Motorsport News Issue 278 - March 10-23, 2004

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Issue 278

11 —24 March 2004

news and opinion 5

Weel’s in motion PWR’s Kees Weel owns Dencar

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Party iike it’s 2003 New FI format may be history 9 Under control How did they make those starts? Like this 12 One Diablo Which seems iike a few short to us

15 2.4 litre FIs? We say, bring on the V8s, you sooks!

25 Motor Mouth From Hero to Zero, the Sam Johnson way 26 Box Seat Joe Saward comes but once a year 82 Talk Converter Wake up and write, the GP is over

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features 28 Five Minutes With Gimmy Bruni A Formuia One career has to start somewhere 30 Five Minutes With Geoff Polites Ford's boss bids ta-ta to Oz for a new job

race coverage '■

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32 Albert Park Formula One 34 I do like Fridays Ferrari fires a warning shot but it’s oniy practice, right?

36 A Qualified success A new qualifying format but an oid-iooking front row 40 The Master Blaster Michael, Rubens, Ferrari and Bridgestone came, saw and conquered everyone else in the race 50 Green, Gold and Blue Webber's weekend had its highs and its iows 52 Might is Bright Jason leads a Holden romp in the V8 Supercars 58 My Brilliant Carrera The Youngsters take the honours in the Porscherama. The young blokes in the FFords turned on the action too ...

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Rumour Rile Where we air all those intriguing, but to date unconfirmed, rumours dug out by our imperious spies this issue's are from the high-tech world of Formula 1...

We hear from a very reputable source that Honda is soon to announce a continuation of its partnership with British American Racing. The current deal runs until the end of the year and there had been chat that there was an assessment process in place so that the Japanese manufacturer could decide on whether to stay, go or switch partners. Well, we hear that the review is done and that an announcement could come soon.

Watch this space.

Our foreign language skills are not that red-hot but we did like the exchange between a representative of the Bahrain GP and a visiting journo at Albert Park. The bloke did not have a hotel booked for the big race and the track rep was trying to explain that all 12,000 hotel rooms were booked ages ago, so ... tough luck. The writer in question dropped the name of his editor, who runs the most widely-read sports publication in Europe and the problem simply disappeared.

We also like the one about the manufacturers' input into the process of re-evaluating the FI engine regs so as to limit horsepower and spending.

It seems that at least one engine manufacturer is keen to see turbocharged engines back in the game, pointing to the fact that you can rein in any rampaging ponies with simple and cheap devices like pop-off valves. We believe that the proposal even went to the FIA some time back but was'knocked on the head. And the engine specs? We hear the manufacturer in question may have built a prototype ... how does 1000 horsepower from a 1-litre engine sound?

Who was that boofhead journalist who, after waiting patiently for a post-race chat with Toyota's Mike Gascoyne, kicked off by asking if there was any point in the team taking the cars to Malaysia next week? Last we heard, the motor noter in question has been added to TMG's 'never-to-be-invited-again' list.

And finally - just when you think that FI teams are necessarily world leaders in engineering perfection ...

One team, which we will not name, arrived in Melbourne, had tyres mounted on its wheels and mounted its wheels on the cars' hubs. Well, they tried: it was only after some emergency re engineering from a local expert that the new wheels and hubs were made to fit properly...

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Keep your dacks on!

V8 Supercar drivers are getting hot under the collar regarding the requirement to wear fireproof underwear in all races this season.

At Albert Park, all drivers were required to don full-length undies as part of the V8 Supercar category receiving recognition as an international championship by the FIA. Previously, drivers have usually worn three-layer suits with a tee-shirt or, in hot ' weather, no shirt underneath.

“We only found out about it two weeks ago,” explained Jason Bright, right, after winning the Saturday race.

“The FIA issues a dispensation for certain hot weather rallies and maybe we can have something like that in place for Adelaide.”

Greg Murphy pointed out that the ruling could not be worked around by swapping the current de r/geur triple-layer racesuits for double-layer suits; “A two-layer suit weighs the same as a triple-layer because they are made from different material, so that is not going to help.”

In Formula One, drivers wear triple-layer suits but usually wear fireproof ‘T-shirt’ style shirts underneath."

However, after AVESCO CEO Wayne Cattach sought a meeting with the FIA’s Medical Delegate Professor Sid Watkins on Saturday evening and passed on the information he gained to the drivers the following morning, the drivers will comply.

“They (the FIA) had been looking at this problem for some time,” explained Cattach.

“There were independent tests on core body temperatures that

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revealed that core temperatures are higher without full underwear. There is also evidence - and it is irrefutable that drivers have a gO percent greater chance of dying in a fire without underwear. That is fact.

“Sid (Watkins) put it well; he said that you do not see Arabs walking around the desert in teeshirts and shorts. They cover up.

The soiution is not to take underwear oft them (the drivers).

The plain truth is that their core temperature is actually lower with it on."

At the drivers’ meeting, talk then moved to ways of cooling the interior of the cars by either increasing airflow in the cockpit or the adoption of air conditioning-units, similar to the Cepicool system fitted to Paul Morris’s Sirromet Commodore.

“If improved airflow is mandated by AVESCO and it assists driver comfort, so be it,” said Cattach.

“But there is not going to be any changes to the attire of the drivers and there are no exemptions.”

- PHIL BRANAGAN

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by PHIL BRANAGAN PWR Racing has expanded its commercial base by acquiring Dencar.

The Melbourne company, which supplies Commodore ’V8 Supercar bodyshells and other components to teams, was bought by PWR team principal Kees Weel last year and has supplied, and will continue to supply, components to the Holden Racing Team and Kmart Racing.

"It's a very good business and does some good work,(^ said Weel this week.

"T's very busy at the moment. We have six cars - actually, with spares, we have nine - and there is new development all the time. It is not only bodyshells, it is components, specialist work, fuel tanks . f; That's a big part of the business."

Weel, who was looking to buy a house in Melbourne after tlie Albert

Holden/Ford stoush

THE relationship between Ford and Holden in the V8 Supercar Championship Series took a dive last week following the publication of an article in which Russell Ingall said that he had been threatened over his Eastern Creek incident with Mark Skaife.

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In the story by AAP, Ingall said that his wife Julia had been hospitalised with a stress-related illness and that he would not acknowledge Skaife unless tine two men spoke face-to-face.

"I've not spoken to him (Skaife) since (the mcident) and unless he wants to get something off his chest face-to-face, not through the media, I'll refuse to aclaiowledge him," Ingall said.

Following the Creek clash, representatives of both Holden and Ford's PR corps agreed to close the door on the matter to avoid any potential bad publicity over the mcident. Both drivers had their say on the clash in MNews but, following the AAP story, Holden PR reps claimed that

their Ford coimterparts had broken the agreement.

At Albert Park, neither Skaife nor Ingall would comment on the matter firrtlier. Ill-feeling betw^een the teams increased when Ingall and Rick Kelly, above, clashed in Race 1, leavong Kelly in the wall. Kelly made some comments on television for which he was fined $5000 for bringing the sport into disrepute. Following a stewards' enquiry, neither driver was charge over the actual incident.

moiorsport news

NEWS

icquipes Dencar

Launch away!

THE V8 Supercar Championship Series will be launched in Melbourne tomorrow (Thursday), with the SP being that there is little we do not know already, The Safety Cars will be sponsored by WPS, as expected, and yep, as far as AVESCO is concerned, we are still heading to Shanghai in November. There is due to be a fairly major Chinese presence at Adelaide so, trust MNews, we will , ask them where the best restaurants are. n There was some weird numerology doing the rounds of the V8 Supercar paddock in Melbourne.

Apart from getting used to the new names and numbers, Craig Baird was wearing number 14 because of the fact that the timing system spat the dummy at dealing with Team Kiwi's usual 021, despite the fact that Jenson Button's BAR-Honda had 09 on his car, not 9, And Max Wilson wore 77 for the weekend but will revert to the team's new 888 in Adelaide.

Dirk Klyrtsmith

Park weekend ("I spend a fair bit of time here and I get tired of hotels") was firm to deny rumours that his acquisition of Dencar would mean a physical separation from the Clayton base of PWR,HRT and KRT or any possible split with either 'customer' team.

"We have a good association with Holden Motor Sport and 1 believe that it is good to be close to our suppliers.

We have no need to move."

The Dencar deal means that PWR has become one of the major suppliers of componentry to V8 Supercar teams.

Apart from its specialist radiator and cooling products, and now bodyshells,PWR also distributes Alcon brakes and clutches, the customers for which include HRT and Triple 8 Race Engineering. PWR is also soon to open a retail outlet in Melbourne to provide owners of Commodore VX and VY and Falcon

BA road cars with high performance Alcon brake components, which have been developed by Alcon in conjunction with the team and driver Paul Week The team's expanding commercial base is likely to allow a high degree of commercial freedom and means that PWR looks set to become a performance brand in its own right.

The team's new look was given a sensational baptism at Albert Park when Jason Bright score two wins and a second in the Netspace V8 Supercar races in Melbourne.

"Bright was doing it easily," said Weel Sr. "We did all the races on one set of tyres. Both cars were receptible to changes and Paul went well too. It comes back to cars, equipment and people. We are really looking forward to Adelaide."

Both PWR VYs ran with older 18degree Chevrolet engines in

Melbourne and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, despite tire fact that the Bright car has been built to accept both 18-degree and Holden Motor Sport engines.

"I think that the engines are line ball at the moment," said Week "HMS will not have any engines available until they are better developed and I think that the 18degree is still a good package. There are things in the chassis ftat could be better but I do not think that our engines were supersonic at Albert Park."

In the meantime,Dencar continues to operate under the direction of co founder and former owner Dennis Watson, I Rick Kelly's damaged KRT Commodore came off Dencar's

n Observant V8 fans will have noticed some new secondary signage on the BJR OzEmail Falcons at the Grand Prix. The team is now enjoying support from Mobil. n No Vanilla? Did you spot that on the rear of the PWR Racing Commodores over the course of the weekend and read the same .sticker?

We're told that it's a buzz word in the States that means 'cool and the 'in' thing' and is part of the HSV advertising slogan campaign. We thought that it was part of the 'Keep Vanilla Ice out of Albert Park' campaign ... n Have someone offer to sell you the shirt off his back on the weekend? That'd be Aussie F3 racer Will Davison, who, while back for the AGP in his ambassador role for the Grand Prix Corporation, launched www.sellmyshirt.com, a site where users will be able to bid on autographed celebrity shirts as well as a range of Davo-ware to support the racer's British F3 assault.

chassis jig on Monday,about the same time that Mark Skaife's HRT VY went on for repairs following its impact with Simon Wills in Race 3 at Albert Park.

and adds a third car

DAVID Krause will join the V8 Supercar field at Adelaide next weekend.

The Sydney driver will be entered under PWR's Level 2 franchise, which the team is obUged to utilise under the terms of the franchise agreement.

At this stage the deal is only for Adelaide, however it is understood that there is a possibility that it could extend through the remainder of the season.

"On paper, it looks like a good deal," said Krause, who will drive Paul Weeks car from last year.

"It's a big step up from the last car I drove in V8s. I'm really looking forward to it, it's going to be awesome."

According to Krause,the deal came together fairly quickly.

"We knew Kees(Weel) had to use the franchise,so we gave him a call, and told him who 1 was and what I'd done. He went away and had a think about it and spoke to a couple of people, and we just sorted it out from there."

10 March 2004

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Krause made a brief appearance at the V8 Supercar Main Event at Eastern Creek last November at the wheel of the Lansvale Racing VX Commodore entered by Romano Racing,above.

-MARK GLENDENNING

n Greg Murphy looked slightly bemused on the V8 podium after his Friday Race 1 win when an Australian flag was raised above his victorious little Kiwi head. The discrepancy was fixed for the rest of the weekend after it was found that he had mistakenly been entered as an Australian. n Notice the new Elfin Streamliner MSS at the Melbourne International Motor Show as on page 16 of this issue? We're told that there's talk that it could be a Nations Cup-eligible machine and even in the Bathurst 24 Hour. What a weapon I 5

Toyota: No Panic TOMORROW it will be business as usual at Toyota's Formula One base in Cologne, despite the team's appalling showing at Albert Park last weekend.

After team President John Hewlett predicted points at every race and a podium finish sometime in 2004 at the team launch in January, Cristiano da Matta and Olivier Panis qualified 13th and 18th respectively and finished the race with only Jordan rookie Giorgio Pantano behind the high-priced TF104s.

B ut team technical director

Mike Gascoyne said that there was no need to changes to the team's plans; The drivers really struggled in the race," admitted Gascoyne.

I think Malaysia will be much better; the hot temperatures and the nature of the track will suit us much better. It will get a lot better than this.

The former Benetton/Renault designer, who joined the German team at the end of last season, said that there were a number of steps that the team was planning.

There will be improvements

at every race. Short-term, we need to get the team to work efficiently and get the most out of the car we have got. We need to put all the things in place to ensure that we are where we need to be in the future.

Gascoyne said that there will be new wings and barge boards in the next two races, prior to major revisions in aero at Imola in April.

Meanwhile, Gascoyne will continue design work on the TF105, as well as managing the development of the current car.

- PHIL BRANAGAN

Moving later into Autumn; According to CP chief Ron Walker, we will be heading to Albert Park Lake in April in 2006.

April AGP date predicted for ’06

RON Walker, the chairman of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, says that the race will move to an April date in 2006 to avoid a clash with the Commonwealth Games, which will be held in Melbourne in March 2006.

Bemie Ecclestone and Walker were negotiating hard during the Melbourne weekend,including a number of amusing exchanges that

6

appeared in print. Ecclestone ramped up the controversy by suggesting that he might simply cancel the race in 2006 while Walker replied that when negotiating with Ecclestone a race can be on and off several times each

day.

Melbourne had a deal to be the first race each year and moving the calendar around is not easy but Walker is hoping for a date in April

for the one year before returning to the normal season-operung slot.

Walker pointed out that this might be possible because Turkey is due on the FI calendar in 2005 and will probably take the date usually enjoyed by Imola. The Turks could have the opening race in 2006 with teams then travelling on to Bahrain and the Malaysia-Australia leg a few weeks later than normal.

"After 20 years of negotiation with Bemie I am used to things changing constantly," Walker said.

"This morning he found two cigarette butts lying on the ground and said he was going to cancel the race. The he said he wanted US$40m because he has a better offer from a circuit in Patagonia. It is all part of the game.'

-JOE SAWARD motorspon news

NEWS

Mercedes or McLaren?

Will the Silver Arrows return with own team?

ling format dumped?

Old format may return in Malaysia

by JOE SAWARD

THE new qualifying system for Formula One,which was used for the first time at Albert Park last weekend, may be ditched immediately.

The new format, decided upon by the team bosses in the course of the winter does not make a good show.

Drivers,team bosses and the media agreed that the format of cars having two runs was simply too long and not very interesting. Even Michael Schumacher said that he had got bored waiting for something to happen.

The team bosses are now expected to get together to discuss what to do instead with our sources saying that the most likely course of action is a return to the way the events were run in 2003. This will mean that there will be no more surprises.

A number of other concepts have been discussed,including the idea of having a 30-minute session when the cars run together to decide the running order for the final showdown. This would provide more action and create an incentive for the drivers to take risks, although the knowledge that a crash could mean that the driver would drop to the back of the grid will inevitably lead them to be more cautious.

"We are hoping to get a new system introduced before Malaysia," said a source,closely involved in the management of the sport.

Australia is one of the few countries in which FI is broadcast that does not show qualifying in full, so any change is unlikely to affect TV coverage here. But for those who can see what happens on Saturday, and those who follow it without the telly, this is a huge change and a bit of an embarrassment for the sport...

THERE are hints that Mercedes-Benz may have decided to take Formula 1 in-house, rather than having a relationship with McLaren.

A number of Formula 1 teams are reporting that a head-hunting agency has been targeting some wellplaced engineers and offering them work with a new FI project in Britain. Applicants for the jobs are apparently being told that there is to be a Mercedes-Benz FI effort in Britain and, as it is chassis men who are being targeted, the Stuttgart car company may be looking at doing its own thing.

Rumours which have been floating around for some months that Mercedes-Benz is in the process of buying the 60 percent remaining McLaren shares which it does not own in order to get full control of the racing team and the ongoing road car program.

A Mercedes-Benz FI facility in England would logically be near the engine factory in Brixworth, and that the McLaren Techology Centre (nee Paragon) facility would be used by Mercedes as a research and development operation for the whole firm.

There has been vague talk of another FI project which is being discussed by a US investment company with no racing links but this does not appear to be related to the Mercedes-Benz plan.

- JOE SAWARD

BMW wants Tast; not^German'

SPECULATION over Ralf Schumacher's future with Williams refuses to subside, with BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen the latest to stoke the fires by stating that BMW does not consider a German driver to be a high priority.

"It is not of any particular importance to BMW to have a German driver," Theissen, right, said.

"We have 18 races, and in 16 of these 18 races, everybody is a foreigner, BMW is a global company.

Germany is, next to the USA, our biggest market, so it's always a benefit 10 March 2004

to have a driver from your home market. But it's just an additional benefit - we would always go for the two quickest drivers that we can get.

"I wouldn't say that it doesn't matter, but it's not our priority to look for a German driver, it's an add-on.

Theissen would not say who the company was looking at, but confirmed that he had been highly impressed by Mark Webber.

"He is very much a team player," Theissen observed, "He's intelligent, and hard-working.

He really could make it."

-MARK GLENDENNING

O’Brien steps back outofcoclqiit CHARLIE O'Brien has run his last race in the Carrera Cup and in motor racing. After coming back to racing last year following a five year lay-off, the Gold Coaster is stepping back to assume co-team manager duties for the new WPS Racing outfit.

"I was ready to do the Carrera Cup series and 1 have been over in New Zealand sharpening my racing in preparation for the new season," said O'Brien.

"Just before I left Craig (Gore) made me an offer to join WPS Racing and after some discussion with his team manager, Keith Evers, I decided the timing was right and the challenge was one that I wanted to pursue. n Phillip Island has been sold. As we reported last issue, Lindsay Fox has purchased the seaside layout.

B It takes brains and luck to win the annual McLaren Trivia contest for the media and MNews has plenty of both. Despite the debut in the event of Mark 'Can 1 phone a friend?'

Glendenning, our own FI noter Adam Cooper anchored the winning squad, which included none other than Mark Blundell, Martin Brundle and his good lady Liz. Among the hardware won by the victors was a brand new Siemens mobile phone/camera/video/ dishwasher valued at... no, it would be just too cruel to Glendenning. n The jury might still be out on whether it will cost the manufacturers less to develop 'one weekend' VI Os but they certainly make, and transport, fewer units than they used to. One horsepower merchant let slip that his company will manufacture more than 30 percent less engines than it did last season, with big savings in flying the things to tests and races. n Mark Webber may have given the world a preview of his sporting future when he and team-mates Christian Klien and Bjorn Wirdheim took on Hawk AFL star Shane Crawford at lawn bowls prior to the big race. Webber said that he enjoyed the experience. None of the drivers wore fireproofs or HANS devices for the match... n For the second straight year, Jason Bright had to bring a note from his mother for failing dress code. Yes, Brighty complied with the new underwear rule (see news story) but he was wearing a Monaro racesuit from the 24 Hour, the new PWR jammies not quite ready. Expect to see Bright and Paul Weel in PWR Racing white and orange (though Holden insists it's red) in Adelaide.

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Call Mercedes do it better?

A FEW weeks ago, Bemie Ecclestone said that he reckoned that Kimi Raikkonen would win the World Championship.

Even at the time, it seemed like a very weird prediction because every whisper coming out of Woking suggested that all was not well with the McLaren-Mercedes MP4-19.

Not only was there talk of

technical problems but also whispers of discontent and in-fighting. The rumours grew last weekend where there were the latest hints that we may be on the verge of a MercedesBenz takeover of the team.

Whatever the politics going on in the background, the performance on the racetrack was pretty desperate, with Raikkonen 10th on the grid and

David Coulthard 12th. In the race Raikkonen retired with an engine failure while running 11th and Coulthard went for a two-stop strategy and finished eighth.

The cars were neither fast nor reliable and the list of fastest laps in the race told the whole unapalatable story: the best McLaren laps were two seconds off the best laps by Ferrari. The question that the team had to start to face up to on Sunday night was

how to solve the problem.

Has a team ever come back from a two second a lap disadvantage to win a World Championship?

"This is not where we expected to be," said Coulthard."I don't think there is one area in which we are the strongest with this car. The whole thing needs to improve.

"The horsepower is not significantly different to the other major teams but we cannot get good lap times out of the tyres."

Williams: We're not too worried

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TIHp Panasonic Toyota Racing tQprh had a terrible time in lylelbourne and after the race team'founder Ove Anderson did not try to disguise the fact that all was not well.

"I am very disappointed," he said. "I knew that we were not good but I did not think it would be that bad. We are bad when it comes to aerodynamic efficiency. The car is reliable and it is well-balanced, but it just lacks downforce."

Like most of the Michelin teams, Toyota is looking for a different story in Malaysia where higher temperatures and the track layout will be less favourable for Ferrari.

In some ways,their performance could be a bonus. It may force a change of attitude within and will probably help Mike Gascoyne to put together the technical structure that he wants to see.

WHILE there was some doom and gloom in the press room in Melbourne on Sunday night after Ferrari's dominant 1-2 display, down in the Williams garage there was a surprising amount of optimism.

"The Williams FW26 does not have any bad vices," said Senior Operations Engineer Sam Michael. "If you think back to 2002, we got blown away in Melbourne and then we came right back in Malaysia. It can easily turn around.

"If Juan had not gone off at the first comer he would have been fighting with Alonso for third place. He would not have been able to challenge the Ferraris because the cars are not good in conditions where the ambient temperature is low. ' And we need to tune the car to the track surface a little more effectively.

"I am reasonably confident that we can do a good job in Malaysia and Bahrain."

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Understanding the tyre war MICHELIN teams were blown away at Melbourne as Ferrari and Bridgestone combined to dominate the Australian Grand Prix - with a little help from Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello.

Last year Bridgestone seemed to be in trouble, with Michelin tyres much more competitive at many of the racetracks. But despite the defeat, Michelin's Pierre Dupasquier refused to be

daunted in the battle for supremacy.

"I am not worried at all," he said. "Last year the gap between us and Ferrari was much bigger in qualifying. It was more than 0.9s. I am not happy that there is still a gap between our teams and Ferrari but I think we should wait for Malaysia because that will really tell us how much Bridgestone has improved.

"We will just have to see what happens. We might get some rain up there ..." moiorsport news

NEWS

Rapid Starters Queried

Questions Raised - But could they be legal?

JENSON Button has been among the opposition drivers already querying the rapid starts made by both Renault cars last weekend.

Renault enjoyed a launch supremacy last year, when electronics managed the whole process, and Button is among those suggesting that the team's start procedure in Melbourne didn't appear to be

entirely manual - illustrated by Alonso's ability to overtake Montoya at the start- with two wheels on the grass!

Button is probably right. MNews' technical editor Paulo Filisetti has uncovered the means by which smart teams are able to use a 'quasi' traction control set-up for the launch, entirely legally, despite a 13-page

document sent to teams outlining what is and isn't legal in terms of startline tecltnology for 2004.

Whether other teams were using similar methodology is uncertain.

What is certain is that if they didn't, they will be playing rapid catch-up and plaguing their electronics engineers as we speak!

- SAWARD/LAMBDEN

nnn

SANDRA Sully is, obviously, not too worried about job security, The Network 10 news reader not only outqualified her boss, 10 CEO John McAipine, in the BMW Challenge Celebrity Race, she then had the temerity to ace him in the race, taking eighth position and best of the lady drivers. We are not sure of Mr McAlpine's reaction to all that but, whatever, we wish the charming Ms Sully all the best with her new network... n Albert Park may have been Mark Webber's first race alongside new team-mate Christian Klien, but the pair had in fact met some years prior to the Austrian signing up for the Jaguar drive. The proof? A photograph of a smiling Klien, then in his early teens, posing alongside a certain Australian who at that time was carving out a living as a MercedesBenz Sportscar driver. Apparently, Christian brought the photo with him when he was first taken to the Jaguar factory to meet 'old man' Webber. n FI goes flashy: Amid all of the more conspicuous changes to Formula One this year, it was easy to miss a more subtle new addition to the Australian Grand Prix, Unless, of course, you were watching from either turn 1, 3, 9, or 13, all of which featured brand-spankin' new yellow caution lights. The globes serve the same purpose as the more traditional yellow flags.

n

Sutton-ifmgesxom

n/IIMElAfS EXCLUSIVE IN banning launch control, the FIA has made a clear distinction between it and traction control (TC) in its documentation.

TC is allowed once the car has reached 10Okph - approximately two seconds from standstill. The clear definition of TC defines it as being related to a control of engine torque - defined as management of fuel injection and spark retardation.

The pit lane speed limiter works in a similar fashion, albeit not so efficiently as a pure TC system. Use of a speed limiter and its function is considered legal and, it appears, some teams have developed a system 10 March 2004

She does more than just read news

using these functions for the first part of the start.

The driver does not use the same button as the speed limiter - in fact no button is touched but once the clutch paddle is released the system starts working.

The working period is short under two seconds - but during that time, data relating to the current (clutch) grip ratio and wheel torque (not to be confused with engine torque), is sent to the processing unit managing the quasi-TC. The throttle for the start is set automatically at around 12,000rpm, as optimised by the engine engineers. The driver, as

with launch control, simply presses the throttle fully down the system does the rest.

The FIA's dream of returning to fully manual starts thus remains just that.

And while drivers manually operate the gearchanges themselves via the steering wheel-mounted paddles, the down-change blipper (the automated matching of revs on the down-change) also remains.

In terms of a return to driver-operated starts and gearchanges, the FIA is faced with the galling concept that they've taken three steps forward - and two back ...

- PAOLO FILISETTI

n David Coulthard did not leave Australia with much cause for celebration, but he did etch his name into the record books. The AGP saw DC make his 133rd start for McLaren, which set a new record for the most Grands Prix started by a driver with one manufacturer. The previous record holder was Jacques Laffite, courtesy of his long stint with Ligier.

Like everything else though, this is a record that Michael Schumacher has in his sights: Australia marked his 125th start for Ferrari - and unlike DC, Schumi will be with the same team again next year...

M What do Giorgio Pantano, Christian Klien and Gianmaria Bruni have in common? All three began their FI career at Albert Park last weekend - and all three were fined for speeding in pitlane. Pantano was first, and was liberated of US$750 for going 62.9kph on Friday, followed shortly after by Klien, who handed over US$500 for going 61.1kph in the same session. On Saturday morning it was Bruni's turn, the Minardi driver's 61.7kph indiscretion sapping the team's budget to the tune of US$500.

9

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I ■ I ■ I ■

JV: D<

motorsport 2004 V8 Supercar Championship* Mar 21 .. .Adelaide

THERE have been some rumours in recent days that Toyota has been talking to unempioyed racer Jacques Villeneuve about a job in Formula 1 next year.

There are similar rumours about David Coulthard and Ralf

.Rdl

Apr 4

Eastern Creek

.Rd2

May 2

Pukekohe ...

.Rd3 .Rd4

May 23 ...Hidden Valley Jun 13 ... .Barbagallo ..

Jul4 Old Raceway

,Rd5 .Rd6

2004 FIA Formula One Championship* Mar 21 ...Malaysia .Bahrain Apr 4

.Rd2

Apr 25

San Marino

.Rd4

May 9

Spain

.Rd5

Dynamik Dale

.Rd3 ■Rd4

DALE Brede has secured the Team

Gulf Western Racing and Holden

Dynamik seat vacated by Jason Richards.

Young Lions. He finished runner-up in the championship to Paul Dumbrell in 2002.

Hifs/ij//'OiS5 I

,Rd3

2004 World Rally Championship* Mar 12-14 ..Mexico ..New Zealand ....

Apr 16-18 ..Cyprus

.Rd5

. .Acropolis Rally ..

June 25-27 . . . .Turkey Jul 16-18 .Argenti ne .Finland .

Aug 6-8

.Rd6 .Rd7

May 14-16 Jun 4-6 . . .

.Rd8 .Rd9

2004 Australian Rally Championship* Mar27-28 . . . .Perth .Rd.1 Jun 5-6 .Queen sland .Rd2 Jun 26 .Tasmania. . ,Rd3 July31-Aug1 . .RailySA . .

