Auto Action #1799

KIM JONES EXIT WHY SUPERCARS MUST CHANGE

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BATHURST WINNER ON STUNNING COMEBACK

RESURRECTION! R J D T A E M A G E H T IN K C A B O V A D

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DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM Hamilton joins the greats, while encouraging up and coming drivers to aim high

By Dan Knutson LEWIS HAMILTON is encouraging youngsters to dream big. “We dreamed of this when we were young,� Hamilton said after clinching his seventh Formula 1 world drivers’ championship along with his 94th F1 victory. “When I was young, when we were watching the grands prix, and this was way, way beyond our dreams.

It’s so important for kids out there to hopefully see this and don’t listen to anybody that tells you can’t achieve something. Dream the impossible and speak it into existence. You’ve got to work for it. You’ve got to chase it and you’ve got to never give up and never doubt yourself.�

Hamilton and Michael Schumacher are now tied in the record books with seven world championships.

And Hamilton, 35, has no intention of slowing down on or off the track. “I feel like I’m only just getting started, it’s really weird,� he said. “I feel physically in great shape,

and mentally this year has been the hardest year for millions of people.

I know things always look great here, on the big stage, but it’s no different for us athletes. And it has been a challenge I didn’t know how to get through. But with the help of great people around me, with the help of my team, Team LH, I managed to keep my head above water and focused. “I’m hopeful for a better year next year. And I’d love to stay; I feel like we’ve got a lot of work to do here. I am working to push to hold ourselves accountable as a sport, to realise we’ve got to face and not ignore the human rights issues that are around in the countries that we go to, and how can we engage with those countries, and how can we empower them to really change, not 10 or 20 years from now, but now.

And I want to help Formula 1; I want to help Mercedes in that journey to become more sustainable. I hope to be a part of that, at least the initial phase, for a little bit longer.�

Where does Hamilton rank in the history records of F1? “He is ranked in terms of his record of (equaling) Michael’s level in terms of drivers’ world championships,� said Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, “and close friend of Hamilton. “And he’s the absolute record holder in pole positions and race victories. He cemented his position among the all-time best sportsmen in the world.�

Sebastian Vettel, who has won four world championships, finished third in the Turkish Grand Prix and celebrated on the podium with race winner and newly crowned seventime champ Hamilton. “I told him it’s very special for us because we can witness history being made today,� Vettel said. “I think he is the greatest of our era for sure. I think it’s always difficult to compare. How can you possibly compare (Juan Manuel) Fangio and Stirling Moss to our generation?

To me, certainly emotionally,

Michael [Schumacher] will always be the greatest driver, but there’s no doubt that Lewis is the greatest in terms of what he has achieved.�

F1 records, however, are not that important to Hamilton. “I think the numbers and the figures and the titles and all that stuff it appears to mean more from the outside,� he said. “I remember watching the TV and watching Michael get the seventh and was like ‘Wow, that’s seven’ but when you’re in it it’s different. We’re going to continue to fight for more championships. We’re going to continue to try and improve and continue to race and do what we love doing.� “So naturally matching an icon like Michael I would be incredibly proud of that,� Hamilton added, “but I think it’s more the message that it sends hopefully to people: you have to dream bigger than you think you can dream, and don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t go for that.�

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Davo is in good hands at DJR and is seen here with Richard Harris, who has been Scott McLaughlin’s championship winning race engineer for the past several years

NOWHERE TO HIDE

Returning to Dick Johnson Racing after more than a decade away, Will Davison admits there’s massive pressure to perform as HEATH McALPINE details ARRIVING AT top Supercars squad Dick Johnson Racing marks former 23Red Racing driver Will Davison as the biggest winner of the ‘silly season’ so far, but he becomes a marked man in what is a new era for the team.

Davison enjoyed his first taste of the all-conquering DJR Ford Mustang at Queensland Raceway on Monday (November 16), completing a side-by-side tyre test for Supercars with Triple Eight Race Engineering and its seven-time champion, Jamie Whincup.

“I tell you, I’m like a kid on the first day of school, like a kid in a candy store,” Davison declared. “It’s very, very exciting.

I’ve got my race face on already and I can’t wait to get going.

“There’s no better feeling than to have the tools behind you to be able to race the best hell-for-leather, and certainly I’m not taking this opportunity for granted.

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“There are no mates out there and I’ll do what I need to do to make sure we come out on top.”

Davison was announced as the replacement for the IndyCar-bound Scott McLaughlin alongside young gun Anton De Pasquale in place of the departing Fabian Coulthard. The fresh driver line-up spearheads a new era for DJR without the support of motor sport tycoon, Roger Penske, although engineering whiz Ludo Lacroix remains.

After spending close to a season on the sidelines due to 23Red Racing’s sudden exit in April, Davison was relieved to confirm his full-season return.

“It was just a massive, massive weight off my shoulders and that’s all I can say,” said a revitalised Davison.

“You never say never in this game. I kept believing during the year if you stay positive and work hard, anything’s possible. I’ve

been in this game long enough to ride the waves, the ups and downs.

“For me to get this into the open and wear these colours is just a great feeling.

“It’s been a strange year, but to be back to where I started my career, obviously a legendary team, a legendary number on the Mustang and a team that has been doing a lot of winning in the last few years.

“I’m proud to be in these colours and I’m very excited to get the ball rolling for next year after many months of pondering what was going to happen next year.”

At 38-years-old, 2021 will be Davison’s 16th full-season Supercars Championship campaign. He believes he is as much a contender as he was more than a decade ago when he finished runner up in the title for the Holden Racing Team in 2009.

“To get this crack at this stage of my career, I still feel like I’m capable of my

best season yet and capable of going for a championship,” he said.

“Just to know I have the best team in the game behind me is pretty special.”

However, the expectations placed on Davison upon joining a team that has won the past three Supercars Championships in a row is not lost on the veteran.

“There’s massive pressure, but that’s what you want,” Davison ensured. “You want the best team, you want the best car and it’s on me, it’s motor sport in general.

I’ve been around it a long time, there’s always pressure to perform.

“Nowhere to hide, but I couldn’t be happier to have such an awesome team, awesome car and professional show around me. Not scared of anything, just get in there, have a good crack and we’ll see what we can do.”

After falling short in 2009 and 2013 where he finished third at Ford

Image: LAT

BACK FROM THE DEAD

PLANS FOR THE ADELAIDE 500

Why Davos’ return is remarkable

WILL DAVISON’S return with DJR is arguably the greatest comeback in Supercars history.

Who else has come back from the dead, losing a low-level drive early in a season, only to return with the top team?

Mind you, Davo’s had a couple of earlier saves.

Erebus to TEKNO, winning his second Bathurst, then another lifeline with Tickford-aligned Milwaukee Racing.

Davison was increasingly competitive last year and again at the start of this year in Phil Munday’s Mustang – then lost the drive due to the coronavirus upheaval.

He looked set to become a gun co-driver, proving his undiminished pace with Cam Waters at Bathurst.

Performance Racing, Davison knows this is his best opportunity to win his maiden Supercars title, and possible his last in a team that is on-form.

“On paper, yeah absolutely,” Davison remarked. “That doesn’t mean too much.

The team’s exceptionally good so on paper, absolutely it is.

“I’ve come close before. I’ve been in the top three I think on three or four occasions.

I know what it takes to be in the hunt and I have to just go that step better. I’m sure with these guys, they’ll help me get that last little bit out myself as well.”

After completing his initial run in the DJR Mustang, Davison was left impressed and pleased by the package.

“The car’s very good. I had a pretty big smile for my first few laps,” said Davison.

“For me, there’s always little differences in the cars. It’s interesting to feel how each team tunes the cars and approaches things.

It’s very hot here today, it’s very slippery, but the initial inklings are positive.”

Teammate De Pasquale will have his first sample of a DJR Mustang next year, but Davison expects the Supercars rising star, who added a maiden victory to his tally of three career podium finishes in 2020, to be quick from the outset.

