Content PUBLISHER InSport Media MAGAZINE CO-ORDINATOR Dennis Newlyn CREATIVE DIRECTOR Matthew Swaab WRITERS Richard Craill Richard Smith Chris Stone Paul Fowlds Daniel Jordan Terry O’Neill Dennis Newlyn GRAPHIC DESIGNER Kaye Martin No part of this publication may in any form or by any means be reproduced without the prior written permission of the publisher. Material contained in insideSPEED is produced under the Commonwealth Copyright Act 1968. The publishers have taken all the reasonable precaution to ensure the complete accuracy of material contained in this publication. However, it is a condition of purchase of this magazine that the publisher does not assume any responsibility or liability for any loss or damage, including death, which may result from the written content of the material published in this magazine. The opinions of the contributing writers are not necessarily that of the Publishers. Editorial contributions are welcome, however no responsibility can be accepted for safety or return. If return is desired, they must be accompanied by a stamped, self addressed envelope. Any code accepted is subject top whatever adaptions and revisions necessary to meet the requirements of this publication. Once any form of contribution is received by the magazine, all authors’ contributors’ and contents rights, titles and interest in and to the material submitted and transferred to InSport Media unless any alternative arrangement has been mutually agreed.
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insideSPEED NEWS A Radical Idea has Plenty of Merit Young Driving Talent Supported Michael Hector Gets Down To Business Contender’s Championship Chase Chris Holder Chases World Championship Glory Victor Bray & Ben Bray Back-to-back Runs for Tatnell in the National Title V8 Superboats: 2011 Unlimited Superboat Season Review Offshore Superboat Racing Represents Team Work Blown Lites Boat Racing with Attitude! FX Superbike / FX 600 Kevin Curtain FX125GP Open Nicky Diles
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2012 CALENDAR SLAMFEST
ANDRA PRO SERIES DRAG RACING March 24-25
Top Doorslammer 4, Pro Stock 3, Pro Stock Motorcycle 2, Rocket Allstars Racing Series 5
Sydney Dragway
Top Fuel 4, Top Alcohol 3, Top Bike 3, Pro Stock Motorcycle 3
Adelaide International Raceway
May 4-6
Nitro Champs
Sydney Dragway
June 8-11
Winternationals
Willowbank Raceway
April 13-15
Doorslammer
Mildura
V8 SUPERCARS
OFFSHORE SUPERBOATS April 21-22
Round One
Newcastle
June 23-24
Round Two
Mackay
June 30-July 1
Round Three
Townsville
August 11-12
Round Four
Mooloolaba
September 15-16
Round Five
Redcliffe
September 22-23
Round Six
Hervey Bay
SHANNONS NATIONALS MOTOR RACING CHAMPIONSHIP March 9-11
Round One
Eastern Creek
April 13-15
Round Two
Mallala
May 25-27
Round Three
Phillip Island
June 22-24
Round Four
Winton
July 13-15
Round Five
Eastern Creek
August 10-12
Round Six
Queensland Raceway
September 21-23
Round Seven
Phillip Island
October 12-14
Round Eight
Wakefield Park
November 23-25
Round Nine
Sandown
YMF LOAN YAMAHA AUSTRALIAN FX-SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP March 16-18
Round One
Eastern Creek
April 21-22
Round Two
Wakefield Park
July 20-22
Round Three
Queensland Raceway
August 31September 2
Round Four
Wakefield Park
October 5-7
Round Five
Winton Raceway
November 9-11
Round Six
Eastern Creek
AUSTRALIAN V8 SUPERBOAT CHAMPIONSHIP March 24-25
Round One
Temora
May 19-20
Round Two
Melton
June 2-3
Round Three
Tweed Coast
September 8-9
Round Four
Tweed Coast
October 13-14
Round Five
Melton
November 23-24
Round Six (FINAL)
Temora
SKI RACING AUSTRALIA March 10-11
Robinvale 80
Robinvale
March 17-18
SRNSW State Title
Wisemens Ferry
April 6-8
Mildura 100
Mildura
June 9-10
SA Championship
Murray Bridge
June 9-10
Qld Championship
Grafton
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April 7 March 1-4
Clipsal 500
March 30-April 1
Tasmania Challenge
April 20-22
ITM 400
May 4-6
Trading Post Perth Challenge
May 18-20
Phillip Island
June 15-17
Ski City Triple Crown
July 6-8
Sucrogen Townsville 400
August 3-5
Coastes Hire Ipswich 300
August 24-25
Winton Motor Raceway
September 14-16
Sandown 500
October 4-7
Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000
October 19-21
Armor All Gold Coast 500
November 9-11
TBA
November 30-Dec 2
Sydney Telstra 500
SPEEDWAY Mar 07
Super Sedan Series (Rd 9)
Kalgoorlie
Mar 09
Super Sedan Series (Rd 10)
Albany
Mar 10
Super Sedan Series Grand Final
Perth
Mar 16
Scott Darley $50,000 Sprintcar Challenge: Night 1
Sydney
Mar 17
Scott Darley $50,000 Sprintcar Challenge: Night 2
Sydney
Mar 17
Super Rods
Portland
Mar 17
George Tatnell Sprintcar Cup
Adelaide
Mar 17
Super Sedans
Brisbane
Mar 24
Sprintcars, Speedcars, Street Stocks, Litre Sprints, Legend Cars
Sydney
Mar 24
50th Annual WA Sprintcar title
Perth
Mar 24
NSW Formula 500 Championship
Tamworth
Mar 31
Sprintcars, Wingless Sprints, AMCA Nationals, Late Models
Sydney
Mar 31
Sprintcar Track Championship Rd
Adelaide
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Press conference announcing Nissan’s return to the Australian Touring Car scene in 2013. Photo: EDGE Photographics
NISSAN RETURNS TO AUSSIE TOURING CARS In one of the most significant events in Australian V8 Supercar history, Japanese car icon Nissan will join the pinnacle of Australian motorsport and touring car racing by entering the 2013 Championship. After a 20-year absence from the Australian Touring Car Championship, Nissan Motorsport (Australia) will run four cars under the V8 Supercar Kelly racing team banner. From 2013 Kelly racing will campaign as Nissan Motorsport as a formalised 6
factory team. The announcement was made in Melbourne today by Nissan Australia Managing Director and CEO Dan Thompson; Ian Moreillon, Executive General Manager, Sales and Fleet, Nissan Australia; V8 Supercar Chairman Tony Cochrane, and V8 Supercar CEO David Malone. They were joined by V8 Supercar Commission Chairman Mark Skaife; Kelly Racing Chairman John Crennan, and Kelly Racing co-owner-drivers Todd and Rick Kelly. Nissan is the first manufacturer to take advantage of the Car of the Future program which virtually two years ago to the day was unveiled with
an aim to cutting running costs and encouraging other marques to compete, in turn broadening fan and sponsor appeal. Nissan’s decision confirms that the Car of the Future program is high on the agenda of V8 Supercar teams and potential new manufacturers. V8 Supercars expects more manufacturers to follow Nissan’s lead given the high profile of the sport domestically and internationally. The sport intends to grow to 18 events worldwide (up from the present 15 Championship events) across 40 weeks in the coming years. The first Car of the Future prototypes were unveiled at
the Sydney Telstra 500 last December. Nissan’s entry into the V8 Supercar Championship reflects its brand promises of “innovation and excitement”: innovation with the Car of the Future program, and excitement through the attraction and popularity of V8 Supercars. It also believes the sport will add significant momentum to its primary and corporate brand profile in Australia. Nissan is highly acclaimed and successful in global motorsport, its products having won the Europeanbased FIAGT1 Drivers’ Championship, Japanese SuperGT Championship and the LMP2 class (1st and 2nd) at Le Mans last year. insideSPEED
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V8 Supercar Commission chairman Mark Skaife (right) addresses the press at the Nissan announcement. Photo: EDGE Photographics Managing Director and CEO of Nissan Australia Dan Thompson said: “We plan to use our presence in the series to strengthen our passenger car credentials in Australia. “Nissan believes that, alongside Ford and Holden, we possess the most convincing motorsport DNA and track history in Australia, making a V8 Supercars debut in 2013 an obvious initiative. “We are targeting number one importer status in Australia and already making progress towards that as one of the country’s fastest growing brands. V8 Supercars will boost that momentum.” V8 Supercar Chairman Tony Cochrane, who insideSPEED
announced the Car of the Future program in March 2010, said it confirmed the global demand for V8 Supercars by manufacturers and destinations was very real.“We welcome Nissan with more than open arms,” Mr Cochrane enthused. “This announcement confirms all we have known about V8 Supercars for a long, long time – that we are truly an international player, an extraordinarily popular sport amongst fans globally and in great demand by big business and corporate players. “I applaud Kelly Racing for this pioneering move to embrace Nissan and take one of the world’s biggest brands on their journey within the V8 Supercar
Championship. Todd and Rick are truly remarkable businessmen, visionaries and drivers.” Kelly Racing will from 2013 be a fully-fledged Nissan factory team developing its own cars and engines, utilising the global resources of the giant NISMO motorsport organisation. Rick Kelly, a V8 Supercar champion and multiple Bathurst winner, was enthused about the move. “I couldn’t be more excited with the opportunity Nissan has offered Todd, myself and the entire team at Kelly Racing to become their official factory team,” Rick Kelly said. “Nissan’s genuine
enthusiasm, unwavering support and absolute professionalism through this evaluation has been tremendous and underpins their absolute intentions of Championship success in the category - a dream we share and hope to deliver on. “This new partnership has only been made possible by the endless amount of hard work that John Crennan has done for Kelly Racing on this project, and that of Ian Moreillon, Jeff Fisher and the team at Nissan of which Todd and I are very grateful. “The Nissan Car of the Future (COTF) project is a huge undertaking however Todd and I are firmly Continued to page 8 7
Todd and Rick Kelly - and their Kelly Racing organisation - linked with Nissan in partnership for a return to the Australian racing scene in 2013. Photo: EDGE Photographics Continued from page 7
focused on the job at hand this season ensuring that Kelly Racing takes those important steps forward on and off the race track. “Development of our cars and recruitment of key personnel in the off-season should assist us to realise these immediate goals. “This new partnership brings with it a host of opportunities for the team, our business partners and, of course, fans and delivers the vision that we have shared since our inception in the category in 2009.” Business partner and elder brother Todd Kelly said Kelly Racing’s innovative business strategies fitted perfectly 8
with Nissan’s desire to enter the V8 Supercar Championship. “Rick and I have had one clear goal that we have been striving for since we started Kelly Racing, that was to become a benchmark race-winning team with factory support,” Todd Kelly said. “The timing with Car of the Future has enabled us to engage a manufacturer and achieve that. We couldn’t be happier to be a factory Nissan team and Factory Nissan drivers. “Nissan is a fantastic brand that we will all be extremely proud to represent and their international motorsport heritage and engineering capabilities are both
key factors in our new relationship that will help us achieve our goals.” Car of the Future architect Mark Skaife said the ground-breaking announcement was only the start. “This opens up a whole new chapter for V8 Supercars,” Mr Skaife said. “The sport and the brand have been so successful over such a long period of time with today’s news reinforcing the direction of the business, coupled with imminent international expansion to multiple destinations globally. “Nissan has clearly acknowledged V8 Supercars as a major component of their future plans within the Australian car market and motorsport internationally.
