30IMUS
s LEWIS HAMILTON:SOON TO BE A THREE-POINTED STARMFOSTER
motorsport
nustralian
m
WHimUP JOINS THE LEGENDS WITH FOURTH BATHURST WIN No.425 November 2012
Australia $8.50 NZ $9.99 inc GST
DAVID BESNARD: BEHIND THE SCENES WITH BATHURST CO-DRIVER BEZZY
A TOUCH OFE'CLASS
THE WDMAN WHD WILL TAKE www.mnews.com.au MERCEDESINTO V8SUPERCARS
.
.,-j5
-3-
r
yr“=““T
Wllff a trip for 2 to tlio i
9
Shannons is giving you the opportunity to win an 8-day adventure to Austin, Texas and Los Angeles. Everything’s bigger in Texas! And the Texas V8 Supercar Stampede includes: TICKETS TO THE 2013 V8 SUPERGAR ROUND IN TEXAS PREMIUM GRANDSTAND SEATS KEEEY RACING PIT TOUR AND DRIVER ‘MEET G GREET' DRIVE A CHEW CAMARO G FORD MUSTANG° To enter go to shannons.com.au/texas or call 13 46 46 and obtain a quote on your Car, Bike or Home Insurance. Take out a new policy or Refer a Friend to get even more November 30, 2012. chances. For full details go to shannons.com.au/texas. Competitioi
i^ 1
IF
;-T
. ShanronsiLimitediis an:aullioriseclirepresenlative'of Australian Alliance'lnsurance GompanyiUmited,‘the;issuer nl.Shannnnsipropetty insurance products, Refer to llie PDS by calling 1346 46.This compelitioniis,conducted by Shannons Limited; toel 18. Suncorp eentre, 36 Wickham Terrace, Brisbane, Queensland 400d. Gompelltion entry commences on 3/9/12andcloses at 11:59am AEST on 30/11/12. The competition is orily open lo individuals who are aged 20 yearsior older. The lotal value oHhe prize is.$13,322 AUD.The drai*:(prithe;prize will be^held at nooncn 14/12/12 al Slhfinger Pty Ltd, 264 George SIreel, Sydney NSW 2000. The name o( the prize winner will be published in The Ausiralian!Oni21/T2/12. Ti the winner is.aged under 25,the hire car will not be aiGhevy GamaroSSor'Ford Mustarigi rather it will belromThefleriz Sedan Gollection. Permits: AGTTP12/03T41,NSW LTPS/12/06805.SAT12/1597 & VIG12/2082. For full competilion terms and conditions, please visit shannpnsicom.au
INSURANCE FOR MOTORING ENTHUSIASTS* ^ I I
GALL 13 46 46 FOR A QUOTE|SHANNONS.COM.AU
Australian
u
news
Editorial Group Editor Steve Normoyle snormoyle@chevron.cow.au At Large Phil Branagan
Editorial Enquiries
THIS MONTH’S FEATURES
The Grid
Chevron Publishing Level 6,207 Pacific Highway, St Leonards, NSW 2065 Locked Bag 5555,St Leonards, NSW 1590 admin@mnews.coni.au
CLASSIC BATHURST It was no upset result, and co-drivers aside there are still only two teams and four drivers that have stood on a V8 Supercar podium in 2012. Forget all that, though, because the Bathurst 1000 that marked the 50th year of he race at Mount Panorama was an unparalleled classic.