.Rd4

2004 Konica Minolta V8 Supercar Championship* Mar 21 . . .Adeiaide IR d2 April

R i d3 iR d4

Winton

May 30 . . .Eastern Creek Jul 4 Qld Raceway

R i d5

2004 Procar Series Mar 21 . . .Adelaide

■Rdl

Apr 18

.Rd2 ,Rd3

Oran Park

May 16 . . .Sandown

But VS"s gain is NC's loss

■The 28-year-oid wa.s announced as the driver of tlie #45 car just prior to the non-championship races at Albert Park last weekend.

"Ever since 2002 I wondered wliat it would have been like to have Oscar (l-iorinotto) in mv corner in the .series," said Brede.

"After just a .short time working and talking with him this sea.son I can see the awesome knowledge and drive he posses.ses - it is great to be here. I can't thank Kieran Wills and Oscar enough for the opportunity."

The Canberra driver has spent the previous three seasons racing in the Konica Series with NRC Racing,

MEANWHILE, hopes of seeing a Mosler in the Nations Cup field at Clipsal appear to have been sunk following the naming of Dale Brede as Jason Richards's replacement at Team Dynamik.

"It looks like we won't be there," .said Ralf Rupprecht of Rupprecht Motorsport, who wa.s gearing up to run the car.

"We don't know what is going to happen yet. We hope we can be at the next race, but we're not sure vet.

It depends on when we can find a driver."

-MARKGLENDENNING

Blundell Eyes Hie Mountain

2004 SBK World Superbike Championship* .Rd 2 Mar 28 . . .Phillip Island Apr 18 . . . .Misano . . . .

,Rd 3

2004 Moto GP Apr 18 May 2 .

May 16 Jun 6 .

Championship South Africa . . .

.Rd.1

Spain France

,Rd2 .Rd3

.Italy

.Rd4

r

1 ten

home of motorsport']

I ■ All even! dates in ilus calendar were correct at the

I

of pnniing. Please consult any individual tracks ^nd or associations for dale changes.

or evenls telecast on Network Ten are I ■ Series marked with an asterisk. Check your local guides tor screening details.

1

DufuBitmeit

MARK Blundell is aiming at a V8 Supercar endurance drive.

The former.Formula One and CART driver was in Melbourne with ITV's television crew but is working his schedule around the dates for the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 rounds of the championship.

"I have a degree of flexibility and 1 would love to do the races," said Blundell. "I have 12 races on the schedule but I can allow time off to do the races.

Blundell would not say which teams he was looking at, but added that his only manufacturer commitment was with Bentley's Le Mans squad, SO there would be nothing to prevent him from driving with either a Holden or a Ford team.

His most obvious point of contact would appear to be at Stone Brothers Racing. Blundell is a long-time friend of SBR PR man Brett Murray, both having been at PacWest Racing together. However, Murray has the ear of a number of V8 team owners and SBR may not want a V8 rookie in the biggest races of the year.

Blundell, 37, started in 61 GPs, and scored thirdplace finishes in South Africa and Germany in 1993 (with Ligier) and Spain in 1994 (with Tyrrell). In CART, he scored three wins, all in 1997, and he won the Le Mans 24 Hour in 1992.

- PHIL BRAMAGAM motorspon news

NEWS

)n’t Rule Me Out Schumacher while Olivier Panis and his management are keen to cement a new deal to keep the Frenchman in the team for 2005 and beyond.

It is widely agreed in F1 circles that if Cristiano da Malta does not beat Panis this year, his F1 career will grind to a halt and that if Panis is overshadowed by da Matta, the Frenchman will be shown the door.

Villeneuve has been out of a drive since his BAR-Honda stopped at the USGP in September. He missed the final race repla

full-time BAR man Takuma Sato.

“I hope so (to return)," Villeneuve said on his website jvworid.com. “It would have to be an interesting drive, a good seat, a top team.

“Otherwise Td rather do other things. I know what it’s like to drive a good car and the frustrations of driving a not so good one. And I still have the desire to race. A lot depends on how things develop with the drivers and teams this year.

Maybe there will be a big reshuffle for next season.”

The five-year BAR veteran also has some positive things to say

about the uplifted form of his old team; “It sounds as though Geoff Willis has come up with an all round improvement this year.

Craig (Pollock) knew all along that getting him in the team would help its future.

“But now I have mixed feelings. To see Jenson (Button) or Takuma (Sato) do well this year would be difficult. But I won’t begrudge either of them their successes. I was in a good car at the right time and I hope to be again.

“With BAR it will depend on many things including the engine’s reliability, the tyre choice and the improvements to the chassis. We’ll see.

A returning M3?

BMW is back? PHR is believed to have leased its BMW M3 GTR for next week's Nations Cup races in Adelaide, however there’s no word yet on who will occupy the driver's seat. Maher Algadri is expected to drive the team’s Porsche GTS RS. n Mark Coffey Racing’s Ferrari Maranello 550 has arrived in Australia, and was due to undergo inspection by PROCAR Technical Manager Aaron Kelly in Melbourne yesterday (Tuesday). If all goes well, the car will be driven by Allan Simonsen in Nations Cup. Bring it on, we say. n Former Porsche Cup champ Matt Coleman debuted new colours on the weekend in the Carrera Cup support races at Albert Park. Energy drink company Red Bull had its name on the flanks of the #62 machine and is apparently keen to continue its association. n Returning to the track at Albert Park for the first time since his nasty qualifying accident at Eastern Creek last year was Russell Wright. The Team Terrier driver, whose Porsche was virtually junked in the accident last December that landed him in hospital for over a week, was on hand to say hello to some familiar faces in the Carrera Cup pits. ; n Look for some faster qualifying and race times in the Carrera Cup this year. A new Michelin tyre to replace the S8A compound used last year looks set to reap anywhere up to one second a lap in gains over the 2003 tyre.

DJR Junior

United in Power IF Jason Bargwanna's form at Albert Park was any indication, Orrcon Racing is in for a good year with its new Stone Brothers Racing engine deal.

Mark Larkham and his former team bosses Ross and Jim Stone announced last week that Larkham Motor Sport will use SBR engines for a minimum of two seasons.

Bargs immediately iced the cake with fifth overall, and top Ford,in 10 M8rch 2004

Melbourne.

"I guess if you are going to form an alliance of this nature then SBR,as the defending series champions,are the ones to be doing it with," said Larkham.

"This really is a sign of the times.

The sport is getting more expensive and it makes no sense for single teams to be duplicating very expensive development programs in a whole range of areas."

DICK Johnson Racing will unveil a junior driver development program at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide next week.

Team representatives remained tight-lipped over who is involved, however, MNews believes four drivers will each get to test the cars during the season and receive limited support from the Queensland team.

We can confirm that Ryal Harris, who will make his VBBRute on the Adelaide streets for Brisbane based ’Cross Torque Racing', is one of the young guns.

- GRANT ROWLEY See National Scene page 72 for more on Harris.

n To add insult to injury for James Small, after being spun out of the lead in Race 2 of the Formula Ford Track Attack, the Victorian returned home to find his dog had been run over. Not one of those days you should get out of bed ... n Look for another VIP Petfoodssponsored Formula Ford in upcoming rounds. Queenslander Brett Francis gave away on the weekend during a post-race media conference that there would be another dog-pawed car in the field soon. The identity of the driver remains unclear. n There has been a change in the Board of Formula 3 Australia Inc. The line-up now consists of President Bill Maddocks, Secretary David Borg, Treasurer John Boothman and Board Members Jeff Mattner, Glen Coombs, Ian Richards, Michael Masi, Bevan Carrick and PROCAR representative Grant Boyden. n Irishman Michael Keohane has tested a Dale Coyne Racing Champ Car. The former British F3 racer is working on tying up a deal to join the series which starts at Long Beach in April.

11

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Will and Will taking a seat

THE two Wills, Davison and Power, had their seat fittings at Minardi over the GP weekend.

The two Aussie contenders for the British F3 title have been offered a test with the Paul Stoddart-owned team and will get their taste of FI horsepower about mid-season.

Power, below, will race for countryman Allan Docking's team which, ironically, ran Davison last season before the Melbourne driver moved to Menu Motorsport, for which he will race this season.

Both youngsters left Melbourne immediately after the FI race to resumed testing at Oulton Park this week.

The British series kicks off at Donington Park at the beginning of April.

Stokes goes solo Team Lamborghini goes one-car for Nations Cup series

TEAM Lamborghini Australia will run just the one car in this year's Nations Cup series.

After reports last month stated that the team would run two cars, the lateness of the announcement of PROCAR's television deal with the Nine Network has been cited as the main reason for the cutback.

The decision means that second driver Luke Youlden won't drive for the team as originally planned and Champion Paul Stokell will steer the team's #1 GTR Diablo.

"They had a few sponsors that were waiting on the TV commitment and they couldn't wait any longer," said Youlden.

"There's not enough budget to run two cars so it's been a mutual decision to leave the team. It's no-one's fault, just the fact that the TV package took a while to come through."

There remains the possibility of Stokell running a handful of races overseas during the year and, given that they may clash with Nations Cup rounds, Youlden may drive for team in those NC rounds as well as any Bathurst 24 Hour assault the team undertakes.

Donut King has returned to back the team and the pair of GTR Diablos are undergoing full rebuilds.

-AARON NOONAN coTionJ

Jag boss calls for cost cap

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FORD'S Formula 1 boss Richard Parry-Jones, the man who signs the cheques for Jaguar Racing, has launched a campaign to introduce budget-capping in Formula 1 to keep down the costs in the sport.

Parry-Jones says that the sport will go broke unless costs are reduced.

"The cost trends in the sport are unsustainable," he said in Melbourne.

"Other sports have successfully created ways in which costs can be

capped and there is no reason that we cannot do the same in FI."

This would be similar in concept to the salary-capping that exists in the AFL and Rugby League.

Parry-Jones added that getting everyone in FI to agree to cap the budgets would require a high cap to begin with and strong penalties to ensure anyone caught overspending would face serious trouble. The accounts would also all be subject to

independent auditing.

The problem is that competitive racing teams will always look for ways to overcome the rules if there is money available. Research and development operations would work quite independently of the racing teams and simply deliver the results in the form of data. These off-thebalance-sheet operations could not easily be controlled.

-JOE SAWARD

Bart grabs scholarship THERE will be an explosion of Australians in the British Formula 3 Championship this year with three 'lads from down under' to run in the 2004 title.

In addition to Will Davison and Will Power in the Championship Class, Australian F3 runner-up Barton Mawer will be campaigning in the Scholarship Class of this year's championship.

The New South Welshman will campaign for Performance Racing in an older model Dallara chassis.

A former Formula Ford racer, Mawer has already jetted off to the United Kingdom to begin testing for the championship, which begins at Donington on April 4.

He tested for Carlin Motorsport late last year and assisted with running the new Mugen-Hondas that the team will use in this year's title chase.

The Scholarship class is for two-year old cars and is the same title won in the past by Steve Harrington, Simon Wills and Phil Scifleet.

AARON NOONAN

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moiorsDort news

NEWS

New backer for Minardi

Something in the air HOT on the media-friendly JetStar versus Virgin Blue battle last week comes that the news that there could soon be a third piayer in the discount airline wars - Paul Stoddart.

Having seemingly won his three-year battle to keep his Minardi FI team afloat, Stoddy is now planning to take on Qantas and Virgin with a new low-cost airline to be known as Ozjet. All three companies will be fighting over customers on the lucrative Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane routes.

Stoddart has a fleet of aircraft in Europe which are not being used following the failure of a management buyout to acquire his European Airline operation. He is also believed to be looking at acquiring some of the aircraft

PAUL Stoddart concluded a lastminute title sponsorship deal with Dutch bathroom fitting company Wilux.

The team will be known this year as Wilux Minardi Cosworth. Wilux was delighted with its sponsorship of the team iast year, with managing director Ruud Wildschut revealing that sales jumped by 40 percent as a result of the FI sponsorship.

that have been sitting idle since the demise of Ansett.

Stoddart reckons that the model established in Europe by Easyjet will be popular in Australia although there is still thought to be the possibility that the move is designed to convince Qantas to do a deal with Ozjet to go head-to-head with Virgin Blue, using Stoddart's planes and crews.

Ozjet is believed to be looking at running different sectors to the larger companies and is also looking at using Melbourne's second airport at Essendon as a base. Both Minardis carried Ozjet signage at Albert Park last weekend, below. f - SAWARD/BRAIMAGAN

^iJiT^OUi

n The long-time engine preparation business owned by Switzerland's Heini Mader, which is best known for the preparation of Cosworth DFV, BMW turbo and llmor VI0 engines has been sold to France's Mecachrome, The deal was concluded last year and Mecachrome is currently investing heavily in upgrading the facilities at Mader's base near Geneva.

I g

Win one, get one free!

MARK Webber has walked away with two Australian MotorSport Awards, while Marcos Ambrose,Jim Richards and Formula Ford Champion Neil McFadyen have also earned circuit racing achievement awards for their efforts through 2003.

Webber took one of the two 'gold' awards on offer, the Australian MotorSport International Achiever of the Year, while also winning the reader-voted Personality of the Year (from a brace of V8 Supercar nominees).

The FI star was presented with his two Harrop Engineering-designed and created awards during Grand Prix weekend, while the domestic recipients will receive their silverware during the Adelaide 500 weekend.

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A*

AW

Doubling up: A happy Mark Webber poses with his MotorSport Awards.

The full results of the MotorSport Awards are: MotorSport International Achiever of the Year: Winner: Mark Webber Other nominees: Ryan Briscoe, James Courtney, Brooke Tatnell

MotorSport Personality of the Year Winner: Mark Webber Other nominees: Mark Skaife, Marcos Ambrose, Greg Murphy

MotorSport National Achiever of the Year: Winner: Marcos Ambrose Other nominees: Greg Murphy, Jim Richards, Mark Skaife

MotorSport Drag Racer of the Year Winner: Ben Bray Other nominees: Ian Ashelford, John Cowin, Ian Phillips

MotorSport Young Achiever of the Year: Winner: Neil McFadyen Other nominees: Mark Winterbottom, Will Power, Will Davison

MotorSport Rally Driver of the Year Winner: Simon Evans Other nominees: Cody Crocker, Juba Kangas, Ed Ordynski

MotorSport Circuit Racer of the Year (excludes V8 Supercar): Winner: Jim Richards Other nominees: Marcus Marshall, Paul Stokell, John Bowe

MotorSport Speedway Racer of the Year Winner: Max Dumesny Other nominees: Brooke Tatnell, Jason Crump, Kerry Madsen

10 March 2004

n Minardi chief aerodynamicist Loic Bigois was not able to do much last year because of the team's financial situation and it seems that in the end he decided to take up an offer to go to work at Williams, where he is assisting Dr John Davies in the development of the Grove team's aerodynamic facilities.

The 43-year-old Frenchman has been in FI for 13 years, having started out with Ligier in 1991. Fie moved to Sauber in 1994 but returned to Ligier later and became technical director in the final year with the team before it was sold to Alain Frost. Bigois was Frost's chief designer but moved to Minardi when the French team closed its doors. n The Australian Grand Frix will introduce a new marketing concept to Formula 1 this year with all the team's having finally agreed to sell their merchandise in the same store at the racetrack. According to Australian Grand Frix chairman Ron Walker, the FI superstore was expected to sell around US$3m of merchandise in the course of the Grand Frix weekend, The concept is one that the Formula One group is keen to promote and it is anticipated that the FI superstore will be repeated at other races in the future. n Gallaher, the maker of Benson & Fledges cigarettes and Eddie Jordan's biggest sponsor, has announced that it is cutting back on staff across Europe with several hundreds jobs to go. The company is however booming in the old Eastern Bloc countries where growth has been nearly 11 percent despite the drop in the value of the dollar, the currency in which tobacco trading is conducted in that region.

-JOE SAWARD 13

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Mazzacane eyes Champ Cap switch

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It turns left AND right! Jeff Cordon sampled Williams-BMW power at Indianapolis last year in a promotional event where Juan Pablo Montoya tried the DuPont Chevrolet Monte Carlo NASCAR. FORMER Prost and Minardi Formula 1 driver Gaston Mazzacane looks like joining the Champ Car World Series this year.

The Argentine racer, who started 21 Grands Prix in 2000 and 2001, is working on a deal to drive for Emerson Fittipaldi’s team in 2004,

Gordon at Williams for GP!

"He would be a very good possibility for Fittipaldi Racing, and it would be fantastic to work with Gaston," said 'Emmo', "I know Argentina has millions and millions of race fans, and I think it would be great for Champ Car to have him in the series. It's going to be a great season in 2004."

Williams is not admitting much about its driver plans for 2005 but it is quite possible that Ralf Schumacher will also be leaving the team along with Juan Pablo Montoyaf who has signed to drive for McLaren.

Williams is thought to be in negotiation with several other drivers, notably Mark Webber,Jenson Button, Giancarlo Fisichella and

Well, he's going to be a guest of the team in Spain...

THE biggest name in American motorsport,Jeff Gordon,is to join WilliamsFl at the Spanish Grand Prix.

V.

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■T..A*. i , ,

David Coulfhard.

There have also been exchanges with Indy Racing League champion Scott Dixon and rumours that other racers from America may be under consideration.

team was highly impressed with Gordon's efforts and reckoned that

Gordon made a big impression on Williams last year when he took part in a promotional event with Juan Pablo Montoya at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway-—^ Gordon drove Montoya's car and the Colombian tried his hand in Gordon's NASCAR stock car. The

the team is unlikely to be able to match his earnings, unless it allowed him o do his own merchandising operations.

Inviting Gordon to see a Grand Prix might give Gordon motivation to see if he can make it in FI. - JOE SAWARD

given a day or two of testing he would be right on the pace in FI. The problem was that Gordon earns a fortune from NASCAR and

Getting back i

Bas gets bounced

ALTHOUGH Minardi announced that Belgian Bas Leinders would be its third driver this year, the Italian team was unable to run the Belgian driver in Melbourne because he had not been able to secure a superlicence which is necessary for FI. Leinders will now fly back to Europe and will be testing at the Ferrari test track at Fiorano in the next few days so that he can complete the necessary 300km of running in an Ft car in order to qualify for his licence.

Leinders will appear for Minardi in Malaysia.

- JOE SAWARD 14

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motorsoort news

NEWS

From 3 to 2.4?

Engine size downsize to V8s for Formuia 1?

The Batmobile returns!

THE fan-favourite Panoz GTR1 closed-top Sportscar will be returning for the Sebring 12 Hour. Top FIA GT team Labre Competition will run one of the banging V8s with Christophe Bouchut heading up the all-French driver line-up. The team also plan to run the car in the Le Mans 24 Hour, after it was brought out of retirement

by Don Panoz for the Le Mans 1000K enduro late last year. n American Le Mans Series GT Champions Alex Job Racing will return with two new Porsche 911 GTS RSR machines to defend their crown this year, but with two new drivers. German Marc Lieb and Frenchman Remain Dumas join Germans Jorg Bergmeister and Timo Bernhard in the line-up, while Lucas Luhr and Sascha Maassen have be re-assigned by Porsche to European racing.

Not quite a V8 Supercar though! Formula 1 team bosses are looking at cutting costs for the grid by cutting back from VIOs to smaller 2.4-litre V8 powerplants.

THE Formula 1 bosses have been trying for some time to agree to reduce engine capacity in an effort to cut speeds without creating too much extra cost.

The suggestion was that engine manufacturers could simply lop two cylinders off the existing VI0 engines and produce 2.4-litre V8 engines, which would have more commercial relevance for the car industry that tends to use smaller engines for its major production models.

In the past the idea has been blocked by BMW which is keen to

market the VIO engine and does not want to move towards a V8.

With unanimity being necessary to make a change,it has not been possible to change the engines.

However we are now hearing that a compromise deal may be possible if Ferrari- which has pushed hardest for the switch to 2.4-engines - agrees to cut back on testing.

At the moment everyone in the sport wants testing cut except Ferrari.

Bemie Ecclestone said in Melbourne last week that he thinks that there would be 20 races and 20

days of testing and team bosses yesterday underlined the fact that they need to cut costs.

Renault's Flavio Briatore said that the sport needs to halve its budgets.

"We need to reduce our budget by 40 to 50 percent and it is possible. 1 still don't understand why we are not sitting together and doing it," said the Italian.

Ecclestone is less optimistic because he believes that the only way to cut costs in FI is to have less money available for the teams to spend.

- JOE SAWARD

mo the Senior swing

GOLF does it, tennis does it and now. Formula One might have a Seniors circuit.

We hear that there is a strong move to start up a series for retired FI legends, who would compete in identical cars, similar in specification to current Formula 3000 machines.

A number of influential people in the sport have put their weight behind the concept and drivers being mentioned to the five-race series include former world champions Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell, left in his 1994 Williams-Renault FW16.

Restrictions would mean that no driver who had competed in the three seasons prior to the races would be eligible and that no driver over 60 could race.

There have been no indications yet of where races might be held but there have been suggestions that at least one of the races would be in the Middle East, at either of the new tracks at Bahrain or Dubai. That would leave three races in Europe and one in Japan.

The events would run 'stand alone' and not run on the same bill as the World Drivers' Championship. The whole concept relies on money and the approval of the FIA. - PHIL BRANAGAN

10 March 2004

n Former bike star Didier de Radigues is returning to the Dyson Racing outfit for the Sebring 12 Hour.

The Belgian will team up with Chris Dyson in the team's #20 Lola-MG. n More familiar with the American Le Mans Series, Jan Magnussen is going to 'cross the pond' this year and run some races in the Grand-Am Rolex Sportscar Series. Magnussen will team with veteran Didier Theys in the DoranLista DORAN/Lexus in addition to his Peugeot ETCC commitments and ALMS endurance races with Chev's Corvette program. n Michael Jordan is getting involved in motorcycle racing. The basketball legend has organized support for road racer Montez Stewart who was due to race a Yamaha R1 in AMA Superstock and a Yamaha R6 in the AMA Supersport races at Daytona International Speedway last weekend. The 31year-old from Matteson, Illinois has been involved in the sport for some years but has struggled for sponsorship - until Michael got involved ... n It has emerged that Bemie Ecclestone seriously considered an investment in the assets of the USbased Champ Car World Series which were recently acquired by the purpose-formed Open Wheel Racing Series company. Ecclestone would have preferred a merger between the Champ Car and IndyCar Series.

He commented: "I was hoping to get them together with the IRL. Then I think it would have worked. They waited for me to raise the necessary amount before they signed on other parties, but I just couldn't get the money together. Now we'll have to wait and see how they(OWRS) survive."

QUENTIN SPURRING/STAFF 15

Collaboration

HOLDEN and Elfin have linked to create two of the nnost pristine Clubman cars ever.

The Le Mans-style machines, built around Holden's 5.7-litre VS engine and transmission and utilising lightweight spaceframe technology will mean these all-Aussie cars are packed with performance.

The Clubman MSS, above, and Streamliner MSS, right, will be a limited production, and should carry a price tag between $S5,000 and S105,000 depending on customer customisation requirements.

Wait in line, please ... i

Celebs take to Albert Park

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Athletes dominate BMW Celebrity Challenge OLYMPIC gold medalist and 'oarsome foursome'rowing member James Tomkins won the BMW Celebrity Challenge at Albert Park last weekend.

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HE may not have run a third driver at Albert Park last - ^weekend, but Peter Sauber has not ruled out the ...possibility of introducing one further down the track. ;l:''-'At,the fi!i:omeint, it makes no sense for us to run a th:iirdi driver, n .i^^id'Pater Sauber. don't have the Infrastructure to drive with three ears ^rdperly." . said that it was possible that the team would start to riiS a: Friday car later i® the season^, but the team's test dFiver Neel J aiil My.o uId wot be dFiiviirjg. 'ijRuwiiing Janij wouild make no sense. When we drive with the third- driver, it's important that we have a driver with experience whp has the knowledge of the circuit. (Ferrari test driver Luca) I Badoer,for example."

The prospect of a third; Sauber car on Fridays would no doubt be relished by Bridgestone, who are hugely out-raumbered on Fridays. Jordan was the owly liridgestone team to send a thirddriver onto the track last Friday when they ran the young German driver Timo Clock. Extra representation from Sauber, particularly with someone of Badoer's experience at the wheel, would be welcomed with open arms by both the Japanese tyre giant and Ferrari;.

- WIARK GLEIMPEIMNING

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Secret Life of Us star and polesitter Samuel Johnson could do little about the speed of Tomkins and equestrian expert Andrew Hoy. Johnson ended up slapping the street circuit wall twice, while yachtsman Grant Wharington finished third, ahead of Anthony Mundine,left.

For more on the Celeb Challenge, turn to Motor Mouth on page 26.

Dyk launches F3 Bid

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IAN Dyk and Astuti Competition have launched their 2004 Formula 3 war colours.

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Dyk impressed in a one-off drive with BRM in the final round of the series last year at Wakefield Park, and should start as one of the favourites for this year's crown.

Hiis will be Astuti's first attempt at the major F3 crown after winning the Scholarship class witli Da\dd Borg in '03.

Shelleys will continue thensupport of of Dyk, who competed under their banner in the 2003 Formula Ford series, finishing equal seventh.

moiorspori news

NEWS

Eddie gets Peaced

JORDAN has entered a new agreement with the Kingdom of Bahrain that will see the team's two EJ14 cars carry a series of humanitarian messages and images on their engine covers during the 2004 Formula One season.

The first of these, an image of a dove representing peace, was unveiled on the cars at the Australian Grand Prix last weekend.

"We feel that Formula One is a valuable platform on which to promote positive humanitarian and cultural values on a global scale," said Bahrain's Crovm Prince Shaikh Salman bin Hamad bin Isa A1 Khalifa.

"I am proud that Bahrain is associated with this fresh and inspired way of communicating sensitive and yet significant issues."

"This is a bold initiative from Bahrain, and what better vehicle to drive issues of international

importance into the limelight than a Formula One car," said Eddie Jordan.

"Thanks to Bahrain providing space on the car to highlight charitable and humanitarian causes, they will be brought to the attention of the milhons of viewers who watch each Grand Prix."

The team will imveil a different message or image at each race, and has invited suggestions from fans. All 18 of the different engine covers will be auctioned for charity at the end of the season.

Jordan also took advantage of the Australian Grand Prix weekend to announce a new sponsorship deal with B&Q China, the world's thirdlargest building materials retailer.

B&Q China will be prominently featured on the Jordans at the Chinese Grand Prix later this year, with a range of other marketing activities to be conducted throughout the season.

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/ have Red Bull and a bank. I have an airline. I have... Trust: Giorgio Pantano, right, and Sick Heidfeld carried positive messages at Albert Park.

VUe^re having 12^500 over herejustfor lunch MELBOURNE'S corporate hospitality is an extraordinary industry and very different from VIP activities at other races which are controlled by Allsport Management.

Last weekend in Melbourne the Paddock Club served 86,000 meals to corporate guests. The crowds in Melbourne were also huge with 51,400 people attending the circuit on Thursday (when the FI cars did not even run), Friday resulted in a crowd of 81,500, Saturday 106,500 and Sunday 121,500, giving the event a four-day total of 360,900.

-JOE SAWARD

10 March 2004

Hands up if you have eaten: Webber joined the fed masses in Melbourne.

Wanna see Hie Canatiian & OS Cjrands Prix lOith a ^roop of real FI petrol-heads? h/eios U~5in the XOOM lv\otorsport h/orrii American CiP Adventore as lOe head to see tk)o of Ihe best FI Cirands Prix on the calendar on consecutive loeek^nds.

A comprehensive tour package with various options, the North American GP Adventure wili transport Motorsport News F1 fans to two of the worid’s most famous Grands Prix the Canadian Grand Prix, to be run at Circuit Gilies Villeneuve on June 11-13, and the United States Grand Prix to be run at the iegendary indianapolis Motor Speedway on June 18-20.

Oor nan wbbbar iJill be there Tour participants have the choice of taking to sau hi to MNws travellers, the full tour, incorporating both races, or a shorter tour taking in the US GP only.

The North American GP Adventure package is a 15-day, feature-packed tour that will depart Australia on June 9 and include a one-night stopover in Los Angeles, prior to travelling on to Montreal for the Canadian GP. When we get there, there’ll be a welcome party - and our own Mark Webber says he’ll pop in to say hi.

Following three action-packed days of racing, we’ll fly to New York for a two-night sight-seeing and shopping visit. Then it’s on to Indianapolis for the US Grand Prix. Included in the tour price is a visit to the track’s incredible museum, housing some of the world’s rarest and most famous race cars.

Following three days of racetrack action, it’s back to Los Angeles and return to Australia on June 23. / Our 9-day North American GP Adventure Short Tour option departs Australia on June 15 and also incorporates a one-night LA stopover, after which tour members will catch up with the main tour party in Indianapolis.