V8 Supercars will deliver on their expectations. “There is no doubting the entry of more manufacturers now that Nissan has taken the first step to recognise what the relationship will do for their brand.” The three-year Car of the Future project, led by Mr Skaife and a key team of engineers, designers, car builders, V8 Supercar team personnel and drivers, is complete with 2013-spec Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon fully tested and on the showroom floor. The cars, developed with the sponsorship support of Dunlop, represent the next generation V8 Supercars, paving the way for new marques. insideSPEED
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James McFadden created speedway history this season when he became the first non-contracted driver to win the World Series Sprintcars Championship. Photo courtesy Speedway World. V8 Supercar teams have already commenced building their new cars before the compulsory rollout in 2013.
LOWNDES IS KEEN ON GERMAN MARQUE Five-time Bathurst 1000 winner Craig Lowndes says he’d ‘love to’ race for a German marque in V8 Supercars under the category’s new-for-2013 Car of the Future regulations. While TeamVodafone has closed in on a dealis to remain with Holden next season, Lowndes is highly encouraging of new insideSPEED
manufacturers becoming involved in V8 Supercars. “I would love to see the German car manufacturers join our sport and I would love to be racing one,” Lowndes said. “It’s a great fit for Nissan to return to racing in the premier motorsport category in Australia after its years of dominance in the early 1990s with Godzilla. But I really think we need to get brands like Audi, BMW and Mercedes involved. “They have a tremendous racing heritage and it would give out sport a lot of international credibility.” Although his current contract with TeamVodafone runs out at the end of 2012, Lowndes
emphasised that he remains committed to the highly successful Queensland squad. “For the first time in my career I’m not contracted to any one car company,” Lowndes explained. “I’m happy to be racing a Holden again after several years in a Ford, but I would have no hesitation in driving another manufacturer’s car, just so long as that’s what TeamVodafone principal Roland Dane wanted.” At the recent announcement of Nissan’s entry into the class, V8 Supercars chairman Tony Cochrane and Car of the Future project leader Mark Skaife both spoke of the possibility of a second new
player joining the class in 2013. The comments have led to rampant speculation as to the identity of a possible fourth manufacturer, with the likes of BMW, Chrysler, Hyundai, Kia and Toyota among the brands currently being linked to the sport.
McFADDEN CREATES WORLD SERIES SPRINTCARS’ HISTORY James McFadden was officially crowned the 201112 Hi-Tec oils World Series Sprintcars Champion at the Continued to page 10 9
Continued from page 9
annual WSS presentation dinner in Burswood, WA. The 22 year old received the inaugural “Dumesny-Tatnell” Champion’s Trophy and a standing ovation from his peers. McFadden also won the “Vortex Wings Shootout” award and the “Speedweek” Trophy. Bordertown, South Australia racer Dylan Jenkin received the “Rookie of the Year” honour but was stunned and humbled to win the “Driver’s Driver” award voted on by his rivals. “This tops it all off for me. To win this award is humbling. I don’t know what to say,” Jenkin said. The other award voted on by the participants was the coveted “Crew Chief of the Year” trophy which was won by Krikke Motorsport Crew Chief Pete Caporn – a fitting reward for a man who has clocked up ten years and five Australian Championship wins for his team. Legendary WSS wheeltwister Max Dumesny was honoured for his outstanding contribution to the series over 25 years and was humbled by a thunderous standing ovation from the packed room. The normally jovial seventimes champion was clearly moved by the reception and paid respect to his long time arch rival Brooke Tatnell. “I thought that winning seven of these (WSS Titles) was enough, but Brooke you’ve gone one better. You’re clearly the best there’s ever been. I’ve enjoyed racing you over the years.” Dumesny competed in his final WSS round the night prior at The Perth Motorplex and capped it off with a win in the “Hard Charger” trophy where he passed a staggering 58 cars throughout the series. “Best Presented Car & Crew” was awarded to the Monte Motorsport Monster Energy team, while the “Revolution 10
Racegear Qualifying Award” was won by Brooke Tatnell. Tatnell and series champion James McFadden were tied for the award, but Tatnell claimed the prize on a count back by qualifying ahead of McFadden in nine of the 15 rounds.
A RETURN TO CALDER FOR ANDRA? A return to Melbourne for ANDRA Championship-level drag racing is a major priority for the organisation, says its new chief executive Greg Humphreys. Humphreys spoke of ongoing work aimed at constructing a world class, multi-purpose drag racing facility, but has targeted Calder Park as a short-term venue for drag racing to return to Melbourne. “I cannot – will not – let another 10 years go past without big time ANDRA drag racing being in Melbourne,” Humphreys affirmed. “Melbourne deserves a brand new track, but at this stage, the only opportunity we’ve got in Melbourne is at Calder Park. “Calder Park is a great facility, but extremely close to surrounding suburbs. If the Victorian Government were to say yes (to a new track) tomorrow, you are probably looking at three to five years before it became operational.”
PIRTEK BACKS MICHAEL GUEST’S ENTRY IN SIDE-BYSIDE RALLY CHALLENGE Pirtek has confirmed that it will partner with Bombardier Recreational Products Inc. (BRP) in supporting the entry of Michael Guest in the allnew Australian Side-by-Side Rally Challenge in 2012. The Australian Side-bySide Rally Challenge will
see entries from BRP take on rival Polaris in a series of events for the dedicated recreational vehicles over four rounds run in conjunction with the 2012 Australian Rally Championship (ARC). Guest has competed in a range of rally vehicles from two-wheel-drive through to full specification Super 2000 and World Rally Cars across the globe. He will be partnered in the Can-Am Commander 1000 X by renowned co-driver David Green, taking on a strong field that includes multiple Australian and Asia Pacific Rally Champion Cody Crocker, who will spearhead the Polaris Challenge. “I’m really excited to be taking Pirtek along for the ride in the new Australian Side-by-Side Rally Challenge,” said Guest. “The category is for recreational vehicles, but I don’t do anything by halves especially with a competitor like Cody in the series. “Both Pirtek and BRP are enthusiastic about what we can achieve in competition and I’m sure both will receive outstanding benefits off the track as well. “Everything has come together ahead of hitting the tracks in and around the Calder Park complex. I’m sure we will put on the best show in our Rotax 1000 V-Twin engined Can-Am Commander 1000.” 2012 Australian Side-bySide Rally Challenge dates: Round 1: March 2-4 Rally Calder Melbourne VIC Round 2: March 31-April 1 Quit Forest Rally Busselton WA Round 3: May 26-27 International Rally Sunshine Coast QLD Round 4: October 13-14 Coffs Coast Forest Rally NSW
CRAIG BAIRD TO PARTNER LEE HOLDSWORTH AT BATHURST Porsche star Craig Baird will join Lee Holdsworth in the #4 IRWIN Racing Ford Falcon at the Sandown 500 and the Bathurst 1000. Baird, one of New Zealand’s most successful drivers, was Lee Holdsworth’s only choice
when it came to endurance race co-drivers. “Ross (Stone) asked me who I’d like to be with and Craig (Baird) was my number one choice,” Lee Holdsworth said. “He’s a very confident driver and reliable. He’s done plenty of laps and is familiar with the team, which goes a long way. I’m really thrilled to have him join us.” Holdsworth believes that Baird will be the perfect Bathurst and Sandown codriver. “I like that he is safe, he keeps out of trouble, he’s quick but doesn’t do anything silly,” Holdsworth explained. “He’s at the top of the list as an endurance driver and someone that can bring the car back to you in a decent position with no damage. “At the recent test day he was excellent, he gave similar feedback to what I was saying, we were both wanting the same things out of the car. “His lap times were also on the mark straight away, which is what you want from your co-driver. “He’s also a decent guy; I’ve always held him in very high regard.” For Baird, his return to IRWIN Racing is a homecoming of sorts. He raced with Stone Brothers Racing in the 1999 endurance events and as a full-time driver in 2000. Signing to return to the Stone Brothers camp was an easy one for Baird who has the utmost respect for team owners Ross and Jimmy Stone and Lee Holdsworth. “It was an easy decision, I’ve watched Lee (Holdsworth) closely over the last few years and he kind of reminds me of Marcos Ambrose,” Baird stated. “He is very methodical with his racing; he gets the job done with a limited amount of fuss. “I think he will surprise a few people this year, he’s young, he’s fit and he’s fast, I think his biggest thing is his work ethic, not just behind the wheel, but when he’s outside the car. “Just watching him at the test day last week, he slowly goes through his programme and ticks all the boxes along the way. That’s the mark of a champion.” insideSPEED
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Craig Baird and Lee Holdsworth will team up for the enduro races later this year. Having driven the IRWIN Tools Ford at the team’s second season test at Queensland Raceway, Baird is already feeling comfortable with the car. “It was good, certainly different to what I’m used to, but I came to terms with it relatively quickly,” said Baird. “I said to Ross (Stone) all I wanted to do was get a few laps, get a feel for the car, so I know what to expect and get a feel for how I need to change to get the most out of the IRWIN Ford.” “You have to adapt the driving style. The nice part of the test was what I was asking for in the car, Lee was asking insideSPEED
for. We are already heading in the same direction.” Baird is excited to be driving with Holdsworth, someone he believes has the potential to be a V8 Supercars champion. “I have no doubt that (Lee) will be at the front,” Baird affirmed. “I’ve watched his progress and he is solid. There are a lot of guys out there with the speed, but do they have the mental strength and the other components needed to be a V8 Supercar champion? “If you ask that question of Lee, he has all the skills on and off the track to bring SBR a championship.” Having raced at Bathurst for
over 20 years, Baird believes he brings the right credentials to IRWIN Racing that will help set the team up at the year’s endurance rounds. “I don’t need to prove anything,” Baird said. “I can jump in the car relatively easily and post competitive times, which I proved last week at the test. “I know what my role is within the team and that’s to be a solid co-driver, fit in and adapt to the team, deliver in my stints in each race, stay on the lead lap and not make mistakes. “I know when to push and if conditions aren’t right or the car isn’t right I’ll do the right
thing so that I give him the car in one piece.” With his co-driver confirmed Holdsworth can now focus on the job of winning races. “To have Craig (Baird) signed well before the season has started is brilliant for me and the team,” said Holdsworth. “We can now get on with it. “It shows me that IRWIN Racing wants to win and we’ll do everything it takes. You couldn’t ask for more.” Lee Holdsworth and Craig Baird will team up for the Sandown 500 in September and the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 in October. 11
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Remember the 1980s? Remember when everything that was ‘cool’ in the ‘60s and ‘70s then became ‘Radical’, in that time of mostly awful cars, mostly awful music and even worse hair? Well, Radical is back – but it’s got nothing to do with hair or music but a lot to do about cars. Very fast ones, in fact, that have helped open up the track day market to many who otherwise wouldn’t have the chance.