“Anton’s ready to step up. He’s been in the game three years and he’s clearly an incredibly fast, young guy,” Davison said.

“I think I’m at that stage where I’ve got the

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But in the background, his return to post-Penske DJR was in the works.

He replaced Fabian Coulthard to partner Anton De Pasquale, the championship-winning team’s anointed successor to Scott McLaughlin.

At 38, Davo is experienced, resilient, fast and hungry.

Just months ago, you wouldn’t have given him much of a shot at a full-time return, much less one of the top four seats in Supercars.

But here he is. Resurrected, rejuvenated, ready to contend next year for the title that eluded him at his peak with HRT and FPR. It is a remarkable story of redemption and resolve.

Mark Fogarty

experience, I can see the bigger picture and I think we can work well together. I can maybe help him in some areas to get the most out of himself and I’m happy to do that to make sure we’re both up there getting the results for the team.

“I’m sure we’ll be equally working together to race hard, but to get the results for the team.

“I don’t think he’s going to need too much help from me, but certainly I’ll be there to assist him in any way I can, but I’m sure he’ll be cracking the whip to speed me up as well.”

Before his 2009 title tilt with HRT, Davison was a rising star at Dick Johnson Racing where he scored his first Supercars win at Sydney Motorsport Park in 2008 on his way to an impressive fifth in the title.

Although a homecoming wasn’t expected, Davison feels right at home surrounded by a number of familiar faces who remain from his time with DJR 12-years ago.

“There’s five or six guys that have been here many, many years and certainly from my era,” Davison recalled. “I left all those years ago on incredibly good terms at this team. We’ve remained really good friends since. I can’t believe it’s come full circle. I didn’t honestly believe it would.”

“Not really thinking that at all, just focused on doing the best job for the team. We’ve raced each other a long time and known each other our whole lives.

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THE SOUTH Australian Labor leader, and leader of the opposition Peter Malinauskas has spoken to Auto Action about his plans for the Adelaide 500 if he is elected.

Just prior to publishing the latest edition of Auto Action, Mr Malinauskas travelled to Sydney to meet with Supercars CEO, Sean Seamer, to sign a memorandum of understanding.

The memorandum commits a potential incoming SA Labor government to a return of the Adelaide 500 Supercars event.

“Our commitment to the event is absolute, this is coming back if we win,” he confirmed to AA. Malinauskas says that the current Liberal government made a grave mistake dropping an event that has delivered such a great economic and social return to the people of South Australia.

“Supercars has signed significant TV rights deals recently with both Fox and Channel 7,” he recalled.

“The fact that this is a national event that gets national exposure on both Fox and free to air, it’s worth its weight in gold.

“It is an opportunity for the city of Adelaide, and all our assets and beauty, to be showcased throughout the nation, and indeed in some parts of the world. It’s hard to put a value on that.”

Malinauskas highlighted that he has big plans for the event, which includes bringing back some big international stars to the after-race concerts.

He believes that the current government failed to put effort into the event in recent years, which was a contributing factor to considerable the drop in crowd numbers.

“Our ambition for the event is substantial,” he said. “We don’t just want to bring it back, we want to bring it back better than it has been before.

“Major events will naturally need to evolve over time, to make sure that the offering is new and edgy and

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continues to attract people back year after year.

“The after-race concert is part of the festival, the 500 was more than just one race. It was really a festival over four days that was a full package and which appealed to a lot of different demographics.

“It’s really disappointing to see the Marshall Liberal government talking down the event after they started to cut back things, including the quality of the after-race entertainment.

“They are saying the event hasn’t succeeded as well in 2020 as it did in previous years, but that’s because they didn’t invest in it, they didn’t make the effort.

“When you make the effort people come and they come in droves, because it’s a popular event.

“It’s unique, it’s central on the Australian sporting calendar.

As far as the Supercar season [goes], it’s Bathurst and Adelaide then daylight. That’s worthy of preservation.”

Malinauskas said his team explore the options of a season opener or a twilight race closer to the time of the election, all in a bid to maximise the growth of the event.

“In terms of the timing, we’re open to discussions with Supercars about that, it’s certainly our expectation that it would be in our marquee time slot, the first or the last race,” Malinauskas told AA. “The tradition has been to the first race and that’s served Adelaide well, but we’re open to contemplating the merit of it being the last race of the season, which of course is the opportunity that the current Premier, Steven Marshall turned down.

“In terms of the timing of the race, we’ve done Twilight races here in the past and they seem to work well.

But we want to explore all those options about what we can do to ensure the event evolves.”

Dan McCarthy

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AGP SET FOR BIG CROWDS

By MARK FOGARTY FOLLOWING CONFIRMATION that the Australian Grand Prix is scheduled as next year’s Formula 1 season-opener in March, race organisers are expecting crowds of up to 50,000 a day to be permitted into the 2021 event.

Australian Grand Prix Corporation (AGPC) CEO, Andrew Westacott, is confident that Melbourne’s control of COVID-19 will allow zones for spectators around the sprawling 5.303 kilometre Albert Park semi-street course.

Westacott also believes that F1’s strict health protocols will enable teams to enter Australia under an exemption, before self-isolating in a hotel-to-track corridor and removed from public contact at the circuit.

The AGP, cancelled on the eve of this year’s event because of a coronavirus outbreak, is due to be held from March 18-21 next year.

Pre-COVID, attendance at the 24-year-old event was up to 100,000 a day.

“What encourages us is an appetite for these big events to return and a desire to open up next year,” Westacott told Auto Action. “All the hard yards Victoria has put in over the winter will result in crowds being allowed.”

The AGPC is planning to split the lakeside circuit into zones to maintain social distancing requirements between patrons.

Keeping daily crowds apart will be easier at Albert Park than at the MCG and Melbourne Park, which will be limited to 25-50 per cent capacity for the Boxing Day Test and Australian Open.

“We have a precinct that’s massive,” Westacott said. “I hope and plan for us to have 50,000 per day. We need to be very adaptable.

“We will be guided by the DHHS [Department of Human Health and Safety] and the government, but everything is heading in the right direction.”

He added that roaming between the spectator zones will be limited.

Australia versus England at the MCG is set to be capped at 25,000 a day, while the two-week Australian Open in January will be limited to 30,000-40,000 a day.

According to Westacott, 50,000 ticket-holders a day will be “economically viable”.

Of those, up to 10,000 a day will be corporate guests in special outdoor areas.

Westacott sees F1 personnel being allowed into

the country without quarantining for two weeks if they stay in a “bubble” during the AGP, limiting their movement to between hotels and the track without exposure to the public.

In a strategy that has worked effectively in Europe in 2020, the F1 paddock and access areas will be off-limits to fans.

“The F1 zone will be like a zoo,” said Westacott.

AGPC hopes to open ticket sales before Christmas, with pricing in line with recent years.

“People can expect a wonderful experience, but different,” Westacott said.

As well as F1 and Supercars, the AGP is planned to host “three key local categories” on the undercard.

They are expected to be S5000, TCR and Porsche Carrera Cup.

TICKFORD TURMOIL Ford squad chasing REC and sponsorship dollars

By MARK FOGARTY TICKFORD RACING is trying to reclaim the entry it handed back to Supercars some years ago as it chases a new major sponsor to run four Mustangs in 2021.

The in-form Ford team has only three RECs following a reshuffle of entries for next year.

Confirmed are Cam Waters, Jack Le Brocq and James Courtney.

Lee Holdsworth is at risk because the fourth entry would need new funding to replace Supercheap Auto in Tickford’s line-up.

With Supercheap’s exit, Truck Assist’s backing will switch to Le Brocq’s Number 55 entry as he brought it to the team when he joined this year, replacing Chaz Mostert.

Monster Energy will continue on Waters’ Number 6, with the REC that underpinned Holdsworth’s Number 5 switching to Courtney’s Boost Mobile-supported entry.

Tickford needs an additional REC and a major sponsor to continue with a fourth Mustang.