Both tours also offer a two-night Las Vegas stopover option for those with a sense of adventure.

And the best news is that pricing begins at just $5995 for the full 15-day tour, $3960 for the 9-day option. Package includes 3-day grandstand seating (Canada), Friday/Saturday general admission with Sunday grandstand seating at Indy.

For full details on the 2004 Motorsport News North American GP Adventure, race to www.ticket2ride-is.us or call tour co-ordinators Ticket2Ride on 03 5977 2608.

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NEWS

Rickard gets Seat seat

r

Honda on the IVIenu?

I I I I !

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I

ALAIN Menu is talking to Honda about a possible return to the British Touring Car Championship in an Arena Motorsport Civic Type-R. Menu (40) was a BTC champion with Renault and had raced for Opel Motorsport in the DTM until losing his place to the incoming HeinzHarald Frentzen. n Derek Hill, son of 1961 world champion Phil Hill, will race Rand Racing's lead Lola-Nissan B2K/40 in the Sebring 12 Hours. The drive marks a return to sportscars for 28year-old Hill, who raced in the Formula 3000 International Championship in 2001-03. He will share the car with Marino Franchitti, who has been confirmed for the full season, and Andy Lally. Team owner Bill Rand will join Mike Fitzgerald and James Cue in the second car. The two cars will run on Yokohama tyres. n Ex-Euro F3000 driver Peter Boss has teamed up with the British PK Sport Porsche squad for this year's American Le Mans Series. The American will share the team's 911 GT3-RSR for the full season with series regular Hugh Plumb. Briton Robin Liddell will join the line-up for this month's Sebring 12 Hours. n Switzerland's Gabriele Gardel has landed a plum seat at the Scuderia Italia Ferrari squad alongside reigning FIA (3T Champion Matteo Bobbi. The 26-year-old moves over to the title-winning team after a season racing in the championship's N-GT division with the Freisinger Porsche team, with which he notched up one class podium in 2003.

-SPURRING/WATKINS 18

TIN-TOP great Rickard Rydell will race for SEAT in this year's European Touring Car Championship.

The 1998 British Touring Car champion has signed a late deal to race a third factory Toledo Cupra R. He will team up with Frank Diefenbacher and Jordi Gene, who are remaining with the in-house works team for a second season.

Rydell's deal follows the withdrawal of Sweden's SEAT importer-backed team from its domestic tin-top series. It appears that the budget earmarked for the

Swedish Touring Car Championship has funded the third ETCC entry.

Rydell, 36, said: "To be in a works team is what I wanted, so I'm pleased to have signed up with SEAT. 1 had other things on the table, but this was a full program. Hopefully I can be a big influence here."

Rydell, who left Volvo after 10 seasons last year, explained that he hoped to be in contention for podiums this season.

"And if you can get on the podium, you also have a chance of winning. However, I have to have low expectations for the early races, because I've come to this so late and everyone else has been testing nearly every week."

- GARY WATKINS

Audi prepared Colin close to for DTM war Le Mans Ferrari

FRANK Biela and Tom Kristensen put 1300km under the belt of Audi's all-new A4 DTM racer in a four-day test at the Jerez circuit in Spain last week.

Meanwhile Opel Motorsport was out in force at Estoril, in Portugal, with its new four-door Vectra GTS V8. Factory DTM drivers Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Marcel Fassler, Manuel Reuter, Laurent Aiello and Marcel Tiemann all took part in pre season preparations.

Audi, Opel and defending Champion AMG Mercedes will face each other with their new cars for the first time in an official DTM test at Estoril next month. The DTM will start at Hockenheim on 18 April.

- QUENTIN SPURRING

I

And if you look after the Ferrari, come and drive for me: Colin McRae, left, dicusses his options with Eddie Jordan.

FORMER World Rally Champion Colin McRae is close to securing a drive for the Le Mans 24 Hours drive in one of the Prodrive-built Ferrari 550 Maranello.

The 35-year-old, who is taking an enforced sabbatical from the WRC this season,is in close negotiations with the French DAMS Motorsport squad, which last week confirmed its plans to run a pair of 550s at Le Mans in June. Team owner Jean-Paul Driot has confirmed that McRae is in the frame for a seat with DAM. The deal is being brokered by Care Racing, which funds and manages the Prodrive project. McRae has links

with Care boss Fredric Dor from his time at the Prodrive-run Subaru WRC squad.

Others in the running for drives with DAMS include David Brabham, who raced a works-run Prodrive entry in the American Le Mans Series last season. He previously raced with the French team in a factory-entered Panoz CTRL French sportscar stalwarts Emmanuel Collard and Christophe Tinseau and former FIA GT Championship frontrunner Andrea Piccini are also in contention for seats.

-GARY WATKINS

MG goes four AHEAD of any announcement

by MG Sports & Racing about its ongoing participation in the British Touring Car Championship, West Surrey Racing has tested an MG ZS racecar fitted with a fourcylinder engine, based on the UK company's new K2000 unit and developed for race applications by Engine Developments.

MG has hitherto used a V6 engine in the series.

The marque's parent company currently faces significant losses and its racing activities may be passed on to privateer teams.

-QUENTIN SPURRING motorsport news

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Matt'Mr Conservative'Kenseth proves from two

REIGNING Champion Matt Kenseth has given his NASCAR Nextel Cup rivals the good twice over.

Not only did he score victory two weeks ago at North Carolina, the 32-year-old stamped his claim on the series by winning the UAW DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas from rapid Dodge rookie Kasey l<ahne.

After securing the title last year by taking just one victory, he has now doubled that total in only the third race of the season I Kenseth has been critisied recently for not showing enough aggression. But his past two victories may just silence his critics, and give the rest his NASCAR rivals a sharp wake up call ...

It was Kenseth's ninth NASCAR victory, and he was at his best in Vegas. He started mid-pack, but by the time the first round of pit stops had been effected, Kenseth was right in the thick of the leading action.

He took the lead from Tony Stewart after the second caution period on lap 94 and never looked back from there.

It's been a fun two weeks. said Kenseth.

The most fun I've ever had driving a racecar in my life. I've got the greatest race team in the world and man are these things fun to drive.

Kevin Harvick showed pace but ran out of fuel, allowing Tony Stewart to fill the minor place.

Jamie McMurray's Chip Ganassi entry finished fourth. despite colliding the turn four wall which required some attention during the second of

six race cautions.

Veteran Mark Martin finished fifth from Elliot Sadler, Casey Mears and Kurt Busch.

The race was the first true test of the new combination of a shorter rear spoiler and softer tyres, intended by NASCAR to make the racing more exciting by allowing more passing.

But this race wasn't much different than the previous six on the 1.5-mile Vegas oval, with mostly single-file racing.

Points: Kenseth 523, Stewart 435, Elliot Sadler 405,Jeff Gordon 404, Kurt Busch 400.

RACE CAR DYNAMICS & DATA ACQUISITION SEMINARS ///s nearly as bae/to be on pole ane/not know why as if is to be at the back of the fielctan<t not know why eifner. Ifyou (ton Y know why you are (fuick, you won Y know why you are slow.”- Claucte R" ouelle This internationally recognised course has been developed to advance the skills of young engineers, maximising the effectiveness of set up time on the racetrack and, importantly, reducing costs. The key to Claude's teachings is the focus on understanding how, why and how much cenain factors affect vehicle behaviour, rather than relying on experience and intuition. This seminar helps participants improve their ability to understand, analyse and predict race car performance, which translates to faster lap times and better results.

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NEIAfS

100 Havolines

The Surfer: Australia's Havoline money is waxed out by Ingall.

CHEVRON TEXACO Global Lubricants have embarked on a programme to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Havoline brand, which is marketed in motorsport through the long-established Texaco/Havoline Racing promotion.

In its 17th consecutive season as a team sponsor in NASCAR's Cup race series, Havoiine’s headiine Nextei Cup sponsorship in 2004 is with the Dodge Intrepid of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. The brand has also agreed a new, multi year contract with Mario Andretti as a Havoline spokesperson.

-QUENTIN SPURRING

New NASCAR track?

The Hare and the Taurus: Matt Kenseth scored his second win in a row last weekend at Las Vegas, ousting Dodge rookie Kasey Kahne.

The finishing order was the same a fortnight earlier at North Carolina, but the margin was a lot closer...

THE search by International Speedway Corporation for a major new NASCAR stock car racing oval in north-western USA now appears to be centred on the Pierce, Snohomish and Thurston counties in upstate Washington.

The counties presented the project to local bodies last week in a state senate hearing room, and are looking for 1000 acres for a new, 80,000-capacity stadium. One of the potential sites is an existing local track, South Sound Speedway, nearTenino, WA. - QUENTIN SPURRING

Strap yourself into one of

CART ACCUS drama ACCUS, America's ASN, has questioned the affiliation of Open Wheel Racing Series following its recent purchase of CART'S Champ Car World Series.

CART has been one of eight sanctioning bodies affiliated to ACCUS,the others being the IRL, NASCAR, Grand-Am, ALMS/IMSA, USAC,the SCCA andtheNHRA. ACCUS President Burdie Martin stated: "There is some question as to what the status of CART is. Our position is that membership in ACCUS is not an asset you can buy or sell."

OWRS believes that its place on the ACCUS board is a tangible asset that came under the purview of the recent Federal Bankruptcy Court decision clearing its Durchase.

However, Martin

added: "(CART) were told from the beginning that, if an organisation bought stock in the corporation, it would be a continuation, just a change in the stockholders. That would be no problem. But apparently the Open Wheel group thought it would be more beneficial to buy the assets.

"As far as we understand, CART is an organisation that is in protection under Chapter 11.

If that organisation were to be substantially changed into another organisation, then that organisation would have to join the ACCUS as a new organisation, if there was a merger, we would feel the same way."

-QUENTIN SPURRING

Penskes Hornish leads team 1-2 at Homestead

A DARING last lap move on his team-mate netted Sam Homish Jr a debut win with Penske at Homestead in the opening round of the IndyCar Series recently.

The two-times IRL champion passed Helio Gastroneves on the inside to take the win and make the perfect start to the new season.

"I couldn't get by him on the outside, I had a little push," said Homish, who is renowned for passing on the outside.

"I just decided I was going to go for the inside at that time."

The new banking at Homestead produced extremely close racing and was welcomed by most of the drivers.

It was the sixth time that Marlboro Team Penske has finished 1-2 in an

the banking, unaware that Franchitti's Andretti Green Racing Dallara was there.

"He came further and further up the track on me," said Franchitti, "It's unfortunate. It's his first race, but when it understeers you should get off the gas.

Points; Homish Jr. 50, Castroneves 43, Wheldon 35, Takagi 32,Scheckter 30, Manning 28, Rice 26, Tony Kanaan 24, Scott Sharp 22, Robbie Buhl 20.

IRL IndyGar Series event.

Dan Wheldon firtished third, despite stalling during a pitstop. Tora Takagi and Tomas Schekter rounded out the top five after a fascinating dice between the pair.

Darren Manning made a conservative but successful IRL

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Making a return to racing after a motorcycle accident last year, Dario Franchitti was another to crash out.

Rookie Kousuke Matsuura drifted up

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debut,finishing sixth (and first Brit) ahead of pole-sitter Buddy Rice.

Reigning Ghampion,New Zealander Scott Dixon,had a bizarre incident when he crunched the pit lane wall.

VETERAN CART Jim McGee mechanic has returned to Newman/Haas Racing.

McGee, left, who was NHR's team manager 10 years ago, has a new role of director of special operations.

He was with Patrick Racing until that team closed down at the end of last season.

"Motor racing is changing, and we need to make the best of the new opportunities being presented to us," said Carl Haas, co-owner of Newman/Haas Racing with Paul Newman.

"Jim McGee will add to our ability to maximise these opportunities." moiorsport news

NEWS

Grand Sam

I

►

It’s a LepreCART IRISHMAN Michael Keohane says he close to securing a seat in the Champ Car World Series.

"Now I have a taste of what a Champ Car can do I really want to be racing in the series this year," said the 23-year-old, who tested for Dale Coyne Racing late last year.

"I have to thank Dale Coyne, as he was good enough to let me test, and now I am very close to finalising a deal to do the 2004 season."

■ ABC and ESPN's coverage of the Indy Racing League has been nominated for two Sports Emmys.

The Indy Racing League broadcast partners were nominated for graphic design for IRL indyCar Series events.

In addition, ABC was nominated for post-produced sound for its Indianapolis 500: X Treme Speed Tease. ABC and ESPN were nominated for 47 Sports Emmys.

The awards will be announced on April 19.

■ Rocketsports Racing has hired the vastly experienced Robin Hill as its crew chief. Hill 'won' five CART titles, the first with Bobby Rahal in 1992 and was part of the record setting run of four consecutive championships at Target/Chip Ganassi Racing.

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My Racing Secrets The Secret Life of Us star is not changing careers any time soon

I

am basically the luckiest person in the country.

Driving in the Celebrity race at Albert Park was great.

We were given expert training throughout the week at Sandown from the best in the country, including professional drivers like exBathurst winners Tomas Mezera and Geoff Brabham.

Despite that, I put on an exhibition of everything that you should r)of do on a racetrack! It was not a great performance by any stretch but that is the way things went.

BMW have obviously made a huge commitment to the project and it's a really professional and wellorganised event, which basically allows a bunch of bloody over-privileged and over-paid celebrities to come and have more fun than they deserve.

We've all had a scream and I don't think anyone has taken this week for granted. If anyone in the BMW compound told you they didn't have an 11 out of 10 week,then they are bullshitting you.

I think I fluked qualifying on pole. I got a clean, quick lap.

But I must have got one turn right and gained 50 metres, or something like that.

18 Marcli 2004

But I guess I'm in pretty good company, both Michael Schumacher and I took pole this weekend! I think I'm happier to be mentioned in the same sentence...

Andrew Hoy and James Tomkins were better than me overall in the race. The best driver doesn't always get pole position, and I proved that.

I think we've all walked away from it thankful - firstly that we were asked to do it and secondly that we were bothered.

I feel I have a better concept of motorsport thanks to the experience. I understand a great deal more about apexes and lines and going slow in and fast out- which will turn me into a better and safer driver on the road because I got all my prangs out of my system.

B

ut I'm a big fan of Mark Webber. He's got a very busy schedule and he doesn't have to do all the things he does with the charity

Mark Webber is a role model and I have a lot of respect for him II

I wasn't sure how 26 celebrities would go in one room though. I thought there would be some serious jostling for attention but at the end of the day, there was no room for pretension or attitude everyone just got on with getting down to know the car and getting to know your fellow drivers and trainers.

I understand the sport a bit better now because I've been hanging out with some of the elite ... It's no longer just a 'oh look - vroom - that one's going quick'.

Brainwave. It's up to people in his position to take a stand and use their public voice to help out charities. He's a role model and I have a lot of respect for him.

About the same time that Mark was raising money down in Tasmania, I was on top of a unicycle, riding from Sydney to Melbourne for the Canteen charity. Why, you ask? It's a shallow world and I wanted to give my life some more depth and that's what I came up with.

At the end of the day, I wanted to push myself. I

Motor Mouth with Samue! Johnson wanted a new challenge. I'd gotten to where I was in my career without much effort and I kind of felt I slipped into it a bit. So I was keen to prove myself to myself again.

And I wanted to do it on my own terms. We've got so many people around us who make decisions for us. I just wanted to grab my life by the balls and do something with it.

I'll be doing it again! 2008 will be much different but much more spectacular.

And,just while i am talking about Canteen, you can still make a donation to help out kids, and their families, who will be assisted by whatever we can do for them. Have a look on the internet at www.canteenlifecycle.com.au and do something that will not only make them feel better, but make you feel better too.

25

<

1

Melbourne, Mullets an Brainwaves A

SK anyone in the Formula 1 fraternity about Melbourne and the noises you get(no matter what language they are speaking) are fundamentally positive ones.

Melbourne, everyone agrees, is a good place to be. The weather is a bit odd and there are language problems, because Australian English and that of the old Queen are somewhat different but Melbourne is a lively town; the food is good and there must be something in the 26

water because the place seems to be full of tanned beach babes - something which is always popular In the testosteronepacked world of Formula 1.

I don't know whether it is because we Europeans have spent the last six months in freezing weather but going to Melbourne always signals Spring (even though you lot think it is Autumn)and seeing members of the opposite sex wearing something other than duffle coats and pullles is a real pleasure ...

The other nice thing about

Melbourne is that it is a race where you catch up with mates after a winter doing your own thing away from the racetracks, so there is always a lot of social activity in addition to the rounds of parties and functions put on by sponsors.

Thus it wasout that one evening we were looking for a place to have dinner somewhere between Albert Park and the beach.

The thing is to find a place that is agreeable and quiet because.

after a noisy day at the races, I for one like a nice peaceful evening.

Around Albert Park there seems to be a fairly dramatic 'Drunken Zone' where strangely clothed folk with mullet haircuts and tattoos shout abuse at one other and fall over.

As we were heading off for dinner, we passed a man lying on the grass verge beside the road. He might have been dead; a car might have hit him but noone was paying him any attention. It was just assumed that he was as drunk as a skunk and would eventually sleep it off or be carted off by the cops for a night in the cooler.

"Is this the race with the most drunks?" asked an Australian colleague.

"I suppose so," I replied, although the Nurbrurging has a pretty horrible record, with thousands of Schumacher fans stuck up a mountain with nothing to but drink beer..."

The urge to be negative is one that one sees quite a lot in Formula 1: things are not what they used to be; there is too much money and not enough sport; there is not enough money; the qualifying procedures are no Biolorsport naws

good: Ferrari is winning too much; there is too much tobacco money; blah, blah, blah ...

Eddie Jordan, a fun-loving beast most of the time, picked up on this during a press conference on Friday, complaining that there was just not that much fun being generated.

He wanted to throw water over Flavio Briatore (don't we all?) and would probably have been completely happy if he could have thrown custard pies at the other team bosses.

That is a bit silly, but when I stopped to think about it. Formula 1 has a lot to offer this year - and a lot of things are happening which are good for the sport.

There is talk of declining interest in FI in Europe; of inflated ticket prices and empty seats. In 2000, 2001 and 2002, so they say, Michael Schumacher's dominance exerted a deadening effect, driving away both casual fans and afficionados.

And yet the crowd figures in Melbourne were higher than ever before. On Thursday there were 51,400 people in the park, a situation which prompted Bernie Ecclestone to tell Ron Walker that 10 March 2004

he didn't really need any Formula 1 cars at all if he could pull in that many people without a Grand Prix car going out on the track ... ^ut thatwere is justother a part of it.e There positiv aspects as well.

Out in the public area there was a Formula 1 Superstore selling FI merchandise. The Australian GP people had finally managed to convince all the teams to sell their merchandise under the same roof.

Up until now, Formula 1 's attitude towards merchandising has been ridiculous, with FI team bosses saying that they are not "t-shirt salesmen" while NASCAR has been turning over billions and billions supplying fans with kit that they obviously want.

Now, finally, there is a proper approach to the idea and at a time when everyone is worrying about money, there is a new source of revenue which has never been properly managed. ““he weekend was significant too because the Formula 1 drivers did something extraordinary: they sat up and took notice of the race fans.

In the days leading up to the

event, the Grand Prix Drivers' Association announced a competition which allowed six race fans the chance to win a 'money-can't-buy' guided tour of the FI paddock on race day'. including photo opportunities with several drivers, including the four GPDA directors: Michael Schmacher, David Coulthard, Mark Webber and Jarno Trulli.

To enter the competition, fans at the Australian GP simply had to buy a pin featuring Mark Webber's helmet - the proceeds of which went to Brainwave Australia, the official charity of the Australian Grand Prix. The pins were on sale at various points around the Albert Park track and in downtown Melbourne.

The GPDA plans to trial similar promotions at several 2004 Grands Prix.

When you stop to think about, it is a brilliant win-win-win situation. Webber got an even higher profile at his home race and his favoured charity got more money. The drivers only have to spend a few minutes chatting with some fans but for that small effort they get a great deal of credit. Everyone comes away with something.

The with BoxJoeSeat Saward ow did it happen? How is it I that after 20 years, during which Grand Prix drivers have been a bunch of selfish, spoiled millionaires who rarely stop to sign an autograph, they have suddenly decided to do something positive for the fans?

When I started digging around, I found out that at the bottom of the idea was a man called Webber...

Which brings me onto a whole new reason for FI fans to get excited. There is a new generation coming.This year we are going to have some new stars in new carsi What is there to whinge about!

27

Five minutes with

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Gianmaria Bruni

Aionso dU it. Webber dibit. And it Wmmi'Bruni has his way, he'ii step trom Minardiinto the big time too.

MARK BLBVDEniniinie spoke to the itaiian aiter FI quaiitying

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MOTORSPORT NEWS: You've done practice, you've done qualifying ... how is your first weekend in Formula One coming along?

GIANMARIA BRUNI: OK. So far it's good. It was a good Friday we were in front of one of the Jordans, and this morning in the first qualifying flying lap I was 2.0s faster than my team-mate.

So that was OK, and then I couldn't do my lap in the second run. But these things happen.

MN: All the experience that you have compared with your team-mate obviously puts you at an advantage compared to him when it comes to finding set-ups. Does Zsolt rely on your feedback much, or does he tend to go his own way?

GB: We work together so that we can go forward together. But obviously I have a little bit more experience with engineers, so he listens more to me.

MN: Plus you speak Italian, they speak Italian ...

GB: No, they speak English. The chief engineer is English.

But English is fine with me, because I lived in England for three years, so 1 learned lots about English words, and giving English feedback when I was in British Formula 3.

MN: Minardi has always been fantastic at bringing young drivers into the ranks, but it seems that it might be slightly different now. Has the team dropped away a little bit from where it was when the likes of Webber and Alonso were there?

GB: No. I think they just didn't have a really talented driver last year.

They has Jos (Verstappen), he was 33 years old. They had (Nicolas) Kiesa, he was an OK driver but nothing that special.

I think that is why, because 28

they didn't choose any good drivers for Minardi last year.

I'm sure that if they (the big teams) need somebody, the first team they'll be looking at is Minardi. They have lots of records behind them, and I think that they are really fantastic people. They only thing that they don't have is the money.

In the future, maybe if we can improve the handling of the car, then maybe we can find something. I mean, yesterday I was in front of one Jordan car, and for us that was fantastic.

We have five times less budget than Jordan. And today (in the second qualifying session) it should have been the same, because the time Pantano made was the time that I made this morning with more fuel in the car than I had in qualifying.

MN: What can you do as a Minardi driver to impress team bosses further up pitlane?

GB: What I have been doing up until now. Just doing the best I can do with this car, and the other things will come.

MN: So who do you measure yourself against? Who is your benchmark?

GB: Against the two Jordan cars.

We have 80 brake horsepower less than them, and the chassis

is the same as the year before and the year before that, too.

The chassis is three years old - Mark Webber was driving the same chassis. It's hard, you know, if you think about it - they have 870 brake horsepower, and we have 790 ... or 800 in qualifying.

And Zsolt today was only 0,3s off, and yesterday I was 0.7s faster.

So I think that maybe the top teams can look at that and go,'oh, what's going on here?'

I'm just trying my best every time I go out in the car. In the future maybe we can improve the car and then we can be more in front.

MN: Has anything been done to your engines to cater to the new rules, or are they exactly the same as last year?

GB: Oh, they are exactly the same as last year. We just use less revs, to get the miles.

MN:So it's a 300km engine, and you're just not working it as hard?

GB: YesI (laughs). It's a big job ...

MN: Is that situation going to change over the year?

GB: We hope to. We hope that maybe by the end of the year, or the middle of the year, we can have the same engines as the

Jordans and the Jaguars.

I really hope we do. 80hp is, like, 1 .Os around here. Spa, Monza, it's more than 1.0s.

MN:So what will it take for that to happen? Is it just about money?

GB: I don't know. It's nothing to do with me. The only thing I can say is whether the car has understeer or oversteerl But nothing about money, politics or whatever.

MN: It seems that Bridgestone have come up with a good tyre this year.

GB: Yeah. They have been working very hard, and this year they have come up with very good tyres straight away.

MN: You tested last year's Bridgestones with effectively the same car. How big is the difference?

GB: A lot. A lot. More than half a second, just from the tyres.

MN: Is there anything to stop you guys running a 300km engine at full revs and just changing it if it blows? 10 spots doesn't mean much to you.

GM: Yeah. I don't know. It would be faster in the race. We've been thinking about it but it's not my decision. motorsport news

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FontAustral’souwi^ is hemtig over to Bmope vriwre he wU heep a ionp-ilistance waum m V8Simmvmv mnihm i^vaiSyiiney Swansfoottait team.PM BRAIMGANspMe to Urn MOTORSPORT NEWS: Tell us about your new challenge.

GEOFF ROUTES: I don't know much about it in that sense. I have a new job and I am going over to understand it, to be honest.

It is a new job and I have been focussed on what we are doing here over the past few years, so I have not been looking too hard at what Ford of Europe has been doing. All I know is that it's a challenge and that I am working for my old boss, Lewis Booth.

MN: With the changes in the ARC'S new Prototype class; is that an 'open invitation'?

GP; That might provide us with an opportunity to dip our toe in the water. But, if we were to go rallying, we could not afford to run a mini-World Rally program. We need to just dip our toe in the water and sniff around for a while.

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MN: Like a step into the unknown?

GP: To me, it is, yes.

MN: It's a big shift,from Melbourne to Cologne. What will you miss more, your Swans or V8 Supercars?

GP:(Laughs) I will miss both! I would not like to split them, then I can thrown in my kids, my dog ... it's a huge shift. I will miss Ford of Australia too, to be honest.

MN: Can you keep track of the racing, if you want to do that?

GP: That will not be a problem and I will keep track of it. There's a good internet service there and I will have Speed Channel in Europe, and there will be plenty of people sending me stuff as well.

MN: What do you see as your achievements, as far as motor sport is concerned, in the last few years?

GP: I don't think I actually achieved anything, to be honest. I am an interested spectator.

The real achievements belong to Floward (Marsden) and the teams. If I was able to do anything, I have been able to focus the energies of the corporation to support the teams.

That is an achievement, I suppose, but I didn't do anything all that much.

30

"i don't think I actually achieved anything, to be honest I am an interested spectator" -Polites, above with Ross Stone and opposite with Eddie Jordan, may be a iittie modest about Ford’s V8Supercar successes MN: That in itself though was a big achievement,for Ford to be seen to be committed to the sport?

GP: We are committed, don't worry about that.

I came back to Ford with a very clear view that we were not doing a couple of things right.

Motorsport was one of those things. I was pretty focussed on re-energising what we were ‘ doing, re-focussing what we were doing and increasing the scope of what we were doing.

Floward was a pretty willing participant in all that; he had just restarted again (with Ford Racing) so I was able to put some resources in to help him. Then he set about doing what he wanted to do. That part of it was pretty easy.

MN: Will there be any changes in racing for Ford? Floward combined the technical side of

the sport with the administrative side of the sport. Do you see the need to take on a 'technical' manager?

GP: You should ask Steven (Kruk).

I truly do not want to get involved with that. We think that we have a pretty good program going forward. Whether Steven wants to structure it differently as we move towards Project Blueprint II, or whatever, is really up to him and to (new Ford CEO) Tom (Gorman). We have the right structure for now. Going forward, we might want to change it.

MN: Outside V8 Supercars, Ford has been committed to Kart Stars and Formula Ford for some time. Is that continuing?

GP: Certainly, Formula Ford is continuing. I have said for a long time that we would like to go rallying and I still say that. I think that we will eventually get there.

MN: Would Prodrive be involved, given the relationship that the company has with Ford Australia and its rally expertise?

GP: They could. I am not sure whether they want to. At this time and place in their development here, they are still coming to grips with their V8 Supercar involvement. I am not sure that they want to dilute their attention at this time. It depends on when you do it.

Certainly, I would not be upset if they wanted to be involved. There is some rally expertise that we could draw on, going forward. It could happen: it might not. At this time, I could not give you an answer.

MN: With your new opportunity, there will be a new man at the top of Ford Australia. What can tell us about Tom Gorman; is he a noted 'race head'?

GP: I do not know Tom all that well. What I can tell you is that he is an outstanding businessman with a really good skill set. Fie has worked and lived in Australia in a previous life and he has been finance director in Ford of France.

Fie has had challenging jobs in the US; currently he is the General Sale Manager of Ford Division, so he has the biggest sales job in the corporation. Fie has a pretty good pedigree.

