Auto Action #1784

EXCLUSIVE

ANTON ON HIS FUTURE

SINCE 1971 SINCE 1971

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REAL VS VIRTURDAICLT: THE VE

D L R O W W E N E V A BR ACING - BUT NOT AS WE KNOW IT IT’S R

MR MOTOR RACING TRIBUTE TO STIRLING MOSS

Issue #1784 Apr 23 to May 6 2020 $8.95 INC GST

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KINGS OF THE MOUNTAIN GROUP C COMMODORES

PLUS

AGP AFTERMATH

Melbourne F1 boss breaks silence

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Supercars ESeries to live on after pandemic

By BRUCE NEWTON SIMULATED RACING involving Supercars’ star drivers is set to become permanent feature of the category after being introduced as a stop-gap during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Featuring all 25 regular Supercars drivers and invited wildcards racing from home, the first two rounds of the BP Allstars Eseries have attracted subscription strong television ratings and internet streaming numbers.

Supercars has also been encouraged by the new and diverse audiences being attracted to Supercars sim-racing.

One of a flurry of sim racing series established by national and international championships because of the coronavirus, the iRacing-based Eseries is scheduled to run over 10 rounds and wrap up in early June around the time real-world Supercars racing is provisionally scheduled to resume.

But Supercars CEO Sean Seamer made it clear the concept had already achieved enough to justify re-emerging post-pandemic. It would be an addition to the GFinity Esports Series for pro digital racers that Supercars has run for the last two years. “Our intention is to keep Gfinity and to find a home for this format going forward so we can maximise ratings when we are not racing,�

Seamer said. “I think it’s something that will form part of our mix going forward in addition to the Prosumer (GFinity) racing we already had planned for the back half of this year. “Looking at the numbers that it’s doing, the engagement that it’s driving, the new audience that its pulling in; because the numbers that it’s driving are one thing but the demographics are another ‌ It’s great for us.â€?

Seamer avoided delving into the specifics of what we may see when the world returns to normal and a virtual series has to find its place alongside the real-world Supercars championship and the GFinity series.

SIMS SET TO EXPAND

“For us, the primary focus is making sure the next eight rounds we have got in front of us are executed brilliantly and we continue to improve week on week,â€? he said. “If we do that and we get it to a point where we are really happy with it ‌ we continue to engage different sponsors, different audiences, different talent from around the world from different series, we can continue to keep it fresh and interesting, and it continues to deliver well for our partners, then absolutely it’s something we will continue to look at.â€?

In terms of viewing numbers the Eseries made a promising start with the opening round at Phillip Island and Monza drawing an average 69,000 viewers on the Fox 506 subscription TV service between 7pm and 9pm on a Wednesday night.

Formula One star Max Verstappen’s wildcard appearance in round two at Silverstone and Barcelona pushed that up to 74,000.

Peak audience grew from 103,000 to 104,000 while total reach slipped from 158,000 to 156,000. An average 53,000 people also watched the hour-long qualifying televised exclusively on Fox that immediately preceded the racing.

Those sorts of viewer numbers are comparable to Friday Fox-only Supercars ratings. For instance, the New Zealand 2019 ratings on 506 were 57,500 average and 88,000 peak while Sandown was 81,667 average and 145,000 peak.

The Eseries broadcasts were the only two sports shows in the subscription top 20 with the race broadcast at number five overall for the second week in a row.

Verstappen’s startling triple-podium appearance in round two really paid off in terms of streaming numbers, which received a solid international boost. Three second unique viewers – a measuring standard for streaming – topped out at 451,574 across the Supercars Facebook and teams’ streams. That’s a climb of 51 per cent compared to the opening round.

Figures supplied by Supercars showed more than 140,000 Australians watched the stream and more than 30,000 New Zealanders. There

were 17,100 viewers in the United Kingdom, 13,389 in the USA and a surprising 13,114 in India. Verstappen was watched by 3647 fellow Dutchmen.

Seamer said the Eseries complemented a Supercars strategy to keep the category relevant to fans when the real-world championship is not in action. The Erebus Motorsport reality TV show Inside Line is another part of this strategy, as is the GFinity series. “The Eseries really helps,� he said. “You’ve got the drivers sitting at home, Nick Percat’s dog is sitting behind him. Getting their helmets off and trying to bring their personalities out is something we will always try and do.�

The Eseries has also allowed Supercars to experiment with various different race formats that might be considered for inclusion in championship racing when it resumes. “Everything is on the table,� said Seamer. “The big question is when we go racing again and also how we go racing. “Being able to test different things such as pits stops versus no pit stops, what that does to the racing, is all stuff we are looking at and considering and it is a really good environment to test different things. “I think it would be premature to suggest that anything we have seen in two weeks in the Eseries would be readily applicable to the real world. But we never say never and we will see where we are at and once we are a few rounds in.

And reverse grids? “Don’t ask me about reverse grids,� Seamer said. “I think people are finding them entertaining with the Eseries, I am just waiting for someone to suggest it for the main game again. It’s perhaps one of the most polarising debates in motorsport so I’ll leave that for the commission.

Turn to page 12 for our dive into the BP All Stars Eseries; how it was created, what it’s like to drive in, what equipment is being used and what engineers from real-world Supercars do in the virtual world.

ARG’s virtually keen ALTHOUGH IT’S had some technical glitches over the first three rounds of its carsales ARG eSport cup, the Australian Racing Group has also become a believer in the potential of virtual racing.

ARG’s series is open to competitors from across the categories it promotes including TCR, S5000, Touring Car Masters and Trans Am. Wildcards are also offered a berth and one of them, BTCC star Ash Sutton, is leading the series.

Based on the iRacing platform, the ARG series places all drivers in identical cars. For the first three rounds it’s been the Audi RS3 LMS TCRs, but for round four at Monza on April 23 they will all be driving Formula 3 openwheelers.

The ARG series is exclusively streamed on the internet and has averaged 40,000 viewers for the first two rounds.

As soon as it became apparent that we weren’t going real racing, we knew that getting our competitors online was an important move,� ARG CEO Matt Braid said. “Despite a couple of technical issues in our broadcasts, the amount of viewers and an increased level of engagement from fans on our own channels has meant that we are not only continuing with our own series, but now looking at further ways to use online racing in the future. “TCR and Trans Am have some great standalone platforms that truly replicate them in the real world. We are looking forward to seeing what is possible.�

In the future ARG could split its current all-in format into different categories using different racing platforms.

That’s because iRacing only offers the Audi TCR car, while another platform, Assetto Corsa, has digital renditions of multiple TCR brands. Yet another platform, Rfactor 2, features Trans Am.

UP COMING RACE EVENT CALENDAR Brought to you by www.speedflow.com.au ARG ESPORTS CUP RD 4 MONZA APRIL 23; INDYCAR IRACING CHALLENGE RD 5 CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS APRIL 26; SUPERCARS ALL STARS ESERIES RD 4 MONTREAL AND WATKINS GLEN APRIL 29; INDYCAR IRACING CHALLENGE RD 6 TBD MAY 3; F1 ALL STARS ESERIES RD 4 TBD MAY 4; SUPERCARS ALL STARS ESERIES RD 5 SPA AND NURBURGRING MAY 6

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E V I S EXCLU

THE FALLOUT AGP boss on cancellation

In his first major interview since the F1 season-starter was called off, Australian Grand Prix Corporation chief executive Andrew Westacott is grilled by BRUCE NEWTON and MARK FOGARTY about the momentous decision and its aftermath.

On the teardown of the Albert Park circuit We are on-track to hand the park back and have the remediation of all ovals and park facilities and areas completed on time. But what we have done is extend the dismantle phases for some of our key contractors to allow them time to do it in a more managed process. Some of them are suffering big time because of the COVID-19 crisis.

We would normally open up the gates to the park on Monday evening after the event but we needed to get special approval by (Victorian state government) cabinet because what we found was a lot of suppliers needed more time to clear out items post-event that wouldn’t normally be there. Caterers, for instance, had containers that were completely full of food and beverages, as opposed to being completely empty and loaded on to the back of a truck.

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On how it feels to hand the park back without actually conducting the Australian Formula One Grand Prix It is a hollow feeling. One of the lines I used with the staff was that I have never been jilted at the altar but I have seen lots of those movies and I can imagine that’s what it felt like. It was a sad, empty feeling on the Sunday afternoon and one of the things we said to the staff was particular events may blur into one another over the years, but 2020 was not one you are ever going to forget, so at 4.10pm on Sunday afternoon do something special. I was in a golf buggy on the startline and we had one lap of the track.

On the chances of an Australian F1 GP running late in 2020 If you are going to have to conduct races with a changed schedule that’s much easier to achieve in venues that are built

and homologated for permanent Formula One racing. The eight-nine week build and four-to-five week dismantle - plus one in the middle – is a 14 to 15 week impost on Albert Park and then we’d have the 2021 season. You soon come to the conclusion it’s a costly, impractical exercise. Now we have always never said never, but you look at it in a logical fashion and it appears an unreasonable scenario.

On the prospects of an AGP happening as expected in March 2021, given the impacts of the coronavirus are yet to fully play out We haven’t had conversations recently about the 2021 calendar. We clearly have had those earlier on where we were talking about the season normally starting in March. The expectation is that we would still have that as a March start, but this COVID virus throws up different challenges.

On the possibility of Albert Park being the final round of a combined 2020-21 F1 season That’s one of a myriad scenarios. If it turned out to be a race on March 14 and it happened to be in Melbourne … first and last are both very sought after positions.

On the fate of the October MotoGP at Phillip Island, which the AGPC also manages The status of the race is we are gazetted for that October 25 date and that hasn’t changed. We talk every couple of weeks to Dorna (MotoGP promoter). I think more likely the ability to stage mass events of an international nature are going to be determined by the directives of the chief health officer, the national security committee, border force and

The ultimate fate of the 2020 MotoGP at Phillip Island will rest in the hands of the Victorian Chief Health Officer says Westacott.

the chief medical officer in Victoria.

For the month leading in to MotoGP we are going to be guided by them and for the moment we are going to take a watching brief because there are massive challenges facing the globe when it comes to the MotoGP and Formula One calendars. We will be totally dictated by the restrictions authorities are talking about in terms of mass gatherings, attendance without crowds, visitation and border controls, restrictions and quarantine periods. It is one thing to talk about an event and have a willingness from an organiser point of view, but if there is a quarantine period for people coming in from overseas, that needs to be factored in as well. And that throws more challenges into a global series.

On why the AGPC was right to push ahead with plans for the 2020 F1 race

With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight we are confident we made the right decisions at the right time with the right information.

It was a changing and evolving situation in Australia and throughout the whole world.

You only have to look at what happened five or six days beforehand; the ICC cricket world cup final was held at the MCG with 86,000 people in a closed stadium. The week after the grand prix, AFL was conducted without fans but was then duly paused and halted after one round.

That evolving situation was a result of the advice we were getting from the health authorities. When the situations were continuing to emerge with recorded cases of community transmission and the epidemiology that the authorities had, the right decision to not continue on the Friday morning was made at the right time.

On the impact of Lewis Hamilton’s comments expressing his shock at the event taking place I don’t think they did. This unprecedented virus we are all dealing with means everyone is entitled to their own views and opinions because it affects people in many, many different ways. I noted Lewis’ opinions. We were proceeding for the right reasons, but we also made the decision to call off the race for the right reasons, both from an F1/FIA point of view and a Victorian government and health and safety and wellbeing point of view.

On the perception reinforced by Hamilton’s comments that “money” was the sole reason the attempt was made to run the event Not at all. We – being myself and AGPC chairman Paul Little – were in regular

Westacott says the majority of fans have already been refunded their tickets.

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Andrew Westacott, Paul Little and Chase Carey advise the media and public of the cancellation of the 2020 Australian Grand Prix on Friday morning.

contact with all levels of the Victorian government; Premier, Treasurer, Minister, departmental heads, chief medical officers, department personnel.

Every step of the way this was about making sure the health, safety and well-being of people came first. If it was decreed we would continue on, then we would continue on. But when it became evident, via the science and the recommendations associated with this virus, we made the right decision.

It wasn’t a situation where we had to run at all costs. Far from it. When you look at this (pandemic) and what it is doing to all of us, the cancellation of a sporting event – admittedly at large cost – is relatively small in the overall comparison of the economy. I know when I woke up the following morning I’d made the right decision and cost had nothing to do with it.

On why the AGPC was still insisting the race was going ahead Thursday morning hours after the teams had voted to abandon, some drivers had left the country and international media were reporting those facts Ultimately the sport is run by the FIA and Formula One and the contracts we have are with both parties in a variety of ways. Clearly, the performers, the stars, the teams are a vital part of that.

I wasn’t even aware drivers were flying out before final decisions were made with the FIA, and those weren’t made till the Friday morning. Even as late as 8.45am-9am there was dialogue with (FIA president) Jean Todt and (Formula 1 chief executive) and Chase Carey was actually still on a plane from Vietnam. And so the teams made the call off their own bat to do what they did.

It was finalised on Friday morning that it was untenable for F1 to continue and that’s when they cancelled … and we in parallel with health department (advice) cancelled the event in totality.

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On the status of the multi-million dollar sanction fee charged by Formula One for the race It’s being discussed and worked through with Formula One in a very sensible manner and I will leave it at that.

On why the event didn’t continue with only the domestic categories including Supercars that were on-hand

The Formula 1 teams arrived in the Albert Park paddock on Friday morning to pack up, before even a single wheel had been turned on an F1 car.

On the fans who queued up from early Friday morning and were ultimately turned away.

First and foremost I felt sad for the people who were at the gate and the ones who hadn’t left home or hotels at that point in time, or who had travelled very long distances to Melbourne to attend the grand prix for three or four days. That was one of the consequences of the timing of these very complex discussions with parties to get to the position we got to. It was unfortunate this was all happening around the time the gates were due to be opening.

There are no winners in this whole COVID-19 scenario, including when it comes to major events. We were just right on the cusp of the timing of this.

Five days before and it would have been held and there would have been a 25th race winner. Five days after and we wouldn’t have even got anywhere near the circuit.

On ticketing refunds for GP spectators The vast majority have all been transacted.

On the financial fall-out of the cancellation

What we are working through at the moment is a very complex set of close-outs with stakeholders, with customers, with fans, with suppliers, with media partners and that’s all being stepped through at the moment. It’s complex because we also have to deal with insurance companies, we have to deal with the conditions and details as they are in our contracts.

The final cost is not going to be known for a number of months. It’s much more complex than if the event had run its normal course. We have insurances in-place and we are working through those insurances in the normal manner. That will not cover every outgoing and every cost, but there are appropriate insurances in-place and so we are working through that and working closely with government on it.

Our job is to ensure each situation is worked through fairly.

On whether the Victorian tax payer spend on the race will be more or less than the $60 million incurred annually over recent years It is really complex and not something appropriate for me to speculate on.

At the right time we will work through it with government. We are dealing with it in a really prudent step-by-step manner.

I had so many options put forward to (AGPC General Manager - motorsport) Craig Fletcher and myself about different scenarios for support categories. And that was all on the premise that if F1 never came to town and we had the venue there ready and waiting and we didn’t have any restrictions on mass gatherings and increases in community transmission and so on.

At the time, on the Thursday night and the Friday morning, when there was increasing number of recorded community transmissions and there was an increase in the curve and the epidemiology was looking more grave than it had been in the previous week when the cricket was done, it came back again to doing what was right for the safety of fans, staff, participants and so on.

Motorsports events are massive at a normal level let alone the grand prix. The number of people we are going to have in race control, the marshal contingent of circa 900, the personnel and support paddocks and so on.

As appealing as it might have been for TV viewers to have Supercars and S5000 and TCR and Porsche Carrera Cup in extended races without Formula One there, it didn’t even feature as a consideration on the Friday morning.

It was driven by a health and safety decision rather than a commercial solution of sorts. It was making sure the transmission was going to be inhibited and the way to inhibit that was to not hold a mass event of the stature of the grand prix.

LATEST NEWS

MOST WANTED ADP TARGETED BY TOP TEAMS

MARK FOGARTY reveals why Penrite Racing’s rising star will be the key player in a delayed Supercars silly season HIGH-FLYING free agent Anton De Pasquale is at the top of the “most wanted” list of leading teams that may need to replace superstar drivers in the next couple of years.

De Pasquale, 24, is in the final season of his extended contract with Erebus Motorsport and in normal circumstances would be fielding lucrative offers for next year and beyond.

He is touted as the next ‘Big Thing’ in Supercars and looms as the logical replacement for USAbound Scott McLaughlin at DJR Team Penske in 2021.

However, the coronavirus crisis has placed an indefinite pause on talks about potential driver resignings or moves because of the uncertainty of when racing will resume and over what period the season will be run.

Amid widespread speculation he has been targeted to take over McLaughlin’s seat, De Pasquale is remaining non-committal.

“It’s not something I’ve had a conversation with or actually thought about too much, to be honest,” he told

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Auto Action in an exclusive interview. “And especially with everything happening now, I think it’s nowhere near the front of anyone’s minds, what’s happening next year.

“We’re just trying to get through this year – and the way it’s looking, this year might be almost merging into next year. So, yeah, it’s not something I’m really thinking too much about at the moment.

“I’m just more concerned about when we are going back racing and worrying about what we have now.”

Before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down racing, De Pasquale was regarded as the prime candidate to fill any vacancy at a leading team next year.

The only other experienced young driver ready to step into an established front-running drive is Kelly Racing’s Andre Heimgartner, also 24.

As well as McLaughlin’s spot, De Pasquale would have been a contender to replace Jamie Whincup at Triple Eight if the seven-time V8 champion had

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decided to quit full-time driving at the end of this season.

Tickford Racing may also have been interested if it were looking to bolster its line-up.

Whincup decided to continue through at least 2021, so his place could still be up for grabs as soon as ’22.

McLaughlin’s departure to the States may also be postponed until then because of the limited opportunities to make his IndyCar racing debut in what, at best, will be heavily compressed seasons on both sides of the Pacific.

As well, the financial impact of the extended downtime could put Team Penske’s plan to run an extra car for McLaughlin next year on hold.

De Pasquale’s options could widen again if key positions remain until 2022.

With the current delays and disruptions, it is conceivable driver deals will be extended to next year to fulfill obligations, especially in the extreme event the 2020 and ’21 seasons are combined because mass gathering restrictions are

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maintained into next year.

Although adamant nothing had been decided, De Pasquale admitted it was gratifying to be talked about as DJR Team Penske’s preference to replace McLaughlin.

“Obviously, if your name’s thrown around in that conversation, it’s a good thing because it must mean you’re doing something right because it’s a pretty big seat to fill – and, obviously, the biggest seat to fill at the moment,” he said. “So if your name’s getting thrown around in that conversation in that light, it’s a good thing. There’s no bad way to look at it.”

While staying alongside David Reynolds, who is on a 10-year deal with Erebus, is an option for De Pasquale, the team’s signing of up-and-comer Will Brown on a multi-year agreement with a virtual guarantee of promotion to the main game next year is a factor.

It suggests Erebus is preparing to lose De Pasquale, even though

Images: LAT/Ross Gibb

the team has asserted it could expand to three cars.

That is not out of the question as before racing was suspended, Erebus was close to committing to a wild card entry for Team Sydney refugee James Courtney.

In any event, De Pasquale doesn’t regard Brown’s planned promotion as unsettling.

“Not really,” he said. “Obviously, results on track will keep you in a drive at any one time, so the main focus is to keep going well and then the rest should, technically, take care of itself.

“So it doesn’t stress me out too much. They’ve been pretty open that they’re happy to expand cars and everything. It’s something we probably would’ve been speaking about at the moment, but the way everything’s happened, I imagine that’s all getting pushed back, so we’ll wait and see.”

The full De Pasquale interview is on pages 16-19.

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LATEST NEWS Image: LAT

SUPERCARS, LIKE many motor racing championships and race circuits globally, has had to reduce its staff pay due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. It is understood that staff in both Sydney and the Gold Coast have either received pay cuts or been temporarily made redundant. At this stage no permanent job losses have been announced, this has been helped by the government’s job keeper allowance.

A WORKING group has been formed by Motorsport Australia to help local Australian motor racing back on track and make sure everyone within the industry recovers from the COVID-19 outbreak. As previously reported by Auto Action, many Motorsport Australia workers are on reduced wages and hours along with most motorsport and sporting organisations in the country. The Australian governing body has formed this group to help plan the nation’s motorsport’s postcoronavirus future.

THE FIRST VE Holden Commodore V8 Supercar has found a new home in the hands of V8 Touring Car competitor Bradley Neill. The Holden was used by the manufacturer for the homologation of the new model in 2006 and then run by the Holden Racing Team and raced by Mark Skaife. The car was last raced by Tony D’Alberto in 2011. Since then the car has been returned to its original 2006 homologation livery, but Neill plans to return it to Skaife’s 2007 #2 HRT look.

AFTER A successful first running, the Australian Racing Group has decided to continue running the ARG ESports Cup qualifying race on Wednesday with the winners able to join the 40 car grid for the main event on Thursday.

Last week two of the three wildcards, Luca Giacomin and Tom Alexander, both performed strongly with solid top 10 results in the two races.

THE BELGIAN government has extended the national restrictions on mass gatherings until August 31 and as a result the Spa 24 Hours has been postponed. The race which was set to take place from July 25-26 is yet to be assigned a new date, but these latest restrictions have cast a big shadow over the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix due to take place on August 30.

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SUPERCARS TO MAKE RESTART CALL SOON A DECISION on whether Supercars will resume racing at Winton in early June will be made soon – as the deadline for the Townsville 400 also looms.

Supercars supremo Sean Seamer confirmed the Winton call will be made by the end of this month, with May 15 the cut-off for the Townsville street race event.

At the moment, racing is scheduled to restart at Winton Motor Raceway, near Benalla in northeast Victoria, from June 5-7, followed by the Townsville 400 from June 26-28.

If they happen, both will almost certainly be TV-only events – and then only if the Victoria and Queensland governments ease mass gathering restrictions.

On the Winton decision, Seamer said: “I think we’ll have a better idea at the end of the month, based on what we’re hearing as to when we’re able to come back and what form that takes.

“We’ll wait until the end of the month before we make a call on that.

He admitted that getting underway again at Winton was an “optimistic” outlook.

“I think that that would be the earliest that we could come back based on the information that we have today.”

Seamer also revealed that the decision on whether to go ahead with or postpone Townsville would have to be made in just under a month.

“Our final commitment date on Townsville that I received from our events team earlier this week is May 15,” he said.

Despite Queensland’s border closure, he has no immediate concerns about the Townsville 400.

“Not at this point in time,” Seamer said. “We’re not getting worried about things we can’t control right now.

“We know what our drop-dead date is to make a call on it and we’ll make a call at that time.”

He explained that the logistics and lead time for setting up street circuits was more problematic than for permanent tracks.

“That’s certainly key to the conversations

that we’re having with our state government partners,” he said. “Obviously, the disruption to the cities and the density of the crowds at those events make them at a higher risk, so the timing of those events is going to be very, very important.

“That is central to the discussion that we’re having with state governments, although no decisions have been made at this time and a lot of it will be dictated to by government policy.”

Supercars is continuing multi-scenario planning for TV-only and crowd-attended events, depending on how quickly coronavirus restrictions ease – and to what extent.

“In the background, we’re obviously working on plans to make sure that we’re able to go racing even if there are social distancing restrictions for a longer period of time,” Seamer said. “Like everybody, we’re working through all the different scenarios and as soon as we can come out with an exact plan of when and how we’re going to go racing, we will.” Mark Fogarty

SUPERCARS BOSS STILL IN TV TALKS SUPERCARS IS continuing talks for a new broadcast rights deal from next year, despite the impact of the coronavirus crisis on the existing agreement.

The suspension of racing until at least early June has raised questions about revenue streams as other major sports lose TV and sponsorship payments.

Before the shutdown, it is believed Supercars was close to securing a multi-year contract to replace the current Fox Sports/ Network 10 arrangement, which is due to finish at the end of this season.

While the discussions have slowed amid the COVID-19 disruption, chief executive Sean Seamer confirmed they were still alive.

“Our broadcast negotiations are on-going,” Seamer said.

However, he maintained his long-standing position of not commenting on the status of the talks or likely candidates for a new TV deal for 2021 and beyond.

“I’ve never spoken about the broadcast deal or the machinations behind it, and I’m not going to start now,” Seamer declared. “Obviously, those conversations are commercial-in-confidence.

“When we have the new deal done, we’ll talk about it.”

Supercars’ existing broadcast rights agreement was worth $241 million over six years.

The suspension of the AFL and NRL seasons is costing both leagues tens of millions in delayed payments from their pay and freeto-air TV partners.