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A British-based company, Radical has been around for ages producing light, powerful and nimble cars that feature in everything from track sprint days to hill climbing, one-make racing and even forays into the prestigious world of the LeMans 24 hour and global endurance racing. Fifteen years ago Australia probably didn’t have a market anywhere near capable of supporting such a concept, one that reached from club racing
to professional motorsport – but the foresight of several New South Walesbased businessmen saw an opportunity and grasped it. Welcome to the world, then, Radical Australia. Five years later, Radical Australia now has more than 80 cars in the country and a thriving National racing series running with the Shannons Nationals. It’s called the Radical Australia Cup and it’s THE growth series in Aussie motorsport. Now in its third year,
the Radical Australia Cup will feature a seven-round national series visiting Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. The series will again feature a mixture of Endurance (2x15 minute sprint races and one 1x50 minute endurance) and Biduro (2x50 minute endurance races) and will be open to single and dual driver teams. Each 50-minute race will require a compulsory pit stop. The Radical Australia Cup will feature national television and will be supported by MPA Projects, whilst former Formula 3 and Porsche racer Barton Mawer will provide guidance to the predominantly amateurracer field as driver standards advisor. The prize for the Radical Australia Cup 2012 series winner will be a fullyfunded race seat, airfare and accommodation to compete in one round of the 2013 Radical Masters Series event insideSPEED
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in Europe; a very big carrot being dangled at the end of a pretty hefty stick. For guys like Sydney businessman Nathan Brumby, the combination of exciting cars and close competition – coupled with a well run, professional and corporate business model – makes perfect sense in which to indulge his racing passion. “First and foremost, I wanted something reliable to race because I was sick of rushing to a race meeting from work to try and enjoy it, only to blow an engine or gearbox during Friday practice and have to pack up,” Brumby says. “Secondly, I was looking for a package where a lot of the details were already taken care of. In Radicals they even fill out your entry form for you so you don’t have to be standing around at document check first thing on Friday morning! Everything is organised so you can arrive at the circuit insideSPEED
and know that the car is ready to go. “Finally, I was keen to experience something that was technically advanced and had great performance. My car has paddle shifts, triple-adjustable shocks
categories where you can get that kind of experience. “I wanted the pure racing experience and I think I’ve found it.” Brumby will return in 2012, as will defending champion Edward Singleton. The
Now in its third year, the Radical Australia Cup will feature a seven-round national series visiting Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. The series will again feature a mixture of Endurance (2x15 minute sprint races and one 1x50 minute endurance) and Biduro (2x50 minute endurance races) and will be open to single and dual driver teams. Each 50-minute race will require a compulsory pit stop. and a lot of brilliant technology that I really enjoy learning about. The cars have incredible performance. You pull 2Gs at 225km/hr through turn one at Eastern Creek and there are very few
recent arrival of ten brand new, 2012-specification Radical SR3 Cup models to the country will also serve to further boost the field. It’s sure to be a big year. “The guys have a passion for the sport and it’s reflected
in the way the entire category operates,” Brumby adds. “I looked around at other categories and saw what some people were spending to go significantly slower than we do in the Radicals and it made more and more sense to do this. “It’s the best thing I’ve ever done!”
words by RICHARD CRAILL
Photos: 1. Close and hard racing is a byproduct of the Radical Australia Cup – and there will be plenty more of it in 2012. 2. Edward Singleton – 2011 Radical Australia Cup Winner. 3. The bright Radical field will grow further in 2012. 4. Nathan Brumby: loving life in Radicals 5. The ten brand-new Radical SR3 Cup models landed in Australia for use in 2012. 15
YOUNG DRIVING TALENT SUPPORTED SHANNONS NATIONALS presenting partner Hi-Tec Oils will support young driving talent in 2012 after announcing major sponsorship of the Swift Racing Series, a key Shannons Nationals category. The Hi-Tec Oils Swift Racing Series features one-make racing with identical Suzuki Swift cars with only limited modifications, ensuring close and competitive racing. The series is geared to becoming a launching pad for young drivers to gain wheel-to-wheel racing experience at the most affordable budget possible. “This is an ideal one-make motor racing series and we can see the potential,” says Hi-Tec Oils Managing Director George Gambino. “We are especially interested in supporting the development of young drivers at a national level. The Swifts are an excellent entry level race car and their involvement with the Shannons Nationals also suits 16
us. The TV and Media package is excellent.” Series administrator Shaun Keeley believes the series was building for a bigger and better 2012 season. “We couldn’t be happier, our new association with HiTec Oils is just what we were looking for,” he confirms. “We are quietly working away at increasing our grid numbers following our inaugural year in 2011 – and we’re confident of a good showing this year. This new relationship with Hi-Tec Oils provides us with a major boost in confidence in achieving our goals with the series.” The 2012 Hi-Tec Oils Swift Racing Series will run across seven rounds of the 2012 Shannons Nationals, kicking off at Eastern Creek on March 9-11. Allan Jarvis won the 2011 Swift Racing Series, whilst seven drivers – both new to the series and existing competitors – recently kicked off 2012 activities with a test at the Gold Coast’s Norwell circuit.
Five new drivers and two old hands took to the track at the Gold Coast’s Norwell driver training centre in the first of a series of test sessions to kick off activities for the 2012 season. Rob Whyte (Monster Energy 350Z Pilot) and 16 year old national Karting driver Lucas Ward were two of the standouts of the new drivers that tested the exciting Swift Sport race car and both drivers are keen to join the Swift Racing Series in 2012. All drivers were able to experience each of the three cars on hand. Once again the feedback was all about consistency and the only thing different about the cars was the colour. Organisers also provided existing and new teams with the opportunity to introduce sponsors and supporters to the series by providing hot-lap sessions. Country music superstar Adam Brand also came along for a drive, still smiling
after a class win with the Trans Tasman Motorsport Swift team at the recent Eastern Creek 6 Hour held in December. The Swift Racing Series is geared to be an affordable and competitive access point for young drivers to learn the craft of motor racing in a controlled environment. Classified as Group 3E Production Cars by CAMS, the Swifts are mainly production based however do feature several modifications geared towards performance and safety, including MCA race suspension, Monster Sport LSD differential, a modified race exhaust and a tuned air intake, as well as a control wheel and tyre package. Despite limited fields in its inaugural season, the series produced some exciting season between a host of younger and more experienced drivers racing with the Shannons Nationals.
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Making your motorsport debut is a moment many drivers look back on as a cherished time in their career. For most it’s in a go kart or even or a Formula Vee, but Newcastle businessman Michael Hector wasn’t one to waste time last year when he decided he wanted to go motor racing. He went straight into the Kumho Tyres V8 Touring Car Series! After ringing around a few teams, Hector found himself at the door of Terry Wyhoon’s Image Racing. Despite being a total racing novice, the 45-yearold soon found himself at the helm of an ex-Larkham Motorsport Falcon that formerly had been raced 18
in Orrcon colours by Mark Winterbottom. “The plan was to get to know the car and the team and come to grips with the environment and as the year progressed, be competitive,” says Hector, who deals in earthmoving equipment during the week with his business, Carrington Equipment. “I was very happy with my progress and the support from Image Racing. I had my best result in the last round at Phillip Island with a third in race three. Being only my fifth ever race meeting I was absolutely ecstatic!” Hector returns for this year’s Kumho Series, again as part of the Image Racing team. He and teammate Mark Shepherd have
teamed up, too, running in virtually identical liveries. And Hector won’t be struggling for laps – he’s going to also compete in the V8 Supercars Development Series with the Novacastrian Motorsport team to increase his experience. “My aim for 2012 is to finish in the top three in the Kumho Series,” he says. “My times in testing at Winton were spot on and, taking into consideration I’ll also be racing in the Development Series, I will be doing plenty of racing that will put me in good steed for the V8 Touring Cars this year.” This year’s Kumho Series is set to be the best yet. There’s increased car counts and some insideSPEED
V8 TOURING CAR interesting names joining the ranks. Reigning champion Terry Wyhoon won’t be behind the wheel; his 2011 serieswinning car taken over by Bobby Jane, the 21-yearson of racing legend Bob who makes the step up from racing Superkarts in Victoria. Last year’s series runnerup Scott Loadsman returns in his ex-Paul Morris Motorsports Commodore, while category stalwarts Chris Smerdon, Matthew Hansen and Aaron Tebb are all entered and ready to race again. Teenager Josh Hunter – the grandson of speedway
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legend Garry Rush – will suit up for Fernandez Motorsport in his first taste of V8 power, while Saloon Car aces Bruce Heinrich and Shawn Jamieson both showed late last year that
Commodore back to its 2006 base livery in tribute to the car’s former pilot, the late Jason Richards. Former 2010 series champ Tony Evangelou is also returning in an ex-Ford
“The plan was to get to know the car and the team and come to grips with the environment and as the year progressed, be competitive” they will run at the front in the Kumho Series. Sydney’s Jim Pollicina will also be back and, in a nice touch, has reverted his ex-Tasman Motorsport
Performance Racing Falcon with field sizes of well over 20 cars expected all season. This year’s series is over an expanded six round schedule too. The Time
Attack qualifying system of the last few years has been shelved, opening up the format of a longer race three at all rounds. Round 1 at Eastern Creek will be on March 10-11, while the teams will head to Mallala Motorsport Park in South Australia for Round 2 on April 14-15. Every round of the Kumho Series will feature in its own dedicated, one-hour program on SPEED, while also retaining coverage on Speedweek on SBS and Inside SPEED on SPEED.