Team boss Tim Edwards was contacted by Auto Action, but did not return the call.

Sources close to the former factory team have confirmed Supercheap Auto is leaving,

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spreading its backing across multiple other teams, including Triple Eight.

Holdsworth, who has excelled in his two seasons at Campbellfield, has no personal backing to bring to the team and is vulnerable to replacement by a rival with funding.

Among those mentioned is David Reynolds, whose future at Erebus Motor sport is in doubt.

Reynolds has been linked with returns to Tickford and Kelly Racing, as well as a move to Brad Jones Racing, with Penrite set to follow him if he leaves Erebus.

Tickford Racing requires a REC because the aligned fourth entry owned by Phil Munday has been sold, reportedly to BJR, to replace the Blanchard family’s entry run under the CoolDrive Racing banner.

The Blanchards are setting up their own onecar Mustang team with ex-Munday equipment and Tickford engineering support.

The new-look CoolDrive Racing, headed by former Supercars driver Tim Blanchard, will operate out from the automotive parts distributor’s headquarters at Box Hill in Melbourne’s outer east.

Tickford engineer Brendan Hogan is understood to have joined as team manager.

Image: LAT

Tim Slade and Fabian Coulthard have been linked as driver candidates.

With no other existing RECs known to be on the market, AA has learned that Tickford is looking to reclaim the entry it handed back to Supercars a few years ago.

It is one of two RECs held in reserve, but there is resistance from other teams to increase the grid beyond 24 cars because it would dilute their share of Supercars’ annual income.

It is understood Tickford is building two new Mustangs for next year.

Meanwhile, Super2 champion Thomas Randle is an outside contender for the fourth Tickford Mustang if it happens.

Randle is supported by Tickford Racing co-owner Rusty French, who wants to see him in the main game, where he came third at the 2019 Sandown 500 with Holdsworth.

Randle is also linked to fill Rick Kelly’s seat following his retirement, with persistent chat that Rick and his Castrol backing are on the market for an enduro drive beyond his now former team.

JONES WARNS AGAINST GEN3 Cost of changeover is too high for Supercars

By BRUCE NEWTON DEPARTING SUPERCARS team owner Kim Jones has questioned whether Supercars should proceed with its Gen3 technical overhaul scheduled for introduction in 2022.

Jones, 64, has sold his share of Brad Jones Racing to younger brother Brad and retired after a lifetime involvement in motor sport and more than 40 years making a living from it.

BJR has been a Supercars entrant every season since the year 2000, claiming 11 wins over that time, including two wins and two pole positions in the 2020 championship. Before that, it had championship success in production cars, AUSCAR, NASCAR and Super Touring.

Kim Jones raced himself early on before becoming his brother’s mechanic and engineer.

In the last 20 years he had migrated to the management and commercial side of the business. He was also a Supercars board member, a position his brother now holds.

Jones, with his intimate understanding of just how much it costs to go racing, believes Gen3 is an expense Supercars can’t afford right now.

“Why do we need Gen3?” Jones asked in an exclusive interview with Auto Action. “We are in the toughest time that has ever been. The [current] cars cost a lot of money to build, but as soon as Gen3 comes in they are going to be

redundant. They are going to be worth nothing.

“You’d be lucky if you get $120,000 for them, which is what the engines are worth.

“It’s a huge expense for the teams and how much difference is it going to make for the consumer and the fan or the racing?

“All it does is ramp up the cost of participating.”

While Gen3 will retain the traditional V8 front-rear Supercars drivetrain and be based on an evolution of the current control chassis, it is intended to deliver better racing, targeting a downforce reduction of more than 50 percent.

It is also aiming for a 30-40 percent cost-cut compared to Gen2 cars that are valued at about $700,000 brand new.

Jones made the point that costs for the teams would be substantial beyond building Gen3 cars

because of development costs.

“People do not understand, as soon as you get a new component on the car you have to go through a whole development process, because the sport is at a level where everything needs to be maximised,” he said.

“So it’s not just the cost of throwing out the old and bringing in the new, it’s the package you have to develop to bring it up to speed.

“I just can’t see the need for it right now.”

The Gen3 cars will also have hybrid capability baked in, although it won’t be active from 2022.

“C’mon, what for?” Jones said. “All you are doing is ramping the cost up and making it terribly complicated.

“Do we need that? No! Because the entertainment value for our customer is there

already. We just need to massage it around so it’s more reliable and cheaper.”

Jones said it was imperative that Gen3 recapture the robustness that Supercars had pre-Car of the Future, when they were cheaper and easier to repair and get back on the grid for the next race.

He welcomed the push to cut downforce but warned this could backfire as well.

“You need to be careful how you go about it so you don’t end up going down a development path. All that does is split the field into the haves and have-nots in terms of money.

“They need to be careful otherwise they will just drive people out of the sport.

For more from Kim Jones’ four decades in motor sport, turn to pages 14-16.

HAZELWOOD EYES GEN3 RECENTLY RE-SIGNED Brad Jones Racing driver Todd Hazelwood is excited by the potential the team demonstrated during a fragmented 2020 campaign.

Moving from long-time team Matt Stone Racing to four-car Albury-based squad Brad Jones Racing ahead of the 2020 season, Hazelwood broke through for his podium at Sydney Motorsport Park 2 and added his maiden pole position at Townsville 2.

Inconsistency placed him 17th in the points at season’s end, but Hazelwood is excited by what the future holds at BJR after announcing an extension with the team that is expected to encompass the start of Gen3 in 2022.

“There were plenty of stories going on, but from my point of view there was nothing to it so we thought we’d get the announcement out and get on with it,” Hazelwood told Auto Action.

“Obviously stability is a big thing in this industry to have two-years with the same team, same equipment, same car is a big plus for me, so looking forward to next year.

“I’m looking forward to the future, I’m looking forward to Gen3 and being a part of the BJR program is something that I’m really excited about.”

Work on the deal began prior to Bathurst with the details and confirmation being confirmed not long after the 1000.

“Brad’s a really straight shooter, there’s not much too it,” Hazelwood explained. “From his point of view,

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he didn’t want anything to change with the line-up, he was very happy with the year and so was I. “To be honest, I had probably my most enjoyable year of racing, we had our challenges with COVID, being away, pressure on families and things like that, but to be honest being surrounded by a good group of people made the job enjoyable.

“They really made me feel at home in my first year and I felt we exceeded expectations.”

Hazelwood believes stability will be key ahead of 2021 as the Supercars silly season is expected to overdrive prior to Christmas.

“Now that we’ve got a bit of time to regroup ahead of next season, there’s no reason with a stable lineup and consistency in the engineering group that we can’t hot the ground running next year and be on the money,” Hazelwood expressed.

“There’s a lot of movement up and down pit lane at the moment, aside from the team at BJR and a couple of other teams, there’s a lot of movement elsewhere so it’s an opportunity for us to really capitalise.

“There are going to be a few drivers that are still in there learning year with their crew, while understanding the set-ups and cars. What comes with that is what we had, inconsistency.

“Now, for us is to capitalise on that and see what we can achieve.”

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SUPERCARS HAS revealed its new logo and social media hashtag as part of its five-year naming-rights partnership with Repco. The Supercars Championship logo has been slightly tweaked to bring greater emphasis on the word “Championship”, while Repco branding has also been added as part of the new deal. For fans, the biggest change will be the hashtag with #RepcoSC replacing the previously used #VAS C across all social media platforms. RV

TRIPLE EIGHT Race Engineering has announced that Australian fuel brand Ampol has stepped up its involvement with the team to become co-naming rights sponsor alongside Red Bull. The squad will be branded as Red Bull Ampol Racing when it takes to the grid for the 2021 Supercars Championship season, with the fuel brand to take up prominent branding on the team’s two Holden ZB Commodores. RV

INTERNATIONAL CUP HINTED FOR S5000 IN 2021 AFTER ANNOUNCING a four-round S5000 Championship calendar for the first half of 2021, category manager Chris Lambden has hinted at an International Cup for the following 2021/22 season.

