Motorsport News Issue 407 - May 2011

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of the Future:Inside V8's Radical Transmission

Australian

Incorporating MOTOR RACING AUSTRALIA

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The moueahle wing explained ^ We speak to a Formula SOOO legend

No.407 May 2011

Australia $7.95 NZ $8.50 incGST

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1000 WORDS

Daniel Ricciardo keeps his eye firmly on the prize as he sits strapped in the Toro Rosso, ready for practice at Albert Park. Red Bull Media

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HOTOH KACMtO MMTIIAUA

NEWS

THIS MONTH'S FEATURES Unusual Suspects

The Grid

When we were assembling a list ofpeople to speak to aboutJamie Whincup, Mark Dutton was on top ofthe list.

He's Jamie's race engineer,and studies his every move on-track.

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We spied Pirelli's FI man Paul Hembery conducting a television interview in the Albert Park paddock - and he was speaking Italian! Not bad for a man from South Somerset, England...

THE GRIND ON GEAR^i When Car ofthe Future kicks in, V8 Supercars will move to a transaxle transmission. We investigate exactly what that means.

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ROUND,BLACK

Trying to make proper sense out of the new Drag Reduction System takes some doing, so we got FI technical illustrator Paolo Filisetti to lend a crayon or two.

Formula 7 has changed a lot since Pirelli was last a tyre supplier. Now it's back, and not at all daunted by the task of being the control manufacturer.

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But, when it came to a homegrown technical piece, Chris Lambdenjumped at the chance to visit Albins. We think hejust wanted a day trip to Ballarat... and to be honest, who wouldn't?

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Formula 1 has come up with a new way to encourage overtaking - the Drag Reduction System. So how does it actually work?

A motorsport news

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NEWS

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Making the big step to V8 Supercars FForders Chaz Mostert and Ash Walsh on their promotion to the Fujitsu Series

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Tom Williamson: New direction, same goal hie has switched from a Mygale to a Spectrum,and made a winning start to '11

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THE FRONT ROW since we last met

FORMULA 1 Sebastian Vettel has made a perfect start to the 2011 Formula 1 World Championship,taking emphatic wins in Australia and Malaysia.

Each win came from pole position, and throughout each race Vettel was never headed, making it a properly perfect two-from-two.

"Two out two is perfect, couldn't be any better, but there is still a very long way to go,"said Vettel.

"The championship is far away.There are a lot of points still to get so we have to keep our feet on the ground. At the moment things are looking good. I think we worked hard over the winter so if that is the reward then I think there is no problem putting even harder work in."

A superb second place in Malaysia sees Jenson Button the closest to Vettel at this early point, albeit 24 points behind. Still, his efforts at Sepang were impressive. Button using his trademark smoothness to make his tyres last much better than McLaren team mate Lewis Flamilton, who finished eighth and dropped to equal third in the title standings.

Flamilton is equal with Mark Webber, who has been restricted to a fifth in Australia, thanks to tyre dramas, and fourth in Malaysia, thanks to a KERS failure.

This month's honourable mention goes to Renault. In Australia, Vitaly Petrov starred,finishing third - on genuine pace. In Malaysia it was Nick Fleidfeld who led the Lotus-backed team's charge, also taking third after shadowing Vettel during the first stint.

WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP The rollercoaster ride that is the newspec World Rally Championship has continued in Portugal.

After Ford dominated on the snow in Sweden,and Citroen dominated on the gravel of Mexico, Portugal was expected to be a cakewalk for the two Sebs in the French cars. But Ford came

INDYCAR Will Power has proven he will be a force to be reckoned within the 2011 IndyCar Series, with a comfortable win at Barber Motorsports Park.

Fie started the race from pole, next to Penske team-mate Ryan Briscoe. But by the end of the race Briscoe had been taken out by Ryan Hunter-Reay,

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out fighting hard, challenging for the lead early.

But a puncture from Mikko Flirvonen on Day 2 was good luck for Sebastien Ogier. Not only did it take Flirvonen himself out of the running, but when he re-joined, he held up Sebastien Loeb in his dust.

Jari-Matti Latvala then had a driveshaft failure on Saturday afternoon, leaving Ogier the last one standing and the winner of Rally Portugal.

Loeb finished second from Latvala.

and Power won from Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti.

Fie now leads the series, two rounds in.

At the opening round in St Petersburg, Dario Franchitti won from Power and Tony Kanaan, after Briscoe was taken out in a first-corner accident triggered by Flelio Castroneves and Marco Andretti. Simona de Silvestro finished an excellent fourth for FIVM.

motorsport news

eNews of the Month V8 ENDURO SEATS ALMOST FILLED

V8 SUPERCARS Jamie Whincup has maintained his healthy lead in the 2011 V8 Supercar Championship Series, after the most recent pointsscoring round in Adelaide.

Whincup and Garth Tander shared the wins in Adelaide, with Tender's being particularly impressive. At a track where HRT often star, Tander stepped up to the plate on Saturday, qualifying fastest and beating Whincup to the win in the straightest of straight fights.

But on Sunday, Whincup got his revenge,taking his fourth Clipsal 500 win in a weather-affected race. He led home Rick Kelly and Mark Winterbottom.

There was more good news for Whincup a week later at the Australian Grand Prix. Whincup and Tander again shared for the wins, but 2-1 in Whincup's favour gave him the Albert Park 400 title, and the $500,000 cash that went with it.

But the star of Albert Park was Jason Richards. In a one-off comeback,the man battling cancer came second,second, in Saturday's race - one of the more emotional ever seen in V8 Supercar racing.

The V8 endurance driver silly season is almost done for another year.

Before Hamilton, Garry Rogers Motorsport announced they had signed the experienced Marcus Marshall, whileTriple F Racing confirmed they'd retained Michael Patrizi as Dean Fiore's partner.

A week earlier, Kelly Racing named Owen Kelly (to partner Rick Kelly), David Russell (Todd Kelly), Allan Simonsen (Greg l Murphy) and Tim Blanchard (David Reynolds) as their four enduro drivers for 2011. Owen Kelly drove with the team in 2010 with Rick, while Simonsen partnered Murphy at Bathurst last year at Paul Morris Motorsport.

As MNews went to print, only a handful of drivers were yet to be announced. Some,such as Craig Baird at HRT and Nick Percat with Bundy Racing, remain a formality, while Tony D'Alberto was yet to make a decision. Carrera Cup driver Jonny Reid appears the prime candidate to partner D'Alberto.

LATER START FOR V8s IN 2012 Look for a more compact V8 Supercar calendar in 2012.

With the 2011 season having started in Abu Dhabi on February 10 and set to finish in Homebush on December 4,V8SA wants to shorten next year's calendar by a month,to increase the length of the off-season break and aid the flow of the season.

"Our plans are, at this stage,that the championship will open next year in the Gulf, and I think that it will probably open a month later/'ChairmanTony Cochrane said in Adelaide.

"We are trying to shorten next year's season by a full month, and we cannot take it off the end, because the Sydney street race is contracted by the New South Wales government to take place in the first week in December."

CL AND JB DO BATHURST Last year's sensational 2.06.8012 set in practice for the Bathurst 1000 is no longer Craig Lowndes'fastest time around Mount Panorama.

Before the Australian Grand Prix, Lowndes and McLaren Formula 1 driver Jenson Button traded places in style at Bathurst.

Button went out first in the 2008 McLaren and did a high 1:48, the fastest ever lap of the 6.2km circuit, before Lowndes got his first taste of an FI car. He relished the opportunity,and rolled around in a lazy 1:49 during his five-lap stint.

As evidenced by Lowndes'2:11 in the V8 Supercar,(Button did a 2:17), it was a dirty track,so who knows what a 2011 FI racer could do on a pukka race weekend ...

NEW LOOK FOR ARC

MOTOGP Casey Stoner has had an up-and-down start to the 2011 MotoGP season - literally.

Having belted the field into oblivion at the first round in Qatar, Stoner was rudely taken out by Valentino Rossi at Jerez.

Rossi lost the front end of his Ducati, hitting Stoner on the way through and ruining the Aussie's race.

Jorge Lorenzo went on to win comfortable from fellow Spaniard Dani Pedrosa. Nicky Hayden was third.

www.mnews.com.au

The shape of the Australian Rally Championship will change over the next three years.

In 2012, a new class for Sports Utility Vehicles will be introduced, while the format for outright cars will be changed to a brand-new,two-wheel-drive platform in 2013. Both sets of regulations will be aimed at increasing manufacturer involvement in the ARC,and announced at Rally Australia in September.

Motorsport ©News available 8pm Mondays. www.mnews.com.au

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'PHIL

BRANAGAN MOTOR MOUTH

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Grand Prix-less existence.

NE of the things I most like about New Which brings me to the race York City is the Staten at Albert Park.The Victorian Island Ferry. treasury had dictated that the AGP Corporation slash All day,every day,it glides expenditure,and admit I went (or chops) its way between looking for a'Jetsfar'Australian Manhattan,the most populated ofthe city's five boroughs,and GP, rather than the pukka QantasStaten Island,the least. Best of all, branded version.]could not the ride, which takes you right find much to suggest where the past the Statue of Liberty, is free. corners had been cut.

Just prior to the event,the So, I went looking in Staten mass media (rather than we Island for signs of Grand Prix fever. Y'see,there are motor racing chaps) burst into suggestions that Bernie song,asking everyone and anyone if the race would last.

Ecclestone's long-held wish to This, in spite of the fact that the see Formula 1 racing in front of 20,11 GP is the first of a series the mostfamous cityscape in the world could be fulfilled by governed by a new contract that, if I know anything about having a race on the island. In fact,there was much discussion the sport, certainly contains an exit clause with, no doubt,an aboutjust that, shortly before the Australian Grand Prix. impressive fee attached.

The media started chattering On the Island I saw a pizza shop,and a deli, and a bank - all just ahead ofsome impressive totals of spectators and viewers, signs that the good folk,and at the track and around the businesses, ofThe Big Apple globe, who were glued to were operating despite what all things Melbourne for the must be a crushing void of a

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duration of the race week.The international'branding'exercise, and the nebilousb.ut apparently invaluable blnefits inbound t: because of it> was in full flight.

Don't worry that nobody saw which way Master Sebastian went in theface, my home town is now well and truly on the map.

Of course,the $49.2 million question igwhether this year's race will cost more to the Victorian taxpayer than that 2010 numlaer and,therefore, how effective the AGPC's efforts have been.The Auditor General will let us know that,sometime later in the year.

But sometime,before or after that day, I think we need to have a conversation about what we want. Not about what we are told we want,and sure as hellfire not what television viewers in Andorra want, but about what we want.Such a chat should include various levels like, what do we want the GP to do,and to be? Will the event live and die according to what Formula 1 decides to do,or is there another act that we can headline? Is that act international, like Indycar, or home-grown?

It is hard to see what benefits New York City might get from FI. If any city needs its profile pumped up for a few hours/ days/weeks by hosting a GP, New York is hardly that.The modern model, with government/ dictator/potentate supporting an FI race does not appear designed for a country in which many citizens do not care for anything that is actually important- like health care - let alone a bunch offoreigners in racing cars.

So,at least until the build-up to the 20T2 Australian GP,can we please stop the hysterical barking about the importance of the race and its possible fate and get on with starting to figure out what happens when,and not if, it leaves Albert Park.

Times change. Later this month, Kylie Minogue will play Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. I know this, because I saw her on a billboard, on my way to New York.

Our Kylie will turn 43 that same week.Times change,and people need to adapt, I bet a ticket to see her in Vegas costs more than one for the Staten Island Ferry...

Allsigns of were that the good folk,and businesses,of The Big Apple were operating despite what must be a crushing void ofa Grand Prix-iess existence

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, ON THE LIMITER' Xi

hy? Because. It's That it is happening at all that simple. It's a is very much a reflection on question I've been the growing stature of historic asked a few times motorsport. A decade or more over the past month,during ago, I guess I was one of many which a small step towards younger motorsport people ticking a box in my personal who saw historfc racing as a 'bucket list'(things to do before bunch of old gUys ploughing you kick it...) saw me swap the around in old cars - and I guess office chair for the cockpit of the twenty-sor^ethings of today an angry Formula 5000 car for may even think similarly. a couple of weekends.

But in the same way that One of the quotes which things such as Masters tennis has stuck in my mind for many, and golf has grown to intrigue many years was attributed to people - an opportunity to Sir Edmund Hilary, the Kiwi who watch a (slightly) calmer John was first to climb Mount Everest.

McEnroe hit a tennis ball a When asked why he wanted while back was fascinating to do it, he responded simply . - the fact that there is a fast"because it was there." growing global retro motorsport He,of course, was an amazing following, and an industry to adventurer and a terrific service it, says plenty about the man,and his achievement modern hunger for nostalgia. unimaginably tough. No Events such as the hugely comparison, but finally climbing popular Goodwood events in into one of the cars driven back the UK,and Australia's Muscle Car Masters(which focuses in on in the 70s by the brave bunch of young racers I used to watch the big-banger cars of the past) with awe,is something of a are typical. personal Everest, although at So is the Phillip Island Classic, this point, it has to be said, we which preceded the Grand Prix, haven't really made it to base at Albert Park, by a week. camp!

This was starting at the very

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top,events-wise;for me as an entrant in 'historic'racing.

Imagine if you will being garaged b^ween one of three $5m Masetfti 250Fs and the FI All-American Eagle Weslake VI2 which won the Belgian GP in 1996 in Dan Gurney's hands, probably worth every bit as much as the Maseratis. And when it fired up,the crowd came from all corners ...

The audience itself was an interesting and sizeable mix.

Not surprisingly, there were many of around my vintage who wandered by to have a closeup at the newest addition to the F5000 ranks(the car that is - it's all about the cars!). But quite surprisingly, there was also a pretty fair GenX/Y presence, young racing nuts who've heard about F5000(they weren't even born then)and wanted to see for themselves.That says a lot.

As time goes by, and 'historic' starts to encompass more recent eras - F5000 of course now one of them - the appeal gets wider and wider.That's why I'm here; F5000 was big in my day - other than FI, this was what hooked me in the.70s. People just love the sight and sound of F5000 - that's why it has found itself on the bill at three consecutive AGPs and headlines its own

series over the NZ summer.

With our car(an exquisitelyrestored McRae GM1) completed barely in time for The Island, we have a couple of small technical issues to iron out. But, as I plummet towards Turn 1,a 550-thp V8 Chev bellowing away at 7600rpm Just centimetres behind my head, in top gear, two thoughts race through my mind: 1.This is motorsport heaven; and 2. My respect for the gladiators who originally manhandled these things around grows even more.

The over-all mantra in historic racing is one of common sense.

It's racing for sure (there's the occasional damage to show for it), but there are some very, very valuable cars involved and there are no sheep-stations attached. It is, primarily, about the cars. Most are owned by the person driving them. It's fun. It's nostalgic.The mix seems right and the numbers back it up.

There are historic events of all levels around the country throughout the year. If you haven't yet cruised along to one, it's worth the effort. But do pencil in The Island next March.

Highly recommended ... and please, CAMS,do try and avoid a Clipsal clash next year - you know it makes sense!

As time goes by,and 'historic'starts to encompass more recent eras-F5000of course now one ofthem - the appealgets wider and wider

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BITS & PIECES

Coming Attraction Who’s the next big thing?

Andre Heimgartner - AUSTRALIAN FORMULA FORD

fit'll Lane beckenward Tough for Lee Holdsworth [on Sunday at Clipsal], not his fault though. Will Davison was right to protest at the slicks his guys brought out.

hufflepuffcrazy So very glad the Kellys got David Reynolds as a driver this year!

VixenOOOO

What is he currently doing?

The result sheets won't show it, but Andre Heimgartner was one of the standout performers in the opening round of the 2011 Australian Formula Ford Championship.

On debut, Heimgartner was running a comfortable third in the opening race in Adelaide, but a one-lap dash to the flag after a late Safety Car period wasn't kind to him, and he dropped to finish 10th. He found the wall in Race 2, but his speed over the course of the weekend turned heads.

Before kicking off the Australian season, Heimgartner won the 2010/2011 New Zealand Formula Ford Championship, and impressed in selected Victorian Formula Ford Championship outings last year.

The rules only apply to certain drivers and teams.The more I watch the more it stands out.

red hsv Great opinion piece by Andrew van Leeuwen. And so true. Jason Richards is a hero.

What do you think about the big issues in motorsport? Let us know on Twitter via @motorsportenews or the Motorsport eNews page on Facebook!

Where does he want to go?

Heimgartner is the latest in a long line of young Kiwi kids to grace Australian soil. Given that he's only 15, time is certainly on his side.

Unlike compatriot Mitch Evans, Heimgartner isn't solely focused on packing his bags and heading over to Europe to have a crack at becoming a Formula 1 driver.

He sees V8 Supercars as a logical and more attainable career, given the sheer financial demands of going down the European path.

Young and clearly with more than a bit of speed, it looks like Heimgartner could well make it happen.

=RVOM ry/fjTS

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Want the inside running during a V8 Supercar race? Follow our Live Updates service through ©mnewsupdates on twitter, or at www.mnews.com.au

QUICK QUIZ 1

Who did Jamie Whincup share his car with in his very first V8 Supercar race?

2

Before the 2011 Australian Grand Prix, when was Pireili’s last start as a Formula 1 tyre supplier? And who won the race?

3

What was notable about the race?

4

When was the last time something other than a Subaru, Mitsubishi or Toyota won the Austraiian Rally Championship?

5

How many former Australian Formula Ford Champions are on the 2011 V8 Supercar grid as fuiltime drivers?

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MOTORSPORTS CALENDAR

MY FAVOURITE RACE

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ALEX WURZ - 24 HOURS OF LE MANS,1996

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HE first time I participated in the Le Mans 24 Hour race, I was 22 years of age.

Just a few months before, I was almost in the end of my career, I had to accept a Touring Car drive in a two-yearold car with Team Joest, so that was very disappointing and I was very down. The guy also ran the factory Porsche for the 24-hour race and they they were short of one driver for a test, so he said 'Alex, can you do the test for me?'

So I went to do the test, they had no ambitions or idea to run me in the sportscars at all, I was just young and wasn't on their radar. At the test, I went into the car and was instantly the fastest, so they said 'wow'and I said'wow'too. They tested me again and signed me to go to Le Mans.

Being a factory team who had won Le Mans races, everyone told him he was completely crazy to sign a young guy who had never seen Le Mans, never driven in sportscar races, had just came out of F3, basically, and was now doing Touring Cars.

The race was absolutely fantastic, every lap we were leading and extending the lead.

It was a very tough fight against the other factory teams and I won the race with my team-mates and was the youngest winner.

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A few weeks before Le Mans, I had a meeting with Flavio Briatore and I tried to go into FI. He didn't really want to have a meeting with me, but I cornered him and he said 'so, what are you doing?' I said 'I did F3, finished second in the championship, won a few races' and he said 'yeah, but what are you doing now?' He was really not' interested.

I said 'in three weeks I go to Le Mans' and to finish the meeting, he said 'if you win Le Mans, I'll give you a call and you can have a test'. I won Le Mans and a few days later, he called up and said 'alright, you won Le Mans, you can have a test with my cars', which were at the time a top team with Benneton.

I got the test, due to the Le Mans win. In the test, it was a shootout against [Giancarlo] Fisichella, Paul Tracy and so on and then I got the contract with Benneton.

The whole Le Mans experience was very good for my career, and the race itself was quite fantastic. It was a very tough fight, but faultless. Not one mistake by any of my team-mates or me, not even a corner where I think I was sliding too much. You have these races very rarely, so I keep remembering it was one of my best memories.

Alex Wurz spoke to Mitchell Adam

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Australia is just as important to us as Monaco and has been for an awful long time.

But still no discount on race fees, eh Bernie ...

www.mnews.com.au

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TOURS

May

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Apr 29 - May 1 V8 Supercars Trading PostPerth Challenge, Barbagello, WA Apr 29-May 1 ANDRA Pro Series Nitro Champs.