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CONTENDERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP CHASE The Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Australia enters a new season - and with it, a new champion will be crowned. With the departure of dual titleholder Roger Lago, several contenders rise to the fore as potential winners of the fifth season of the all-Porsche series. Jeff Bobik is considered by many to be favourite entering the season’s opening round at Mallala. The Victorian based driver showed a stellar performance throughout the 2011 season and was Lago’s only rival entering the final round of the championship at Phillip Island. Bobik has speed like few others; a talent that saw him claim five race wins in last year’s season. And now, with Lago no longer in his sights, this season could be Bobik’s time to reach for the championship trophy. Bobik’s job won’t be made easy though. A sea of feisty Porsche competitors are going to make his title fight as hard as possible. One such racer is category co-founder Jon Trende, who 20
will be looking to continue his form from 2011 into the new season. After missing three of the first four rounds, Trende performed sensationally in the final part of the season, including fastest laps, race wins and round victory at Sandown. If this speed and consistency is retained in 2012, Trende will be one to watch for the title. Two former 996 Cup Class drivers will also push for outright honours in 2012. John Goodacre swapped his Type 996 Porsche to the later model Type 997 mid-season and immediately reaped the rewards – victory at the Eastern Creek round. More recently, Terry Knight has followed Goodacre’s trend and acquired his own later model Type 997, giving Knight the push needed to move up the grid. Brothers John and Phil Morriss will also show a strong performance in 2012 with the duo constantly amongst the front-runners last season, while the likes of John Modystach and Jan Jinadasa continue
to gain momentum in the competitive Porsche series. Not only will a new outright champion be crowned, but also a new Endurance Champion. The Jim Richards Endurance Trophy will return to the series in 2012. The concept began in 2011 with great competitor response, allowing for more on track racing for the Porsche racers. Not only was it a hit for the drivers though; the endurance format made for some fantastic on-track action for all to see. And after Roger Lago finished the season with a the Endurance Championship also, many of the 2012 contenders will be looking to etch their name onto the trophy recognising one of Australia’s greatest drivers – ‘Gentleman’ Jim Richards. Matt Kingsley showed his prowess in the endurance format in 2011. The Queensland based racer started the season with a win at Wakefield Park in a closely fought battle with Roger Lago. His endurance championship
campaign came to a halt at the second endurance race of the season though when he was caught up in a three-car incident at Mallala. The crash not only ended his round, but effectively took him out of contention for the endurance title. Kingsley went on to dominate the final race of the endurance championship at Morgan Park. Therefore, should Kingsley to the series in 2012, he will be hungrier than ever to claim the endurance crown. Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Australia will this year feature a shortened season - spanning six months while retaining its six-round format. Therefore, once the season kicks off in April, drivers and teams will enjoy frequent racing throughout the middle of the year for a September season finale at Phillip Island. Be sure to catch the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Australia action this year - It’ll provide fast frequent action with plenty of racers fighting for the2012 title.
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CHRIS HOLDER CHASES WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP GLORY Australian international rider Chris Holder believes he can win this year’s 12-round World Speedway Championship. He is the first to admit it won’t be easy, but he has never felt better after a very successful Australian summer season, highlighted with the retention of the National Championship for the fourth time in his career. He is now preparing for what he openly admits will be the most important year in his career since he commenced riding in the early 2000s.Holder knows he is now ready to launch his most serious assault on the World Speedway Championship. “I would like to think I have had some good results 24
in the past. I just have to put it together for the 12 rounds where the main aim is consistency. If you are consistent you have to be up there somewhere in hunt for the title.
for us,” Holder said. As an indication of just how seriously Holder is treating the 2012 international season, the workshop at his Poole base in England contains eight
“I would like to think I have had some good results in the past. I just have to put it together for the 12 rounds where the main aim is consistency. If you are consistent you have to be up there somewhere in hunt for the title.” “Everything so far is fine. I have had a strong Aussie season where the objective was to win the Aussie title. All the bikes feel good and I am riding OK. I think this year should be pretty good
complete bikes ready to race and two spare engines. The World Speedway GP series breaks new ground in 2012 when New Zealand hosts a round for the first time. The iconic
Western Springs Speedway in Auckland will host the opening round of the Speedway Grand Prix and Holder can hardly wait. “I am looking forward to it and NZ is as close to home as you can get. It should be fantastic. There will certainly be plenty of Aussies making the trip over to New Zealand to watch the event and for me it is a great opportunity to get my World Championship campaign off to a great start,” he enthused. The very fact that New Zealand started this year’s World Speedway Championship trail, meant Holder was forced to criss-cross the northern hemisphere three times in a month! insideSPEED
Chris Holder Holder, who flew out of Sydney late February to appear in the British farewell meeting of fellow Aussie Shane Parker on March 18, while he also was committed to ride for his Poole Pirates Elite League club in a double header against Wolverhampton in the countdown toward the March 31Auckland Speedway GP opener. “I wanted to go back and ride anyway because that’s my job,” Holder explained. “If I didn’t race in Britain I would just go from Aussie to New Zealand,” he added. Despite his demanding schedule, Holder is familiar with the marathon 24-hour flights between Europe and Australasia than Holder. “The jet lag isn’t easy to deal with. You get pretty tired, but you’ve just got to try and stay awake on the flight and be set up for Aussie time when you’re leaving Britain.” Holder says each Grand insideSPEED
Prix offers a new challenge and different tracks present different expectations, but the game plan always remains the same. “If you can score enough points in the heats to qualify to the semi-finals, and if you’re one of the top two placegetters to get into the final from the semis, then anything can happen.” Holder has ridden in the Speedway Grand Prix
2010 to 9.18 last year as an indicator his competitive edge at the international level is getting toward where it needs to be if he is to stake a serious claim for the World Championship crown. Holder already has shown he can cut it with the best in the world following his sensational breakthrough 2010 win in the British Grand Prix at
“The jet lag isn’t easy to deal with. You get pretty tired, but you’ve just got to try and stay awake on the flight and be set up for Aussie time when you’re leaving Britain.” for the past two years and on both occasions was placed eighth in the final championship standings. However, in 2011 he increased his meeting average from 8.73 points in
the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales. It was a night Holder will never forget. “Going into the British GP I did not have expectations of a win and, to be really honest, I never really
fancied my chances. As the meeting unfolded it was not going all that well, though I managed to get enough points to reach the semi-final. From there I found myself in the final for the British Grand Prix and everything just came together perfectly in the final. It was a night I will never forget,”Chris enthused. Last year he won the Swedish Grand Prix at the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. Meanwhile, in addition to his World Championship commitments, Holder faces a very busy season riding league matches in three countries - England, Sweden and Poland. Holder will again lineup for the Poole Pirates Championship winning team in the British Elite League, while he will ride for the Torun Polish club and the Swedish championship winning Motala team after an offseason transfer. Holder will participate in his seventhi season of speedway racing in England after he made his debut in 2006 riding for the lower division Isle of Wight club in the Premier League. Holder lived in Peterborough at the time and travelled to the Isle of Wight for his race commitments which meant a lengthy round trip. After a couple of seasons with the Isle of Wright he then moved into the top division of British League racing when he joined the Poole Pirates. Poole is delighted he made the transition into the top level of team racing because he is one of the success stories in the modern day history of the famous English club. “Poole is the best club to race for in England. They are really good people and great to ride for in the Elite League,” he said. words by DENNIS NEWLYN 25
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VICTOR BRAY
Keeping it in the Family
Victor Bray left high school and went to Gatton Agricultural College for two years, while he worked on the family tomato farm. He started racing at the age of 18, mainly on the street, as there were no organised track meets at that time. As street meets began to be organised at Surfers Paradise International Raceway, he started to frequent them. Surfers Paradise was Victor’s home track until it was shut down due to noise restrictions in 1987/88. Since then, he has made Willowbank Raceway in Queensland his home track. Victor’s first taste of success was at Surfers at the ‘ tin top’ titles in 1983. He competed at Willowbank’s first race as a fill-in for the featured “Wild Bunch” bracket and as a result, he travelled the country over the next several years as a part of “The Wild Bunch” team. Victor’s first car was a Ford Prefect paddock thrasher’ - followed by a series of FJ, FX, FB, and EK, Holdens. There were 52 of 28
these in total which he and his mates used to thrash around the farm. Victor’s first registered road car was an EJ station wagon followed by a Holden Sandman panel van, which he bought after he sold a successful patch of pumpkins as half-shares with his grandfather. Then came the Chevy power, several HK, HT and HG Chevy powered Monaros. At Gatton Agricultural College Victor met a student called “Big Dave” who drove a Plymouth Belvedere. “Big Dave” was Victor’s first contact with USA style cruisers. After Victor left college, a couple of local guys (John and Brad Parker) would always cruise the streets in these big old Chevys and Cussos. They influenced Victor greatly and he remains friends with them today. Victor ended up with a long line of Chevys ranging from a 1955 through to many ‘65 and ‘68s and just about everything in between which he still has today. After the Black 57, Victor decided to build himself a
“race car” with some of his mates in his garage. They went to their local wreckers with a tape measure and a few ideas and purchased a one tonner chassis which they fitted to a 57 Chev body, found at the Toowoomba swap meet a few weeks earlier. With the addition of fibreglass front and the supercharged small block Chevy from the “old faithful”, Victor Bray found himself in his first real “purpose built” race car. After a head-on collision involving Victor, wife Marie and daughter Kelly in 1978, he met guys such as Chic Henry, Wayne Barber and other stalwarts in the Chev scene and he ended up buying his first 1957 Chevy soon after. That car, which Victor still owns, is the first black car he raced and from there Victor embarked on a path that has seen him end up where he is today. Once Victor had felt the benefits of the lighter “purpose built” car, he went one step further and
actually had a car built by a professional chassis builder. Victor had seen some work by a guy in Melbourne which he thought was very impressive so he went about ensuring he soon met this man whose name was Murray Andersen. After much deliberation Victor struck a deal and had his first race car built by a pro. A great relationship between Murray Andersen and Victor Bray was soon established, both at a professional and family level, that has only been enhanced with time. In June 1996, Victor leapfrogged world standards and become the driver of the quickest and fastest Doorslammer on the planet. It was a goal Victor had dreamed of many days on the farm but probably really thought would stay just that:”A DREAM”. Over the next few years this relationship was to spearhead all performance advances in supercharged sedan racing throughout the world. When the next and current Andersen built 57 hit the insideSPEED
In 1999 Victor Bray drove his Castrol GP50 Chev to a new world record speed of 232.13mph (371.4kph) on his way to winning the opening round of the Australian Top Doorslammer Championship at Calder Park Raceway.
track in 1993, Victor’s exploits were being recorded and noticed across the globe as a performance leader for the supercharged Doorslammers. Over the next few years Victor and his team continued to hold the records. Whenever a standard set by Victor and his beloved Chevy was bettered by another team somewhere in the world, Victor allowed them to relish it for only a short while, and to date, has been able to return the records back to the Castrol camp. In 1999 Victor Bray drove his Castrol GP50 Chev to a new world record speed of 232.13mph (371.4kph) on his way to winning the opening round of the Australian Top Doorslammer Championship at Calder Park Raceway in Melbourne. To that point, Bray’s stunning performance was the second time he has regained the record from different challengers. On the first occasion it was fellow Australian Peter Gratz who upped the mark with a 229.24mph at the Konica insideSPEED
Winternationals before Bray reclaimed the mantle with a speed of 229.94 mph just four weeks later. American nitro sedan racer Randy Merrick then moved the record across the Pacific with a 230.7 mph speed. However, just one week later, Victor reclaimed the record and took it back to Australia. “It’s fantastic to get the record back again,” Bray said. “We’re even happier about how the Castrol GP50 Chevy did it. Championship points are the most important thing so we were actually being conservative off the start line to avoid overpowering the track. We still ran 229 in qualifying, 232 in round one, 229 in the semi-final and a 6.25 at 230 in the final.” The face of Top Doorslammer changed rapidly over the next few years with many other teams turning professional. The championship has been swapped around from team to team with many close finishes also seeing
spectacular increases in performances. Through all the financial difficulty the world has seen over the past few years the growth of motor sport in Australia has slowed but the level of competition in Top Doorslammer has gone from strength to strength. With many competitors wanting to race more events and the need for the sport to become more regional than it had been in the past, Victor and several other Doorslammer drivers got together and started the Australian 1/8 mile championship. It is run under a series of events called ‘SLAMFEST” and allows the Doorslammers to perform in front of a whole new group of fans in their own region on tracks that have only been built to cater for 1/8th mile racing. With the current 1/4 mile Doorslammer record being set at 5.82 and 250+mph and the current 1/8th mile record at 4.02 @ 194 there seems to be a big future for Doorslammers here in OZ
and the fire still burns deep in Victor’s veins to again be number 1. A major change in Team Bray for 2011 racing season and beyond is the departure of long time major sponsor Castrol. Team Bray enjoys continued product support from Castrol but their marketing focus has changed and all at Team Bray wish them well. The big news is that SIDCHROME, manufacturer of Australia’s favourite mechanics tool, has become the major sponsor of Team Bray into the future. SIDCHROME has been sponsoring Team Bray for well over 10 years by supplying their great products to the team and from now on whenever you see a Team Bray race car, crew member or transporter you will see the iconic logo of SIDCHROME tools across the years of.... YA CANNA HAND A MAN A GRANDER SPANNER.