The upcoming campaign begins at Symmons Plains at the end of January, before racing at Phillip Island on a yet to be revealed date.

The S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship concludes at Sydney Motorsport Park at the beginning of May as the third round remains to be advised. However, Auto Action understands ARG are working closely with the Australian Grand Prix Corporation to support the marquee event once again.

“It’s something that I wanted to do from the start,” Lambden told Auto Action.

“Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a Tasman Series or anything like that with loads of race in January or February, it was really more a case of me believing that the winter months, especially in the southern states is

particularly unsuitable for that sort of racing.

“It was really something that I always really hoped to do, that’s fundamentally all we’re doing. We’re switching the emphasis away from a calendar year to a summer season, which in a normal year would go from September to March or April.

“As this COVID stuff evolved, it occurred to me that this would be a good time to change and had we been able to kick off in September or October, that would have been the case. As it’s transpired, we can kick off in January so we are running a slightly abbreviated Gold Star Championship through to the end of April, but nevertheless a very valid title, which I wanted to do.”

The New Zealand-based Toyota Racing Series is the domain of aspiring Formula 1 drivers during the summer months, but Lambden believes he is targeting a different market with his plans to the plan is to run an ‘International Challenge’ at selected S5000 events during

the 2021/22 season.

“I’m thrilled that we’ve been able to put a pretty good calendar together and when we can, we’ll announce the ongoing calendar for the next summer season and there will be some exciting races in that, believe me,” said Lambden.

“TRS is definitely for the 17-18-year-old Formula 3 aspiring guys and it’s a terrific series. I think we’ll be looking for a six, seven, eight-round championship that goes from September through to April.

“Now, having said that it’s likely we might be able to group two or three of those together in January or February when there is no racing around the world, we might be able coordinate those into some kind of International Challenge for people that gone beyond TRS. Driver announcements are imminent for the upcoming season, while a test day is scheduled for next month at Phillip Island.

Heath McAlpine

CONFIRMED: SUPERCARS TO RACE FOR POINTS AT AGP RETIRING MOTORSPORT Australia president Andrew Papadopoulos has been awarded the title of ‘President of Honour’ for his service to the sport. The ‘President of Honour’ title is a rare honour only previously awarded to the late John Large OAM with whom Papadopoulos has several similarities. Both Large and Papadopoulos will have served as CAMS/Motorsport Australia president for 12 consecutive years. DM

MOTORSPORT AUSTRALIA has announced Jessica Dane will host the online coverage of the RSEA Safety Motorsport Australia Rally Cup in Canberra. In the absence of a full Australia Rally Championship in 2020, the Netier National Capital Rally will be run as a single event. Dane had been slated to be part of this year’s Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships but with those events have now postponed until 2021. RV THE THIRD round of the Repco Supercars Pro ESeries tossed up a win for defending Champion Josh Rogers, and a maiden victory to 18-year old rookie Jackson Souslin Harlow on a virtual Mount Panorama circuit. Souslin Harlow is an 18-year old karting Champion, who has linked up with Brad Jones Racing for the online racing series. In the second race of the night, a reverse grid race – the teenager led from start to finish to become the Pro ESeries’ youngest ever winner. DM

8 AutoAction

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SUPERCARS WILL definitely race for championship points at the Australian Grand Prix despite a free-to-air TV clash.

Auto Action has learned that Supercars has accepted that the AGP round will be shown on Channel 10 even though Seven is its FTA partner from next year.

Australian Grand Prix Corporation sources confirm that the V8 races at Albert Park in March will have full championship status.

It will be confirmed when the 2021 Supercars calendar is announced within the next few days.

There were concerns that 10’s deal to show the F1 season-opener and support

races would clash with Seven’s return in Supercars’ new five-year $200 million broadcast deal.

Fox Sports, which also has the F1 rights, will show all Supercars events live, with Seven Network channels screening marquee events live and highlights of the rest.

An agreement has been reached that the Supercars races at the AGP will be part of the championship despite being shown on 10, which has the FTA TV rights for the F1 event.

The Melbourne GP is scheduled to open the 2021 F1 season on March 19-21. It is also expected to the second round of the Supercars championship.

The AGP V8 support races have been part of the championship since 2018, facilitated by the alignment of local F1 coverage on Fox Sports and 10.

However, because the Image: AGP is LAT a listed event of national importance, federal government anti-siphoning laws mean it has to be shown on free TV Pay network Fox Sports holds the Australian F1 rights and has a multi-year agreement with 10 to simulcast the AGP to meet the legal requirement AA understands that deal is good through at least 2023. The AGPC’s existing contract with F1 is until 2025. MF

CARUSO CONFIRMED FOR TCR AUS IN 2021

HONDA RECOMMIT TO TCR AUSTRALIA HONDA AUSTRALIA has announced its recommitment to Wall Racing and driver Tony D’Alberto for the 2021 TCR Australia Series.

D’Alberto finished runner up in last year’s inaugural title driving the Hondasupported Wall Racing Civic Type R TCR. TCR Australia promoters Australian Racing Group recently announced a sixround schedule for 2021, which kicks off at Symmons Plains in January, the first-time national motor sport will race in Tasmania since early-2019.

Honda drivers locally and internationally will have the opportunity to combine at Bathurst at the TCR 500 event as part of the International meeting.

Honda plans for increased brand activation at TCR events next year as it hopes to build on the momentum of 2019.

“2020 has certainly been a challenging year right across the board, but despite all of the headwinds, it’s fantastic that we can finally start to look forward with a renewed sense of positivity,” said Robert Thorp, product, customer and communications general manager Honda Australia

“After such a successful first year of TCR racing for Tony and the Wall Racing team in 2019, with the first TCR pole position and claiming second place in the championship, it will be an exciting way to kick off the new year with some racing through the summer months.

“We’ve just launched a major update for the Civic Type R last month and we have some special plans in development to bring the road car and race car programs together during the 2021 season, so fingers crossed the current situation continues to improve.

“I know the entire team at Honda Australia can’t wait to see the Civic Type R TCR car back on track in Tasmania in late January.”

D’Alberto was fastest at TCR Australia’s pre-season test in February, however has not stepped back in the car since.

After finishing in the top five of last month’s Bathurst 1000, D’Alberto is eager to tackle TCR again next year with the support of Honda and Wall Racing.

“All the frustrations of 2020 seem far behind us now and we are full steam ahead into preparations for next year’s TCR Australia Series,” said Tony

D’Alberto.

“I feel blessed that Honda and Wall Racing are also very keen to pick up where we left off. It’s such an exciting category with a huge potential here in Australia, and as we’ve seen around the world in other TCR classes, the Honda remains one of the cars to beat.

“Of course, we want to go one better than last year, but after a year like 2020, just getting on the track will feel like a win!”

Team owner David Wall told Auto Action that discussions are continuing in regards to further partnerships and the potential of a third car remains as John Martin is expected to return in the second Civic Type R TCR. “For us we’re running our two main cars that we ran last year and effectively trying to fill the third car vacated by Paul Ip, who can no longer make it due to all the COVID-19 restrictions at this stage,” Wall said.

“At this stage the two-cars and we’re fully fixated on that.”

Discussions are continuing on entering a third-car, but it won’t take away from the lead entries.

“The third seat is definitely up for grabs,” Wall concluded. HM

THE TWO-YEAR TCR Australia campaign confirmed for Michael Caruso at Garry Rogers Motorsport at the beginning of this year will rollover into 2021 and 2022.

Featuring support from Valvoline, Caruso was announced as driving one of the team’s Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR at the start of the year, however TCR Australia failed to begin its season due to the global pandemic.

The closest Caruso got to racing was at the Asia Pacific Cup at the Australian Grand Prix in March, where the Tickford Racing Supercars Enduro driver was set to start off the front-row before the event was cancelled.

Rolling the program over to the next two-years leaving Caruso eager to begin his TCR campaign in January at Symmons Plains.

