in

Stuttgart is once again sending out some trick stuff for Targa Tasmania. Rudiger Ott will pilot a 1957 356A, while Le Mans leg end ‘Brilliant’ Bob Wollek will hurl a 1983 91 ISC RS around

the Apple Isle in the event. As usual museum manager Klaus Bichof will accompany the hard ware, making his fourth trip down, down under. ■ Speaking of your actual leg ends, Hannu Mikkola is heading this way for the Southern Cross rally. The Finnish maestro will drive one of three Ford Escorts

in the event and, just a good, rumours suggest that the origi nal Flying Scotsman Andrew Cowan, now chief of

Mitsubishi/Ralliart’s WRC pro gram, will drag the original Hillman Hunter out of his

Scottish garage for a blast in the event.

Lowndes gets his Adelaide points back By GERALD McDORNAN

rest of the series.

DESPITE having his conviction for "failure to exercise proper care and consideration" in the

first leg of the Adelaide 500 upheld Craig Lowndes has regained the 100 championship points he lost over the incident. Lowndes and the Mobil Holden

Racing Team lost an appeal to the National CAMS Appeal Tribunal against the conviction last Friday, but won an appeal against the severity of the sentence - the tri bunal reinstating Lowndes’ race results and $40,000 prizemoney,

but fining him $10,000 for contact ing Danny Osborne's EL Falcon, the

incident

destroying

the

Colourscan Falcon.

Lowndes told Motorsport News

on Tuesday that he was now look ing forward to getting on with the

"I felt we didn’t get a proper hearing from the stewards in Adelaide and that’s why we appealed," he said. "Our data showed I lifted off the

throttle and, I believe, if we had've had access to Osborne’s - which we

weren't given that opportunity - it would have showed that I couldn’t

have done anymore to avoid him. "Racing incidents happen, we’ve copped the penalty and now it’s time to just get on with things," he

one word of apology from them [HRT] and we've got a controlling body that doesn't have the teeth to do its job. "It's about time they practice what they preach." Rival factory team driver Glenn Seton said he was disappointed with the appeal, saying that dri vers should be made accountable for their actions.

said. Colourscan team owner Jeff Osborne was furious with the deci¬

"These cars cost $200,000$250,000 and we've got guys who don't know how much they cost to build and don't have to pay for them punting others off the track and getting away with it," Seton

sion.

said.

"Fining an outfit like Lowndes and HRT $10,000 is like fining Kerry Packer $10,000 ... it’s small change," he said. "Danny’s still recovering from the accident, we’ve got a car which is destroyed, we haven’t even heard

s 0

"It's crazy - Craig was still proven guilty, but he’s walked away with the points and $40,000 prizemoney for just 10 grand. "Fining drivers is a waste of time

"Even loss of points, if you’re half way through the season and there’s no chance of winning the series,

excluded from results or starting positions, or even race suspensions, are going to work - there’s got to

... the dollars mean nothing to a

can mean nothing.

be some serious penalties handed

team like HRT.

Disagreeing: Lowndes and Seton discuss their Adelaide incident.

"No other penalties except being

out.”