Seamer also declined to comment on the impact on Supercars’ income from reduced or frozen rights fees “The conversations we’re having with our broadcast partners are commercial-in-confidence,” he reiterated.

While Seamer conceded the shutdown would have ramifications on overall revenue, he alluded that the All-Stars Eseries telecasts were helping to maintain sponsorship agreements.

“Yes, but also we’re very active with live Eseries content,” he said.

Seamer indicated that distressed airline Virgin Australia was committed to its title sponsorship deal, which runs until the end of next year.

“Obviously, Virgin is going through as tough a time as anybody right now,” he said. “We’re confident that they have a good team, they’re doing everything that they can and when we get to go racing again, we plan to be flying with them.”

Although not yet concerned about severely limited flight schedules, he admitted continued restrictions would make things difficult.

“It would do, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Seamer said. MF

VALE:

STIRLING MOSS

MOTOR SPORT legend Sir Stirling Moss passed away on April 12, aged 90.

Regarded as the best driver to never win the world title, Moss nevertheless enjoyed considerable success in sports cars and was universally admired for his driving prowess.

Moss retired from competition in 1962, after a massive accident contesting the Glover Trophy at Goodwood which left him in a coma for a month and partially paralysed the left side of his body.

His retirement wasn’t forever as he came back years later to race competitively in one-off events, including a famed attempt at the Bathurst 1000 in 1976 alongside Jack Brabham in a Holden Torana.

Born in London in 1929, Moss started his professional career in 1948 at the age of 18 driving a Cooper 500 before making his Formula 1 debut in 1951 with HWM at the Swiss Grand Prix.

This kicked off a 14-year Grand Prix career, during which he won 16 out of 66 races contested. Out of a total of 375 events across all disciplines, Moss greeted the flag first 212 times.

Moss was signed by Mercedes for the 1955 season to drive alongside fellow great Juan Manuel Fangio, who edged him out to the F1 title three times.

However, Moss impressed in the legendary Mille Miglia where he famously defeated his adversary by 32-minutes on his way to a new record in 1955.

Finishing runner up four-times in the World Drivers Championship, Moss was third on a further three occasions. In his concurrent sports car career, Moss ran second at Le Mans for Jaguar and Aston Martin, but won the Reims and Sebring 12 Hour races.

In his later life, Moss ran a successful property business and raced at historic events until the age of 81. Also a respected broadcaster, Moss recently appeared in documentaries centred around his teammate and rival Fangio, and recounted his win at the Nurburgring in 1961 for the film The Green Hell.

Moss was knighted in 2000, received the Seagrave Trophy in 2005 and the next year was awarded the FIA gold medal for outstanding contribution to motor sport.

Moss is survived by two children and wife Lady Susie, who said of his passing: “It was one lap too many, he just closed his eyes”.

Tributes poured in for Moss from rivals and fellow motor sport luminaries.

BRDC - “We are deeply saddened to hear about the passing of BRDC Member, motorsport legend & friend to many Sir Stirling Moss OBE. Our thoughts are with Lady Moss & their family at this difficult time. A proud BRDC Member from the day he received his badge & we will all miss him dearly.”

Current World Drivers Champion

Lewis Hamilton - “Today we say goodbye to Sir Stirling Moss, the racing legend. I certainly will miss our conversations. I am truly grateful to have had these special moments with him. Sending my prayers and thoughts to his family. May he rest in peace.”

FIA President Jean Todt - “Very sad day. Stirling Moss left us after a long fight. He was a true legend in motor sport and he will remain so forever. My thoughts go out to his wife Suzie, his family, his friends.”

Mario Andretti - “Just heard the very sad news my dear friend Stirling Moss has died. He was my hero and such a kind man beloved by everyone.

He was a true giant in our sport and will be missed forever. My deepest sympathy to his devoted wife Suzie.

Rest in peace, Racer.”

Sir Jackie Stewart - “The passing of Sir Stirling Moss is a massive loss for motorsport. He was the most dynamic, most charismatic racing driver there has ever been. He walked like a racing driver, talked like a racing driver and looked like a racing driver.

Of course, he never did win the F1 world championship, only because he always wanted to drive a British car and that time, the Germans and the Italians were all-powerful. For me, he was my ultimate hero.” HM

LARSON’S RACE CAREER IN TATTERS ONE WORD is all it takes.

Kyle Larson has been fired

by Chip Ganassi Racing and suspended from competing in all NASCAR competitions, after saying the n-word over the radio.

The 27-year-old Californian was competing on his simulator in the NASCAR e-Series, communicating in an audio conference with a number of fellow competitors and broadcast live on Twitch.

Mid-race Larson thought his microphone lost connection and, testing to see if the microphone was on, Larson uttered the racial slur.

“Kyle, you’re talking to everyone, bud,” one driver replied, before another shocked driver said “no way did that just happen.”

The following day the six-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner posted a video on social media to apologise, saying that the damage he had caused is likely unfixable.

“I just want to say I’m sorry. Last night I said a word that should

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never, ever be said and there is no excuse for that,” a remorseful Larson said.

“It was just an awful thing to say and I feel very sorry for my family, my friends, my partners (sponsors), the NASCAR community and especially the African-American community.

“I understand the damage is probably unrepairable and I own up to that. I just wanted to let you know how sorry I am.”

As Larson correctly concluded, the racial slur had already done the damage but not only with the African-American community.

The day after, Chip Ganassi Racing fired the #42 Chevrolet driver. It was soon followed by NASCAR, who stepped in and suspended the 2014 Rookie of Year indefinitely, requiring Larson to participate in sensitivity training.

To cap off a truly terrible day, both of Larson’s long time personal sponsors McDonalds and Credit One Bank followed suit, also

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pulling the pin on their respective deals with the Californian.

Since then, African-American NASCAR competitor Bubba Wallace opened up on social media saying he felt Larson deserved another chance.

“I saw the incident the night it happened and within five minutes

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Kyle texted me. He called me the next morning as well,” Wallace wrote.

“I called him back with a FaceTime to talk ‘face to face’ and we had a good conversation. His apology was sincere. His emotions and pride were shattered.

“There is no place for that word

in this world. I am not mad at him, and I believe that he, along with most people, deserve second chances, and deserve space to improve.”

Already people are wondering if or when Larson will return and if so with what team. Only time will tell. Dan McCarthy

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MERCEDES F1 team principal Toto Wolff has bought shares in Aston Martin. The Austrian purchased a 4.77 per cent stake that has been diluted to 0.95 per cent following a rights issue by the manufacturer to raise capital in a bid to turn the company’s fortunes around. It means Wolff becomes a private investor in Aston Martin that will return to the grid in 2021 with Racing Point.

THE FORMULA E Championship has confirmed that collectively with manufactures, teams and the FIA it has decided to delay the planned introduction of its Gen2 EVO car, as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. Other decisions were made to cut costs, such as team being only able to change powertrain components once over the next two seasons.

POPULAR FORMER World Rally champion Petter Solberg has announced plans to enter his own team in WRC, saying that he is in discussions with two manufacturers. The two-time World Rallycross champion confirmed that he would not compete after his farewell drive in Rally GB last year but would return with his own squad as a team manager.

THE SCHEDULE for the September Le Mans 24 Hours has been released. Without the pre-event test day, additional practice time has been slotted in to compensate. Le Mans is now the penultimate round of the World Endurance Championship will include an additional two and a half hours of free practice on the Wednesday. Each driver participating in the race is now required to complete eight night practice laps, up from five due to the fact that more of the race will be run at night.

ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT has announced that it will enter the inaugural all-electric off-road series Extreme E. At this stage the SUV championship is due to start in January next year ,with Andretti becoming the sixth entered squad after Mercedes affiliate HWA, ABT Sportsline, Venturi, Veloce and QEV Technologies. The Andretti team has previous off-road racing experience after participating in the now defunct Global Rallycross Series.

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PACE INNOVATION’S ULTIMATE BUILD THE TEAM behind the chassis designs of Supercars and MARC Cars Australia is currently undertaking a project that is set to again demonstrate its capabilities with the build of Pete Ingram’s innovative Mazda RX-7 Sports Sedan.

True, there are no motor sport events being held currently, but that doesn’t mean the industry has stopped.

A former Improved Production Car racer, Ingram viewed a PACE-developed MARC Car at the Bathurst 12 Hour this year, immediately engaging the Queenslandbased design, engineering and fabrication company to produce him a rapid new Sports Sedan.

“I went with PACE. I knew of them because of the MARC Cars,” Ingram explained.

“A fellow competitor in Improved Production, Tony Groves, bought a MARC Mazda 3 and I was at the Bathurst 12 Hour having a look over that car. I was really impressed with the way it was built.”

The team headed by Paul Ceprnich and Reuben Laurenson gave Ingram an in-depth proposal outlining PACE’s plans for the build and the project begun.

As a Mazda nut, Ingram wanted his new Sports Sedan to utilise the FD3S RX-7 shape and the 20B rotary engine.

Knowing these stipulations, PACE went about designing the geometry first, before turning its attention to the engine, chassis and transaxle, a difference that Ingram believes will give the RX-7 the winning edge.

“One really interesting thing with PACE and the way it designed the car was that a lot of Sports Sedans are built around the chassis,” Ingram revealed to Auto Action.

“Normally a lot of time spent in CAD making the chassis stiff, then fit everything into it. Whereas PACE’s philosophy is to design the suspension geometry first, then place all the items you can’t change such as engine, exhaust and transaxle, so in effect the car is built backwards. Then the chassis is designed to fit around those items, so the geometry is not compromised.”

The same Albans transaxle used in the MARC Mustang II is carried over to the RX-7 Sports Sedan, incorporating the bell housing, flywheel, starter motor and alternator to further enhance weight distribution.

A pneumatic six-speed paddleshift not only is a cool addition, but aims to extend the transmission life and service intervals.

The 20B engine is already fitted in the chassis, but PACE is currently waiting for the latest specification Garret G-Series turbo, while Australian cooling systems manufacturer PWR has developed the radiator and intercooler. It also features a billet intake manifold, which according to Ingram is a piece of art.

“Mazda has a standard one and although it will make the power, it doesn’t flow the air,” Ingram said.

“A lot of work went into the design of the replacement to make sure it’s practical.

“We can adjust the runners to move the powerband by unbolting half of the manifold and then the bell mouths clip out and are held in with a detent system.”

MoTeC electronics are used throughout and sensors are placed for engineering purposes, a lot of work has gone into that area.

The custom designed inboard suspension componentry features Ohlins four-way through-rod dampers all round, with PACE cantilever piston system.

Brembo provides the stopping power and bespoke rims hide these as do the wheel arches, which have been designed to control the air flow. These aid in providing increased front downforce as will the

PACE-designed front splitter, while a flat floor, plus rear diffuser and rear wing, will be used as the project is being developed.

It is envisioned that the RX-7 will be ready by the time racing starts back up again, however a rigorous testing campaign lies ahead for Ingram and PACE. “We’re going to go through a fairly comprehensive testing and engineering program before the car goes out and races,” Ingram told Auto Action. “It won’t see a race until the car is set-up and doing exactly what we want it to do.

“PACE is really keen to be involved with the car and make sure it does what it was built to do. The team is really excited about the car, PACE has put so much into the build that it wants to see it achieve on track as well.”

Ingram admitted the RX-7 is at a higher specification than originally planned, but the results from the data available point towards this being one of the fastest tin-tops in the country.

“PACE has data off all the cars it has produced and is confident that this one is going to be substantially faster than anything else it has built,” Ingram enthused.

“It should be pretty fast!” Heath McAlpine This is the first instalment of Auto Action’s What’s In The Workshop feature. If you are finally getting that race car ready or building a new one, drop us a line at editor@autoaction.com.au with images, the relevant information and contact details.

CAR SAVER

NORMALLY AN off into a barrier at around 160km/h would result in a write-off or at the very least, some major repair works. Not so for Graham Streat and Piers Harrex at the recent Lakeside Tribute meeting.

Thanks to the recently installed and newly designed Soft-R-Wall COTA Barrier, both drivers and cars escaped with none or very little damage.

Graham Streat in his Historic Touring Car Holden Torana XU-1 lost control coming onto the main straight at Lakeside Park. Usually that would result in hitting the tyre and concrete wall which replaced the armco in 2018, and would cause serious damage.

On this occasion all he needed was a bucket and sponge to wash the mud off.

The barrier on the outside of that corner had been relocated further back from the bitumen.

But what really saved his car was the addition of the COTA Barrier, the newly designed SoftR-Wall.

Event officials were both amazed and pleased with the outcome. The car had no physical damaged and it started on the turn of the key in the pits afterwards.

Harrex had a similar off-track excursion

at Hungry corner. The improvements there resulted in merely broken taillight lenses and a split rear wing. Previously when the concrete wall was there with the regular tyre barrier in place, the BMW would have been wrecked.

Prior to installation, testing was carried out at Queensland Raceway in February last year by the Australasian and South Pacific Association of Collision Investigators. A headon impact into a regular four-deep tyre buffer produced significant damage when compared to an incident at the same speed into the COTA Barrier.

The difference was that the four rows of

tyres were spaced apart, therefore absorbing much of the impact as the first barrier was pushed back into the second row. That row took less force as it moved into the third and fourth rows.

The new safety barrier has also been installed at the kink on the front straight.

“I wish we could use it everywhere,” said circuit owner and operator Queensland Raceway’s CEO John Tetley.

He added that the results of those tests have been shown to Motorsports Australia and the FIA but have not been implemented – or even examined by them, to his knowledge.

Garry O’Brien

VALE: JOHN HORSMAN JUST ONE day after Stirling Moss died another racing legend – John Horsman – passed away at age 85 from heart and kidney complications.

Britain’s Horsman was involved in many prototype race wins at Le Mans and other circuits with the iconic blue and orange Gulf Ford GT40s and later the Porsche 917s.

After graduating from Cambridge with a degree in Mechanical Sciences in 1958, he was offered a graduate apprenticeship with Aston Martin Lagonda by managing director, John Wyer - starting a relationship of several decades with the legendary sportscar team owner that was to shape much of his working life.

Initially, Horsman worked at David Brown Industries, which made tractors and gearboxes for Aston Martin (Brown having bought the sportscar company in 1947) before proceeding to Aston Martin’s Design and Experimental Department, as a project engineer. In 1961 Horsman became assistant to John Wyer.

From 1963-1964, he expanded his skill set, studying Business Administration at the London School of Economics.

In 1964 he followed John Wyer to Ford Advanced Vehicles Ltd. where he was responsible for the construction and preparation of the program that produced Ford’s legendary GT40.

After two Le Mans wins in 1966 and 1967, the Ford factory GT40 race program ended. However, it spawned J. W. Automotive Engineering and Horsman became executive director and chief engineer of the company, which then went on to win Le Mans in 1968 and 1969 with their Ford GT40s in the blue and orange colours of the Gulf Oil Company.

Horsman was responsible for the development, construction and race preparation of all of JWAE’s products: the Mirage M1, M2, M3, M6, the Ford GT40s and the Porsche 917s.

Through the combined efforts of John Wyer, team manager David Yorke, and John Horsman, in addition to its back to back Le Mans 24 Hours victories, the team also won the World Sports Car Championships in 1968, 1970 and 1971.

For 1970, JWAE was tasked with campaigning the works 917s for the Porsche factory. The original 917 was renowned for being incredibly fast but spectacularly ill-handling.

Horsman’s proudest accomplishment was his solution to the Porsche 917’s handling issues, changing its bodywork and, most notably, shortening its tail (all of which is chronicled in in his 2006 book ‘Racing in the Rain’). As a result of the 917’s transformation, Porsche won the World Championship of Makes in both 1970 and 1971, and the 917 became one of the greatest sports racing cars of all time.

In 1972 Horsman became managing director of Gulf Research Racing Company, an outgrowth of JWAE

NO ALMS AT THE BEND IN 2021 Image: LAT

headquartered in Slough, just outside London. Here were built the Gulf Research series of cars - essentially developments of the Mirage. The GR7 emerged in 1974 and was followed by the GR8, which took first and third place at Le Mans in 1975 Both cars used F1 Cosworth DFV engines that were detuned to meet the fuel efficiency regulations and which, remarkably, lasted the equivalent of more than a dozen Grands Prix in one run on their way to victory.

After Gulf Research Racing closed its doors, Horsman then joined the GTC company and their GR8, now renamed Mirage, finishing second at Le Mans in 1976 and again in 1977, the latter occasion with Renault power instead of the original Ford engines. The GTC Mirage program continued for two more years and then Horsman was reunited with his friend Vern Schuppan – running the Australian racer’s McLaren IndyCar team to pick up a highly creditworthy third place at the 1981 Indianapolis 500. John also returned to Le Mans four more times as part of Vern Schuppan’s team.

In 1983, Horsman and his wife Janet moved to Tucson, Arizona, USA, where he worked with Australian Bib Stillwell at Learjet and with Bib’s amateur racing team in historic racing events. During his career and retirement, Horsman would write copious notes of his engineering and development accomplishments, which were the basis of his book, ‘Racing in the Rain, My Years with Brilliant Drivers, Legendary Sports Cars, and a Dedicated Team.’

Horsman was renowned was his passion for keeping immaculate records.

Multiple Le Mans Winner Derek Bell – for whom Horsman provided the car with which Bell took his first Le Mans victory – recalls: “John’s attention to detail - that carried him so well through his career is something I have never forgotten and have used as comparison to every other team I subsequently drove with.”

The all-star driver line-up that competed in his cars includes Jacky Ickx, Brian Redman, Pedro Rodriguez, Jo Siffert, Derek Bell, Jackie Oliver, Mike Hailwood, David Hobbs, Vern Schuppan, John Watson, James Hunt and Richard Attwood.

Horsman was very specific about his role in motorsport. He didn’t design, he developed: “Designers designed the cars, I made them better,” he said. DK

THE BEND Motorsport Park will not feature as part of the 2020/2021 Asian Le Mans Series calendar next season for a number of reasons which stem from the COVID-19 outbreak.

In January this year the ALMS visited the South Australian track for the first time and utilised the full 7.77km GT circuit.

But now the Bend has lost its spot on the calendar to the iconic Formula 1 venue, Suzuka in Japan.

The managing director of the Asian Le Mans Series Cyrille Taesch Wahlen has put the decision down to the current global issue with the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic strain traveling to Australia puts on its competing teams.

“Unfortunately, given the current global situation and its economic consequences, coupled with the logistics and calendar constraints, we had to make the very difficult decision not to return in the 2020/2021 season,” Wahlen said.

“The entire paddock enjoyed our first trip to Australia and in particular the exciting challenges The Bend Motorsport Park offered the drivers,” he said.

“We remain absolutely committed to returning to Australia and The Bend Motorsport Park as soon as possible.”

The 2020/21 season begins in Japan for the opening round on November 29, before visiting the Shanghai international Circuit in China, Buriram Chang International Circuit in Thailand and concluding under lights at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia on January 23 2021.

The January finish is the earliest conclusion to an ALMS since the 2016-17 campaign and this has been been done for a variety of reasons to benefit teams and drivers.

“In addition to the current challenging climate, we also had to consider a combination of shipping constraints, track availability, plus avoiding clashes with other significant events in the region,” Wahlen said.

“We must also consider the Chinese New Year break (12th of February 2021) which prevents us from holding a race for most of February.

“As a result of finishing earlier, teams will now have sufficient time to ship (rather than air freight), their cars and equipment back to their home base before the start of the European, American or Australasian Championships.”

Wahlen stressed that this was a provisional calendar and with the COVID-19 pandemic still an issue, it may change.

“The health and well-being of our team, the competitors who race with us, our fans and all members of our paddock remains our priority,” he said.

“Therefore, we will continue to monitor the situation very closely and react immediately with a Plan B ready, should the situation require.” Dan McCarthy

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EREBUS COVID-19 PPE HITS HOSPITALS

THE PERSONAL Protection Equipment Erebus Motorsport has developed alongside Supercars medical delegate Dr Carl Le is hitting hospitals where the impact of COVID-19 is being felt.

The team announced its design of PPE in consultation with Dr Carl three weeks ago and has since started distributing face shields to the most severely impacted areas of Australia.

Erebus has already produced 5000 and aims to produce a further 20,000 masks in the next two weeks.

“We can get 43 in a box, so each hospital with an emergency and ECU department will get one,” Ryan told Auto Action.

“I think there’s about 10 or 12 major COVID hospitals in each state, then it will be distributed to the smaller metropolitan, regional and private hospitals. We won’t get them all, but we’ll get as many as we can.

“Obviously, the ones that are struggling the most like in Tasmania, we’ve sent about 250

down there in the last few days.”

Providing the distribution of the products are CoolDrive, which yesterday collected 30 boxes (amounting to 1290 face shields) that will be delivered to hospitals Australia-wide.

Support within the industry has been strong with Erebus Motorsport collaborating with Konica Minolta and Melbourne-based product design agencies to produce its mask that has been utilised overseas.

“We had some medical suppliers in Italy contact us so we exchanged designs and ideas,” Ryan explained. “They’ve got one made now that uses some of our ideas and some of their own.”

“A company in New Zealand made our mask for Auckland Hospital.”

Although the spread of the disease in Australia appears to be flattening, Erebus are continuing to develop products so if needed can be quickly utilised.

“There are other things we are working on, particularly for ambulance workers and Royal Flying Doctors, who can’t use the box because its too big,” Ryan explained. “We tried a flat pack design, but now we’ve tried a thin-styled piece almost like a helmet that can be fitted to a patient with suction on it.”

The other product being developed is an app that David Reynolds’ race engineer Alastair McVean is helping to produce, which restricts contact between the patient and healthcare worker that can be downloaded to an Ipad or smartphone.

Ryan paid tribute to team owner Betty Klimenko, who’s backing has enabled the team to keep working through the pause in racing.

“We’re lucky we’ve got someone as generous as Betty that had some charitable funds that she could put towards it and that has helped us do it,” Ryan said. “We’re privileged to be in that position that Betty can do that and we can work

on it with her. It makes you feel good that you can do something.”

The current situation has emphasised to Ryan the need to have other streams of income other than sponsorship and said the team has learnt a considerable amount during the period.

“It something we’ve been talking about internally for a while, this has brought it home more than ever that you need something more than just the sponsorship income to subsidise the business and make sure everyone remains employed,” he said.

“It’s something that we’ve definitely all learnt a lot out and you see what we can do as a team.”

“If you put your heads down, it doesn’t matter if it’s just racing a car or building a face mask for medical purposes, we get it done.

“We don’t back down from a challenge, we just get it done.”

Heath McAlpine

PORSCHE AUSTRALIA LAUNCH e-SERIES PORSCHE AUSTRALIA has announced the creation of its own virtual iRacing series for competitors in both of the national Porsche series’ to compete in.

Drivers that entered in either the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Series or Porsche Sprint Challenge categories in 2019 or 2020 can take part in the Porsche Virtual Cup Australia.

However it isn’t just the local current crop of sports car drivers that will be competing, Porsche has also invited past Australian Carrera Cup legends to enter in events as guests, allowing current drivers to take on some of the former greats of the series.

An official Porsche Motorsport Australia car will also be entered each round to provide guest appearances for a range of Porsche

drivers around the world.

As well as this a mystery guest driver will compete for the full season in the Geisterfahrer (Ghost Driver) Car, at this end of the season fans will be asked to guess who the driver was to win a range of prizes.

In one of the six rounds each squad will be allowed to enter a team member to race and compete against the regular drivers.

As it is in the real world the field will be split into two classes, Pro and Pro-Am. Porsche Cars Australia Head of Motorsport Troy Bundy feels that it will be valuable to everyone involved with the series.

“While the new Porsche Virtual Cup provides value to drivers, customers and partners alike, it will also provide entertaining content for race fans,” he said.

The grid will be limited to 45 competitors per round but may vary depending on track size, with the events set to take place every second Monday commencing on May 4.

The provisional race format each Monday evening will include a 30-minute Practice, 20-minute Qualifying session followed by two races.

A highlight video including post-race coverage of each event will be promoted on the Porsche Motorsport Australia social channels and posted to the CarreraCupAus Youtube channel Friday evening following the race, with commentary from Carrera Cup series commentator Richard Craill.

Dan McCarthy

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA CONFIDENT OF STRONG RETURN SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP naming rights sponsor Virgin Australia is confident of a strong return despite going into voluntary administration.

The airline company formally known as Virgin Blue has been in operation since 2000 and been one of the two prominent national airlines along with Qantas.

In 2016 Virgin Australia signed a fiveyear deal to become the naming rights sponsor of the Supercars Championship, a deal that is set to expire at the end of next year.

This is a very familiar feeling for Supercars after Network 10, the company that airs the championship on free-to-air television went into voluntary administration mid-way through 2017.