Is he a racer? Don't know. Is that totally important? 1 am not even sure of that. The corporation understands what it has to do now, regardless of its president, moiorspon newt

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Playing in Hit After all of the hoopla and build-up, the 2004 Foster's Australian Grand Prix may have been a bit ofa snooze ifyou weren't a Ferrari fan, but there was plenty to keep one entertained at Albert Park. Our extensive Grand Prix coverage begins on the next page...

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FORMULA

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Formula 1 fever: While Michael and Ferrari spanked the field, left, Juan Pablo Montoya and Williams, above, could only wonder just which way the red cars went. Maybe it iras Valentino Rossi's advice, below left, that did it, or maybe it ivas the Fosters girls, below right. 50/50 decision ...

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Crackerjack bowling, Webber: Jag's FI star took to the greens, appropriately enough, in the build-up to race day, where the photographers, left, were in full force. No chance of an exclusive pic among that lot...

33

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HEY say that a pessimist is an experienced optimist and on Friday afternoon, there were a lot of Formula 1 people wandering around the paddock, muttering about the season already being over.

Michael Schumacher would win

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maybe 12 races and Rubens Barrichello would win the other six.

Ferrari domination would be worse than in 2002.

John

LAST year, Mark Webber began the season with a teammate who had plenty of F1 miles under his belt, even if they did not translate into actual race experience.

This year, he has two team mates. And both of them are corfipletely, well, green.

“The new engine rule makes it a bit more difficult for a new driver,” said Christian Klien, above in the gravel.

“You have quite a lot of free practice before qualifying, and normally you can do quite a lot of laps. But with the new engine rule, you can’t do as many laps as you want. You have to learn the track quicker.

“But when you have such a good driver as Mark is (as your team-mate), it can help a lot. He is very friendly, you can ask him any question and he will answer 34

it. I can learn a lot from him.

The new rules place a huge importance on the performance of the third ‘Friday driver’, who does not have to worry about the life of his engine and thus does a lot of. the initial tyre evaluation work on behalf of the race drivers.

At Jaguar, this slot is filled by Bjorn Wirdheim.

“I’m really pleased about this opportunity, because it gives me a chance to learn all of the circuits, and learn about Formula One, and get the experience I need to take the next step next year," said the Swede.

“Mark is very good for me, because I think I can learn a lot from him. Christian is in a similar position as me - he’s new to everything, he needs to learn, and he needs to learn quickly. So I’ll be looking at Mark this year.”

-MARKGLENDENNING

Despite the rule changes, which means that drivers have to stick with one engine for the weekend,Ferrari and Michael appeared to be the dominant forces once again.

It started as soon as the cars were waved out for their first exploratory laps. While the five 'Friday' drivers set off on long tyre evaluation rims, Michael simply put in what can only be described as a banzai qualifying lap - on only his second full lap.

It was two seconds quicker than anyone else at the time and had a simply mesmerising effect on pit lane.

If it wasn't a low-fuel run, a Ross Brawn stunt, designed to get everyone's attention, then the concensus was that everyone else was in deep, deep trouble. As a pointer to the weekend ahead, it was remarkably pertinent.

Michael's time in the Ferrari F2004 was more than a second under the time which secured pole position for Barrichello 12 months ago ...

After more running, Barrichello

was close, stopping the watches with a lap that was only 0.108s slower than that of Schumacher, but the pair of them had a big gap over Jarno Trulli's Renault. And yes, you can question the relevance of practice times, the varying fuel loads, and so on,but this was massive.

Schumacher looked good. Very good. In the course of the day, however,it was clear that Michael was really pushing it; making a statement. At one point he nearly came unstuck when the Ferrari slid off at turn 16 and deposited aerodynamic bits and pieces across the track as it slid across the grass.

He did not hit the wall, but it was close.

Instead of taking that as a sign that Michael was on the edge, pushing the

motorsport news

FORMULA

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Michael Schumacher showed Ferrari's hand early -on lap three to he precise -and jaws dropped along pit iane. JOE SAWARD reports lEFT-

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Red magic:Schumacher set pitlane back on its heels on Friday, above left, while Fernando Alonso, left, offered his view on what was happening. Kimi Raikkonen, above, and Dave Richards, above right, look a little lost ...

envelope, the Formula 1 soothsayers groaned and worried about the effect on the sport of another year of Ferrari domination.

Even Bernie Ecclestone got involved,saying it would be "a disaster" for the sport if the race weekend was dominated by Ferrari.

But Michael was quick to deny that it hadn't all been too easy: "We should not read too much into the lap times," he said.

"It is too early to say if this is a true picture of the order of the teams. In fact, I doubt that it is."

The problem was that there was no real evidence to suggest otherwise, because the new qualifying format leaves so many questions marks that no pattern can emerge.

How much fuel were the Ferraris 10 March 2004

carrying when the times were set?

How much improvement has there been with Bridgestone tyres? How rehable are the Ferrari VlOs with the new FI engine rules? Was there room for improvement on Saturday? And, just in passing, is Melbourne, with its once-a-year surface, a track where results are indicative of anything?

There were lots of guesses but the problem with Formula 1 2004-style is that no-one can be 100 percent sure of what has happened because there is no point at which we can see the cars going absolutely flat-out with low fuel loads and drivers desperate for every hundredth.

"I guess," said one engineer,"that by about Tuesday we will have finished going tluough all the data that the race produces. We will have checked every pit stop with video to see how long the nozzles were attached to the cars. After about three or four races we will be able to draw some conclusions about the fuel consumption of each engine and then we can guess a httle bit more about what is going on."

Trying to tell stories when there are no facts involved is not an easy business and the Formula 1 media seemed to be a rather frustrated bimch of people. How can we explain things when no-one knows anything?

There is no point at which one can be 100 percent sure that no-one is playing games. Team engineer after team engineer scratched their heads and shrugged their shoulders.

If Ferrari was able to run as fast as they did on Friday morning, they argued, why would they want to?

What was the point of showing their hand to that extent?

The people with the best ideas were the men from the tyre companies who knew (but were sworn to secrecy) about the different fuel loads in the different cars they supplied.

Pierre Dupasquier, a superexperienced sage, who is head of Michelin's FI programme,has seen it

all.

"We have done a little analysis of the teams using our tyres," he said.

"A lot depends on the set-up of the cars, the weight distribution and so on.

"You can get very significant differences in performance with relatively small changes to the cars.

The problem is that we have no idea, of the weight of the fuel that the Ferraris are carrying. We won't really know who is fast and who is not until the first round of pit stops begin in the race on Sunday.

"We did see Rubens Barrichello and Jarno Trulli doing long runs at the same time today and their lap times were very close. They were within a tenth of one another."

But Dupasquier said that he , thought that there were a few games being played.

"V%en you make a war," he said, "strategy is important. So is controlling information. It makes a difference.

Michael Schumacher likes to go out in his car at the start of qualifying with low fuel and new tyres and go for a very fast lap. It is psychological warfare. The otlier teams know that he is doing it, but there is still a sub conscious effect on them aU." So maybe that explained what happened on Friday...

35

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HE reaction to the first newstyle Formula 1 qualifying session was quite interesting.

People in life always complain about change but then they get used to things and don't mind so much.

But this was a more violent reaction than usual.

John .\Utrri»/Mpi\ *5

'If you are a mad Formula 1 fan,' said one TV man,"then you will love the show. You get to see all the cars running twice. You get to see every move they make. But what worries me is that the majority of people will get a bit bored, because no-one can explain to them what is happening because we don't know how to analyse what we are seeing.

The last few minutes of the session were pretty exciting but does FI really need qualifying sessions which are as long as the races?

The blame (if that is the word) must be laid at the feet of the team bosses. It was their idea. Or rather it was a compromise cobbled together when they could not agree on anything else.

Maybe," said David Richards of BAR,"the media is not the best judge of whether it is good or not. Maybe the people in the grandstand are the best judges."

But the truth is that the judges are the people around tlie world who watch qualifying on TV because if they start to turn off their TV sets Formula 1 will feel the pain, for everything nowadays is calculated on the number of viewers that exist at any one time.

The drivers put on the best show that the rules allowed them to do. But 36

why would any of them go really flat out in the first half of qualifying and risk damaging their car? And in the second part they had the cars in race trim and so the fuel loads were heavier - if indeed they hadn't used the meaningless first run as a full-on trial for the important second one.

Running the two sections closely together meant that in the middle of the two hour show, there was a period utterly dominated by coverage of Minardis. That was nice for them,but not that exciting for everyone else, despite the best efforts of Zsolt Baumgartner to stick his car in the fence on his first run. And then Bruni's car failed to run and so there was a bit of a gap.

Just as the session was building up again there were two cars which did not even start their lap: Christian Klien slewed off the track on his warming up lap (thanks to a power steering failure) and Olivier Paius'

pet gremlins popped up again and ate something in the Toyota electrics.

His car failed to start.

And in that instant the session lost its momentum.

Takuma Sato going fastest began the process again. The patriotic crowd managed to get pretty excited by the fact that Mark Webber was obviously quick in his Jaguar but it was not until the final moments that things got red hot again as Juan Pablo Montoya (quickest in the first run) hunted down Michael Schumacher to try and grab pole.

In the first part of the lap Monty was right on it and pole was within his grasp. But he made a mistake and suddenly the game was over. The Ferraris were half a second clear and on paper things looked pretty clear cut.

Jenson Button matched Montoya's time exactly (to the ten-thousandth of a second) but ended up fourth quickest because Montoya had set a

faster lap in the first part of the newstyle qualifying session.

That was a great result for BAR, who had switched Jenson's engine across to the T-car for qualifying after a mysterious electrical problem stopped it in the morning practice session.

continued on page 39 motorsport news

FORMULA

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37

SATURDAY

Maraneilo and its Mid Wing championship represents the start WHILE first round of of thethe development ofthe the cars, many details are changed from the versions seen at the launches. Other details, originally hidden,are also finally visible.

While all the cars sported changes from their first specification, most of the obvious detail changes are in the aero field, as teams make up for the more restrictive regulations, and we will concentrate on these - In this case Ferrari, Williams, Renault and Toyota.

Ferrari didn't make any radical changes to the F2004 after the final test at Imola the previous week, where it introduced an interesting mid wing, right, placed just behind the on-board camera.

The new wing provides a better balance to the car, especially in the corners. This element is almost 60 cm wide helping the car to have a more efficient yaw control.

One of the most interesting features of the Italian car is its almost perfect balance that, in comparison to the other cars, provides a superior corner speed.

It must only be a matter of time before other cars appear with a version of Ferrari's initiative ...

The Williams, on the other hand, looked very similar to its launch version or, let's say, to the testing one.

Slight changes were made to the front wing endplates, right. These elements sported a new knife edge profile at the bottom, featuring a wider flat arch that improved the pitch sensitivity of the car.

The FW26 also appeared with interesting changes to the sidepods, right. These utilised an additional winglet per each side, plus a very interesting lower fin placed right over the horizontal flat bottom In front of the rear wheels. These elements were added to the standard configuration to increase downforce at the rear and looked to be working very well and were kept throughout the weekend.

A team that looked to already have started a substantial development of its car is Toyota. The TF104 in fact appeared with a heavily revised front wing, featuring a double curved profile and an interesting revised rear wing, above right.

It features endplates that have two horizontal look-alike shark air vents, having the function of improving the efficiency of the rear wing by means of a drag reduction.

This is obtained by draining a portion of the air flow that is close to the endplates, reducing the turbulence generated by an increasing of the air density in this area.

This is something also likely to be copied by other teams during the season.

Following the first outing of the engines in 2004 configuration the Renault R24 has evolved to appear with huge additional air vents, right, to keep efficient engine cooling, notwithstanding the very narrow sidepods.

38

In fact, Renault was not the only team paying attention''to the cooling system at this race, but certainly the one adopting the most obvious solution.

In fact, very big chimneys were coupled with additional air vents placed on the top edge of the sidepods.

This kind of solutions certainly affects the aerodynamic efficiency of the car, but in this case the reliability target justified this downside.

There is no doubt that those cars which sported less additional air vents (or profile) were also the most overall efficient, as was the case with Ferrari.

In the next couple of races, hot weather will be an issue, so it will be interesting to see how the teams will manage possible reliability problems.

- PAOLO FILISETTI motorsport news

continued from page 36 But was the team running light?

Renault had been expected to be Ferrari's closest dtaUenger but neither Fernando Alonso nor Jarno TruUi seemed to be quite there. Alonso made no obvious mistakes but was seven-tenths off Button's pace. He was only a tenth clear of Webber.

TrulK was back with the McLarens.

Trying to figure out a way of explaining what was happening was impossible. It was difficult even to guess. The only way to have a vague idea was to ask some of the teams what they thought.

At Ferrari they seemed happy enough (and why not!) but Michael did say that he was not sure that the Melbourne race was indicative of the season as a whole.In rough translation this seemed to mean that the car and the tyres were working really well at Albert Park but he was not convinced that they would be as good at other tracks where there is more aerodynamic influence.

At BAR they thought, all things being equal, that their car was the same speed as a Williams but that Renault was a tenth quicker.

McLaren, they reckoned, had "something strange going on" and was not a threat. No-one had any idea about Ferrari. Was it the car or was it the tyres?

At Williams they figured that the Renault was maybe a tentli faster but they suggested that the Renault boys could have been "playing about" in testing because the qualifying result was not what was expected. Williams reckoned that BAR was behind them and that McLaren was off the pace.

Down at Jaguar they figured that their car was a little slower than the BAR and the Williams but not by much and that Renault was not so far

,'i Looking mean in green: Mark Webber was again one of the stars of the single-lap qualifying session, pushing the Jaguar into sixth spot. On the other hand, Juan Pablo Montoya, below, fell short of pole and would be forced to start behind the two Ferraris.

Whatever change it was, it didn't work; David Coulthard, below, was lucky to survive a launch-style moment in qualifying, as Schumacher took the applause as well as pole position, right.

redzoneimaj:es.com

ahead as to be a worry. They did not even mention McLaren!

Toyota said they were pretty much where they expected to be in comparison to the others. Their car, they reckoned, was lacking downforce.

Before qualifying began,Renault had looked as though they had a car which was a tenth quicker than the WiOiams but now the Toyota men were not quite sure.

They said that tlieir own results were not indicative of what could be done with the car. That was obviously true because Panis never even got out of the garage ...

Further along, at McLaren the faces were as grey as the uniforms and it did not seem fair to ask anyone. They were having a bad day! We had been expecting it. Testing has not been great and every source has spoken of problems and crises.

The blame has been spread around depending on the source of the rumours (there was a day when noone involved in the McLaren10 March 2004

/ Mercedes relationship spoke of "blame").

Kimi Raikkonen's laps had been neat and tidy but not quick, while David Coulthard's lap had been spoiled by a spectacular moment at the last comer after the car understeered a little on turn-in. It did not lose him much time.

But 10th and 12th was a hideous result for one of FI's top-spending teams...

As with last year, the Bridgestone users other than Ferrari dominated

the rear of the grid with the best nonMichelin, non-Ferrari car being Felipe Massa's Sauber in 11th place.

Giancarlo Fisichella would have been further forward but he made a mistake on his fastest run.

The rest did not much matter for their pace was such that their only involvement in the race would be when they were being lapped.

At the end of the session the media managed to convince Michael(and Rubens) to say that they didn't much like the new qualifying format- the

first run being little other than a waste of time, with no incentive to have a real go.

No-one liked it really. There was not a good word to be heard about it anywhere.

The only good things one can say is that at least the FI decision-makers have shown that they are willing to listen and change the format.

Will that now happen again ... and soon?

39

SUNDAY

All Over,Red Rover There were two races at Albert Park on Sunday- one for the Ferraris and one for everybody else. Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello were in a class of their own on their way to a 1-2 mauling ofthe field in the World Championship opener. MARK GLENDENNING was trackside to see it first-hand

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Two of us and none of you! Schumacher appears on the podium to the delight of the fans below, above left. He and team-mate Barrichello, above, simply hosed the opposition off the 5.3-kilometre Albert Park venue.

40 molorsport news

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Colombian calamity: Montoya runs out of road on the opening corner of the race, above and bottom. He pressed on but came dangerously within sight of being lapped by the rampaging Ferraris. Raikkonen's Mercedes, below, seized in the race's early stages, leaving the Finn to take an early shower.

T

HE Italian national anthem is not the second verse of the

German one, although they've been played in succession so many times over the past seven or eight years that you could be forgiven for making the mistake.

And so it was again at Albert Park, where Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello and Ferrari conspired to send all nine other teams back to the drawing board just one race into the new season.

Virtually all races have a defining moment in which the whole thing is won and lost; in this case, it was simply when Michael got up on Sunday morning and decided to go in to work.

The red cars were stupendously fast when they first came out of the box on Friday, they were stupendously fast at the end of the race on Sunday,and they were stupendously fast at every point in between.

"1 knew that we would be very, very competitive because, having seen the last test at Imola, knowing the characteristics of the circuit, knowing the development we have done with the car, 1 knew we would be very strong," said Michael.

"That strong? No,1 didn't anticipate it. But the car is going well, we've seen this all weekend long.

And the great thing is that from my personal point of view. I've come home with two more points than last year after three races. So that's a good start of the season for me."

Rubens was able to keep in touch with his team-mate during the early 10 March 2004

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stages of the race before fading out of the chase with a minor brake problem.

"1 think it was coming into the second pit stop when 1 ran into trouble," explained the Brazilian.

"We were running close, he (Michael)had a little bit of a problem with traffic so I caught him by a second, and then we were able to run together. At that phase, going at that speed,1 think 1 had some problems with the braking, because the brake pedal started to go longer and longer and longer. 1 kept on pushing. I didn't care because there was a chance of overtaking at that point.

"But as soon as 1 came into the pits, the brakes seemed not to cool down and because we put in fuel and the car became heavy, when I went out,1 had no more feeling with the pedal. So at that time, when 1 saw there were 30 seconds to the guys behind,1 couldn't fight with Michael because when 1 had brakes, it was a

fair fight and it was quite exciting, but I couldn't do much without brakes, so I had to slow down."

If there was one common thread

Fiorano while their counterparts were laying rubber down together at the likes of Valencia. In fact it was not until the final week of shakedown

shared by the vanquished,it would appear that it is that all of them vastly under-estimated what Ferrari have been doing over the past couple of months. The team spent most of the northern winter testing in the relative isolation of Mugello and

prior to the cars been shipped to Australia that the Ferraris ran alongside any of their serious rivals.

Onlookers murmured that the red

continued on page 45 41

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Red paint needed

continued from page 41 team was in self-imposed exile because they had something to hide.

If they did, then it now becomes all the more clear why they were m no hurry to share it-and the shockwaves reverberated right through the paddock.

"This result did not match our expectations," said BMW Motorsport's Mario Theissen.

"Especially not the size of the gap to Ferrari."

"It is hard to be disappointed with getting a podium at the first race, but hats off to Ferrari: we all have a lot of work to do to catch them," Renault's Pat Symonds reflected.

Aside from the fact that Ferrari appears to have once again produced a rather handy car, the crucial element of the weekend was tyres.

Conventional wisdom suggests that Michelins like it warm while Bridgestones prefer it cool, and this was borne out to some degree by the fact that the four fastest Bridgestone runners (the two Ferraris and the two Saubers) all managed to record significantly faster laps in the race than they had during the much warmer qualifying session on Saturday.

Qualifying fuel loads would play an obvious part in this - but it's worth noting that more than half of the Michelin-shod cars failed to come close to their Saturday times.

Not only were the Bridgestones fast, they were consistent. It is impressive enough that Michael and Rubens were capable of lapping comfortably in the mid-lm24s range on a day when their rivals were only making rare incursions below the lm26s mark. But the fact that they were seemingly able to do so right throughout a stint is something else altogether.

Additionally,the fact that Sunday dawned so much cooler apparently caught a lot of the Michelin teams on the hop. The top three cars on French rubber- Alonso's Renault, and the Williamses of Ralf and Montoya - were all on different compounds. Hindsight suggests that whatever Fernando 10 March 2004

picked on Saturday morning was the stuff to have, which left the Williams team to mourn what might have been. ,"We were about 0.6s a lap off the Ferraris in qualifying and more than 1.0s in the race," Theissen pointed out."That might be due. In part, to the cooler temperatures m the race. It will be interesting to see how that goes in Malaysia."

Also causing grief amongst the Michelin teams was tyre graining, which numbered Ralf, Webber, and Button amongst its victims.

"It was the first time that we have had any experience in a race with Michelin tyres and we expect to improve on today's performance in Malaysia,so we are not too disappointed at all," said a hopeful Button.

"We had a lot of graining and, from what I saw, no-one else had the level of graining that we had."

The bottom line was that Ferrari were so far beyond the rest of the field that the race was effectively for third.

And even that only lasted as long as the first comer, where Montoya outbraked himself and took to the grass, allowing Alonso to shimmy through to lead the pursuit of the red cars. And pitstops aside, he remained serenely in P3 until the end of the race. "(It was)a bit too much (of a lonely race)," Alonso shrugged later.

"From the first lap, it was impossible to keep close behind Rubens and I had no one in my mirror. And I had 58 laps like that!

"I slowed a little bit, because I had a 30s gap to Rubens and a 30s gap back to Jenson and there was no point in risking third place. Maybe I lost a couple of tenths, but I think the car was a little better at the

What's up with Sauber?

SAUBER is a team that traditionally begins the season on a good note, so it's mildly ironic that it should pick a year when it has the best mechanical package in its history to be so ... beige.

The team is not under-funded. It has a new $60m windtunnel. It has the same engine, gearbox and, possibly, suspension as the Ferrari. It has the same tyres. The team has one driver who is still widely considered to be FI's great untapped talent, and another that Ferrari rated highly as a test driver.

So why was the team so awful?

Giancarlo Fisichella swapped seats with Nick Fleidfeld for 2004, and spent the early part of the race chasing the German around in his old car. The move that finally vaulted the Italian past the Jordan - around the outside at turn 13, thank you very much - was undoubtedly a high point of the race, but it does also beg the question: what was a Sauber doing stuck behind a Jordan in the first place?

Fisi finally droned home in 10th place, while team-mate Massa endured a number of spins, above, before parking with an engine problem 13 laps short of the finish. Fisichella's fastest race lap had been 1m26.282s-a 2.157s deficit to Michael's best effort of 1m24.125s. And the qualifying differential was even larger, with Michael's 1 m24.408s shadowing Fisi's 1 m27.065s by 2.657s, Fuel loads? Well Fisi actually stopped first, but given that the team reported that they were forced to bring him in early by a slow puncture, we'll never know.

No, a Sauber is not a Ferrari. But it has enough Ferrari blood in it that there should be some serious questions being asked in FlinwiI before Malaysia.

Not that Jordan has much to celebrate, either. After watching Fisi go past, Heidfeld encountered a clutch problem that culminated in the car being stuck in first gear as he attempted to make his pitstop. The Jordan lurched into the pit bay and collected two of the pit crew: Pantano's number one mechanic Matt Deane, and refueller Mick Gomme, both of whom escaped with minor bruising.

Heidfeld was able to resume the race, only to have the clutch problem re-surface and force him into retirement on lap 46.

And Pantano? He finished 14th, but it was only a misfire in Gimmi Bruni's car that spared him the embarrassment of being beaten home fair and square by a Minardi.

Not the most auspicious of debuts ...

- MARK GLENDENNING

beginning, with better lap times,and obviously our strategy meant we were a little bit light in the first two stints and I was just a little bit conservative in the last two."

Team-mate Trulli, meanwhile, suffered diffuser damage after being hit from behind by Sato at the first corner and struggled for grip from then on. He later counted himself

continued on page 46

Back to the drawing board: McLaren were ordinary all weekend, David Coulthard scraping into eighth place and the final championship point.

45

SUNDAY

continued from page 45 fortunate to have salvaged two points for finishing seventh.

For Williams, it was a case of what might have been. Montoya was a candidate for the final podium spot, but his afternoon came undone through a series of small mishaps, starting with a sluggish launch at the start, and followed immediately by the indiscretion at turn one that dropped him to seventh.

From that point the Colombian's weekend was a matter of damage limitation, but even this was complicated by another excursion off the track later in the race and a slow third pitstop caused by a delay in attaching the right rear wheel.

He redeemed himself somewhat with a couple of typically robust passing manoeuvres, particularly his 48

effort against Button at turn 13, but fifth place nevertheless represented an opportunity wasted.

Ralf recovered from a disappointing outing on Saturday to finish one position in front of Montoya,but said that finishing four spots ahead of where he qualified was scant consolation for the scale of the drubbing dished out by the Prancing Horse.

"At this race, we are missing one second from Ferrari, which I didn't expect," he admitted.

"I believe this is down mainly to the design of the car as well as some tyre graining. The whole package needs to improve slightly, but 1 am confident we can make it."

That Button's sixth place was seen as a disappointment says a lot about how far BAR Honda appear to have come since last year. The Brit lost a

position to Ralf when his first stop was delayed by a problem with the refuelling nozzle, and he was later forced to bow to the other Williams when Montoya passed him on the circuit, but the team declared themselves encouraged by the result.

Indeed,it's quite feasible that Sato could also have scored points had he not damaged his front wing in the clang with Trulli, which compromised his car's performance until the team elected to bolt on a new nosecone during the Japanese driver's second stop.

The repair was immediately reflected in his lap times, but it came too late. Another potential problem reared its head in the closing laps when the gurney flap on Inis rear wing worked loose, but he motored on and settled for ninth,just outside the points.

His misfortrme was David

Coulthard's gain, with the solitary point awarded to the Scot for finishing eighth the only vaguely bright spot in an otherwise horrendous performance by McLaren.

McLaren took a gamble to overcome Coulthard's awful qualifying position and ran the Scot on a two-stop strategy at a track where everyone but Klien, Pantano and Panis were pitting three times. It didn't help him much, and his eventual finishing position was as much a product of others misfortune as anything else.

"It has really been an imsatisfying weekend for us and tlie one point we achieved today is a very small consolation," Coultliard grimaced later.

Raikkonen could have been rimning on the same strategy as his team-mate, but we never got to find out. After just nine laps the Finn's

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race was over courtesy of a water pressure problem that killed his engine.

Meanwhile, Klien was left waving the flag for Jaguar after Webber was garaged with a gearbox problem. The yoimg Austrian was not blindingly quick, but he did a respectable job of keeping himself on the black stuff and out of trouble for 56 laps to get the car to the finish line - which was, after aU, his sole objective for the weekend. Mission accomplished.

At least he had a better weekend than Toyota, who were well and truly hosed, da Matta and Panis greeted the chequered flag in 12th and 13th respectively, and both later reported that they had expected a lot more. New Technical Director Mike Gascoyne said that changes were already on the cards.

"Short-term, we need to get the team to work efficiently and get the most out of the car that we have got. We need to put all the things in place to ensure that we are where we need to be in the future."

As bleak as things looked for everybody who was not in a Ferrari, at least one other feel-good story of sorts came out of the weekend. But you had to look 10 March 2004

right down to the other end of the field to find it.

A number of drivers have made their reputations by doing miraculous things at the wheel of a Minardi, and Gianmaria Bruni put his hand up with a spectacular, if short-lived, effort.

Gimmi hauled his steed past Pantano, Klien and Panis and was consistently matching times with the Jordans until Iris day was cut short by a misfire.

The Italian spent most of the race back in the garage having the problem attended to before returning to circulate for the final 10 laps in an effort to salvage a better starting slot for the first qualifying session in Malaysia.

Team-mate Zsolt Baumgartner, meanwhile, was lapping considerably slower before being sidelined by an engine failure.

And so to Sepang, where everyone is hoping for some hot weather - and praying that if they get it, it hobbles the Ferrari/Bridgestone combination somewhat. If it does, then we could have the makings of a good championship on our hands.

If not, we're in for 17 long, long races ...

For full results and points, turn to page 48.

