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ALONSO SPEAKS MY NEW LIFE AT MCLAREN THE NEWS BEHIND THE NEWS
news
No.353 24 Januaty -6 February 2007 Australia $6.50 NZ $8.00 inc GST
EXCLUSIVE!
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FORD SEES RED O s
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WEEKEND AT the ftUSSlE GP 02
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STARS Auiste dazzles at Monte Carlo
BRILLIANT Dream Daytona debut for Marcm
Issue 353 24 January6 February 2007
vjiy
5 www.mnews.com.au
NEWS 5
Jedi Leader?
NotTeamYodafone,TeamVodafone
6
Young Fordies
A Blue Ova!'junior'program
8
And,for dessert? Abu Dhabigetsin on Fi act
9
Bruce Almighty Coming soon:McLaren,the movie
12 FI vs 320i vs ?
Speed Comparison on for AGP
OPINION 25 Motor Mouth
Marcos's first days at Daytona
m m
30 Five Miriutes withDohn/Sehatz 32 Five MinuteSVfIfh Alan Gurr ^Mj^lJing to Perform *‘^^A day on the road with FPR's Steven Richards 40 Troys take it to the Max A look into World Superbikes,2007-style 44 New year, new team...Even new hair Fernando Alonso takes to red and silver 48 NASCAR's Professor remembered Motor racing will miss Benny Parsons t
SO Audi,Beware! Peugeotgets ready for a diesel Le Mans war DM
M'<Dld^r Pironi revisited A sad end to a promising,almostgreatcareer
Only Total
d seiection... off|frs/you the winning piston ring technoiogy |
n Advanifsed Profiling. I Steel hiings / I ■I Diamond Finisl|.M Rings ■ Golidi Flni5h.M Riig Sets Di Gapless® Top* Rings i Gap less® 2nd Rings
n Napier 2nd Rings i Classic/Conveniional Ring Sets i Advantage Ring Sets ■ Gapless® One Piece Oil Rings ■ ProRall.M & Custom Oil Rings i PVD & IP Coatings
n Tight Tolerances n Custom Face Profiles ■ Any Bdre, Thickness or Radial Dimension m Bore Sizes Available in .001” Increments
Visit us ottiine for oiir ffiii product range avaiiahie from your nearest distributor www.performancewHolesale.com.au
Ph; 07 3808 1986
HOUIB
GB0&SB® PiBtBgl Rln0
‘pnlenteci 1 patent pencil
*
Ifijtgke 'B, We hate Eddie Maguire'. And lockjtin M tM questions to last issue's MNews qul^"^^ t.
Totai -
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58 Alio'Alio, miWWiWme?^^^m
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Loeb returns. In Monte CarlO^m^,
>,
i.. %
NATIONAL & INTERNATimAfki^Z 22 Rally
Photos ' '^over: . xTeamVodatone
60 International 62 Speedway 66 Drag Racing 70 National Scene
. sutton^imqges.^m *' ', Jpdrd Rming Media ^^ Sdniehts; ' CfttseihSport ,^t4on-iiftages,com Tt^fh\Vodafohe » ■Nmcm Media %oss Sibb
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76 Race Shop/Industry News 79 Classifieds > t.
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Issue 353 24 January6 February 2007
vjiy
5 www.mnews.com.au
NEWS 5
Jedi Leader?