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BEN BRAY Son of a Gun!
Ben went on to win the 2004/2005 championship in Top Doorslammer then in 2005/2006 season Ben set his sights on the Top Alcohol Funny car class.
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Ben Bray was bought up on the family tomato farm just north of Brisbane in Queensland. Although it was a typical farming upbringing in his early years having Victor Bray for a father and spending most weekends at drag strips, growing tomatoes was probably an unlikely future for young Benny. As a farm boy all things mechanical and the need to repair them were a part of daily life. Then at the age of 10 Ben wanted to go junior dragster racing and pestered his mum and dad until he did just that. A series of junior dragsters followed and by the age of 12 Ben was handling all the engine building and modifications to his dragsters with an inkling of things to come in that he wanted dad’s advice but wanted to do it all “HIS” way. Some success was seen during these years including Ben’s most memorable win at Canberra Dragway where Ben won the junior dragster nationals against almost 50 of Australia’s best JD teams. The junior dragster program taught Ben about the importance of reaction times and start line procedure and the experience of doing hundreds of passes over those years and being his own crew chief seemed to have set him a good base for his future racing. At the age of 17 junior dragster racers must give up their license and look towards their future without their much loved dragsters. When Ben knew this was coming he had already been his dad’s crew chief on the Doorslammer for a couple of years, handling not only the between round maintenance but had become the main clutch man both in maintenance and calling the shots on setup. Ben “collected” many parts over the last year or so of his junior racing career. As the team updated he claimed the parts telling his dad he needed the spares for “HIS “Doorslammer and had quite a collection of race parts with about half the parts required to put an engine and gearbox combination together. insideSPEED
At about this time the team’s customline Doorslammer was returned to the team after being on loan to Lucky Belleri and Ben automatically claimed the race car as his. Victor thought it was “nice” that Benny had taken an interest in driving a Doorslammer and figured it would probably happen sometime in the next year or so. Just how wrong can one guy be?? Over the next couple of months Ben worked hard on Victor to give up enough parts so he could have his Doorslammer ready for his licensing as soon as he was 17. Victor added to Ben’s collection of parts and gave him the use of the customline and shortly Ben had his own Doorslammer and was ready to go racing. Victor and Marie had reservations about all this happening so fast but there was no stopping young Benny and he got all the support he needed from them. At this stage Victor thought it was nice that Ben had got this far so soon but continually kept reminding him how hard it was going to be just to qualify “so don’t get your hopes up too high.” So Ben goes through the licensing procedure for a group 1 Top Doorslammer and gets it with the quickest licensing pass ever and entered the next event in a DYO class to get some experience. Ben actually made the field in supercharged outlaws and was eliminated in the first round but had a ball in the process. The first major event Ben entered was the Australian Nationals, an event his father had won only once the year before after 16 years of trying. Victor and Marie were still concerned about Ben running a Doorslammer and were tentative about him jumping in at the deep end at such a big event. Victor had qualified for every event he had ever fronted for in his Doorslammer and it just so happened at this particular race Victor broke his streak and didn’t qualify for the first time in his career. However
the family name was still on the qualifying sheets as #8 read Ben Bray for the first time ever. And what a fairy-tale race meet he had, making his way through eliminations and actually winning the Australian Nationals. This success made him the youngest-ever winner of a national championship event anywhere in the world aged 17 years and two months. Over the remainder of the season Ben had limited success but little did the other Doorslammer teams or his dad for that matter realize that Ben’s early success was just a sign of things to come. The following season Ben updated to his dad’s “old” race car and during licensing for the 57 Chevy again ran the quickest licensing pass ever with a 6.17 second ET. Ben also secured Supercheap Autos as his major sponsor and in the 2002/2003 season became the Australian National Top Doorslammer Champion which set a new benchmark as the youngest ever winner of a professional national drag racing championship anywhere in the world. The following season (2004) Ben finished second in the championship after two DNFs with mechanical breakages which didn’t allow him to finish either event. Ben went on to win the 2004/2005 championship in Top Doorslammer then in 2005/2006 season Ben set his sights on the Top Alcohol Funny car class. He again set new precedents in Australian drag racing by winning the National Championship and resetting the TA/FC record to a 5.52 sec @ 259 mph which has only ever been beaten by 1/1000th of a second. In November, 2006 Ben was involved in a serious workplace accident which saw him unable to compete for several months. Castrol, who had been Team Bray’s major sponsor for many years, focused on Ben’s ability for the next several years with limited success due mainly to Ben’s slow recovery from the back injury he received in the accident. Tyre shake, restricted
movement when strapped in a race car and climbing in and out of the funny car became difficult so Ben dropped the funny car and continued to race the Doorslammer. Ben still wasn’t able to slow down and although he wasn’t able to run the funny car, he wanted to compete where ever he could in the sport. Ben has another love and that is his Datsun. Ben needed somewhere to compete that didn’t stress his back getting in and out of the car. He purchased an unfinished Datsun Ute drag car project and added the Ben Bray touch to it with a turbo charged SR20 engine among numerous modifications. MR 1200 as it became known won several events and ended up carding a best of 7.9 seconds @ 178 mph. All Ben wanted from the Datto was a seven second time card so once he had that in hand it allowed him to concentrate on his next Datsun project that was a 1200 coupe with a much more potent ‘ all billet’ SR 20 engine fitted. Ben has had to do most of the research himself and knows he has plenty of track time in front of him before he reaches the goals he has set for this one. Ben also drove for other teams in the PRO FX category with much success. He drove the GAS motor sport Toyota Scion for a season, ending up winning the championship, and followed by other drives for teams at various events. Ben still has the determination to win more national championships and at his age, the opportunities can still present themselves. If Ben’s past history in drag racing is anything to go on, he will grab them with both hands. A major change in Team Bray for 2011 racing season and beyond is the departure of long time major sponsor Castrol and the entry of Sidchrome.. Team Bray enjoys continued product support from Castrol but their marketing focus has changed and all at Team Bray wish them well.
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BACK-TO-BACK RUNS FOR TATNELL IN THE NATIONAL TITLE Twenty one years ago, newly crowned Australian Sprintcar Champion, Brooke Tatnell, first stepped on to the Championship podium in 1991. At Launceston in Tasmania, he chased home two Victorians – Max Dumesny and David Anderson to finish third. It was a special moment for the young 19 year old and furthered his hunger to win the Championship and emulate his father’s taste of victory in the blue ribbon event. It was a Championship result that had the critics tongues wagging because just three seasons in to his sprintcar racing career, he was mixing it with the best in the nation. Brooke Tatnell made it clear: his objective was to win the Australian Sprintcar Championship. Three years later he came close with a second place to fellow NSW driver Garry Brazier. That was in 1994 at Warrnambool in Victoria. The following year, the result was the same – exactly the same – Tatnell again crossed the line in second place to Garry Brazier 32
at Mount Gambier in South Australia. It began an amazing run of back-to-back results in the Championship for Tatnell. Tatnell began to wonder if he was ever going to get to #1 and the following six years only added to the frustrations. He couldn’t make it on to the championship podium at all – no matter how hard he tried. “At one point there victory in the Australian Sprintcar Championship seemed to be getting further away rather than closer. But was determined and knew I would never give up, I really wanted to become the Australian Sprintcar Champion.” Then in 2002, Tatnell was back on the podium – but it wasn’t that coveted #1 spot. He finished third to Max Dumesny and Robbie Farr at Parramatta in NSW. Once again, Tatnell went back-to-back third place in 2003 at Warrnambool in Victoria, this time to fellow NSW opponents Kerry Madsen and Garry Brazier. Then in 2005 the now 33 year old Tatnell finally reached the
top of the Australian Sprintcar Championship podium – the start of three Championship crowns in succession. At Murray Bridge Speedway in South Australia, Tatnell swept to his first Australian Sprintcar Championship defeating Western Australia’s Ryan Farrell and Queensland’s Cameron Gessner. Tatnell’s second Australian title came the following year – 2006 – at Archerfield Speedway in Queensland, this time defeating long-time rival Max Dumesny and home-town hero Cameron Gessner. Then came the ‘three-peat’. In 2007 at Latrobe in Tasmania, Tatnell made it three successive title victories. Again he defeated Max Dumesny with NSW driver Robbie Farr finishing third. Tatnell became just the second driver in the long history of the event to win three successive Australian Sprintcar Championships. Sprintcar legend Garry Rush was the first to do so. In fact, Garry Rush won four successive Championships – 1981 (Brisbane), 1982 (Tralee ACT),
1983 (Newcastle) and 1984 (Rockhampton). Tatnell’s win in this year’s Championship at Speedway City in Adelaide, South Australia continues his remarkable ‘back-to-back’ results. The previous year (2011), Tatnell won his fourth title defeating NSW’s Kerry Madsen and Steve Lines from South Australia. His 2012 win was hard fought, holding back the challenge of Tasmania’s Shaun Dobson and Victoria’s David Murcott. “This was one of the most satisfying wins of my career. The challengers were there and made me really earn the national title.” The 2013 Australian Sprintcar Championship will be held at Archerfield Speedway in Brisbane. The last time the Championship was held at Archerfield was in 2006. It was the middle victory of Tatnell’s three successive Championships. Will Tatnell make it another ‘three-peat’ and continue his remarkable Australian Sprintcar Championship record? words by DENNIS NEWLYN insideSPEED
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2011 Unlimited Supe As he had done 12 months prior, Dean Finch started the new season full of hope for the Farr Faster built twinturbo 475ci powerplant that dominated the opening day of competition for the 2010 season prior to a major failure on day two. A lot of the internals had changed with the data the team had collected over the six months prior to the failure, and Finchy signaled early that he would be the benchmark for the new season. Sadly the much anticipated battle between Finch and dual Group A world champion Slade Stanley for series honours failed to eventuate, after Stanley’s new boat was put into ‘dry dock’ when a number of parts missed the delivery due-by date for him to kick off his new project. “We won’t rush it,” Stanley admitted. “It’s too important a project, so we’ll work on doing things right and testing during the year ahead of the world championships in February 2012.” Sadly for the family 34
owned and run team, part delays meant that even as we went to press the new Scott hull and 472ci twinturbo powerplant were still not together, with serious doubts that they’d be ready in preparation for the world titles. Without Stanley’s inclusion in the series that he ran a close second to dualchampion Daryl Hutton in 2010, that left Hutton as the greatest challenger to Finch, the kiwi looking to ‘threepeat’ with new sponsor Solo. “I’d love to do it for the team, because this is all about team-work,” Hutton admitted pre-season, whilst also expecting that the job to beat Finch would be a big one. “If he can keep that thing in one piece, the only chance we’ve got is consistency and keeping him under pressure, he doesn’t like pressure.” As it wound up, Finchy rarely put a foot wrong, and when he did, he was saved by the championship rules which allow you to ‘drop’ your worst round. Initially it