Network 10 came out the other side and Virgin Australia CEO Paul Scurrah is certain Virgin Australia will do the same.

“It is the worst aviation crisis we have ever seen in our history, we are not immune to that and our board made

a very courageous decision to put the company into voluntary administration and do so quickly with the intent of working with our administrator Deloitte to come through and be as strong as we can on the other side of this crisis,” Scurrah said.

“We take comforts from the government that this country needs a robust and healthy two airline market, because of this (voluntary administration) process we are going through and because of the early decision of our board, that airline will be Virgin Australia.

“We always knew that there was work to do on the balance sheet and that is something we will be addressing more aggressively through the actions of the voluntary administration.”

It is understood that Supercars don’t receive any money directly from the airline company, however Supercars

staff and race teams get reduced airfares when flying with Virgin Australia.

Deloitte’s Vaughan Strawbridge has no plans to make anyone within Virgin Australia redundant and plans to get the airline back on track very soon.

“We are absolutely committed to making sure that we run a process which sees a restructured and financially strong, viable Virgin Australia company come out of this and that process results in the company coming out of administration as soon as possible,”

WILL POWER FOR BATHURST AUSSIE INDYCAR star Will Power has been confirmed as a starter for this Wednesday’s night Mount Panorama round of the BP All Stars Eseries.

The 2014 IndyCar series champion and 2018 Indy 500 winner will drive a virtual Ford Mustang as a wildcard entry for DJR Team Penske.

Power, from Toowoomba in Queensland and now based in North Carolina, is relishing the opportunity to take on the Supercars field including champion and stablemate Scott McLaughlin who is contesting the IndyCar iRacing Challenge in a fourth Team Penske entry.

McLaughlin has already claimed a win and second in the four IndyCar sim-races conducted so far.

Like the Eseries, the IndyCar Challenge has been created as a virtual way of going racing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’m really pumped to race with the Supercars Eseries. And to get to race at Bathurst of all places – it’s going to be a blast,” said Power.

“I’ve watched the first couple of rounds and some of these guys are good. The racing has

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been crazy for sure so I hope I can just have a good run and be competitive. That’s going to be hard, especially at Bathurst. You are going to have to stay out of trouble and be there at the end.”

“I’ve always done a lot of sim racing, but been spending a lot more time online since we’ve been dealing with the pandemic.

I’ve had the chance to race all the IndyCar races and have been doing some other stuff too, so I’m pumped add a Supercars race to it as well.

“It’s a lot of fun and gives the fans something to watch and gives us drivers something to compete in so it will be a lot of fun.”

Power will join former factory Nissan Supercar driver Simona De Silvestro and Super2 aces Brodie Kostecki and Thomas Randle in the 29-car field at Mount Panorama.

Power has only one real-world V8 Supercars start at Mount Panorama to his credit, finishing 18th driving a Ford Falcon AU with Mark Larkham in 2002.

An attempt to join the Walkinshaw Andretti United wildcard in the Bathurst 1000 last year was scuppered by team

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owner Roger Penske.

“Being Australian, the Supercars series is really important to me and I’ve always followed it over the years; even more now that Team Penske has such a great presence,” said Power.

“We all pay attention to what the Shell V-Power Racing Team, Scott and Fabian (Coulthard) are doing and their success is huge for our organisation. I really hope to get the chance to race some Supercars events for the team one day, but of course now I’m focused on winning another IndyCar Championship and another Indianapolis 500.”

Qualifying for the third All Stars round will begin on Wednesday night at 6:00pm AEST and will be broadcast on Fox Sports 506 before racing begins at 7:00pm.

From 7:00pm, racing will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 506, Kayo, Sky Sports (NZ) and 10 Play. International fans can watch races via the Supercars Facebook Page and Supercars’ Teams Facebook Pages.

Bruce Newton

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Strawbridge said.

“We are confident this will result in restructuring being achieved in a short period of time, we have not changed anything in respect to the operation or the employees are continuing to be employed there is no plan to make any redundancies. Wages will continue to be paid and those who have been stood down and are accessing job keeper, the intention is to continue to make those payments available to staff.”

Dan McCarthy

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TRANS AM SERIES STEPPED UP A LEVEL AFTER FINISHING fourth in the TA2 Muscle Car Series in 2019 youngster Nathan Herne is looking to build on that this season and fight for the newly reformed Trans AM Series crown this year.

Although he is aiming for the big prize Herne feels that the category quality has stepped up this season as a number of hot shots have joined the grid along with the already established names of Seton and Miedecke.

“Aaron and Glenn Seton have got there car going really well, they are two of the smarted blokes in Australian motorsport working on one race car, it is hard to compete against their level of expertise,” Herne explained to <i>Auto Action<i> “Then you have got George

Miedecke and his team, they are no silly buggers either, they are there to win races.

“You have got a whole batch of people coming through like Cameron Crick, Jimmy Vernon and Nic Carroll who have brought in their engineers and their knowledge from different categories so it is going to be a big year.”

Herne himself has made a move in the off season from entering his own privately run entry in 2019 to the Dream Racing squad in a bid to give the team the title.

“I’m mega glad I joined Dream Racing, it was a bit hard to do it last year with just myself, Dad and his friend John, we had no clue what to do with the car,” Herne said.

“We did get a lot of help from Dream

Racing last year to get our car up to the front end and it was good, hopefully this year we can get Dream Racing Australia a championship.

“That was there goal for this year and that was the whole reason we moved to try and give them a championship victory.

Despite a retirement in the opening race of Round 1 on the streets of Adelaide Herne still has his sights very much focussed on the series win himself, however the youngster admitted his approach would not be the all-out style we witnessed last season.

“The goal for the year is championship orientated, if I can push for a win I will push for a win but if it is safer to stay second I will stay in second, cruise around and get some

points, he said.

Herne told <i>AA<i> an attempt to move into Super2 this season but fell short due to money, he feels that if he can’t make it in Supercars a career in America is another option.

“We tried to make a move into Super2 this year but we didn’t have the budget to do it, it is a bit disheartening, obviously we need to try and find that money somewhere to get there one day,” he said.

“Either I stay in Australia and race in Supercars or go over to America and make it into NASCAR or IndyCar or one of their road racing series’ over there.”

For an in depth feature with Nathan Herne on his career to date flick to page 42-43 of the magazine.

Dan McCarthy

REMAINING VICTORIAN STATE ROUNDS SUSPENDED DUE TO the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the executive of the VSCRS has opted to suspend all remaining rounds of the 2020 Victorian State Circuit Racing Championships until further notice.

The decision by organisers was made off the back of the latest government restrictions introduced a number of weeks ago, which has seen the limit on mass gatherings further decrease and all sporting events nationwide cancelled or postponed as a result.

With this new legislation unlikely to be lifted in the near future the decision has been made to suspend the final three rounds of the VSCRC. The second round of the VSCRC was set to take place at Winton

Motor Raceway on March 28-29, but it has been cancelled and won’t be rescheduled.

VSCRC administrative secretary David Vernall has issued a statement to all competitors on the recent event suspensions, which can be read below. DM To all VSCRC Competitors, It has become clear during the last week that the current government restrictions make the running of race meetings impossible. We do not believe that these restrictions will be lifted in the short term. In fact, it is difficult to predict when we will be able to resume normal life.

Therefore, the Executive of the VSRS Inc have decided to suspend all future rounds of the 2020 VSCRC until further notice.

We do not do this lightly as our

reason for existence is to run race meetings. We will monitor this ever changing situation closely and keep you all informed as soon as we can.

Finally take care of yourselves and your families. Follow the government guidelines, this is the quickest way we can all get back to doing what we love.

Kind Regards David Vernall Administrative Secretary VSCRC Inc

ESERIES FEATURE

Supercars has turned to digital sim racing for exposure during the COVID-19 pandemic and it’s been a hit with the fans. BRUCE NEWTON delves inside the BP All Stars Eseries to explain how it all comes together

THE NEW WORLD AT THE very basis of the BP All Stars Eseries is the iRacing online racing platform. It’s been around for years and is widely regarded as the best simulated depiction of real-world motorsport. iRacing offers a plethora of accurately rendered global circuits, as well as many different racing cars. Happily, it added the Holden Commodore ZB and Ford Mustang Supercar to its garage last November.

“It is a genuine platform that delivers realistic simulation of what it’s like and the skill required to drive a race car hard,” says Supercars general manager – television and content, Nathan Prendergast,.

“Then it’s powerful enough to have all these broadcast tools hanging off it; spectator modes, pit spotter modes, different camera angles, different camera cuts, in-car cameras, the ability write software to take timing off it.

“We are blessed this system is a genuine simulator. Someone said to me once the difference between iRacing and other racing platforms is iRacing is not fun.”

While conducting real-world racing is the preserve of the Supercars motorsport department, it’s been Prendergast’s team that

has been responsible for the Eseries, be it integrating the iRacing platform, sorting out the formats for the 10 rounds, the drivers or the broadcast.

“It’s been about three months work in three weeks,” he tells Auto Action.

To adapt the iRacing platform to Supercars’ racing requirements, contracted gaming expert James Cowan provided the level of computing power that allows these races to be run and a broadcast-quality image outputted. Cowan also worked with Supercars on last year’s iRacingbased GFinity series.

Another iRacing expert has been responsible for translating the real-world warpaint of each car into the digital realm. That realism has been critical in helping Supercars simulate a realworld Supercars telecast.

Another key aspect is having recognisable graphics packages for qualifying and races.

New software had to be written by long-time Supercars graphics partner Girraphic, to translate iRacing data to the usual on-screen format. From round three at Bathurst, running clocks for qualifying should be added to the broadcast.

Having Supercars commentators Jess Yates,

Matt White and Neil Crompton – the most credible voice in the category - dissecting each round adds further authenticity, although it’s new for them to be calling the action together!

“I think it’s an amazing coup to have Fox Sports and Channel 10 on the same desk in the same broadcast,” says Prendergast.

Crompton and White commentate race formats that clearly deviate from what’s served up in the real-world. They are adjusted roundby-round depending on track length and other factors, such as reverse grids and pit stops.

In a 120 minute broadcast the objective is to supply about 80 minutes of racing, so other commitments such as commercials are catered for. And yes, because of that, the races are still time certain.

You may have noticed during telecasts that cameras swing away from race incidents rather than follow them and that replays can take a while to show up. Remember, there are no live cameramen covering an animated race! Instead the director has to nominate a car number to follow. Replaying an incident requires nominating a new car number.

The iRacing race feed is loaded on one computer while specialty shots such as ‘in-car’

Supercars’ Nathan Prendergast is the key charged with delivering the new ESeries action.

(in-sim?) driver angles are loaded on another.

The two feeds are “boxed together” to create the broadcast.

Three Supercars staff and 10 from Gravity Media in Sydney make up the broadcast crew.

Because of the coronavirus, the number of people allowed in the studio is limited and they all must have a temperature check before entering.

A feature of iRacing is the huge amount of technical adjustment available for the cars. Leaving that free would advantage the experienced iRacers on the grid, so rising

COMPUTER POWER JUST LIKE real-world motorsport, the more money you spend on your sim-racing equipment the better chance you’ve got of success.

But you can have the most expensive rig on the grid and still get hosed. Set-up and driving talent still counts. Just like in the real world.

To try and figures it all out Auto Action spoke to Paul Klaver, the managing director of the Melbourne-based simulator constructor Simworx.

Drivers racing on a Simworx simulator in the Eseries include Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard from DJR Team Penske, Tickford Racing’s Jack Le Brocq and Lee Holdsworth, Triple Eight’s Jamie Whincup, BJR’s Nick Percat, MSR’s Garry Jacobson and Team 18’s Scott Pye. Unsurprisingly, the fundamental requirement is a decent computer. “iRacing is the most demanding of all the games because they are running in HD (high definition) and you need a good frame-rate,” explains Klaver. “So you need a really good gaming PC that has a good graphics card, eight gigabyte

12 AutoAction

star Brodie Kostecki – a sim racing expert – provides a common set-up for Commodore and Mustang at every track. In addition, temperatures and weather conditions are set. With those parameters advised in advance, the drivers can log in at any time to practice on upcoming circuits.

Speaking of drivers, Supercars had to make sure each of them had simulators and an internet connection capable of taking part in the series.

As it turned out, nine didn’t have a complete set-up, so Logitech supplied them with a steering wheel and pedal package. All 25 drivers have been supplied with a headset and most with a webcam, to allow them to talk to Supercars and be seen and heard on the broadcast.

Shane van Gisbergen doesn’t have a webcam because of limited bandwidth at home in Auckland.

“He has to make everyone in the house turn off their computers and their phone so he doesn’t drop out when he’s in the game,” Prendergast explains.

Supercars communicates with the drivers via a community chat app called Discord.

“There are different rooms they can drop into,” explains Prendergast. “If they only want to talk to their spotter they go to a certain room, we can talk to them all at once and there’s a TV interview room where we can talk to them without anyone coming over the top of them.”

That aspect of the broadcast is going to be developed, with more in-race chats between hosts and racers planned, along with eavesdropping on driver-to-engineer and driver-to-driver interactions.

For the broadcasts, all drivers are called into a giant Zoom app conference across two computers where they can be highlighted in boxes.

“A lot of iRacing runs for a long time with just animated

racing,” says Prendergast. “We wanted to highlight the real people behind it and show the effort they are putting in.”

Some drivers including Fabian Coulthard have had web connections bolstered. Others, such as Nick Percat, continue to have issues. He has been forced to relocate his sim (and Nelson the Labrador) to a workshop near his home to rectify that. Lee Holdsworth races from the Simworx simulator headquarters.

Sometimes things just happen – like Alex Davison’s Team Sydney Commodore turning up with Boost colours on the grid for race one at Phillip Island and then being locked out of race two. You just have to put that down to computer glitches or internet spikes and drop-outs at the driver’s end.

Anton De Pasquale’s spin in the second Barcelona race was actually the result of contact from Max Verstappen, but we just never saw it because of what’s referred to in iRacing as “netcode”.

Both cars dropped out for a split-second and the system calculated they would have made contact. We only saw the aftermath.

“That’s what we are dealing with here, it’s an imperfect science,” says Prendergast. “I think we are at 99 per cent and we are getting a really solid result, but at the end of the day we are relying on domestic internet connections with people in some cases on the other side of the planet.

“After the first round I said I’d rather do (the real) Bathurst because you are relying on a computer to spin up, load a server and build the environment.

“Then you have to tell all drivers to enter the session, the session needs refreshing, and then we are running to a live broadcast environment, where we have to start the races on time.”

Computer gliches sometimes mean not all cars start or are represented in the wrong livery.

minimum RAM (random access memory) and 16 gigabyte hard drive.

To that you add a high quality UHD/LED screen, steering wheel, pedals and seat, maybe a gearshift lever if you want to really replicate the cockpit of a Supercar.

Simworx can supply a beginner set-up calibrated and ready to go for about $14,000.

And that word calibrated is a big deal folks. As Jamie Whincup has discovered, buying the gear and then trying to make it work yourself can be a harrowing experience.

“You can just get totally lost doing that, it’s not easy,” says Klaver. “That’s our market, turnkey systems. We spend three days sorting out a simulator; software, calibrations and control settings.”

Get yourself sorted and the development begins. Just like the real-world, upgrades are a constant in sim-racing.

Klaver’s been watching on and found it hard to judge by the webcam view of the drivers just what level of equipment each of them is running, but he has no doubt they will add tech.

“There will probably be an arms race with controls,” he says.

Multiple screens aid the view, direct drive steering wheels improve feedback, tunable hydraulic pedals do the same thing for all-important brake feel. Virtual Reality goggles supply a truly immersive experience and a motion simulator delivers the yaw and pitch a static simulator lacks.

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Now you’ve spent at least $40,000 and maybe as much as $80,000.

By the way, Klaver has a message for all us newbies out there who might be inspired by the sudden rise in profile of sim racing, to give it a crack.

“Starting out in sim racing isn’t easy,” he says. “A lot of people struggle to get sorted because there is a lot of choice.

“There’s a lot of products in the market and it’s easy to get confused and not know what product is best for you.

“Do your research first.”

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THE DRIVER’S VIEW

Mark Winterbottom has an enviable Supercars pedigree; 501 starts since 2003, 38 race wins including the 2013 Bathurst 1000 and overall victory in the 2015 driver’s championship.

And yet for all his experience and undoubted talent, the 38-year has no qualms admitting he’s got a lot to learn when it comes to being a competitive sim racer.

Winterbottom didn’t even have a simulator in the house until the BP All Stars Eseries became a thing. So this is by far the most immersive experience he’s ever had into iRacing or any other digital form of motorsport.

He’s quickly learned it’s not the same as the real thing.

“In terms of driving the car I find it’s all visual, there is not a lot of feel to it. It’s more visual and repetition,” Winterbottom said.

By “visual”, the Irwin Racing Holden Commodore ZB driver means he’s seeing the car’s behaviour rather than feeling through all his senses, as he would in the real-world.

“In a real Supercar you feel the slide through your backside before you visually catch it, whereas in the sim you visually see it because the seat doesn’t move.”

And repetition?

“The conditions don’t change (in sim racing),” Winterbottom explains. “The sun doesn’t come out, the wind doesn’t come up, the car in front doesn’t spit that bit of water or oil, there’s no resurface on turn two versus turn three.”

While Supercars has fixed the tune of the cars in the Allstars series to try and even the playing field between experienced and rookie sim racers, Winterbottom has realised there’s a lot of speed to be gained in the simulator set-ups themselves.

“It comes down to calibration, it comes down to different equipment. People personalise their equipment to themselves,” he said.

“There’s a lot you can do with it, but normally that’s single blokes spending a lot of time on it while the ones in relationships and whatever aren’t on it as much.”

Winterbottom is married with three kids so no surprise his Simrigs-supplied simulator isn’t getting the 8-10 hours of daily practise some of his rivals are committing to. He’s spending about three or four hours the day before each round practising.

For all that, Winterbottom does see benefits in sim racing that can apply back to real world racing.

“From a concentration point of view it’s quite an effective tool because you’re put under pressure, you’ve got to perform straight away,” he explains.

“You switch into race mode because it gives you that same feeling of being under the pump, so I can see how people use it as a tuning tool to better your race craft and concentrating.”

Winterbottom’s inexperience reflects in some of his results so far in the Eseries. The blue and yellow Commodore has fired off the track - usually with assistance – more than once.

“It’s hard to have a good battle with someone when you are half-spinning just to go round the track and they are not in a much better position,” he laughs.

But Winterbottom ran strong at Monza and finished eighth, then seventh in the Silverstone reverse grid outing after leading for six laps and giving Irwin plenty of exposure.

“It’s been serious but it’s also been really enjoyable,” he says.

“It’s all open channel and all the drivers are chatting.

“It’s actually a really fun little community, as opposed to being at the track normally where it’s ‘there’s your garage, there’s my garage’ and you hate the world and go racing.” Bruce Newton

AutoAction

13

LATEST NEWS

ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS

IF YOU’RE an iRacing newby wondering what the hell engineers do for the Supercars drivers during rounds of the BP All Stars Eseries, let Tim White explain.

White is Supercheap Ford Mustang driver Jack Le Brocq’s engineer.

The New Zealander is in his second year at Tickford Racing, after spending several seasons involved in sportscar programs in Europe and the USA. That brought him in to regular contact with simulator programs, something Tickford has yet to dabble in here. It made him the obvious candidate to lead Tickford’s sim-racing project when the Eseries was announced.

“They are definitely not the same job,” he says of engineering in the real-world versus virtual world. “We are all kind of finding our feet a bit and what it means to be an engineer in the virtual space.

“Whether it’s the tools we are using or our knowledge about it, it is evolving really quickly.”

To go back a step, White explains the engineer’s role in the real Supercars world.

“There’s a lot more going on,” White says. “There’s a lot more to track and consider. The role of the engineer is probably half technical and half human.

“In terms of the technical part, most people understand that the engineer is doing the set-up of the car, doing the strategy, coaching the driver on what they see in the data, managing the tyres.

14 AutoAction

“And then the other part is managing your driver, their emotions and their motivation levels, and also managing your team, your mechanics. You’re also interfacing with your team manager and scheduling a lot of the work.

“On the virtual side we don’t have that, at least not yet anyway.”

Instead White says, the role of the engineer in the Eseries is pretty straight forward.

“It’s a lot more driven by what the drivers are doing, especially at the moment because we are not able to be near our driver. “ As set-ups are locked and the temperature, weather and track conditions known ahead of time, a lot of the variables of real-world racing are removed. The drivers

can also log in to and practice as much as they want ahead of the next event.

Assessment of driving style, fuel burns rates, tyre degradation and pit strategy – depending on the format - become the key variables to be taken into account.

“Just like in real life we know the tyres are sensitive to what happens in the first couple of laps,” says White. “You have to be careful on drive and minimise those rear locks because it really can hurt you toward the end of a stint.”

White and Le Brocq nearly learned that the hard way when Anton De Pasquale barged past on the last corner of the reverse grid race at Phillip Island. Le Brocq got the win back when the Erebus driver was

penalised for the move.

White acts as both an engineer and spotter for Le Brocq. The spotter term reflects iRacing’s US origins and the role is fundamentally the same as in real-world NASCAR and IndyCar racing.

He can log into a specific spotter section of the iRacing platform and be able to monitor timing by sector and advise Le Brocq on where he’s fast and slow and who he’s catching or being caught by. He also has access to multiple camera views, including aerial. White also has control here over how much fuel goes in the car at a pit stop.

In addition to looking after Le Brocq, White’s been responsible for linking up the simulators of the team’s four drivers – Le Brocq, Cam Waters, Lee Holdsworth and Will Davison – so their log data can be viewed communally. It even comes out in recognisable Motec format, just like at a Supercars race.

“We had to set up a little bit of infrastructure so the data automatically syncs and the drivers have got Motec analysis software on their computers, and they can access all the data any time they want automatically.

“So each time a driver finishes a run it gets sent to a cloud server and then pushed down to all the drivers.

“One of the advantages Tickford has got is we have double the sets of data of most teams. There’s a challenge in exploiting that, but if you can exploit it, it’s a good thing to have.” BN

F1 NEWS

NEVER SAY NEVER AUSSIE F1 ace Daniel Ricciardo is not ruling out a return to Red Bull Racing. It was in August 2018, just when Ricciardo was on the verge of signing a new contract to remain with Red Bull – the team he had been with since 2014 – that he shocked just about everybody including the bosses at Red Bull by announcing he would switch to Renault in 2019.

It was a two-year contract, so just about now Ricciardo and Renault and Red Bull would be thinking about 2021.

But everything is on hold. Ricciardo is on lockdown at his parents’ farm near Perth.

“Would I ever rule out going to Red Bull?” Ricciardo told Sky Sports. “No. I think something I’ve learned growing up in life is never say never. Never completely disregard something - unless it’s going to prison or something! So never say never.”

While Red Bull really wanted Ricciardo to remain with the team, it is now fully focused on Max Verstappen who has a contract through 2023. Ricciardo and Verstappen get along very well, but just how would the Perth native

slot back into the team?

“It is hard having chats right now, because we are at a stalemate,” Ricciardo said of renewing his Renault deal or returning to Red Bull. “Normally chats start to come off the back of races, results and momentum. There’s honestly not a lot to talk about for now, it’s more about the current situation and how we’re going to deal with it. It’s all pretty slow and steady to be honest at this stage.”

Just when the 2020 Formula 1 season will eventually begin remains up in the air. Currently, Austria might hold two races with no spectators on its scheduled July 5 weekend, but the situation in Europe remains uncertain.

The Belgian Grand Prix is scheduled for August 30, but that country has banned all large public gatherings until September 1.

So, for now, no races and no contract talks. Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Esteban Ocon and Sergio Pérez are the drivers with firm deals past 2020. Ricciardo and the rest of the F1 drivers, meanwhile, are in contract limbo. Just like the start of this season. DK

OLD POINTS SYSTEM FOR NEW CRISES FORMULA 1 should revert to its old points scoring system to help the teams cope with the new crises created by Covid-19. That’s the opinion of McLaren CEO Zak Brown.

Since 1991 the results the drivers score in every race during the season count towards the drivers’ world championship.

But from 1950, the first year of the F1 world championship, until 1990, the drivers would only count their points from some of the races.

In 1950, for example, drivers counted points from four of the season’s seven races. In 1973, it was 13 out of 15 races. In 1986, it was 11 out of 17 races. That system was also used from 1950 to 1978 for the teams in the constructors’ world championship.

Brown says that if the teams and drivers did not have to count the points from every single race in 2020, then that would be fairer to the small teams.

“Given where we are right now, we need to make some sacrifices,” he told Sky Sports.