“Having not done any racing this year, it’s great that both Valvoline and GRM are keen to roll the partnership on for the intended two years, so we are all pretty excited to get it going,” said Caruso.

“We feel that it is going to be a successful partnership. The TCR Series is a fantastic, global product, and despite the fact that we’ve been a full year out of the seat, there is some really strong interest out there to see the cars go back around.

“This type of racing really excites Valvoline. They love all motorsport, but the closeness of the TCR racing and the variety of brands in the field is something that has them keen for more.

“When I got to Albert Park, it was only my second time in the car. I was so looking forward to getting into that race, starting alongside Garth Tander. To not even get onto the track that day was a real let down.

“That’s all behind us now, so we have full focus on 2021. There’s no doubt that the ingredients are there to get some strong results in the Alfa Romeo.”

It is expected Caruso’s previously announced Alfa Romeo teammate Jordan Cox will be retained for 2021. HM

AUTO ACTION BOOSTS EDITORIAL TEAM LEADING AUTOMOTIVE journalist Damion Smy has joined Auto Action in a wide-ranging new role to help expand Australia’s most enduring motor sport title.

Smy will boost AA’s acclaimed editorial team, which is an award-winning mix of promising youth and unrivalled experience.

With his background in local and international publishing and also communications, ‘Damo’ will assist publisher Bruce Williams in the development of new projects.

Smy has held senior editorial positions with Car in the UK and Wheels – two of the most highly regarded motoring magazines in the English-speaking world – after starting his writing career in Sydney at MOTOR. As well as being an established motor industry authority, he is a keen and knowledgeable motor racing fan.

Smy comes to AA after a successful stint with Ford Australia as Product Communications Manager.

He was an enthusiastic supporter of Ford’s return to Supercars with the Mustang in 2019 and drove the company’s re-engagement with motor sport media.

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He attended most races and was a familiar face in the DJR Team Penske and Tickford Racing garages.

“I love racing,” Smy said. “I’ve been an avid reader of Auto Action since I was a kid.

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instagram.com/autoactionmag/

“It’s an institution and I‘m excited to join the editorial team, which sets the industry standard for informed in-depth reporting.

“I’m looking forward to being part of the development of this iconic brand for the future.”

As Auto Action adapts to the changing media landscape, building on its traditional print publication base, Smy will help expand the brand as well adding to the title’s editorial armoury.

“Damo joins the team at a time when we are reaching a larger motorsport and automotive audience than ever before,” publisher Williams said. “His role will include editorial development, special projects and development of the Auto Action brand. We have some very exciting plans for the future that will benefit from Damo’s broad publishing and auto industry experience.

“Along with our respected chief writers Mark Fogarty and Bruce Newton and ‘young guns’ Heath McAlpine and Dan McCarthy – and, of course, our national racing guru Garry O’Brien and our F1 man Dan Knutson – Damo will add multi-faceted expertise to our expanding efforts and brand reach.”

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LATEST NEWS

THE AUSTRALIAN round of the 2021 FIM World Superbike Championship has been postponed. The Aussie round at Phillip Island was set to take place in February, but due to the rising COVID-19 cases in Europe, has been postponed. While a new date is yet to be confirmed, World Superbikes has said that a rescheduled event won’t take place before October 2021. DM

VALE - JIM Pace, winner of the 1996 Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway and the 1996 Sebring 12 Hours, has passed away aged 59 after contracting COVID-19.

The former Wayne Taylor Motorsport driver competed in the Daytona 24 Hour on no less than 18 occasions and specialised in endurance racing. Pace mainly competed in the American IMSA Series but did also drive in the Le Mans 24 Hours. Auto Action sends its sincere condolences to Jim’s family and friends. DM

SUPER2 AND 3 MERGER BEING DISCUSSED SUPER2 AND Super3 competitors could be racing together following the successful combining of both during 2020.

In a temporary fix during the pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic, the second and thirdtier Supercar series races were combined for the first time at Sydney Motorsport Park and then later at Bathurst.

While some team owners that ran cars in both the Supercar undercards found it to be a strain on their resources, most competitors [drivers] across both categories praised the move.

Super2 team owners are now discussing the likelihood of sharing the same track with

Super3 once again in a bid to bolster numbers.

“Everyone is fairly adamant that the fields need to grow to look reasonable,” Image Racing founder and Super2 representative, Terry Wyhoon, said. “We need Super3 to be a part of it and everyone agreed that we should try and make that happen.”

Wyhoon and leading Super2 and Super3 team owner Matthew White however both understand that it is going to be a massive strain on resources.

This could potentially see both teams electing to focus on one category in the future if the current format of running together

continues.

“From our point of view it’s been very difficult,” Matthew White told Auto Action. “Last year we ran three in each series and it totally stops us from doing it.

“I’m very supportive of Super3 being on the Supercars bill because it helps to build the profile and all the drivers of want to be part of it. “[In 2020 it was] a necessity just because things are tough and numbers are down, so it’s the right call for 2020, we’ll see going forward.”

Wyhoon agreed but understands the reason why the decision has to be made.

“You need twice the crew for

the same weekend, another transporter and so on. Logistically it doesn’t work for me, but I understand why it’s there,” Wyhoon said.

“When they initially talked about joining [Super2 and Super3] partway through this year, their initial thought was that it would be latter Super3 cars only.

“That would work, I feel, because if you take the top six, maybe seven, that want to run at the big show. Yet it still gives Liam Curkpatrick his [Kumho] category to run on ARG events.

“I think that would encourage some more gentleman racers to come back into the Kumho category.” Dan McCarthy

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th Luke West iith wit

AA’s outspoken columnist wants a change to Supercars TV commentary

2021 TCM CALENDAR LOCKED IN THE EVER-POPULAR Touring Car Masters category has locked in a six-round calendar for 2021, following the cancellation of this year’s series after a single round.

The six round series will take in some historic venues and a track that TCM has not previously visited.

The category will visit a total of four states, kicking off the season at Symmons Plains Raceway in Tasmania over the Australia Day weekend in January.

The second round in March is to yet be confirmed, with the event likely to be held in Victoria at Phillip Island, or possibly at the Australian Grand Prix, which is currently scheduled for Sunday March 21.

From there the series travels North to Sydney Motorsport Park from April 30-May before TCM visits the characterful Morgan Park circuit in Queensland for the first time.

Sandown International Raceway in Victoria will host the fifth round

in September, before the season concludes at Bathurst.

TCM will feature on the support program of the inaugural Bathurst International although a date is yet to be confirmed.

Touring Car Masters category manager Rowan Harman is excited to see the 2021 plan come to life.

“The 2021 Gulf Western Oil Touring Car Masters calendar represents a strong array of events and circuits that will be warmly received by competitors and fans alike,” said Rowan Harman.

“With the live television broadcast package that is included on the Australian Racing Group events, plus the appearance at classic venues like Symmons Plains and Mount Panorama, we feel that we have found a calendar with great balance between cost effective racing and high-profile events.

“It was also important to secure an event for TCM in Queensland. We

have terrific representation of teams based in the northern state, so giving them a home event was vital and the Morgan Park circuit is really going to suit your cars. The nature of that track might even throw up a varied result as well.

“Ending our series at Mount Panorama is exciting, too. It’s the track that we know we are going to see a strong field, and the fans love our cars being at their spiritual home.

“We still have one event to finalise, and when that is complete, we are confident that we have a calendar that fans and competitors will love.”

Dan McCarthy

2021 TCM CALENDAR

1. Symmons Plains January 24-26 2. March event - TBA 3. Sydney Motorsport Park April 30-May 2 4. Morgan Park July 25-27 5. Sandown September 10-12 6. Bathurst International - TBA

SUPER2 REP TO SUPERCARS COMMISSION TWO SUPER2 team owners Terry Wyhoon of Image Racing and Amin Chadha co-owner of Matt Chadha Motorsport have been elected as the category’s representatives to the Supercars Commission.