Sydney Dragway, Sydney, NSW Moto GP May 1 Bwin Grand Premio De Portugal, Estoril, Portugal IZOD May 1 Indianapolis 500 Sao Paulo, Brazil IRC May 5-8 Rally d'ltalia Sardegna Olbia, Italy Formula 1 May 6-8 Turkish Grand Prix Istanbul, Turkey NASCAR May 7 Showtime Southern 500 Darlington Raceway NC, USA ARC May13-15 International Rally of Qld Sunshine Coast, Qld Moto GP May 15 Grand Prix De France, Le Mans, France.

NASCAR May 15 Dover 400 Dover Speedway, DE, USA V8 Supercars May 20-22 Winton Motor Raceway, Winton, Vic Formula 1 May 20-22 Gran Premio De Espana Catalunya, Spain NASCAR May 21 All Star Race Charlotte Motor Speedway, NC, USA Formula 1 May 26-29 Grand Prix de Monaco Monte Carlo, Monaco IRC May 26-29 Rally Argentina VillaCarlos Paz, Argentina.

NASCAR May 29 Coca Cola 600, Charlotte Motor Speedway, NC, USA

Oilicial SpoRsor THE AUSSIE DOLLAR SKYROCKETS You couldn’t pick a better time to travel overseas with the Australian dollar firming solidly against most of the major currencies.

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WINDING BACK the year that was... ●y

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'VE got no doubts that only a few Motorsport News readers have heard of a racing car called a Quest.

Why would you? If you have followed Formula Ford for any length of time, the names Van Diemen, Reynard and Ray were probably some of the more wellknown marques that dominated racing in the mid-1980s. So, what was a Quest?

There were only a few Quests made, but one of them was particularly special. It won the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch in 1985, in the hands of Johnny Herbert, but it was the manner in which it won that makes it a standout car.

At 21, the young Londoner had marked himself as a man to watch. While Van Diemen's sleek RF85 was changing the way people thought of FF design, the Quest was one of the cars to challenge the VDmounted masses. Herbert won only one round of the British FF championship, but it was at Brands, a track to which the car looked well suited. So despite 16

the fact that the Van Diemen drivers dominated the entry, led by that year's champion Bertrand Gachot, Herbert had reason to be optimistic about getting a result.

And then, he made a big mistake. He crashed in practice, on his first flying lap. With no hope of making it into qualifying, Herbert would have to start his heat at the back of the grid - 10 seconds after the rest of the field took off.

He needed to make it to 13th top progress to the next round.

He finished sixth, 11 s behind the heat winner.

In his quarter final, from 12th, Herbert rocketed through to fourth, setting a lap record on the way. The competition was getting tougher and the traffic less easy to deal with - but in this race, Herbert had shown that he was going to be a threat.

So, the semi-finals beckoned.

Jonathan Bancroft marked himself as the man to beat; the race was restarted after Gachot and Brazilian hotshot Paolo Carcasci clashed, leaving both

Red 5: Johnny Herbert took a win that 24 hours earlier, looked impossible. He was a happy lad later, right, after flying through the field. below. Here, heads fellow underdog, Pete Rogers, in his Laser.

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men out of the running and the favourite done for the day.

Having a number of drivers outed in the melee helped Herbert, but he still found himself behind a number of other fast drivers, including Steve Robertson - better known these days as the manager of Kimi Raikkonen. Herbert quickly disposed of the traffic between him and the leader,finishing metres behind in second.

With oil on the track, the second semi-final was the slower of the two so Herbert found himself In the perfect place on the sloping Brands Hatch grid - the outside of the front row.

Bancroft was on pole - between them sat the Van Diemen of Damon Hill ...

Herbert made the perfect start to lead and looked to have the speed to win but Bancroft did not let him get away. For 20 laps, the Quest led with the RF85 right behind, neither driver making any mistakes as the 110hp Kentengined cars snaked around the Indy circuit. Hill has his hands full with a battle of his own, with rookie Mark Blundell right behind, while there was another battle behind them, Allan Seedhouse holding out Robertson.

And that Is how they finished.

Herbert gained a couple of lengths on Bancroft mid-race and they finished a half-second apart. Hill was third from Blundell. Van Diemens took nine

ofthetopll placings, but they had been beaten by a Quest.

There were some other notables in the race; Eric van der Poele was ninth, Frank Biela 14th, Perry McCarthy 18th and Tim Harvey 22nd. Roland Ratzenberger DNF'd, but would win the following year's Festival.

Edmund Irvine's Mondlale was second In his heat but did not proceed past his quarterfinal.]

Ouch!

Paolo Carcase!and Bertrand Gachot tangled, taking two favourites out ofcontention. The Quest was too fast for Jonathan Bancroft,#4 below.

|| .

Win on Sunday,sell... when?

MIKE Thompson was an enthusiast and an innovator in FF racing.

He raced a Rostron in the 1970s and won the Brands-based MCD Series in it. Soon after, he purchased the marque, but sold it a year later to start his own make - Quest. His goal was to make his mark, and with Herbert's victory, he sure did that.

The season after the Festival win, Herbert raced with moderate success in FF2000, the next step up.Thompson managed him, and when Eddie Jordan grabbed him for British F3,then F3000.

The rest is history.

But Quest did not thrive. In spite of the Festival win, all the major teams bought Van Diemens for 1986.The RF86 was probably the most successful FF ever built, and many of them ended up racing here in Australia the following year. Quest ran a couple of cars, and Aussie Mark

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Poole raced for them for a time.

"It was not set up to be a manufacturer," he said recently.

"Van Diemen was a big maker, and they did that part of that job better than most, I suppose."

With its distinctive pullrod suspension.

Quest continued through 1987, but by the end of the season,Thompson closed the marque.The design and rights were sold to Chevron, and the car became the Chevron B68. Poole had some good results, but the car never really made its mark.

One more thing; at the time of researching this story, we stumbled a classified ad on the internet. It was for an'86 Quest FFl 600 that was said to be ex-Herbert, but he did not race FFs in 1986. If it is the ex-Herbert Festival winner, at a bit over seven grand, it looks like a bargain to us...

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HIS is the time where we will see exactly where Mark Webber fits in the scheme of Red Bull Racing.

Forget Turkey-gate, where the team backed Sebastian Vettel after he and Webber collided - despite the fact it was quite clearly the young German's fault. Forget Wing-gate (quite an Avian theme to these particular gates), where the team took the new wing offWebber'scarand gave it to Super Seb before the start of the British Grand Prix - because Seb had wrecked his own in practice. Forget every gate you can think offrom 2010, because there is only one that's going to matter... Flogging-gate.

Bearing in mind that this column in being penned between the Malaysian and Chinese Grands Prix for publishing deadline reasons, you have to say that Vettel is giving Webber a flogging.

After those two Grands Prix, Vettel had a perfect 50 points, while Webber was languishing back on 22; in other words,Vettel had more than a race's worth of points up his sleeve after two races. And in both of those races, Webber not only qualified more than a place behind his team-mate, but finished further back than he started, both cardinal sins in the world of Grand Prix racing.

Of course, it's not as simple as Webber having just plain forgotten how to drive.That's how the general media will probably frame it, because ignorance is not only bliss, but great for a headline.

But it's obviously not the case.The fact is, the RB7 isn't the world-beater that Vettel's results are making it out to be. It has problems,and Webber seems to be the victim of those problems at the moment. It's only fair, really, because early last year, when the RB6 had a reliability problem, it was Vettel who bore the brunt. Now, it's Webber's turn.

Reliability is not the issue, and neither is outright speed.The car is fast, which is why Vettel and Webber were able to lock out first and third on the grid at the first two races. But tyre wear looks to be an issue. It seems that compared to the Renaults, and the McLaren of Jenson Button,the RB7 is hard on its tyres, and that really cost Webber In Australia.

In Malaysia, it was KERS that let Webber down.

With a long run to Turn 1, having that extra bit of grunt off the start line was crucial - and even

^ore crucial was having it work v|hen the clutch Bad been adjusted for a KERS staft. When Webber hit the button and nothing happened at the start m Malaysia, it ruined his day. He might not have beaten Vettel, but he might have been a lot closer if his KERS had worked. At least the disastrous start allowed him to switch to a four-stop strategy, wjhich masked the tyre problems a bit...

ISo why aren't these problems affecting Vettel, as vwell? It's all about circumstance. In Australia,the German had such a massive lead by the exit of TUrn 1, Lap 1, that tyre wear was never going to be an issue. He Just controlled the gap, comfortably tvyo-stopped, and never had a worry in the world.

Webber, meanwhile, had to race Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso,and killed his rubber in the process.

As for Malaysia, well, as I already mentioned, Vettel's KERS worked off the line, and Webber's didn't. Vettel's system did fail, but by then it was lap 29 and he was already well and truly in control of the race. KERS or no KERS,the race was his.

Meanwhile, back in Webber's car, not only had a KERS failure cost him seven spots on Lap 1, but it made working his way back through the field very hard. Having the Drag Reduction System is fine, but when the bloke in front can hit his KERS button and negate the majority of the advantage, then life gets hard.

Back to my original point;this is where we will see where Webber fits in with the team. He will have complaints about the car - tyre wear and KERS failures are likely to be the tip of the iceberg - and it will be interesting to see if the team listens to him. it would be very easy for a boffin in a Red Bull jacket to say'Well, Mark, you keep saying the car is no good, but Sebastian has won every race this year'.

If that happens,then the war is over and the German has won. And every time he gets in that car and masks its problem with brilliance,just as he did in Australia and Malaysia, it makes Webber's case weaker.

Of course, by now Mark might have won the Chinese Grand Prix at a canter. If he has,then it is definitely Game On. Fingers crossed!

At the first two races, Webber not only qualified more than a place behind his team-mate, but finished further back than he started, both cardinal sins in the world of Grand Prix racing

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IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS JAMIE WHINCUP HAS REWRIHEN THE RECORD BOOKS IN V8 SUPERCARS. THE QUESTION MANY IN PITLANE HAVE ASKED IN THAT TIME IS

the first V8 Supercar race ofthe season,is about to begin.

Outside the Team Betta Electrical garage,a crowd is /T'S March 2006.

Practice for is the Clipsal500 in Adelaide, gathering - as there always wherever Craig Lowndes drives. The engineers are making last-minute adjustments to the cars while the drivers busy themselves with earplugs, balaclavas and the variety ofthings they need to adjust prior to stepping aboard their cars.

On one side ofthe garage is Lowndes. On the other,Jamie Whincup is about to make his first start for the team,and his first V8 Supercar start in a Ford. Through the crowd appears Peter Butterly, the Irish businessman who had, with Roland Dane, Derek Warwick and Ian Harrison,set up the Australian end of Triple Eight Race Engineering three years previously.

The sun shone, the sky was blue and Butterly was happy with life.

'It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" he beamed.

'It is, Peter,"I replied.

The engines fire in the cars,so I lean closer so he can hear me.

"What is it like having the best driver in the series in your cars?"I ask, nodding towards Lowndes.

20

"Phil, I think that we have the two best drivers in the series!"

Butterly countered.

On Saturday, Lowndes won and Whincup was third. The following day, Whincup won. It was his very first V8 Supercar win. He has added 39 to that number since.

Jamie Whincup is recognised, even by some of the people against whom he competes, as an exceptional racing driver.

Over the last five years, his record shows that he has been one ofthe best drivers of touring car,saloon cars,sedans, call them what you will, in the world.

But, why? What makes him so good? What is it that makes the 28-year-old, Victorian-born driver,so fast? And,if his talent was so obvious, why did it slip through the fingers of three other teams before he settled at whatsoon became TeamVodafone,in which he has gone on a winning tear?

We decided to find out.

So, we asked some of the people who know,some ofthe people who have inside knowledge of what makes a race driver tick, what makes them good and what makes them great. In the insular world that motorsport sometimes is, this is the best way we could think of to identify the inner, real and fast Jamie Whincup. motorsport news

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ILL Davison knows a thing or two about Jamie Whincup.

Apart from racing against him since the two broke into V8 Supercars, he has a unique insight; the pair shared a house together for a time when they were both driving for Queensland-based teams.That was in spite of the fact that they were racing against each other on the weekends.

Davison holds Whincup's ability in high regard - but his speed his not the first thing he mentions.

"He has the ability to drive very close and he doesn't seem to be blinded by the pace of the car in front of him," he says.

"It is easy to drive your car at the same speed as someone you are close behind.

"He races faster and harder than anyone I know but he also respects you. If you give him room, he will give you room. He doesn't take you off the track."

Righto Will; noted. But, why Is he so fast?

"He always pushes and Is extremely committed, but at the same time, he seems to be

driving in slow motion," he says.

"The movement of the car is never violent; it looks like slow motion. When you are behind him, you can see that the car is calm, he is technically across the car. He is very accurate and positive with his steering.

"I think that he seems to have no set-up that he tries to make work everywhere. He is very good everywhere now,and he seems strong in all aspects. You might see him through two corners, he might be off a little on the brakes or on the exit, but not on the same corner. He is

very strong on braking, he is fast in the middle of a corner and you can't'package'him.

"His strength seems to be getting the car into the corner and getting it turned. He has that part of it working quite well."

Tactically, he rates JDub extremely highly.

"You are always going to be looking for an opportunity to get someone back on the exit {of a corner) as they run wide.You don't see that with Jamie. He knows when to let you go and not fight it on the exit, and you know that he is thinking about

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OHN Bowe may not have been in the driving seat of a V8 Supercar for some years, but he still recognises talent when he sees it.

"I stand in the pitlane and watch all the drivers,"says the former ATCC winner.

"I see what they do and don't do,and I even get to iook at their data, in many cases.They are all good,even the guys who are 22nd or 23rd, but when you see someone like Jamie, you know that you are looking at a shining talent- better than I have seen for a long,long time."

Quite apart from having watched Whincup from the sidelines, JB knows what he is talking about from the inside.

At the start of last season, he acted as a consultant toTeamVodafone and saw how Whincup and Craig Lowndes were l driving the team's then-new Holden Commodores.

"When a driver is dominant,or consistently winning, you get people scratching their heads, wondering why.

Jamie has been able to start winning,and continue doing it. Everyone in the Series is driving at 10-tenths; if you don’t do that, you look like a bunny. But he is able to drive at 10-and-a-half tenths; he has been able to run it over the edge of the tightrope, without getting into trouble. _ ''He does it with-a combination of skill and'b;sishcg.the good drivers can drive at thatlevel without ever looking like they are hanging it over the edge. He has it, and you do not see it iri many drivers.

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"Jamie is driving the car all-around; I don't think that he is someone of whom you could say that he needs the car to be pointy, or to be focused on putting the power down well. He has got a really good knack of driving it on the edge - or just over the edge - yet stili mana^ge the car.tou never look at him and think,'Man, he iijust hanging on to that car'.’

"Garth Tander,for instance, is able to drive a car that many people could not.

He has a car that pushes,or understeers.

Most people could not get the best out of that, but he can. But I don't think that Jamie has a preferences for one way or the other.

"I Just think that he has got a supreme skill, and confidence breeds confidence.

He has had lots and lots of success, and he looks like a man on top of his game.

When things comes together,and that has happened a couple of times, he Just streets them.The category is paritied to death,and there are not many who can do that."

In Formula 1,there are generally two types of drivers; the ones who hang the car over their own limits, and their skill is in generaliy being able to'save'the car from disaster, or the ones whose own iimits are so high that they can drive a car right up to those iimits but not step over the line. Of the current breed of drivers, Lewis Hamilton is one of the best examples of the former and Sebastian Vettel is the best example of the latter.

According to Bowe,Whincup is neither.

"He never puts the car in that much trouble," he says."He very rarely makes mistakes. He doesn't make no mistakes; nobody does, when you are driving at that level. He is able to have the car on the edge of its traction,turning and braking and not have it spear off. He never looks like he is forcing the car to turn. He is over the edge, without making those mistakes.

"He ended up at the right team at the right time, didn't he? He is in an extremeiy successful and well-resourced team.

"Look at his hands. He has very quiet hands; he never seems to need much steering lock to get the car turned. I am sure he could drive anything,anywhere and do well, provided he got the mileage in the cars. He is like Tony Stewart in NASCAR; he can drive it on the edge and not make a hash of it. You see drivers do that all the time, but not them."

And Bowe says that Whincup has successfully tailored his skills to the needs ofaVB Supercar.

"The edge in a V8 Supercar is very narrow,finer than most cars that i have driven.You get the ability to walk on the line; in a Formula 5000,for instance,the fine line is fairly wide. In a V8 Supercar, it is pretty narrow. With the Car of the Future,they need to be careful to not change that. Cars with downforce are easier to drive; so are cars with lower Centres of Gravity."

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I d ●! iTl RPM RACEWEAR. PROUDLY WORN BY JAMIE WHINCUP...

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ARK Dutton knows more than most people - possibly more than anyone on the planet about what makes Jamie Whincup drive fast.

The problem is, as the engineer of car #88,there are a iot of things that he cannot talk about.

The two have made a formidable

"I was not in the room, but I could overhear. It was quite funny and interesting; Jamie was a young guy,and young guys that are not consistently winning have a lot of ideas about what the car should do,and how it should behave.

Most of those were wrong - and that is not all about him. He was,obviously,going from what he was told.You see that a lot; combination ever since they teamed up, It Is so easy to over-complicate things and and'Dutto'has a clear understanding of then blame the wrong things. what his driver wants and what he doesn't.

"So he learned a lot. But the thing was, he wanted to learn. He wants to He shifted from race engineer for Steve Ellery the year before to data engineer for understand - not so he can do your Whincup when he arrived at the start of job,or event to make you do a better '06. At the start of 2007, Dutton became job. He wants to understand for his own Whincup's race engineer,a roie he stili fills. knowledge. He wants to understand why "When Jamie joined the team, his something should do something. And first interview was with tudo(Ucroix, some of the stuff we do,like design, is pretty coal. technical director)," Dutton says.

26

"Ludo once said to him,'This is the Mark II of this design'. And Jamie said,'Why didn't you get it right the first time?'And Ludo said,'The Wright brothers didn't build a 747,did they?'It's about evolution and development."

From Tasman Motorsport,Whincup made the move,and in many ways,it was a big one.

"Straight away, he showed he had potential. Give him a good car and he will go quick. But obviously, he cannot break the laws of physics. He gets the most out of it, and maybe more than other drivers could.On his debut,at Adelaide, he proved that. He ended up winning the round.

"When drivers hit the sweet spot, and

realise that they are learning. It Is really

exciting. At Abu Dhabi this year, we did

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that. After Race 1, he said,'We tried a "That is where Jamie is so good; he can few things in the race and they worked. I have an unbalanced car on the used tyres, like what we are doing'. We backed that and it balances out on green tyres.That is one of the things that makes him fast; up at the AGP;the car was better on the softs than it was on the hards.That hadn't it sounds easy, but to do it repeatedly is happened before,and our tyre life was really exceptional." better."

Whincup and the team have undergone So, how does he do it? And why does he two major technical leaps;from the Falcon BF to the FG for the 2009 do the things we do? season, and from the Falcon GF to the "He looks for front grip,"says Dutton.

Commodore VE at the start of 2010.The "The balance, usually, when we go for second move,in particular, meant that a qualifying run, is more front. It is a he had to change how he drove and, balance - you can't just throw everything especially, how he used the brakes. at it. He is really good to have to get a feel "He is such a good braker/'says Dutton. for old tyres. What we work on is, what "He loves trail-braking (Ed:Staying does it feel like on old tyres, and how will on the brakes while the car is turning that work on new tyres? On new tyres, you get more understeer. What you nearly into the apex of the corner) and that is something that we have had to work hard want on old tyres is an oversteering car, but the trick is to have the correct amount. for with the VE. www.mnews.com.au

"With the FG,the way we used to set it up, it had fantastic trail-braking. It was so good that friends from other teams used to say,'How do you do that?'Especially the Holden teams;their car physically couldn't do it.

"We changed to the VE and we understood what they were talking about.

It was all about confidence and feel and we did a lot of work to get that better.