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47

F OR MU LA ONE Laps Tima

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218.423

1:24.179

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58

1:24:50.430

134.673

21.068 217.519

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160.423

25.750

216.424

1:25.824

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'58

1:25:24.293

58.536

08.113 216.081

1:25.286

12

58

1:25:26.355

70.598

02.062

215.994

1:25.982

24

57

1:24:16.785

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1 LAP

215.191

1:26.275

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57

1:24:21.176

LAP

04.391

[215.004

1:26.328

rakumaSato(JPN) Lucky Strike BAR Honda Qiancario Flsichella (ITA) Sauber Petronas

■57

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23.795

213.996

1:26.077

13

■57

1:25:2Z074

1 LAP

37.103

212.448

1:26.282

39

Christian Kllen (AUT) iaguar Racing CrisUano Oa Malta (BRA) Panasonic Toyota Racing Olivier Panis (FRA) Panasonic Toyota Radng Giorgio Pantano (ITA) Iordan Ford

‘56

1:24:34.124

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LAP

210.693

1:27.840

'56

1:24:41.762

2 LAPS

07.638

210.376

1:27.820

41

‘56

1:25:22.928

2 LAPS

41.166

200.686

1:27.807

35

207.645

1:28.523

15

212.751

1:26.846

1

11 15 16 17 19

■55

1:24:16.658

[3 LAPS

No Classified 1:05:48.241 'DNF

'Felipe Massa (BRA) Sauber Petronas

18

NlcKHeidfeld (GER) Jordan Ford

■43

1:06:09.622

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206.796

1:27.503

27

Gianmarla Bainl (ITA) Minardi Cosworth

■43

1:25:15.517

160.473

1:30.161

10

Mark Webber (AUS) Jaguar Radng Zsoll Baumgartner (HUN) Minardi Cosworth

'29

0:43:24.415

15 LAPS DNF

'212.574

1:25.952

15

13

0:21:44.263

DNF

190.283

1:30.621

Kimi RSikkOnen (FIN) West McLaren Mercedes

9

0:13:27.377

DNF

■ 212.808

1:27.936

' 21 ■6

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■44

1 LAP

13

12

14

Copiistructors' Championship: Ferrari 18, BMW.Williams 9, Renault 8, ;B/OMl-‘Honda 3, McLaren-Mercedes 1.

l29

■ David Coulthard (GBR) ^est McLaren Mercedes 10

Or. wrs' Championship: M. Schumacher 10, Barrichello 8, Alonso 6, :L Schumacher 5, Montoya 4, Button 3, Trulli 2, Coulthard 1.

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I

Mark Webber's Austral Diary Although it ended with a puzzling DNF, Mark Webber's AGP week showed that the late testing form from the Jaguar R5 was no illusion. In the first of his 2004 race diaries, Mark takes us inside his FI world

RAND Prix Week in Melbourne is always a fantastic way to start the FI season and 2004 proved to be no exception.

The city continues to put on a mega show and as usual everything about the AGP organisation was spot-on.

I was able to get back to Australia for a few days ahead of that to catch up with family and to take care of a few corporate commitments in Sydney, before getting down to Melbourne on Tuesday afternoon.

Most public among those early commitments was a Pit Stop competition in Sydney, involving one of last year's R4 Jaguars.

That's FI for you: the car and the eight mechanics needed to oversee the car for the appearance were all flown out especially for it - and then flew straight back to the UK. n

I I li I I

I I I I I I I I 1

“ptere were more PR appearances, but on Wednesday and Thursday, there was time to get down to the track and see how the crew were going as we set up for the race. We were browsing through some of the data from last year's race where, before 50

we'd stopped, a slightly harder Michelin had paid dividends.

Flowever, the new pit lane speed and layout pretty much ensured that most would be on a three-stop race this year, so we would have to evaluate tyres from scratch.

At last! It's been busy, but seemingly long aoff-season and so to drive out of the garage and get stuck into a race weekend is something I've been really looking forward to.

Like a number of teams, we decided to be a bit protective of our 'one-per-weekend' engines and so limited our running to two or three meaningful runs in each session.

We're among the teams able to run a third driver and so Bjorn Wirdheim set off to do some longer runs. At this point he's lacking a little in terms of actual mileage In the car, so his input will grow as his experience does.

I went out with what we'd thought would be a pretty good set-up but as it happened it

wasn't - especially the front wing - but by the end of the first hour we'd restored a good balance to the car.

For the second session, we felt it would be better if I did our tyre back-to-back, so that took up most of the running and we quite quickly confirmed that we'd go with the softer of our two options.

Interestingly, though, among the Michelin runners, I hear that there were three differing options taken - although none were radically different from the others.

I struck a little bit of front tyre graining from laps three to six on each set, but it seemed to be affecting everyone, so we pressed on.

At day's end, we'd done everything we planned and usefully - saved a lap's mileage on the engine.

Over the first few races all the teams are going to be a bit paranoid about mileage until they get some sense of confirmed reliability, so a lap is a 5km up your sleeve!

"My hunch is that it is a one-offn - Webber on the gearbox problem that stopped him

Saturday bring the first go at thewould revised qualifying format, but before that we had the two 45-minute free sessions.

Again, I kept the mileage down. The car still had good balance and we worked primarily on systems stuff, like diff mapping. In fact, we hadn't touched a roll-bar or spring all the way through, which is testament to the testing work done over recent weeks.

Again, we got through the work we wanted to and ended up saving another lap. Ten kilometres in the bank.

We didn't change the car at all between the first qualifying session run and the second, although after the first we did change the fuel level a bit.

My qualifying lap itself was good. I was pretty happy with it, although at the time, I didn't see it giving us grid six when all the others had run. Frankly, there were one or two under-performers at this stage, compared with how we'd thought they'd go.

Given that, it was reasonable to expect one or two might twostop the race. We were planning to three-stop, but there is always the flexibility to change your motorsDort news

FORMULA

Getting your name on the car is a big deal! Webber salutes the strong Aussie crowd at Albert Park, above. It was Mark, below with an unknown German up and comer, wbo came up with the GPDA initiative to hold a paddock tour competition and raise money for Brainwave. Total class. something the FI paddock should take note of...

mind at the first stop.

Like most people, we were surprised by Ferrari's pace.

Melbourne has always been something of a Bridgestonehappy track, but even so I think everyone was a bit taken aback by their sheer speed,

W

ITH nothing to do on-track until Sunday afternoon, there was time to take care of a few final commitments, including the GPDA competition.

I'd really like to thank every one of you who bought one of the little helmet pins. All 7000 of them that were produced were sold and Brainwave benefited directly. The three winners and their partners really appeared to enjoy their FI Paddock experience and it's something the GPDA plans to do at a 10 March 2004

number of races this year.

There's no doubt that manually starting a modern FI car is a tricky thing and I certainly didn't get it quite right this time.

According to the data, the clutch position wasn't quite right between 30 and 40kph and I paid the price, eighth into turn one.

Montoya ran wide and came back in front of me, but there was no contact and away we went.

The first stint was encouraging.

The car settled well and I was encouraged to see some cars heading in for a first stop as early as lap 10. We were, I think, the last of the top 10 runners to pit, at the end of lap 13.

On fresh rubber, the car felt terrific and the times for the first few laps back out were my best

for the race until the front graining came into play again.

They came right, but late in that stint the rears just started to fall away a little. At the time, though, we were coming up on Jarno (Trulli) in the second Renault, so I thought we were in good shape.

Things turned sour, though, on the in-lap for the second stop. I lost sixth gear.

We made the stop and I continued on, but soon after seventh disappeared as well and there was no option but to park it back in the garage.

I guess we were headed for seventh and a couple of points to start the season with would have been good, so it was disappointing. More so, because it was the first hint of a gearbox problem that Jaguar has had

since I've been there. First inspection suggested that the dogs on those gears had failed.

The offending bits left immediately for the UK and some serious analysis. My hunch is that it was a one-off.

A

fter a failure like that. I'm a bit edgy and keen for the next race. I wish Malaysia was tomorrowl While Ferrari's result was impressive, it is far too early to write off the championship.

Conditions certainly went their way in terms of tyre performance and I think the heat of Malaysia could provide a very different test. We're encouraged by our showing here despite the retirement and the whole team is very motivated to keep pushing hard.

51

LAKE No, Jason Bright has not quit V8 Supercars for NASCAR but he did biitz the rest of the fieid at Albert Park.

PHIL BRANAGAN watched the Man in Black shake the lake

T

Practice and Qualifying

filling the podium positions in the various races of varying lengths.

It was a Holden weekend. Jason Bargwanna put the disappointment of missing the first-ever Shoot-out at the lake quickly behind him,taking top position in the Ford class. The Stone Brothers duo of Marcos

Summer over.

Okay,nights there are still hot daysisand stifling to cope with but that is the way of the land down under. And it sure beats freezing your buns off in Helsinki, Toronto or Tokyo.

With the end of summer comes my favourite season; V8 Supercar season.

After three months of talk, the troops appeared for the semi-serious hit out prior to the war opener in Adelaide. It was good to hear some noise again.

Considering aU the off-season chatter and fresh cars and paint, the pecking order looked pretty much like 2003. Skaife set the pace in qualifying but,in doing so, killed two of his precious tyres for the shoot-out. a first in the shake around the lake.

The computer said it was the furthest we had ever hung a car out, Skaifey explained with remarkable sang froid. "It was fourth gear, full (opposite) lock, about 170(kmh)." n The cost was that he would start second,not first, but it still took a pretty good effort to beat him. Tliat

EAM Brock,such as it was,is no more. Pencil in PWR Racing among your list of V8 Supercar Championship Series contenders.

No, make that Contenders with a capital C. Jason Bright was in sparkling form at Albert Park, taking tvv'o classy victories and a second in front of the assembled masses of spectators. Brighty led a Holden form finish, with Greg Murphy, Steven Richards and Garth Tander

I

Ambrose and Russell Ingall were in the wars, though the defending Champ did give a preview of what might have happened in the Sunday race,zooming all the way from the back of the grid to sixth in a stonking drive.

Of the rest, there was action and, as is common in Melbourne, a reasonable degree of carnage. Rick Kelly came off the worst, the rear of the Kmart VY needing a birthday after smiting the wall after contact with Ingall, setting up another bout of comments and fines. Mark Skaife had a terrible weekend, the nose of the red Commodore getting Mundined in a clang with Simon Wills.

came from Murph. After giving best to his former team-mate by almost 0.7s in proper qualifying, the Kiwi dug deep and beat the red VY by 0.28s for pole position.

The changes to the car improved it out of sight," said Greg, once again failing to elaborate on what those changes were.

Johnny Cash followed. Bright was in Monaro black (wonderful in the heat of qualifying, no doubt)and was pleased with the pace of his first VY. The PWR car had topped a recent Winton test and the pace had transferred to the lake, where he was so strong in the VX last year.

Ambrose led the Fords,fourth in the shoot-out after taking eighth in quahfying. While that was not a stellar result for the defending Champ,he was at least better off than team-mate frigall. On a track where he used to be unbeatable in the Commodore days. Rusty found the set-up a little off m the Caltex Barra and 13th was the best he could manage.

In the midst of aU this was Richards, whose shoot-out lap was

Triple 8 showed some speed, wliich is encouraging for a team with new cars, while Ford Performance Racing will be happy that the weekend ended without serious damage to either car. Craig Lowndes and Glenn Seton had a weekend they will laugh about- but only after both drivers are old, grey and settled into their second rocking chair.

52

motorsport news

HOG'S BREATH CAFE

5 5

I Team Br... PWR: I Jason Bright changed hues for the I second season in a row but bis new Commodore VY was the class of the lot in Melbourne.

CRM and now: Garth Tander, opposite below, is still not happy with bis CRM car but he ivas consistent.

Former team-mate Jason Bargwanna, led the Ford hopes.

Flere he leads HRT's Todd Kelly,

left.

compromised by not having his front tyres up to temperature until mid-lap.

■fhe lap was, in fact, slower than that he had managed in practice on tyres with 2003 experience at both Sandown and Bathurst, Steven musing that the car was not 'gripped up' enough when it came time to go fast. He was, at least, the best of the Perkins masses, Anthony Tratt impressively topping both Paul Dumbrell and Tony Longhurst, despite a couple of trips off the track in his Holden debut.

Tander was reasonably happy vvith sixth, one spot up on his Q spot, while Wills dropped from ninth to 10th in the Dynamik Commodore.

The Kelly family disputed the next spots, Todd topping Rick in continued on page 54

Qualifying Results 2 2 51 3 88 4 50 5 22 6 15 7 34 8 1 9 44 MO 11 11 10 I 12 12 13 9 14 31 15 16 I 16 33 17 75 MS 17 19 14 I 20 18 21 20 I 22 21 23 8 24 29 25 3 I 26 23 27 7 [28 5 29 77 30 6 31 45

MarkSkaife Greg Murphy Paul Radisich Jason Bright Todd Kelly RickKellv Garth Tander Marcos Ambrose Simon Wills Steven Richards Jason Bargwanna John Bowe Russell Ingall Steve Ellery PaulWeel Cameron McConville Anthony Tratt Steven Johnson Craig Baird Warren Luff Mark Winterbottom Brad Jones Paul Dumbrell Paul Morris Jason Richards Mark Noske Tony Longhurst Glenn Seton Max Wilson Craiq Lowndes Dale Brede

Top 10 Shoot-out 1 2 3 4 5

Mtirplv Skaife Bright Ambrose S. Richards

Holden Racing Team Commodore VY Kmart Racing Commodore VY Betla Electrical/Triple 8 Falcon BA PWR Racing Commodore VY Holden Racing Team Commodore VY Kmart Racing Commodore VY Repco Valvoline Cummins Commodore VY Pirtek/Stone Brothers Falcon BA Holy Grail Team Dynamik Commodore VY Castrol Perkins Commodore VY Orrcon Larkham Motorsport Falcon BA ' OzEmai) BJR Falcon BA Caltex/Stone Brothers Falcon BA Super Cheap Falcon BA PWR Racing Commodore VY Repco Valvoline Cummins Commodore VY Toll Racing/Perkins Commodore VY Shell Heiix/DJR Falcon BA Team Kiwi Commodore VY Shell Helix Falcon BA Orrcon Larkham Motorsport Falcon BA OzEmail BJR Falcon BA Castrol Perkins Commodore VX Sirromet Commodore VY Tasman Motorsport Commodore VX WPS Falcon BA Castrol Perkins Commodore VY Ford Credit FPR Falcon BA Betta Electrical Falcon BA CAT Falcon BA Holy Grail Team Dynamik Commodore VY lm58.977s 1m59.257s lni59.834s 2m00.243s 2m00.604s

6 7

Tander R. Kelly Radisich 9 T. Kelly 10 Wills

1mS9.664s 2m00,336s 2m0O.41Os 2m00.453s 2m00.549s 2mOQ.613s| 2m00.634s 2m00.685s 2m00.791s 2m00.798s 2m00.845s 2m00.934s 2m01.017s 2m01.285s 2m01.309s 2m01.356s I 2m01.435s 2m01.460s 2m01.859s 2m01.963s 2m02.306s 2m02.306s | 2m02.377s 2m02.450s 2m02.473s 2m02.575s 2m02.733s 2m02.892s | 2m02.920s 2m03.459s 2m04.722s

n

2ni00.861s 2m00.863s 2m01.088s 2m01.141s 2m03.760s

|

I

i

Netspace V8 Supercars Albert Park

i

53

qualifying before the junior member of the family turned the tables in the solo lap.

And,Fords? Well, the hero of qualifying was Paul Radisich. Both Triple 8 Falcons were new cars and The Rat had all of two hours' shakedown in his, and that only after the crew put in 48 hours straight the week before the race. After leaping to third from outside the 10 in qualifying, Radisich dropped to eighth in the run-off but, considering that the team was pretty knackered and the engines were down on grunt, there were smiles in Betta land.

Radisich's fortune was not good for Bargwanna, who looked a solid bet to make the session until he was bumped.StiU, he was happy to have some power,courtesy of Larkham Motorsport's new engine deal with SBR. And Bargs was way better off than anyone associated with Ford Performance Racing. Both Lowndes and Seton were felled by electrical problems and completed, between them,10 laps in qualifying. The Lowndes drama was traced to a faulty rev monitor, which was rectified for raceday. FPR's factory opening prior to the weekend was deemed to be a great success. Now, they need to do something similar when the team goes racing.

Some new looks: Greg Murphy had the Kmart Commodore flying all weekend, while Paul Radisich made best of the unsorted T8 Falcon, below cbased by former Betta Electrical pilot Tony Longhurst.

Race 1(10 laps)

Tnevitably, autumn follows summer.

J-Day follows night. Rubens follows Michael. And penalties follow any incident involving Murphy.

How many times have we seen a black flag accompanied by a #51 after any contact Murph has with animal, vegetable or mineral? Lots. So, when Murphy and Skaife got together at Turn 15 on lap 2, there was a collective intake of breath.

But,it was in vain. The Kmartodore motored on as Murphy took his first win at Albert Park.

"I don't know if I was surprised or not surprised (at the lack of penalty," he admitted later. "They (the stewards)said tliat they changed

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motorsport news

US SUPERCARS was fined $5K for bringing the sport into disrepute. You can drive a V8 Supercar, kiddo. Crikey, you can even win Bathurst in it. But say something controversial on the box and we will kick you in the butt.

One of MNews's dictionaries defines disrepute as 'the state of being held in low esteem'. Kelly made no further comment using the word 'esteem' but we could guestimate how it might go after this.

Anyway,back to the race.

Ambrose went missing. On the penultimate lap, the three leaders were nose-to-tail at Turn 3 when they approadred an oil flag. No-one saw it; not Murphy (leading) and neither Bright nor Marcos,immediately behind. The blue Ford pirouetted and bashed the rear of the PWR VY, biffing door against wing.

So Tander collected third ahead of Richo, Radisich and Ambrose.

Bargwarma was seventh, despite hurtuig tyres over the final five laps, then Wills, and Todd Kelly, who was wearing battle scars after the opening lap.

A bending of Wills: When Simon Wills had the Dynamik VY get away from him in Race 3, Mark Skaife found the car blocking the road and had nowhere to go. Both cars were out on the spot, right.

Race 2(19 laps) f there was much to watch in Race

I

1, there wasn't much in Race 2, despite it being almost twice as long.

Okay, there was something to look at. Radisich and Wilson clanged into each other and both were out on the

their way of adjudicating these things. Maybe they have.

Maybe. Early days, yet.

Murph explained that he thought that Skaife had braked for the corner way early. Skaife said that that was not the way he goes motor racing. A difference of opinion is predictable in such circumstances. That is the way these things often play out in public.

Whatever, Murph won. After falling back to 18th, Skaife motored on,only to find a sideways Ingall in front of him,in the sand, on lap 7. By the end of the race, Skaife was 16th.

A strong recovery, sure, but less than he expected after leading the race in the early going.

There had been the usual funnel effect on the opening lap,leaving

t

o ooo* 10 March 2004

Craig Baird off the track and several others carrying battle scars. Bright shadowed the other two VYs early ahead of Ambrose,Tander and Richards, while Ingall made ground, passing Rick and leaving him to the tender mercies of Todd. Then Ingall got a hit from Weel, beaching the Caltex BA. After a while, he debeached himself and carried on.

That was the next drama for Rick.

He got a clout off Ingall at the final turn a few laps later and walled the

The problem with all that is, Ricko said the same stuff on TV and the

spot. In any form of racing, it is always ... interesting when team mates collide, even if there are extenuating circumstances. Johnson and Bowe did it famously;so did Criville and Doohan. Always fun.

Not. Ambrose went fast until a partially blocked radiator sent the temps soaring. After a stop to clear things proved,of little help, Marcos thought better of torching an engine and parked it for good. Bowe lost a rightrear wheel on the opening lap, Skaife spmi while chasing Wills and

thought police swung into action.

Over the incident, nothing happened. Over the comments, Kelly

continued on page 56

KRT car, which was out for the weekend on the spot.

"1 got drilled by Russell/' he explained in a straightforward manner, T haven't seen the footage but it seemed quite clear to me.I don't knovy whether he can't see any more ...

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EARL’S pmommBmmcTs

55

Race 1 (10 laps) 20m13.380s lm59.936s 4 1 M urohy 20m13.798s lm59-281s 5 iright ander 20m18.307s 2m00.259s 4] 4 S. Richards 20m19.969s 2m00.395s 4 20m23.633s 2m00.602s 6 5 Radisich 20m24.900s 1m59.527s 5 6 Ambrose 7 Barqwanna 20m26.706s 2m00.725s 4 8 Wills 20m26.898s 2m00.479s 5 20m27.422s 2m00.962s 8l 19 T. Kellv 20m28.420s 2m00.986s10 10 Bowe 11 McConville 20m30.534s 2m00.992sl0 20m32.833s 2m01.271s 6 y 13 Johnson 20m33.079s 2m01.269s 8 14 Tratt 20m35.608s 2m01.257s 5 20m38.135s 2m01.278sl0 115 Morris 16 Skaife 20m39.863s 1mS9.876s 5 17 Dumbrell 20m44.Ms2m01.733s 4 18 Seton 20m45.396s 2m01.406s 8 19 Lowndas 20m45.773s 2m00.909s 5 20 J. Richards 20ni50.533s 2m01.162s 5 20m54.552s 2m02.210s 6 21 Lonqhurst 22 Wilson 20m54.926s 2m01.983s 6 23 Luff 20m56.310s 2m02.065s 8 24 Winterbottom 20m56.585s 2m01.592s 7 25 Brade 20m58.788s 2m02.437sl0 21m03.631s 2m03.159s 8 :26 Noske DNp Weel 9 laps 2m00.550s 5 L'dnf Jones 8 laps 2m02.269s 3 oNf Inqall 6 laps 2m00.943s 5 DijF Baird 3laps 2m02.185s 3 dnfR, Kelly 2 laps 2m02.123s 2 Race 2(19 laps) m ^38m 14.308s 1m59.599s 9 2 S. Richards 38ml6.279s lm59.848s 9 38m26.156s 1tn59.966s 7 17 4 lander 38m28.986s 2m00.362s 4 rgwahna 38tn36.412s 2mQ0.522s 5 6 T. Kell 38m36.708s 2m00.318s 5 % 38m39.985s 2m00.740s 9 8 McCcnville 38m46.412s 2m00.842sl0 9 JohnSon 38m48.239s 2m01.022s 6 38m52.822s 2m01.454s 41 10 Ellery 11 Morris 38tn55.826s 2m01.270s 5 12 Weel 38m56.178s 2m00.761s 4 13 Intfall 38m56.315s 2m00.463s 5 14 Sk aife 38m57.519s 2m00.533s 3 15 Dumbrell 39m08.239s 2m01.578s 4 16 Lonqhurst 39m08.805s 2m01.560s 91 17 Jones 39m15.312s 2m01.639s 9 18 J. Richards 39ml8.287s 2m01.155s 5 muff 39m21.283s 2m01.739s 6 20 iratt 39m35.900s 2m01.624s 4 21 Seton 39m56.124s 2m01.896s16 DNF Baird 17 laps 2m02.611sl31 oNFWinterfaottom 16 laps 2m01.887s 6 DNF Lowndes 15 l aps 2m00.858s 8 : ONF Brede 12 laps 2m02.442s'8 DNF Ambrose 7 l aps 1m59.867s 3 ONF Radisich TTal DNF Wilson 1 lap ONF Noske 1 lai DNF Bowe 1 lap If DNS R.Kelly Race 3(10 laps) 22m24.103s lm59.191s 8 i1 Bright 2 S.Richards 22m28.069s lm59.757s 5 22m28.78Qs lm59.688s 9 P3 Tander 4 Murphy 22m38.271s 2m00.191s 91 | ;5 Barqwanna 22m42.337s 2m01.123s 5 6 A mbrose 22m42.677s 2m00.258s 71 | I7 Johnson 22m44.317s 2m01.112s 5 8 Weel 22m44.484s 2m00.726s 8 22m45.033s 2m01.287s 6 Y 10 Inoall 22m45.270s 2m00.823s 5 11 Lowndes 22m45.667s 2m01.339s 6 22m46.259s 2m01.135s 6 12 T. Kelly 13 Morris 22m46.808s 2mQ1.678s 8 114 J.Richards 22m47.745s 2m01.602s 61 15 Dumbrell 22m49.349s 2m01.571s 8 16 Bowe 22m54.530s 2m01.742s 10 17 Baird 22m54.549s 2m02.134s 6 18 Luff 22m57.641s 2m01.872s 7 19 Radisich 22m57.902s 2mOQ.817s 7 20 Jones 22m59.649s 2m02.208s 7 I 21 Wmterbottom 22m59.837s 2m01.728s 3 22 N oske 23m00.273s 2m01.747s 7 23m01.499s 2m01.212s 8 24 Seton 23m08.928s 2m01.816s 7 I ONF Tratt 8 laps 2m01.870s 6 DNF McConville 3 l aps 2m02.771s 31 I DNF Longhur^ 0 laps lilEtil 0 laps |dnsR. Kelly, Brede

nietspace V8 Supercars 56

I

Smokes and sparks: JoHn Bowe lost a wheel at the start of Race 1 while Anthony Tratt showed some flair in the Toll Commodore's debut, below, hurling smoke at a recovering Russell Ingall, o

continued from page 54

.5 a 5

Lowndes and Brede had separate offs, Brede's demise being permanent for the weekend.

Bright won the start and won the race. Murphy missed the jump and spun away second when the KRT car slid off at Turn 1, handing second to Richo. Behind them,Tander was a

Corporation

lonely fourth ahead of Bargwanna, who held out Todd for the second half of the race. The Stone engine in the LMS car looked as strong as the HMS in Toddler's and that was how they finished. A Larko car with horsepower looked pretty good.

Wills trailed in next clear of McConville,Johnson (racing better than he qualified) and Ellery. Morris and Weel battled for the next spot while Skaife never got close enough to IngaU to challenge, which after the drivers, recent history and comments was a disappointment.

There are races that you cherish and races that you would sooner forget. Bright will remember this one for a while but it is pretty unlikely anyone else will.

repeat on them.

Oh yes, the race. Bright won the jump. Garth got inside Richo at the first corner and that was how they finished.

Race 3(10 laps)

"I got shafted yesterday by braking early and I thought,'Bugger that!"

Tander mused later. Even with GT on tyres that had done all three races,

Ah, Sunday, a day of rest.

At least, it was for the racing driver's part of Skaife's life. After Wills ran onto the grass at the first corner,Skaifey found the Dynamik car sitting sideways in front of him and nosed into tire side,crunching his nose.

The only good part of the whole equation for the HRT owner/driver was, at least, it was over quickly as Skaife trudged off to television and radio commitments. Adelaide beckons; last year, Skaife had a shocker in Melbourne as well and put that behind him when points were on the table. Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it - or have it

Mchards found that overnight changes had done the LP VY no favours and had to settle for third.

Behind there was plenty to see, Weel passing Todd Kelly in a neat, knifing move and McConville having one of the best passes of the race negated immediately when Johnson tried to retaliate and biffed the GRM car into the boonies in a clumsy piece of driving.

But that was nuthin compared to what Marcos was doing to the field.

From the rear, the Pirtek greyhound was making the rest of the field look like Labradors on lino as he rocketed

I

through the field. At the start of the final lap he was eighth; after dispensing of Weel and Johnson, Ambrose found the race about 400

metres too short to grab fifth from Bargwarma, who had driven another elbows-out race to take Ford honours.

Behind came Johnson, Weel,Steve Ellery and Ingall, who raced with the knowledge of Rick's fine but would make no comment on it.

So, Bright came away looking like a serious threat to the title. So did Richards. Ambrose and Skaife? Did they have bad weekends? Yep. Did they anything to take home from Albert Park, apart from disappointment? Yep - potential. Will they feature in the championship?

Yep.

Will Adelaide be packed to the rafters next week?

Shucks, we have answered enough questions and think you can figure that one out yourselves ...

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Young Guns fire I He may have had to share the wins two apiece with Matt Halliday, but Alex Davison proved to be the class of the Carrera Cup field at Albert Park. GRANT ROWLEY was there to see a full field have its first run of2004

I

NTERNATIONAL stars Alex Davison and Matt Halliday rocked the establishment at Albert Park,scoring two wins a piece in the Michelin Carrera Cup during the Grand Prix support event last weekend.

Kiwi Halliday, last year's AGP winner Davison and reigning Carrera Cup Champion Jim Richards were the class act, however Richards endured an uncustomary win-less weekend.

But,if Halliday secures a budget for the season, it wUl be hard to look past these three in tlie all-Porsche series, which will start in earnest on the Adelaide streets next weekend.

Davison, who prior to the meeting was unbeaten on home soil in a Porsche, was happy, to a degree.

"1 have been spoilt here with my wins recently," Davison said.

"1 was disappointed not to win the second and third race, but it shows how tough this championship is going to be."

Greg Murphy Racing recruit Fabian Coulthard justified his place in the crack Braun squad, displaying raw pace on cold tyres in each of the four eight lap races.

The single-seater specialist qualified an impressive fourth and proved he could potentially embarrass his more experienced rivals later on this season - even Jim Richards agrees; "I think he's been the revelation," said Richo.