Both Wyhoon and Chadha were elected to the role by other Super2 team owners shortly after the season ending round at Bathurst.

It will be their job to report back to the commission and Supercars the opinions of the category in a bid to give the Super2 Series more of a voice.

Speaking with Auto Action Wyhoon explained what he hopes it will achieve and outlined his role in more detail.

“Priority one is to give Super2 more of a voice,” Wyhoon told AA. “Group decisions, everyone gets a say, as opposed each of us just sending an email in with our thoughts and not really communicating with everyone else.

“So more transparency and more continuity amongst the whole group.

“We had a few situations last year

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where people would comment on behalf of other people and drop names in, he said, she said, and it just got really messy.

“So being transparent across the board with the whole team owners and some sensible decisions.”

Unlike Supercars commission members Wyhoon will not be attending each meeting, the only time he will be present is if a Super2 matter is to be discussed.

“I don’t need to be sitting in on any [commission] meetings unless it’s a specific Super2 issue,” Wyhoon said.

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“All I’m doing is saving supercars a little bit of time, for instance they rang me with a couple of questions, what do you think you want to do with prize money and control parts.

“I just send an email and send it off to the team owners get their opinions on at all and then report back to supercars, it’s just myself now being the voice in between.”

Wyhoon was asked if his role also covers the Super3 Series, a category that Image Racing also competes in.

“It is the Super2 team owner representatives at the moment,” he

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FORMER V8 Supercar czar Tony Cochrane once told me the late Barry Sheene was central to the newly rebranded category’s popularity growth masterplan in the late 1990s.

“We needed someone – a famous face and voice – who had cut-through with the general public on our earliest telecasts with TEN,” Cochrane said. “Baz was important to our success back then; his personality and magnetism helped grow the audience beyond the diehards.”

Sheene was known by petrolheads for his previous work on Channel Nine’s 500cc and Formula 1 telecasts. But it was his banter with Dick Johnson in Shell advertisements that made him a household name in Australia. Household voice, too.

His Cockney accent and cheeky Charlie persona perfectly complemented the styles of play-by-play commentator Leigh Diffey and credible ‘car guy’ Mark Oastler, who provided just the right amount of technical insights.

The trio’s three years together in TEN’s booth played a huge part in V8 Supercars’ flying start. You didn’t need to be a racing enthusiast to enjoy the bright and breezy soundtrack from Sheene and his colleagues. And in those days the action came thick and fast, most events featuring a trio of 20-minute sprints. Baz rarely offered any meaningful insight but, was the king of colourful phraseology and attention-grabbing reactions. He uttered lots of “Ooohs” and “Aaahs”, the odd “I don’t believe it” and many memorable one-offs like “That’s a major, major sausage, that is”, when describing Dougal McDougall’s infamous smoking wreck at Phillip Island.

Sheene played his role in helping move the sport towards mainstream, calling the on-track exploits of contemporary talking heads Craig Lowndes, Russell Ingall, Greg Murphy and Mark Larkham, plus current booth dwellers Mark Skaife and Neil Crompton.

When I watch and enjoy today’s Supercars telecasts I’m struck by the contrast in commentary style and content compared to that first TEN era.

It’s interesting to ponder how Crompton and Skaife would cope with Sheene’s presence and attention-grabbing “oohs” and “aaahs” in the box today. Maybe the world has moved on from Sheene’s unique style, but I believe Supercars’ current pair of perfectionists have been too technically focused in recent years. It often sounds like they are commentating for each other – or the race engineers in pitlane – as they decipher proceedings.

With the new TV rights deal beginning next season, it’s likely the commentary line-up will change as Seven again replaces TEN as the freeto-rights broadcaster, in tandem with Fox Sports’ every-minute-of-everysession pay TV coverage.

AA’s Facebook posts promoting Foges’ recent stories about potential TV commentary changes for 2021 drew more comments than any other on our page the weeks they ran. Perennially polarizing figure Skaife featured most prominently in comments, with as many posters stating their approval for his excitable style as those calling for his head. Gotta love social media!

I’d be happy if the current, quality team was retained as all members are thorough professionals. But I do have a short wishlist for the new era.

Firstly, the tech focus should largely be confined to Larko’s excellent pitlane explanations. Beyond these humorous ‘whiteboard’ segments, the focus should be on the action, personalities and big-picture stuff.

Supercars should take a leaf out of IndyCar’s book with how Diffey deftly steers two ex-racers, Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy, in the right direction if they get too bogged down in ex-driver talk. I think a good independent playby-play caller is what Supercars desperately needs.

Diehards will be reading this and cursing me, but the sport needs to appeal to more than just hardcore fans. For the category to overcome the many challenges it faces it has to hook interested, non-enthusiast viewers who make up the majority of the TV audience.

Anecdotally, I know several fringe fans – family and friends – who have drifted away over the last decade as the show has become less about the sporting contest between personalities and more of an engineering exercise. Today’s constant talk about tyre compounds, anti-rollbar adjustments, transaxles, processes, net yields, operations manuals, et al, gets a bit much. All this might turn-on the commentary team and diehards, but the wider audience?

I’ve long thought Skaife’s pre- and post-race analysis is his strongpoint.

I reckon he should step out of the booth and concentrate on the analyst’s role. Replace him with a good play-by-play or colour commentator to complement Neil’s knowledge, skills and style.

In recent years Supercars’ TV coverage developed a knack for getting bogged down in unimportant technical information. Telecast obsessions like minimum compulsory fuel drop analysis has taken the sport away from the casual fans.

Expanding the TV audience is key to Supercars ensuring its business doesn’t go up in smoke like, well, a major, major sausage.

It’s 20 years since Luke West wrote his first column for Auto Action #896 in July 2000. ‘Reverential Ramblings’ evolved into ‘Revved Up’ and ran until 2010. Now, after a 10-year break, he’s back to survey motorsport’s changing landscape.

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VALE – ERROL GILMOUR AUSTRALIAN MOTORSPORT was saddened with the recent passing of Errol Gilmour in Brisbane last month at the age of 69.

Born in Deniliquin NSW, the founder of Gilmour Racing was a key part of Formula 3 in Australia which played an integral part in the development of many race drivers.

Starting out in karting, Gilmour Racing was formed for he and his son Chris to compete in the Queensland Formula Ford Championship.

They finished second in their first year 2001, and again in 2002 before winning the championship in 2003 with seven victories.

The following year, the team stepped up to the Australian Formula 3 Championship with an Opel Spiesspowered Dallara F301. Chris took out the Rookie of the Year award and placed second in the outright championship.

They continued in category and were rewarded in 2011 with the Australian Formula 3 Drivers Championship after Chris had duked it out with R-Tek Motorsport’s James Winslow throughout the season.

From 2013 they expanded to two-car team with the first Dallara F311 into Australia a year later. The team picked up the National Class Championship with Aree Marie (2013), Luke Spalding (2015) and Cameron Shields (2016).

Gilmour Racing again won the outright Australian Formula 3 Championship with John Collins (2015) and Calan Williams (2017).

The latter along with Ben Gerzekowski and Shields went on to taste international success.

Formula 3 category manager and team rival Ian Richards paid tribute to Errol. “He was certainly a larger than life personality in the Formula 3 paddock. His passion and dedication to not only Formula 3 but motor sport in general was second to none.

“Errol was a fierce competitor but dedicated family man and had an immense amount of knowledge. He knew how to get the best out of his drivers and in his later years, played a key role in keeping Australian Formula 3 alive.”

In passing Errol leaves behind his wife Jenny, children Chris and Matt and their wives Rachel and Donna, and grandchildren Blake, Chloe, Hayden, Lucas and Kodie.

Auto Action, on behalf of the Australian motor sport community, passes its condolences to the Gilmour family, his many friends and acquaintances in and outside of the sport. Garry O’Brien

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MOTOGP SET FOR AUS RETURN IN 2021 MOTOGP IS set to return Down Under in 2021, with the Australian Grand Prix at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit set to be run on October 24.