NotTeamYodafone,TeamVodafone
6
Young Fordies
A Blue Ova!'junior'program
8
And,for dessert? Abu Dhabigetsin on Fi act
9
Bruce Almighty Coming soon:McLaren,the movie
12 FI vs 320i vs ?
Speed Comparison on for AGP
OPINION 25 Motor Mouth
Marcos's first days at Daytona
m m
30 Five Miriutes withDohn/Sehatz 32 Five MinuteSVfIfh Alan Gurr ^Mj^lJing to Perform *‘^^A day on the road with FPR's Steven Richards 40 Troys take it to the Max A look into World Superbikes,2007-style 44 New year, new team...Even new hair Fernando Alonso takes to red and silver 48 NASCAR's Professor remembered Motor racing will miss Benny Parsons t
SO Audi,Beware! Peugeotgets ready for a diesel Le Mans war DM
M'<Dld^r Pironi revisited A sad end to a promising,almostgreatcareer
Only Total
d seiection... off|frs/you the winning piston ring technoiogy |
n Advanifsed Profiling. I Steel hiings / I ■I Diamond Finisl|.M Rings ■ Golidi Flni5h.M Riig Sets Di Gapless® Top* Rings i Gap less® 2nd Rings
n Napier 2nd Rings i Classic/Conveniional Ring Sets i Advantage Ring Sets ■ Gapless® One Piece Oil Rings ■ ProRall.M & Custom Oil Rings i PVD & IP Coatings
n Tight Tolerances n Custom Face Profiles ■ Any Bdre, Thickness or Radial Dimension m Bore Sizes Available in .001” Increments
Visit us ottiine for oiir ffiii product range avaiiahie from your nearest distributor www.performancewHolesale.com.au
Ph; 07 3808 1986
HOUIB
GB0&SB® PiBtBgl Rln0
‘pnlenteci 1 patent pencil
*
Ifijtgke 'B, We hate Eddie Maguire'. And lockjtin M tM questions to last issue's MNews qul^"^^ t.
Totai -
'.f* n
58 Alio'Alio, miWWiWme?^^^m
\
Loeb returns. In Monte CarlO^m^,
>,
i.. %
NATIONAL & INTERNATimAfki^Z 22 Rally
Photos ' '^over: . xTeamVodatone
60 International 62 Speedway 66 Drag Racing 70 National Scene
. sutton^imqges.^m *' ', Jpdrd Rming Media ^^ Sdniehts; ' CfttseihSport ,^t4on-iiftages,com Tt^fh\Vodafohe » ■Nmcm Media %oss Sibb
'
76 Race Shop/Industry News 79 Classifieds > t.
\
1
K
I
\
CXClUStVQ
3
fiSfS"”
SSSlS.
NEWS.. —
TeamVodafone breaks cover Lowndes and Whincup turn the blue oval into a red oval with telecommunications giant TEAMVODAFONE will certainly stand out from the crowd in 2007, with its two Falcon BFs turning red and chrome! As first confirmed by MNews back in October,the telco-backed team will wear red - the colour that has been more closely associated with Holden, and particularly the Holden Racing Team, over the years.The'red and chrome' look, which TeamVodafone shares with Vodafone-backed McLaren,is a first for V8 Supercars and will undoubtedly ensure the two Fords stand out on the grid. Triple 8 Race Engineering and the communications giant launched TeamVodafone in Sydney yesterday, the team becoming the first to have its launch beamed to thousands of handsets around the country. Vodafone's 3G subscribers were able to tune in to the occasion on their handsets at 11 am and watch on the dedicated TeamVodafone channel. Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup start testing the team's revised cars after the testing ban ends in the second half of February. -PHILBRANAGAN
AMBROSES'SSTUNNING DAYTONA DEBUT r;wiirtjiraiJl linn aSularnmn l nlMBm nil k'l B Rli
1i9R WPJ fl f?
AUSTRALIAN international driver Marcos Ambrose has concluded an impressive three-day test at Daytona International Speedway, setting top 10 times while learning the fast Florida superspeedway. The 30-year-old Tasmanian completed 209 laps over the three days in his #59A and #59B Kingsford Charcoai Ford Fusions around the famous 2.5-mile Daytona Beach circuit. Ambrose and his new crew chief Greg Conner got busy over the weekend, working on both solo and drafting runs. While Ambrose was pleased with his progress (his first time at the bumpy Daytona track), lap times weren't at the forefront of his mind. "I'm happy with what we have been able to achieve over the past three days,"said Ambrose. "The timesheets were not our priority. The important thing at this test has been for the team to work together and try some new things on the car. We've done that and made progress with every session. "I'm really pleased with how It's all gone.The team gelled right from the first session and we worked through a lot of things over the three days in terms of car set-up and getting our car to w/ork better on superspeedways." Ambrose's next run in the car will be in two weeks at Las Vegas for more testing, before returing to Daytona for the first round of the NASCAR Busch Series. For more with Marcos Ambrose,see Motor Mouth,page 24
motorsponiniet/vs
TeamVodafone n yf
vodafone
Vodafone
Make the most ofNow:TeamVodafone's Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes unveiled their hot new warpaint in Sydney.