“Speaking for McLaren, if we were not able to race, I would do exactly what I did in Australia and withdraw the team because you’ve got to

put the safety of your people first.”

McLaren withdrew from the Australian Grand Prix on the Thursday of the weekend, after one of its crew members was diagnosed with the coronavirus. Then, on the Friday morning, the FIA and the organisers decided to cancel the entire race weekend.

“But if ultimately F1 and the teams felt comfortable that the issue that we had was contained to just our garage and they felt it was safe to go racing, I would not stand in the way,” Brown said. “It would be unfortunate, but maybe we could have a discussion with F1 where (like) back in the good old days, you could drop a couple of races.

“Let’s say we get back to 15 races, maybe we do something where your best 13 races counted. If you had something like that, we’re not holding back the sport but we’re also not being penalised.”

The regulations state that there must be at least 14 cars to make a grand prix an official world championship race.

So, given that there are 20 cars, no more than three teams could skip a race at the same time. DK

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Publisher Bruce Williams bruce@autoaction.com.au 0418 349 555

Editorial Director

Bruce Williams

Editor-At-Large

Mark Fogarty

Deputy Editor

Heath McAlpine

Production

Jason Crowe

Special Contributor

Bruce Newton

Staff Journalist

Dan McCarthy

National Editor Online Editor

Garry O’Brien Rhys Vandersyde

Contributing Writers Australia Garry O’Brien, Mark Fogarty, Bruce Newton, David Hassall, Bob Watson, F1 Dan Knutson Photographers Australia Ross Gibb, Rebecca Hind, Mick Oliver, David Batchelor, Randall Kilner, Rhys Vandersyd, Richard Hathaway, MTR Images, Bruce Moxon International LAT Images Advertising Manager Bruce Williams All Advertising inquiries bruce@overdrivemedia.com.au (0418) 349 555 Editorial contributions may be sent to Auto Action. No responsibility will be accepted for their safety. If you require the return of any sent item or items, please attach a separate, stamped and fully addressed envelope

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F1 INSIDER

MOSS MAGIC AT 7.22 IN THE MORNING LIKE RACE fans right around the world, I was sad to hear the news that the legendary Stirling Moss had passed away.

The flipside is of course that he survived the treacherous years of racing of the 1950s and 1960s, and lived until the age of 90.

Moss won an astounding 212 out of the 529 races he entered across a broad spectrum of motor sport.

Asked to name the race of his life, Moss nominated the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix when he won driving an outdated Lotus Climax and fended off the faster Ferraris driven by Richie Ginther, Phil Hill and Wolfgang von Trips.

Another one of his many outstanding victories is, of course, the 1955 Mille Miglia when he and navigator Denis Jenkinson averaged 98 mph over nearly 1000 miles on Italian roads – through towns, over mountains, and across plains.

Their Mercedes 300SLR carried the number 722, indicating that they had started a 7:22 a.m.

I was a lad when, in a book in school library, I first came across a report on that race.

It was written by somebody called DSJ. I later learned that he was motorsports journalist Denis Jenkinson, when I started to subscribe to Motor Sport magazine.

DSJ, or Jenks as he was widely called, led a fairytale life of driving around Europe in his Porsche 356 and later in Jaguar E types, to report on Formula 1 and other major racing events.

It was Jenks who inspired me

Stirling Moss (above) with Mille Miglia partner Denis Jenkinson (left). Image: LAT

to become an F1 journalist. He was still on the F1 beat and I got to know him. I told him that it was because of him that I was in the paddocks of the tracks and involved in motor sport, and that it had all started when I was a schoolboy and read his report on the 1955 Mille Miglia.

“A number of people have told me that,” he said.

Many of you have read Jenk’s report of the 1955 Mille Miglia. If you have not, or have not done so for a while, it is well worth looking it up on the internet.

Here is an excerpt: “The car was really going well now, and on the straights to Verona we were getting 7,500 in top gear, a speed of 274 k.p.h., or as close to 170 m.p.h. as one could wish to

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Images: LAT/Sam Blacklock Media/AA Archive

16 AutoAction

travel. On some of these long straights our navigation system was paying handsomely, for we could keep at 170 m.p.h. over blind brows, even when overtaking slower cars, Moss sure in the knowledge that all he had to do was to concentrate on keeping the car on the road and travelling as fast as possible.”

A while back, at a Mercedes media day, I got to see (and hear!) the “722” Mercedes being driven around a test track in Stuttgart, on one of its rare forays outside of the museum.

Later on I got the marvelous opportunity to sit in the actual driving seat!

Both seats, which had been custom made for Moss and Jenks, had an incongruous green plaid covering.

Like all the front-engine cars of that era, including the F1 machines, the driver sat on top of the driveshaft tunnel, with the clutch pedal on one side and the brake and accelerator pedals on the other side. It felt strange to me, but as I say it was the norm back then. And it certainly didn’t slow Moss down.

I met Moss several times over the years. The first time, I told him that one of the reasons I was involved in motor sport was because I read Jenks’ race report of the 1955 Mille Miglia.

While Moss didn’t say the exact same thing as Jenks, his response was the same – “a number of lads have told me that”!

RIP Moss and Jenks. And keep racing on.

We take a look back at what was making news 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago

All rights reserved No part of this magazine’s content may be reproduced, retransmitted or rebroadcast without the express written permission of the Publisher and Action Media Partners.

with Dan Knutson

1980: MOFFAT TO Le Mans. Touring car champion Allan Moffat was heavily linked to a ride with Porsche team Dick Barbour Racing with backing from his long-time supporter Federation Insurance. Craven Mild Racing’s exotic BMW 318i Turbo sports sedan failed to make its debut at Winton with a faulty engine just after the German marque confirmed its involvement in the project.

1990: FOSTER’S BREWING Company linked with Porsche to tackle the American market in the CART/IndyCar Championship. The new team, known as Foster’s Quaker State Porsche, will contest the remaining 14 rounds of the series with the first outing being the Indianapolis 500. Drivers were expected to be Teo Fabi and John Andretti. Meanwhile, George Fury proved he had lost none of his pace by winning the Alpine Rally.

2000: AUSSIE YOUNGSTERS were providing the headlines overseas, as Mark Webber started to make an impact in F3000 by taking the round victory at a wet Silverstone. In turn, he took a four-point series advantage to Catalunya after previous leader Nicholas Minassian only managed 11th. Jason Bright was expected to make a start in the Surfers Paradise Champ Car race after he completed his maiden season of Indy Lights with Dorricott Racing.

2010: COURTNEY VS Whincup, that was

how the 2010 V8 Supercars Championship was beginning to pan out. The former Formula 1 prospect wanted to shun the glamour boy tag and after a dominant double at Queensland Raceway, he was well on his way to doing so. Crowd safety came into question at the ‘Paperclip’ after a Mini Challenge accident, which left a car in the crowd. No one was harmed although spectators called for safety improvements be made.

THE FOGES FILE

with Mark Fogarty

AA’s disappointed pundit wonders why V8 legend Norm Beechey doesn’t embrace his celebrity status AS WE look back over more than half a century of heavy Holden involvement in racing, one milestone stands out. While HDT and Peter Brock had profound influences, one car, one driver and one year established the Lion as a popular force on racetracks.

This year is the 50th anniversary of Norm Beechey’s all-Australian victory in the Australian touring car championship.

His title quest in his iconic Trans-Aus Monaro gained real momentum half a century ago at Sandown.

On April 19, 1970, Beechey scored his second successive win from the first three races in that Shell Racing Team yellow homegrown coupe, which took the fight to the American Trans-Am Mustangs. Those two wins anchored his second ATCC crown, breaking Ian Geoghegan’s Mustang streak.

He clinched the title with another win in the sixth and second last round at Lakeside, waiting nearly four months to be coronated at the final round at Symmons Plains, which he failed to start.

Beechey’s breakthrough changed the face of Australian touring car racing. It proved Australia and Holden could beat the world’s best.

The groundwork for touring car supremacy was laid by Beechey, the ultimate 1960s showman. His exuberant driving and high turnover of exotic American cars made him our first motor racing superstar.

Once he returned to Holden in 1969 with the top-heavy Monaro GTS327, he was on the path to immortality. His muscular ’70 GTS350 completed his canonisation, proving Aussie-designed and -built touring cars – and Holden – could match the Yanks.

In fact, you could argue that Beechey’s Trans-Aus Monaro established the template for world-class Australian touring cars well into the 1990s.

If you weren’t around back then, it’s

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hard to appreciate how important Beechey and his bright lemon beast were.

He was a hero who swelled youthful national pride.

Which is why I am so disappointed – nay, gutted – that ‘Stormin’ Norman’ refuses to publicly celebrate the 50th anniversary of his momentous ATCC success.

Now a hearty 88, he is a media recluse.

He refuses to engage about his greatest and most enduring achievement, despite the evident interest in this auspicious anniversary.

I have to declare a personal prejudice here. Norm was my Norm Beechey chats with wife Margaret at childhood racing hero. Still Calder in his heyday. Image: AA Archive one of the few personalities of which I am in awe.

Beechey, a business conversations, yes, a further interview, entrepreneur, took less interest in ’71 no. despite a Frank Gardner-engineered He even refused induction into the upgrade and then retired mid-way Australian Motor Sport Hall Of Fame for through ’72. odd reasons. If ever anyone was due I was distraught. Just as I was that honour, it was him. But because of beginning my journalistic career, my his skewed loyalties, he declined. idol – the man who got me hooked on It killed me. My hero was illogically racing – retired. Worse still, he refused intransigent. It all came crumbling down to talk to the media for another 20 years. when I approached him recently to talk The enigma that was ‘Stormin’ about the 50th anniversary of his ATCC Norman’ intrigued me. So when I finally title. Not interested, go away. got to interview him in the mid-2000s, it I just do not understand his reluctance. was not only a thrill, but a privilege.

Like it or not, Beechey is a founding He didn’t disappoint, regaling me with father of Supercars and should rejoice tales of his racing career. It was hard in that historical celebrity. work to get him to open up, but despite Sure, he is a legend and should be his strange misgivings, he did. revered accordingly. But not to the I’ve interviewed Ayrton Senna, Alain exclusion of the media. His refusal to Prost, Nigel Mansell – for that matter, talk about his racing career robs fans John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova, of my generation the chance to truly John Bertrand and even Paul Newman celebrate him.

– but Beechey remains my personal Of course, we will still recount the story highlight. of his 1970 triumph. It is too great to Then he shut down. Couldn’t get ignore. a peep out of him. Convivial phone Oddly, Beechey will speak expansively

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at the many car club and historic race meetings to which he is invited and attends. While claiming to eschew publicity, he happily indulges fans.

I write all this with a heavy heart. To question your childhood hero is gutwrenching.

Norm, I hope you reconsider your stance after reading this, because I know you pick up what you still refer to as the ‘Fishwrappers’ Fortnightly’ every issue.

I want to celebrate and revere your career, which had a profound effect on the sport as we know it today. You may be happy in media obscurity, but your fans aren’t.

Please acknowledge, if not embrace, your enduring notoriety.

You will perhaps reconsider your stance after you read this. If not, I wish you and Margaret all the best for a long and prosperous future.

In the meantime, we will rejoice in the victory of the Trans-Aus Monaro half a century ago.

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FAST TRACK

TO THE Rising star Anton De Pasquale openly addresses widespread speculation that he’s on the top of the list of contenders to fill the next big seat that becomes available in Supercars

FOLLOWING A pair of podiums last year, big things were expected of Anton De Pasquale this year. Still are, once real racing resumes. He is regarded as the fastest rising star in Supercars and is poised to make a play for a ride with the top team.

De Pasquale stood out in a Mustang-dominated season in 2019 in an Erebus Motorsport Commodore squad that underachieved. He pushed established front-running teammate David Reynolds on speed, if not consistency, and scored strong third places at Phillip Island and Tailem Bend.

Add a stunning third in the Top 10 Shoot Out at Bathurst and his potential was so clear that he emerged as the leading candidate to replace Scott McLaughlin at DJR Team Penske, when the Supercars champion switches to IndyCars.

That was looking odds-on to be 2021, coinciding with De Pasquale’s potential availability as he is out of contract at the end of this season. But the uncertainty of when racing will restart and when the season will end throws all that up in the air.

Certainly, when things eventually get back to normal – be that later this year or not until next year – the 24-year-old Melburnian is likely to be the most highly rated top talent available for the most soughtafter vacancies.

De Pasquale has a strong open-wheel pedigree that, under the guidance of 2014 Bathurst 1000 co-winner Paul Morris, has made him the newest standout young gun in Supercars. After winning the 2013 Australian Formula Ford championship, he went to Europe and won the Formula Renault 1.6 NEC title, seemingly setting him on the path to stardom.

But a tough following year in the FRenault 2.0 Eurocup and without the financial backing to pursue his F1 dream, he returned home and with the encouragement of early mentor Mark Larkham, ran with Morris in Super2.

Morris, who rates ADP as the best young talent he’s ever come across, convinced a reluctant Betty Klimenko to sign him as Reynold’s teammate in 2018.

De Pasquale’s fierce competitive streak has been shown in the All-Stars Eseries, in which he has been a front-runner, winning four pole positions and one of the first seven races – as well as losing a couple more due to incidents in the rough-house virtual competition.

Due to the current restrictions, we spoke over the phone instead of the traditional face-to-face encounter.

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TOP Images: LAT/Supercars/Ross Gibb What are you doing during this enforced breakk tto kkeep yourself b lf occupied? i d?

Basically, I go between either riding my bike, which is my only outside activity, and then I spend a lot of time on the sim, which is the one thing we can do to keep in check with our skills and stuff. And then we have the Eseries, so practising for that as well as having some fun with mates and do some fun racing at night. It’s the sim and the bike, and not much else.

It must be pretty boring for a normally active young bloke?

Yeah, it is. Obviously, we’d rather be outside doing things, and racing and going to the workshop and stuff like that, but because we can’t, we’re limited to our houses , so there’s not much to do. Luckily, though, I have a pretty good sim and can spend most of my days on that, and have a bit of fun and practice for the Eseries. But, for sure, I’d rather be outside doing things.

How sophisticated is your sim setup?

When I got back from Europe in 2016, I got a sim to help me with heeling-and-toeing and to get back into right-foot braking because I’d spent a couple of years leftfoot braking in Europe. I still have most of that stuff and I only just upgraded the frame and everything in the past week. But I’ve been running the same system for the past three or four years, so it’s nothing out of this world. It’s just a good sim that does the job.

What about at the race shop?

Erebus has a sim that we use. The one at home I usually use for fun and the one at work for developing myself and learning tracks, etc. But, obviously, we’re at home, so just using mine at the moment.

How realistic are simulators?

A really good sim is quite realistic. Obviously, it depends on how everything is set up and the most important part of it all is what program you’re using, how realistic that is and what you’re trying to achieve out of it. If you’re working on your driving, you have to tune the car as close as you can to the platform, whereas if you’re just trying to learn a track, you have to find the best configuration you can Anton de Pasquale stood out in to replicate that. So there’s 2019 with a pair of third places, a little bit of playing around regularly racing the front runners to get it right, but when you like Supercars legend Jamie do understand the way it Whincup (top). works and you just focus on what you’re trying to achieve from a particular session, it is pretty realistic. I think it benefitted tted competing. me – sort of fast-tracked my way into nto the I think anyone who is a competitor, any track, whether it’s virtual main game in that first year (2018). ) There time you’re on a track or not, you’re taking it pretty seriously were a lot of tracks I’d never been to and and all the drivers are putting in a lot of I just spent hours and hours on the sim hours. So I’m pretty sure they’re all taking beforehand so that when I got there, I wasn’t wasting any time and tried to get on it seriously, but obviously because it’s not a real car and there’s not real damage, the pace straight away. some people do get a bit braver on there.

But you don’t get the full feel of a real There must be a mental difference race car, do you? because there are no serious consequences, no real risk.

You don’t get the full feel because you obviously don’t have a car moving Exactly. You can just reset. But when underneath you, but with a little bit of the we’re trying to put on a show on TV, I motion and the steering, you still get a think we have to treat it as a proper race. certain amount of response from the sim.

Obviously, we can do cool things with It’s not the real thing, so you never get the the formats – reverse grids and all that full response, but just understanding what you do have and focusing on that makes a kind of stuff – which is great, you can do that freely, but I think the racing’s big difference. most entertaining when it’s taken pretty seriously. Seeing cars crash into each You look pretty committed in the Allother all the time only lasts so long before Stars Eseries. Is everyone taking it it sort of wears off. seriously?

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I think there’s an element of both. It’s to fill the void while we’re not racing. It’s a way we can have a competition, which a lot of other sports can’t, so there is an element of seriousness about it because we’re still

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Back to the real world. Once it all gets going again, whenever that may be, many have suggested this is going to be a very important year for you.

I get the feeling that you really want to win these races.

Yep. I think your third year is the time to step up even more. Year-on-year, you get better and better, and I had a couple of podiums last year in a year that was pretty hard to do that. So heading into this year, yeah, we’re chasing bigger things, just like everyone else. You can’t just expect it’s going to happen – there’s a lot of work and effort that has to be put into that to achieve what we want to do.

You had a tough start in Adelaide, but did you get any sense that once you get going again, you will make a step forward?

Anything I’ve ever participated in, I’ve always wanted to win, whether it’s the high

Yeah, Adelaide was a bit of a drama for us. Obviously, we got crashed out of

The team sim is pretty high-end, is it?

Yeah, it’s really good. It’s the best sim I’ve been on and it’s among the best you can get. Everything’s almost identical to our car, so it works really well.

school run or maths quiz.

Anything you compete in, in you have that competitor’s edge, you always want to win, especially if it’s on TV. You’re representing your team, your sponsors and yourself, so I think everyone out there wants to win, for sure.

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the second race, but other than that, we had a lot of dramas prior to that, which is something we worked out as the weekend went on and when we dissected it all after the weekend, so we knew what we had to fix going into the Australian Grand Prix.

Our Grand Prix pace wasn’t too bad, but we obviously didn’t get to fulfill any of that because of what went down. So heading into the next few rounds, we have a pretty decent package – but, like I said, everyone is working hard to improve, so we can just sit back and expect it. We have to fight hard for everything.

worked out that if we wanted to make a career out of racing, the best path was probably coming back to Australia and working our way through the Supercars ranks rather than chasing a dream that wasn’t going to happen with what we had available. We probably could’ve done another year or two over there, but it still would’ve eventually come to a halt anyway. We had to make a decision at the time before it was too late and Supercars looked to be the best path. I would’ve liked to still be over there, but I’m happy where I am, too.

David Reynolds is a really good yardstick, so the fact that you push him highlights your potential. How important to you is that direct comparison?

Was there ever any prospect of joining the Red Bull junior program?

I think it’s handy to come into a series this tough against a teammate who’s up the front. It’s always better to have the information and learn from someone like Dave, and he’s open to it, so it’s a good way to learn. The mentality at Penrite Racing is that we help each other learn and try to get to the front together, and it’s going well. Every time we get into the car, we’re pushing him more and more, and it’s helping him as well as it’s helping me, so it’s good.

How’s your relationship with him?

He’s good. He’s a fun character to be around, we have a good time. But, obviously, when we’re at the track, we’re pretty serious and we all want to win as much as each other. So as much as we have a good time, he’s quite serious at the same time, so there’s a pretty good balance there and there are a lot of good things you can learn from the way he goes about it. Obviously, there are some things probably not to take from it, too, but there’s plenty of good there and he’s quite an open bloke. He’s a good friend.

And as we’re seeing in the Inside Line docuseries, your team boss Barry Ryan is very direct. How is it to deal with his bluntness?

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dePasquale has been sim racing regularly since his return from Europe in 2016.

Being blunt is not something that worries me too much. I’ve had, not harsh, but firm leaders all the way through my life, starting with my parents. Barry gets perceived in one way, but I think it just comes from a drive and a passion to win. Once you understand that, and understand him as a person, it’s all pretty good. I’d rather have someone tell me how it is rather than coat it up too much, so I don’t have an issue with his approach.

As we see, Barry dishes it out. How is he about copping it back?

He’s fine. We have pretty good twoway communication at Penrite Racing.

Everyone has a say and everyone gets listened to and heard from the top down.

So there are no issues. It looks the other way sometimes, but it’s not how it is.

So he’s OK with you or anyone in the team standing up to him?

Yeah. I could call him any anytime and have my opinion, and then we’d discuss whether it’s right or not. Anyone in the team can have the same conversation with Barry,

but we generally have those conversations as a whole group. You can say what you want and be heard. Obviously, if it’s wrong, it’s wrong, if it’s right, it’s right, and then we work together because the idea is to have the whole team working together to win.

If we all have that mentality, then we don’t have to worry about who’s right or wrong – it’s more about just doing the best for the team and chasing trophies.

Let’s go back to your short but overall pretty successful stint in Europe. You seemed to be on the fast track to the top, then it came to a screeching halt.

What happened, why weren’t you able to progress?

We went over there and had a successful first year, and then had a reasonably successful second year in a category that was similar to Super2 in terms of you had to spend at least couple of years in there before moving to the next level. It was always going to be a two- or three-year thing, but once we got through most of 2015, we worked out that that it wasn’t going to happen in terms of the finances needed to keep going. So we had that frank discussion with ourselves and then

Not really. At that time it was very different to a few years before when they had a lot of people under their wing. There were 30 or 40 people like me chasing the same drive and it became more of a bidding war at the end of the day, and we weren’t in a position to fight too hard on that side of things. So we just decided to get back to Australia sooner rather than later and still make a good career out of it.

Looking ahead, we’ve now learned this is the last year of your deal with Erebus Motorsport and you’re being widely spoken of as a potential replacement for Scott McLaughlin should he move to the States. If that opportunity arose, you’d be mad not to take it, wouldn’t you?

It’s not something I’ve had a conversation with or actually thought about too much, to be honest. And especially with everything happening now, I think it’s nowhere near the front of anyone’s minds, what’s happening next year. We’re just trying to get through this year – and the way it’s looking, this year might be almost merging into next year. So, yeah, it’s not something I’m really thinking too much about at the moment. I’m just more concerned about when we are going back racing and worrying about what we have now.

Sure, I understand the circumstances may possibly change, but the reality is

ADP gained plenty of SIM testing experience since his return to Australia and has applied the skills in the Supercars E-Series (left) . Earlier in the year he celebrated his first Supercars podium with third at Phillip Island (right).

there, which was massive. Then he also helped me tee-up back here with Paul Paul.

So between everyone I’ve had behind me, it’s landed me where I am. As much as you can drive and do well on track, if you haven’t got good help from people who understand the business and the way it all works, it’s quite difficult. So I think just having people like Larko and The Dude in my corner, I’ve been able to fast-track through a few of the categories and get me to where I am quicker than a few people before me. It’s definitely a help.

Anton stunned the Supercars world with third in the Top 10 Shoot Out at Bathurst in 2019.

Below: Paul Morris has been a great help and mentor to the Erebus Motorsport driver. that your deal’s up at the end of the year or at the end of the season, whichever it is. So surely you’re thinking about your future and getting the best deal you can?

to a long-term deal with the intention to promote him to the main game in 2021. How do you read that? Is it at all unsettling?

Yeah, you always aim to put yourself in the best position possible, but where that is isn’t something that’s happening right now, so it’s not something we’re focusing on. I think we’ll worry about that when it comes up.

Not really. Obviously, results on track will keep you in a drive at any one time, so the main focus is to keep going well and then the rest should, technically, take care of itself. So it doesn’t stress me out too much. They’ve been pretty open that they’re happy to expand cars and everything. It’s something we probably would’ve been speaking about at the moment, but the way everything’s happened, I imagine that’s all getting pushed back, so we’ll wait and see.

I know you’re being cautious, but at the very least, it must be flattering that when a replacement for McLaughlin is discussed, you’re the one at the top of the list?

Obviously, if your name’s thrown around in that conversation, it’s a good thing because it must mean you’re doing something right because it’s a pretty big seat to fill – and, obviously, the biggest seat to fill at the moment. So if your name’s getting thrown around in that conversation in that light, it’s a good thing. There’s no bad way to look at it.

In any case, I imagine you’re leaving all

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this up to your manager Paul Morris, aren’t you?

Yeah, you could call Paul a manager or a mentor. He’s a good mate, he’s all the above. I lean on him for most of that stuff. He knows the game better than I do and as a good mate, he’s helped me a lot to get to where I am now. I can rely on and trust him for everything.

It strikes me that it’s an odd situation because Erebus signed Will Brown

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I mentioned Paul Morris and he’s had a significant influence on your career, along with Mark Larkham, so you’ve had two pretty good mentors so far, haven’t you?