A provisional 20 round calendar has been revealed for next year, with Australia set to host the 18th round, only the Malaysian and Valencian Grand Prix events are scheduled to take place afterwards.

The Australian round of the MotoGP World Championship was cancelled this year due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

It was the first time that the Australian event was missing from the calendar since it was first introduced back in 1989.

The Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit is set to be one of many to return in 2021 if the series can run as planned.

COVID-19 meant that the condensed and

reduced 14-round 2020 MotoGP season could only visit a total of nine venues.

All being well the championship will begin at the traditional season opening event in Qatar and conclude in Valencia.

“We try to return to normality, we talked to all the promoters and made the normal calendar because it’s important to block the days and to know exactly on which days there will be the Grands Prix,” said Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta.

“We’ll start in Qatar as usual, and finish in Valencia as usual for another year. And in the middle there will be 18 Grands Prix together with the first and the last.

“We hope we can do it.

“Obviously there are many things we don’t know yet, that’s why we’ve included three reserve Grands Prix to be allocated wherever it’s

possible and also taking into consideration the weather considerations of each place.

“The most important thing for me and the message I want to give is that we will try and maintain the days with a Grand Prix on those days.”

The three reserve Grand Prix that Ezpeleta mentioned are Portugal’s Algarve International Circuit which will host this year’s MotoGP season finale, the new Igora Drive Circuit in Russia, and a street circuit on the Indonesian island of Lombok.

One round in August is listed as to be decided, the slot is reserved for the Czech Grand Prix, however the Brno based circuit requires the track to be resurfaced before it can be given FIM homologation and run another MotoGP event.

Dan McCarthy

BRIVIO COULDN’T DREAM OF SUZUKI TITLE THE NEW MotoGP World Champion Joan Mir and the Suzuki Team Manager Davide Brivio have opened up about winning the title that seemed so far off after the first three races.

During the season Mir picked up seven podiums on his way to the MotoGP title, however Mir began his season by crashing out of two of the first three races and surrendering a 40 point lead to Fabio Quartararo.

The comeback title win was made even more special as it is not only Suzuki’s first premier class world championship since 2000, but it is the 100th year of anniversary of Suzuki.

Brivio couldn’t believe after bringing Suzuki back to MotoGP in 2015 that it would take the title just six years later.

“This is our sixth season since we restarted Suzuki and to be here is amazing,” he said after the race. “I think we have to enjoy (it) we have to be proud of what we have done.

“It’s unbelievable because we couldn’t imagine something better than this, in the

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hundredth anniversary (of Suzuki) to win the World Championship and after 20 years.

“Even in my best dreams I couldn’t imagine something like this, it’s great!

“We started the first race, we had the zero points because Alex (Rins) was injured from Saturday, and Joan crashed.”

Mir explained that due to COVID-19, he felt as much pressure off the track as he did on it but was clearly still buzzing after the podium.

“It was really difficult, because that’s the thing that we don’t mention but was difficult

for everybody to understand, is that the pressure,” Mir said.

“Normally you have it here on track but at home you disconnect. I was not able to disconnect, because I had the pressure of the Cornavirus and this made a lot more difficult the situation.

“This (winning the title) is unbelievable. I cannot express my words, what this means for me, because it’s impossible, but what can I say is that I want to thank all the people that make it possible.” Dan McCarthy

LIGHTS, CAMERAS, RACE ACTION

Image: Riccardo Benvenuti

THE LIGHTS came on, the streaming cameras were rolling, and the cars raced.

Last Saturday night the categories competing in round four of the NSW Motor Racing Championship raced under the completed LED lighting system at Sydney Motorsport Park. This project, which is part of the SMP $33 million NSW state govenment supported upgrade has been completed ahead of time.

“The ARDC were thrilled to offer MRC competitors, members and spectators (in restricted areas) the opportunity to compete and watch racing under our completed LED lighting, particularly as we have just celebrated our 30th anniversary,” said a club spokesperson.

“It’s been a really tough year, but with Covid shutting

down the track for several months, it has offered the opportunity to create jobs and accelerate the lighting project, enabling us to hold last weekend’s motor race championship under lights – the first time we’ve been able to do so for racing outside of Supercars.

“We are sure all would agree that it proved an overwhelming success. There was a grin on every face as the first category went out in full dark, and the pride on the faces of volunteers, officials and staff was obvious. A new era has truly begun for racing at SMSP.” Other events have taken place at the circuit the implement of the permanent lighting, including the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, but used a mixture of permanent and temporary light. Last weekend’s event was the first to use all permanent lighting.

For many it brought back memories of the regular annual night races at the now-defunct Oran Park except the illumination at SMSP is far superior with no requirement for the cars to have or use their headlights.

The categories that took in the night air – with over 100 competitors – were Improved Production (in separate under and over 2.0-litre races), Formula Vee, Sports Sedans, HQ Holdens and Mazda RX8 Cup. While racing was as intense and entertaining as usual, there was no major incidents, nor the need to have the safety car deployed.

“The night went without a hitch with everyone I spoke to having nothing but praise for the way it went – whether they were flagging, watching or racing,” said Race Secretary Doreen Butchers. Garry O’Brien

DOVI TO TAKE SABBATICAL

AFTER SEVERAL months of speculation, Andrea Dovizioso has announced that he will take a sabbatical from MotoGP in 2021.

The current factory Ducati Corse rider announced in August that he would depart the team at the end of the season as the Italian manufacturer appeared uninterested in retaining him beyond 2020.

Since then the popular Italian has been unable to secure a ride for next year and this has forced Dovizioso to take a season out of top-level MotoGP competition.

The 34-year-old veteran has vowed to return in 2022, making the announcement on social media between the European and Valencian races.

“Over the last few months, I have received several offers to work as a test rider in developing MotoGP projects and I am grateful for the consideration received by the manufacturers,” Dovizioso said.

“However, I have decided not to make any commitments and to remain free from formal agreements for now.

“I have an immense passion for racing. I still have the ambition to compete and fight to win.

“I will return to MotoGP as soon as I find a project driven by the same passion and ambition that I have and within an organization that shares my same objectives, values and working methods.

“Now I am focused on finishing the World Championship in the best possible way, and I have already started developing some projects with my partners.”

Dovizioso has finished as the bridesmaid to Marc

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Marquez in the championship the last three seasons and when the young Spaniard was forced to sit out the season due to injury, Dovi became one of the title favourites.

However, this season relations between Ducati and Dovizioso have deteriorated as have the results on circuit.

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Dovi has taken just one win with Ducati this season, which came in Austria just hours after he announced he would leave the Bologna based team.

The frosty atmosphere between Ducati and Dovi and sees a sad end to a very successful eight-year-long partnership. Dan McCarthy

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NEWS EXTRA

TELLING IT STRAIGHT Departing team owner Kim Jones looks back on more than 40 years in racing and what the future holds for Supercars AFTER MORE than four decades, Brad Jones Racing co-owner Kim Jones has retired and sold his share of the business to brother Brad.

A bloke with racing ambitions of his own in his younger days, Kim instead worked on the other side of the pitwall to help deliver the championships won by the Albury-based team across multiple categories.

A mechanic, engineer, manager and commercial chief, Jones also served on the Supercars board.

Never short of an opinion, he delved into the history of BJR with BRUCE NEWTON before explaining his concerns about the future of Supercars.

On how he got into racing.

“I didn’t have much choice. Our Dad was paralysed from the waist down but was a motorsport fan. He was president of the local car club for 18 years straight and we used to get dragged along to working bees and all sorts of things.

“On a Sunday night after the races at Hume Weir it was nothing to have Bob Jane, Norm Beechey, Jimmy McKeown, Allan Moffat, and Bryan Thompson sometimes, come around for a barbecue.

“It was exciting and as life went on I used to build billykarts and race those, then build pushbikes and race those, then motorbikes – both motocross and road race – and after that I got a Formula Ford and raced that.