False startfor Ford's Orion FORD'S plans to race its successor to the Falcon BF V8 Supercar,codenamed 'Orion', in time for the start of the 2008 season have been shelved. The Blue Oval teams will now face Holden's new-generation Commodore VE for 2007 and at least half of the 2008 season, although the new Falcon may not be introduced until the 2009 Clipsal 500. The delay has been caused by a policy shift within Ford.The company sees the road-going Orion, which is expected to be all-new, making up as big a part of its marketing strategy as the Commodore is to Holden's and, because of that, is not willing to do anything to lessen its impact.That means that to have a V8 Supercar under development in parallel with the road car (and, potentially, visible to the public or media), is an unacceptable risk. According to Ford Racing Manager Ray Price, the launch date of the Orion is still being finalised. "We are still working on it," he said this week. "We have made some progress but it is www.mnews.com.au
about four weeks before we will lock that in." The Orion had been planned to launch in early-to-mid March 2008 and be on sale shortly thereafter. Making a big impact is seen as an imperative, particularly in light of the fact that Ford is likely to face the same large-car image problems (driven by the cost of fuel) that have faced Holden with its VE. To maximise the impact of the roadcar. Ford is understandably keen to maintain a veil of secrecy over the Orion, even if it means racing the superseded BF model against the Holden for the whole year. But one option is to introduce the new car mid-season, as Holden did with its Commodore VT in 1998. "I would say 2008 is flexible for us, in that there is two entry[homologation] points for us," Price explained."There is one for the whole of the year and one in the middle of the year. We need to work out which one will be best for us." To understand the timeline of the development of the Orion, the best indicator is the VE timeline.The development team, .Holden Racing Team,took delivery of a shell
in late April 2006, in order to have a working prototype (forTEGA aerodynamic testing) by early September.The Commodore road car was shown to the world on July 16 and went on sale in mid-August. By the final quarter of the year, Holden teams were taking delivery of their bodyshells and work is now underway to have cars completed in time for testing, which starts in the third week of February. In order to have the Orion race cars trackready for the first week of March '09, Ford teams would have to have bodyshells by late-October/early November, and the development team (probably Ford Performance Racing) would need around nine months to develop a track-ready fleet of Fords to tackle the then-race-proven VEs. The question now is, not so much whether the cars will make the start of 2008 - they won't - but whether the cars will be ready in 2008 at all. If the BFs remains competitive in 2008, and Ford drivers are in contention for a title, a conservative route (and a March '09 debut) might just be too appealing to give up ...
5
NEWS.. —
TeamVodafone breaks cover Lowndes and Whincup turn the blue oval into a red oval with telecommunications giant TEAMVODAFONE will certainly stand out from the crowd in 2007, with its two Falcon BFs turning red and chrome! As first confirmed by MNews back in October,the telco-backed team will wear red - the colour that has been more closely associated with Holden, and particularly the Holden Racing Team, over the years.The'red and chrome' look, which TeamVodafone shares with Vodafone-backed McLaren,is a first for V8 Supercars and will undoubtedly ensure the two Fords stand out on the grid. Triple 8 Race Engineering and the communications giant launched TeamVodafone in Sydney yesterday, the team becoming the first to have its launch beamed to thousands of handsets around the country. Vodafone's 3G subscribers were able to tune in to the occasion on their handsets at 11 am and watch on the dedicated TeamVodafone channel. Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup start testing the team's revised cars after the testing ban ends in the second half of February. -PHILBRANAGAN
AMBROSES'SSTUNNING DAYTONA DEBUT r;wiirtjiraiJl linn aSularnmn l nlMBm nil k'l B Rli
1i9R WPJ fl f?