Yeah, I’ve been lucky to have help from a lot of good people along the way. Mark, when I was halfway through Formula Ford and then into Europe, he helped me a lot and got me the drives over

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Because of his, shall we say, forthright character, Paul Morris often isn’t taken seriously, but he’s actually very astute, especially in the racing sense, isn’t he?

He’s a very smart bloke in racing, business, life – and then he’s also someone who’s willing to help the right people, those with the right attitude.

He’s done a lot for me, especially when I came back from Europe. It was never the original plan to race with him in Super2, but it’s just the way it worked out. He wanted to help and we had a plan, and he’s helped me get there and now we’re still good mates. We hang out all the time and he’s helped me all the way through.

He’s done that for a fair few people and is still doing it (Morris’s latest protégé is Super3 series winner Broc Feeney). In the years I’ve been involved with him, people’s perception of him has changed quite a lot and it’s good that they’re seeing him the way he really is.

He’s another one who doesn’t sugarcoat things, so you always know where you stand with him, don’t you?

Yeah, which means you have to have the right attitude on the driver side of things. You can learn quite quickly if you just pay attention and respect his advice.

That’s all I did. I just did whatever he said and it got me a main game seat, so it must work.

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STIRLING MOSS 1929-2020 STI

Although Stirling Moss was renowned as the best driver never to win the F1 world championship, MARK FOGARTY argues that the dashing Brit’s versatility ranks him as one of the all-time greats whose name was synonymous with speed Images: LAT

WAS THERE ever a better name for a racing driver than Stirling Moss? Just sounded fast.

Back in the day, he was synonymous with driving quickly. “Who do you think you are, Stirling Moss?” cops would ask when they pulled you over for speeding.

It takes a special kind of fame to enter the urban lexicon.

Sir Stirling Moss OBE, RIP, was arguably the most famous racing driver of all in the English-speaking world.

He was that good, that well-known.

For more than 70 years, Moss epitomised the glamour and glory of racing drivers.

Even well past his prime, which was cut short by a career-ending crash in 1962, just as he was poised to achieve his ultimate potential, Moss continued to be a significant figure.

He hustled and unashamedly traded on his name,

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maintaining a high profile as an all-time legend.

Moss died on April 12, aged 90, after a long illness – and a very long career as an ambassador of himself and motor racing, which were the same thing.

He was so famous that he remained one of the sport’s most feted names for five decades after his enforced retirement.

Moss showed unusual courage and discipline by not coming back after suffering life-threatening injuries in a crash at a relatively minor meeting at Goodwood in 1962.

Initially, following his long physical recovery, he didn’t feel quite right, sensing he’d lost his edge. He decided he could no longer be the great driver he was and made the pragmatic decision to retire.

It was a judgement he later came to regret, but in the meantime, he parlayed his enduring fame into a fortune.

Moss became “Mr Motor Racing”, spruiking anything everywhere.

He was so famous and revered that he was wellknown and popular in the USA, pre-dating fellow postretirement racing media personality Jackie Stewart’s insinuation into America.

Moss – debonair and rakish in his heyday – could sell ice to Innuits.

Even his premature baldness became an asset. In 1969, when Chrysler Australia used him to promote its hemi-headed six-cylinder engine, a wag cartoonist equated his hairless dome to the motor’s hemispherical combustion chamber.

Moss is most famous as the best driver never to win the Formula 1 world championship. He traded on that missed glory, revelling in its uniqueness.

But it was an inadequate claim to fame. His achievements across a wide range racing disciplines – most notably, his astounding record-breaking win in the 1955 Mille Miglia road race with venerated journalist Denis Jenkinson in a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR – marked

Moss on his way to his maiden Grand Prix win at his home event in Aintree (above) driving for Mercedes. In what was the first Grand Prix win for the Lotus marque, Moss defeated Bruce McLaren by 52.1s (right) in Monaco. Rivals on the circuit but lifelong friends off it, Jack Brabham leads Moss at the non-championship Solitude Grand Prix (below).

Even among the current crop of stars, Moss was respected and admired by all (bottom). He’s pictured here with fellow Brit Jenson Button.

The dirtied face of Stirling Moss enjoys the raptures of victory after the 1957 British Grand Prix where teammate Tony Brookes (right) gave up his car so Moss could triumph after his car struck trouble.

him as a super-talent.

That Th h he never won the h F1 world title, missing out in 1958 by one point due to a magnanimous gesture to fellow Brit Mike Hawthorn, was due to timing and nationalism.

He was Juan Manuel Fangio’s Mercedes teammate in 1955, when the advanced W196 was in a class of its own. He deferred to the Maestro in F1, but in sports cars, where the Silver Arrows were also dominant, he was superior.

Otherwise, he was stoically British and compromised his career by sticking with English teams in inferior equipment in F1.

And, yet, some of his greatest F1 wins were against the odds in privately entered Coopers and Lotuses against the might of Ferrari. His 1961 Monaco Grand Prix victory in a Rob Walker Lotus 18 was typical of his panache.

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Ironically, Moss was due to switch to a blue Rob Walker-run Ferrari in ’62 after years of Enzo chasing him to join the factory team.

Moss excelled in F1, sports cars, saloon cars and even rallies. He was a gifted driver whose independence and professionalism – demanding real money to race – arguably compromised his chances to win an F1 world title. admitted himself, his reputation But as he admitte as the best driver never a to win an F1 crown – as disingenuous as it is – was d far more lucrative in the long run. fa un.

It was a point of distinction, separating him from the crowd of se F1 champions and allowing him to ply his trade as an early exponent of personal endorsements by a sporting hero. spo Moss made his comeback, M surprisingly, at the 1976 Bathurst sur 1000 with former arch-rival Jack 100 Brabham, who also came out of Bra retirement. retir Each rated the other as among their Ea most formidable F1 opponents. mos Their mutual respect and close friendship, built an on their no-holds-barred o sscraps in the late-1950s/ vvery early ’60s, resulted in the unlikely joint return at th Mount Panorama, brokered M by entrepreneurial motor b rracing magazine publisher Gabriel Szatmary.

G Moss and Brabham at Bathurst is a story well known as a racing debacle. debacle But B as a promotion and publicity stunt, it was epic. Dominated coverage leading up to the race.

Sir Jack raced at Bathurst a couple of more times, while Sir Stirling made an ill-fated return with Audi in the 1980/81 British Saloon Car Championship. His second season teammate was Martin Brundle…

Moss had strong ties with Australia. On his first visit, he won the 1956 Australian TT at the original Albert Park street circuit in a Maserati 300S, then a week later captured the Australian GP in a Maserati 250F

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at the same circuit, which staged back-to-back events amid Melbourne’s Olympic Games fervour.

There was also the Bathurst farrago, which he enjoyed despite the ignominy of failure. He was a paragon of fan-friendliness throughout the ordeal.

Moss was a regular visitor to the AGP in Adelaide and Melbourne before his physical debilitation set in. He also competed in road events like Targa Tasmania and Classic Adelaide, mobbed by fans of all ages.

He was always a popular guest at functions and hospitality suites, regaling corporate guests with his wry and forthright observations.

He was also the quintessential Londoner, living in a multi-story Mayfair apartment with a lift, down which he once fell, and commuting around town on a scooter.

He survived both, only to be ultimately brought down by a respiratory affliction he contracted a few years ago in Singapore.

Sir Stirling Moss, knight of the realm, was a British natural treasure until the last, embodying his generation’s resilience and fortitude.

Above all, though, he was among the very greatest drivers of all time and carried himself accordingly.

Moss represented himself and racing impeccably, leaving a legacy of how fame should be handled.

Our generation never saw the best of him as a racing driver, but we saw glimpses of his allure through his infectious personality.

Stirling Moss will always be remembered as a legend whose fame transcended his unfulfilled potential.

He was, by any definition, a gentleman racer. But never soft or entitled.

Moss was of a different era with different values, but his ruthless attitude to racing never abated.

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STIRLING MOSS 1929-2020 STI

Driving a borrowed Jaguar XK120, Stirling Moss took his first major international triumph, the 1950 RAC Trophy.

FAMOUS FOUR Continuing our tribute, HEATH McALPINE recounts some of Stirling Moss’ most important triumphs

VICTORY 1 – 1950 RAC TROPHY JAGUAR XK120 SIR STIRLING Moss’ first international triumph almost didn’t happen. Acquiring a car to race in the RAC Trophy proved difficult after manufacturers wouldn’t loan him one due to his age and inexperience. Mind you, he was about to turn 21.

Held on the ultra-fast and narrow Dundrod circuit in Northern Ireland, Moss was lucky that motoring journalist Tommy Wisdom loaned Moss his Jaguar XK120 to tackle the event, one of six-works spec variants that had aluminium instead of steel bodies.

Moss was just starting to forge a career in Formula 3 with Hersham and Walton Motors, though he’d need

every ounce of his limited experience to win the RAC Trophy as pouring rain made the already dangerous circuit that much more treacherous.

Moss led from start to finish, winning with an average speed of 121km/h (75.15mph) in a machine with only drum brakes and impressed further when he set the lap record on his final lap, leading a Jaguar 1-2 with Peter Whitehead.

It was an event that Moss loved to reflect back on due to the enjoyment he experienced from it, as well as the beauty and exclusivity of the XK120 he was driving.

It also kickstarted his career as a factory driver. Jaguar co-founder William Lyons subsequently asked him to lead the British marque’s attack on the event the next year, which he also went on to win.

His first Grand Prix victory happened at home, for Mercedes, defeating rival and mentor Juan Manuel Fangio by just 0.2s at Aintree.

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VICTORY 2 – 1955 BRITISH GRAND PRIX MERCEDES W196 A MASERATI drive at Monza was another breakout event where Moss challenged Juan Manuel Fangio, Alberto Ascari and Froilian Gonzalez in a factory-blessed 250F. Cruelly, a split oil tank robbed him of a strong result on that occasion, but the performance was one of many in 1954 that caught the eye of Mercedes team boss Alfred Neubauer.

The next season, Moss joined Fangio at the Silver Arrows competing in six of the seven World Championship rounds, with the team not making the trip to the Indianapolis 500.

Fangio was on the way to taking his second consecutive Formula 1 World Championship, having won three out of the first five rounds heading to Round 6 at Aintree (UK).

Competing in his home event, Moss had yet to win a Grand Prix at that stage and started the weekend by taking pole position.

Mercedes dominated the event with Moss and Fangio trading the lead throughout as the Silver Arrows celebrated a 1-2-3-4 finish. Karl Kling finished third ahead of Piero Taruffi, while the two o leaders were nose-to-tail with le Moss first to the flag by 0.2s.

M It has debated whether Fangio allowed Moss to win Fa that th day, but the five-time World Driver’s Champion stated his Dr young British teammate was yo “simply faster that day.” “si Moss still had a chance of M winning the title until a disastrous win crash cra at that year’s Le Mans 24 Hour, Ho which halted motor sport for two t months.

Th meant the German, This Swi and Spanish events were Swiss can cancelled, so the Italian Grand Prix closed out the year leaving Fang with an unassailable lead.

Fangio

VICTORY 3 – 1955 MILLE MIGLIA MERCEDES-BENZ 300 SLR

VICTORY 4 – 1960 NURBURGRING 1000KM MASERATI TIPO 61

LARGELY REGARDED as Moss’s greatest triumph, the 1955 Mille Miglia had significant manufacturer interest and the world’s best drivers racing across the narrow roads of Lombardy in Italy.

Moss and co-driver Denis Jenkinson had put in extensive preparation by creating course notes which were written on a homemade scroll, the forerunner of modern pace notes.

These placed the team at a distinct advantage, though the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR the duo had at its disposal was underpowered compared to the opposition.

This was demonstrated when the privately entered Ferrari 735 LM of Eugenio Castellotti established an early margin leaving Brescia, but the Italian’s driving took a toll on his machinery with the Prancing Horse crying enough just past the first major township of Ravenna.

Paolo Marzotto in a factory Ferrari 376 S Scaglietti then assumed the lead temporarily before a tyre let go. Although he was able to save the car from destruction, the spare it carried was the wrong size forcing Marzotto into retirement.

This gave Moss the lead, but there was still the Ferrari of Piero Taruffi to contend with, which was setting a record pace towards Pescara where they refuelled.

The Mercedes-Benz team performed its stop quicker while teammate Juan Manuel Fangio experienced engine problems in his similar 300 SLR. Moss charged towards the next checkpoint in Italy’s capital Rome, with Taruffi 1m 6s behind.

But the next stage between Rome and Siena proved event defining when Taruffi retired, leaving Moss a whopping 5m 40s clear of teammate Hans Herrmann.

Continuing to extend his margin from Siena to Florence to the tune of 8s over the course of 70km, then Herrmann crashed on the fearsome Florence to Bologna stage. Moss was awe inspiring during this section, despite holding a 27m 38s margin over Fangio, with the Argentine’s 300 SLR now running on seven cylinders due to a broken fuel injection pipe.

The next two stages were completed in record pace, Moss completing the 1597km round trip in 10h 7m to become the first and only Briton to win the famed event.

NURBURGRING’S 1000KM was an event that Moss dominated during the late ‘50s, taking back-to-back wins in 1958 and 1959, before Aston Martin pulled out.

Moss was desperate to complete a hat-trick of victories and so joined Dan Gurney in an American entered Maserati Tipo 61.

It was a critical event in the fight between Ferrari and Porsche for the World Sportscar Championship, with the German team’s confidence high on home turf.

Race conditions that year were regarded as the worst ever seen at the fearsome Nurburgring as thin mist quickly turned into torrential rain, then fog, reducing visibility to just 150 yards. Also adding to the difficulty was the four-cylinder heart of the Maserati which was running high oil pressure and breathing a thick coat of the liquid out.

Having led from the start, Moss drove a 14-lap stint before handing over to Gurney, who played the perfect support to the Brit.

Heading off the factory challengers, the sole Maserati finished 2m 52s ahead of the Porsche 718 RS60 driven by Olivier Gendebien and Jo Bonnier, in a dominant display.

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Readying to begin a record setting Mille Miglia run, Moss and co-driver Denis Jenkinson took 10h 7m to complete the race from Brescia to Rome and back again. They entered the history books as the only British and one of the few non-Italian teams to win the legendary event.

Treacherous conditions at ‘The Green Hell’ did little to stop Moss and Dan Gurney winning in the Maserati Tipo 61 ‘Birdcage’, to give the Briton a hat-trick of victories in the 1000km endurance event.

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FAREWELL HOLDEN MOTORSPORT 1948-2020 - PART FOUR

CRUSHING COMMODORES GROUP C BRUTES THAT RULED BATHURST

In the fourth part of our history of Holden in racing, MARK FOGARTY outlines the emergence of the Commodore in an era regarded by many as the greatest in Australian touring cars IMAGES: AA Archive/Autopics.com.au/Holden Motorsport/an1images.com

ACROSS FOUR decades, Holden Commodores have been the bedrock of local racing. Always there, for most of the time at the front of the field.

Since 1980, five generations of Commodore – from VB to ZB – have been ever-present and often dominant.

Even in the international Group A era, when BMWs, Ford Sierras and ultimately the Nissan Skyline GT-R ruled, Holden’s hero car proudly flew the Aussie flag.

From ’80-84 and again from ’93-2018, Commodores battled Ford Falcons for V8 racing supremacy.

Mustang took over as Ford’s fighter in Supercars last year, maintaining the long-running red versus blue rivalry in a reprise of the foundation Ford vs GM war in Improved Touring Cars in the late 1960s and very early ’70s.

Arguably the Commodore’s greatest period was the early ’80s, when it was

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king at the end of the Group C rules.

Those hybrid homologation regulations, which didn’t require serious road car production numbers, were increasingly relaxed to open the category to a wide range of models.

Coupes and sports cars were embraced.

The second-gen Chevrolet Camaro Z28, championed by grizzled veteran Kevin Bartlett with backing from media magnate Kerry Packer’s Nine Network, arrived – with limiting rear drum brakes – in 1979.

The VB/VC Commodore was joined in ’80 by Dick Johnson’s Ford-unsupported XD Falcon 351, followed in ’81 by the Allan Moffat-led Mazda RX-7 charge and the BMW 635 CSi. The Nissan Bluebird Turbo arrived in 1982, completing Group C’s metamorphosis into a multi-marque

battleground – albeit, short lived.

The rules would be finessed and finagled to the point where by ’83, peripheral ports (RX-7), 24-valve cylinder heads (BMW), and fat flares and big spoilers (all) were allowed.

The Camaro finally got rear disc brakes and other concessions in ’81, but by then it was too late for the crowd-pleasing Chevy coupe.

They were all competitive to some extent, but never really threatened Commodore’s hegemony, especially at Bathurst.

It all culminated in the ’84 Marlboro Holden Dealer Team VK Commodore, billed as ‘The Last Of The Big Bangers’.

In its dayglo red highlighted livery, and bulbous guard flares and massive front and rear spoilers, it was as tough as.

In fact, along with Johnson’s final Greens’-Tuf XE Falcon, arguably the

toughest-looking Aussie touring car racers ever.

Having taken over the MHDT following Holden’s withdrawal in late ’79 (even though GM-H had maintained for the previous decade that it wasn’t directly involved), Peter Brock continued his domination at Mount Panorama in the early ’80s, winning in ’80 with Jim Richards and then in ’82-84 with Larry Perkins.

His victory in ’83 was controversial as he and LP switched to John Harvey’s second #25 entry, when the primary #05 car failed. But it was allowed in those days because drivers could be crossentered within a team.

Brock won the 1980 ATCC – the last of his three national titles – and famously lost the ’81 crown to Johnson in an epic final round showdown at Lakeside Raceway. He also lost the

The Commodore’s dominance of touring cars/Supercars all began with the prototype, pictured here testing at Calder on the front cover of Auto Action in October 1979.

’82 championship to Johnson due to an homologation row over the Commodore’s enhanced cylinder heads.

Moffat won the ATCC in ’83 – innovatively introducing a refuelling pit stop – in his buzzing RX-7 and Johnson reprised in ’84 with his fully flared Falcon.

They were great days of localised variety and competition. But when it mattered, at Mount Panorama, Commodore killed them.

For such a seminal car, it all started rather prosaically. Mid-way through 1979, at the peak of the Torana A9X’s supremacy, then MHDT boss John Sheppard was directed to develop a Commodore racer.

It was about time. The Commodore was introduced in very late 1978, so its racing onset was inevitable.

Following Commodore’s crushing 1-2-3 success in the gruelling around-Australia Repco Reliability Trial, it was destined to replace the Torana in racing in 1980.

Now, you would think Holden’s official factory racer would have been subject to intensive and expensive development.

Not so, according to Sheppard, who replaced Harry Firth in 1977.

The first VB Commodore racer prototype had its initial outing at Calder in late ’79 in the midst of preparations for the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000, both of which Brock won with ease in the MHDT Torana A9X at its absolute peak.

“Holden gave us a pilot production car and we just got the air chisel out and chopped the mudguards so we could put the big wheels on it,” recalls Sheppo, still sharp and acerbic approaching 85.

“We put pretty much a bunch of A9X stuff in it and then just stuck a polycarbonate spoiler on the front of it – just a bit of flat sheet curved around just to keep the air out from under the car - and then took it out to Calder and did a bit of running with it.

“It didn’t look all that handsome with all the big holes cut in the guards and all that, but it served its purpose. As I recollect, it was producing sort of A9X times and we thought ‘Oh, that’s fair enough, given that it’s only a prototype’.

The test car wasn’t even fitted with a

roll cage. “Brock was driving iving it, so we didn’t think there re was much likelihood of him rolling it over,” Sheppard d reasoned. “It was really just a toe-in-the-water thing.””

Following the crushing Bathurst triumph, Holden n pulled its direct financial support of HDT, setting in train the sequence of events that saw Brock buy uy the team from Sheppard d with the backing of key Holden dealers and the continued support of Marlboro, worth around $250,000 a year.

Part of the deal was that Brock would produce a line of speciality highperformance V8 Commodores for those select dealers.

Thus began HDT Special Vehicles,

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RACE OF CHAMPIONS

INSPIRED BY the American Race of Champions, the local ‘Race of Champions’ utilised a dozen stock HDT Commodores fitted with just a roll cage and six-point harness, across a two-heat competition t at the 1980 Australian Grand Prix at Calder.

Prepared under the watchful eye of HDT road car division manager John Harvey, the ‘Race of Champions’ Brock Commodores were piloted by a top-quality field.

A major drawcard to the Grand Prix was recently crowned World Driver’s Champion Alan Jones in his all-conquering Williams FW07 but he was a late withdrawal from the Race due to a broken thumb, while Allan Moffat, Bob Morris and Italian Bruno Giacomelli (due to his Alfa Romeo contract) declined their invitations.

It still left a field led by touring car stars Peter Brock, Dick Johnson, Charlie O’Brien, Colin Bond and Kevin Bartlett, Formula 1 star Didier Pironi, open-wheel ace John Bowe, Australian Sports Sedan Series rivals Tony Edmondson and Jim Richards, circuit owner Bob Jane and ex-world champion Jack Brabham.

There was plenty of action and incidents as the two Heats, with Brabham particularly racing hard.

However, it was Bowe who snatched the overall win on countback with two second places from Bartlett, who scored a win and third. Rounding out the top three was Heat 2 winner Brock. HM

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w which with Holden engineering support w would homologate the Group C and ssubsequent early Group A models.

Among the rule changes for 1980 was pegging back engine performance in line with production car ADR27A antiexhaust emission rules, resulting in a downgrade of the A9X motor.

Despite the disruption, Sheppard maintained the Commodore Group C racer was basically ready to go when he handed the operation over to Brock.

“It was at a stage where just needed finishing touches like flares,” he said. “If we were going to race it, you’d put a roll cage in it and a decent fuel tank. It was really at a stage where it just needed fine-tuning to make a race car of it.

“It was pretty well along. Then, of course, when CAMS did have a bit of a think about it, we had to go back to an emission engine, so that sort of

knocked putting a full A9X engine in it on the head.”

The VB was immediately successful, with Brock winning the ATCC before a VC update was introduced for the endurance races.

MHDT stalwart John Harvey, who achieved a career-best third in the 1979 touring car title, stayed with Brock to take over day-to-day running of HDTSV and liaise with Fishermans Bend.

Harves remembers that it was a relatively seamless transition from the A9X to the Commodore.

“HDT had plenty of experience building race cars and we had some talent there, so it wasn’t a huge program,” he said.

One of the team’s strength was engine development, headed by Bruce Nowacki and later racing Holden V8 guru Neil Burns.

KING COMMODORE Peter Brock was the Commodore King, sharing his MHDT entry with Larry Perkins for a trio of wins at Bathurst in 1982-’83-’84.

Early days for the Commodore (above) chasing Bartlett’s Chevy Camaro. At left Brock leads Ford nemesis Dick Johnson at Sandown. Note the VB did not run a rear bootlid spoiler, prior to Bathurst and the VC update the spoilers were fitted.

Holden’s public pullback was offset by company engineers being heavily involved in developing the HDT Special Vehicles Commodore road cars and racing variants.

“There were some key people within General Motors – Ray Borrett was one – who helped us all the way through that issue and it didn’t really make a lot of difference to us in terms of the assistance and goodwill coming from GM,” Harvey said.

The support of key Holden dealers, led by Adelaide’s Vin Keane, was also crucial.

“That was what saved the whole thing, no doubt about it,” said Harvey, now 82. “It just worked very well. Vin, who was the one that organised it all with General Motors, he went around to all the dealers to sell them on the whole idea.”

The VC enhancements for racing were off the back of the original HDT Commodore road car, resulting in a large boot spoiler and small mechanical upgrades.

“It was minor stuff because there was nothing major you could really do because of the limitations

IT COULD have been the last great Holden homologation special. A Chevrolet 350 V8powered VB Commodore was seriously considered.

Before withdrawing from racing in late 1979, Holden asked then race-winning HDT boss John Sheppard what he needed to win against a rumoured Ford comeback with an XD Falcon GTHO ‘Phase 5’.

“This is something very few people, if anybody, would know – we said ‘Well, we’d like a 350 Chev in it’,” Sheppo revealed. “So they said ‘Oh, shit, that can’t be done, that’s all too hard’.

“So we said ‘Well, how about we do it for you?’ and we stuck a 350 Chev in one of the cars they’d given us and then gave it back to the factory to have a look at how to do it. And then that got all too hard because they must have been talking about pulling out of motor racing then.

“So they elected not to do it.”

He also divulged that main sponsor Phillip Morris was so upset about Holden pulling out that it threatened to switch its backing to a split Ford/ Holden team.