It is not back to where it was, but it is satisfactory. It is not the massive downfall that it was when we started to turn our first laps in the VE." The thing is, Dutton reckons that Whincup is still learning, still getting better at racing a V8 Supercar.That is not a very positive prospect for any other driver with eyes on the 2011 V8 Supercar title.

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HERE are two types of people that generally succeed at the top level of sport - those that are so naturally talented that they succeed in an annoyingly effortless manner,and those that want to be the best so badly that they overcome any deficit in ability with hard work.

Both types of people are common in motorsport. Look at Formula 1;you have someone like Mark Webber, who is by no means the most naturally talented racing driver in the world. But, he has made himself a Grand Prix winner by never giving up and working feverishly at his craft ('stick-toitiveness', as Principal Skinner once called it during an episode ofThe Simpsons).

Then,there are drivers like Kimi Raikkonen.

During his heyday in Formula 1, the Finn was Just flat-out fast - and he didn't know how or why he was doing it. When the game started to change and he wasn't the ultimate pace anymore, he showed no interest in adapting or trying to improve himself, and moved to rallying. It seems like that has already become too difficult, and NASCAR is the next stop for Kimi ... I'm sure you can sense the pattern.The path of least resistance is

the name of Raikkonen's game, but when it clicks and it comes to him easily, he is a world-beater.

There is, however, a third type of sportsperson; someone who has buckets of natural ability, and the work ethic to back it up. It's rare, but when it happens it is essentially a perfect storm. Sebastian Vettel has it in Formula 1, and Jamie Whincup has it in V8 Supercars.

Very few would say that Whincup has had it easy throughout his career.There was a tough period as a privateer in the Australian Formula Ford Championship, and then a switch to Sonic, where he became the Aussie FF Champ.Then there was a deep-end dive into V8 Supercar racing, and a subsequent sacking from Garry Rogers.Then a re-group, a re-entry to V8 Supercar racing with Tasman Motorsport, and a subsequent promotion to the slickest, most professional team that V8 Supercar racing has ever seen. Finally, two titles and a force to be reckoned with.

There's a pattern here, too. When Whincup has the right tools, he is close to unstoppable. When he doesn't have the right tools, he does whatever it takes to get his hands on them. It's a combination of

ability and worth ethic.

Craig Lowndes knows Whincup better than any other driver. He has been Whincup's team mate for every one of his race wins - and the pair shared three consecutive Bathurst wins together. Lowndes hasn't finished ahead of Whincup in the title since 2006,their first year as team-mates,and no-one would dare suggest that Lowndes is a baboon behind the wheel.That is a telling statistic.

So, we asked Lowndes what Whincup has that his rivals don't.

"It's a determination, a focus, on what he wants from the car,"says Lowndes.

"He basically works hard to make sure he gets the end results. He just never stops striving to make the car better.

"His work ethic is amazing. Prior to race meetings, he spends a lot of time going over things - for instance things that happened the year before, and what could be better.

It all comes down to work ethic at this level, and he's very focussed and determined in getting what he wants."

An amazing work ethic couple with amazing ability - like I said, the perfect storm.

-ANDREWVAN LEEUWEN

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OF THE FUTURE WAS HEAOEO DOWN THE PATH OF RETAINIIMO ITS TRADITIONAL GEARBOX DIFFERENTIAL, UNTIL ONE OF THE TENDERING COMPANIES POINTED OUT THAT IT HAD A BETTER OPTION. CHRIS LAMBOFN COUNTRY VICTORIA TO CHECK OUT ONE OF THOSE SURPRISINGLY AWAY IN REGIONAL AUSTRALIA

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"We heard that there was a diff tender LBINS^s^ possible for the Car of the Future and, with to o#f-road racing people, only here in Australia, our capability to produce final drive gear n but in places like the US, sets - we're the only company in the country who can do that - it was a no-brainer for us where the company's all-in-one transaxle transmission has become'de rigeur' to be involved in that tender process.

"So we were, and then, at the end of that among competitors in the biggest off-road competitions in the world. process, when it seemed we might be Over the past 30 years, the business successful, the goal-posts changed -from has grown from the original one-mandiff to transaxle - because it just made band, wherein Ivan Albins fashioned a few sense to do that commercially, and for the off-road bits for his sport, to the Ballaratpackaging within the car..." based gearbox specialists, employing some The COTF diff was going to be a more 35 people in pretty much all aspects of expensive option than the iconic nine-inch specialised gearbox design and manufacture. Ford diff which has done the job since V8 Apart from its dominant off-road gearboxes Supercars began. A decision that, come (of which some 700 units have been built, what may,the COTF would switch to an mainly for export, in the past seven to eight independent rear end suspension design, years), Albins supplies after-market gear meant,that there was,simply, less width sets, crown wheel and pinions and other available for the old design.The COTF diff would have to be narrower;for'narrower' accessories for a surprisingly wide range of road and track vehicles - including Ferrari, read more expensive.

Audi, Subaru and Mitsubishi (road and So when a tech group from V8 HQ rocked rally)... it's a long list. As its website proclaims: up in Ballarat to check out Albins and its Albins is the largest high performance gears diff tender, call it'due diligence'if you like, manufacturer in the Southern Hemisphere. and there were a pile of off-road transaxles So the story of how everything changed, sitting in a corner, someone asked the quite suddenly, in Car of the Future terms, obvious question: why not? is quite stunning in its simplicity. Stephen Macdonald adds the explanatory clincher - cost.

Macdonald, workshop manager at HRT before joining Albins in 2004, was our "The V8 Supercar guys could see the guided tour host: viability of doing a complete transmission ^

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for under $25,000, which, in earlier discussions with other suppliers, they hadn't believed was a possibility. And that included the option of having something that was completely custom-designed to suit.

Working with the guys from V8 Supercars, we reckoned we could basically put a transaxle in a hole that was made to fit a diff.

As a result a whole new tender was called for, and unsurprisingly, the transaxle experts won.The sad aspect to the process was that Holinger - for so long suppliers of its superb six-speed gearbox, in sequential and, previously, H-Pattern form - will bow out, not in a position to come up with a transaxle version from scratch.

But in a COTF targeting long-term cost reductions, no-one could argue with the change in direction ... and with acknowledged experts literally in our own back yard, it really was a no-brainer.

In the end,the design process started as recently as December.

"There's been some long hours go into it - there went the Christmas holidays - but we've got six guys here who can be involved in the design process, so we were able to get it done.

"They have a dummy transmission up at Paul Ceprnich's workshop which is fitted to the prototype car and, through that we've been able to establish a motorsport news

CAD-CAM images from Albins'design department illustrate the fundamentalchange that the transaxle brings to the V8 Supercar Car of the Future. The key changes are the fixed final drive ratio and the set of'drop'or'change'gears at the front ofthe unit, which will provide the new,simple means ofchanging over-all ratios from track to track.

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nil few final details that we needed to confident with the design. It should be a strong, reliable, easy-to-service component. finalise and produce the prototype.

"It takes away all areas for adjustment. It We were able to settle the final spec by the end of March. From this point, we're not has a big, simple bearing arrangement behind the back of the pinion - once that far from having a finished prototype - our timeline now is dictated by the need to not height is set, all the following gear sets will be made to a set height, so changeover delay the ongoing build process of the car, should be very minimal. which we're on target to deliver."

The V8 Supercar transaxle is thus not a re "The rest of the gearbox from there only jig of the company's ubiquitous off-road unit, has two more shims to adjust in it, for but something put together from scratch: assembly purposes - simple to build, easy for teams to service themselves.

"It is - it does include components that we will be able to use in a broad range of "The other thing was, while having that structural stiffness, to build it with transmissions, which helps keep the cost a lightweight construction,so it doesn't down. But the'packaging'is purely V8 Supercar. become an agricultural piece of equipment "The main criteria within that is to have an - while making the critical stuff big, so that it is rigid, with good life. The gears are extended service life, along with the concept of having the'drop gears'or'change gears'larger than they probably need to be,the ie, the gears you change to make ratio ring and pinion is iarger than it needs to changes - at the front of the transmission, be. Critical things like pinion bearing are probably larger than it needs to be to suit a which provides a massive drop in service costs and man hours and inventory for the minimum spec, but we've been able to do teams. With one transmission and final drive that and come close to the target weight of 60 kilograms. built into the one unit, they only have to "It's certainly less than the other two units change one pair of easily-changed gears between tracks."

- gearbox plus diff- put together. Which, The spec? considering there's that extra pair of gears "Teams may well change lubrication and which never existed before, is a pretty good saving." service techniques, but the basic spec In practical terms,the tooth count in the required a 5000km minimum reliability; if main gearbox is exactly as it has always testing shows the need for any changes, been, and the change gears at the front are then we'll just make them - but we're pretty

calculated so'that the fixed 3.27 final drive ratio produces an over-all ratio equivalent to the current over-all 3.15,3.5,3.7 diffs.

"It still has the'spool'final drive as the category has always had, but our final drive runs a 'Klingeinberg'tooth design, which is about 25 percent stronger than the'Gleeson' which is currently used in the nine-inch (ED:this involves a tooth 'thickness'which is constant, rather than of varied width).

"We've also shifted it from having a high 'hypoid'- where the pinion has a high offset from the axis of the ring gear - back up to the centre-line, which provides a big reduction in friction. We believe the nineinch has too much hypoid for racing stuff, because there's so much'sliding velocity'in the tooth that it's generating more heat than it needs to.

"The final drive stays in there all the time - until a major rebuild is required - and then there's no variation in ratio or set-up required.

"So the only regular change required is taking 10 nuts off the front cover and changing the pair of drive gears from track to track."

The transaxle includes its own oil system, which is fairly standard on most race transmissions, but aiso includes inspection holes for every gear pair, including the ring and pinion and the drop gears. It is nil thus a simple matter to just pull the

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plugs out at any time and visually Albins has some high-profile customers in among its major US off-road market inspect the internals. clientele: While an all-new design, the Albins team is coming from a background where "Robby Gordon would be the biggest horsepower numbers are ... significant: name. Other guys have our equipment in "The transmissions we manufacture already 'play'cars, such as Greg Biffle, Robbie, Paul Tracy... generally run with anywhere between, in race terms, between 700 and 900 "I met Paul on a stand at the Sandsport Show,standing next to his Buggy with our horsepower,for events which run for several hours. Most of those users don't consume transmission in it - along with his 1650hp Chev turbo engine in it! That's what he does much in terms of spare parts - we may have people, with very high load, high-power cars, for fun ..."

But back to the gearbox in question: to who replace one or two gears each meeting.

But mostly, ring and pinion sets last one,two, what degree will It be a cost-saver?

"Apart from the obvious saving on the three years in those vehicles." n And if there are any teething issues, being initial purchase cost, as opposed to the an accessible, small, local company has some traditional gearbox plus diff, the real saving is in time and labour.Teams won't have to advantages: build multiple nine-inch diffs with different "True. Our world record for reacting to ratios, with bearing sets on pinions swapped something was finding we needed to change in and out of housings... the whole a component on a Friday, and we delivered management of that won't need to be there the component to LA on Sunday lunch-time ... but we don't want to do that too often!" any more.

36

"Even though they won't be able to help themselves initially, the 'top end of town' will, over time, build confidence and start to extend their service life and not be tearing them down so often ..."

There are some other, less obvious plusses: "What it does also do is allows the tunnel to be narrowed down,to get the driver even further across to the centre, so they can have more room on the outside of the car for impact protection, and so on. It also moves some mass within the vehicle backwards, which gives better balance. When you think about it, it does bring with it a few advantages in relation to the over-all layout of the vehicle ..."

On the face of it the transmission 'revolution'element of the Car of the Future could well turn out to be one of the most successful in terms of pragmatism and cost saving - and to think it was, well, almost an afterthought! motorsport news

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i ORMULA1 has changed a lot between 3 November 1991 and 27 March 2011.

The 1991 season finale in Adelaide was the end of Pirelli's last stint in Formula 1 as a tyre supplier,and Michael Schumacher's sixth GP start. Schumacher's 270th GP was the 2011 season opener in Melbourne, which marked Pirelli's return as the sport's sole tyre supplier.To say Formula 1 has changed in the last 20 years is like saying Antarctica is a bit brisk.

After amassing a record seven world titles and enjoying a three-year sabbatical, Schumacher is the only driver from Adelaide 1991 still on the grid,and Ferrari, McLaren and Williams are the only remaining teams in the same guises.

Nine of the circuits from 1991 are still in use,although many have been heavily revised and, despite numerous attempts by the FIA to revise regulations and slow the cars,they're - on average - around 10 seconds per lap faster in 2011.

"They're still using 13-inch tyres -1 think that's the only commonality," Pirelli's Motorsport Director Paul Hembrey,above right, told MNews.

"Everything's changed.The sport is clearly a very professional sport now,high-tech engineering,the engineers are the best in the world and the technology involved,in aerodynamics especially, is something that's changed beyond recognition from 20 years ago."

The man responsible for Pirelli's return to the sport, Hembrey Joined the company in March 1992. initially, he was in research and development,then a commercial role, but the Englishman has been the company's head of motorsport for the last 11 years.

This time last year,the idea of having Formula 1 in his portfolio was in its infancy. Bridgestone had indicated it would leave Formula 1 at the end of 2010 and Pirelli was among the parties interested in stepping into their shoes. In June,the Italian firm's appointment was announced,setting up a busy nine months before Albert Park.

"This time last year, if someone promised me that I would be in Melbourne,starting a Formula 1 venture, I would've said they were mad,"Hembrey said on the eve ofthe Australian Grand Prix.

"I spent three months negotiating with the teams and Mr Ecclestone to get the deal and that was only finalised in Canada,actually.That was when I had everyone under contract and that was when we started to press the'go'button.

"And it really was Just in June last year. So it's been a very, very dramatic adventure.

"As you can imagine,trying to do a full FI program in eight or nine

months is very ambitious, but we've done it. We'll obviously learn as we go - we're open to learning. We're not so arrogant that we think we understand everything about Formula 1 in eight months- we're going to learn along the way. We've got 20 different tracks,some of which we understand and know, many that we've never been to before, Melbourne being one,for example."

While Formula 1 has changed since Pirelli's last FI presence,a lot of the building blocks for the reborn program were already in place. In 2008, Pirelli became the sole tyre supplier in the World Rally Championship. A factory in Izmit in Turkey was built to produce tyres for that program,which has been expanded to handle production of all of their motorsport tyres.The plant churns out around 200,000 tyres a year, with about 200 varieties, including 50,000 for Formula 1, and 30,000 for the feeder GP2 and GP3 categories.

There may be little in common between the tyres used in Formula 1 and rallying, but many of the demands and requirements are the same.

"That certainly helps in terms of the logistics and the factory organisation," Hembrey said of the WRC program.

"You understand that you have to provide a certain level of service to the teams and a quality of service to all of the teams,so we understand all of that.You do get people trying to pressurise you in certain ways - some teams want to do something different or a driver has a comment- and you have to take all of that and balance it, because you're supplying 24 drivers and 12 teams.So that's something that we have learnt over the years."

For the new Formula 1 program,a logistics centre in Didcot, England has been built to house 70 staff, including the Pirelli engineers and those who work with teams at events. In Melbourne,Pirelli kicked off with 55 staff, while more will be utilised for the European GPs. After the necessary personnel and IT requirements and facilities were in place, it was onto the task of making, running and developing the tyres.

Hembrey acknowledges the fortunate timing of Pirelli's re-entry.

With Toyota withdrawing from Formula 1 at the end of 2009,their final racer,the F109, laid dormant.Talk the team,and its stillborn F110, would be encompassed into the potential Stefan GP bid never eventuated,so the facility in Cologne, Germany,and a selection of staff have remained under the Toyota Motorsport GmbH banner, which now operates as a specialist engineering firm.

A known quantity from the previous season and without links to an existing team,the FI09 with support from Toyota was the ideal testing

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mule for Pirelli's program.Similarly,the experienced Nick Heidfeld was on the sidelines after BMW withdrew at the same time as Toyota.

Heidfeld conducted Pirelli's maiden test, at Mugello in Italy in August 2010, but soon found himself back in an FI race seat, deposing Pedro de la Rosa at Sauber. Romain Grosjean, who finished the 2009 season in FI with Renault, was drafted in, before the Pirelli called on de la Rosa, arguably the best Formula 1 test driver of the modern era. With Heidfeld and de la Rosa again contracted to teams,Grosjean and 2010 Virgin driver Lucas Di Grassi are the prime candidates for the ongoing private tests during 2011.

'We were in reality very lucky to have the Toyota available to us," Hembrey said.

The Toyota team have managed a very good program and,in fact, we're going forward with that. We're testing in April with a very heavily modified car, outside of regulations,to try to replicate downforce for the end-of-2010 levels. We'll do five, maybe up to seven test sessions ourself this year in parallel to the FI sessions.

'We're putting it in the driver's contract that it's commission based next time, because two out of three have ended up with a Formula 1 contract and Romain's doing a greatjob in GP2! I expect to see Romain in Formula 1 next year,so we'll have a 100 percent record.Then I'll be very happy.'

By the time the Pirelli tyres were first used by Formula 1 teams in Abu Dhabi after the 2010 season finale, the company had logged almost 100,000km across nine test sessions, mostly two or three days in duration,at six different circuits.Two tests, one in Valencia and the last private test in January conducted under lights in Abu Dhabi, focused on the intermediate and wet rubber, on artificially dampened circuits.

It's been quite intensive," Hembrey said.

It's not cheap to do all of that, of course, but you've got to try and create your own data because the teams don't have test teams any more and that's been the big problem for us.

It's been a huge development. Each test session, we bring significant number of variations. I think the only thing that was settled relatively early on was the profile ofthe tyres, although for 2012 that will change again because we want to do something different. A lot of the other materials have evolved during that period, partly based on feedback from teams,our own test data and our own fantasy and ideas of what we feel we need to do.'

Pirelli face a unique challenge with their Formula 1 return.

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HAT does an Italian football team have to do with Formula 1?

Well, not a great deal, but Pirelli's partnership with Serie A giant Inter Milan has played a role in determining the colour codes for the company's different tyre compounds in 2011.On the four dry compounds,intermediates and wets,the Pirelli and P Zero branding is in a different colour, to help identify who's on which tyre.

Of the dries, the Hards are silver. Medium is white. Soft is yellow and Supersoft is red. However post-AGP feedback wasn't entirely positive, with talk it was tough to discern the white from the yellow when cars were at speed. A yellow band around the edge of the Softs was added for Malaysia and China, before a more permanent solution is sorted for the start of the European season.

The Wets will be red,and the Intermediates were inspired by one of Pirelli's long-running associations. A Milan-based firm, Pirelli has been the major sponsor of Inter Milan since 1995. Inter play in a blue and black strip, and their blue has been chosen by Pirelli as the colour for the Intermediate tyres.

And,thus, we have the Inter Intermediate...

-MITCHELL ADAM

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UIE WERE ASKED UERV CLEARLY BY MR ECCLESTOH HEMBREV THEY DIDN’T WANT A PROCESSIDN nil

They're not Just back to supply tyres -they've been asked to be a major part of the'show'. From the outset of the tender process,the onus was on tyre companies to help make a major contribution to the quality of racing.

Option tyres have been in play for several years through Bridgestone, but always seemed to err on the side of caution. Sebastian Vettel,for instance, was able to do all but one lap of last year's Italian Grand Prix at pace on his softer and supposedly more vulnerable rubber. He only pitted due to the regulation that he had to use both the option and the regular tyre in the race.

But Pirelli is more open to the concept of having a marked difference between their tyres. For dry running,there are four compounds; Hard, Medium,Soft and Supersoft. At GP weekends,teams will have two compounds to use,always at least two compounds apart. In Australia, Malaysia and China,teams had the'Hard'and'Soft'to use,for instance.

With notably different performance and durability characteristics for each,the tyres are poised to play a major role in strategy throughout the year.

"We were asked very clearly by Mr Ecclestone to make a show.They didn't want a procession," Hembrey explains.

"Bernie certainly, and we have a working group with the teams,they were all present and that was the input we were given right from the first meeting.So that's what we've been doing.