AUSTRALIAN international driver Marcos Ambrose has concluded an impressive three-day test at Daytona International Speedway, setting top 10 times while learning the fast Florida superspeedway. The 30-year-old Tasmanian completed 209 laps over the three days in his #59A and #59B Kingsford Charcoai Ford Fusions around the famous 2.5-mile Daytona Beach circuit. Ambrose and his new crew chief Greg Conner got busy over the weekend, working on both solo and drafting runs. While Ambrose was pleased with his progress (his first time at the bumpy Daytona track), lap times weren't at the forefront of his mind. "I'm happy with what we have been able to achieve over the past three days,"said Ambrose. "The timesheets were not our priority. The important thing at this test has been for the team to work together and try some new things on the car. We've done that and made progress with every session. "I'm really pleased with how It's all gone.The team gelled right from the first session and we worked through a lot of things over the three days in terms of car set-up and getting our car to w/ork better on superspeedways." Ambrose's next run in the car will be in two weeks at Las Vegas for more testing, before returing to Daytona for the first round of the NASCAR Busch Series. For more with Marcos Ambrose,see Motor Mouth,page 24
motorsponiniet/vs
TeamVodafone n yf
vodafone
Vodafone
Make the most ofNow:TeamVodafone's Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes unveiled their hot new warpaint in Sydney.
False startfor Ford's Orion FORD'S plans to race its successor to the Falcon BF V8 Supercar,codenamed 'Orion', in time for the start of the 2008 season have been shelved. The Blue Oval teams will now face Holden's new-generation Commodore VE for 2007 and at least half of the 2008 season, although the new Falcon may not be introduced until the 2009 Clipsal 500. The delay has been caused by a policy shift within Ford.The company sees the road-going Orion, which is expected to be all-new, making up as big a part of its marketing strategy as the Commodore is to Holden's and, because of that, is not willing to do anything to lessen its impact.That means that to have a V8 Supercar under development in parallel with the road car (and, potentially, visible to the public or media), is an unacceptable risk. According to Ford Racing Manager Ray Price, the launch date of the Orion is still being finalised. "We are still working on it," he said this week. "We have made some progress but it is www.mnews.com.au
about four weeks before we will lock that in." The Orion had been planned to launch in early-to-mid March 2008 and be on sale shortly thereafter. Making a big impact is seen as an imperative, particularly in light of the fact that Ford is likely to face the same large-car image problems (driven by the cost of fuel) that have faced Holden with its VE. To maximise the impact of the roadcar. Ford is understandably keen to maintain a veil of secrecy over the Orion, even if it means racing the superseded BF model against the Holden for the whole year. But one option is to introduce the new car mid-season, as Holden did with its Commodore VT in 1998. "I would say 2008 is flexible for us, in that there is two entry[homologation] points for us," Price explained."There is one for the whole of the year and one in the middle of the year. We need to work out which one will be best for us." To understand the timeline of the development of the Orion, the best indicator is the VE timeline.The development team, .Holden Racing Team,took delivery of a shell
in late April 2006, in order to have a working prototype (forTEGA aerodynamic testing) by early September.The Commodore road car was shown to the world on July 16 and went on sale in mid-August. By the final quarter of the year, Holden teams were taking delivery of their bodyshells and work is now underway to have cars completed in time for testing, which starts in the third week of February. In order to have the Orion race cars trackready for the first week of March '09, Ford teams would have to have bodyshells by late-October/early November, and the development team (probably Ford Performance Racing) would need around nine months to develop a track-ready fleet of Fords to tackle the then-race-proven VEs. The question now is, not so much whether the cars will make the start of 2008 - they won't - but whether the cars will be ready in 2008 at all. If the BFs remains competitive in 2008, and Ford drivers are in contention for a title, a conservative route (and a March '09 debut) might just be too appealing to give up ...
5