looked as if he wouldn’t need to rely on a ‘fall-back’ but a late call to swap navigators at Cabarita during round three, earned him the wrath of officials post-race for not following the correct guidelines, Dean and son Tyler, disqualified from the round. “Unfortunately during one of the final qualifiers Demi [navigator and daughter] hurt her neck when we hit the spinout pool - we were doing about 115kmh as we came in and she hurt herself. We took it easy for the next session, but it was too much, so I swapped navis with Tyler [Finch]. I told the ramp marshall, but in all the running around and prepping for my run after Tyler’s, what I should have done was tell the Superboat driver rep, but I didn’t, so in the end we were disqualified. “I’m okay with the decision, although disappointed.” In the end, after what was a crazy weekend for the V8 Superboat regulars, Daryl Hutton took the win, but not in his own boat, it
had spectacularly died on the ramp during pre-race warmup, and the only option he had was to jump in Tremayne Jukes’ 400 Class ‘Stealth’ which was ultimately the best decision. “12 months ago the team did a number on me and turned the wick down on the Team Solo boat and wound back the power, and that was the right move. Today it was much the same, it wasn’t about horsepower, it was about consistency and maturity, you had to drive this rotation smart. Thanks heaps to TJ too for letting me jump in alongside him, that has really saved the day and kept our championship alive.” Whilst Hutton won the round, it was returnee Phil Dixon who won the final, the multiple Australian champion back from a season sabbatical, and quickly back into the rhythm, in the end, his final two laps were more than two seconds faster than the field, giving him a comfortable win over a struggling field. “I was probably insideSPEED
erboat Season Review sand-bagging a bit,” he joked afterwards. “I was having dramas with the navigation early so in one of the qualifiers I decided to run around at about 75% and ensure I had the direction right. I didn’t want to play my cards too early either and let everyone know what we had, but I was pretty confident we’d pull this one off because we had the boat to do it today.” The result helped Dixon keep in the chase for a series podium by seasons end, but round four almost put paid to that chance when the Auspro Racing machine suffered terminal engine failure, the ‘little’ 500ci injected alloy powerplant expiring in the first final, allowing ‘arch rival’ Greg ‘Crusty’ Mercier to edge into contention. Crusty started the year much the way he’d ended his maiden season in the Unlimited class - frustrated. Ongoing fuel problems continued early, but by seasons end he was on fire, and fortunately this time, not literally! insideSPEED
A solid close to the season, which included strong points at the difficult third round where at one point he was considered an outright contender before a rollover in the finals, meant that he came into the season final in a battle over position with Dixon. To make life more interesting, and as a result of Dixon’s mechanical woes from the penultimate round, Crusty offered Dixon the ‘B’ drive in the ACOL Skylights machine and the pair went head-to-head all weekend, although Dixon struggled with seat positioning as a result of Mercier’s taller frame. In the end the pair both made the final, with Crusty ultimately grabbing second behind Finch, and Dixon third, the two Victorians finishing third and fourth in the championship. “How’s that hey, two old blokes end up on the podium displacing ‘the Fonz’ and Nutsy [Hutton].. Look we were charging pretty hard all weekend and had done some serious work on the
boat after Caba, so I’m not too surprised, and I’m happy that we could bring Phil [Dixon] through as well.” Fifth in the championship was 2008 Group A champion Phonsy Mullan [RAM-JET] the Melton local turning to twin-turbo power for the 2011 season, and whilst he struggled at the start of the season, he was closing in on the pace of the leaders by the tail end of the season, taking victory in an AFJSA Cup round at his home track, after some additional help from Sprintec boats manufacturer [and six-time world champion] Peter Caughey. “Yeah, we’re getting there,” the former Development Series V8 Supercar driver admitted. “We’ve gone down a different path this year, moving away from the Procharger, so the delivery of power is a lot nicer, but we’re still trying to dial in the jet unit and the hull.” Mullan spent much of the second part of the year working on the development of a second brand new package
which he will send to New Zealand ahead of the world championships next February, with rumours that he’ll have two complete Unlimited packages at his disposal in 2012 to tackle the might of new champion Dean Finch. Of the teams to take another step forward in season 2011, probably the most consistent team was WA’s ‘Skywest Racing’ pairing of mother and son, Cheryl and Jamie Welch. With a similar package to that campaigned by Mercier and Dixon, the West Australians ran strongly all season, with Jamie unlucky not to have made the final three after a tough run at Cabarita second time out. Mum Cheryl too found some serious pace and was consistently just off the tail of the top six, and quite often within it. They too have been developing a package that will keep them in the hunt, and could expect to be podium challengers during 2012.
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KIWIS WIN WORLD SERIES JET SPRINT TITLES Wanganui’s Leighton and Kellie Minnell set second fastest time in the Superboat category, scoring enough points for their title while Taupo’s Reg and Julie Smith won their International Group A class in similar fashion victory. Against a number of Australian, one Canadian and 18 other Kiwi teams’ the pair will be crowned this evening at a Gala dinner in Wanganui. Second in the Superboat category was a tie between Lower Hutt’s Ray Ferguson and Australia’s Phonsy Mullan. Group A runner-up was V8Supercar driver Nathan Pretty, with Hamilton’s Sam Newdick third, finishing outside the top-three run-off for the day. Starting today’s final of two rounds, Minnell and Smith led their respective classes by a solitary point. Needing to finish ahead of their opposition, it was instead 2009 Superboat champion Peter Caughey and Group A campaigner Burt as outsiders who bettered times set by the new champions. “She was a hard day at the office! The racing today was always going to be tough and there were battles on everywhere. Battles between the hydraulic hose brands, battles for the world title and battles against the ex, Caughey,” said Minnell of the Hydraulink team against Caughey’s ENZED backing. “There was a lot of pressure and now we’ve got our name on a cup alongside some legendary sports people – it’s onward and upwards from here. “I was so focused on the racing it took a while to sink in we’d won to be honest. It wasn’t until I’d gotten out of the boat and the TV cameras arrived along with well-wishers, the emotion kicked in. “I was just so glad to have my wife beside me all day to keep me calm really and keep my head in the right place – so it’s as much hers.” Sharing similar feelings, Reg and Julie Smith have used the win to conclude their career at World Series level. Smith has contested every event since the title’s inception in 1997. “It’s an awesome awesome feeling; I can’t really explain it really. We were sitting on the launch ramp waiting to see what time Nathan Pretty set and when we heard we were faster it was an ecstatic moment. “When we got in to the top-three run-off we knew we had a bite at the title. If we came third and Nathan first it would have gone down to a run-off between us to clear the tie position. So when we heard the time the whole team just erupted that not only we didn’t need to run-off but that we’d won – it was a fantastic feeling to go out on. “Also that Leighton and Kellie Minnell took the title in the Superboat was a double-whammy for the Kiwis’. We’ve taken the whole World Series – that’s awesome!” Spectators at the Shelter View jet sprint track, north of the river city were treated to more than just on-track action. Wanganui local Peter Huijs left the water at high speed to bring his day to an early end. Additionally New Zealand Lites category competitors also challenged for a subsidiary title. Piopio’s Brent Thompson set fastest time in the final for the round trophy. 36
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WORLD’S No.2 JOINS AUTO ONE Melton’s Phonsy Mullan is one of the most versatile racers in Australia, and one of the busiest.. Fresh from being crowned the Unlimited Superboat World #2 at the internationally [UIM] sanctioned World Championships in New Zealand just two weeks ago, the former circuit racer (Commodore Cup and Development Series) and aftermarket engine tuner is set to make his Auto One V8 Ute Racing Series debut at Clipsal this weekend. “I bought a licence last year as a way to promote our ever increasing range of products,” Mullan confirmed, “but I got so busy with the world championship assault that I toyed with the idea of leasing the car out for this year to focus on the boat and the business [GM Motorsport]. There were a couple of guys interested but they couldn’t make a decision, and my wife said ‘why don’t you run it and go and have some fun’.. so here I am!” For Mullan, his return to circuit racing comes after a ten year sabbatical, the boy from Melbourne’s West having focused on business and V8 Superboat racing in the ensuing years, which culminated in the International Group A Australian title in 2008, and being crowned world #2 recently in his twin-turbo, 1350bhp LS7 powered ‘RAM-JET’ “The Ute will certainly be different to the raw horsepower and acceleration of the Unlimited Superboat, but whilst I’ve been out of the ‘game’ for a while, I’ve been doing plenty of work with Holden products over the last 15 years, so I think we’ll find our way around the Ute okay.” In fact Mullan’s GM Motorsport business is one of the biggest Holden/Chevrolet aftermarket tuning houses in Australia, but aside from engine and chassis tuning, he has also developed products that the V8 Ute Series use in their racecars, with each V8 Ute fitted with the company’s ‘Rip-Shift – Australia’s fastest shifter..’ His supply of product isn’t the only synergy between Mullan and the Ute series, one of his greatest arch-rivals in a boat, is none other than Monster supported V8 Ute pilot, Nathan Pretty. “Yeah Nathan and I have had a rivalry over the years, in both the Australian, and the World Championships. He’s been a great ambassador for the Utes and helpful with getting us fast-tracked for Clipsal, but when we get to the circuit, I think the rivalry will probably emerge again..” The RIP-SHIFT/RAM-JET/360˚Bolt.com supported VE Commdore - last campaigned by West Australian Jake McNally - only arrived in Mullan’s workshop a week prior to being shipped off to Adelaide for the opening round, so Phonsy admitted that he might have some work to do before he’s fighting for outright honours.. “We’ll be competitive - perhaps not at Clipsal because there’s so much for us to sort out with getting the Ute right - but by season’s end I’d expect we’ll be mixing it inside the top ten. “We looked at a variety of options with having different teams run the Ute for us, but given we modify these things at GM Motorsport daily, we decided to use our own guys and run it ourselves. We’re not under any illusions, it will take us a few rounds to get up to speed and learn how they work, but at least we’re starting with a good working knowledge of the product!” Phonsy Mullan is proudly supported by GM Motorsport, RAM-JET, Rip-Shift and 360˚ Bolt (www.360bolt.com). insideSPEED
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1 Imagine you are driving a car on a rough road and another person is controlling the accelerator for you without brakes - you would have to trust that person with your life? That is what the drivers and throttlemen who race in the Offshore Superboat Championships are doing every time they get in the boat together. The driver has the steering wheel and guides the boat around the course and the throttleman has control of the speed of the boat and the attitude 38
through trim controls. Together they form a partnership. The offshore Superboat
throughout the country. The 2012 season series will begin at Newcastle, New South Wales on April 21/ 22
The series has four class categories for competitors to compete. These classes are made up of Class 1, Supercat 1000HP, Supercat 600HP and Supercat 400HP. Championship is a national title for Australian Offshore which is held over a minimum of six rounds at some spectacular locations
and will travel as far north up the east coast of Australia to Townsville, Queensland. This season will bring some new locations including
Hervey Bay and returning to an old favourite for a lot of the competitors and their teams, namely Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. The series has four class categories for competitors to compete. These classes are made up of Class 1, Supercat 1000HP, Supercat 600HP and Supercat 400HP. Class 1 cater for craft from 40 - 46 feet in length, with twin V8 or Lamborghini V12 inboards which can push the boats at speeds in excess of 150 mph (240kph) insideSPEED
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Off Shore Superboat Racing Represents Team Work Supercat 1000HP are craft from 32 – 38 feet in length, with twin 525 HP V8 engines which can accelerate the boats up to 135MPH (215kph) Supercat 600HP are from 26 – 32 feet in length with twin 300HP outboard engines and these boats can reach speeds around 110 MPH(185kph) The Supercat 400HP which average 26 feet in length with a top speed of 95 MPH (155kph); these boats are fitted with twin 200HP outboard engines. insideSPEED
All of the boats racing in the current championship are all catamaran-style craft. For safety requirements all
five point race harnesses to restrain the throttleman and driver into their carbon fibre seats.