"The venture was quite a challenge, and the big risk with somebody coming in of course is that we were going to be too conservative. We could make one tyre that would last practically all weekend,which would be nice and easy for us, but would make very boring racing.

"The input we had from the teams was to try and create racing. From that point of view, we were asked to make two,three, I don't think we'll actually see a four-stop strategy in races, but a two or three stop strategy, which for us is interesting, as it means we will have that variation in the racing patterns.

"We've had to think'how will you cause the driver and teams to make a pitstop', which is not enforced, of course.The only way we could 4,

really do that was to create high levels of wear and then,with wear, you get decay which is performance drop-off.

"From a racing point of view,that's desirable, because you hope you’ll end up with a situation where,as with Canada last year, you have people with fresh tyres who are going much quicker than people who may be trying to hang out for a couple of extra laps, and you get overtaking."

Smart race teams inevitably find the'best'strategy fairly quickly. And while some will roll the dice from time to time,that could well put Formula 1 back in a similar position, with plenty of drivers on the same tyres at the same time and pitting together.

Hembrey hopes what they have put in place will negate the possibility of that happening, but has left the door open for further tweaking down the line.

"If they all start coming in on the same lap and the same strategy, we'll have to have another think," he said."But so far we don't think that will be the case, because there are differences in driver style, vehicle wear, it is different between vehicles, not hugely but enough I think to create a difference in strategy.

"You can imagine,though,that there are big variables;temperature variables and track variables, which are hugely significant. We monitor the micro-macro roughness of the track, which affects wear rates, vehicle set-ups and driving styles.There are a lot of variables in there.

"With the number of tyres, we have four compounds.It's difficult to cover all of those scenarios with just four compounds,so you're having to compromise to a certain extent. I guess in some races we might've been too conservative and others too aggressive,and that's something we're going to learn during the season."

In addition to the unique requirements to be a key part of the racing, there are the usual demands on the tyres.They need to work on a variety of circuit styles, surfaces and cars, all in a range of temperatures.

Australia was expected to be one of the'hot'races,and an extra set of dry tyres - in addition to the regular 11 - were allocated for Friday's practice sessions,so teams could learn about the tyres In a warmer

1 n

After a mammoth testing program,including running under lights with an artificially dampened Yas Marina Circuit,far left,Pirelli kicked offtheir return at Albert Park. A lot has changed in the sport between its 44th win, with Nelson Piquet at Canada in 1991,above,and their 45th, with Sebastian Vettel,left.

Testing for Pirelli's 2011 return kicked offin Augustlast year, with Nick Heidfeld aboard the 2009 Toyota at Mugello, below.

climate than existed during pre-season testing. Ultimately,though,it was a cool weekend, but Malaysia - where teams were given an extra two sets in practice - brought the heat as usual.

"All of our winter testing was just that-winter testing. It was freezing,' Hembrey said.

"These tyres are expected to,on average, operate between a minimum of 20 degrees centigrade through to somewhere like Malaysia, where it's up at 45 degrees. So from that point of view, it's a tough challenge.There's a little bit of a rule in testing that if it works well at 10 degrees centigrade, it's not going to work well when you get to the hot conditions.

"And one thing that's probably hidden from the public is the evolution of a track over a race weekend.You have all ofthe practice, racing and support racing, rubber is being put down on the circuit and that changes dramatically the strategy for the teams.Tyres will last longer, we go faster, everything speeds up.

"Often we've been on our own testing and testing with the teams in non-optimal conditions.So that's going to be the big challenge for us.

We monitor everything and simulate what the teams are going to be doing, but they're the ones who are going to have to make the calls.

The drivers and strategists in the teams,will be looking at what point they want to make their tyre changes."

And then we get to the teams themselves. After an initial taste with their 2010 cars in Abu Dhabi last November-the first time the tyres were used outside of private Pirelli running - pre-season testing for 2011 kicked off in Spain in February.There,teams really got to know the rubber. It threw up some interesting analysis of their durability and the occasional voiced concern from drivers, which in turn became column inches. Even with that, Hembrey is pleased with the way everything has clicked with the teams.

"We've had a fantastic collaboration, each team has their own engineer,so we have 12 engineers with us that really work very closely with the teams,"he said.

"They provide all of the data to us on how the tyres and the vehicle's

performing together,and we've had,to be honest,very, very strong and positive feedback.

"It's obviously different,and that's the one thing people tend to forget, but often the drivers aren't actually complaining,they're describing differences.They'd complain if there were problems with reliability, but what they're describing is something very different to what they've done in the past, which,in reality, is exactly what we were asked to do."

When racing got underway in Australia,the fears - and the notion of drivers needing to make four or five tyre changes in a race - proved unfounded.Two and three stop strategies were the norm, while Sauber played a ripper with Sergio Perez, using a one-stop strategy to grab seventh, before he was excluded for a rear wing irregularity.

In Malaysia,three stops was the common theme, while Red Bull used four stops to help Mark Webber recover from his slow, KERS-less start. Sauber,again,did their own thing, with Kamui Kobyashi making Just two stops on his way to eighth.

"It's funny," Hembrey said,"chatting to the teams - when they got the idea of what was going to happen,they got very excited, because they thought'oh, maybe we can get in-front of a competitor'or'we could maybe do something more intelligent or more interesting than somebody else'.

"That in itself is what we're after. We want someone to come up with a two-stop strategy and somebody going three so that at the end of the race, you do see people coming together.

"It's been mentioned by some journalists, quite rightly,that some drivers have experience of this from many years ago.There were pitstops in racing and some drivers got it good.One of the best examples was Michael Schumacher;the Ross Brawn and Michael Schumacher partnership is one of the best in the business for getting the strategy right. And we fully expect that type of activity to become very evident, who gets it right and who gets it wrong."

So far, with their tyres clearly playing a major role in races, it seems like Pirelli is getting their part of the equation right.

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HE jury is still out on whether the moveable wing experiment will help or hinder Formula 1 - and it probably will be for some time.

As this issue of MNews went to press, the 2011 FI season was only two races down - Australian and Malaysia - and that's certainly not enough time to properly judge the effectiveness of the radical new procession-busting regulation change.

People of the paddock have already got their opinions, sure, but they are hardly well-formed or founded enough for us to be making the call on whether the Drag Reduction System is effective or not.

Anyway, we'll come back to that later.

Let's start by outlining exactly what the DRS is - and to help us, we've enlisted the help of our FI technical guru, Paolo Filisetti.

FILISETTI - The policy of the system is as follows;adjustable bodywork may be activated by the driver at any time prior to the start of the race (in practice and qualifying)and, for the sole purpose of improving overtaking opportunities during the race, after the driver has completed two laps.

46

The driver may only activate the adjustable bodywork in the race when he has been notified via the control electronics that it is enabled - at the discretion of the race director.

It will only be enabled if the driver is less than one second behind another at any of the pre-determined 'DRS'positions around each circuit. The system will be disabled the first time the driver uses the brakes after the system has been activated.

So there it is; after years of feverishly working to ban moving and flexing aerodynamic components, the FIA has actually made a moveable part of a Formula 1 car's aero system mandatory. And this isn't any old part, this is the rear wing!

However, unlike the moving and flexing floors, skirts and wings that have been giving scrutineers headaches throughout the history of regulated aerodynamics on racing cars, this is heavily regulated by the FIA. As Filisetti has already mentioned, during race conditions, use of the DRS is completely at the discretion of race director Charlie Whiting. Firstly, each circuit will have a designated DRS zone, the only point on the circuit where it can be activated.

And even then, it is only available to a driver who is within one second of the car in front.

When those stars align, a light flashes on in the cockpit, and the driver knows his DRS is ready to rock and roll.

FILISETTI - The mechanism itself is quite simple, constituted by a servo mechanism that is locked and unlocked according to the FIA's regulations for usage. In particular, along the circuit there will be a certain amount of electronic loops that will prevent any fraudulent use of the system.

In general, the system may be operated through either a central pillar, or through the endplates. The drawings above relate to the second method, with the servo mechanism operating on an endless screw, rotating in both directions so as to decrease the angle of the flap, before making it return to the default position.

The default gap between the flap and the main profile of the wing is one centimetre, and when the flap is lifted up it increases to five centimetres, thus dramatically reducing the downforce generated by the wing along with the drag generated.

In this way the car increases its top speed performance, as if it would have an motorsport news

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m equivalent increment in power output of about 40-50 horsepower. This is then added to the 60+ horsepower output of the KERS. While the DRS is strongly controlled by the FIA during the race, throughout practice and qualifying it is a free-for-all. Drivers can flatten their rear wings at any point on the circuit, at any time they like. In the lead-up to the Australian Grand Prix, Mark Webber voiced confusion over the FIA's decision to allow the DRS in qualifying.

"It's a bit busy in the cockpit now," he said.

"I don't mind it for the race. It's fine, because we won't use the wing so much in the race.

"But in qualifying, obviously, to have the rear wing on and using the KERS ... I don't really understand why we need to use the rear wing in qualifying because it was only designed for use in racing.

"I'm happy to use it in the racing, but to keep using it in qualifying when we have a choice to have it on or off... it's a bit strange to have it on."

Apart from perhaps contributing to Adrian Sutil's impressive spin in qualifying, the DRS system had little impact on the pre-race sessions at Albert Park. www.mnews.com.au

Unfortunately for the FIA, it also had little impact on the race, the system hardly throwing up the masses of overtaking that some expected.

However, most of the post-race comments focused on two issues - the first being that it's too early to make judgment after just one race, and the second being that having the designated DRS zone on Albert Park's 600 metre start/finish straight was never going to work, regardless of how effective the system is.

"The rear wing is still very fresh," said race winner Sebastian Vettel. "[Melbourne] is a special circuit. Turn 1, 1 don't think is the best place for overtaking in the whole year, so we need to see. But surely it helps to come closer. I was getting closer to Jenson [Button], which helped me two corners later to pass him. So far, it worked as expected."

"I think the DRS did make a good contribution when it was working, but it is still too early to judge," added Williams technical director Sam Michael.

"From what we have seen I think it will have the desired effect in assisting overtaking manoeuvres once it is a bit more finely tuned."

"I was right behind Lewis Hamilton on Lap 3,"said Webber,"and I expected the DRS to help me pass him. It made no difference; he continued to pull away.

"But it's too early to write the DRS system off because the corner onto the pit straight at Albert Park is too quick. It wasn't possible to stay close to the car in front."

FILISETTI - In Melbourne, the DRS proved to be more important, and let's say effective, than the KERS systems. This was well-proven

by Red Bull, and highlighted by Sebastian VetteTs raw race pace without KERS. It is important to realise that it was never the FIA's original idea to have an equivalence between the extra power generated by KERS, and the extra speed generated by the DRS. If they were equal, it would negate any advantage that a following car might have.

So there you have it, a look inside the world of the DRS. It's confusing, questionably effective, and barely less artificial than Bernie's plan to make it rain on command with a spinkler system. But, it might just take a single epic race to swing the paddock vote.

It will be worth watching,just in case.

47

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Warwick Brown still gets fan mail 35 years after his one and only grandprix start But that was merely an inconsequential sidelight in the incredible career of one of the best Formula 5000 drivers the world ever saw. By STEVE NORMOYLE

I

T'S a shame Brown never got a decent shot at Formula 1. It's in realm of the classic 'what if?' cliche, but the one thing we can be sure of is that Warwick Brown in FI would not have been there just making up the numbers.

The thing is, though, he did enjoy a highly successful - and extremely lucrative - career in international openwheeler racing without really bothering about FI. And the whole thing - from the time of his first race until his retirement - lasted just nine years.

Fortune and misfortune tended to accompany Warwick Brown's career in equal measure. There are the horrendous injuries.

On the plus side, he is thankful that he managed to survive one of this sport's most dangerous eras.

He was highly fortunate in that he was able to attract a financial backer before 48

he even started racing - which was simply because Pat Burke (an oil/energy magnate with an interest in motor racing) lived across the road from the Browns! He was also lucky enough to secure the services of legendary engineer Peter Molloy as car preparer and mentor. Crucially, as it turned out, Molloy was on the scene a matter of months into Brown's career, joining Pat Burke's team when they bought the Niel Allen McLaren M4a.

"Molloy knew of me and took a look at me, and he really sort of saved me in a way," Brown says today.

"He just calmed me down. He said,'if you try too hard, you're going to kill yourself'.

He gave me a thirst for understanding and being analytical about what's going on.

"With Molloy, fortunately at the time I was wise enough to realise that everything that

came out of his mouth was like gold, and to latch onto it and learn from it. I listened to everything - anything I could get from him, I would get from him."

Soon the four-cylinder McLaren would make way for a 5-litre V8 version. Within two years of his first race. Brown would be a Formula 5000 driver.

The McLaren Ml OB was far from the latest technology, and it had old-style 15-inch front wheels at a time when other F5000 drivers were finding smaller 13-inch fronts offered better bite into slower corners, but under Molloy's guidance the young driver was coming on fast.

Then came the breakthrough race. It was at Warwick Farm, and it was the day Brown knew he was capable of winning.

"Frank Matich got into the first corner first and I'm behind him. You can tell when motorsport news

Thunder downunder: Warwick Brown returned to Australia in 7977 to win the Rothmans Formula SOOOSeries, above left.

McLaren M10B,above, was replaced with a Lola T300 when they decided to get serious.

Pat Burke Racing - Brown, mentor/engine man Peter Molloy(centre)and mechanic Graeme 'Lugsy'Adams. you're pushing driver to the point where he's doing things he's not comfortable with, and I definitely had Frank in that situation. I still had the big 15-inch front wheels, and he had a newer car, but I was prepared to try harder.

"I remember the corner coming onto the main straight, Homestead, a very fast fourth gear corner, 140mph.Through there I'm right on him, I've got him nailed. But the aerodynamics got me and it pushed, and I spun. I went round twice, didn't hit anything and recovered to finish second.

"But after that I knew. Back in the pits, I said to Molloy and Pat,'If you can get me a competitive car, I know I can beat Frank'.

"I had huge self belief but I was also starting to get some very good people www.mnews.com.au

around me - and I was listening to them.

"That's when we got theT300."

The Lola T300 was still not the latest in F5000 hardware, but it was a step forward.

With a second place at Wigram and third at Levin in the four-race New Zealand leg of the '73 Tasman Series, things were looking up.

Then came the first Australian race.

Surfers Paradise.

In an F5000 car, turn one at Surfers was a 260km/h right hand sweeper. In the morning warmup Brown had a left front tyre deflate just as he turned in. The car never looked like making the corner. Frank Gardner(who had designed theT300)saw the accident happen, and later calculated that the impact with earth bank was around 90G. Warwick's body took the brunt of it. His legs and ankles were smashed. Nine of his toes were broken - today he can't even tell you which is the one that wasn't broken.

In hospital a few days later, bone marrow escaped Into Warwick's blood supply and caused an embolism. It nearly killed him.

Brown had almost died in the ambulance

on the way to hospital, such was the loss of blood. Pat Burke was with him in the ambulance.The team owner was distraught.

He told Brown he wanted to stop racing, but Brown wouldn't have it.

"In the ambulance I said to him,'we're not going to stop now'. I made him make me a promise that we wouldn't stop."

Warwick's injuries sidelined him for the best part of a year. But Burke kept his word, and ordered a new Lola T332 for Brown's comeback in the '74 Tasman.

They had a tough time in the NZ races, but back home Warwick won in Adelaide.

His first big F5000 victory came exactly 13 months after his Surfers crash.

From there it was onwards and upwards, although not in the direction Brown had originally hoped.

"Up until the accident, my plan was to be Formula 1 World Champion. After that, reality bit a little and I thought,'well, maybe I'm not going to be World Champion'and that's when we looked at America rather than Europe.

"I thought maybe I can make a lot of 49

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There*s na amount of money that could make you do this if it's not in you. it would friyhten the hell out of you money out of it. But there's no amount of money that could make you do this if it's not in you. It would frighten the hell out of you.

I used to do it because I had a belief that I had a gift for it, and one of the by-products of that was that you could make a lot of money out it."

There was certainly a lot of money in the American F5000 scene.

"Our first race was at Ontario. It was a copy of Indianapolis and used to seat 250,000 people. We used two corners on the oval and then an infield road section - a fast track, about 125mph average lap.

"So we're over there for three races, and we rock up at Ontario. We've got a Dodge van and a trailer on the back, with a spare nose and a few spare wheels, maybe a spare gearbox and a spare engine. Lo and behold, who pulls into the pits behind us but the Vel's Parnelli team, with Mario Andretti's car.

Biggest pantechnicon I'd ever seen:four cars, 10 engines, multiple suspension sets, 15 blokes walking around.

"I said to Molloy,'Peter, have you seen this?

Who talked us into this? We must be nuts!'

Peter got hold of me and said,'Just be cool, just do what you normally do and leave the rest to me'.

"So, out we go, and first session we were 50

third quickest! Peter had done a special engine for me.The difference was that the Americans had big inlets, because big inlets meant more power, but with our smaller inlets, the power was much smoother, and we could get off corners a lot better.

It did lack a little on the straights, but it worked for us.

"In the heat race I finished second, and in the main race I was right up there, behind Mario Andretti and Brian Redman. Firestone had given us these tyres, and that was the first time we'd been given tyres, and they said 'we've got a special set for you, Mario's tyres', and anyway the tyres just gave up and that was it.

"Molloy will tell you today that they dudded us with a crook set of tyres. Because we had them,and they knew we had them.

We spoke to Goodyear after that,from that day on for the rest of my career I never paid for a set of tyres.

"My third and last race, at Riverside, Mario won, Brian was second and I was third. That was a great race."

From there it was back home for the Australian Grand Prix at Oran Park. Brown took the lead off the start and took off, walking away the field. It would have been the easiest victory imaginable had

Lola limp: Warwick puts a brave face on things but the leg injuries he suffered when the Lola went off the road at 250km/h were severe, above. Nearly two years later, the Australian Grand Prix win that got away, right. the harmonic balancer not blown up and cut the brake line.

Brown had at least been impressive while n it lasted - much faster than Australian opponents only months earlier he'd had trouble beating. Nothing was different on the car; it was the driver that had changed.

"I'd gone to America and competed with the best in the world, and found that I could do it. It lifted my confidence to another level and that showed when I came back to Australia. It's a bit like what you're seeing with Vettel now, he's World Champion and that's given him another level of confidence and he's going out and wiping them.

"But that Oran Park race, that was one of the most depressing days of my life. But it taught me a number of things about going motor racing, and one was that when you win, don't get too excited about it. I think you shouldn't get too euphoric and emotional about it, because it hurts too motorsport news

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Catch the Kerrick Sports Sedan series action trackside at the following events Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Mallala Motor Sport Park, South Australia May 13-15

Winton Raceway Victoria June 24-26

Eastern Creek Raceway, New South Wales July 15-17

Morgan Park Raceway, Queensland August 12-14

Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit Victoria November 4-6

www.sportssedans.com.an

^ KERRICK.

For more info visit our website

www.mnews.com.au

SPORTS SEDAIV:»»^t^

57

Formula 1 farce dream did truethousands for Warwick Brown,never but the best thing toThat be Formula 1 iscome a dream of drivers get to realise. said about his one and only grand prix start was that it was not quite a total nightmare "A week before that Watkins Glen race, Chris Amon had a road accident. He broke three or four toes. So he rings me up and says'do you want to have a shot at Formula 1 ?'

"I promised myself back then that if it wasn't a decent car, I wouldn't do it. I didn't want to make a fool of myselfjust to say I'd been an FI driver. But of course as soon as I got asked, I shot that in the bin and said,'I can fix it, let's do it'...

"So I went up to Watkins Glen. About eight weeks before that I'd been there in the Bay Racing Lola and the time I'd done in that,a 1m41s, would have put me on the front row for the FI race. I couldn't get this Wolf thing round under 1 m48s - so slow you could time it with a sun dial!

"When you put your foot on the brakes it was all over the shop. I came in and said it was hugely unstable under brakes, and they said, yeah, we know the problem', it was the pins for the suspension arms and they had stronger ones coming overnight.