“Marlboro got rather annoyed with them for wanting to pull out and said ‘Oh, well, stuff ’em, we’ll bloody run a Falcon’,” he said. “Then they wan nted too run a Commodore and a Falcon, just to wanted hav have a foot in each camp.”

It never happened, obviously, just as the Commodore 350 was still-born, des despite Sheppard building a 5.7-litre Che Chevy-powered road car prototype.

“I tthought ‘Well, if the Falcon can run a 351 engine, why can’t we run a 350?’, he sa said, pointing out it became a popular – an and easy – after-market conversion as th the motor fitted easily into the VB’s engin engine bay.

“Th “The only struggle was the starter moto motor,” Sheppard said. “With the Chev eengine, ngin it had an oil filter hanging down w here the starter motor would go. But where tthat hat re really wasn’t hard to fix. We just put a diffe different oil system on it and away we w ent.” went.”

The pproposed Commodore 350 – w hich never received an official Holden which engine engineering code like XU-1, L34 or A9X – w ould have been a wings-and-flares brute would st tyled by Holden design chief Leo Pruneau, styled who did some preliminary sketches for it.

IInn the end, Ford didn’t return with a GT-HO ‘Phase 5’ – in fact, didn’t even officially ho omolo homologate the XD – and the Commodore’s A9 9X-ba A9X-based five-litre V8 proved more than suf fficien for racing. Mark Fogarty sufficient

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Prince of the privateers Allan Grice was always a front runner in Commodores, here sharing Allan Browne’s ReCar entry at Sandown.

LAURELS AND TROPHIES THE EARLY ‘80s were a fruitful period for the Commodore nameplate in touring car racing, Peter Brock being the key contributor with his sole Australian Touring Car Championship and four Bathurst 1000 victories.

Out of the 18 victories in ATCC competition, Brock accounted for 13 including a season high five in his championship winning 1980 season.

Even though Bob Morris only completed a sole season in a Commodore, he managed to win at Oran Park though only after Kevin Bartlett was rubbed out for illegal fuel.

Prince of the privateers Allan Grice completed the tally of Commodoreequipped winners, though he was an inconsistent entry due to budget constraints. At the 1982 Wanneroo round regular driver Alan Browne’s name still remained on the Re-Car Commodore, but it was Grice who powered to victory.

Endurance was the Commodore’s specialty as it took 13 wins during the Group C era, handing Holden the Australian Manufacturers’ Championships in 1980 and a joint title with Mazda in 1983.

These included four Bathurst and three Sandown triumphs by Brock, when the HDT where at its peak as far as racing was concerned.

Jim Richards, Larry Perkins and John

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Harvey partnered General’s favourite son during this truly dominant era.

Brock again represented the majority of the Commodore victories, taking 11 endurance wins while Charlie O’Brien and Grice took one each.

The Amaroo Park-based AMSCAR Series was also a happy hunting ground for Commodore, despite the circuit not suiting the big V8s. Grice certainly proved that theory wrong by taking the 1982 title after the Australian Racing Drivers Club removed its previous 3.5-litre series limit.

HM

John Harvey scored one of the biggest wins of career, driving a MHDT Commodore with team leader Peter Brock to victory in the 1980 CRC 300 at Amaroo Park (above). Two of the most colourful characters of Australian touring car racing Peter Janson and Garry Rogers paired up in a Commodore at Sandown in 1984 (above left).

of the rules,” Harvey said.

But for HDT Special Vehicles, Holden’s involvement was crucial to gaining type approval.

“We worked closely with Holden and had good support from them,” Harvey said. “Ray Borrett and a couple of other engineers were on our side, and they guided us through the whole GM system.

“It all had to be done within GM policy and standards, which it was.”

The project was supported by then managing director Chuck Chapman during a difficult time as Holden began shut plants.

The HDT Commodore’s body kit, which influenced the Group C racer, was penned by legendary Holden design chief Leo Pruneau.

The VH and VK ‘big banger’ iterations were also influenced by their HDT road car cousins, but not to the same extent as the rules evolved to allow more racing modifications.

The adoption of Yella Terra cylinder heads in ’82 was a contentious road-toracing transfer that was finally accepted – amid a raft of concessions to all the main contenders – the following year.

Harvey scored his only Bathurst 1000 win in this era as 1983 co-winner with Brock and Perkins, who controversially – but legitimately – took over his #25 entry after their main #05 car expired.

The multi-talented Harvey – a speedway, open-wheel, sports car and sports sedan ace of the 1960s and early ‘70s before becoming a touring car semi-star from the mid-’70s into the early ’80s – went on to figure in hot Holden history well into the 1990s.

He joined Tom Walkinshaw’s Holden Special Vehicles as a senior manager in the wake of Brock’s bust-up with Fishermans Bend over the Polarizer affair.

Like the Torana A9X before it, the Commodore proved to be the mainstay of touring car racing during the Group C era. Here Garry Rogers and John French do battle at Calder during the 1980 Australian Grand Prix meeting.

Bob Morris made his debut for the Craven Mild team in a Commodore at Symmons Plains, but only just as shown here with no front spoiler fitted

Peter Janson and Larry Perkins on their way to second place at Bathurst in 1980 behind the dominant Brock/ Richards MHDT entry.

TORTURE TEST REGARDED BY the man himself as his crowning glory, Peter Brock’s victory in the Repco Reliability Trial was Commodore’s first triumph in what was a torturous two-week contest that ended in unparalleled success for The General.

The Opel-sourced Commodore had cost GM-H $110 million to develop to suit Australian conditions, but it passed its greatest test by finishing the trial 1-2-3 in a dominant display, similar to what it achieved at Mount Panorama during the early-80s.

Built and prepared in Sydney by a team led by Holden Dealer Team rallying guru George Shepheard, the three-car Commodore campaign was the best of any team with Shepheard revealing on the event’s 30th anniversary last year to Auto Action that close to $750,000 was spent on the program.

The Commodores themselves utilised the 202 six-cylinder ‘red’ motor, chosen due to its light weight, wealth of low-down torque and parts availability through the remote regions that the trial took. Testing for the event was completed in a silver Commodore nicknamed the ‘Trial Horse’ that clocked up more than 3000km, while Shepheard also entered Brock in a couple of rallies prior to the Round Australia to fine tune his off-road skills.

Compared to his teammates, Brock was the underdog as he lacked experience out in the elements. Partnering the then threetime Bathurst winner were Noel Richards and Mat Philip, while top rally driver and teammate Barry Ferguson was joined by HDT’s rallying young gun Wayne Bell and navigator Dave Boddy, in what was deemed the lead entry.

International rallying stars Rauno Aaltonen and Shekhar Mehta were joined by local journalist Barry Lake in the third Commodore.

Shepheard’s trio were challenged early on by Colin Bond’s equal numbered Ford Cortina challenge, though it ultimately lacked both the preparation and the budget of Holden’s entry.

But it was Bond and teammate George Fury – on loan from Datsun – that led the field into Perth, with the toughest segment of the rally lay ahead.

The 4800km trek to Darwin ripped the Ford attack apart, with Bond the first to go by rolling at the Wanneroo special stage, then the engine mounts failed on Fury’s Cortina.

This left Commodores 1-2-3 heading into Darwin, and remained so when the leaders arrived in Townsville. Holden then employed team orders down the East Coast, though trying to control Brock and Ferguson was near-impossible.

It was acknowledged that Ferguson and Bell had the measure of Brock, especially through New South Wales and the famed Southern Cross Rally region around Port Macquarie.

But Ferguson and Bell’s challenge was hampered by a clutch ailment, leaving Brock, Richards and Philip to lead home a Commodore 1-2-3 at the end of 19,000km at the Melbourne Showgrounds where the exhausted crew were cheered home by a large crowd.

Just weeks later, Brock was testing the new VB Commodore touring car at Calder under the watchful eye of HDT leader John Sheppard. HM

Allan Moffat controversially raced a MHDT Commodore in the 1980 Hang Ten 400 at Sandown, finishing third with Charlie O’Brien driving the Roadways VB. O’Brien was one of several drivers to win in the Commodore Group C cars.

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THE BIGGEST

BANGERS

V8 legend Larry Perkins tells MARK FOGARTY how he helped Peter Brock dominate the Bathurst 1000 in the final glorious years of Group C

IMAGES: AA Archive/Autopics.com.au/Holden Motorsport/an1images.com

THEY WERE the machines with the bulging muscles that made them rippling race cars. The Big Bangers of 1982-84 were the last – and best – of a magnificently mutated breed.

Fat fender flares, stupendous spoilers, steamroller rubber. Fast and furious, never have Australian touring cars had such imposing presence.

The apex predators of the final three years of the local Group C regs were the VH and VK Commodores.

In its final ’84 Bathurst-winning iteration, Peter Brock’s fluorescent MHDT VK was billed as ‘The Last Of The Big Bangers’.

It was the culmination of three seasons of development led by master engineer/ F1-honed driver Larry Perkins, whose knowledge and exploitation of the rules was without peer.

A stickler for details – if not decoration – Perkins joined Brock’s growing HDT empire in early ’82. He was initially approached to partner Brock at Bathurst, replacing ’78-80 co-winner Jim Richards, who had joined Frank Gardner’s blackand-gold JPS BMW equipe as lead driver.

Perkins, following his return from a

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Peter Brock addresses the crowd after winning the ‘83 Bathurst, watched by Prime Minister Bob Hawke and co-drivers Larry Perkins and John Harvey. Long-time Brock facilitator, Holden’s Grant Steers is at left.

frustrating F1 foray, had proven his engineering and driving prowess with under-rated bon vivant racer/facilitator Peter Janson. ‘The Cowangie Kid’ from arid far north-eastern Victoria co-drove Janson to third at Mount Panorama in 1977 and ’79 in Ian Tate-run Torana A9Xs. Their final podium as privateer giant-killers was in 1980, finishing an

astounding second behind Brock/Richards in their Cadbury-Schweppes VC Commodore.

Perkins was more interested in sorting out the MHDT workshop and improving preparation than driving.

“I said to Peter that the workshop sadly needed more direction, in my view, and if you want me to be your co-driver, well,

that’s no big deal,” LP recalled. “I wasn’t fussed about that.”

Perkins wasn’t being disrespectful or dismissive of key MHDT personnel like chief mechanic Bruce Nowacki and engine builder Neil Burns – just typically pragmatic.

“I liked a lot more precision and cleanliness, etc,” he said. “That then led me to an intense reading of the rulebook.

It was the path to making your car go faster.

“I just kept tidying up a lot of things.

The team wasn’t broken – it was a very successful team – but I just carefully snuck along and tidied up all the things that appeared to need tidying, to try to keep the success going.”

Among his reforms: switching to a lighter, stronger aluminium roll cage design fabricated in-house that also strengthened the body structure.

Now 70 but still sharp and straight forward, Perkins remembers that the VH and VK Commodore racers were less reliant on road car-related homologation.

“There was a set of rules and there wasn’t much manufacturer involvement as such,” he said. “We weren’t in that era

George Fury blasts away from pole position at Bathurst in 1984 but the turbocharged Nissan didn’t last. Peter Brock stormed to yet another win for the ‘Big Banger’ Commodore.

when you had to make 500 cars for homologation. The manufacturing side of Holden was actually quite distant from the race team.

“I don’t recall Holden having to help us with special bits for the race car. We worked to a set of rules that allowed modifications for racing and it was a pretty simple, clear path, I thought.

“When I look back, though, it was bloody loose and not very good guidelines. It was all over the shop.”

The rules were even further relaxed in ’82, resulting in the VH H getting a big boot spoiler and add-on flares to cover wider rimss and tyres.

“We seemed to have a whole new clean bit of paper,” Perkins recounted. “Peter was always big g on making it look right.

“We realised then that aero made a big difference. We put a big wing on the back of it and when you drove it, jeeze, it felt so secure. That’s when all that was very much starting, not that we had any access to wind tunnels or a great brains trust of aerodynamicists.

“It was very much a hands-on approach.”

Perkins’ mantra was reliability over outright power, paying tribute to Burns’ as a practical and clever motor builder.

“Engines was an area that we never really pushed the limits on,” he said.

“Development was always cautious and based on reliability.

“Power was never the priority. If I remember rightly, we were only getting a shade over 410 horsepower on carburettors.”

It was enough, though, to be a pacesetter without jeopardising reliability.

“We always had good speed, but only because of a lot of little logics added together,” Perkins said.

“The focus was always on

Many enthusiasts regard the ‘Last of the Big Bangers’ Commodore of 1984 as the greatestt of them all.

reliability because we had the speed to beat the opposition in the racing as long as we kept going. It was about being fast over 161 laps.”

He acknowledges that much of the cars’ bullet-proof speed was due to the engineering of Ron Harrop, who supplied most of the racing components.

Three consecutive wins alongside Brock validated Perkins’ fastidious approach – even when their lead #05 car failed and they controversially switched to the #25 second entry shared by John Harvey and Phil Brock.

‘Split Pin’ missed out on a Bathurst win because he never got to drive the car, unlike Harvey who started it, but Perkins remains unapologetic about the tactic, which was allowed by driver cross-entry rules.

“I knew the rules backwards about swapping drivers,” he said. “I never liked the rule, but it was allowed.

“I said to the team on the Saturday that should we – Peter and I – fail, we’re going to take over your car, as in John Harvey’s and Split Pin’s.”

He further explained that the cross-entry rules didn’t allow either of the original drivers to do a stint once the switch had been made.

“The rules just did not allow that,” Perkins shrugs. “We took over John’s car.

Then it was Peter’s and my car, as simple as that. We didn’t write the rules, but we took advantage of them as they were written.

“Which is why I made sure I read the rules properly. If I hadn’t, arguably we would never have taken over John’s car and Peter wouldn’t have had another Bathurst win.

“The rules are equal for everyone.”

The ’84 Bathurst-winning MHDT VK was the fastest and most aggressive looking of the ‘Big Banger’ Group C Commodores.

34 AutoAction

Rules allowing teams to cross enter its drivers paid off nicely at Bathurst in 1983, when Peter Brock and Larry Perkins took over the ‘25’ Commodore started by John Harvey when their own ‘05’ entry failed (above). A year earlier, Brock and Perkins were victors on their own in ‘05’ (right).

“We’d refined it to a peak,” Perkins said.

“At the time, they were great to drive. Each one was better.”

He noted they had strong brakes and plenty of cornering grip due to their wide stance and big rubber, although there were still road-related compromises like standard clutch and four-speed gearbox that required mechanical sympathy.

“They were pretty simple things, really,” Perkins remembered wistfully. “I was very pleased to be in that era because I didn’t have much time for the Group A rules.”

Brock and Perkins later had their differences, but they were in sync on concen-

The group C era of Australian touring car racing ended in a way that reflected the Co omm mm Commodore’s domination ... wi w ith th a 1-2 victory at Bathurst with foor th for tthe he MHDT (right).

The cross entering rules allowed drivers to take over other team cars allowing Brock and Perkins to take over the 25 team car from Harvey and Phil Brock.

Perkins remains unaplogetic about the move that delivered the pair, (with Harvey) another Bathurst 1000 race win in 1983

trating on winning the Bathurst 1000 over the ATCC. That shared Mountain-centric attitude allowed them to divert efforts to their Bob Jane-backed Porsche 962 assault on the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1984. It wasn’t successful – and it was also the beginning of the end of their association.

But they are other stories for another time.

Perkins, of course, went on to establish his own front-running Castrol Holden team in the 1990s and 2000s, winning his beloved Bathurst 1000 with the late Gregg Hansford in 1993 and again in ’95 and ’97 with Russell Ingall.

His Mountain legend was built on those early successes with Brock in the ‘Big Banger’ Commodores. He is third on the all-time list with six successes, tied with Mark Skaife, and only behind Richards and Craig Lowndes (seven each) and Brock (record nine, of which LP contributed to three).

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35

ANOTHER ONE FOR ARNOUX

After winning round two, Rene Arnoux looked to build on that in South Africa.

DAN McCARTHY reports on what was another attritional Grand Prix.

Images: LAT

OFF THE back of his first Formula 1 win in Brazil, Rene Arnoux and Renault teammate Jean-Pierre Jabouille were hot favourites when the Grand Prix circus went to South Africa for Round 3 of the 1980 World Championship.

The previous race had been dominated by the turbocharged Renaults thanks in a large part to the high altitude setting of the Interlagos circuit.

A turbo failure for Jabouille had handed Arnoux his maiden triumph, ahead of the Lotus of

Elio de Angelis and championship leader Alan Jones.

If the Brazilian circuit at 850m altitude was to the significant advantage of the French rockets, this was further emphasised at Kyalami, which was 2000m above sea level.

This was cause for concern for the rival Formula 1 teams, as predicted by Williams team founder Frank Williams.

“The altitude costs us 40 to 50 horsepower and the Renaults practically none. I think there will be two races, one for them and one for the rest of us,” he forecast.

Qualifying on Saturday was interrupted by two separate accidents.

French rookie sensation Alain Prost broke his wrist after suspension failure flung his McLaren M29 into the wall, followed by a leg breaking crash for Team ATS driver Marc Surer at the fast Crowthorne turn.

The session was suspended as Surer was trapped in the wreckage. Crow-bars and cutting tools were required for marshals and medics to extract Surer from the remnants, after which he was then flown by helicopter to the

Johannesburg hospital.

Both drivers subsequently missed several races as they recuperated from their injuries.

When Qualifying concluded on Sunday, the Renaults as expected were far in the distance.

Jabouille took pole, breaking the lap record set by Gilles Villeneuve one year earlier by 4.4s! Arnoux qualified 0.21s behind his teammate in a comfortable second.

Nelson Piquet was best of the rest in his Brabham, 1.87s off pole and just ahead of the two Ligiers of Jacques Laffite and Didier

Pironi. The two Saudi Leyland Williams entries sat sixth and eighth, with Carlos Reutemann out qualifying Alan Jones, the pair split by Alfa Romeo driver Patrick Depailler.

The 26th South African Grand Prix was run for a duration of 78 laps under a scorching sun, the combination of heat and high altitude set to test the reliability of the entire field.

As usual the two Renaults suffered turbo lag away from the line, however Piquet also made a poor start and was unable to capitalise. The two Ligier’s

Qualifying was disrupted when ATS driver Marc Surer crashed heavily, breaking both legs. Alain Prost also crashed his McLaren, breaking his wrist, though he was able to return to the track to watch the rest of the weekend. Both Surer and Prost were out for several races as they recuperated.

36 AutoAction

made reasonable starts but were trumped by Jones, who made an incredible start from eighth on the grid.

He squeezed between teammate Reutemann and Piquet before jinking to the inside of the two Renaults to briefly hold the lead on the approach to Turn 1.

By the end of the long main straight, however, Arnoux led Jabouille. At Turn 1 the pole sitter then placed his Renault on the inside of the Brazilian Grand Prix winner to retake the lead.

Jabouille quickly gapped Arnoux, who also pulled away from the chasing pack.

By the end of lap 1 the grid order had been reshuffled. The front two remained the same, Jabouille leading Arnoux, Jones sat third ahead of Laffite, Reutemann and Piquet. Pironi dropping to ninth behind the unreliable Ferraris of Villeneuve and reigning champion Jody Scheckter.

After collecting his first podium in Brazil, Elio de Angelis was brought back to reality, completing just one lap before crashing out of the race.

Further forward, home town hero Scheckter was on a charge, overtaking his teammate and Piquet to sit sixth at the end of lap 3 after starting from ninth.

It was polar opposites for Ferrari as teammate Villeneuve ran off the road, falling outside the top 20.

Out front, Arnoux closed up to the rear of his teammate, putting Jabouille under maximum pressure, while a fair distance behind Frenchman Laffite caught and passed Jones for third on lap 8.

Villeneuve made an unscheduled stop on lap 9 and was soon followed in by teammate Scheckter. Both Prancing Horses failed to finish the race, the reigning constructors’ champions remaining pointless after three races.

After what had been a frantic opening 13 laps, Jabouille remained in the lead with Arnoux

nipping at his heels, Laffite sat third, with Jones, Reutemann, Jean-Pierre Jarier, Piquet and Pironi rounding out the top eight as the race settled down.

Just before the halfway stage, championship leader Jones was forced into his first retirement of the season, a broken gearbox dropped him from a comfortable fourth place.

Jabouille withstood intense pressure from teammate Arnoux for the first hour, and then began to build a margin. But then there was heartbreak.

Just 17 laps remaining when the leader suffered a right-front puncture, forcing Jabouille into retirement for the second straight Grand Prix.

Due to Jabouille’s retirement Reutemann was promoted to third but three laps later he pitted for a fresh set of boots, returning to the track in seventh position.

A superb dogfight for the final step of the podium developed when Ligier youngster Pironi caught the back of Piquet, after several laps trying to forge a way past, the Frenchman successful on lap 69.

Out in the lead, Arnoux cruised to his second straight victory and in doing so took the lead in the drivers’ standings and handed Renault a hefty margin in the constructors’ title.

Laffite crossed the line a lonely 34s behind the winner and 18s ahead of his Ligier teammate Pironi, completing a French 1-2-3.

Piquet was fourth ahead of a recovering Reutemann and the vastly experienced Jochen Mass, taking a point for Arrows through

Rene Arnoux went back-to-back for Renault (top) while Didier Pironi (above) made it a French 1-2-3 on the podium. Alan Jones (below) was blistering at the start, led briefly, held third and then fourth, before recording his first retirement of the 1980 season when his gearbox failed.

avoiding trouble.

After sitting as high as fifth, Jarier crossed the line seventh ahead of two-time champion Emerson Fittipaldi.

Only 13 drivers were classified as finishers.

After retiring from the race an unhappy Jones vented his frustration at the all-conquering Renaults.

“Either everybody gets a turbo, or nobody,” he said. “It’s no good having a team that is two seconds quicker than everyone else, it’s boring.”

1980 South African Grand Prix – Kyalami Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Ret Ret Ret Ret NC Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret DNS DNS DNQ DNQ

Driver Rene Arnoux Jacques Laffite Didier Pironi Nelson Piquet Carlos Reutemann Jochen Mass Jean-Pierre Jarier Emerson Fittipaldi Clay Regazzoni Ricardo Zunino John Watson Mario Andretti Geoff Lees Bruno Giacomelli Jean-Pierre Jabouille Derek Daly Keke Rosberg Patrick Depailler Alan Jones Gilles Villeneuve Jody Scheckter Riccardo Patrese Eddie Cheever Elio de Angelis Alain Prost Marc Surer David Kennedy Jan Lammers

Drivers’ Standings

Jacques Laffite stormed to second after Jabouille retired, fastest of the non-turbo runners.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5. = 7.

8. = 10. =

Arnoux Jones Piquet Pironi Laffite De Angelis Rosberg Daly Prost Reutemann Giacomelli

Team Renault Ligier Ligier Brabham Williams Arrows Tyrrell Fittipaldi Ensign Brabham McLaren Lotus Shadow Alfa Romeo Renault Tyrrell Fittipaldi Alfa Romeo Williams Ferrari Ferrari Arrows Osella Lotus McLaren ATS Shadow ATS 18 13 9 7 6 6 4 3 3 2 2

Laps Result 78 1:36:52.54 78 + 34.07 78 + 52.49 78 + 1:01.02 77 + 1 Lap 77 + 1 Lap 77 + 1 Lap 77 + 1 Lap 77 + 1 Lap 77 + 1 Lap 76 + 2 Laps 76 + 2 Laps 70 Suspension 69 Engine 61 Puncture 61 Puncture 58 Accident 53 + 25 Laps 34 Gearbox 31 Transmission 14 Engine 10 Spun Off 8 Spun Off 1 Spun Off Accident Accident

Grid 2 4 5 3 6 19 13 18 20 17 21 15 24 12 1 16 23 7 8 10 9 11 22 14

Constructors’ Standings 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7. = 9. =

Renault Williams Ligier Brabham Lotus Fittipaldi McLaren Tyrrell Alfa Romeo Arrows

18 15 13 9 6 4 3 3 2 2

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37

LOVING

LIFE

Fresh from winning last year’s Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Series Jordan Love is set to make the major leap overseas to contest Porsche Supercup when racing resumes. DAN McCARTHY spoke to this rising star about his journey so far and aims for the future IN 2020 Jordan Love will follow in the footsteps of former Porsche Carrera Cup Australia winners Matt Campbell and Jaxon Evans by contesting the global one-make Porsche series, Supercup.

Like Campbell and Evans, Love will compete in the global category for the experienced Swiss team Fach Auto Tech and is scheduled to visit circuits such as Silverstone, Monza and SpaFrancorchamps Love started karting at the age of 10 and pretty quickly established aspirations to tackle these legendary circuits in open-wheel machinery.

38 AutoAction

“My Dad used to race Touring Cars back in the day, so I grew up with a love for cars, I could make car noises before I could walk or talk,” Love said.