A typical race programme for these events starts on Saturday morning when the boats are on display for the public to come and talk to the teams and look at these amazing craft out of the water. race boats must have a fully enclosed race canopy to protect the racing crew. The boats are also fitted with an onboard air system and
The modern day race course provides a great spectacle for the viewing public with shorter and closer to shore racing than
the once traditional offshore racing. There was a time when it was not unusual for the boats to leave the dock and not be seen for hours. A typical race programme for these events starts on Saturday morning when the boats are on display for the public to come and talk to the teams and look at these amazing craft out of the water. Saturday afternoon the Pole Position Shootout is run on the water to get Pole Position for each class for the race on Sunday. The Continued to page 36 39
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THE 2012 SEASON Round 1 Newcastle, 21st - 22nd April
Round 2 Mackay, 23rd - 24th June
Round 3 Townsville, 30th June - 1st July
Round 4 Mooloolaba, 11th - 12th August
Round 5 Redcliffe, 15th - 16th September
Round 6 Hervey Bay, 22nd - 23rd September 40
teams need to do a minimum of three laps and the fastest lap for each class gets Pole Position. Sunday and race day provides the option at some events to hold two races on the same day, giving spectators twice the excitement. The Supercat 1000hp class has grown over the last few seasons as a strong and competitive class, with all boats running with twin Mercury racing 525 HP engines – stock standard from Mercury. These engines have proven to be very reliable which has helped keep costs down in the class. Last season featured a new boat for “Team 3” - a 36 foot Mike Peters Design Catamaran from the Victory
Team in Dubai. The team had some teething problems during the 2011 season but are hoping to be on top of their game this season. They will have tough competition from other competitors in the class which include The Good Guys from Mackay, Australian Vehicle Wholesaler (Redcliffe), Global Racing (Gold Coast), Mainlube Express from the Maritimo stable also from the Gold Coast and Mazlin Electrical (Townsville). Spectators witnessed tight competition in the Supercat 600HP class last year with teams including BBC Digital, from the Sunshine Coast which took out the series win for 2011. Saracen from Melbourne, SUV Dodge Ram/ Blade Custom Boats (Gold Coast) and Kwozzy Racing also from the Gold Coast. This class insideSPEED
5 will be joined by a new team from Sydney – headed by Con Saloumidis. Team Profile for SUV DODGE RAM sponsored by Salstrip Ultimate Vehicles. The boat is a SUV BLADE 35 FT - with twin 300hp Evinrude and the construction is carbon fibre / kevlar The team is still being finalised by Con who will be heavily involved as the throttleman. The new SUV DODGE RAM vessel was built from an original class-winning Blade Boats design, with a complete structural engineering redesign of all of the bulk heads and stringers. A brand new carbon fibre / kevlar hull lamination design schedule was undertaken to make the vessel lighter, stronger and stiffer. This redesign included an insideSPEED
integrated carbon fibre roll cage for the crew compartment as well as a redesigned front deflector and integrated carbon fibre backbone to ensure the ultimate in crew safety. The entire hull, deck and bulkheads were all infused to ensure the optimum resin to
engine instrumentation and navigation information at the touch of the screen. The 12 .7mm Lexan windscreens are currently being moulded from a specially designed and built steel moulding tool to ensure absolute clarity and premium strength.
The new SUV DODGE RAM vessel was built from an original class-winning Blade Boats design, with a complete structural engineering redesign of all of the bulk heads and stringers. fibre mixture and eliminate the entrapment of air in the laminate The cockpit will have no gauges, only two of the latest Touchscreen GARMIN 12 inch displays which will show all
Supercat 400hp which has proven to be very competitive with FGI, Hogs Breath Racing and It’s About Time from the Gold Coast, Shaken not stirred from Central Coast and Number 8
Racing from Canberra. Joining the class this season will be well known racer Gryff Ethell and his son Michael in a 26ft Shifty Cat. At this writing, there are currently two boats for sale for the Supercat 400hp class. This is a great class to start and one of the cheapest classes to run while racing at 95mph in the ocean.
words by PAUL FOWLDS Photos: 1. Williamstown, 2011, Mustang (Class 1). 2. Townsville, 2011, Race Start. 3. Mackay, 2011, SUV Dodge Ram (600hp) 4. Mackay, 2011, FGI (400hp) battles BBC Digital (600hp) 5. Mackay 2011, The Good Guys (1000hp) 41
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BLOWN LITES - Boat
Circuit boat racing has been around for more than 100 years and today it is at the sam that is, finding new directions and building a future … the newest class on the scene the Blown Lites are a new class in circuit boat racing that was developed and formed three years ago by some of the sports leaders including the late Brian McCosker, Rob and Garry Newall, Norm McMillan and many others. Chris Stone has played a huge part in the formation of the class, giving direction as well as heading the development committee, and is now the series promoter. “These pocket rocket boats needed to have similar engine specifications, they 42
needed to have similar speeds, excellent reliability, extended promotional value and a media advantage over the other classes ... they needed to look the part and sound the part”, Chris Stone explains.
THE NEW SERIES BEGINS It is with pleasure to announce a partnership between (Chris Stone) Blown Lite Superboats, (George Gambino) Hi-
Tec Oils and (Greg Sita) AVE Productions who will conduct an Australian series for Blown Lites Superboats. To be known as the ‘Hi-Tec Oils Blown Lite Superboat Allstars’, the championship series will showcase a fantastic visual hi-speed sport on water. “My aim is to put on a show, ‘the greatest show on water’ and with the help from series sponsor Hi-Tec Oils and AVE Production, I’m sure our message will get out to motor sports people alike,” Stone said.
Television; both free to air and Pay-TV, Multi-media, magazine (Inside Speed magazine) are all part of getting the message out to the public. Bringing new sponsors and cross promoting of other niche motorsport events will all make for a new positive direction for circuit racing. “It’s lifting the bar and making the sport more accessible to spectators, that is our aim,” Stone added. The series will boast teams from throughout Australia including Chris Edmunds insideSPEED
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Racing with Attitude!
me stage the V8 Supercars were at ten to fifteen years ago, e Blown Lites may just be the answer. in his newly refitted and repainted ‘Toxic Motorsports’, 2010 Series winner Rod MacKay in his “Bad Intent” boat, Brent Lewis in the immaculately presented “Decision”, the hard charging ‘The Assassin’ and Darryl Quinn in his “Bad Influence” boat. Other teams that have also announced their inclusion in the series include number one in the world, UIM Unlimited Displacement Champion Troy Marland, plus young gun Matty Stone insideSPEED
in his Mopar powered “SuckerPunch”, and Superman himself Dean Glesson in “Bite Me”. Other new teams to the Hi-Tec Oils series include Mark Cauci in the very impressive “Immortal” boat and from the unlimited class, top finishers Alfie Ebborn in “Airborne” and nice guy Tim May in “The Boss”. With more teams still to announce their inclusion into the class, it is already looking to be one ‘hell of a series’ for the inaugural championship.
WHAT ARE BLOWN SUPERBOATS ALL ABOUT? Blown Lite Superboats represent a name given to a class of high powered circuit boats, around 18 to 19 feet in length. The engine is a V8 steel block with aluminium heads with capacity no more than 380 cubic inches. The class is open to any engine manufacturer. Forced induction will be by a 671 Supercharger (no-sealed
blower) and will run on methanol fuel. The air supply is through a ‘Bug’ style hat and ignition system is open. These engines are developing 1100+ horsepower and they sound like a drag car. The driver is seated in a capsule (cell) and is strapped in with a five point harness and is on a constant supply of oxygen in case of an accident. Between five to eight boats participate in a race ... and with speeds more than 210kph, they are an exciting spectacle on water. Continued to page 40 43
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RACE LINE-UP
The race line-up will include five major race meetings held throughout Australia. The locations include an event in Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and two locations in New South Wales. Each event will run over two days with a three day event in Sydney (Windsor). The schedule is as follows: Round one: Windsor Spectacular (September 2012) Windsor, New South Wales Round two: Bundy Thunder (November 2012) Bundaberg, Queensland Round three: Melton Gold Cup (February 2013) Melton, Victoria Round four: Easter Powerboat Classic (April 2013) Taree, New South Wales Round five: Berri Powerboat Classic (June 2013) Berri, South Australia 44
RACE STRUCTURE
At each event the Hi-Tec Oils Blown Lites will have two races on the Saturday and two races on the Sunday. Only these races will gain points towards the Championship (see race points score below) except for a One-up Shoot-out that may be held at certain locations. Points will be added and the boat with the most points will be declared the round winner. Over the five rounds, points will be tallied and at the final round (Berri) all boats will drop either four races (worst results) from the series or one meeting (four races – if they cannot attend) and points will then be totalled. The winning boat will be crowned the Australian Hi-Tec Oils Blown Lite Superboat Allstars Champion as the recipient of prizes and incentives.