Contributing Writers
Mark Glendenning, Andrew van Leeuwen, Luke West, Edward Krause, Chris Lambden, Geoff Rounds, David Greenhalgh, Bruce Moxon
Art Director Chris Currie
Photography
Sutton Motorsport Images, Dirk Klynsmith, John Morris, Andrew Hall, James Smith, Geoff Grade, Phil Williams,Peter Bury, Michael Vettas, Ken Ferguson, Daniel Beard Paul Carruthers, Rob Lang Cover Photo:James Smith
Advertising Advertising Director Chris West cwest@chevron.com.au P 02 9901 6376 M 0416125 252 National Sales Manager Luke Finn ifinn@chevron.com.au P02 9901 6368 M 0423 665 384
i r
■ It takes two drivers at Bathurst,:^ ' and it's not an easy rote for.the ' second driver:Jo'find outjust ; ● how hcird it is, we sent Edward i '‘^Krajuse into the-Brad Jones i Racingfinnefsan&tu^
Chairman, Chevron: Ray Berghouse Circulation Director: Carole Jones
Subscriptions: www.mnews.com.au
chevron PUBLISHING GROUP
a division of nextmedia Pty Ltd.
Level 6,207 Pacific Highway, St Leonards, NSW 2065 Locked Bag 5555,St Leonards, NSW 1590 Chief Executive Officer, David Gardiner Commercial Director, Bruce Duncan Motorsport News is published by nextmedia Pty Ltd ACN: 128 805 970, Level 6,207 Pacific Highway,St Leonards NSW 2065 © 2012. All rights reserved. Motorsport News is printed by CaxtonWeb, distributed by Network Distribution. No part of this magazine may be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the prior permission of the publisher. The publisher will not accept responsibility or any liability for the correctness of information or opinions expressed in the publication. All material submitted is at the owner's risk and. while every care will be taken nextmedia does not accept liability for loss or damage. Privacy Policy We value the integrity of your personal information. If you provide personal information through your participation in any competitions,surveys or offers featured in this issue of Motorsport News,this will be used to provide the products or services that you have requested and to improve the content of our magazines.Your details may be provided to third parties who assist us in this purpose.In the event of organisations providing prizes or offers to our readers, we may pass your details on to them.From time to time, we may use the information you provide us to inform you of other products,services and events our company has to offer. We may also give your information to other organisations which may use it to inform you about their products, services and events, unless you tell us not to do so.You are welcome to access the information that we hold about you by getting in touch with our privacy officer, who can be contacted at nextmedia. Locked Bag 5555,St Leonards, NSW 1590.
www.mnews.com.au
Lewis leaves home He has been at McLaren for almost all of his time as a racing driver, which is since he was a small boy, but it looks like he will not end his career at McLaren as Lewis Hamilton looks forward to hopefully greener pastures at Mercedes-Benz. }
They wonft be running, > as a factory team, but > there will be three MercedesBenzes in V8 Supercars nextyearrunbyajoint arrangement between the ; Stone Brothers and Erebus , Motorsport. Phil Branagan spoke to the woman behind it all, Betty Klimenko. ■
motorsport news
Unusual Suspects
A round'Up ofthe action j from the recent Austra'lian I Muscle Car Mastersat l Sydney Motorsport Park. J
Edward Krause was a key contributor to Chevron's The Great Race yearbook for longer than we can remember, and that makes him ideally qualified to go behind the scenes with one of Team BOCs co-drivers, David Bensard, for a unique look at what goes on within a team at Bathurst.
Jj CHASING THE DREAM Brendan Reeves and Rhianon Smyth are not merely chasing the dream, they're making meaningful progress in their goal of becoming the next Australians in the World Rally Championship.
80
PREMIER STATE General manager at Premier Speedway David Mills talks about the challenges at Warnambool and the state ofspeedway generally.
82
MOPAR MUSCLING BACK After an indifferent run last season, Mopar Pro Stock ace Lee Bektash says he's set for a dramatic change offortunes
84
GREAT FOOD,GREAT SERVICE,GREAT CARS The fine-dining restaurant on the NSW Central Coast with a motorsport theme. As Mike Raymond always used to say, get your backside Trackside...
Lewis Hamilton might be in his late 20s, and might already be a world champion, but at the end of the year he is doing the motorsport equivalent ofleaving home for the first time. What the future holds no one can tell, but in the meantime we can reflect on what's been a remarkable career so far.