"I go out the next day with the new pins, and same problem.Come back in the pits, and they say the steering rack's moving. I'm thinking it must have been made of plasticine.

"Next time out I launched the thing into fence'cause it just wouldn't pull up.There was a photo of it on the front page of the Telegraph back home - and my mother's beside herself:'why didn't you ring me?'she said - she thought I was in hospital again, i'd never thought anything of it.

"I qualified about 20th,down the back, but I was in front of my team-mate, Arturo Merzario, an Italian who used to wear a cowboy hat;thought he was John Wayne!

"I remember getting into the car for the race thinking,'I'll be lucky to live through this.This thing is going to kill me'. But,this was my shot at FI,so worry about that later.

"I finished 14th. I had no brakes on the back,two or three of the five gears left. I'd been talking to Frank (Williams)and Patrick(Head),and they said,'do you want to think about Japan?', which was the next race, but I thought I was better off sticking with the 5000.

52

much when you don't win. So I tried to plot a course through the middle.

"What happened to me at that was race was this: it's the Australian Grand Prix, I had it shot to bits and I've lost it, and I might not get another shot at it. That hurt. On top of that, the next day I'm in hospital having (more)surgery on my leg.

"So, lose the grand prix, then that night, no food or drink for 24 hours, because I'm in hospital 9am the next day for the operation.Two days later I'm on a plane back to America.

But that was a lesson I learned - you can't let yourself get too low about things, so you also can't get too happy when you win a race."

He lost the GP but he returned a few months later to become the only Australian ever to win theTasman Cup. He won it in the final round, but only after John Walker, one of the other two drivers still in contention, bowed out on the opening lap in the infamous horse railing crash at the end of the back straight after trying a highly optimistic move down the inside of Brown into the Esses.

"It was great to win the Tasman, but I had my mind on bigger things, and also I had the thing about not getting too excited about winning. What I was really hoping for was to get Mario and Brian out here for the next year, because they were fastest guys with the best gear."

That didn't happen, and even Brown himself wouldn't be back in Australia in 1976. He'd done a deal to do the US series with American entrant Jack McCormack, who'd run Chris Amon in the '75 Tasman. Jack's car was a Talon, a copy of a McRae. Brown would bring Molloy's engines.

It was effectively a works drive, but it was under resourced.

Also, the US engine tuners had made some big gains in 12 motorsport news

Three drivers Hipped their cars going at/er hiiis. We^re aii ashing Loia - hat/e these things heen tharaughig tested?

And theg're saging *geah, of caurse\ Theg weren^t.

Able Tasman:Brown was the only Australian to win the prestigious Tasman Cup in its 12year history, above left.

Brown won every round of the 1978 Rothmans F5000 Series, above right.

months, and back home Molloy had been too busy to keep his own development programme going. In hindsight. Brown says, it was a mistake.

Brown was back in a Lola for 1976, but the circumstances under which he came to drive for Bob Bay Racing are horrendous, to say the least.

"Bob's driver was BJ Swanson. It was his first full year of Formula 5000 and he was brilliant, but he was having lots of accidents.

We became really good friends. BJ was 23 and I was a bit older, and I said to him - like Molloy had with me -'listen mate, you've got a great future, you've just got to calm down a little. You've got that much adrenaline going on, you're getting into situations you can't get out of. Just come www.mnews.com.au

back a quarter of a second a lap and be a bit more analytical about it'.

"So we line up at Mid Ohio, Brian's (Redman) in front, I think Andretti was second,and BJ and I were on the second row. Going down into the first corner it was almost a repeat of Walker's thing at Sandown; I felt him coming, he's on the dirty side of the road, and i could see straight away there's no way he was going to make it - he was either going to hit me or crash or both. I just hung in there and as I saw him come up beside me, his car had a bit of a twitch, and then he went off and into an armco fence.The fence split and he virtually got decapitated.

"It took them ages to get him out of the car. I went to see him in hospital that night before they switched off the life support.

It was terrible. I kept thinking,'why didn't he listen to me?'If he'd had the luck to have a Molloy to guide him, he'd have been world champion.

"So I ended up replacing BJ. It started out OK but Bob was a chronic alcoholic, and

we ended up suing each other, which was unfortunate. How foolish - a little Aussie guy getting involved in the American legal system. I should have run away at a hundred miles an hour.

"We ended up fixing it between us in a bar one night, but he still ended up owing me money."

Out of that came the big break: a deal with VDS,the F5000 megateam owned by Stella Artois beer magnate. Count Rudi van der Straten.

VDS had been getting nowhere with the new Lola T430. Brown was given a kind of audition race and impressed enough for VDS to replace Teddy Pilette with the Australian.

It was the start of an incredibly successful partnership. With VDS, Brown returned to Australia to win the Rothmans F5000 Series, backing up in 1978 with victories in all four rounds.

But in between that came his second big accident.

This was the first year of the new Can Am, which was Formula 5000s enclosed in 53

, PAT

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Three drivers flipped their cars going over hills, H/eVe aii asking Lola - have these things heen tharaughig tested?

And theg^re saging *geah, of caurse\ Theg imren't:. sportscar bodywork. For this new Can Am, Lola had evolved Its T332 into the T333CS with bodywork.

"They were actually faster than Formula 5000, but there were aero issues with the bodywork.

"The cars turned up late. The problem there was that the first race was at St Jovite in Canada - we weren't going to get both cars ready in time. So Gethin and I flipped a coin to see who would drive. He won the toss.

"St Jovite was very undulating with lots of hills, and that weekend three drivers flipped their cars going over hills. All 333CSs. First to go was Redman - he nearly ended up a paraplegic out of it - then Elliot Forbes Robinson and I can't remember the third.

"So the second race comes along, and we're all asking Lola - have these things been thoroughly tested? And they're saying 'yeah, of course'. They weren't.

"We go to Laguna Seca. I loved Laguna Seca - just like Bathurst - and we're there on the Friday, two seconds under the lap record.

How easy is this? But then, the first time I ever tried to go flat out over the rise past the start finish, the front went up - 60 degrees.

Ran into the bank on the outside, bounced 54

back onto the road and it's just a sea of dust.

The next guy behind came over the hill and takes pot luck \A/hich side to go, guesses wrong and hits me amidship.

"I had smashed my ankles up and I was out for about eight weeks."

The'78 Can Am was a classic. At the time Alan Jones'FI career was still solidifying, which meant Jones was still doing things other than FI - which in '78 was the Can Am with Carl Flaas.

The series was largely a battle between the two Aussies.

Brown caught up with Jones last month at Albert Park during the AGP. It was the first time they'd met since the early'80s. Brown had just retired but was living in California, and dropped in on AJ during one of the Long Beach FI races.

"Alan was one of the toughest guys I ever raced against. We'd go and have a drink together, but put us in a car and we'd cut each other's throats. But he was fair; we never had an issue with each other.

"He beat me more than I beat him, but going into Riverside that year we were virtually tied on points. I had the biggest disagreement with the old man (van der

Straten) over that race. I'd always had two cars at my disposal - and Alan had two with his team - but for that last race the old man decided to put Geoff Lees in my spare car, when everything depends on it.

"Alan and I were on the front row. He won the start, but after a while I could see I was forcing him to do things he didn't want to do, and I knew I was going to win this race, and win the Can Am -1 just knew it.

"About 15 laps in i go for the brakes and the pedal hits the floor. I spun off but got going, managed to pump up the pedal and finished second. Alan won the race and the Can Am. An o-ring had failed in the master cylinder. That hurt. If I'd had my time over again I'd have loved for that not to have happened."

Brown relates these events of 32 years ago with such clarity that he could be recalling something from the previous day.

He is as youthful a 61 year-old as you'd ever see, and he is surprisingly untroubled by what are fairly severe disfigurements to his lower legs. But we're talking Warwick Brown here - even at 61 he retains the passion for riding big sports bikes that he always had motorsport news

as a younger man. And his day job is flying corporate aircraft.

When Brown was at Albert Park for the FI race, he found himself wondering what it would be to drive a 2011 FI car. Seriously.

"Today, racing is so much safer. I'd love to have had it like it is today.

"It's the only thing that makes me envious.

In our day if we had an accident, if it was a good day they'd take you to the hospital, it

it was a bad day it would be to the morgue.

Simple as that.

"I'd love to have a go today. I'd love to be 20 - provided I knew what I know now!

"I looked at those Formula 1 cars the other day and I'd love to have a go in one for an afternoon. My neck probably wouldn't hold up for more than about two laps, but I'd love

to experience what they're like now."

I hat would really be something to see.

America calling: Mario AndrettiA/Varwick Brown front row at the Mosport round of the 1975 US F5000 Championship, top left.

Crashing at Charlotte when a tyre failed at 280km/h - this time only the car was hurt, left. At Riverside in 7978 where Alan Jones pipped Brown for the Can Am crown,above left. Brown reunited with his T332 and Peter Molloy at last year's Eastern Creek Tasman rtcvivdl, above.

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HE Australian Rally Championship is entering a period of much-needed change in 2011.

Recent ARC seasons could hardly be described as the championship's glory years, with limited manufacturer involvement and competitors struggling to find the necessary commercial backing. It was on the wane and something needed to be done.

Scott Redder was the man charged with that responsibility.

After a crash at Rally SA last year ended his driving career.

Redder was appointed as the championship's CEO late last year. A man with a passion for the sport, and business acumen through his family's Redders Suspension empire.

Redder started in the role in December, and put together a three-year plan to revitalise the championship.

In a move to boost the appeal of rallying, the fourwheel-drive turbos in this year's championship will be faster and louder, with new Unrestricted ARC regulations. A new Junior Challenge has been instigated to develop a career path for youngsters, and Bosch has come on board as the naming rights sponsor.

Away from the gravel, this year will be about setting up the sport for what Redder hopes will be its best-ever era. Regulations will be developed for the introduction of a new class for Sports Utility 56

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Vehicles in 2012, and the outright championship will be shifted to a new, two-wheel-drive set of regulations from 2013.

Both platforms will be developed with the goal of attracting new manufacturers to the sport, which Redder sees as vital to the ARC'S future.

It's hoped they will appeal to manufacturers, who will then look at the ARC as a viable marketing activity and get involved.

A pool of over 50 target vehicles has been drawn up and dialogue with car makers is under way, with Redder meeting 11 local manufacturers and importers in the first part of 2011. The new regulations will be announced at this year's Rally Australia in September and they need to work.

With work under way to turn the championship around, MNews sat down to talk to Redder at the launch of the 2011 Bosch Australian Rally Championship.

MOTORSPORT NEWS: The last time we spoke to you, it was Just under 12 months ago. You were back in full-time competition, you were leading the ARC and about to head to Adelaide. A lot's changed since then...

SCOTT REDDER: Yeah, some good memories followed by some very bad ones.

Obviously I had the big accident in South Australia last year, which put an end to my

career, physically and mentally, and now I've continued that passion in a different role, and trying to bring the sport to a new level.

Was the taking the role as CEO a case that you realised driving was over and wanted a way to stay involved?

I've always had the idea and, I think, the experience and know how to help it along. I was born with dust in my veins and I'm very passionate about it, and was always frustrated that it didn't get the sunshine it deserved.

We need to be different, we need to make some radical changes because we've been back-pedalling for the last few years and we need to make some big changes very quickly.

How would you describe where the sport's been for the last couple of years?

It's certainly been stagnant, that's probably a word you could use, for the last four or five years and probably not as a fault of anyone.

The loss of manufacturers because of a combination of reasons, mainly the GFC, put a real hole in the championship.

We fought back with some good years with some good privateers but, like most forms of motorsport, you can't continue to run championships based on privateers. You need to have the factories involved, until you probably get to a level like V8 Supercars, which can have

sustained investment, or have done the yards over the years to attract sponsors to privateer teams.

But even using that as an example, V8 Supercars without the Ford and Holden teams would be a very different animal.

So we've got to keep moving on.

You've spoken about the new, three-year plan - was that all put in place in December last year when you got on board?

Yeah. It's obviously always good to have a strategic vision and we need to make the changes pretty quickly, but we've got to do them via a process that's good for everybody - fair for the competitors, and also provides a definite way forward for manufacturers to get involved.

They're generally not businesses that make decisions quickly there are reasons for that and we understand that.

So we just need to foster that relationship over the next two years and, as I said, hopefully if we do the right things, say the right things and provide a product that they think is the right fit, then we can have some serious manufacturer involvement past 2012.

Let's look at the first year of the plan. This year, with the Unrestricted ARC cars, the Junior Challenge and that sort of stuff, it looks like there are a few good initiatives even at this early stage. mi motorsport news

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WHILE there's plenty planned for the next couple pf years Ipj the ARC, drivers of four-wheeldrive turbos are excited about 201 i;; Their cars have been 'Unrestricted'. In what's touted as a world first for a national gravel rally championship, turbo restrictors have been removed and exhaust manifold regulations have been loosened, with the aim of improving the spectacle of the ARC with faster and noisier cars.

Even with a move back to pump fuel, albeit 98 octane, drivers are reporting significant power gains.

"It's got a lot more torque, a lot more power up top. Fifth

gear is now unbelievable fast," Steve ShepBerd said of his Evo X Lancer.

"Acceleration in between the cornersis what's going to blow everyone away. It's approximately 25 percent more power at tifie wheels, so it's a lot more of a handful to drive.

"You look at the older cars, the [Ford Escort] BDAs and that sort of stuff, where you can hear the torque of the car coming " through the forest.

"The goal was to try and get noise back. The main idea of taking the restrictor out was because we're going back to a pump fuel, so we don't lose too much power. It's certainly worked."

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Justin Dowel feels the Gurrfent grgpi of Gtoup N-based ears will take the extra power without too rfiueh of a drama, and backs the cfhange.

"From a reliability perspective, we|lid 145 kays of testing a couple of weeks ago> and we didn't have a problem all day," he said before the season opener inWA. "Our engineer certainly builds a strong, well-built car they can certainly handle the power.

The drive-train and so-on of the Mitsubishi |Evo;|X] is strong enough, there'll be less load on the turbo and the engine because the restrictors aren't there.

"fhe cars have been transformed from road ears to raceears. We're drivers, we want to drive raceears and that's basically what they are now unleashed monsters.

"When we went testing, I remembered there was a corner we tested on last year and we hit it flat in fifth at about 180 kays an hour. This year, we hit it flat in fourth at about 188 kays an hour and I had a grin from ear to ear thinking 'my God, I can do another 20 kays around this bend!'

"They're just unbelievable the sound, the noise, the speed ... they sound like WRC cars, they look like them and they're going to go as fast."

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Year 1 was all about utilising the investment and the stuff we've

got now. It's not fair to go and announce massive changes within a month, because the competitors, the teams and events are a very, very important part of what we do.

It was a matter of using what we've got, improving the commercial appeal and looking forward to the future. Obviously, the first part is the Unrestricted cars, which is a world first we're the only outright gravel championship that's taken the restrictors out of our existing turbo cars, which is a way of making cars faster and louder and bringing back some appeal to the championship.

Juniors has always been a big passion of mine. Obviously I grew up as one those once upon a time and my career blossomed from there in a driving

perspective.That's been lost, again, because of manufacturers ●v.not being involved. There's limited aspiration in terms of going through the ranks.

RallySchool.com.au got involved, it's a perfect fit for developing juniors, so we've got a two-wheel-drive and a fourwheel-drive section with three qualifying rounds and a big final with a prize value of about 80,000 bucks and dedicated television. It's really exciting. It will end up having about 30 cars across Australia qualify, so it's great.

The move with the Unrestricted cars has excited the drivers. Was the move competitor driven, or was it something you guys came up with and then took to them?

Ithinka bit of both.The competitors realised that we had to do something, and something

with the cars that we've got. And there were some fairly Intense discussions between the ARC, CAMS, the Australian Rally Commission and the competitors.

It's a big step to go Unrestricted.

It's a move away from FIA, but we needed to do something to get above the clutter and try to do something that's a bit different and try and attract some people back to the sport.

And it's probably two-fold. If you open everything up, not only are there performance and entertainment gains, but it could also help on a cost front; not trying to squeeze performance out the restricted engines, being able to run them at lower stress.

Yeah.The reasoning behind putting turbo restrictors in cars was great from a safety point of view and that sort of thing. But what it made you do was spend a

lot of money on fuel, and tuning to get the most out of the car, which really had 50 percent less air going through the engine.

Opening up the restrictors to no restrictors, similar to all of the tarmac regulations around Australia and the world, enables you to use a lessergrade petrol, a 98-spec pump petrol, so there's an immediate saving. BP Ultimate are our fuel partner and they've been fantastic. It's arguably, in theory, less development on engines because you're dealing with a larger powerband, so don't need to extract the last living horsepower out of the car.

In theory, it should save money, but as we know in motorsport, they spend every last dime to get every last performance out of it. I don't think we've made the teams spend any more, and in some cases the teams will spend a lot less,

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Moving onto next year, with what's ahead for 2013, it's

probably going to be a bit of a transitional year, with a few things running alongside each other, including the possibility of a two-wheeldrive champion and a fourwheel-drive champion.

It's going to be a really exciting year next year. It's going to be very much an interim yearthere's going to be SUVs in there, as you said, possibly twowheel-drive and four-wheeldrive champions and in a way it's a bit of a'bitsa'year, but it's also very exciting.

It's the second year of the big masterplan. It'd be great to make some announcements of some manufacturers dipping their toe in the water, so to speak, and getting involved at all sorts of levels.

And then, onto 2013 with the two-wheel-drive formula. With that and the SUVs, it's going be a very big market that'll be relevant for car manufacturers to look at getting involved and using rallying as a marketing tool.

Rallying and, in particular, the Australian Rally Championship, is the most relevant form of motorsport.

A V8 Supercar is badged

as a Falcon or a Commodore, but in reality it's a fair-dinkum -race car that has no relevance to the existing car. Formula 1 is obvious, but rallying is very much relevant. What you see on the screen,from our perspective, is a very similar car to that you can buyout of the showroom, moreso than many other forms of motorsport.

It's just about providing that relevance again to the manufacturers and the public.

These new outright twowheel-drive cars need to be fast, they need to be exciting and they need to be market relevant.

The dialogue you've had with manufacturers so far... as you said,they don't make decisions quickly, but did they seem receptive to what's going on?

Certainly the first box we've ticked is direction, providing a sport they can be involved with in the future.

Are we going to win with everyone? No. But my plan would be to have four manufacturers involved in 2013 - I think anything less than that would be failure. But certainly they've been receptive, and it's up to us - like any other product, you've got to give them the reason to buy it.

Obviously there's still 2011 l and 2012 to push on with, but is 2013 taking up the bulk of your time at the moment?

Yeah,from a future perspective, 2011 from my side of things, from a strategy and direction point of view, is done and dusted.

There's a lot of work to deliver on a lot of the promises we've made this year, but certainly a lot of my thinking and time is way beyond 2011.

Manufacturers are companies that don't particularly move overly quickly with decisions.

They're thinking, like we are, years in advance, and we need to meet those expectations and do the same. I'm sure

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But there is still a manufacturer

they're developing cars for four or five years'time.

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program in the championship, thanks to Honda. A two-wheeldrive, naturally aspirated Civic Type-R made its debut last year, driven by Eli Evans. It finished seventh outright and would probably give the 2011 title a shake if not for the Unrestricted changes favouring his rivals.

The changes don't necessarily

IN the last decade,factorybacked efforts from the likes of

ground and see if there are any opportunities down the track.

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Over-all, it sounds like it's an exciting time to be part of the championship.

It is. As I said in the press conference, we're making history today.

Hopefully you'll remember back to this day in 2011 because this is the start of very much a new and exciting era in the sport.

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mean Evans should be discounted, but Honda's primary aim will be the Manufacturers Championship, which will be contested solely by two-wheeldrives in 2011 as a step towards the new 2013 outright formula.

"It's going to be a little bit difficult for the Civic Type-R this year," Evans conceded.