RACE POINTSCORE First place Second place Third place Forth place Fifth place Sixth place Seventh place Eighth place Ninth place Tenth place
100 points 96 points 93 points 90 points 87 points 84 points 81 points 78 points 75 points 72 points insideSPEED
9 Further incentives will be offered such as a final at each of the events where the fastest timed boats will race the Dash-for-Cash (Blown Lite Final) on the Sunday. In addition, other prizes and trophies will be awarded to ‘Best Presented Team’ throughout the year and ‘Driver of the Series’.
FURTHER INFORMATION
a) Failure to finish a race: If you fail to finish a race, but you do start the race, 30 points will be added to your points tally. If you do not start a race, no points will be added to your tally. b) Red flag a race: If you are the cause of a red flag or are the cause of a race to be cancelled, you will not receive any points c) Engine change: If you insideSPEED
have a mechanical problem and you decide to change an engine, 50 points will be deducted from your tally. What constitutes an engine change is when the block leaves the boat. d) Poles positions: Pole Positions will be determined after driver briefing where each driver will draw a sealed envelope which will determine his pole position and heat they will contest. e) The One-up Shoot-out: At some events, if time permits, a one-up shoot-out will be run for the Blown Lites. This will be a timed one-lap dash that will determine pole position (no interference from any other boat). This will also add championship points to your tally. f) Dash-for-Cash: This will BE a final for Blown Lite
boats only and will be held after all championship races are run. The race will be made up from qualifying times taken from each of the championship races and the fastest boats will race the Dash-for-Cash. Trophies will be supplied by the host club and prize money will come from the series promoter. The amount will vary from event to event. As you can see, a lot of work has gone into the formation of this new and exciting series. We (Inside Speed magazine) will keep you up-to-date in future editions with new developments, some driver profiles and, of course, race reports. For further information on this exciting series please contact Chris Stone Email: stonie@pnc.com.au
Photos: 1. Rod MacKay has got his Bad Intent boat full noise. Photo by Ranga Snaps 2. Great graphics from team Toxic … the professor hard at work. Photo by TMB 3. World Unlimited Displacement Champion Troy Marland being interview by Ricky Howard and with crew chief Norm McMillan on hand. 4. Alfie Ebborn with the unlimited engine in the Airborne boat. He is in the process of rebuilding the Lite engine for the series. 5. Tim May … he’s ‘The Boss’ in his crew. 6. Brent Lewis in his Decision boat setting up for the corner. 7. Superman in action … the Bite Me boat will be a front runner in the series. 8. Immortal sitting light on the water. Photo by All The Torque Photography 9. Hi-flying Brent Lewis in action. 45
“I don’t consider myself to be the best, but when there’s someone I’ve got to chase then, well, it keeps you on your toes and you don’t lay dormant. That’s why I’m still going and was able to have the success I did this year.”
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FX Superbike/ FX 600 KEVIN CURTAIN AT 42, KEVIN CURTAIN can be classified as sitting on the upper age limit of those still competitively racing motorcycles anywhere in the world. After all, Mick Doohan retired from full-time riding at 36 and Wayne Gardner was off the bike and in a V8 Supercar by the ripe old age of 33. The physicality of top-level Motorcycle racing and near-to middle aged blokes (they will hate me for writing that) just doesn’t work as well as it does in cars. Except that someone must have forgotten to tell that to this multiple Australian champion from Fishing Point in New South Wales, who continues to rack up championships like a rider 20 years his junior. And if you take the past year as a guide, he’s not likely to stop soon. Curtain achieved a rare feat in season 2011, sealing both the YMF Loan Australian FX Superbike and FX 600 titles in
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the same calendar year and raced with such dominance that he had the series’ concluded before they even got to the final round. When I rang Curtain for this story soon after his title success the former twice No 2 in the World championship Supersport racer was in a chatty mood – clearly in a relaxed atmosphere and with the sound of kids playing in the background. Curtain carries all the relaxed yet focussed nature that most champions do – and yet began by talking about the uncertainty around his career. A strange way, then, to start an interview given this was a bloke who was still basking in the success of two championships, on different bikes and against different opposition, in the same year. But given the story, not totally inappropriate. “I have said to a few people this year,” he admits, “that others around were Continued to page 44
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commenting that perhaps I was past my used-by date and shouldn’t be in the series any more. My comment back to them was that ‘If I wasn’t here, who would the younger guys chase?’ They wouldn’t have anyone to benchmark themselves on and wouldn’t get any better.” An ‘I told you so’ grin can almost be heard from the other side of the phone line. “I don’t consider myself to be the best, but when there’s someone I’ve got to chase then, well, it keeps you on
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your toes and you don’t lay dormant. That’s why I’m still going and was able to have the success I did this year.” Certainly, Curtain’s season had all the hallmarks of someone right at the very peak of his powers, forming his championship challenge in almost textbook style; start strong, consolidate in the middle and then not have to worry when the rivals have caught up by the end of the year. “I guess the year started better than I thought and it got progressively more difficult from there
throughout the year,” he confirms. “These young guys learn a bit too fast sometimes and they just got better, and with the likes of the new BMW coming through as the season went on it gave us all a big shake up. I guess that makes me a bit more aggressive and makes me want to beat them even more.” “Take my team mate, Ricky Olson,” Curtain adds. “He learns WAY too fast! He’s always got me in his sights and is trying to beat me and it’s a credit to him that he
did at the end of the year. It’s great to have a competitive team mate, for sure. “The Cullen boys have also been really good, especially at Wakefield Park. They had it over us there but when we went to Eastern Creek I really didn’t see them, which was a good thing!” So the competition box gets a big check mark next to it but there was also a high degree of difficulty – the demanding pastime of challenging for two different titles in the same year. With Yamaha’s legendary R1 beneath him in the FX-Superbikes, the R6
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would be his ride en route to his FX600 title. A challenge? Yes. But when you’re Kevin Curtain and have his level of experience on which to draw on the process becomes a little easier. “It is relatively easy to jump between the two, though saying that it normally takes me one or two laps to get accustomed to one or the other; for instance, you change gears in different places on the two bikes,” he explains. “When I get off one and onto the other it becomes
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automatic and falls into place but its one or two laps before its perfect. “The R1 has just got bulk horsepower; it’s just got that much horsepower you can’t really use all of it in most places. For instance, at the main straight at Eastern Creek you’re looking at 285-290km/hr on the R1 while on the R6 you’re still getting to about 265km/hr or thereabouts.” So not hanging around then, in either case. And whilst the FX-Superbike retains the power, the lighter (by 40kg), more nimble and
less powerful FX600 bike retains some advantages. “The R6 is a lot easier to ride. You can throw it around a lot more and the R6 never really does much wrong – though it can still turn around and bite you at the end of the day. They don’t have as much horsepower and you can’t spin the wheels as much as you can on the R1. “The R1 is at the point where if you wanted to have a bit of fun you could smoke the rear tyre off the rim if you really wanted!” Our chat exposed just
how far away that one K. Curtain is from pulling the drapes across on his successful career.. And yet, the question must be asked to close our chat. So, where does it all end? “I really don’t know. I always say before the beginning of the next season ‘I reckon next year will be the last year I race,’” Curtain pauses, briefly. “But, you know, I’ve been saying that for 10 years now. I just can’t think of anything else to say!”
words by RICHARD CRAILL
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FX125GP Open NICKY DILES Teenager Nicky Diles, who rides in the Puma RVs ProOpen class, always dreamed of racing cars and bikes never really figured in his motor sport aspirations. Formula One was his focus where he hoped to set the target for his future career but the call of two wheel competition ultimately won out and today the 19 year-old speedster stands proud as the Australian FX-Superbike Championship FX125GP Pro class national champion. “Nothing really attracted me in the past to motorcycle racing,” Nicky explained. “I have always been a car person, I always dreamed of racing in Formula One but when I got a taste of motorcycling in “Pocket” bikes I was then hooked,” he added. His parents, who own and operate Viperformance – LHD to RHD car conversion company – import the 49cc two-stroke air cooled “Pocket” bikes. That’s where Nicky’s own conversion from four wheels to two wheels started. Right from the time he gripped a set of handlebars he had instilled inside him an extreme competitive nature. “I Started riding pocket bikes from the age of 12 and my goal 50
was never to finish last. “When I commenced riding them I got more competitive, I trained harder and lost a lot of weight. At the age of 12 I went from 67kgs to 44kgs. “I raced for two years – the first year was more just a learning year and having a bit of fun – and then I got fit and took it more seriously. I raced at Warrnambool, Port Melbourne and South Morang in Victoria.” (Nicky and his family formerly resided in Victoria). After he completed his learning curve in the “Pocket” bikes, the next progression was into the 80cc Metrakit category. “The year after the Australian Mid-Bike Championship, I started racing Australian Metrakit Championship at age 14. Metrakits are another motorcycle my parents import and still are. My parents run the Metrakit Road Racing Championship throughout Australia and I raced in the 80cc category, which in 2007 I was Victorian Junior Road Racing Champion.” His progress in this category was notable and he started making a name for himself at national level, especially when he finished third in the 2007 Australian Metrakit
Championship and in 2008 was placed second in the title. At 16 Nicky was now right into the motorcycle racing scene and was looking for more challenges. That challenge came in the form of the Aprilia RSW 125 GP and the 125GP category. He honed his skills in Ride Days. He spent half a year participating in Ride Days where the entire purpose of the exercise was to become more familiar with the bike – always with an eye to the future. “I entered one race in the Australian Superbike Championship 125 cc category,” Nicky said. He was more than impressive – especially after he finished third overall from 31 entries at Sydney’s Eastern Creek circuit. His performance was eye-catching and it caught the attention of people in the right places. “That was enough to show some interest from Motorcycling Australia who granted me a wild card ride for the MotoGP at Phillip Island 125cc category in 2009,” he enthused. Aged 17, he did one round in 2009 of theFX125GP Pro-Open riding an RSW 125 Aprilia.
“I won that round at Eastern Creek. I felt pretty good about that because you’re expectations initially are not to exactly win the first round you enter and it came as more of a surprise than anything else. At the ride days I felt comfortable with the bike, but I still didn’t expect to win,” Nicky admitted. In 2010 he figured in an exciting battle for championship honours in the FX-Nationals in the FX125GP Pro category with five time Australian Champ Peter Galvin. “They have two different rounds on a Saturday and Sunday respectively. In Saturday’s Championship I took out the Championship. In Sunday’s Championship I finished second overall for the season.” That effort beckoned for an even more successful 2011 . . . and it became reality after he took national title honours in the FX125GP Pro class. For 19 year-old Nicky Diles the world is his oyster and one day he would like to race on the world motorcycle stage. He might just get there and on a weekend off even get a chance to watch a Formula One event. words by DENNIS NEWLYN insideSPEED
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