"Coulthard has been quick straight away. A bit like Matt(Halliday), who has just stepped out of similar openwheelers."

Former Nations Cup and GRM endurance driver Allan Simonsen was also a standout in his GTS debut, driving Rusty French's car in a lease deal for Mark Coffey Racing.

Halliday scored the opening win in Race 1, while Davison arid Richards made controversial contact on lap five at the exit of the turn 15 hairpin.

Davison left little room for Richards after the seven-time Bathurst wirmer attempted an outside move during a fascinating dice between the leading three.

58

-A ' n V

\

'Gentleman Jim' was less than impressed with Davison's on-track actions, and expressed his concern post-race.

Coulthard finished fourth in his saloon debut, while Peter Fitzgerald in the ENJO-backed machine took fifth, ahead of the feuding bimch that included Marcus Marshall,Simonsen and Charlie O'Brien.

Forget DC, FC is the man: Coulthard, above, starred, while the usual dramas were mid-pack, below.

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Halliday made a mega start to Race 2, convincingly beating Davison into turn one.

Davison re-took the lead in sensational fashion, passing Halliday around the outside after performing a classic 'over-and-under' manoeuvre through turn four.

It was arguably the best pass of the weekend.

Tlie next lap, Richards slid by Halliday who was losing cogs in his gearbox and eventually faded to finish a distant third. .

Davo held his nerve against Richards to take an impressive win, while Fitzgerald and Simonsen shadowed Halliday home.

The Paul Cruickshank-prepared machines of Marshall and Johnathan Webb failed to start after they both suffered driveline-related failures on the warm-up lap and on the starting grid respectively.

Marshall debuted brand-new AEG race colours for his one-off drive at the AGP,but struggled throughout the weekend with an engine that seemed down on top end speed.

Race 3 saw the pendulum swing back in the favour of Halliday,

leading each lap of the race from Davison, Richards and Coulthard.

"We made some good choices with the set-up," said Halliday after his dominant win.

Matthew Coleman, featuring support from energy drink Red Bull, made contact with Dean Cook. Cook smacked the inside wall at turn three

swapped positions a number of times on the last lap but Simonsen eventually held the upper hand.

Webb stormed back in Race 3 from the back of the grid to finish a fine 11th.

heavily, ending his weekend there and then.

James Cressey made his Carrera Cup debut in the 2004-spec VIP Petfoods entry, but was taken out in Race 3 after contact with another car.

Fitzgerald, Simonsen, O'Brien and Kiwi Ross Rutlierford argued over die minor places. The quartet

Davison squared the ledger on Sunday, while Coulthard produced his best showing of the weekend. He

moiorsport news

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FUCHS

Lubricants

Davo, Davo, Davo: Alex Davison debuted new colours in style, but didn't impress Jim Richards with his driving in Race 1, below left, who took the issue up with the young gun after the race. Matt Halliday, below right, also took two wins but was booted from the race three results.

held Richards out for two laps, and Halliday for four, before his more experienced rivals harassed their way through.

Unfortunately,clutch problems promptly halted a fine debut.

Simonsen and O'Brien swapped paint on the third lap of the final race, which took them both out.

Halliday executed a self-inflicted mid-race spin, which dropped him 10 Marcl 2004

way down the pack. He fought back to third place before being disqualified post-race after he clipped the back of Rutherford on the penultimate corner of the race, Coleman picked up the final podium place ahead of Marshall (cracking drives from the pair who started outside the top 10)and the recovering Rutherford, Ex-Formula 3 driver Cressey made

a steady run from the back of the grid to finish 13th.

Team-mate Klark Quinn,a stand out last year, struggled for pace on his debut at tlie Melbourne street track, but stayed out of trouble to come home ninth in the final.

Roger Oakeshott and Tony Quinn heavily collected the wall in separate incidents. Oakeshott fared the worst in the Braun #44 car, suffering a

cracked rib after slipping on coolant left by O'Brien.

The racing was brilliant and that makes for a mega nine-round series, which starts at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide in a little under a fortnight.

2003 was virtually a cakewalk for Richards but there's no doubt that the young guns will push all the way this season.

59

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Washington grabs Alan Jones Trophy but clashes with Small hit the headlines

BYEE Washington, claimed a hard fought but controversial Alan i'Jjones Trophy during the >Formula Ford Track Attack last ^Weekend at Albert Park.

- _ .-The louth Australian, above, ' clIiTched ^is first race win for the ;; ■' ●y0ar, scoring victory in Race 2 5 iS .-'. yAut the'victory came after last .j?,fe'p coititact with Sonic teammate James Small, the winner

ift^-pf/Race T I

The -mood'on the podium was uhcoMortable, and the ensuing ^^fi4j|3tess conference saw Small VJ/Speak all of two words. ; ■ "Very disappointing," was all . -U-.-the bitter Victorian could muster.

■ The relationship between the ■ .-pair soured even further in Race , 3. Washington beat Small off the ' line at the start of Sunday's final race, but on the approach to turn three, Small slammed into the back of Washington, launching Small skywards, before crashing into the concrete wall.

Washington salvaged third, while Small luckily escaped without injury.

Both drivers blamed each other, the tension between the pair reached greater highs, and Michael Ritter's team have a bit to do between now and the next round of the championship at Eastern Creek.

Michael Trimble starred during a weekend where his team-mates were at each others throats.

The Victorian steadily improved over the weekend, finishing third, fourth and second. His Race 1 placing was actually his first-ever podium, and he was thrilled with the result.

60

Picking up the pieces: Dean Fiore starred in the final race on Sunday, above, passing Francis and Trimble in a three-wide move. Janies Small, below, n'as lucky to escape uninjured after a lap one touch with Washington in the same race. | c through the 32-car field, finishing I seventh. i In the second race, Reynolds made it past Francis and Trimble by lap four to hold third place, but in his frantic effort to catch the leaders, he overheated his front tyres and dropped back to fifth.

Reynolds encountered throttle problems in Race 3, causing a spin on the opening lap. He recovered to finish eighth.

Anthony Preston showed "We had a difficult weekend Francis ran with the leaders all genuine speed, finishing fourth at Wakefield so this is a good weekend, but didn't have in the final race after dropping a way to make up for it," Trimble enough to challenge for an bearing in Race 1 on last lap. An said post podium. outright win. A third place finish overnight engine replacement in Race 2 was his best result.

Trimble came of age in Race 3, rewarded his small team with a leading the majority of the event David Reynolds' weekend got top 10 finish in Race 2. of to a bad start. The starter before being caught behind Brett Francis, who encountered motor on his Sonic Van Diemen Daniel Reinhardt and Clayton Pyne were the quiet achievers. electrical problems with just a RF04 had gone west and the lap to go.

Both scored a number of top 10 team tried to push start the car West Australian Dean lore places, the best being for several times on the grid, but to Reinhardt who snatched fifth in took advantage of the fracas to no avail. The car eventually fired, Race 3. pinch the Race 3 win after a but he was forced to start from consistent weekend.

- GRAIMT ROWLEY pit lane. Reynolds stormed nilorsBori

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Solberg:Game On REIGNING World Rally Champ Fetter Solberg believes that his new Subaru Impreza WRC2004 will be the weapon he needs to beat Sebastian Loeb's Citroen and its unbeaten run in this year's title so far.

Enough is enough," said Solberg.

"Loeb has gone well, but now it's time for our season to start. This car can win in Mexico."

Solberg, right, made the comments on the back of a major test session over three days in Spain two weeks ago - a test he declared to have been the best he has done in two years.

The Norwegian driver also reckons he says he's in good shape personally and ready to attack "The car felt very strong. I know the stages in Mexico are going to be high altitude, which might mean that we lose some of the performance from the engine.

"However I have been working hard in the gym to make sure the same doesn't happen to me, when we get into the stages."

Subaru team boss David Lapworth says that while he believes reliability will assume greater importance in WRC competition in future, the new

Impreza WRC2004 was developed with increased performance as its main criteria.

The new car has covered almost 4000km in testing since last November to develop not only the performance but the reliability it needs to beat the Citroen.

"I'm sure all the manufacturers are thinking of putting more emphasis on reliability, because the points are relatively easier to come by," said Lapworth.

"It would be near-criminal to break down and throw points away, even if things aren't going particularly well. If you take the top four drivers, even if they're having a bad rally, they should be able to finish in the top six at every event.

"We've got to a stage with the testing where we were unanimous that now was the right time to introduce the car. There are no areas of concern so far as we could tell from testing.

"However when you get into rallies, you always learn something with new cars. But now is the point where we've reached the // crossover."

"If the car won't beat them, we'll batter them with our tyres.

- JON THOMSON Solberg gears up for some Loeb-whupping at Mexico next week.

Lucky Kiwis

FOUR-time world champ Juha Kankkunen,above, will be making a comeback of sorts when he lines up for the Otago International Classic Rally in New Zealand in May. The Finnish star will drive a New

MITSUBISHI Motorsports is fighting to gain ;$ome^competitiveness for its Lancer WRC 04, and has been testing an array of new parts in a lengthy shakedown in southern Spain over the past two weeks.

So desperate is the situation that the Ralliart team had to dispatch the cars to Mexico on 1 March before a final specification had been finalised.

Additional parts and revisions will be airfreighted to Mexico for fitment by the team in the days leading up to the start.

The main area of concern continues to be the the five-speed FFD/Ricardo gearbox, which led to the 62

retirement of both works cars in Sweden.

Modifications to the box enhanced its performance in tests iast week, with new parts being flown throughout the test for the team to try. It appears that further revisions will be necessary ahead of the Rally of New Zealand in April.

Revised dampers and an anti-lag system were also a focus for the team’s tests ahead of Mexico.

The Spanish test is the first concerted attempt to set the car up for gravel stages, with Gilles Panizzi carrying out the bulk of the driving.

- JON THOMSON

Zealand owned and prepared Escort RSI800 BDA in the two-day 250km gravel rally, which is expected to attract more than 50 teams.

Kankkunen's car is to be run by New Zealand rally identity Brent Rawstron, who in previous years has fielded a car for Swedish driver Bjorn Waldegard. The team is expanding and is expected to field two international entries in this year's rally.

Kankkunen's co-driver will be fellow Finn Seppo Harjaime.

- JON THOMSON

moiorspoit news

RALLYING

-I— .

Vanishing Breed? Roger Clark won the Rally CB at the wheel of his Escort back in 1975. But opportunities to join him on the winners list may be running out...

Rally GB Under Threat THE Rally of Great Britain's place in the World Rally Championship hangs by a thread pending the next meeting of the World Rally Commission on March 24.

The FLA is openly criticising the actions of the South Wales Police and has sent the chief constable a letter claiming the placement of speed cameras on last year's Rally GB were positioned in breach of government guidelines.

In the letter, FIA chief Max Mosely tells the police chief that the World Championship status of the rally has been placed under threat by the Police actions.

"There will be great reluctance to accord World Championship status to an event where it appears the police do not follow the rules of their

3

10 March 2004

national government," Mosely wrote.

An FIA spokesperson has confirmed that the British event is in "the last chance saloon" and is under serious threat.

"We don't have a problem with the organisers of the rally, but there ae aspects of the policing of this event which still seriously concerns us," said the FIA spokesperson."This is not just the FLA scaremongering. This is a very real problem."

The case for the Rally GB staying in the WRC will be presented by RAC MSA chairman Jolm Grant, who holds a seat on the World Council.

The Rally GB is scheduled for September; the first time the event has been scheduled in the British spring.

- JON THOMSON

Ross Returns?

Fiesta time

FIVE-time Australian Rally Champion Ross Dunkerton is set to rejoin the ARC at the wheel of one of the two Mitsubishi Magna AWDs currently being prepared by Alan Heaphy.

It appears that Dunkerton's strong links with Mitsubishi, with which he won several Asia Pacific championships and Australian Safari titles, coupled with his strong personality, may have won him the drive.

Dunkerton would not comment except to confirm that he had been approached by Mitsubishi to gauge his interest.

It is believed the other Magna will be run as a media car.

Dunkerton retired from full time rallying almost a decade ago, but has campaigned a Lancer turbo In historic rallying for the past three years, and has spearheaded the move to have classic rallying included as a part of the ARC. The 58-year-old is also set tb re-ignite his TV career with a new home renovation program on Foxtel, in which he will demonstrate renovation and repair skills to home handymen and women.

- JON THOMSON

FORD is taking a new weapon into the Junior World Rally Championship.

The new Fiesta JWRC had the covers ripped off it at Geneva last week but won't compete in the JWRC until June, when the 'baby' Focus makes its rally debut on the Acropolis.

A Ford Re-Focus

FORD is set to debut a new homologation of its Focus RS WRC at the Rally of New Zealand following the cars expected approval by the FIA on April 1.

The 2004 version of the Focus has been designed with the aim of making the car more economical in its tyre wear, a factor which is going to be vital under new rules to lengthen service intervals and restrict tyre usage in WRC events.

"Because of the two-car rule, reliability is now a major issue," said M-Sport's chief rally engineer Christian Loriaux.

"The new minimum weight for the chassis means we can run lightweight body panels, which in turn helps us to re distribute the weight balance through ballast, allowing the car to more tyrefriendly."

The Focus was already one of the lightest and best-designed cars when it came to low centre of gravity but Loriaux is aiming to make it event better.

The Focus performed particularly well on the fast gravel events last year, and won in Finland at the hands of Markko Martin. It has been quick so far this year, but unable to match Loeb's Citroen in icy conditions.

- JON THOMSON

The car will be run by 18-year-old Finn Jari-Matti Latvala, 19-year-old Zimbabwean Conrad Rautenbach and 26-year-old Lebanese Abdo Feghali this year, with Latvala and Feghali's cars to be operated by Italian team Astra Racing and British-based Chris Birkbeck Rallysport running Rautenbach's Fiesta.

Phillip Dunabin, chief engineer of Ford Rallye Sport, has overseen development of the new Fiesta JWRC rally car. The car sits 60mm lower on 7x17-inch, multi-spoke Speedline wheels with 630mm tyres in tarmac trim, and sports an even more aggressive body kit than its predecessor.

It's powered by a 1.6-Iitre, all-alloy, dry-sump engine that delivers over 215 PS at 8,750 rpm. Alcon alloy brake calipers are fitted front and rear, and a hydraulic handbrake is fitted for those tight hairpins. It has a limited slip differential and a paddleoperated Flewland six speed gearbox.

Suspension is handled by MacPherson struts with adjustable spring platforms and an adjustable anti-roll bar at the front, with a specially developed trailing arm beam at the rear. n Thought you knew your way around the Rally of Turkey with no co-driver or pacenotes AND with your eyes closed?

Think again, because with just one solitary exception, every stage will either be brand new or modified when the WRC circus arrives for the seventh round of the Championship.

Only the Kemer stage, near the service area, will retain its 2003 look.

There are two new stages in the Daglari Mountains - the16.4kmn Chimera stage, and the 5.5km Aspendos stage near Antalya.

The majority of the competitive distance will be in the first and second legs. The rally covers a total of 1158km.

Run in the Mediterranean summer, the 2004 event will avoid the snow-related problems that caused the alteration of several stages last year.

63

Morse so Tim Morse is ready for the big time. ^ And as BRETT SWANSON discovered, next season wiii be his chance to deiiver on his promise etroli

Welcome to the Jungle: Tim Morse will step into a serious Sprintcar role for the 2004/05 season. He will drive the,ex-Dave Murcott machine from the 2002 season, above.

Current Australia #/: Morse, left with father John (who was no fool behind the wheel

w

HEN you think of Speedway champions, you think of stocky, often gruff men like Garry Rush and Steve Kinser. WarmambooTs Tim Morse is a speedway champion with just as much ability as the two Sprintcar legends, but the build is slight, red headed and the manner is fun loving and good humoured.

Morse's career is about to explode.

Two national V8 Dirt Modified titles, numerous state titles and a Sprintcar ride already set for next year.

"We've been working towards this a long time now," Morse told Motorsport News.

"A long time ago, dad told me to get on top of what you're doing and something might happen (the sprintcar ride).

"Having the Titles on your resume helps with sponsors and Sprintcar owners but we're still learning in the V8,still learning how to drive it, there's always something to learn, you never stop."

It wasn't always this good though.

In early 1996,in his second season of racing, Tim had a big crash at Nyora 64

either), picked up his second National title recently at Avalon Raceway, right. that really knocked him around.

"That was a big one. I ended up in Korumburra Hospital and wasn't able to race for a few months. At least it gave me time to repair the car," he recalled.

"In that second season 1 learnt how to go fast but 1 also wrecked a lot of stuff as well."

The crash did little to dampen his enthusiasm. In fact, Morse credits it as being one of the turning points of his career, along with his dad retiring from racing at the end of the '96 season.

"Dad knew the risks involved and it's all part of the sport. He wasn't fussed at aU by my crash. There was never any talk about me not racing again. You have to find the limit if you want to be quick, and when you look at all the good racers, tlrey've all had big crashes in their careers. Prior to the crash 1 was fast but it taught me to slow down a bit to go faster."

The Morse team chased the V8 Dirt Modified Championship with gusto and on quite a few occasions led the championship,only to suffer flat tyres and other mechanical dramas.

When it finally did come together last season at Murray Bridge, all the . previous near misses just made the victory even sweeter.

"It was an unbelievable feeling to finally win the title," Morse fondly recalls.

"Once you win one you just want to win more and more. We had tried so hard for so long and been demoralised a few times so it was so good to finally win it."

Tim's second title came recently at Avalon in one of the best races ever seen after he came from the B Main to score a great title.

"Avalon was fairly difficult. It proved the old adage about never giving up.

"When 1 was caught up behind Brett Milburn,1 just had to keep racing, think clearly and keep calm.

Brett was rumring well but had used up Iris car and was overdriving to compensate and was making the car very wide."

Tim has made a reputation as being a high line racer.

"1 realised early on the there was no point racing in the groove like

everybody else. If you can run on the top you've just given yourself 50 percent more options to pass. When 1 was starting out, 1 forced myself to run the top whether I wanted to be there or not. You need to look around the race track and see what's available. I learnt a lot of race craft that way" Next season, Morse will make his first serious assault on the Sprintcar scene, having teamed up with BaUarat businessman John Brewer.

Brewer's familiar Ranbuild #71 JohnBoy, raced previously by David Murcott, has been down at the Morse workshop for some time as they prepare for next season.

"We probably could have gone Sprintcar racing sooner but it was like there was cmfinished business.

We still had a lot to learn in the Modified and we really did want that Australia #1 on the car. And it was still a considerable step up financially to run a Sprintcar."

"Right now, we are just waiting on tire Sprintcar engine to come back, which should be next week, and tlien we'll see exactly how good it is but at

motorsport news

»

Daryn Pittman loves racing in Austnaiia^ And after itinning a> limited pi^giani last summeiv GREG BOSCAiiCIfound Out he wants dothesameag^n^.

Itrcit Swmson

this stage our goal is to run the World Series first-up."

"We've spoken to a lot of teams and done the figures and we believe that it doesn't cost that much more to run WSS while at the same time it appears that you also tear up less equipment running the premier division."

The Morse/Brewer outfit will also contest most other major Sprint races as well as some V8 events.

"We've kept the modified and when it doesn't clash, we'U run that as well. I love driving them and it also gives us something to fall back on. I think they are actually harder to drive because anything without a wing puts requires more driver input."

"We've kept all of our sponsors from the Modified as well as John Brewer's sponsors and we've picked up some pretty good backing from Castrol. We should be able to put a good team together. I'm really looking forward to it."

A lot of people have been waiting eagerly for the day that Morse stepped up to Sprintcars seriously.

And now,that day has come.

Watch this space...

10 March 2004

AFTER winning the 2002/03 ! World Series Sprintcars, American Daryn Pittman took a step hack this suimmer: preferring to enijoy his racing I rather than compete at the I highest level - week in, week out.

And to be honest, he enjoyed it much more ...

"I truly enjoyed running a limited schedule with the I WSS," said Pittman from his home country.

"It was a lot less stressful not having to compete for points every night. We were : able to race where ever we wanted and try to win and not just get a good finish."

Not that he lacked any ; results throughout the

That was a huge confidence summer.In the tough league of WSS/‘Pittman finished r builder and!it al took place in / l - * seventh outright, despite onlly four days.

Gontesting; six events,Glaiimiing!

'Pittman; undeniiably^lov.es /r Australia, but wllil ihe’reidlFh'i victory iim three of the;m>. , next season? * He also scoredi victory at Pairramatta ihi a 4li0’ engiiinei/.

"As long as Reeve.d'oesh't. fire.me betweeh nowand and took the Kings Challlenge then for sure!'" ' at Boarderliine Speedway. "lit is very odd'andrarefo "The hiigih point of the be able to have>a team that is summer was winniiihg three races in a row at Avalom, competitive ©rf;the trackiiaUd Parramatta and Brisbane. such good friends off the'v track." n '" "This sport demands a lot of confidence and to win our "We still have a lot of faces first WSS race, head to we want to win and.be.sides, Parramatta and win and go its too cold over her^td'stay. I back to Brisbane and win in don't thinkTwiil!evei'be bdck front of Reeve (Krucfc, owner for the whole Austra‘t^(t/ season again' but froj^'' of th e Titan tea ml, h is fa mily and employees of Titan was December to end of January was great." huge.

Saillard Recovers Brett 'The Jef

CANBERRA sprintcar racer Darren Saillard suffered a broken neck in his horrific crash at Parramatta City Raceway last month.

The entire speedway community have rallied around, raising over $3000 for Darren and his family.

The incident happened on February 21 in the early stages of the main event at PCR. Saillard charge from position 13 to third within two laps with some daring highline passes. Moments later, he tell victim to a huge rut in turn two which sent his #9 car catapulting into the outer wall on the back straight in a smoldering heap. Saillard was knocked unconscious in the crash, and it took some considerable time to remove him from the wreck. He was then transported via ambulance to Westmead hospital and had been there up until his discharge last week.

Everyone at MNews wishes him a speedy recovery.

- BOSCATO/DANIEL POWELL

VICTORIAN hard charger Brett Milburn dominated the Tectaloy Performance Coolants 360ci Sprintcar Cup feature race at Adelaide's Speedway City last weekend.

Milburn, below #68, lapped the field and cruised to a dominate victory over Owen Pitt, Dennis Burford, Simon McKean and Darryl Guerin.

Michael Miller proved in the AMCA Cup on the same evening.

- PARIS CHARLES i

t . -efbm

65

l/'afe; &’ahain Mr' AMjr Fireballs Shiells takes the Derby-Reed crowned Champion TROY Shiells rounded out the Eureka Garages & Sheds Super Sprint Series in fine style, taking the prestigious Fireball Derby and becoming the ninth different feature winner in the series.

“I’ve got to thank my crew for this. They had the car really good all night,” said Shiells about his second Sprintcar feature win.

But finishing fourth and also securing his fourth championship victory was Matthew Reed.

Reed, above, had gone win-less this season, but his team’s ability to dig deep when it counted still made it a satisfying championship.

“The car feels good now, we’ve sorted the problems out and it’s great to win another cliampionship," Reed said.

John Vogels picked up the Championship runner up spot while coming home eighth in the Fireball.

Budget racer Blair Jones finished a career-best second after winning his opening heat race.

“This is a great result for us,” stated a humble Jones. “It’s our first podium in eight seasons and it feels like a win to us.”

Rob Rankin likewise was content with his podium finish, crossing the line third.

Rankin also won the two night Driver to USA mini-series and a new race suit courtesy of Revolution Racegear for winning the most heats throughout the series.

Rounding out the top five was Dave Magilton who circulated quickly all night.

Ken Veal endured a horror set of heats, up-ending his car in his first heat. In the second, he hit one of the turn one bumps so hard that the car bounced. When it hit the ground, it pushed the right hand nerf bar back into the tyre which acted like a brake and stopped the car suddenly, which was then hit by Marcus Nelson.

Colin Barker went base-up after contact with the wall but the biggest flip was reserved for Charles Hunter, who clipped , Domain Ramsey and flipped end-for-end at the start of the B Main. Further delay was caused when a certain Motorsport News correspondent (with the initials ‘BS’) was hit by one of the push cars as it turned infield.

- BRETT SWANSON

Up and over: Ken Veal wade a meal of the final SRA meeting for the year at the Fireball Derby.

66

VICTORIAN speedway lost one of its true devotees recently with the passing of Graham 'Butch' Morley after a short but vigorous fight with cancer.

Morley was a small man with a big heart and a massive love of speedway. He was one of the founding members of the MSDAV - Modified Sprintcar Drivers association of Victoria the forerunner of today's SRA, for which Butch was also a long-time office bearer.

At Ballarat, both Paul Solomon and Tim McCubbin raced with memorials to Butch on their AMCA national modifieds at the recent Victorian championship, while the SRA observed a minutes silence prior to racing commencing.

To Betty, Brett, Kerry, Diane and all his family and friends, Motorsport News extends its deepest sympathies.

- BRETT SWANSON

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CHRIS Evans took his second 360ci Sprintcar victory in succession at Mildura's Timmis Speedway recently.

Joining Evans on the dais was the experienced duo of Garry Chippindall and Dennis Burford.

For the drivers that ventured to Mildura, it was their last chance to dial into the new track before the upcoming inaugural 360ci Sprintcar Nationals.

The Mildura 360 Sprintcar Annual Pty Ltd expects that up

to 40 competitors will contest the event to be held over April 2, 3 and 4. The promotions team were recently pleased to announce that Telstra Country Wide and Tekace Communications will be backing the event in a major way.

"This is quite a coup for the event as Telstra have not sponsored anything in Motorsport since the early touring car days," said motorsport and media officer Mike Raymond.

- PARIS CHARLES moiorsDori news

SPEEDIATAY

WoO Down!

Little Maddy FORMER Australian sprintcar champion Kerry Madsen's younger : brother Ian Madsen is running a very limited sprintcar race programme, using Kerry's old Grizzly sprintcars.

Ian competed in one meeting last summer after Kerry returned to the US and will run a couple of PCR meetings before he also goes to the

THE World of Outlaws have confirmed they will come Down Under again next summer after the PCR released dates for the second staging of the WoO show.

The event, which was won last year by American legend Steve Kinser, right, will be held on the January 13, 14, 15. Tickets will be available shortly for this sensational event. And if it's anything like this year, its a meeting not to be missed.

- GREG BOSCATO

US.

:D.in/c/ 8L\ml

Clark Keeps Numero Uno MICK Clark confirmed his Victorian number one status, beating former National champ Mark Weaver and current Australia #3 Rick _ Barrand at Redline Raceway recently.

H The feature event was H an interesting affair with a four car train at the front H for most of the race.

With the help of some Hi

lapped traffic, Clark swept around the outside of both Campbell and Weaver to take the lead and the race win. Campbell later retired r*

with a flat rear tyre.

Barrand crossed the line with an engine overheating and he shut the car down immediately.

Mark Chrystie came n across the line at speed,

mm had nowhere to go and

ploughed into the back of Barrand at almost full

1^1 speed. Fortunately, no one was injured, ■i - BRETT SWANSON

mwmm

Dirt Devils Dominate

OVER 60 of Australia's best Super Sedans converged at Murray Bridge's Riverview Speedway to contest the 2004 Murray Valley Standard Australian Super Sedan Championship recently.

After an epic battle, ex-pat Tasmanian, now Queensland-based Darren Kane was crowned as the new Australian Champion.

Newcastle's Greg Smith earned the top points scorers' honour and the right to start his immaculate Fujitsu sponsored Falcon from pole position, with Jarrod Harper on his outside.

Greg Smith led the charge at the start, but Jarrod Harper swooped into turn 1 and emerged in front. Ron Pyne was the next to make his way around Smith before setting his sights on the race leader in bid to claim his fourth national title. One spot back, Michael Gee's race came to a premature end after crunching the wall, while Wayne Randall had his hands full with a front left tyre.

After a huge pile-up in turn 2 included Dave Gartner, Trevor Ware, Darren Hickman, Ron Pyne and the Queensland duo Gary Pagel and John Leslight, Kane was able to lead the field away before Mick Nicola, the defending Champ, spun to a stop in turn 3.

The closing six laps turned into a sprint race to the finish. Kane held out Jarrod Harper, the fast finishing Brad Smith, who was later demoted to fifth after making a pass on the infield. Gutsy David Nichols, who reportedly broke his wrist during the race, made it a Tasmanian-born quartet on the podium.

South Australian Dave Gartner was fifth (and later promoted to fourth) after a barnstorming drive from 18th in a borrowed car he had never even sat in prior to the final.