"Our focus will be the Manufacturers Championship, which is the two-wheel drive category, so we'll look to basically annihilate any competition that we come

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across and also_stir up the unrestricted four-wheel-drive guys and let them know that the Civic is on their tail.

"The Civic is a fast little car - it's lighter than what these guys drive, it makes a hell of a lot of noise and it's a hell of a lot offun.

We achieved some good results last year, we've done a lot of testing and two events this year already, and we keep improving every time we drive it."

Coming from a four-wheeldrive Subaru WRX to the frontwheel-drive, high-revving

(8,800rpm)Civic was a learning curve for Evans and Honda.

It's an ongoing process, but he's pleased with how it's progressing.

"I spent six years in the Subaru and made the change over to the Honda, which has been nothing but a ball offun," he said.

"It's been a big challenge,and every time we drive the car, we get faster and faster.

"We make improvements on engine tuning,suspension dynamics, different spring ratios, and the sort of stuff that we

change, we re always getting quicker and quicker."

Evans hopes the new-for-2013 regulations will work for Honda, and see them stay in the ARC. "We haven't actually spoken about 2012 and 2013 yet," he said.

"But with the way the championship's looking, going two-wheel-drive, I think it'd be a really positive thing for Honda to stay in there and put their cars in contention for the championship.

"It's a great opportunity for them."

ANOTHER new initiative in 2011 is the RallySchool.com.au Junior Australian Rally Challenge, aimed at fostering young talent.

With two classes, one for twowheel-drives and another for fours, drivers under the age of 28 in regular Group N or PRC machinery are eligible.

And it won't just be about final rally results. At each of the three qualifying rounds - Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia - the top three two-wheel-drive point scorers will automatically qualify for a start in the ARC section at Rally Australia, along with a wildcard selected by a judging panel.

The top two-wheel-drive crew at Rally Australia will then receive a fully-funded drive in an outright Unrestricted ARC Car at Rally Victoria, the ARC season finale.

In the four-wheel-drive class, there will be one automatic qualifier from each of the three qualifying rounds, plus a wildcard, getting a Rally Australia start.The top finisher

there will have their Rally Victoria entry fee waived, get eight free tyres from Kumho for the event and $2,000 to convert their car to Unrestricted specification.

"It's a funny championship,"Will Orders, who'll contest the twowheel-drive section, said.

"On one hand you've got to drive fiat-out for stage wins, but on the other hand you've got to try and win the rally to come out in the top three of the twowheel-drive guys.

"It's pretty good in the respect that not always the guy that finishes first can win it, so it's all about a combination of speed and consistency, which is good.

"And at the end of it, the winner gets a drive in a car, fully paid in an outright car, that's what we all want to do, drive for free!"

Orders will drive a Nissan Silvia SI 3, a far newer car than the elderly Mazda RX7 he has driven in the Classic Section sporadically in recent years.

Before that. Orders was a front runner in the now-defunct Subaru RS Challenge.

"It's basically a brand-new car for this year," he said of the Silvia.

"It's a modernish two-wheeldrive so it's the car of choice. We knew we were going to need good horsepower,suspension, reliability and this was the complete package, after looking over what we could afford at the time."

At 27, it's the first and last year Orders is eligible for the initiative, if the regulations remain as they are.

"Other countries run juniors at under 24 and under 23, but in Australia and the age limit of getting your licence at 18, that's only two or three years in the sport once you've got your licence and enough money to buy a car," he said.

"I think the age limit thing is good,for me, being 27 and turning 28 this year, but the other thing is that it gives the guys who haven't had that much experience, who are a little bit older than 25 the chance to come in and have a crack.'

61

THE SECOND ROW national racing since we last met

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FUJITSU SERIES Nick Percat and Jason Richards were the big winners in the opening round of the 2011 Fujitsu Series in Adelaide.

Walkinshaw Racing Junior Percat was second to Triple Eight's Andrew Thompson in the opening race, but the pair clashed early in the second.Thompson had to pit for repairs and ultimately finished 16th, and Percat was given a drive-through penalty but recovered to third position, enough to claim the round win ahead of a consistent Tim Blanchard.

Percat and Thompson weren't the only front-runners finding trouble in Race 2, with Jack Perkins and Taz Douglas coming together and David Russell also in the wars.Through it all came Richards, who got a last-minute drive with 2010 title winners Greg Murphy Racing. In the VE Commodore he drove in 2007 forTasman Motorsport, Richards came from 11th to take a resoundingly popular victory in Race 2 ahead of SBR teenager Scott McLaughlin.

CARRERA CUP Craig Baird drove as though Carrera Cup never left, winning the opening round of the reborn series at Albert Park.

Baird won two of the three races, but he wasn't without challengers. Fellow Kiwi Jonny Reid won the opening race and ran in second in Race 2, before slowing within sight of the chequered flag and limping to sixth.That elevated Daniel Gaunt to second, where he also finished in Race 3 after challenging Baird early.

On debut in Carrera Cup,Steven Richards was third in all three races, while guest Mark Skaife picked up a pair offourths and a fifth.

English driver Ben Barker was perhaps the revelation, though,the F3 graduate showing plenty of speed on debut in a Porsche. Barker was ahead of Gaunt when Reid slowed in Race 2, but ran wide at the second-last corner and dropped to fifth.

62

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FORMULA FORD Tom Williamson picked up his breakthrough race and round wins as the 2011 Australian Formula Ford Championship kicked off.

In his first round with Borland Racing Developments,Williamson was third in Race 1 to Sonic pair Cameron Waters and Nick Foster.

But when Waters and Foster both came unstuck on Lap 2 of the second race, Williamson was there to capitalise.

He went on to win the incident-strewn race ahead of team-mate Jesse Fenech and New Zealander Nick Cassidy, who both joined Williamson on the round podium.

CLIPSAL 500 SUPPORTS

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Klark Quinn scored a double as the Vodka O Australian GT Championship kicked off. Quinn resisted late pressure from Mark Eddy to win the 60-minute Race 1 under lights, and wrapped up the Murray WalkerTouristTrophy with victory in Race 2 over Greg Crick and Eddy.

In theTouring Car Masters presented by Autobarn,John Bowe bounced back from handling issues which left him fifth in Race 1 to win the remaining two races and the round,ahead of Race 1 victor Brad Tilley and Eddie Abeincia in his new XB Coupe.

David Sieders won two of the first three AutoQne V8 Ute races, before finding the Turn 8 wall in the wet Race 4. He limped home to seventh, though, which was enough to claim the round ahead of Ryal Harris and Chris Either.

Kyle Clews and Peter Carr split the Aussie Racing Car wins, with Clews taking the round honours.

V8 TOURING CARS Scott Loadsman didn't greet the chequered flag in any of the Kumho V8 Touring Car Series'three races at Wakefield Park, but he did enough to win the season opener.

Part of the series' biggest-ever field, Loadsman finished second to Terry Wyhoon in the first two races aboard his exPMM Commodore, but was elevated to top spot in Race 2 when Wyhoon copped a post-race penalty.

Third in Race 3 behind former championsTony Evangelou and Chris Smerdon was enough for Loadsman to win the round, ahead of Smerdon and Wyhoon.

SHANNONS NATIONALS Wakefield Park didn't just host the opening round of the 2011 Shannons Nationals, it was also the series' milestone 50th event.

Roger Lago kicked off his Porsche GTS Cup Challenge title defence with a round win ahead of Yuey Tan and Phil Morriss. Lago won the first two races, but had no answer for Matt Kingsley recovering from a broken fuel pump in Race 1 - in the 45-lap final.

Fujitsu Series regulars dominated Commodore Cup, with Tony Bates winning two races and the round ahead of Marcus Zukanovic, with 2010 series winner Adam Beechey third.

Shawn Jamieson won two of the three Saloon Car races to claim the round ahead of Matt Lovell, while Tim Berryman and Jon Miles teamed up to take the Radical Australia Cup honours.

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B JB ENTION a drive-day to some V8 Supercar drivers, and Im , #1 you get th| impression that driving pa'ssengers around, I mV I; say Queensland Raceway, at 80 percent pace all day isn't ■ W I exactly their idea of thrilling.

But when you’re a young driver coming to grips with driying a Supercar, it's far rhbfit than a necessary eommerGiai'^ore. It's a bonus.

Just ask Fujitsu Series rookies Chaz Mostert and Ash Walsh.^hlApril, , nestled between the first two rounds of the 20T1 season. Miles Racing held their fi rst-ever ride day at QR, with the pair clocking over 150 laps between them. ’ Mostert and Walsh both work at the team's Yatala base, among a fulltime staff of seven, and when MNews called for ^chatrit was the afternoon before the ride day and they'd just finish® loading the transporter. . ● ' ● * "I'm looking forward to just jumping in the ear, doing some laps and getting used to driving the cars, so it becomes second nature,"Walsh said, ' ■" .

"At Clipsal, there were a few times you're driving the'i^ar and going 'holy shit'! ' "That's the frustrating thing about driving in a Support category. It'd be lovely to be driving in the Main Game and racing every two or three weeks but we've only got seven rounds all year, and some pretty big gaps in there, so having a ride day is pretty good."

While Walsh does 20 hours a week at the workshop around his study, Mostert is fulltime with the team.

"I'm here all week," Mostert says,"I don't really stop until everything's done.

"It gives you an understanding a bit mpre about the cars, what they do, what kind of parts are on them so you can explain things back to the team. If there's a problem; you kind of know which bit's broken so you can help everyone out.

"It's a fantastic car and a fantastic class, so it's good to learn as much about them as you can."

Learning is the focus for the pair in 2011. Both have stepped up from Formula Ford, which Mostert won last year with Walsh fourth. Mostert

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got an early start to his V8 initiation, forming an association with team owner Wayne Miles midway through 2010 and making a start in the Fujitsu Series at Bathurst, but they're still in their V8 infancies.

Their first full season in a tin-top kicked off in Adelaide, and they both showed plenty of form to qualify their sjmRrO Falcons inside theTop' T®F^#there, Walsh had a troubledlnun making an error in the hustlfiahd»bustle of the opening lap while a Gohtentious drivethrough i^eHialfy for jumping the Turn 1/2 kerb delayed him 'lri the second raceand Walsh endfed ■Up l Sth. Mostert, meanwhile, kept out oftrouble to pick up ninth in Race 1 and sikth in Race 2.

"Obviously I was a little bit disappointed about not having two good races,"Walsh conceded.

"But I think we had some good speed, and the Car was good and all of thatlort of stuff, i'lih excited to have a bit more of a crack this year.

"I didyt expect to be less than a secoiid off Andrew Thompson iti a Triple fght cariri qualifying.fls had a pretty silly mistake in Race 1, and had a few dramas with the car in Race 2, but|thihk 0rtce we get it all together,ijf seems like a really positivejhing/ Mostert made a splash last October when he, made his Fujitsu Series debut, finishing fourth for the round at Bathurst. He qualified 10th, but kept his head and made solid ground in each race. With 2011 presenting arguably the strongest-ever Fujitsu Series field, he's looking to learn from those he's racing.

"A lot of the guys we're racing against have a lot more experience than we do, so the best way to learn is trying to chase them around and hit it hard next year," he says.

"In Adelaide we didn't have too bad a round. We kept the car straight, which was the main goal, brought it home in some reasonable positions and got some points for the championship, learnt a fair bit about the car.

"The Bathurst result was a bit unbelievable, really. It didn't really sink in until a fair way after. It was a great feeling, I'm just happy that I haven't crashed one of these big cars yet, which is great "We're slowly getting there, we just need to crank out a few more laps and hopefully we can get a bit closer to the front of iii^ i

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MILES Racing first entered the Fujitsu Series almost 12 months ago, with team owner Wayne Miles making his debut in the series at Queensland Raceway.

A former Speedway racer, Miles stepped into the Triple Eight-built BF Falcon, raced by Fabian Coulthard in 2008 and Michael Patrizi in 2009 for Paul Cruickshank Racing, whom he sponsored.

Soon,though, his eye turned to the future,future drivers to be precise. By mid-year, Chaz Mostert - the runaway Formula Ford leader - had tested the car, before making his debut at Bathurst. After wrapping up the FFord title, he Joined the team fulltime for 2011, with a second ex-T8 Falcon purchased from Howard Racing to be used by former rival. Ash Walsh.

Miles says he's pleased to have a role in the development of the young drivers careers.

"They're very well-mannered young gentleman who have fantastic careers ahead of them," he said."We're Just lucky, really, to have the opportunity to spend a bit of time with them."

The Queenslander has plans to expand beyond the current two cars, and has initiated a program to work

with current Formula Ford drivers. But for now, he's pleased with the progress his two charges are making.

"I'm very, very happy with the boys in some degrees and there is room for improvement in lots of areas," he said.

"Our main objective is to make sure they enjoy it enough and concentrate on the little one percenters we need to add to.

"They've got exceptional driving ability, it just needs to be harnessed in these cars, which will take a little bit of time, but because of the Formula Ford background, they are pretty comfortable with what they need to do.

"They were combatants and now they're pretty good team-mates who fight hard for every tenth. One is training the other in different disciplines, so they're getting a pretty good combination and being able to move past their own abilities.

"The results are about as good as we could get, because of their lack of time in the cars, but we ticked a few boxes at Clipsal.There are a few more we've got to tick throughout the year."

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the field. Getting racing miles in one,especially facing miles,is the biggest thing" While both drivers corripleted several seasons in the Australian Formula Ford Championship,Walsh also fe d a crack at the European scene, He did a year in the Formula R^ault Western European Gup and was part of Australia's ATGP linesup in 2008.He spent the majority Of 2009 On the sidelines,thoughj before returning to Formula Ford^ with Borland Racing Developments late in the year.

"It was a great experience to go overseas and race open-wheeiers, but looking back at it now,fkind of wish I went straight into the Fujitsu Series," he admitted. | couldVebeen "I feel like I've lost those two or three years, whergi pursuing this. But in saying that,if you go to Euro^,you dome back as a stronger driver.You take positives from both,Si^ng out in '09 wasn't ideal, but you get that, you take it as it comes." f While the pair are V8 newbies and Miles Racing'itself only made its debut in the series last year,there is an ace in their corner. Dual Australian Touring Car Champion Glenn Seton has worked with the team in an engineering role,coaching the youngsters through their first events.

"It's great, having someone like that you can talk to from a driver's perspective and he obviously knows how to engineer the cars quite well,"Walsh said.

"Our other engineer,BJ, hi^ only experience in Supercars was running Milo last year, he'd actually done Speedway stuff before.So it's good for him as well,tO’learn off Glenn.It's greatfor everyone involved."

For Mostert,Seton has been there from the outset of thejourney, having been involved in the T9-year-old's first Supercar test last year.

"Without Glenn being there, we probably wouldn't have run anywhere near where we did in Adelaide,"he said. n f‘-

"He knows so much about driving the cars, he's done a fantasticjob in them over'the years, he's got a really good way Oftalking,driver-todriverto help you out.

"The biggest thing is all ofthe tracks he knows,which helps us out so rnudh^e knows a hell of a lot about the ears as well,I don't know where I'cbe without Glenn" The next stop for the pair is the Fujitsu Series'first-ever visit to Barbagallq Raceway at the end of April. It'll offer a more level playing field than venues like the Adelaide street circuit, where most ofthe front-runners have plenty of experience. Having run inside the Top 10 for both of his startslh a V8, Mostert aims to stay there for the rest of the year. : "At ^is stage,if we can fun in the Top IjO for most ofthe year and maype get towards the top five towards the end ofthe year would be my goal," he said,"but being in the Top i O'in the first year ih the series I'd be pretty happy with that." '‘-'"i The main goal,though,is chipping away at it, making the most of their opportunity and learning V8 Supercars.Time is on both of their sides,and even though Walsh is four years older than Mostertwho made his Formula Ford debutjust after Walsh left the class the first time - his European stint means they're both now on the same trajectory, "I've known Chaz since he was 10 years old> probably younger, maybe seven or eight,since he was in Midgets in karting/'Walsh said.

"I'd never really raced against him before Formula Ford, because he's obviously a few years younger than me,but I've known him for a long "It's good because we're atthe same point in our career,trying to do the same thing:We're sort of working it out together, hopefully we're not too far away from what we're meant to be doing."

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AFTER CONTESTING HIS ROOKIE FORMULA FORD SEASON WITH BRAD JONES RACING IN 20K^ TOM WILLIAMSON HAS SWITCHED TO BORLAND THIS YEAR. HE WON THE OPENING ROUND M THE CUPSAL 500^ AND REMAINS A RIVRT OF BJR’S FUTURE. MITCHELL ADAM SPOKE TO HIM Mt)

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OTORSPORT NEWS:Let's start with the freshest stuff, Clipsal, you have to be pleased with how that all panned out.

TOM WILLIAMSON:Yeah, I was really pleased. We went in there , thinking about needing to finish both races,so the first race,for me, was about being a little bit measured and not risking too much,and then the second race was the same approach.

But we made a few tweaks,the car was better, and we were faster, but everything also fell into place with the two Sonic cars going in the wall and then the Safety Cars.They weren't great for me,sitting behind the Safety Car, but as soon as the Safety Car would go away,we were able to extend the margin anyway.

Given that Clipsal was the first round and a street circuit, was that something you were particularly mindful of,staying out of trouble?

There are a lot of people helping me- Brad Jones, Kim Jones, Michael Borland, David Earle - and everybody that's helping me is coaching me through the year. What's been really mentioned all the time is that you can't win a championship in the first round, but you can definitely lose it.

With it being a street circuit, we knew there was going to be a lot of DNFs,and learning from last year's mistakes where I myself had a lot of DNFs, we needed to finish both races. So going into the weekend that was our plan.

How much testing had you done in the Spectrum prior to the weekend?

We'd done two days, not too much,really.

How does it compare to the Mygale you raced last year?

It's definitely different. It suits me.I'm quite comfortable in it. I'm more comfortable in the Spectrum than I was in the Mygale,and we seem to be on top of the changes. Once we make a change,it's doing what I want out of the car.While a lot of people think it's a lot different, it's not a lot different, but it's different in the right places.

Let's talk about the team change.Obviously BJR have a lot of experience and knowledge when it comes to being a successful race team, but they've got fairly limited experience in Formula Ford.You've moved to Borland,who are one ofthe mainstays ofthe championship, how would you compare the two so far?

They're pretty different. For me,with the way it all came about with the sponsorship issue with Jason Bargwanna's car and Kim and Brad deciding to put me at Borland, I was very excited.

Borland makes a living working with and racing Formula Fords for the past 15 years, whereas at BJR, it was sort of me and my engineer who were driving it. It was sort of suck it and see, we'd say'the car's doing this'and then'what do we do? Let's have a go at nil

this', so it was testing all the time at a race meeting. But now, when I come in and say'the car's doing this'to Michael, he'll say'right, we can do this or this and tfiis is what the answer will be', so it's more of a measured approach.The answer's already on the table. » nil

And it's notjust a car they're working on all ofthe time,it's a car they've made ...

That's exactly right. And being an official factory driver, we've got the option that if things are really bad, we can go back and change them, which is quite exciting;to be able to develop a car, notJust make it as fast as you can, which is what we were doing with the Mygale.

Obviously your BJR experience last year wasn't a full BJR experience, perse, butfrom the outside it looks like there's a bit in common with the two teams,in that the Joneses and Michael and everyone he's got at Borland are old-school racers. Is that a fair assessment?

That's definitely a fair assessment. All of the guys that work on the car, like my mechanic,James Simpson, he races Formula Vee,so he's still got a great understanding of what's going on. He works on a car all week. Everyone I've been involved with are essentially racers,so they understand.

Let's talk about 2010.You've mentioned there were a few DNFs,and there's generally a learning year in Formula Ford. How dp you view it?

Like a lot of drivers at the start of the season, we had a lot of silly things go wrong. We only had one crash in the year,so it wasn't as though we were putting it in the wall, at the start of the year.You could say it was a first year team with teething problems,little things would go wrong on the car and it was Just hard.

Not having the right amount of money and resources, it was hard.