“A family friend of ours whose son was racing go-karts invited us to a come and try day. I quite enjoyed it and went alright, so Christmas that year Dad bought me my first go kart.”

From there Love progressed through the karting ranks for five years before competing in his first car racing series in 2015, racing a Formula BMW in Asia, a more accessible path for the West Australian.

“Being from Perth, Asia was quite

appealing because it is the same distance as going to Sydney,” Love explained to Auto Action.

“For me at the time it was starting to get pretty serious. At that point we had the ambition of trying to get over to Europe and that was the goal to make a career out of it.

“I was still at school. I always wanted to finish school, so Europe wasn’t an option yet, which is why we did Formula 4 in Australia.”

At this time, a compact yet competitive field of youngsters were tackling the Australian Formula 4 Championship, which Love tasted

in 2015 when he took in four rounds ahead of a full-season campaign.

Love won races during that season, four in fact, but rival Will Brown was on his way to wrapping up dual national titles, winning both the Australian Formula 4 and the inaugural Toyota 86 Race Series.

“Formula 4 was looking like the next big thing. It had taken off in Europe, (so) our goal was the Formula car pathway. In F4 we were giving ourselves the opportunity to spend time in a car that has got wings and slicks and that is why it was very appealing,” he told AA.

Jordan Love is the latest young gun to follow the Porsche Pyramid by winning the GT3 Cup Challenge (above) and then Carrera Cup (left). He will now contest the top-tier of Porsche one-make motor sport worldwide, the Supercup, when racing recommences this year. Images: LAT/Porsche Motorsport Australia.

“It was time to go over to Europe, (and) we did some digging and unfortunately we couldn’t make it happen.”

At the crossroads, a solution emerged for Love with GT racing and the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge. It was accessible and a test drive assured him this was the path he needed to follow.

“We looked at the end goal which is to make a career out of it and for us going down that path of open wheelers at that time was not possible, (so) we had to look at alternative roots, which was sports car and GT racing.

“For me it was something different and I really enjoyed it. Jumping out of an open-wheeler was quite difficult, but I guess the grunt was the first thing I fell in love with, it took a little bit of getting used to.”

With Love’s attention now firmly on GT3 Cup Challenge he inked a deal to drive for the renowned development outfit, Sonic Motor Racing Services.

“Before we began, the goal was to do a year of Cup Challenge and two years of Carrera Cup,” he recalled.

“It was quite a successful year, the third most victories in the history of Cup Challenge and winning both the series and endurance cup.”

Love continued with the team as he progressed into the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia series, formulating a two-year plan aimed at title success.

“After Cup Challenge we knew that we were in for a wake up call in terms of the jump from Cup Challenge to Carrera Cup, (and) I did find it quite a big step,” he said.

“They say it is all about getting used to the car,

just chipping away, 2018 went to plan, a few ups and downs but we progressed throughout the year, came away with a couple of wins and a round win at Bathurst, which we were quite pleased about. The pace was there, just not so much the consistency.”

The West Aussie finished his first season fourth in the standings and had already gained a reputation as someone who was not afraid to let the car dance.

“I have always jumped in, not ragged the car but driven it to its limits, that is my driving style,” he explained.

“The way I have been taught to drive from a very young age is very much about driving from the seat of my pants and driving with feel. I’ve always been comfortable having a few large moments, I guess loose is the best way of describing it.”

Love improved on his debut campaign by achieving his aim of taking the title last year, with 11 wins and a further five podiums, however there were some major hurdles to overcome.

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39

Love is a graduate of Sonic’s renowned development program, which has spawned many succesful drivers who sprinkle through Supercars and international GT racing.

40 AutoAction

“It w was the definition of a rollercoaster year, started off really roller well a and consistent and progressing our w way forward over the first two round rounds,” Love recalled to AA. “Then we went on a winning “Th strea streak and we were right there in the c championship hunt, then at Darw Darwin it came crashing down with the iinjury.”

Du During the second race of the Darw Darwin weekend, Love was an inno innocent bystander after Liam Talb Talbot was tapped into a spin at the Hidden Valley hairpin, making hea heavy contact with the Sonic Por Porsche, causing an injury that thre th threatened re to derail his season.

“I “It was a fairly big impact,” Love sa said. “After it happened, I tried to fire the thing back up and realised that it was probably not re a good idea. ““I was trying to pull my radio out of the seat but I couldn’t o actually grab and pull it. As I a was getting out I felt something w was not quite right with my w h hand.”

An x-ray in the Darwin hospital rrevealed a broken right hand.

He flew back home to Perth where he had an operation and a 16-day race was on to be right ahead of Townsville.

“It was all about the recovery, trying to get it moving again and able to physically drive, which is what the big challenge was going to be,” he recalled.

Three weeks later Love made a heroic return at the streets of Townsville, although it was a challenging weekend that yielded a sole podium finish for Love.

“The championship wasn’t our focus, when we jumped back in the car it was about trying to find our rhythm again,” he said.

After Townsville, Love found that rhythm and strung together six consecutive race wins, projecting him into the series lead going into the final round.

“After that, everything sort of fell into place. I don’t really think we did anything different, what happened at Darwin made us that little bit hungrier and push that little bit harder,” Love said.

It was a challenging final round for Love after an incident in Race 2 with

Love will align with Fach Auto Tech for his maiden European campaign, the same team that fellow Carrera Cup Australia graduates Matt Campbell (above) and Jaxon Evans competed with. Before he turned to tin-tops, Love aimed for Formula 1 and along the way won races in Australian Formula 4 (below) while also contesting Formula BMW Asia (bottom).

series rival and teammate Dale Wood dropped him to the back of the field.

Wood received a penalty for the incident, while Love drove one of the races of his life recovering to finish eighth.

Fifth in the final race of the season was enough for Love to take the title, though thoughts were already on the next move of his career.

“To see that three-year plan we set three and a half years ago work and to tick the boxes we wanted to tick, was pretty special to me,” he said.

“What happened last year taught me how to deal with things away from the race track and what goes on when you aren’t in the car driving, in terms of preparing yourself and being mentally fit to race and dealing with a few ups and downs.

“I learnt a lot more than how to finish a race in a position or drive a car fast, for me it was a good learning year in terms of learning about this sport.”

As the leading Michelin Junior, a category within the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia series, Love was afforded the opportunity to compete in the manufacturer’s annual Junior Driver Shootout.

If chosen as the winner, a Porsche Young Driver contract beckons.

“The shootout was a goal of mine. The Porsche shootout, no matter who you are, is going to be tough,” he recalled.

“To work with the guys at Manthey Racing and Porsche Motorsport head office and see how they operate was a really big eye opener for me.”

Although he didn’t win, talks begun on a move to Europe resulting in a false start, before a conversation with team owner Alex Fach postBathurst 12 Hour provided him the deal he wanted.

“It all happened fairly late, in mid-February. I thought jesus these guys are preparing

for Round 1 in Australia and I don’t even know what I’m doing yet,” he told AA. “It was certainly stressful but we managed to get something worked out and I’m very happy with what we have sorted, I am very much looking forward to the year.”

At Fach Auto Tech, Love is joined by fellow Australian Joey Mawson and the experienced Dutchman Jaap van Lagen.

Mawson raced in the GP3 Series during 2018 before moving to Porsche Supercup with Team Australia last season, finishing on the podium at Monza. Van Lagen has been a fixture of the Supercup paddock and at 43-years-old is still capable of taking race victories.

Love believes there is a lot to learn from his new teammates who are at different stages of their careers.

“To be with Fach Auto Tech is a really good opportunity and to work alongside guys like Joey Mawson and Jaap van Lagen is going to be a good experience,” he said.

“I know that I am going to be able to learn quite a lot off both of those guys. I know I benefit quite a lot from being in a team

with a very experienced driver from with my time at Sonic and working with Dale.

“I learned quite a lot from Dale from all aspects of racing, and I think the same will happen over there with those two guys.”

In the Porsche Supercup season Love plans to chip away at the results, progressing and improving throughout the series. He admits it will be another steep learning curve but is ready for the challenge.

“You can never expect to set the world on fire in the first year in a championship like Supercup,” he said.

“The rookie championship is there for people who are in their first year of Supercup.

Obviously that is on the radar, it would be pretty cool to be highly competitive within that championship.

“New team, new engineers, language barriers and completely different tracks I’ve never seen before, it is going to be a really big learning curve.

“It’s (also) going to be a good challenge and hopefully what I have learned in Australia over the last three years is going to be quite beneficial.”

Xxx x x x Xxx x x x Xxx x x x Xxx x x x Xxx x x x Xxx x x x Xxx x x x Xxx x x x Xxx x x x x x x Xxx x x x Xxx x x x Xxx xxx

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41

MUSCLE MAN

Emerging as a driver to watch in the rapidly growing Trans Am category, Nathan Herne finished fourth on debut last year and hopes to go even better when this season recommences.

DAN McCARTHY discusses his rise to prominance.

Images: Trans Am Series/Neil Hammond A STUNNING maiden season in TA2 in 2019 established Nathan Herne as a young, versatile hard charger, after he cut his teeth in the Australian Formula Ford Series.

As the son of a successful speedway racer, Herne grew up around racing and quickly caught the bug. He started racing karts at the age of six, having elected to go circuit racing instead of following his father’s path.

“I’ve always been around a race car so it has always been there, it has been the biggest part of my life so far,” Herne told Auto Action.

“I had fun in go karts with all the people I met and as I moved through the ranks in go-karting, I learnt more about Formula Ford, it suddenly interested us.”

Herne’s decision was also guided by karting rival Will Brown and his father, after they had joined the Formula Ford field and through that association, he met experienced Formula Ford team owner Brett Francis.

42 AutoAction

“We spoke to Will Brown and his Dad, then we met Brett Francis through them.

Brett said ‘come and do a test day, see how you go and see if you enjoy it, if you do we have got a seat available for you’,” Herne explained.

“I rocked up to the test day, having never driven a race car in my life, (it was) the most fun I’ve ever had when I jumped into the Formula Ford for the first time.

“I thought that thing had more horsepower than anything in the world, as soon as you put your foot down it was straight power, it was awesome fun.”

For 2017, he joined Brown among other skilled rivals including Max Vidau, Jayden Ojeda and now US-based Hunter McElrea, as part of a very strong field.

However, before he could compete in Formula Ford, first he had to overcome the hurdle of gaining his CAMS racing licence.

“In the Formula Ford in my three practice sessions I was (in) with the Hyundai Excels and I wasn’t allowed to pass,” he recalled.

“At the end of the weekend I had no

idea what had just happened, I was just going along rolling with the punches.”

What followed was a strong debut season for the Queenslander, finishing the season sixth in the national series and giving him confidence heading into his second year as teammate to current USF2000 driver Cameron Shields.

Although his season unravelled due to incidents, it provided a learning curve through watching Shields.

“In 2018 we won both the Victorian and New South Wales state championships, which was good, but the national series was not good at all,” Herne told AA. “We didn’t maximise that year as we were trying to make a name for ourselves. My teammate was Cameron Shields at the time and it was a big learning curve.”

By chance, a drive of the Aussie Driver Search Supercar resulted in a test of a Brad Jones Racing Super2 car.

After the completion of an Aussie Driver Search shootout day, Herne got several sessions in the car alongside Macauley Jones.

“Macauley gave us Brad’s phone number, we spoke to Brad, (and) he had a test day and evaluation day coming up,” Herne recalled.

“We went down to Winton Motor Raceway and hopped in the Zane Goddard car. It was good! We had some names there like Broc Feeney, Ojeda, Madeline Stewart and Josh Fife.

“Ojeda and I were quickest for the weekend, we were separated by 0.002s or something insane like that, it was a good learning experience.”

Herne then wanted to focus his career goal on Supercars but found himself in a tricky situation, as a lack of budget could not get him a drive in Super2.

“We couldn’t really do another year of Formula Ford because there was nothing else to achieve apart from winning the national series and we couldn’t go into Super2, so we were sort of stuck at the end of a cross road,” he said.

The Queenslander had been assessing a potential move into the TA2 Muscle Car Series, after he and his father kept an

eye on the category at Formula Ford race meetings.

“We did a test day in Ashley Jarvis’s series winning car at the end of 2018 and it was good fun,” Herne said.

“It was different. I had always done right foot braking in Formula Ford, whereas in TA2 you had to left foot brake, so I had to learn how to (do that) at the test day, as well as having to be on the left hand side of the car, an extra 400hp and an extra 700kg of weight, it was a big learning curve.

“We wanted to get into TA2, but we knew there weren’t really any names in there to fight against. Aaron Seton was the first to really bite the bullet and jump in the series, then the Miedecke’s got into it. When we saw them join, we realised it had the names, (so) we went down the TA2 path and are absolutely glad about it.”

Last year Herne entered the series in a privately run Dodge Challenger.

After a troubled opening round, the Queenslander began to deliver some strong results.

“It was different Me and dad had never done anything involved with bitumen at all ... when we raced

Nathan Nath Na than th an Herne Her erne n has consistently ne con onsi s st sten entl tlyy raced race ra c d ce at the the sharp sha harp end end n of of the the Trans Trran anss Am m field fiel fi eld d against agai ag ains instt more mooree experienced m exp xper e ie er ienc nced nc e rivals ed riv ivals including Aaron Seton (above left) and George Miedecke (above right).

Although a winner of multiple state Formula Ford titles, Herne struggled in the National series.

Formula Ford Brett set up the car and he was the only one who worked on it,” Herne said.

“We came into TA2 not really knowing much about it. The first round in Sydney we just ran the car how we got it, we didn’t change much on it, I think we did one front spring change and that was it, we just wanted to see what it did.

“For the second round at Morgan Park we did a bit of testing beforehand to start throwing the kitchen sink at it.”

Results instantly came their way with a victory in the final race of the weekend, which Herne described as the hardest race of his career.

“I managed to get around the outside of Aaron Seton at Turn 1 and held him off for the race.

“Morgan Park is a tight track but it is still hard to hold a car behind you, and to have Seton, George and Andrew Miedecke and Jarvis all trying to get past me, it was big,” he recalled.

Come the season’s end Herne had earned seven victories in the 24 race season, however a series of mechanical DNFs cost him dearly and he finished fourth in the standings.

For the 2020 National Trans Am Series Herne made the move to Dream Racing Australia, in a bid to win the series this year. In the opening round Herne recorded two podium finishes on the streets of Adelaide.

Adel Ad elai aide de. on For mo For more re o n Herne Herne Hern e read read d the the he news new ewss story early st tor oryy ea e rlyy in tthe rl he magazine. mag agaz azin az ine in e. e.

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LATEST e-SERIES RACE COVERAGE

MCLAUGHLIN LEADS e-SERIES EARLY Report: Dan McCarthy THE FIRST two rounds of the Supercars All Stars Eseries have been completed with a total of seven races run and won.

Scott McLaughlin sits on top of the leader board after recording two race victories.

All 25 Supercars Championship driver are participating in the 10 round e-Series, with a number of wildcards schedueld to make an appearance, the first of whom was eight-time Formula 1 Grand Prix winner Max Verstappen.

Race 1 took place at Phillip Island, and saw experienced simulator Shane van Gisbergen races wildcard entry Max Verstappen at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in round two.

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drivers Anton de Pasquale, Shane van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin qualify up the front.

On the opening lap of the race both de Pasquale and van Gisbergen ran wide and plummeted down the field.

This left McLaughlin unchallenged, taking the win from his Team Penske teammate Fabian Coulthard and Tickford Racingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cam Waters. van Gisbergen recovered to sixth with de Pasquale eighth.

The reverse grid Race 2 featured a compulsory pit stop and turned into a controversial affair, with Jack Le Brocq taking the lead early on and quickly pulleing a margin.

De Pasquale pitted early, undercut the majority of the field and found himself in second position, hunting down leader Le Brocq in the closing laps.

On the final lap de Pasquale hounded the back of Le Brocqâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tickford Racing Mustang, and at the final turn the Penrite Racing driver launched a move up the inside making considerable contact, and pushing Le Brocq aside. de Pasquale crossed the line first but was handed a 30s penalty for the incident, giving Le Brocq the win.

Chaz Mostert was second with his Walkinshaw Andretti United teammate Bryce Fullwood third.

Race 3 at Monza was absolute chaos,

and in the end it was McLaughlin who stayed out of trouble. After his compulsory pit stop, he maturely fought his way back to the front of the field to take the win, with Waters and Chaz Mostert rounding out the podium.

Verstappen joined the grid for the second round of the e-Series.

Despite being a Supercars novice, the Dutchman was at home driving at two current Grand Prix locations, Silverstone and the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

For Race 1 at Silverstone de Pasquale took pole from McLaughlin and van Gisbergen and the trio remained in that order for the first half of lap 1.

Out of Luffield McLaughlin touched de Pasquale and this allowed van Gisbergen to pull alongside, the pair side but side through Maggots and into Becketts, but ran wide allowing Verstappen to squeeze through and take second position.

De Pasquale was untroubled and took the race win, Verstappen held onto second from his Red Bull Racing teammate van Gisbergen and McLaughlin.

The reverse grid saw both McLaughlin and Verstappen caught up in separate incidents on the opening lap.

On lap 7 Tickford Racing driver Waters took the lead off Jake Kostecki at Stowe in an aggressive move and held on to take the win. The MSR driver came home second ahead of de Pasquale, van Gisbergen and McLaughlin, with Verstappen 18th.

The circus moved to Barcelona for the final two races. Pole sitter van Gisbergen led into Turn 1 while his rivals fell by the wayside, meanwhile de Pasquale made a poor start from the

BRIT SUTTON IN ARG CUP LEAD

By Dan McCarthy

Highly experienced sim racer Scott McLaughlin has been a front runner at most events, has two wins and leads the pointscore after the second round. Images: Sam Blacklock Media/ Getty Images.

front row and McLaughlin spun at Turn 1, Verstappen threaded the needle and jumping to second.

Van Gisbergen went onto take his first e-Series win from Verstappen and de Pasquale, while after the spin McLaughlin recovered to 19th.

In the final race van Gisbergen led through Turns 1 and 2 as de Pasquale spun out of second,which separated the field allowing van Gisbergen, Verstappen and McLaughlin to pull away.

Verstappen and McLaughlin made their compulsory stops on lap 4 attempting to undercut van Gisbergen.

The #97 car emerged from the pit lane at the start of lap 7 with Verstappen now in front, but with fresher tyres the 2016 Supercars champion was able to hone in on the 2016 Spanish Grand

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Prix winner, re-taking the lead on lap 9.

Van Gisbergen took his second straight win from Verstappen, McLaughlin and Waters.

Round 3 of the Supercars All Stars Eseries took place at Bathurst after Auto Action went to print. A full report will feature in the next issue of the magazine.

Supercars Standings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

McLaughlin Waters van Gisbergen Heimgartner Mostert Coulthard de Pasquale Davison Fullwood Kostecki

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501 446 407 401 385 351 351 349 316 316

THE SECOND and third rounds of the ARG ESports Cup visited two former Formula 1 circuits, Zolder in Belgium and Watkins Glen in America.

It had been a testing opening round for the series as the stream was plagued by technical issues, however these glitches were resolved for Round 2 where the field of Australian Racing Group category drivers was reduced to 40.

Former British Touring Car Champion Ash Sutton qualified on pole position for the opening 30 minutes race at Zolder, alongside Harley Haber, with James Golding and Nathan Carnage has been a constant theme in the ARG Cup Herne just behind. events, such as evidenced at Zolder (centre). Garth By the end of lap 3 Sutton had Tander had a happier time at Zolder, scoring a win. pulled out a reasonable margin over the fierce battle for second position, which intensified as the race went Nine minutes into the race Golding became on. the first of the leading group to pit and was Seven minutes in it all came to blows. closely followed by Haber, Herne, Cox and Herne took second off Golding and then Randle. Giacomin and Sutton stayed out defended his position into the next corner, until near the end of the race in an attempt to the pack then concentenered up with Herne, make the overcut strategy work.

Golding and Dylan O’Keeffe making contact.

When all compulsory stops had been Herne and O’Keeffe ran wide, while Golding completed, five drivers remained up front. spun into the path of TCR driver Jay Hanson.

As they started the final lap, Haber led, Out front, Sutton claimed a dominant Sutton and Randle with Herne and Golding victory, taking the race win by over 20s from just behind.

O’Keeffe and Herne.

Down the back straight Haber blocked The second reverse top 20 sprint race saw Sutton, allowing Randle to sweep around the TCR Australia driver Aaron Cameron start outside at Turn 5 and take second. alongside TCM youngster Cameron Mason, With this forward momentum the with Tim Macrow just behind.

Super2 star made a move on Haber at the Cameron made a good start and led around penultimate turn, Randle lost speed out the the first sequence of corners, with Macrow corner and as a result made contact with second while Garth Tander leapt up into third. Herne, Randle being flung out wide and lost Halfway around the lap Macrow launched positions. a move up the inside of Cameron but could Haber took the win from Sutton, Herne, not stop the car, missing the apex and flying Golding and Giacomin, with Randle dropping through the grass. Cameron ran wide in to eighth. avoidance and this allowed Tander into the The top 20 were reversed for the 15 minute lead. sprint. Kiwi Tom Alexander led the race early The 2007 Supercars champion was not but was eventually overhauled by Haber and headed from there and went onto take the Sutton. win fron Nic Carroll, who charged his way After sitting on the rear of Haber for the through the field. majority of the race, Sutton claimed the lead Cameron crossed the line in third but was at Turn 5 on the penultimate lap. handed a penalty for cutting through the final On the final lap the Briton forcefully blocked chicane, dropping him to 17th. O’Keeffe was down the back straight and again at Turn 6, therefore promoted to the final podium step taking the win by the skin of his teeth from and with it took the series lead.

Haber. Alexander was third and O’Keeffe Despite being quick in practice, O’Keeffe fourth from outside the top 30. could not continue his strong start to the ARG Standings season and qualifyed 20th for Round 3 at 1 Sutton 191 Watkins Glen.

2 Herne 168 Once again it was Sutton who took pole 3 Haber 166 from Haber and Luca Giacomin, who missed 4 O’Keeffe 158 the second round of the series. The opening 5 Ransley 155 race was a 30 minute affair which contained 6 Beikoff 120 a compulsory stop for the first time.

7 Tander 119 Early in the piece a seven car battle pack 8 Carroll 116 formed up the front containing Haber, Herne, 9 Cox 114 S5000 driver Tom Randle, Sutton, Jordan 10 Giacomin 106 Cox Golding and Giacomin.

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LATEST e-SERIES RACE COVERAGE

PAGENAUD TAKES TWO

Report: Dan McCarthy AFTER TAKING victory in Round 2 of the IndyCar iRacing Challenge two-time Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin suffered his first major hurdle crashing when fighting for the lead.

The first two events took place on road courses but the following two rounds at Michigan and a Twin Ring Motegi rounds took place on ovals, something McLaughlin did not had previous experience racing on.

Despite this the New Zealander again performed admirably constantly fighting with his Team Penske teammates, including reigning Indy500 winner Simon Pagenaud who won both races.

Fuel was the talking point as the Michigan race came to an exciting conclusion as the front runners either pitted, eased up to save fuel or simply ran out.

In the end Pagenaud rose up through the pack unchallenged and was able to save

Just like in the real thing, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a trans-Tasman fight at the front. Here Scott Dixon battles Will Power for the lead at the Twin Ring Motegi oval.

enough fuel to make it to the finish and take a commanding victory.

Late in the piece McLaughlin overhauled former NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr to take second position, both drivers slowing enough to make it on fuel with the Kiwi holding onto second position, while Earnhardt

claimed his first IndyCar iRacing Challenge podium. Aussie Will Power was first of the two stoppers who charged home to finish in fourth place.

It was another equally exciting race at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit, in which Pagenaud inherited the win when his Team Penske

Penske drivers have been prominent throughout the Indycar iracing series.

Joseph Newgarden leads the pack here.

48 AutoAction

teammates McLaughlin and Power collided when lapping a back marker within sight of the finish.

It was an emotional pole position for Canadian Robert Wickens, who suffered a near fatal accident at Pocono Raceway in 2018. With limited movement in his legs Wickens is driving his simulator with the use of hand controls and has adapted to this in just three weeks.

After a couple of early race incidents the race settled down and by lap 40 of 113 Power led from Dixon, as McLaughlin swept past Jack Harvey into third position.

McLaughlin was first of the leaders to pit on lap 49, Power followed a lap later, while Dixon and Pagenaud waited until the end of lap 52.

The early stop from McLaughlin enabled him to leapfrog five-time IndyCar champion Dixon into second position with Pagenaud ahead of former F1 driver Marcus Ericsson and Harvey.