-PARIS CHARLES

Max Dumesny Motorsport Australian Distributors for

Xooslrr

^ ^ RACING TIRE

For more information on Hoosier Drag and SpeedwayTyres call:

NSW: 02 9679 1990 ● Fax 02 9679 1187 VIC: 03 9331 6477 ● Fax 03 9331 7444 SA- 08 8332 0800 ● Fax 08 8364 0296

10 Marcti 2004

n The final PCR meeting of the season will feature the fab Fender Benders towing caravans, boats or even porta-loos in a race of car crushing craziness.

But its all for a good cause as they are raising money for the Westmead Childrens Hospital. Its been a few seasons since the PCR had a Caravan derby, but this year they are looking for sponsors of the caravans, boats or porta-loos.

■ Michael Miller, who was first across the line at the recent Aussie title before he was stripped of the crown, has been re-instated as the new National champion.

Miller appealed and an AMCA representative flew to Adelaide to have the 'illegal' heads inspected by an 'independent' engineer.

The representative was not one of the original scrutineers who deemed the car illegal and it is believed they had little if any mechanical expertise.

Following the meeting. Miller was re-instated as the Champion, but no official release has been issued, nor has the AMCA website updated.

Russell Bonsey, one of the four original scrutineers and a former national title-holder, recently resigned from the class's administration in disgust.

■ Sydney's Troy Little took a great win on February 28 Parramatta City Raceway in the Sprintcar feature after withstanding a late race charge from 22-year-old Adrian Maher.

Adam Clarke finished third, ahead of Craig Brady, Garry Rush and Brett Leadsman.

Trevor Green debuted a brand new Maxim from the BC Motorsports, but brake problems plagued their efforts.

In the feature, another car spun out in front of Trevor in the main, leaving him no option but to t-bone the car and Green was out with front suspension damage.

-GREG BOSCATO/ BRETT SWANSON

2003/04 EUREKA SRA CHAMPIONSHIP FIREBALL DERBY 1. TroySheills . .

2003/04 FINAL STANDINGS

29/2/2004

.V74

6. Rod Matthews

.V9

. .

. .V8

7. Ian Smith

. . .

.V57

3. Rob Rankin . .

.V99

8. John Vogels

.

.V70

4. Matthew Reed

.V92

9. Ian Thomsen .

.V32

5. David Magilton

.V26

10. Adrian Parr .

V77

2. Blair Jones

1 Matthew Reed . . .

2 John Vogels 3 TroyShiells 4 Ken Veal 5 Rod Matthews. . . , 6 Darren Saillard . ..

7 Rob Rankin 8 Charles Hunter . .

9 Ian Thomsen 10 David Van Bremen.

3248 2915 2564 2501 2477 2444 2127 , 1713 1579 1540

11 Colin Barker 12 Marcus Nelson .

13 Ron Dalton ... .

14 Brett Antill 15 David Magilton .

16 Erin Crocker . . .

17 Allen Barlee 10 Paul Bastow . . .

19 Frank Ramsdale 20 Ian Smith

1472 1432 1377 1119 942 874 866 853 803 789

61

Andy Goes West

DRAG racing fans in Perth can cancel anything that they may have planned for Saturday, March 20 following the news that Andrew Cowin is set to make his first appearance at the Quit Motorplex at the wheel of the Cowin family's Top Fuel dragster.

The NHRA star will drive the same car that twin brother Johnny used to re-set the track speed record back in November, when he crossed the finish line at 313.58mph. Rachelle Splatt still holds the track e.t. record of 4.965s.

Racing Cowin will be the ultra-experienced 'Pommie' Steve Read.

Local Top Fuel racer John Buchanan will also be on hand.

4 .3^

Bemste BRANDON Bernstein, Del Worsham,and Kurt Johnson were victorious in the second event on the NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series as the tour rolled through Phoenix, Arizona for the 20th annual Checker Schucks and Kragen NHRA Nationals last weekend.

Bernstein, above right, successfully defended his Phoenix title with a win over Doug Kalitta to remain 4-0 in career final rounds. In the final, Kalitta jumped out to a huge lead, but lost traction at mid track, allowing Bernstein to motor past for a 4.53/326 victory.

Worsham won his title sponsor's event, and moved into the POWERade points lead for the first time in his career. Worsham, who also won this race in 2002,

Ui.ii

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motorsport news

RAC RACING

Clean Sweep!

IT'S a long way from Queensland to Perth, but Brett Stevens, left, made the trip worthwhile by taking home the silverware in both Top Doorslammer and Top Bike.

Under similarly searing hot conditions to last month's meeting at WSID,the Jack Daniels Racing team notched up a pair of wins through a combination of big numbers and a bit of good luck.

Stevens earned his Top Doorslammer honours by coming out on top of a final round face-off against Steve Stanic. The final itself was relatively tame, with Stevens's 6.132s effort enough to deal with the 6.295s offered by Stanic, but there had been plenty of drama in the early rounds.

The Jack Daniels Studebaker had an easy time of it in the first round of eliminations, thumping Peter Hamilton at the lights with a 0.135s RT against a 0.464s, and followed it up with a 6.21s to top Hamilton's 6.42s, Stevens faced off againstVictor Bray in the second round, but it was a one-sided war. Bray had already killed a motor during qualifying the previous day, and was then struck with piston and head damage in his first round showdown against John Zappia.

Having already used the spare powerplant, and with no time to pinch the engine from son Ben's car,(which was now sidelined after Bray fell to Gary Phillips in the first round), Victor was unable to show for the race and gifted

1's Back

Stevens with a ticket into the final.

Stanic, meanwhile,did a sensational job to account for Robin Judd and Phillips before falling to Stevens in the final.

Amongst the also-rans were Peter Kapiris, who was another of several drivers to suffer engine problems during qualifying on Saturday, and Grant O'Rourke, who failed to qualify but did a good job to be there at all after crashing his car at WSID. Meanwhile,Top Bike looked set to be another Jay Upton benefit until the bike blew a chain tensioner on the line as the top-qualifying West Australian was preparing for a second-round battle against Stevens.

Upton's misfortune gave Stevens a fast-track to the final, where he met Jack Daniels team-mate Troy McLean.

It was a tight race until half-track, where Stevens was able to pull away and cross the line in 7.68s against McLean's 8.05s.

Stevens had earlier defeated Mark Ashelford in the first round, while McLean earned his right to a place in the final by bringing down Ian Ashelford and Syd Standring.

In other classes, George Separovich took the Competition Eliminator victory over Stuart Rowland, Andrew Kostecki just managed to overcome South Australian Steve Norman in Super Stock, while Matthew Treasure overcame a huge field to score the Modified win.

luvifl(fstds/rmiki

AUSSIE David Grubnic qualified in the top spot for the first time in his career, piloting the Kalitta Air dragster to an outstanding 4.486s pass at 324.51 mph at the NHRA season-opening round at Pomona.

Grubnic took out Glenn Mikres in the opening frame with a 4.59/317, but unfortunately fell to tyre smoke and lost a round two decision to Cory McClenathan, who recorded a vulnerable 5,06/278. n Dick LaHaie and the Miller Lite team joined the crowd utilising the set-back supercharger, switching to the unit in Phoenix, With 16 cars on the grounds and a guarantee of making the field, LaHaie made several runs, with Dixon clicking the machine early, well before the lights. Dixon wound up thirteenth on the ladder at 4.64s.

In round one, Dixon and team stepped up to record a 4.58/298 that just edged Scott Kalitta's 4.59/316.

A round later, Dixon met up with another of the Kalitta camp rockets, that being the Mac Tools dragster of Doug Kalitta. Both cars were even until 1000 feet, where both began to spin the tyres. Dixon tossed the blower belt and slowed to a 4.85/243, while Kalitta streaked away away for a 4.84/293 win. n Glenn Mikres made the Phoenix Top Fuel field on the bump with an 8.45 second pass at 97 mph.

Team owner Virgil Hartman put together a third car, in Fram livery, to fill the show. Mikres day was done in a round one loss to Dave Grubnic.

beat defending Funny Car champion Tony Pedregon in the final round, 4.97/303 to 5.09/251.

In Pro Stock, Johnson overcame a holeshot in the final round to stop first-time finalist, Dave Connolly in the final round.

Johnson used a final round 6.83 at 203 mph to stop Connolly's game 6.86 at 202 mph.

EARLIER,Tony Schumacher, Jerry Toliver, and Greg Anderson were victorious at the re-scheduled 44th annual K&N Filters Winternationals, scoring victories in the opening round of the 2004 NHRA POWERade season as it concluded under sunny skies at Pomona Raceway last week.

Schumacher, right, singled to a 4.65/243 in the final round when

Dave’s da man!

Doug Kalitta suffered a mechanical failure which forced the team to shut the car off following the burnout procedure.

It may have been a good thing for Schumacher, as the potent U.S. Army Dragster slowed before the finish line with engine problems.

After a two-year absence from the sport, Toliver, left, brought a new team along with a new sponsor to the season opener and left with his third Pomona and the fifth win of his career.

Toliver also became the first Funny Car driver to win in an import-bodied car when he piloted his Keith Adams tuned, Schick Quatro backed Toyota Celica to a final round defeat of Gary Densham.

Toliver clocked a winning 4.82/319 to drive around Densham's 4.95/327 in his AAA Auto Club Mustang.

n One week after winning the season-opener in Pomona. Jerry Toliver failed to crack the field in Phoenix.

Toliver's Schick Quatro Toyota fought traction and engine woes throughout qualifying and could only a muster a best of 5,784s.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

VALE: Brian Schultz

Anderson made it back-to-back wins at Pomona as the 2003 POWERade Pro Stock champion and winner of last years season finale returned to Pomona and win the season-opener.

This time Anderson defeated his former employer Warren Johnson in the final round, 6.71/205 to 6.76/204.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

NHRA Pro Stock Bike rider Brian Schultz died Monday, March 1, as the result of injuries suffered in an automobile accident. He was 34.

Schultz was travelling home from a test session when the accident occurred.

After serving as a crew chief for Reggie Showers in 2002, Schultz, the son of six-time NHRA Pro Stock Bike champ Dave Schultz, made his NHRA debut as a rider aboard Thomas Byrd's Suzuki at last year's Gatornationals.

More recently, Schultz was competing in AMA Pro Star events.

Schultz, is survived by his wife, Amy,and three children.

69

natim

scene

Grant Rowley

limeless Island Want aassic motor racing? WOll you were probably at Phillip Island to witness a smorgasbord ofthe finest machinery Australia - and the woild - has ever seen !

T

he spectacuiar coastal location of Philiip Isiand took a back seat to the amazing machinery that competed in the annual Phillip Isiand Classic last week.

The event, now in its 15th year, attracted a massive field of 427 cars, leaving the large crowd with plenty to look at over the three busy days.

The actual racing and drivers were the support act. The cars were the stars, and there were a lot of dollars, euros and pounds to be seen and heard.

Leading the exotic list was the well-documented Ferrari 250 GTO of Tom Price, which formerly raced in many famous endurance events at Spa and Nurburgring.

Capturing the imagination of all present were the four ERAs. Built in the 1930s,they have been maintained to represent their traditional build - and they didn't lack any pace either!

Englishmen Martin Walford and Duncan Ricketts won both their events.

American Bert Skidmore shipped his fast 1976 Lola T286 to the Island and it didn't disappoint. The 3-litre sports racing car, which competed in This Jag ain't Mark Webber's; The Jaguar D Type XKD 504 was one of the star attractions, top left.

It is one of only six long nosed D Types ever built.

Can I drive your Lotus?

After purchasing the car in '99, Bert Skidmore, left middle, undertook a complete restoration and tackled the tricky Island circuit with vigour, picking up a race win.

I'm the Boss: Michael Miceli manhandled his Boss 302 to victory, left.

five Le-Mans 24 hours, won Saturday's Group P, Q and R events, while Ray Stubber in his Ralt RT4 stole Sunday's stoush.

Rusty French, driving his once-pristine Porsche 935 in the class, collided heavily with the tyre wall on the exit of Honda.

Live and direct from Indianapolis came the thundering 1951 'Jim Robbins Special'. Despite gearbox problems which plagued the car throughout the weekend, it eventually made it on to the track. The car, originally built

by Myron Stevens, was one of the first race cars to use disc brakes on ali four wheels. It was purchased by Jim Robbins and competed in three Indy 500s between 1954 and 1956. It qualified second in the '54 Indy 500 and finished 10th twice.

Formula Ford saw Laurie Bennett in his Elfin 600B win Saturday's race, while John Tarran's Lotus 61 MX won the

^t

handicap race. Brian Sampson in the Van Dieman RF77 took the final race spoils.

The Iso Grifo of Steve Schuler dominated the Sb and Sc Sports Car class.

Les Wright's Brabham Buick and Ian Ross's Elfin staged a fierce war in the huge Racing and Sports car class, with Wright coming out on top in both events.

45 cars entered the Historic Touring Car class on Saturday.

Steve Land's Ford Capri edged out former Bathurst winner Barry Seton in his Capri. Don Smith in his example finished second in Race 2, while Land continued his winning run.

The Mustang of John Mann and Michael Miceli in the immaculate Boss 302 won the over 3000cc Histories class.

Stuart Powell and Dick Willis shared the victories in the Sports and Racing car class.

But the main attraction was the Jaguar D Type, driven by American Louis Sellyei Jnr.

NATIONAL SCENE

The Group C Touring Cars had some familiar cars involved, including two Holden Dealer Team Toranas,the Chickadee Celica GT 2000, a pair of Triumph Dolomites and the Army Falcon XD. Gary Collins in the VH Commodore won on Saturday, while former Bathurst champ John Harvey took Sunday's race win.

Welcome to the Island: Four ERAS contested the Island Classic, including the Bill Morrisowned example, left.

The more things change, more they stay the same: John Harvey, top, in the HOT Torana ASX leads the Group C Touring Cars.

Safer in the Garage: Second from top, the pricey $15.5m Ferrari 250 GTO ventured to the Island, attracting alot ofattention.

Crunch time: Rusty French walled his Porsche 935, above right.

Indy Lights: The unmistakable Jim Robbins Special endured gearbox problems. but the track on Sunday, right.

n Mardi 2084

I

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E

VEN nine karting titles, including the 2000 Australian Junior Championship,could not convince Ryal Harris to pursue a career in open-wheelers.

Rather than move through the traditional route of Formula Ford, Harris has been progressing through sedan classes of the Queensland State Championships, mirroring the early career of Steven Johnson.

Harris, 18,is now just days away from making his debut as this year's youngest driver in PROCAR's VSBRutes series, which kicks off in the concrete canyons of the Clipsal Adelaide 500 weekend aboard a BA

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[IT^

"I know I can win the series this year, and that's what I'm expecting.'

Harris has clear short and long term goals.

"Just getting a good points haul from each round and not trying to win every race," he said of the short term.

i

Falcon. He is taking a leaf out of DJR's other driver, Warren Luff, who was last year's BRutes Champion.

Harris will also be confirmed as a part of a DJR junior development program in Adelaide.

"I definitely don't doubt my ability," said the confident Harris.

D

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Mari Jones

Ryal Harris: Man with a mission.

"Long term - BRutes this year, Konica the year after and hopefully an enduro drive at the end of the Konica season.

"But I'll be looking for a seat in the main game. I want to be in main game while I'm still young."

During Harris's karting days, he drove for Azzuro, and kicked off a good friendship with Johnson Jr, who helped out the Azzuro youth development team, which consisted of Harris, Richie McLeod and Barclay Holden.

"I struck up a friendship with Johnson," said Harris.

"I always ran a DJR logo on the kart and got support whenever I could."

Since then, Harris has spent the last two seasons racing in Queensland's Gemini series, before moving into a Falcon Saloon car last year, beloiv.

-MARK JONES lib *

rr

Lotu PAUL Pickett's third one-make series was launched last week in Melbourne during Grand Prix festivities.

Australia's newest category, the Kumho Tyres Lotus Championship, will be contested over seven rounds, including a trek to New Zealand's Pukekohe Raceway, acting as a support category to the V8 Supercars.

QLDj

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ONLY a handful of Australians can call themselves 'factory race car drivers'.

After Toyota recently announced their plans to launch an attack on the Australian Production Car Championship, Leanne Perrier became one of a select few.

"It's excellent," Perrier boasted.

"I'm very excited about it. Last year was a bit quiet and I wasn't doing much. So to be in a national championship is really good.

Perrier, 23, will steer the Rick Bates-prepared Toyota Corolla Sportive this year in Class B of the APCC. The former Konica V8 regular says under the expert guidance of Bates, the hatchback should be the motorspon news

NATIONAL SCENE

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It's an Age Old Problem

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NSW State Series kick-off- But don't look fbrAntunes

S S

Launch

Their support status includes coverage on Network Ten's popular 'Trackside' program.

32 cars are available, with half of those already accounted for.

Pickett, MOPRO Australia's managing director, said he is confident there will be a decent grid come Round 1 at Eastern Creek on April 4.

"We have 16 people signed and ready," he said.

D

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"But typically Australian, everyone leaves things to the last minute, so 1 expect a rush of entries soon."

"Lotus Cars are right behind the new series which mirrors similar series in the UK and Asia."

The Lotus Elises, above, are thoroughbred sports cars, unlike Pickett's previous Daewoos and MG one-make cars.

- GRANT ROWLEY

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THE opening round of the NSW Formula Ford State Championship will kick-off this weekend at Wakefield Park, but there will be one notable absentee.

Nathan Antunes, who has purchased Neil McFadyen's Australian championship-winning Van Diemen RF94, has been forced to miss the round due Ws age, or lack of it.

Antimes will turn 16 on April 23 and won't be old enough to compete at Wakefield Park, which would have been his debut in open-wheelers. He will obtain his CAMS license after his birthday and contest Round 2 of the series at Eastern Creek on May 2.

Antunes has driven karts since he

1

I

0 .-

PHIL Ward has taken the wraps off the first VY Commodore that will compete in the Aussie Race Car series this year.

The Pennzoil VY, to be piloted by duel and reigning ARC Champion Mike Russell, is one of only two VYs completed and ready for racing.

The other VY will run in Yokohama colours throught the season which kicks off on the streets of Adelaide in less than two weeks.

Waiting for take-off- but don't wish time away kid!

Antunes will have to take to the sidelines this weekend as the NSW State Championship roars into life at Wakefield Park.

Honda Integras, a Mitsubishi FTO and the giant-killing Volkwagen Beetles should provide her with some stiff competition.

Perrier hasn't enjoyed the luxury of a full-time drive for a number of seasons. But this shouldn't hinder the development of the brand-new, near-stock Sportive.

"I've raced many categories," she explained.

"I've raced Formula Ford which I did most of the development myself.

"I guess when I did the V8s with Garry Rogers, I had the benefit of being in an established team but I also did a great deal of work on the Fleetcare VS in 2002.

"Rick did a really good job of setting up the (Daihatsu) Sirion last year so I'm pretty sure together we'll be able to get this car handling well.

Perrier will relish the chance to get stuck into a full championship, however, she's unsure whether this could promote her to the big-time again.

"I don't know if I'll ever get back in V8s or anything like that.

That would be a long way off but I just love driving and love racing so any opportunity for me to drive at this level is fantastic.

"If this kickstarts drives in PROCAR, the (Bathurst) 1000, or even the 24 hour, that would be great. As long as I'm racing. I'm happy."

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in the Saddle machine to of choice.

"I haven't driven it yet but from everything I've heard compared to the other cars. I'm pretty confident we should be running up the front."

Bates will oversee the car from his TTR workshop in Canberra.

"Hopefully I'll get to test the car before Adelaide. Rick has said the car will be ready, which should be handy. I guess it's just a matter developing it over the course of the season and trying to get that extra bit out of it so we have a competitive package."

Class B was thin on numbers last season, however Toyota's factory injection to the class along with a tribe of Celicas, 10 March 2004

was eight years old and last year, while driving for the Top Kart team in the ICI Division, placed sixth in the fierce National series.

Garry McFadyen, Neil's dad, will oversee the mamtainance of the car The Beverley Hills-based tearn have done a lot of testing at Wakefield Park and the signs at this early stage look promising for Antunes.

Antunes is just one of the six Kart converts to debut in this year's six round NSW championship.

2003 championship winner John Pettit will turn his hand to Formula 3, throwing the series wide open.

The contenders look like being Anthony Preston, Joel Spychala, John Behrens, Matthew Howard and Stephen Austin just to name a few.

-DANIEL POWELL

The Largest of Lives A heart-felt and emotional book launch saw Champions from far and wide celebrate the life of Lex Davison. GRANT ROWLEy was there

O

VER three hundred distinguished guests attended the iaunch of the Lex Davison book ‘Larger Than Life’iast Saturday afternoon at the Foster’s Australian Grand Prix.

Motor Racing legend Sir Stirling Moss officially launched the book, , written by highly-regarded journalist Graham Howard.

The ceremony included memorable footage of the fourtimes Australian Grand Prix i winner racing at Sandown in the early 60s. n Mrs Diana Gaze (nee Davison) was flanked by her husband Tony Gaze and the entire . Davison family - Jon, Peter, Chris, Richard, Elizabeth and Cathy as well as their families.

The event was a huge reunion of sorts, and John Benson, to whom Lex was an uncle, summed up the ceremony: ,<■- ”1 was only 13 years old when he died," said Benson. ‘‘It was difficult to comprehend that he was gone at that time in my life. Last week was the

'opportunity for many people to ‘relive’ many moments we all had with Lex. The book title is a very clear indication of the man - he was indeed ‘Larger than Life”.

While it was great to look back at the past, the Davison name will continue to have an impact on race tracks right around the world.

Richard, Lex’s son has two of his boys currently competing.

Alex is racing in Australian Carrera Cup this year, while younger brother Will will take on the highly-competitive British Formula 3 category.

And even young James, son of Sandown Raceway owner Jon, will make his Formula Ford debut this season in the Victorian State series.

The ‘Lex Davison Trophy’ is awarded to winner of the Australian Grand Prix and is perpetually housed at CAMS Head Office Melbourne.

Copies of the book can be purchased on-line at www.lexdavison.com or at any good book store.

Born for it; Davison won the Australian Grand Prix four times. It was a record which was only equalled by Michael Schumacher last weekend.

Rally GP Upset!

PETER Moore took his thirdstraight Grand Prix Rally after trailing in second on the final day of competition.

Moore and co-driver Sonya Passlow, driving their Nissan GTR, bumped long-time leaders David Henry and David Burgess from top spot after five days of rally action.

"The big horsepower events in the last two days won it for us," a delighted Moore said.

"Over the last two days we had lots of good results in the tests and it's

that consistency that won it for us."

The Rally was decided at the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit, where the Nissan clearly out-paced Henry and Burgess's Mitsubishi EVO VI, /e/1.

ACT men Martin Notaros and David Stephens finished third in the prestigious rally in their EVO VIII. Husband and wife duo Tony and Kari Esplin were fourth aboard their new Porsche GT3.

The 'Classic' category was won by Victorians Jonathan Mathieson and Allan Roe in a 1978 Porsche 930.

moiorspon news

INDUSTRY NEVUS

Safe HANS

Allan Released CERAMIC Innovations has announced the release of The Allan Moffat Legends of Bathurst - Signature Series, the second in a series of commemorative ceramic ports celebrating the achievements of the men who conquered the Mountain.

The Ceramic Innovations Legends of BathurstoH Signature Series 9 pays tribute to those l n who have set their places in Australian motor racing history with outstanding results on the mountain.

Allan Moffat became a household name, winning Bathurst on four occasions including the famous 1-2 victory. Ceramic Innovations has released The Allan Moffat Legends of BathurstSignature Series, the second in the series.

Larry Perkins was the first in the series with Peter Brock, Dick Johnson and Jim Richards to be released over the coming months.

Each decanter holds 500ml of Bullocks Tawny Port. The driver's details and Bathurst results are

featured on the bottle with 24 carat gold decaling. A minted medallion featuring the driver's image also adorns the bottle.

BELL Racing Helmets has released the latest model KFl SV with full HANS

Each commemorative port is ^ presented in a unique embossed ind 24 carat gold stamped book :over with the driver's name and volume number on the spine,

Device compatibility.

The FIA-approved KFISV now comes from the Bell factory with the HANS clip posts already installed and conforms to all 2004

part of the display.

Inside, along with the port decanter,is an individually numbered certificate of authenticity personally signed by the driver and a 16-page booklet covering thean driver's t which forms integral career and Bathurst history.

Each driver's Decanter is limited to MOFFAT B A

regulations.

The BeU KFl is suited for use in Touring Car, Open Wheel,Sports Car, Speedway or Drag Racing. The HANS device is the most

a production run of only 1000 units which is set to make this a very sought-after and collectable series.

The Allan Moffat Legends of Bathurst- Signature Series is available now from Ceramic Innovations for only $175 including GST plus $15 postage and handling within Australia.

For more information or any of the Ceramic Innovation range visit www.ceramicinnovations.com.au or

complete and advanced solution for head and neck restraint. It is the only device recognised by the FIA. The KFl SV with the new HANS device has been developed as a direct result of the Bell Racing Formula One racing programme.

Benefiting from the latest technology, KFl SV helmets still offer advanced technology

phone 03 9555 9011

Joe Hunt

JOE Hunt Magnetos are now in stock at Performance Wholesale. Joe Hunt has been well known for his expertise with magnetos for many years.

It started in World War II when aircraft mechanic Joe Hunt serviced powerful, dependable and self-contained ignition systems called magnetos on fighting planes. Soon,Joe was putting magnetos on race cars,including Indy 500 wirmers, making Joe Hunt Magnetos standard circle track equipment.

WARANA Imports have just released their new lightweight aluminium racing jacks.

These one-tonne jacks have been tested and approved to meet the tough Australian Standard AS/NZS 2615:1995.

A low saddle height makes it easy to use them on low vehicles and racing cars.

Weighing only 17 kgs allows you to easily pick up and manoem re the jack when needed.

Priced at only $295 inc GST, place your order by calling Warana Imports on 07 5493 7444.

10 March 2003

HAS data logging been out of reach because of budget? Now there's a solution. MSE's range of data logging systems means you can have a data acquisition system at an affordable price.

From basic logging with 1 input, to a full data it**system with up to 13 inputs, plus shift light, alarm light and driver

Bell Racing Helmets are Snell SA2000 certified and FIA approved.

Now available at Revolution Racegear stores nationwide, call 1800 804 778 for your nearest store.

Joe has since passed on,but his company is still kicking out sparks that just get hotter the faster you spin the engine.

Joe Hrmt Magnetos produce self-contained ignition systems and accessories.

Also available is a range of spare parts and ^ motorcycle magnetos.

The New H3 Lite is one of the most powerful magnetos on the market today.

With rare earth magnets and pin type cap, locked advance and external coU. For further information contact Performance Wholesale on 07 38081986 or visit

?I :

www.performancewholesale.com.au

New Data that suits your needs and your budget. With Loggers starting from as little $550,even the smallest team can have the benefit of being able to I analyse data, not just lap times. User friendly software allows not . only easy download \ of data, but doesn't require a degree to understand

*3

display, you can have a data logger

aggressive styling, ultra lightweight composite shell with the next generation aerodynamics, great comfort and fit and excellent ventilation.

it. MSE also

has a range of sensors to suit all applications or can tap into some vehicle sensors to save you dollars.

From Australian based motor racing series to international racing associations in New Zealand, UK, Europe and South America, MSE has supplied products to monitor various vehicle parameters and log data for scrutineering purposes.

Through this experience MSE can offer its customers cost-effective data loggers and a number of seasons of reliable data acquisition For more information contact Motor Sport Electronics on 02 4648 0030 or visit www.msedata.com.au 75

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Cost Effectiue Data logging l Up to 13 inputs plus 2 outputs l Logged data displayed graphically, numerically & real time , through dash

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RACESHOP gives you the opportunity to promote your products and services to the widest possible range of motorsport

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10 March 2004

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Specialists in ● iurDocnargers oaii bearing and non ball bearings ● Kils & overhauls available ● High flow inlercoolers and kils ● Link engine managemeni syslems * Oil coolers and oil coolers kils* Silicon hoses and bends ● Tein suspension kits 57 Taunton Or Cheltenham VIC 3192 Ph 03 9584 4499 Fax 03 9584 4008 Email avo@blgpand.com

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All systems sold come with an APC Surge Arrest powerboard valued at $100.