We didn't go testing,so we'd turn up at the track and guess on the set up. By the end ofthe year, we were really starting to hit our straps, we were starting to get up the front and we qualified second at Sandown.

We showed we had pace,it was just a matter of as the weekend went on, we were still guessing at what we wanted to do with the car.

I was actually going to bring up Sandown. At Sandown,Symmons and Surfers to end the year, you scored your three best results.

The last three rounds, we were fast. At Surfers, we didn't get a practice lap, because of an engine drama, but we went out there and we were fast anyway.

It was just a matter of getting things right.Then Symmons,to tell you the truth, it was a driver error in the race,just to loop it around, but we were showing pace everywhere. In the break, we did a couple of test days last year,found a bit of pace and then we were able to step it up at the end of the year.

The key part ofthe BJR association is that even though they're not running your car anymore,they're still heavily involved in your career.That's got to be nice.

//■j

Without Brad or Kim's help, none of this would be possible. I wouldn't be racing Formula Ford,so I owe them a lot. It's really good. I'm not driving one of their cars, but I'm still one of their drivers, a BJR junior driver, and it's always mentioned.

Last year I got a drive of the Supercar and we plan for more testing in the Supercar and, hopefully,in 2012 we'll be running a Fujitsu Series car with BJR. If all goes to plan, hopefully it'll be a long association with BJR. For the rest of this year, is it safe to say that the championship's the goal from here?

Yeah,the championship's the goal from here.The start's been perfect.

It's going to be a long, hard year,to be honest. People are just saying the Sonic guys are the ones to beat, but you've still got Mathew Hart, Liam Sager and even my team-mate,Jesse Fenech,they're all strong.

I don't think there's going to be one person who's able to drive off into the distance like Chaz did last year.The championship is my goal, to chip away at it, and keep scoring points is the main aim.

LIFE WITH THE JONESES

LINKS with people and entities further up the motorsport food chain are ideal for young drivers trying to progress through the ranks.

In Williamson's case, he's part of the Brad Jones Racing family.

BJR ran a Mygale in Formula Ford last year, with Williamson finishing eighth, and while his 2011 program has been switched over to Borland Racing Developments,they remain heavily involved with his career.

"Tommy was sponsored by Boscotek and so were we,and we went to a couple offunctions and he was there," Brad Jones, right, says of the association.

"I had a bit of a look at his CV and, really thought, he'd finished fourth in the Rotax World Championships,and I thought that he was quite a talented kid and it started from there.

"Really,to tell you the truth.

since we started helping him, he's become part of the family.

He helps my son with his gokarts and he spends a lot of time at the shop and around the team and I think he's a really talented kid.'

Jones has been impressed by the 23-year-old's progress, which included his maiden race and round win in Adelaide.

"I think with Michael [Borland] this year, it's probably the best opportunity he's going to have to win the championship," he said.

"It's great to get a win, I think he's still got a little bit more work to do, but he's certainly going to, hopefully, be in the championship race, which is our intention for us.

"He's a little bit older than some of the guys in there and I think that helps him.The thing I like the most about Tom is that he can pass people and he's a racer.

"Last year, in the three race format, inevitably in one he would be off the rear of the grid for whatever reason,and he'd always get through the field back to where he was probably meant to be on pace,fifth or sixth or so.

"Where you'd see some of the other guys at the front, they'd go to the back and they couldn't pass anyone. So I think he's got the right skillset, but what the requirement is changes from category to category, so we're just going to take it one year at a time and see how he goes.

"But he's off to a fantastic start, any time you win a round of the Formula Ford Championship you're doing a good job and he's got a handy little lead at the moment, I think, over the blokes he's going to be fighting with,so we'll see what happens. I think he's a very talented kid."

-MITCHELL ADAM

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73

BROTHERS IN TOURING CARS

HATHAH AND JUSTIN GARIOCH HAUE STEPPED INTO THE KUIYIHO U8 TDURING GAR SERIES IN 2G11 AND ARE LDUING IT. RICHARD GRAILL CAUGHT UP WITH THEM

H

ANG around motorsport long enough and you will realise that this truly is a family sport, perhaps more so than many others.

Not only is this a sport that requires significant investment for young drivers to proceed through the ranks - a majority of the time coming from the parent's own finances or superannuation funds - but it's a game that brings people together.

So that's perhaps why it's not uncommon to see so many siblings racing at the highest level attainable right around the world.

Locally, we've got Rick and Todd Kelly with their own V8 Supercar team, plus Will and Alex Davison on the Ford side of the ledger and all four of them regularly running towards the front of the pack.Then there are the Brabhams - there have been three of them racing - and the Busch boys in NASCAR who have both won at the highest level. And that's only the tip of the iceberg.

And now you can add the Garioch (its pronounced'Geerie') brothers, Nathan, 20, and Justin, 21 to that list.

The pair,from Mackay in Queensland's tropical North, have recently stepped Into the Kumho Tyres V8 Touring Car series after 74

several seasons amidst the ranks of Saloon Car racing learning the ropes and preparing for what they hope will be a career in the sport.

And they are doing it properly - enlisting the support and vehicle preparation expertise offormer V8 Supercar racer turned timeattack challenger Jose Fernandez to guide them along the path to becoming the next pair of racing brothers dominating the sport.

Standing out the front of a Wakefield Park garage and basking in the surprisingly bright sunshine,the quietly spoken brothers and their enthusiastic team boss seem quietly confident about their tentative first steps into the competitive world of V8 racing.

"It's been good,a pretty solid start,"Justin, on the right above,comments first after a thoughtful pause."It's a good series for us at the moment given where we are at with our racing. It's a chance to experience these cars and get up to speed."

"We're having a ball,"Nathan, slightly more expressive than his older sibling, grins."We had a few dramas to start out with but it was nothing too serious. We're getting the hang of it now and loving it. It's been a great start.

"Justin and I have always raced each other.

basically since day one it's been non-stop.

We had eight years of karting and both went pretty well towards the end of our careers there."

Fernandez Interjects, laughlng;"its sibling rivalry, I reckon they raced each other in the backyard lawn mowing championships!"

"We've always been competing with each other,"Justin adds, smiling."Before karts we raced boats and played basketball and have always pushed each other along so it's natural that we step up together here. We've always been close together on-track, too.There's never been much between us in anything we race.

"I probably upstaged him a bit in qualifying but in Saloon Cars Nathan was generally a bit faster than me - and in karting it all depended on which track and what the weather was doing."

Stepping up, however, is the key word both boys use regularly. Whilst not quite a fullyblown V8 Supercar,the FPR-built BF Falcons the boys raced at Wakefield are all-but the real deal, which means 600 horsepower, 1350kg and a big step up from a six-cylinder Saloon Car. "These cars roll around much like a Saloon motorsport news

*

THEY RACED EACH OTHER IN THE BACKYARD tAWN mOUNNC CHAmPIONSHIPSI

FERNANDEZ, ABODE UIITH NATHAN, ON THE PAIR

Car will," Fernandez explains."They've got better brakes, more power and they're more accurate, but when you can drive a (more) sloppy car well, and you get into something a little more precise, you're going to adapt quickly and then it's only a little bit of fine tuning to get them up to speed.

"But for what people want in budgets to race a Ute,for example,V8Touring Cars it's a perfect category for these guys."

"Saloons were great," Nathan adds."We hadn't driven a racing car before we jumped into that class, so it was good to get the gears and the racing lines and all of that sorted. It was a good stepping stone."

Justin continues:"It's a lot busier in the(V8) car. Braking is the biggest difference, but it's also about getting the little things like

gear shifting right. A few of the lines are a bit different too,so it's about adapting to those things and learning as much as you can which is why we're here."

So on to Wakefield Park. In a field of 20, Justin qualified third (less than .05s from pole position) whilst Nathan finished the session 13th, still only nine-tenths from pole. Whilst Justin finished the three races third,fourth and 11th, respectively, Nathan's results of eighth, 14th and sixth show that there really isn't much between them.

Regardless of results, both agree that racing your brother tends to encourage the competitive streak - but also assists in more than just performance.

Says Nathan;"There's definitely a marketing angle involved, but I think there are so many

brothers in the sport because the families can relate to each other about it, and understand it.' "... It's a rivalry, it pushes you on,"Justin adds before Nathan can complete his sentence.

"Yeah, I think brothers just want to race sideby-side and compete with each other,"the younger Garioch finishes before Jose again interjects;"! don't think your mother would like that very much."

"It's true,"Justin grins."She doesn't like watching it very much.She didn't even watch the first race this weekend!"

Watching or not,their Mum should be proud - their Saloon Car racing dad Bevan, too. Both look to have a long future ahead of them, with that sibling rivalry pushing them all the way to the top.

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F your name is Matthew, you are looking good for a positive season in the evercompetitive Commodore Cup. Matthews Hayes and Chick are key contenders in the self-styled 'one make V8' category this season, having trod a similar path to get to the front of the field over the past two seasons.

Both started in the older-model VH Commodore as a means of getting laps and experience in the category. Both then stepped into the later-quicker-VS cars last year and showed what they were capable of by running at the front.

This year, both enter the series as title contenders as they try to unseat the series' established elite including the likes of Fujitsu Series regulars Geoff Emery, Marcus Zukanovic and Tony Bates - not to mention defending champion Adam Beechey.

The quietly spoken 28-year-old Hayes, from Bundoora, Victoria, trod the traditional path of karting before stepping into the category last year in the VH. For the first few rounds he learned his craft, picking up speed and experience as the season progressed before stepping into his current ex-Phil Brock VS half way through the year.

Thereafter, his results flourished and he enters this year as one of the speedier drivers on the grid - having had arguably the fastest car of the weekend throughout Wakefield Park's season opener in early April.

"I had always had an interest in the category but never had the funds to do it," he told MNews."An offer came up, the dollars were right and I thought why not; the time was right. It's progressed from there and we're now in a position where we think we can win a championship which would be great."

Hayes said he took the perfect entry route into the category, noting that the VH was an ideal stepping stone into the generally faster

VS commodores, despite sharing a majority of the running gear.

"The VH was a great car to start in. It's harder to drive than the VS and you have to drive it harder to get a laptime," he explained.

"Making the step over from the older car was really good actually because everything you did well in the VH would reward you ten times over in the newer car which is great."

Following his entry into the series. Matt Chick's story tracks similar to that of Hayes; however his success has come without the traditional Karting background - or any driving at all, for that matter.

A rookie in every sense of the word when he entered the series. Chick instead focussed on the behind-the-scenes side of the sport rather than racing karts and currently works as a fabricator at Garry Rogers Motorsport.

"My first race car was a Commodore Cup carfrom the Darwin series,"he said."Before that I did a school-based driver training program and that's about it. I hadn't done any competition go-karting or anything.

"For me, the best thing is the level of competition and the ability to compete with the'big guys'straight away so long as you have a good car. If you qualify well you're set and once you're underneath someone In a race you can stick with them.

"The driver and the racecraft are so important in the series - it can be the difference and if you've got good race craft you're going to go well."

Chick has the unique opportunity to draw on an entire V8 Supercar team for advice, not to mention GRM drivers Michael Caruso and Lee Holdsworth; a former Commodore Cup frontrunner In his own right "They are good to draw on - Lee especially because he's driven them and his brother (Brett) has recently won the title,"Chick explained. "It's good to get a few pointers

from them. The most I get is from the engineers though - they're the ones who tell Michael and Lee how to drive, so they tell me how to drive! It's handy to have that feedback."

Even the boss gets to impart his thoughts.

Chick adds.

"Garry [Rogers] is always keen; every time he comes into the workshop he's asking 'what are you doing to the car to make it faster' or 'what are you doing to yourself to go quicker'.

He's very helpful.

"He's watched some of the footage from onboard my car and he'll often say'you've really got to pay attention there', or'you're losing time here] and the other engineers often go 'wow, we never saw that'. There's no doubt he's still got it! He's great to work for."

With one foot in each door - engineering and driving - Chick says he's keen to experience competing in Europe before working out which way his career goes.

"I'd love to race on the Nurburgring and do some driving in Europe, if possible. I'll drive as long as I can and have the backing to do it, but I'm fortunate that I've got the background in engineering that I'm working on at the moment to fall back on so I'll always be in the sport."

The same could be said for Hayes who, though slightly older Chick, has eyes on a V8 enduro drive down the road.

"I think it's realistic to aim at being a good co driver for the V8 races," he said. "I've probably missed the boat for a full-time drive but it would be great to do the endurance races.

"I said to my engineer before the first round at Wakefield Park that this year's grid wasn't a big field, but It was a competitive one. To be able to race against good guys and then see how they go in the V8 Supercars, for example, is a great thing.

"Which is why I was pleased when we had the quickest car there."

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E BMW M3 is a common dream car.

Fast, minimalistic and very, very-

finest has become the sort of caithat racers around aspire ovm.

Jf'stylish, it'sthe no world wonder that to Bavaria's Melbourne optometrist Bill Cutler was once one of those boy racers with M3 dreams. He's been a life-long BMW tragic, and made it his mission to get hold of an M3.Well, actually,that should read 'the'M3, because Cutler has always been focused on one particular car - M3/J -42.

And let me tell you,this Beemer wasn't nrade for the leafy streets of Toorak or Willoughby^..

Back in 1987,Schnitzer Motorsport - bfesed in Munich,Germany - built M3/1-42 to be laced in the one-off World Touring Car Championship.

The car was shared between Roland Ratzenberger, Roberto Ravaglia, Emanuele Pirro, Dieter Quester and Markus Oestreich, and was used for rounds at Nurburgring,SpaFrancorchamps, Brno,Silverstone, and Bathurst.

It essentially played a part in Ravaglia winning the'87WTCC. With that background alone,.the car would be of historical significance. But, as Cutler explains, it gets a whole lot better.

"During Friday practice at Bathurst, Robert Ravaglia had a big crash at Skyline - he stuck it in the wall pretty hard,"says Cutler.

"It went to the TAFE team to be repaired, and BMW said'we don't think you can fix it'. It was that badly damaged.The TAFE team said 'no, we can fix it'.They stripped it, repaired it, put it back together again, and BMW raced it.

"Ravaglia was in the running for the World Touring Car Championship,so they took him out of this car and put him in the other car.That meant that Roland Ratzenberger jumped into the car for Bathurst.

"At the end of the year, BMW decided that, in an effort to show their gratitude to the TAFE team,they'd donate the car to them.They took the running gear out of it, so it was a roller, and gave it to TAFE.They were building new cars for following year anyway,so they didn't want to take it back to Germany, particularly as it was bent.

"The car went into the Bathurst Museum for a few years, then Peter Doulman had it for a while.

It went to another bloke, and another bloke, and it eventually got built back into a racing car.

It raced as a Sports Sedan in Western Australia for two or three years,about 10 years ago,and then the owner wanted to sell it."

That's where Cutler^came into the picture.

"I knew a little bit about the history of the car, so I contacted Schnitzer with the chassis number and asked what they could tell me about the car," he adds.

"They told me the history of it, so a deal was done and I bought.the car. I brought it back to Melbourne,and we have restored It back to Its correct 1987 Bathurst specification. Everything on the car is exactly as it was at Bathurst."

He's not joking.These days,competing in Group A races at historic meetings around the country,the car looks like it has been rolled straight out of the Schnitzer transporter. All dolled up in the Warsteiner livery, it's come along way from being a hotrod sports sedan running around Wanneroo Raceway.

"It was a big Job.The first thing we did was repair the chassis. When the TAPE team repaired it, they cut through the chassis rail, straightened it, and re-welded it. We determined that it wasn't going to be safe in the long term,so we put a new chassis rail in it and a few new panels, to properly correct all the accident damage.We then put it on a chassis aligner to make sure it was straight, and slowly, over a couple of years, we sourced all the right bits. It even has the right brakes - Brembos on the front, APs on the rear. We also had to fabricate a fair bit of stuff.

"Schnitzer were very, very helpful.They gave me a lot of information about the car.They made so many of them that there is good information around,from homologation papers and so on.

"They are very aware of the heritage of these cars.They were also very helpful with parts. My wife and I went to Germany last year and we went to visit Schnitzer.They were so welcoming.

They said'anything you need, we'll find it for you'... although you have to pay for it!"

It doesn't take long to realise that Cutler is a perfectionist. In fact,there are still tiny, insignificant inaccuracies that bug him.

Ill "I've only just discovered in the last

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Spot the Difference:M3/1-42 looks the same today, top, as| it did at Bathurst back in 1987, middle. The car spent many hours in the TAFE workshop at MountPanorama thayyear, right.

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month or so that where I've got the airjacks in the front isn't actually the right spot. I found some photos of the cjrfrom Bathurst, in the pits with the bonnet|jp,and I was looking at the airjacks and they'fe further back.You learn stuff all the time."

The attention to detail has paid off. At the recent Phillip Island Classic, Cutler was one of the front-runners,taking on the Group A car of choice - the VL Commodore.The only big banger that he couldn't do away with was the exTim Slako car ofTroy Stapleton, butfn the third race of the weekend he did give Stapleton a fright by leading all but two of the laps.

'The Commodores have more than 500 horsepower,and I've got 314... on a good day!

I've got to really drive the car hard through the turns and make sure I'm getting a good run onto the straights.This has been a great weekend [at Phillip Island]. I never thought I'd lead a Group A race here! It's fantastic.

I've been really enjoying driving it. It's an awesome car, with amazing corner speed.The M3 is so well balanced, and the package is awesome with the brakes and gearing. It's the sort of car where you really need to concentrate to drive itfast, but it doesn't bite you.There are no vices. And it revs; we're pulling about 8,500 down the end of the straight at Phillip Island.”

There's one more twist to this story. At each

It-

race meeting that M3/1-42 is run, a man named Allan Marshall is right there, in charge of making sure the car is going as well as it can possibly go.

He's the rightfnan for the job, because he knows M3/1/42 inside and out - literally.

Because when Marshall was an apprentice, he spent a whole night working on the car, at Bathurst in 1987.

'Two years ago I was racing at the Muscle Car Masters, and Allan was there working on another car,"sayd Cutler.

He walkedTaast the pits and thought'hey,that looks pretty familiar'. So he came in and asked n me if it was fbe car, and I told him it was.

He couldn't believe it. He was quite emotional about it, because he used to do a bit of rallying, and he'd see the bodyshell sitting in the Bathurst museum. He always wondered if the car would ever get going again. Now he comes to all the races with us.'

And that's the amazing story, about an amazing car, and the amazing couple of blokes that now race it.

I'm a BMW tragic. I raced a 2002 in Group N for about 10 years, and had a lot offun with that, says Cutler.

'And this is the big brother.This is the ultimate BMW racecarto have. It has European history. and a history here in Australia as well.

I'm the luckiest guy in the world!

MOTORSPORT IMAGES^ THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE ACCESSIBLE PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN MOTORSPORT Autopics.com.au is a photograhic history of Australian motor racing from the early 1950’s to the current day. Log on and explore!

Based on the archives of Lance J. Ruting Peter D’Abbs, David Blanch and many more photographers, our website allows you to view over 9,000 images from our collection of over 500,000.

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¥itrii lEiri HIS season in ANDRA Pro Series Top I Fuel has been very much a year for |! the privateers, with the championship J being led by Darren Morgan, but making his impact felt in a similar way has been Queensland-based Steve Read.

Read has only been racing locally as his budget allows, but recently took a runner-up to Morgan at Willowbank Raceway, which followed up a top qualifying performance in January at a rained out championship round.

Read has a long history in the sport, beginning racing in Europe before he moved 84

out to Australia and competed in Top Alcohol andTop Fuel,spending much of his career driving for NSW team owner Santo Rapisarda.

Read has been satisfied with his recent performances ahead of planned competition in the remaining two rounds of the championship.

"We have always struggled at Willowbank and so I had a good look at the runs and I changed the camshaft, clutch and fuel system slightly and {qualifying number one in January) was the result, everyone was really struggling and we came up with a 4.77s," he

said."We went on there modifying the tune up for the March round."

As Read's team does not have the funding to test, they used their qualifying sessions to gather data on the new tyres they were spinning.