REGULARS 1
m f
i
www.mnews.com.au
»!●
to,
6
Motor Mouth with Phil Branagan
8
The Scoop with Steve Normoyle
10
On The Limiter with Chris Lambden
12
Box Seat
14
United States of Origin
88
Model Behaviour
94
Trade
96
Classifieds
98
Parting Shot
Betty Klimenko mightn't be universally known to motorsport fans but she soon will be. For those unfamiliar with Klimenko, she is the property tycoon owner of Erebus Motorsport who is teaming up with the Stone Brothers to bring the Mercedes-Benz name into V8 Supercars. 5
PHIL
BRANAGAN ■MOTOR MOUTH
^
—f
i;,:
A
NOTHER Bathurst 1000 has come and gone and, while it was a great weekend, it has left one taste in my mouth that was a little sour. The taste has only a little to do with the race's anniversary celebrations. It may seem a little pedantic to differentiate between '50th year' and '50th anniversary' but that was necessary, particularly in light of the fact that 2013 marks a 75-year milestone for the track. It was a fine line for journalists and commentators to walk; even on the official broadcast, they did not always get it right. But whether the choice of year was correct or not, it brought to light something I did not like. Among the many images presented to the viewers by V8 Supercars to the viewers live around at the country - and around the
world, delayed - were some that were deliberately blurred. The Fun Police had dictated that logos of tobacco companies on cars of the past should not be Identifiable to theTV audience. Unless you have been living in a cave off the coast of Tasmania for some years, you will understand why. Tobacco consumption is frowned upon nowadays; whereas sucking on a ciggie was once considered to be the optimum of cool, it is now an unmentionable evil.The war on the tobacco industry has worked; you cannot see cigarette packets in shops, and far fewer people smoke now that was the case a generation ago. That's good. But a generation ago, it was perfectly acceptable that racing cars were festooned with tobacco brands. Cars raced, and won, in the colours of all manner of brands. Big Tobacco was the biggest spender in the
world's most expensive sport, the teams flourished and history was made. Now, history is being edited. Apologies to anyone who is not aware of this, but Peter Brock did win Bathurst in the colours of Marlboro.The Nissan GT-Rs were backed by Winfield. Emerson Fittipaldi won the World Drivers' Championship in a Lotus not just carrying the colours of John Player Special, but one that was renamed after the brand. Kevin Bartlett and Gregg Hansford raced in Chesterfield colours. Allan Grice did in Special Mild hues.The list goes on and on. That does not happen now. We live in a different world, a global village. There are media sites from which we can source images for this magazine, but some of them permit us to download images from their archive only after we indicate that we will not publish images of tobacco-branded cars in France. I am not sure how many MN readers there are in Le Republique, but Evin's Law, which eradicated all forms of tobacco advertising from the sport there years ago, is
Smoking is bad. We can drink, but are encouraged to do so responsibly. Speeding? Nope; it kills, you know. Times change.The Mongol Empire was built long before the Geneva Convention was ever dreamt of. Genghis Khan and his army did things that are considered today to be unspeakable - but to my knowledge, no one has suggested that we modify that part of history to protect people's delicate sensibilities from the acts of another era. What is next? Will someone decide that, because they were selling unleaded petrol at the time the cars they sponsored won Bathurst, Mobil and Shell should be blurred in the future? What about Toohey's sponsorship of the race - or James Hardie's? Smoking is not good for you. We should encourage our kids not to do it (attention young Branagans; don't smoke). But editing history, even something as relatively insignificant in the Big Picture as motor racing history, is really dangerous. Better, in my view,to act like
Apologies to anyone who is not aware ofthiSr but Peter Brock did win Bathurst in the colours of Marlboro.
motorsport news
HALLiiiiiiii!im
www.tmrperformance.com.au
Now at: Unit 2,5-7 Becon Court, Hallam, VIC 3803 TMR Performance (03)9271 3668 I www.tmrperformance.com.au
ftA-NJfOat