It took until lap 66 for Dixon to make his way past McLaughlin and into second as he quickly caught Power. The experienced leading pair changed positions multiple times before Dixon eventually made the move stick and pulled away.

Pagenaud was first of the leaders to pit for the final time with 28 laps to go, with Dixon, Power and McLaughlin pitting the next time round.

At the conclusion of the stops Power led from McLaughlin and Pagenaud, while Kiwi Dixon dropped to fourth.

With 10 laps to go McLaren Arrow driver Oliver Askew tried to un-lap himself, colliding with Power who then bounced into McLaughlin.

With damage Power was able to continue but had to relinquish the lead to Pagenaud, while McLaughlin was forced to pit for repairs.

Frenchman Pagenaud was able to hold off a last lap Dixon assault to beat the Kiwi by 0.3s, with Power in third.

McLaughlin finished the race in 23rd position.

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INTERVIEW AutoAction

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Relive the golden era of Australian motor sport with these fantastic ’Bathurst Photographic History’ books These A4 landscape books are full of rare action images taken by some of Australia’s best motorsport photographers, which you won’t see published anywhere else. Start your own library or give as a gift.

BATHURST A9X TORANAS A PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY

MOFFAT AT THE MOUNTAIN A PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY

With over 180 colour and black and white images this 192-page book capturers Allan Moffat’s stellar Bathurst 500/1000 career as both a driver and a team owner – from 1969 to 1996.

Or buy any 3 and pay only $109.00 including postage, saving $26.00

This 176-page book features imagery of every A9X Torana that started in the 1977, 1978 and 1979 Hardie Ferodo Bathurst 1000 races.

With a Foreword by Bob Morris, it features an interview with Jim Richards who won Bathurst three years in a row with Peter Brock including two in the mighty A9X Torana.

With over 160 black and white and colour images from all around the track, this is one of the best books to feature the Bathurst Torana A9X race car.

BATHURST 500 1963 - 1964 - 1965 - 1966 - 1967 192 page book features imagery of every car that started in the Bathurst 500 races from 1963 to 1967.

HARDIE FERODO 500 - 1970 A PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY 160 page book features imagery of every car that started in the 1970 event.

PHILLIP ISLAND TO BATHURST - THE TRADITIONAL YEARS RESULTS 160 page book features detailed information on every car that started in the original/traditional Phillip Island and Bathurst 500/1000 races from 1960 to 1999.

BATHURST XU-1 TORANAS A PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF THE GIANT KILLING XU-1s

176-page book features imagery of every XU-1 Torana that started in the 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1973 Hardie Ferodo Bathurst 500 Foreword by Colin Bond and a good mix of colour and black and white images.

BATHURST GROUP A COMMODORES 1985 TO 1992.

This 192-page book features imagery of every Group A Commodore that started in the 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1992 Bathurst 1000 races. The book has a Foreword

by Graham Moore and has a great mix of black and white and colour images.

BATHURST HARDTOP FALCONS A PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY This 192 page book features imagery of every Hardtop Falcon that started in the 1973, 1974, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979 Bathurst Hardie Ferodo 1000 races.

The book is foreworded by Kevin Bartlett.

A mix of colour and black and white images.

BATHURST XD AND XE FALCONS This 160-page book features imagery of every XD and XE Falcon that started the 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1984 Bathurst 1000 races. Bob Morris and Garry Willmington have written the Forward to this colourful book with a great mix of colour and black and white images.

BATHURST GT-HO FALCONS A PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY This 160 page book features imagery of every GT-HO Falcon that started in the 1969, 1970, 1971 and 1972 Hardie Ferodo 500 races at Bathurst – with a good mix of colour and black and white. The foreword is by John Goss

BATHURST GTS MONAROS This 144-page book features imagery of every Monaro that started in the 1968, 1969, 1970, 1973 and 1974 Bathurst Hardie Ferodo races.

The book has co-Forewords by Bruce McPhee and Colin Bond and has a good mix of colour and black and white images.

BATHURST ROTARY MAZDAS A PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY This 176 page book features imagery of every Rotary Mazda that started in the Bathurst Hardie Ferodo and James Hardie races from 1969 to 1985. The book is foreworded by Don Holland.

BATHURST CHARGERS AND PACERS This 160-page book features imagery of every Charger and Pacer that started in the 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1973 Hardie Ferodo Bathurst races. The book’s Forwarded is by Leo Geoghegan and has a good mix of colour and black and white images.

To place an order via email send to: bruce@autoaction.com.au or give us call at Auto Action HQ on 03 9563 2107

p ra w S L A N NATIO

BROTHERS SHINE AT RAINBOW

Image: Show N Go Photography

IN ONLY the second competitive outing of their ProLite Nissan-powered Fusion buggy, Joseph and Jourdain Patterson were the outright winners of the Rainbow Rises 240 last month.

The event was the opening round of the Victorian Off Road Championship held over one five lap and two of 11 laps of the 8.7km course. It was also the first round of the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Club Shield which took place over the first three sections.

Only in the final section did the brothers come to the forefront as

the former pacesetters fell by the wayside. The Pattersons ultimately placed almost two and a half minutes ahead of the SXS Turbo class Can-Am Mavericks piloted by Tim Bower and Ben Lugg, and Glenn Pike and Darryn Conn respectively.

Matt Hanson and Nigel Pendlebury (Pro Buggy Jimco/Ford Ecoboost twin turbo) were the fastest through the first section and early into the second.

They were using the short course event to test and shock tune for the then-scheduled St George, which has

STEALTH WINS ON DEBUT

A FAULTLESS run across the whole of Mulgowie Short Course off road event at the beginning of last month, gave Tait Svenson and Paul Emmerson outright honours in the Lockyer Short Series second round.

It was the debut outing for the team with its Holden V6 Alloytec powered Stealth Predator ProLite buggy, and they finished well clear by 4mins 23.23s after victories in four of the five fourlap 5km heats.

Paul Henviou took on the bo Can-Am X3 event singlehanded in his SXS Turbo and apart from Heat 1, was inside the top three over the remainder. He ultimately finished second overall 2mins ahead of regular rally competitors Glenn Brinkman and Dale Moscatt in an Extreme

50 AutoAction

since been postponed.

Steven Graham and Jay Mitchell (Sportslite Tatum, Honda) took over the front running reins, winning section two and three before they stopped on the penultimate lap with a broken axle.

That elevated Brant Knight (Sportslite Saber/Suzuki) into the lead but he would have steering failure on the last lap. Also looking strong were Brad Chasemore and Leigh Wells (Pro Buggy Jimco Aussie Special/Chev L98) but they were plagued with fuel pressure problems.

Fourth place went to Ben Erceg and David Mussell (Sportslite Racer Engineering/GM Ecotec) ahead of the Dean Williams and Jon Huber (Southern Cross/Daihatsu) and Lawrie Penpraze and Matt Johnson (Jalco/Nissan). The latter two teams were vying for top honours in the Sportsman class and finished just 10s apart.

Club Shield honours were taken by Knight over Bower/Lugg, Pike/Conn, Williams/Huber and David Davis in his Sportslite Saber/Suzuki. GOB

4WD Toyota Landcruiser/Chev V8 4 tthe next day.

Mitchell Cross (SXS Sport Polaris RZR 1000) was also off to P great start, and was well placed, g p particularly after Heat 2 on which th they were the fastest. Unfortunately a tree would get in the way of being a able to carry that form to the finish.

C Class rival and similarly mounted, C Campbell Smith was also prominent af after the first heat but his day was ov over with a blown clutch. Gary Taylor wa was another second day casualty wi with his Polaris, blowing its engine.

In the end fourth place went to Mi Michael and Ben Bertinazzi (Pro Bu Buggy Radcam/Buick) ahead of Image: BSCC-Jerry Dupre Ch Christian Montesalvo in a Polaris with e Jus Justin and Jamie Montesalvo sharing the navigating duties. Then followed 4WD Isuzu D-MAX. Second after the first two heats and going the David Loughan/James Ryder/Rohan Ryder into the overnight lay-up were Myles and Tara Can-Am. They had overcome a broken brake line McNicol, but their promising run ended with a early to finish ahead of Ross Newman (SXS Sport broken rear suspension mount on the Extreme Yamaha YXZ 1000R). GOB

DONEYS TAKE VW BAJA TO PERENJORI WIN DESPITE STRUGGLING with a clutch issue on the third section, Colin and Peter Doney were able to take victory in the GTurbo Rod Hatter Memorial Perenjori 360, round one of the WA Off Road Racing Championship last month.

The Extreme 2WD Nissan Maxima-powered Volkswagen Type1 Baja crew finished 3mins 2ses clear.

A strong final section from Jake Clucas (Chenoweth/ Toyota) was not quite enough, however, to overcome Jared Percival and Darryn Beckett (SS Racetech/Toyota) to claim the runner-up spot. They were also battling for ProLite honours and were just over a minute apart at the end.

Phil Shepley (Ext2WD Pro2/Chev) was quickest in the prologue ahead of class rival Harleigh Uren (Pro 2/Chev)

and Doney, who had overcome an early spin. Percival was next ahead of Murray Kifer and Walter Sutton (SXS Turbo Can-Am X3).

Just before the 120km two-laps of Section 1, Shepley withdrew with a rear main leak. Uren was first for the section as Doney clocked in second. Gavin and Latia Rodgers came from 10th to third and the gap back to eighth was less than a minute.

A brake issue dropped Uren out of the top 10 on Section 2. Doney took over the lead while Rodgers was quick until he ran short of fuel 5km from the finish.

Clucas came through for second which made for third outright. Third for the section, Percival moved into second overall.

Clucas overtook the struggling Doney in Section 3 while

Image: Brett Sandell

Percival closed on Doney but didn’t get past. Paul Nappy and Gavin Cullen looked set for fourth outright until their Pro Buggy Kadco/Ford broke a remote oil filter adaptor.

That elevated Sean Fitzpatrick and Brett Funneman (Can-Am) who also won the SXS Turbo class. Uren blitzed the final section and charged from 15th to fifth ahead of Kifer. Haydn Hamilton/Kerry Yaxley won (Polaris XP1000) SXS Sport, from Karl Richardson/Simon Sharpe (Performance 2WD Nissan Navara), and Deon Visagie (Sportslite ‘Built in a Shed’/Nissan).

In Production 4WD, Aaron Griffiths/Adam Webb (Toyota Prado) won. Peer Horn/Cameroon Dreyton (Mercedes) had a strong victory in Extreme 4WD over Mark Murray/ Jim Ingham (Nissan Patrol/Toyota), as they were mostly locked in 2WD. GOB

HOOKS INTO ANOTHER TITLE KICKING OFF their defence of the NT Off Road Titles, Greg and Julie Hooks were convincing winners of the JAWS Contracting Hosetech 250, the first 2020 round at Mt Ooraminna on March 14-15.

In their Subaru-powered Sollitt, they won all five laps over the 53km loop circuit, finishing 4mins 23.6s ahead of ProLite class rivals Alex Heinzel and Jason Wilson in their Nissan-powered Southern Cross.

The latter pair was second across each section and were 3mins 36.4s clear of third placed Brett Taylor, who had Peter Treis and Loretta Berry down as sharing the navigating duties. They were the best of the Extreme 2WD in their Jimco Trophy Truck, powered by a Toyota PH9 Nascar V8 engine.

Fourth and first in Pro Buggy were Jason and Sam Adami in their Porter/Chev V8 ahead of David Bird

Image: Josie Hodgins

and Mark Neitschke, who were second Extreme 4WD home aboard their Bennett Trophy Truck/Chev V8.

They were followed in by Lincoln and Mark Sheedy in the Performance 2WD class-winning Ford F150. The next two across the finish line were third and fourth

in ProLite – Lochy and Paddy Weir (Jimco/Toyota) and Craig and Luke Pankhurst (Aceco/Toyota) – ahead of Jack and Tim Weir (Holeshot/Toyota) who won Super 1650.

Making her debut as a driver after experiencing navigator duties in the past, Teegan Mowles (Suzuki

Vitara) finished 13th as Rod Berry pointed the directions, also winning Performance 4WD. Fellow junior Jacob Booth, along with Sam Golotta, finished 11th while Shane Greening and Cody Hodgins teamed up but didn’t get past the prologue. GOB

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p ra w S L A N NATIO THREE STATE championship categories plus Regularity entries ventured to the Collie Motorplex in Western Australia for the annual Icebreaker Meeting, and saw several lap records broken on March 1415.

FORMULA VEE

BOTH THE 1600cc and 1200cc classes witnessed perfect winning scores for David Caisley and Andrew Lockett respectively with five points races each as well as the non-points event.

Behind Caisley (Jacer) in the first outing Rod Lisson (Borland Sabre) second, as he held off the advancing Mark Horan (Stinger) who had earlier relegated David Campbell (Jacer). Lisson nailed it at the start of the second race to head Austin Pearson (Jacer) and Caisley, who ultimately displaced both. Horan followed him through, and left Lisson third.

The third race was red flagged due to one car in the wall at the back of the circuit. At the restart Caisley led from start to finish.

Horan and Pearson fought out the minors with the former able to hold on narrowly.

Horan was best away in race four but went wide at Turn 1 and then speared across the track in the path of the others.

Pearson snuck through but Lisson left the track to avoid contact. Pearson led until passed by Caisley while Lisson salvaged third.

After a race-long scrap, Caisley won over Pearson in the fifth as Horan took a narrow third over Lisson. The non-championship sixth race continued where the others finished with the first three spots swapping throughout. Behind Caisley in the end Pearson triumphed over Horan for second.

In the 1200s, Brett Scarey (CD-Vee) was second to Lockett in each outing. April Welsh (Jacer) put together a string of thirds, the first over Robert McAfee (Polar) and the rest over Kathy Lisson (Borland Sabre). McAfee was a non-finisher in race two and crashed in race three.

FORMULA RACING

OVERALL THE results went with Martin Bullock (Chevron B20) from Simon Alderson and Craig Thompson in their Van Diemen Formula Ford 2000s, just the way they finished in race one.

CATEGORIES BARK AT COLLIE Alderson turned the tables on Bullock in the second with Thompson again third.

The next race was stopped when Brian Searles (Ralt RT1) had an on-track battery problem. Even though there was a restart, the race was declared with Bullock the winner from Alderson and David Watkins (Royale RP31M).

The fourth and fifth races went to Bullock over Alderson and Thompson who bettered his FF2000 rival in the last, won by Bullock.

Brock Boley led the first race but could not hold off Grant Johnson while Matt Martin secured third. Johnson also took the second race where Brad Boley was a close second until forced to retire. Brandon Sharpe picked up second in front of Martin.

Greg Dyson (Ford Falcon AU) hit the lead in race three before Johnson passed Brad Boley and then nabbed Dyson, who would

Images: Mick Oliver

ultimately fall to Boley.

In the Pro Am class race one went to Carl Fanderlinden over Marc Watkins and Nicholas Hanlon in a Falcon EA trifecta.

Watkins was best away in the second race ahead of Fanderlinden and Hanlon, who passed both and won. Chase Hoy (Commodore VN) led throughout the last ahead of Watkins once he overtook Michael Holdcroft (EA). Mick Oliver

SALOON CARS HOLDEN COMMODORE VT Commodore drivers dominated the Pro results for the newer cars, while Ford Falcon EA pilots headed older Pro-Am runners.

EVO REPAIRS REWARDED

Image: Bruce Moxon

52 AutoAction

THE FINAL round of the Whiteline Twilight Tarmac Rallysprint Series threw up another winning duo in David Isaacs and Aaron Napper, at Sydney Dragway on March 12.

Their Mitsubishi EVO 9 sustained heavy rear subframe damage at the last round when Isaacs hit a gutter with considerable force. The team battled to turn the car around in the four weeks between rounds and their efforts paid off.

Isaacs started with being fastest on the first two runs over the 3.5km course. Dean Buczynski and Blake Lovell (Subaru Impreza WRX) hit back and were fastest on the last three runs. Seeded 38th, the pair would take second place, just 0.3s behind at the end.

Third went to Ben Dudley and David Ford in a Porsche 911 GT3. They were equal fastest on one

run (with Isaacs) and finished just 3.5s in arrears of second place. Dudley was also best of the 2WD entries.

Fourth overall were Josh and Matt Redhead (EVO 5) and just 0.8s back. They have been fast all series long and just needed a little luck to fall their way to break through for a win. Next of the 2WD runners were Robert and Sasha Kolimackovski (Honda Integra), from Brendan Reeves and Aaron Wishart (Hyundai i30N). Fastest Junior was Tom Donohue with Fro Horobin in an Evo 10 – not a bad car for a learner!

Again the variety of cars within the 73 entries was impressive – from specialist tarmac rally cars like Isaccs’, road-going cars, even a Stadium Super Truck! Bruce Moxon

Image: Ian Colle y

HUTCHINSON TAKES FIRST POINTS AFTER MISSING the first run and then scoring second fastest on the next, Warwick Hutchinson set the yardstick to ultimately take FTD at round one of Mt Cotton’s Carric Accounting & Business Services - Tighe Cams Queensland Hillclimb Series, on February 29-March 1.

Without regulars Dean Tighe and Michael Von Rappard, Hutchinson’s best effort in his turbocharged

rotary-powered OMS28 came on the seventh of 10 allowable attempts with a 38.51s run. Second fastest and the only other competitor to get into the Under 40 Club was Brett Bull, setting his best time on the final run at 39.02s aboard his turbocharged Van Diemen RF03.

The battle for third behind the two Formula Libre Over 2.0-Litre entries was between F/L under 1.3-Litre

class competitors Jay Malsen and David Quelch.

As their runs see-sawed, the latter in his Honda DPQ03 looked set to secure the final podium spot with a low 42 midway through.

They actually tied on the penultimate attempts before Matsen (Empire 001) went quicker on the last run to secure third.

Fifth overall went to Greg Tebble (Group R Van Diemen Formula Ford 2000)

WHITE HOT IN SPRINT

IN FRONT of thousands of spectators that lined the streets, Will White won the Targa Albany Sprint. The popular 2.8km hillclimb is in its second year, and was held through the West Australian Great Southern port city on Labour Day, Monday March 2.

White clocked the best time of 1m 37.43s on the second of five available runs and was a stunning 3.42s quicker than the nearest of the other 87 entries. Any chance of going even faster was hampered by a slipping clutch on his ensuring runs.

He drove his Mitsubishi EVO 9 which had been a podium finisher in other Targa West events. For this event, to be more competitive it had a modified turbo as well as lightened doors.

Second place went to Denver Parker (Nissan Skyline R33) which was one place better than last year. Meanwhile third place was a tie between Dennis Heller (EVO 8MR) and Mark Greenham (EVO 9).

Behind them was Mark Cates (Porsche GT3 RS) who was fifth fastest ahead of Neil Herbert (Subaru Impreza WRX). Finishing seventh outright

ahead of Michael Larymore (Production Sports Toyota MR2), Ross McKay (Ford Escort Sports Sedan), Dean Amos (Lotus 2 Eleven), Brian Petitt (Wesfield SE Clubman Sports) and Gavin Taylor in his Sports Sedan Volkswagen Golf.

The end-of-the-day Top Six run-off which didn’t count towards the final result was won by Hutchinson ahead of Bull, Matsen, Quelch, Tebble and Larymore. GOB

Image: Targa West Events

was the only electric car in the event, the brand new Tesla Model 3 driven by Jurgen Lunsmann, who surprised many by clocking the secondfastest time on the first run.

Behind Bill Stagoll (EVO 9) came the fastest pre1986 classic competitor in Simon Gunson (Ford Capri) who came in ahead of 10th placed Chris Caruso in his Dodge Viper ACR. The youngest competitor was 16-year-old Cam Puzey, a Year 12 student still on his L-plates, who finished 22nd with his Subaru Legacy RS in his first hillclimb. GOB

PORSCHE PAIR ON TOP AGAIN

MAKING IT two wins from two starts, Jeff Morton and Daymon Nicoli won the Lake Mountain Sprint, the fourth and final round of the Australian Tarmac Rally Championship on March 21-22.

In their Porsche GT2 RS, they took out the 12-stage event (two stages were cancelled) by just over two minutes from Dean Lillie and Adam Kudra in their HSV GTO Monaro. The Porsche pairings of Mark Cates and Jarrod Akker, and Richard and Chris Perini finished third and fourth.

Weather conditions were diverse from day one’s dry runs on the forest road from the Marysville base to the Lake Mountain summit, to the cold, slippery and drizzly conditions of the runs to the Cumberland Junction on day two.

John and Janet Ireland set the early pace by being fastest on the first two stages, before electrical gremlins with their Dodge Viper left them second at the end of day one.

Further drama came on day two when they crashed on stage 12, causing it and the subsequent stage to be cancelled.

Morton and Nicoli took out eight stages to the Ireland’s three, while Neil and Sue Cuthbert just missed out on taking out the last stage.

Their Mitsubishi EVO X’s 4WD relished the conditions and their efforts were good enough to finish the event in fifth position.

In sixth place were Jason and Fiona Wright (Nissan Skyline GTR R34) ahead of Allan and Kerry Hines (EVO X). Then followed Peter Gluskie and Samantha Winter in their Classic class BMW 325e.

Ninth went to Keith and Alex Morling (Ford Escort RS1800) from Hugh Zochling and David McMillan (EVO 8).

Seventh place earnt the Hines’ both the drivers’ and co-drivers’ championship titles, while Michael Nordsvan and Marty Holden (Mazda RX7) finished 20th and that was good enough for second in the series ahead of Gluskie and Winter.

GOB

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Stirling Moss Tribute Crossword Across 3. Moss entered the 1980 and 1981 British Saloon Car Championship driving for which German brand?

5. Moss also won the 12 Hours of Reims in 1953, in what country is this race held?

7. With what team did Moss help to the first ever Formula 1 Constructors title in 1958?

12. Over the course of his 11 year Formula 1 career how many championship race victories did he take?

13. In 1976 Moss competed in the Bathurst 1000. That same year Bob Morris won the race but who was his co-driver? (surname only) 14. Moss narrowly missed out on the 1958 Formula 1 World Championship, who beat him that year? (surname only) 19. Which future three-time Formula 1 champion made his debut in the 1955 British Grand Prix won by Moss? (full name) 23. Despite a start line crash, how many laps of the Bathurst 1000 did Moss and Brabham complete?

24. Moss won three Grand Prix at the Ardmore Circuit, in what country was this race venue situated?

25. With what brand of car did Moss win the 1950 RAC Trophy in Northern Ireland?

26. In 1960 Moss won his third straight Nurburgring 1000km race but who was his teammate? (surname only) 27. At what circuit did Moss take his first Formula 1 race win?

28. How many times did Moss finish as runner-up in the F1 World Championship?

29. At what British circuit did Moss suffer a near fatal career ending injury in 1962?

Down 1. How many previous attempts did Moss make before winning the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1954?

2. Moss’s entered the Le Mans 24 Hours 10 times but what was his highest finishing position?

4. What was the tyre brand Moss ran on in the 1958 F1 World Championship?

6. In what position did Moss and Brabham qualify for the Bathurst 1000 in 1976?

8. Moss won the Australian Grand Prix in 1956. At what race track was it held?

9. For which manufacturer was Moss driving when he took his first Formula 1 race win?

10. In what country did Moss make his Formula 1 debut in 1951?

11. Moss won the 1958 and 1959 Nurburgring 1000km races but with which car brand?

15. By how many minutes did Moss win the 1955 Mille Miglia? (rounded to the nearest minute)

54 AutoAction

16. Sir Stirling Moss passed away on April 12, how old was he?

17. What was the name of Moss’s co-driver in the 1955 Mille Miglia? (surname only) 18. Moss also claimed a podium at which legendary rally event?

20. In what car model did Moss compete the 1976 Bathurst 1000?

21. In what country was Sir Stirlng Moss born?

22. Who finished second to Moss in the 1955 Mille Miglia? (surname only) 23. How many times did Moss win at Monaco?

The Motorsport Australia Championships Crossword Answers #1783 1 down – Reynolds 2 down – one 3 across – Matt Neal 4 down – Todd Kelly 5 down – four 6 across – Ireland 7 down – Hidden Valley 8 across – de Vries 9 down – Lowndes 10 across – Brad Jones 11 down – Allan Moffat 12 across – Monza 12 down – McConville 13 across – Daytona 14 down – Tanak 15 across – Jason Plato

16 down – John Surtees 17 across – Jonathan Palmer 18 down – Ravaglia 19 down – Adelaide 20 down – eight 21 across – Hungary 22 across – Lakeside 23 across – two 24 down – zero 25 across – Alen 26 across – Berger 27 across – Heidfeld 28 across – John Watson 29 across - five

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