"We were trying to find where we need to have the tyre pressures,they have a lot stiffer sidewall and grip than what we are used to, the first run we went up in tyre smoke but then we were making progress," he said.

For the first round of eliminations,the team went back to what they knew and got motorsport news

a win against Phil Read, earning a bye run into the final. However, it was there a small mechanical gremlin struck and halted the good progress that was being made.

"In the final, a microswitch underneath the throttle pedal failed to go off, unbeknown to us it had retracted the cannon in the clutch and it saw full clutch on the step of the pedal," Read said.

"If it had gone 20 feet and smoked I would have pedalled it but when it does it straight off you know it would have just gone up again. There's not much point in doing it." www.mnews.com.au

Morgan had troubles later down track and Read may have been able to catch him if he pedalled, but discretion was the better part of valour.

"In hindsight, Darren was slowing down quicker than what I thought, he had a pretty major explosion and I would have caught him," he said.

The focus is now shifting to the Nitro Champs in Sydney and the Winternationals in June.

"We're trying to find some money to get to Sydney, we always go pretty good there as

we have a good tune up, especially for the Nitro Champs," he said.

"When the track is trickier we seem to do better than the other teams,that's probably the experience of Europe coming in, racing on cooler tracks."

As a self-funded operation. Read has had to concentrate on his work in order to pay the bills, a difficult thing in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

"If I don't work, we can't race. So I have been very busy at work this year, we've downsized the company to one truck III! 85

and it's far easier now trying to find work after the GFC," he said.

"There was a downfall in work and it goes in fits and starts, but now we're busy all the time.

"We've concentrated on Willowbank this year to consolidate what we do there."

So far things are looking positive for the next season, with Read hopeful of a breakthrough soon.

"We're in serious talks with three major companies at the moment,everything looks very favourable so we will probably expand the team to maybe two cars," he said.

"A lot of what we are talking about is marketing off the track, which is what you have to do these days, you need a proper marketing plan put together. We're very excited about the rest of this year, I think we will do well and,over the off-season, hopefully we will expand."

In a racing career as long as his. Read has ended up with many stories to tell. Many fans would remember his horrifying crash at Sydney in 2008, where the throttle stuck on and propelled him into the sand trap at an estimated 280mph.

Read recalled the accident which destroyed his beautiful 'Spirit of Las Vegas'dragster.

"Fuel got behind the bearing in the barrel valve allowing the spool to move and it was wide open, it was like full throttle and as we run over 600 pounds of fuel pressure, even with me pulling on the throttle it wouldn't come back," he said.

"The car ran out of fuel and then started nil

slowing down.People say'why didn't you pull the chutes?'If you drive into the chutes you will burst them and all you will have is brakes, so I moved to the centre of the track, kept it straight, then got the chutes out just before the kitty litter. We reckon we hit at 280mph going on the data from the computer."

Read said as the moment of impact arrived, he simply thought that now would be the ultimate test of all the safety equipment in the car.

"It was the first meeting we had the roll cage enlarged and I had a HANS device on, all I broke was a pinky finger," he said.

"I didn't have a bruise on me otherwise, I've had scarier situations and if there had been another car there it would have been worse because you have to know where they are.

"As long as you concentrate on keeping it straight,the front of the dragster acts as a crumple zone and it should dissipate the speed.

"I went through two safety fences and into the grass bank,then the fuel tank exploded and I just got out and undipped the seatbelts as it was getting a bit hot.They (track staff) couldn't believe it. To walk away with nothing wrong was nothing short of a miracle."

When Read said that it wasn't his scariest moment,the obvious question had to be asked; what was it?

"When we used to do demonstrations in France in the 80s we were running on an eighth mile track at a night meeting they wanted us to run," he said.

"Only nobody filled up the generator, so I

was halfway down the track and the lights went out. It was an old circuit track so there were's'bends and everything.

"Something I do always is look at the track, so if you are in an accident you know how to get out of it, I managed to get around that bend in the dark."

But that was nothing compared to what the Irish had in store for him.

"We were employed to set the Irish land speed record, it was a force ten gale on the trip over and it carried on raining," he said.

"But they made me run as they had paid me. I thought it was going to be a track but it was a piece of dual carriageway and there was gypsies and dogs and cows all over this so called track.

"There was mud all across it, so they got all the police in to clear the gypsies off, then they hosed the road down and we ran 203mph in the rain with opposite lock."

But back to his racing in the present, and Read is hopeful that he can match the exploits of fellow privateer Darren Morgan from this season.

"Darren has been running pretty good; Ben, his crew chief, is a pretty smart guy," he said.

"They have done a bit of damage this year which we couldn't afford to, but he has pretty much clinched the championship and he deserves it. He's shown consistency will win."

Given the right funding. Read has the know how to go quick.

"With what our team has done on a small budget, I'm sure we can mix it with the big guys," he said.

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That's what they used to say, and when it comes to V8 super cars, there is no Touring Car that can match the thunder and fury of Formula 5000 openwheelers from the 7 970s, For those of us who missed this amazing era, the model makers are now recreating these visceral monsters in small scale. By BRUCE MOXON

F

or me, this is an enormously satisfying (and exciting) column.

Classic Carlectables is making Formula 5000 models in 1/18 scale!

Older readers will remember the thunder these cars generated. They had way too much power for their chassis, made awesome noises and went like stink. Younger readers might have seen them on TV as a support class for the Australian 88

Grand Prix in the last couple of years, but there's nothing like seeing them in the flesh.

We've talked a bit about this class of car in MNews before, including this issue, but for the uninitiated, we'll talk more here. They were originally called 'Formula A'and were a cheaper alternative to Formula l.They could be any engine up to 5.0 litres if they were a production engine (or'stock block') or up to 3.0 litres for racing engine.

Formula 1 and Formula A cars raced together for a time with honours being shared.

In some ways FSOOOs are pretty crook racing cars. In that wonderful American way, they took a half-good chassis and shoved way too much engine in it. Lightness was critical, so the aluminium tubs flexed, the Flewland DG300 gearboxes (meant for up to 200kW, not the 320kW that early FSOOOs had) shredded and the stock-block

engines used to vent all sorts of gasses, vapours and fluids all over the place.

But the sound! The fury! The sheer spectacle of a field of these cars was something else.

III! Thunder and frightening: Classic Carlectables has started a 1:18 range of Formula 5000 cars, above, right. Alan Jones' 1977 Rothmans Series Lola T332 is the first. motorsport news

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89

The FSOOO models won'tfinish there.

Following the T332there are plansfor Matich A50/53S and others-L^la T400, T430,McLaren M10to name butafew.

D I E C A S T

Order by phone or online now!

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Anyway,the models.

First cab off the rank is a symbol of failure, really. Alan Jones came back to Australia for the 1977 Rothmans Series as our great shining hope of being the next big thing internationally (which he was, of course). At the Australian Grand Prix that year,Jones jumped the start by several seconds (claiming to this day that the starter moved his arm - probably the wind blew the flag) and was penalised 60 seconds.Jones carved back 40 of those seconds. but it wasn't enough,Warwick Brown hung on in his misfiring Lola T430 to take the win.

The T332 Jones drove that day only lived one more week,Jones crashing the car heavily at Surfers Paradise in practice, before borrowing Kevin Bartlett's car for that race while a new tub was flown in for the rest of the series.

An engine failure at Sandown followed, before,finally, a win in

Adelaide for the replacement car, now owned by Richard Davison (father of Alex and Will).

Classics' model of the car looks just superb, in the photos.The engine cover lifts off to show the ChevVS.You can display the car with the engine cover off but the air scoop on (which is how a lot of them raced) or with both parts on or off.The livery is accurate. showing theTheodore Racing livery off nicely.The front wheels steer, of course,there's a detailed cockpit,the tiny, tiny brakes are visible behind the wheels and the fat rear tyres just look right.

The FSOOO models won't finish there, either. Following theT332 (which could also be nil liveried as several other In the flesh: Classic has given us a teaser with these'naked' prototype Lola models,left. Look closely, they are two different versions - Classics will be doing a variety offamous T332 Lolas.

back,Paul Cruickshank's team,sponsored by Wilson Security, reliveried its cars for the end of the year to show its support for the McGrath Foundation?

Well, Biante's models of the cars are on the way.There were two cars in the team,of course,a BF and an FG Falcon. Well, both cars will be available soon.The two Fords had been green all year, but the green became pink for the enduros,and Patrizi's BF stayed that way for the rest of the year.

While they didn't feature in the results,the cars looked brilliant and the team's merchandise sales raised a heap of dough for the McGrath Foundation.

The models will be available in 1/18 scale (both cars) and the Fabian Coulthard/Michael Patrizi car will be modelled in 1/64 as well. Finally,there's a rather attractive twin-set of both cars in 1/43 scale. Buying the models will also assist the McGrath Foundation in a very real way,as a proportion of each model sold will go to the charity, which funds assistance for women living with breast cancer. A good cause - buy a model.

Maybe Biante can look at a model of Leanne Tender's Touring Car Masters XA Falcon.This is a tough-looking car and would go nicely on the shelf,thanks very much.There are a few XA Falcon four-doors in the pipeline from Biante, by the way.

motorsport news

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^

You can Join in celebrating Mark's great year in 2010 by grabbing one ofMIpichamps'great models ofthe Red Bull-Renault.

cars) there are plans for Matich A50/53S and others - Lola T400, T430, McLaren Ml0 to name but a few. I can't wait!

The folk at Classic Carlectables are not the only ones making models of famous Australians in openwheel cars, of course.

As detailed a couple of months back, Biante's range of Sir Jack Brabham cars starts with the CooperT53, a 1/43 reproduction of the car that won the 1960 Portugese Grand Prix. Such is the international interest in this car that dealers in Europe paid extra for their stock to be air-freighted from the factory, meaning they got them before we did. But Biante's stock is arriving as I write this, so hurry down to your dealer, or get onto www.biante.com.au to order yours now.

If you want to wait for the bigger-scale car, then both the nil

92

T51 and T53 will be available in 1/18 scale. These will be the ones to get - great detail, removable panels,fully detailed Coventry Climax engines,the skinny wheels with the Dunlop racing tyres, the Spartan cockpits and all.

It's hard to believe that the two cars are just 15 or so years apart - they're so very different from each other. But they span part of the fastestmoving period of racing car development, and it shows!

Our other great shining hope at the moment is Mark Webber. Mark's made a habit Mini Champ:Almost but not quite the Championship for Mark Webber in 2010, top.

Minichamps'1/18 Mark Webber Red Bull RB6 is available from Apex Replicas. Biante's range on Jack Brabham Coopers has arrived, below.

over the years of destroying team-mates, but it looks like Sebastian Vettel is a rare talent indeed - some are talking of him as the next Schumacher (just as Schumacher was the next Senna, Senna was the next Lauda and so on back down the line).

You can join in celebrating Mark's great year in 2010 by grabbing one of Minichamps' great models of the Red BullRenault. Both team cars are available, in both 1/43 and 1 /18.There's a couple of special versions (in terms of packaging) for the Vettel car, celebrating

his World Championship and there's a 1/43 of the two cars commemorating their Manufacturers'title.

We mentioned last month that Minichamps'pricing is on the move - downwards - but its 1/18 scale cars (of the FI models, anyway) represent great value, at just over $100 each. And that's not a sale price, or a special deal; that's retail.

You can get a look at the Minichamps range at www. apexreplicas.com.au.

Now, when can we expect a Daniel Ricciardo model? Has to be soon, right?

Correction IT is with red faces that we point out here that in last month's Model Behaviour column we did the unthinkable: get our Classic Carlectables confused with our Biantes.

Our photo caption suggested that the 1997 Bathurst Bargwanna/Noske Holden Young Lions Commodore was a Classic Carlectables release - when in fact it comes from Biante.

We also erred in referring to the Jim Beam Falcon models as coming from Classic Carlectables.They too, of course, are Biante models. Our apologies to all concerned.

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Speedflow

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Unit 3/13 Penny PI, AmddI Rirk NSW 2148 Only 5 minS from Eastern Creek

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www.elprodlrect.com.au iRE^ sales@elprodirect.com.au Australian manufacturer of quality performance components Reducers Alloy Donuts Ram Tubes Canisters Oil Tanks Wheel Arches Tank Ends End Caps 34 Kimberly Road, Dandonong. Victoria, Auslraha, 3175.

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NO.1 RACECAR CLASSIFIEDS SELL your parts, motorsport vehicle or anything to do with motorsport via our internet classified partners myl05.com -for as little as $29.50!*

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1966 Mustang FIA Race Car

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Porsche GT3 2004 Porsche GT3 CS, Carbon fibre

1998

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inc. restricter, built engine, new dogbox, GTR Diff with new LSD, Haltech, Koni Race coilovers,

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8 Enkei Rims, 6 & 4 piston brakes,

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large 2 piece rotors + heaps more.

Spare built engine, gearbox, diff & other new spares.Current lap record holder, extremely well presented.

0417 936 001

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doors bonnet rear wing assembly, motorsport adjustable shocks Bilstein, Motec dash and logging fitted, spares including 3 sets of wheels and original panels, new pads and rotors all round, service completed by Porsche, no expense spared on maintenance.

02 9437 0266

new. Raced 1966-1970 FIA races in Mexico sponsored by Shelby de Mexico 1970-1974 Mexican Libre events.

Still has same paint as when last raced in 1974 Vintage raced 20022008 SCCA big HP 289, close ratio top loader9inch all the best bits race ready. Able to be raced world wide.

Unique.08 8362 8860

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WWW.mylo5.com/lO25 BMW 2002 Group NC

HOW? Log on to my10S.com and place your ad by following the prompts . Payments can be made online by credit card only.

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For an additional $15, our staff can put your listing up for you! Simply type/write your advertisement clearly (no more than 50 words), nominate your category and include your pic(s). Then send it by mail or email (make sure to Include your details) - see addresses below.

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Porsche 997 GTs Cup S 08 2008 GT3 Cup S. Australian GT Championship winning car 2009 and 2010. Engine, gearbox, suspension rebuilt before Bathurst 12 Hour. Lots of

Notice to advertisers: We are unable to return photos supplied for advertising. Ads will appear as soon as possible after receipt.

MNews/mylOS classifieds are for the sale of private goods and vehicles only. Photos marked 'proof' will not be used.

continues with the car either as a pure race car or with some internal comforts

www.mYio5.com/3866

WWW.mYi05.com/4322

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STI 22B Impreza

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Chev Corvette CS Race Car

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use on the street. Currently doesn't have a cage or rear seats/carpets.

03 8637 5501

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Due to moving I've decided to sell my 1990 GTR which was imported and prepared for the targa lassie. It owes me a fair bit but its time someone else

by BMW specialist. No expense spared, rebuilt using the best parts available. 0431 182 557

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alloy Chev LSI, 5.7 litre, Motec, 448 rwhp, smart performance heads, ARE dry sump, Penske shocks, diff & gearbox coolers, awesome brakes, 18" wheels, with spare Michelin slicks.

0064 3448 6374

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Monaro fully caged and seam welded shell fitted with 427 GRM rear quarters, GRM carbone fibre side skirts. Group A rear wing and front spoiler. LSI Chev and 6 speed G/Box 6 piston AP Fronts 4 pston.

Harrop rears. Custom fuel tank with pumps. Many other parts included.

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Magnificently prepared road registered XWGT Falcon Tarmac Rally car. Cover story Tarmac Magazine 2010. FuIly race prepared Cleveland 351 motor rebuilt 2010,

Elfin MRS Garrie Cooper FSOOO Excellent original car raced by Garrie Cooper in the 1970s makes this unique.

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6 point rollover protection 2010, rebuilt top loader gear box quality race parts. Terratrip and Intercom.

Asking price thousands below cost. 0417 946 610

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FIINOMotorhome(7m) professional fitout sleeps 4, fridge, microwave, toilet, ext shower, aircond, gas hotplate, DVD, 2 TVs, PS2, full awning with walls, alloy wheels & roo bar. Trailer (7 x 2.5m) suit large sedan, built from 30mm monopan material,! 2V/240V wired, 2 winches car/door, cabinets/bench,

*Room for 4 Karts, tyre racks, shelving, LED lighting in and out, internal battery, and carpeted. Regretful sale but not being used. Call Michael 0418511045.

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1 THE FINAL WORD

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T'S always good when the Grand Prix circus comes to Melbourne, especially for all of us who have been lucky enough to work overseas - or people who have relocated to the Antipodes from Europe - to catch up with some old mates we have worked with in the past.

The biggest thing that several of my overseas mates talked about during the recent Australian Grand Prix was how much sponsorship there is in V8 Supercars. Pedro de la Rosa told me he couldn't believe that almost all the cars in the V8 field feature companies that are recognizable to almost anyone watching. Sure, many of them have'national level'companies or support, but many of our cars have multinational sponsorship on them now,as well.

I explained to Pedro and co that most of the teams have enough corporate support to run their teams, and actually make a business from the team revenue and sponsorship;they were very impressed with how a domestic championship,in a country with a population of 20

million, can produce so much corporate support - especially given we live in a sports-mad country, where it is a hardfought contest to gain and keep sponsorship funding.

The alcohol funded teams must be starting to look over their shoulder as there is a growing undercurrent to ban alcohol advertising in sport. Personally, I think this is ridiculous.The alcohol companies are promoting responsible consumption and anti drink-driving, so their message is quite clear; buy it, enjoy it, but don't abuse it.

Surely this would apply to almost every consumer product on the market. If alcohol advertising is banned,then we should also ban gambling and energy drinks from advertising.

Sports gambling is going through an amazing growth period in this country at present.

Currently almost half of the AFL teams have some support from a gambling agency, and we have seen in many other sports what the effects of gambling can do.There have been many controversies in horse racing.

boxing and most recently cricket and, let's be honest,every time Pakistan have a score that's not par, there will be finger-pointing for the next 10 years.

The NRL is in the middle of a gambling racket now,so no sport is exempt from greed and corruption when it comes to gambling. Live gambling is almost upon us, so it will make the long races like Bathurst a lot more interesting for some people, and indeed it may even bring in some more fans who arejust sport fans, not race fans, because they can have a punt.

Energy drinks would not be far behind the alcohol and gambling on the advertising banning hit list. The major energy drinks companies are all in V8s in some capacity, either as a personal sponsor right up to a title sponsorship,so it must be seen as an area where the exposure is worth the cost of participating. Some will say that some energy drinks carry as much health risk as alcohol, so these companies too should be being proactive now to promote safe consumption.

The dynamic of Supercar sponsorship is changing, and some of the teams have very little or no commercial association with automotive products, whereas it's typically

One area where I think we would see the sport go through a high growth phase would be ifthe banking industry came into the game

been an automotive specific area to advertise products.The dynamic of the products and services has changed because the crowds are certainly different to what have been traditional male markets.

Take a look at an average crowd at the track now - there is a high volume offemales and families attending, which is great.

That's whatTC and his merry band of troops set out to do.

One area where I think we would see the sport go through a high growth phase would be if the banking industry came into the game. FI has a high level of banking and commerce supporting many of the teams and drivers, so it would be great to see them have a raid on V8 Supercars.

Worth a thought, commercial managers...

QUICK QUIZ

Answers 1. In Jamie Whincup's first V8Supercar race, the 2002 Queensiand 500,he shared a Garry Rogers Motorsport Commodore with Australian Speedwaylegend Max Dumsney.

2. Before 2011,Pirelli's iast startasaFormuia 1 suppiier was the 1991 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide, which was won by Ayrton Senna.

3. The 1991 AGPoniyran for 14 ofits scheduled 81 laps, due to a torrential downpour.

4. You have to go back to 1989 to find the last time the ARC wasn't won by a Subaru, Mitsubishior Toyota. Greg Carr and Mick Marker took the title in a Lancia Deita Integraie.

5. There are six Austraiian Formuia Ford Champions on the V8 grid fulltime. Craig Lowndes(1993),Jason Bright (1995), Garth Tander(1997), Will Davison(2001),Jamie Whincup(2002)and David Reynolds(2004).

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