Category managers - Want \_ \ on site support for race weekends? Bulk buys for categories are available, enquire now. Our national supplier network can also deliver goods to your door

International Racing Drivers School For more info ph 02 9873 1773, fax 02 9871 1018 or email peter@finlays.com.au www.finlays.cam.au

“ Siiverline

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1. Tick the Feature box when filling out the coupon OR 2. Choose the "Exclusive Feature" when entering the ad directly onto My105.com

Sedans/Sports Cars

GRUOP SA, Including; Spare Parts, Spare Wheels, Complete Body Moulds, Various Diff Ratios NEW SHOCKER & SPRINGS MOTOR REBUILT (2 MEETINGS) Good history, winner (7 times) Alan Jones Trophy at Winton, numerous wins Phillip Island and Malala. $37,500 Neg. Winston 0418 314 111.

279 www.my105.com/44487

2002 Tanzam Corvelle DTM, ready to race and win again. DTM -Carbon/Kevlar body, Chrome moly chassis, 3 x way Penske shocks fuily fabricated in chrome moly rear with 9inch Ford, 5 speed Wiseman. TC gear box. BBS 3y pease wheels AP 6 pot brakes, 6 litre Hendrick 700 hp engine, dry sumped, 180 degree exhaust system. Only the very best has gone into this car.(No duty to pay car of new Zealand orgin), $135,000 with spares. Peter 0064 3963 1381 / fax 0064 3366 0133.

262 www.my105.com/1026

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Toyota Sprinter, current spec YAGER built altezza 3sg no expense spared,forged rods pistons o.s. valves h.d. valve springs big cams 4 throttles motec mSOO etc, supra 1:1 5th full adjustable susp. willwood brakes big rotors adj,pedal box to much to list.awesome package. Brad 0419 492 236.

279 www.my105.com/45426

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LC/U XU1 Torana, Perfect for NO class (never been registered on road) rose jointed frontend, big springs, girllock oversize brakes, original sprintmasters. Body in mint condition. Fresh original paint, bathurst tank 2x 202 engines. Needs to be assembled, all parts available! $5,200 ONO. Adam 0412 934 889.

279 www.my105.com/40787

XU1 Race Car, Possibly Australia’s most immaculate XU1 race car. Huge expenditure on the development of this vehicle. This car has been a podium finisher in 2003.

Prepared by Bryce Racing & Russell Jones Engines the car has a new engine, Detroit locker diff and spares package. $35,000.

279 (07) 5574 6811. www.my105.com/2S570

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Ready to Race Falcon Saloon Car, This car under went a full mechanical rebuild at the start of the season and has only been raced four times since. This included wiring.engine, g/box, diff, brakes and steering. Recipts for all. The car comes with many spares including full set of rims and Tyres. $16,000 Neg. Brendan Murphy (02) 279 9344 8622 / 0413 239 131. www.myl05.com/64946

n I, Aussie Racing Car FOR SALE, Team KiLLA.com.au offers for sale, ARC Ford '40 Coupe. Many spares available. Consistent Top 10 Car. Must sell ASAP, changed to Future Racers Category, 2 new cars have arrived, need it out of the garage. Pics & Vids aviail @ www.KiLLA.com.au MAKE ME AN OFFERI. $28,000 Neg, Mike 0418 753 256.

279 www.my105.com/12502

I Race Winning Saloon Car, 4 years development, many race wins, pole positions and lap records. New engine and gearbox, spares including 2 sets of wheels, one of the best in the country. $22,000 Or Best Offer.

280 Kurt(07) 3368 1188 / 0419 705 531 www.myl05.com/62825

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Saloon Car, Very reliable and competitive Saloon car. Ready to race with nothing to spend. Comes with heaps of spares eg, engines, gearbox, diff, rims, tyres, panels. $22,000. Ashley 0408 423 300, www.myl05.com/96798

10 March 2004

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1977 Holden Torana SS, 500hp 350Chev, 9"diff Recaro seat. 6 time state class HillclimbChamp, Aust class title winner twice.

Trailer Included. Records held everywhere.

Too many spares to list. Proven winner. $20,000 ONO. Dennis 04^1 991 133 279 www.myl05.eom/50452

XR6 AUll, PROCAR Champ Series - XR6 AUll Tickford built - ex Longhurst. Perfect entry level car eligible Procar Aust Production Car Champ, dry fuel system eligibility for Bathurst 2HR/24HR, best of everything. Including $7000 Proflex suspension, new engine, gearbox, spare Tickford gearbox, 4 sets of wheels 20 tyres, 279 $29,500. (07) 5574 6811. www.myl05.com/71903 RSS-'

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Commodore VS Future Tourer, Built to a standard, not a price with all new Harrop components. Immaculate 5 meetings old.

Sandown 20.8, Calder 63.2, Winton 32,4, suit new Wakefield Park Series, Champagne Rallies, Sprints Sports Sedan or fantastic Shell for new Commodore Cup series. A ready to go competitive car with spares package. Price - Talk to mel. Brett 279 0402 456 281. www.myl05.com/73276

24 Group A, Original Group A Cams Log Book Ground up rebuild just completed. Complete with 5lt BRE race engine,Jerico g/box, Brembo brakes, Simmons wheels, onboard air jacks, group C body kit and the list goes on. This is an original Les Small built car to same specs as the Chickadee commodore.

279 $35,000. Wayne 0413 446 122. www.my105.eom/66004

Porsche gt3, perfectly maintained & lightly raced. Includes full road kit spare gearbox & 3 sets light weight wheels. Full particulars contact engineer on 0414582104. $175,000 279 Neg. Neil (03) 9803 6050. www.myl O5.com/10469

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Open Wheelers

Honda Civic, Ex Australian Championship Winning car with FIA approved cage, MotecECU, Hewland gearbox with Mugen LSD, Proflex suspension, magnesium wheels, carbon/kevlar seats. Plus much more. With spares. $25,000.

279 Call Dave (08) 9444 3833. www.myl05.eom/79830

RX7 Sports Sedan, 13b turbo, T04, Microtech MTX8, 430 HP Supra gearbox, comp clutch, borg Warner 4,11 cambered diff, comp SUSP, Cobra seat, datalogger, 8 x 16inch wheels & 8 Dunlop Slicks, log book, turn key. Daytona body kit. With spares.

Safety fuel cell. $15,000. Rod 0403 254 387 279 / (07) 3396 9255. www.my105.com/1754S

Oallara F396 Mugen/Honda, Aircon Racing offers for sale this immaculately presented F396 Dallara complete with fresh Neil Brown MF204B Honda engine. Also includes spare wisbones, set of wheels, spare nose, wings, etc, /\lso spare MF204B Honda available at extra cost. $55,000 Neg. 280 Patrick Cahill (03) 9786 6600. www.myl05.com/86727 Hlllclimb Car, 2003 Victorian hillclimb Championship winning car, 1996 Swift Formula Ford, converted to Libre, 1700cc pushrod Ford engine with Motec engine management features, launch, traction control, quad throttle body injection and ignition, ceramic coated exhaust, produces in excess of 170 BHP, Acer Laptop included, LD200 Hewland, Powerflow LSD centre, new crown wheel and pinion, spare ratios, new fire extinguisher system, new battery and new spare, jump starter battery, new Willans 6 point harness, new aluminium radiators, 3 sets of light weight wheels with Avon Hillclimb tyres, 2 sets dry, 1 set wets, one set of over sized Formula Ford wheels with new Avon circuit slicks, plus one set of spare wheels same configuration, 1 set of Formula Ford wheels and tyres, 1 set of traveller wheels, car cover, lifter, spare front panei, front and rear wings. Ready to use, very competitive, under 2 litre track record Morwell. $39,500 ONO. Andrew (03) 5443 0810 / 0418 510 462.

280 www.myl05.com/28418

i£Msi£rnoiHeATiiio

%^ Lotus 7 Clubman, Professionally built by ex FI constructor. Fully registered as a Lotus [but is a Replica]. $20500 Neg. Rod 0403 254 387 /(07) 3396 9255.

Malcolm 0418 835 206 279 www.myl05.com/63599

I Torana XU1 Tarmack Rally Car, LMS, has great history, classic Adelaide top 10 outright comes complete less engine - this car is fully sorted and ready to go - engine available if required. $25,000. John 0412 8234 442.

280 www.my105.com/40932

HQ Race Car, 2003; QLD State Championship winning car, consistant top 3 finisher, fresh engine/gearbox, heaps of spares, setup info, $7,500 neg. Brett 0402 472 951.

280 www.my105.com/48210 Commodore Cup Race Car, Very well maintained race oar. 3rd in 2003 National Series. $20,000 ONO, Lee Holdsworth 0408 177 936.

279 www.my105.com/14881

for sale, mkl cortina, log books, 45mm Webers, v6 capri brakes, a6 cosworth cam, ready to run, has to go as it is now just collecting dust. $6,300 ONO, Leo (02) 9703 3416 / 0410 474 238. 279 www.myl05.eom/5609

Mazda IVIx5 Racecar, all new: AVO coil over suspension, extractors, bucket seat, 5pt harness, brake rotors, 1,8 brakes and race exhaust, good condition, dyno tuned at competative hp.$16 000 ONO. 279 John (07) 3393 1588. www.myl05.eom/63022

for sale, peugeot 405 super-tourer (95) complete rolling chassis, with hewland 6speed sequential,plus zytec engine managment system,19inch wheels 8 piston brembo brakes and much more. $20,000 Or 278 Best Offer, bryce 0416 172 762. www.my105.com/83814

& Formula 3, 398 Dallara TOMS Toyota Very competitive car, full Motec dash and ecu, professionally maintained, set-up data supplied, large spares package Included including dozens of ratios. Ideal for either class in Australian F3. $69,000 ONO, Mike 0403 046 403.

278 www.my105.com/54874

Formula Ford, Chassis/engine for sale/iease. Maintained by Troy Dunstan Racing, Speedtech engine. 4x3 way Penske shocks, MoTec Dash, large Inventory of spares. Package can be adjusted to meet your budget, lincludes delivery to lOOOkIms. Great opportunity to get a FF with all the ‘bits' that makes a front running car.

279 $47,500 Neg. 0419 777 977. www.my105.com/79793

1987 Indy 500, Ex Emerson Fittipaldi 1987 Indy 500. Mariboro Penske Team. Rebuild current engine 'Chevy A' 2.65 turbo 850+ HP. or fit Cosworth DFX. Potentially the fastest race car in Australia. Suit historic or collector worth over AUD$100,000 or US$75,000 restored, sacrifice due to business commitments. $59,500.

279 (07) 5574 6811. www.myl05.eom/98067

Open wheeler, Westfield Clubman, Booth prepared, Toyota3SGE, Motec, Hollinger 5Spd with Loveday remote Quickshift, Ford Motorsport LSD + more. Spare race wheels & gearbox components. Giant killer which is ready for 2004 Sportscar Championship.

C/W enclosed trailer. 35,000 Neg. Adrian 0417 327 988.

279 www.myl05.com/77394

TiMfwav to sell your gear! From just$25" Justlog on

(*$25 applies to ads entered directly onto my105.com) Advertising can also be supplied using thisform ($10/$15 surchage to text only/text + pic advertisements) Advertisements will appear in next possible issue of i.'iotorsport

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online classifieds Category: □ Sedans □ Open Wheelers

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motorsport oews

CLASSIFIEDS Speedway I

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For Sale and/or Lease Drive, Daliara 301 update, the winner of the Australian F3 2003 Championship driven by Michael Caruso.

Ready to race. Spares/Transporter available. Call Mick Caruso (02) 9905 5814 0418 481 122 or or e-mail bms@optusnet.com.au.

280 www.myl05.com/63986

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TURBO ROTARY RALT, Dowled, ported, iilanetti ceramic seals. Ball bearing turbo, external w/gate,multi plate clutch,alloy flywheel, microtech,dual bosch pumps,4 stage dry sump, huge spares, pi dash, 8 wheels, ratios, tyres, arms, moulds, d/shafts,discs,pads,wings. 600hp awesome to drive. $75,000 Or Best Offer.

Michael 0411 676 429.

280 www.myl05.com/52281

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HILL CLIMB / FORMULA LIBRA, Fast competitive hill climb special, link ecu, 4wheei disk breaks, new omp harness & steering wheel, 4 new tyres, turbo, intercooled, on unrego trailer. Ready to race in 2004 hill climb series. $8,900 or best offer. Kym 0402 144 828, www.myl05.com/37151

Cheetah MK7 Formula 2, Ex-Hugh Gartley - Trick pushrod Celica, Penske Shocks, Pagid pads. Firebomb. Totally refurbished & re-engineered to an exacting standard. 4 sets of wheels, 20 ratios, uprights, springs, engine & g/box spares. Available with all original bodywork and trailer. Complete package nothing to spend, eligible grp R Historic - Immaculate Urgent Sale. $28,000.00 Neg. Bruce 0418 824 282, 278 www.myl05.com/71187

Maxim Sprintcar, 1999 Maxim Sprintcar.

Complete rolling chassis. Currently run as 360 car, with very little use. Straight car, with near new Winters rear end and all good running gear. 25 Gai. Outlaw Fuel Cell, wings and Sander wheels. Phone 0418 502 277 498, 16,500. 0418 502 498. www.myl05.com/12329

Engines ROTARY 13B PP, Kim Ledger built 13B P/P. Brand NEW, still In box! Perfect for circuit/drags racing. Complete engine needs carb/injection/water pump. Dry sump operation. Brilliant motor built by the "Master of Rotary”. $10,000 Not Neg. Richard 0412 320 940.

279 www.myl05.eom/4088 Lotus Twim Cam, 1650cc, totally rebuilt, all machining operations, new Cosworth pistons, new LI Cams, Vandervell bearings, LTW cam buckets, head full rebuild, big valves, balanced, rods and crank shotpeened, 45mm side draft Webers excellent and new. Lotus twin cam escort, rolling body with id plates, has been fully stripped and needs rebuild, $7500 OR $15,000 for the car and engine. $12,000.

0417 319 948 / (03) 9585 5270 (h).

279 www.myl05.com/52984

Parts Parts for Sale, Escort competiion struts with externally adjustable Koni's 2.5" ID threaded adjusters 2501b King Springs concentric tops in Capri legs $1000, Brembo 4 spot calipers $900, 4 13x7 Rebel wheels, 2 sets of custom rear leaves by King's 1901b and 220lb's brand new $250,Escort RS 4 spoke wheels 13x6 $450.

279 Danny 0409 470 055. www.my105.com/62619 Alloy Wheels, Toyota Supra Factory 2x16x9, 2x16x8 with bridgestone 540 50%.PCD 114 offset 50. $400.00. Also 4x16x7 Toyota Supra factory turbo $200.00.

279 Jeff 0418 277 902. www.myl05.com/39953 Pit Flooring, Approximately 90 sq metres of ex Williams FI flooring tiles. Colour blue. Price $3000.00 AUD. Contact Bronte Rundle 0412 846 997 or (08) 8254 8444, 279 www.my105.com/43718 Avon Hillclimb Tyres, 2 sets, one set are A45 fronts A40 rears in full cut wets, used for one run. Size 2 x 9 x 21 x 13 fronts and 2 X 12 X 23 X 13 Price $1,200. Second set are A15 fronts A15 rears in slicks used for one meeting. Size2x9x21x12fronts and 2 X 12 X 23 X 13 rears. Price $1,000.

280 Andrew (03) 5443 0810, www.myl 05.com/17516

Cheap Wings & Slicks, Full C of D & historic log book. Beaut little car, ideal entry level. Well built with all the right gear.

Recent rebuild of all mechanicals and ready to race. Complete with excellent trailer and spares. $23,000 Neg. 279 Paul Scott 0413 057 097. www.myl05.com/67439

10 March 2004

LJ Torana XU-1, (no or Improved Production). Exhaust system left side exit (new) - $350, exhaust system right side exit - $250, Heavy duty radiator - $350, XU1 M21 gearbox $875,14 x 8 (4) Rebel wheels with one meeting old 008R' - new wheel nuts - $850, 2 piece period fibreglass front spoiler with fabricated undertray incorporating brake ducts similar ASX $350, Engine. 202 Blue short motor dry sump. Tank, pump, braided hoses included.

300 plus h.p with good head - $2500.

279 0412 670 422, Gary www.myl05.com/73227

Parts for sale (new), Battery box - Suit Oddesy Aerospace CNC - billet 230,00 Carby: Tool tray Moroso 710-65800 160.00 Carby - Gold Claw - 826 Barry Grant 7423010 1450.00 Dip stick - Billet (suit Chev) Billet Specialties 120.00 Distributor plug Pro billet MSD 8513 190.00 Distributor hold-down clamp CSI 870R 55.00 Flywheel -Aluminium & 11" clutch (suit Chev)800.00 Fluidampner 7 1/4” for internal balance 712430-002 620.00 Fuel Pressure regulator - 2 port Aerospace CNC - billet 200.00 Gauge - Fuel tank level Autometer Pro Comp 5417 230.00 Gauge - Fuel pressure Autometer Pro Comp 5461 360,00 Gauge Speedo Autometer Pro Comp 5154 280.00 Gauge - Tacho Autometer Pro Comp 6851 700.00 Gauge - Trans temp Autometer Pro Comp 5451 180.00 Gauge - Vacuum Autometer Pro Comp 5484 140,00 Mounts (engine) - Eurathane TCI Suit Chev 355-31114R pair 200.00 Mount (trans) Eurathane TCI T-350 355-3-1108R 60.00 Oil filler cap - Billet Stefs 69500E 50.00 Oil filter re-usable Systems-1 180.00 Oil filter Adapter Barnes 8909 100.00 Oil pump Blueprinted (SBC) Moroso 22112 270.00 Pedals - Brake & Clutch Aerospace CNC billet pair 550,00 Shifter - Quarter Stick Hurst Suit 350+400 316-0006 350.00 Shifter Solenoid -1-2 shift Hurst Suit above 226-0020 250.00 Shifter cover - Hurst Hurst Suit above 130-0055 120.00 Shifter knob Hurst Hurst Suit above 163-2006 70.00 Sway bar kit - for rear Jerry Bickel JBRC1038 820.00 Telescopic fuel log - billet DaVinci Suit 950 Carb 330.00 Thermo Switch Moroso 63760 60.00 Trans Shield Kevlar CSI Turbo 350 833 680.00 Trans Sump - Aluminium Stefs Turbo 350 4003 360.00 Trans Cooler + 10” fan Perma-Cool 12311 380.00 Trans Dip stick - chrome Turbo 350 80.00 Trans Dip stick - Billet Turbo 350 160,00 Water filler neck - for AN hose Aerospace + radiator cap CNC billet 165.00. Michael 0418 228 438. 279 www.myl05.eom/29920

Coliectable/Memorabilia Home Movies Motorsport, Wanted home movies on 8 mill, Super 8 (or other format) of motor racing from 1960 to 1980 (Tasman Series, Gold Star, National Sports & Touring Cars). Transfer from film to video/dvd free of charge to owner video project. contact upcoming steve@capricommedia.com.au or(02)9659 0665.

276 www.my105.com/44486 Motoring Books - Collectors' Clearance, Vast range - over 1200 titles at Discount prices. New lists each month - call now for January list ... chrismx@bigpond.net.au or (02) 9997 8428, fax (02) 9979 5799. 279 www.myl05,com/79192

For Lease

For Lease, OLD Gemini Series & OLD HQ Series Racecars. Cheapest form of entry into Motorsport. JOBS ON Motorsport & Car Sales, "Arrive & Drive” Easy CAMS Licence Upgrades. Test Days and Tuition Available.

Budgets to suit most requirments. Call to discuss your needs! CAWIERON (07) 5591 2377.

279 www.myl05.com/14458 Drive Available - Formula Ford, Old Championship, Bathurst and Indy Championship winning Team, Greg (07) 5446 7611 / 0411 052 944. www.myl05.eom/60B13

Coswoth, cosworth cylinder head 2wd with valves & cams verniers fitted, red top cam cover, coswoth crank and fly wheel, cosworth con rods x 4. cosworth block. cosworth exhaust manifold new. cosworth inlet manifold new. offers please must sell change of plans, offers. Steve 0404194911.

278 www.myl05.com/83429

Transporters/Trailers

f--ifJiirry, 36ft Gooseneck and 93 Chev dually, 36ft Gooseneck, tri axel 12v/240v, free standing annexe, elec winch, frop axels, beaver tail, skylights, $20,000. 93 Chev Dually, crewcab, ac, 12 slack CD, new tyres, new carpel, seats 6, gas, fuel, lowered 41n/6in, pwer vision mirrors, GM Tonnea, $50,000. Bruce 0417 790 944 / 281 (07) 5496 9066. www.my105.com/4912 Trailer for Sale, Lightweight trailer to suit FA/ee or Historic Openwheeler etc, includes ramps 9 Months Rego used Once immaculate Condition. $1400 ONO. Ray 281 (02) 9639 4039, www.myl05.com/21848

The buyer was the firsy guy that called from your website. I thought the whole 105 service was excellent. -1. Brooks.

Buyer called from seeing ad, a great way to reach the appropiate market. -I.Bridge

Race Car Transporter, can fit three open wheelers and/or one sedan, includes generator, fridge, shower, too many extras to list, no expense spared. John 0418 577 710. 278 www.my105.com/53371

Get it seen Get it soid!

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motorspon

news

EDITORIAL STAFF Editor: Phil Branagan l editor@mnews.com.au Deputy Editor: Mark Glendenning l mark@mnew5.com.au News Editor: Aaron Noonan l noonz@mnews.com.au National Editor: Grant Rowley l grant@mnews.com.au

Pitstop excitement I am rapt to hear that there might be a V8 Supercar pit stop competition this year(MNews #276)

^otNsporf

It would give the 'workers' of the Supercars a chance to show their skill.

PROOUGTION Adv & Graphics Co-ordinator: Viv Brumby l viv@mnews.com.au ADVERTISING Brendon Sheridan - PR Driven Tel: 03 9550 0870 Fax; 03 9550 0816 mobile: 0407 007 286 l ads@mnews.com.au ADMINISTRATIDN Managing Director/Pubiisher: Chris Lambden l publisher@mnews.com.au GONTAGTS 357 Nepean Highway, Brighton East Vic 3187 (PO Box 7072, Gardenvale, ViC 3186) Ph: 03 9596 5555 Fax: 03 9596 5030 Email: mnews@mnews.com.au CONTRIDUTORS FI: Joe Saward, Adam Cooper, Paolo Filisetti Europe: Quentin Spurring, Gary Watkins, David Addison US: Phil Morris, Martin D. Clark Speedway: Brett Swanson, Julie Pearce, Geoff Rounds, Wade Aunger, Tony Millard (UK), Greg Boscato Rally: Jon Thomson Histories; Brian Reed Drag Racing; Greg Ward, Jon Asher (USA), Dave Ostaszewski (USA), Nick Nicholas, Steven White, Ken Ferguson National; Mark Wicks, Sean Henshelwood, Mark Jones, Dave Conole, Chris Jordan Photographers: Sutton Motorsport Images, Dirk Klynsmith, Bothwell Photographic, Marshall Cass, Nigel Snowdon & Diana Burnett, AFl Images, Neil Hammond, Slipstream Photographic, Allsport, John Morris/Mpix, Frank Midgley, Peter Bury, Mike Patrick (UK), Chris Carter, James Smith, Paris Charles, Bob Potts Motorsport News is published by Australasian Motorsport News - ABN 55 125 120 702 Publisher: C Lambden Printed by: Offset Alpine Printing Pty Ltd, Lidcombe, NSW. 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.

While they are making the changes,they should dump the shoot-out. It's not true qualifying and is just another cost teams can do without.

Tex Hansen Noonamah NT

converter

yesteryear and it got me thinking.

When was the last time a V8

Send us your thoughts: mail: PO Box 7072, Gardenvale, VIC 3186 fax: 03 9596 5030 email: mnews@mnews.com.au

Supercar failed scrutineering or was disqualified for having illegalities? I can't think of one instance of this happening since the 1980s.

others have a long,long way to come.

They may say FI will die if Ferrari continue to dominate, but I reckon

Where are the cheats?

I have been reading another magazine (sorry MNews)that writes about the cars and stars of

I can't believe that nobody is cheating out there and we never here anything about it. Is scrutineering still done before and after meetings?

Do we have a 'Parc Ferme' after each

it's just fantastic!

race or meeting to check legality of cars? I am not accusing anyone of anything,I am just curious ...

Brian Gibson Port Kembla NSW

Unlike many people who are spitting chips over the results at Albert Park,I am not an anti-Schumacher or anti-

ED:Major scrutineering is done at teams' premises, especially for new cars, although tech men retain the right to spot-check anything at any time. Post-race pare ferme still exists, in case there are any post-race tech protests. But,as you say,it's been a while since there's been any major drama- or have the PR-conscious folk at AVESCO been keeping it quiet?...

One of the Tifosi I was so glad to see Ferrari hose the field at Albert Park.

All the pre-race media hype turned out to be just as crap as the performance of BAR,Williams Walrus and McLaren. Renault were the only squad that look like they've made gains in the winter.

But, as we are accustomed to, the best team in the field won,and the

Vince Mirarchi Hoxton Park NSW

Not one of the Tifosi

Ferrari person.

But it is clear that Michael's and Scuderia's continual domination will be detrimental to the sport. If the Australian Grand Prix is indicative of

Even Crompton made some boo boos. When there was a passing move early in the race, Crompton kept explaining something to us.

When there is passing in FI, you must get excited! It doesn't happen very often, so I would think that you'd take the opportunity to scream down the microphone and get the viewer interested. Hey,the race was heU boring - it needed something to capture our attention.

Also, when Webber was carving up the Albert Park track on his great qualifying lap, why was there hardly any commentary. Both Bill and Neil went very quiet. Improvements are needed,boys.

I don't want to whmge,but the talking-heads needs to be spot on.

From what I know,Allen and Brundle are the best at the moment- let's listen to them please.

Edward Watt via email

Who owns HRT? In reply to the letter'Would the real Sfim Skaifey please stand up'.

Note: You stated that it's the teams who own the numbers on the cars.

Well, who do you think owns HRT? Mr Skaife, and he took Todd's number...

Tess Taylor Mt Claremont WA

Sprintcar format for V8s?

the performance advantage that the Ferrari team will enjoy this season, then I predict that they may have a season similar to that of the McLaren-

I was gutted to see Mark Webber pull out of this year's Austrahan Grand Prix.

Hondas in 1988. The only difference would be that Prost and Senna were

He had a great build up and deserved better than finishing in the

allowed to race each other that year for the driver's championship.

Simon Dale

Jaguar garage. But I must congratulate him on qualifying sixth.

He really is a fine ambassador for our country.

The V8 races were a bit boring at the Grand Prix. Hopefully the season doesn't pan out like that. I'm sick of watching those cars trail each other nose-to-tail. If that continues, they'll have to introduce sprint races with reverse grids...

Andrew Franklin Werribee VIC

Endeavour Hills, Victoria

Wuzz up with Commentary?

I wasn't impressed with the commentary on the Formula 1 telecast.

Why didn't we hear James Allen and Martin Brundle's voice? I don't mind hstening to Neil Crompton,but I just don't think Billy Woods gets it.

‘Opinions expressed in Motorsport News are not necessarily those of Australasian Motorsport News or its staff.

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Post your cheque/money order to the address above, fax your credit card details (Bankcard, VISA, Mastercard, or Amex)to 03 9596 5030 or email to mnews@mnews.com.au

ji^lphawest.

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The Year of the Red race car: Ok, not all cars are red, but a lot of them are. But are there any cheats in this pack? Brian Gibson can't believe there are no rule-breakers. When someone gets caught, Brian, we'll tell you ...

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ARP® manufactures the fasteners that keep a 6,000 horsepower fuel motor together, can handle the demands of ^ an 18,000 RPM Formula 1 -/ powerplant, and have the cyclic ./ durability to perform flawlessly in ./ ,/ 500 mile Super Speedway and A Endurance racing applications. ' // The ARP® engineering team has developed superior fasteners for virtually every popular automotive and marine application.

Bottom line., you invest thousands of dollars in your engine so make sure you use the best fasteners to hold it together...ARP® Fasteners

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ARP^ also manufacture a range of tools for the desiring engine » builder checkout the full range % atwww.rocketind.com

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Call for your nearest stockist Rocket Industries Is the Manufacture's Appointed

Distributor tor ARP Fasteners In Australia.

All enaulrles should he directed to: Ph (02108251900 Fax: (02188251911 Email: sales@rocketlnd.com

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For full range & application Guide get your Rocket Super Cataiogue

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Why do champion motorsport drivers choose Yokohama tyres?

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Available from

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Yokohama key dealer 131 509 Bob Jane T-Mart 13 26 25

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