“My first job was as an apprentice mechanic when I left school, then I went to Melbourne and joined Bob Jane Racing and after that Scott Tune where they built Minis. Then I came back to Albury and got married, then

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for one reason or another I had a couple of motorbike accidents.

“That’s when Brad and I started racing a Mitsubishi Starion in production car racing.

I thought how hard could it be to race a production car? You buy a car, put a roll-cage in it, put some stickers on it, put in on a trailer and go racing.

“I very quickly learned that production cars are a very difficult thing to make go fast.”

How it started (below): the Jones’ Mitsubishi Starion at Amaroo Park in 1985. How its going: Kim (left) and brother Brad in full 2020 Brad Jones Racing Supercars attire (above).

On why Brad Jones Racing wasn’t called Jones Brothers Racing.

“It started life off as Kim Jones Racing. I don’t really know why it changed, but it’s been a thorn in my side the whole time. There was a bit of a thought process that Bradley had a bit of a profile and that’s why it became Brad Jones Racing.

“In hindsight, it definitely wasn’t the right name for a joint partnership, but that’s what it was and that’s what it still is. Now, with what’s transpired, maybe that’s why it was what it was.

“I never would have thought in my wildest dreams BJR would have gone from a production car in a garage beside our house to where it is now.”

On where BJR raced before committing to Supercars.

“We both raced Formula Fords as individuals … then I had a bit of a break and Bradley continued. Then I had the motorbike accident and was off work and then the Bob Jane Super Series [for production cars] came up. It actually had enough prizemoney that if you were reasonably successful you could go racing and fund yourself that way.

Images: AA Archives and AN1 Images

Brad Jones Racing’s 2017 Sandown 500 retro liveries (top left) paid homage to the Br dr drivers, such as Norm Beechey, who would often appear at the family barbeque when Br and Kim were growing up; The Jones’ dominated the Bob Jane-created AUSCAR Brad se series (above and left), with Brad winning five drivers titles in a row from 1989.

“We were very successful at production cars, then we ran, of all things, a Lotus Esprit in the GT Sports Production class, which we won. Then we moved on to the AUSCAR and NASCAR times, which we were very successful at.

“Then we moved on to Super Touring cars with the 2.0-litre Audis. We had a lot of success. One of the areas of our business that sticks in my mind was being a factory team and representing a Audi. That was where the team really grew from Bradley and I full-time with one or two others, to a proper team.”

“And from there we moved on in 2000 to Supercars. We bought Tony Longhurst’s car and license to race.”

On how the BJR business model differs from many other Supercars teams.

“People says how do you make a million bucks out of motorsport? Start with $10 million and soon you’ll only have $1 million.

“We had no external funding; everything went back into the cars and into the team.

When we were running the AUSCAR we used

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to have a green panel van and open trailer and people would say ‘when are you going to get a truck?’ and I’d tell them ‘a truck doesn’t make you go any faster dude, it just costs a lot of money and looks fancy’.

“That has been our philosophy all the way through. But we have had a lot of good partners and brought a lot of new sponsors into the sport and that’s part of the program.

“Nowadays, BJR runs four cars in the main game. It has the ability to run two cars in the Dunlop series and two more cars in the Super3 Series, as well as keeping one spare car for the main series.

“The reason we run the Dunlop and 3 Series is because if you sell the cars you don’t get the return. They are worth nothing, so the best way to make it a viable exercise is to go and find somebody to run in the cars at a reasonable cost.”

On how his role evolved away from technical to commercial.

“When we got to the Audi program, that’s when my life changed a little. I did not go

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across to the commercial part acro as some think, because we were s always alwa doing that to fund the racing.

But I became more focussed more on the th commercial part and not so much the engineering part.

“Then “Th after that when we got to Supercars I was still engineering Super early on o and being part of that group as well, we then probably the last 10 or 15 years I have been doing the y commercial stuff and getting the comm money to run the thing.

“So I’ve I’ been very lucky in my career where I’ve had lots of different w opportunities to be involved in lots of opportu different roles in the business.

“I’ve been be on the Supercars board, I’ve been on steering committees and things, so I’ve experienced a really good cross-section of motor sport.”

On why he has decided to retire.

“The time is right. I’ve got to tell you, from the moment the decision was made from going to bed to waking up the next day it’s a different feeling. That means to me the decision was right.

“I was getting sick of going to motels and being on planes and people telling me what to do. I was frustrated with parts of the Supercars business and the direction it was taking.

Frances and I have lost a son. This year, our sister in-law died of pancreatic cancer, she was just 51 and all, so Fran’s youngest brother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, reinforcing how important it is to live life to the fullest.

“And you look around at life and go, ‘okay, I am 64 and I still lot of thing I want to do.

I want to take my wife and my two little

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poodles and travel. It’s all about enjoying life, getting up in the morning and not having to check the diary to see what you’ve got coming up and not being committed.

“It’s been a gradual progression for a little while now, but I am not sitting on my bum going ‘oh Jeez I wish I was working’.

I actually sit on my bum and go ‘how did I find time to work?’.”

On the best memories from his racing career?

“There are a couple of things. When [son] Andrew won the development series championship at Mallala [in 2004]. We were all on the pitwall panicking and he was following Lukey [Youlden] around and he must have looked over at some stages and seen we had glum looks on our faces, because he was coming second and he needed to win the race to win the championship.

“And he got on the radio down the back straight and said ‘stop panicking, I’ve got this under control I am going to win’ and he did.

He won the first Supercars championship for BJR and he was my wife Fran and I’s son.

That was a really good thing.

“Another one that sticks in the mind was when we were racing the Falcon at Bathurst [in 2001] and we [Brad Jones and John Cleland] were dicing for the win with Mark Skaife and Tony Longhurst. It was very close on who was going to run out of fuel and Longhurst kept coming up to me saying, ‘Look we are going to run out of fuel both of us, so why don’t we just back off and we will get to the end’. And I kept going, ‘Piss off Tony, we are right for fuel we are going to race’. I think they were breaking the lap record lap after lap after lap.

“Another one that really sticks in the memory

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that I pride myself for is when we raced at Macau [in 1996 in Super Touring] and we won with Frank Biela. Schnitzer was there with its factory BMWs as well.

“We had to go up the stewards after the race and next thing I know I get a hand on my shoulder and it’s Charly Lamm and he says, ‘You guys are unbelievable. To come here from Australia and beat Schnitzer BMW and we threw everything at it. Yet you hosed us, you won’. To have a world-class team give you that sort of accolade sticks in the memory as well.

But every win is a good win. This team has an underdog reputation, but I don’t think that’s right. Maybe a little underfunded. We surround ourselves with a good group of strong people who work really, really hard at achieving. Providing you’ve got that, you can do a good job. Maybe because we are the only country-based team in the Supercars series people think you can’t do that.”

On Supercars and its health.

“I’ve got to stress this is my opinion, not Brad’s or anyone else’s opinion. First thing is I am a huge motor sport fan, I’ll watch two billykarts race down a hill. I love it.

“There are two things here; the Supercars business and team business that should work together.

“I get the distinct impression and have done for a long, long time, that Supercars thinks everything is about Supercars. But plain and simply, without teams, there is no Supercars.

“What are they going to promote, what are they going to do if they don’t have the teams to run the cars? They can’t sell the TV rights, they can’t put on the events. Nothing happens.

“So it needs to be more hand-in-glove, there are more things Supercars can do to help the teams. I’m sure there’s also more things the teams can do to help Supercars as well.

“But the feedback I get is Supercars is its own entity with its own agenda to do things not necessarily in conjunction with the teams, but the direction they feel needs to be taken.

“That’s been a problem for a while under a few different bosses.

“A key area [of concern] is commercial because that’s really important to everybody.

“What I am talking about is you bring a sponsor into the sport and all of a sudden they are sponsoring Supercars. Maybe that’s

While Kim (above) had racing aspirations of his own, it was Brad who made a greater name for himself behind the wheel; Showing that their skills weren’t limited to V8s, Brad Jones took the 1996 Super Touring Car series in his Audi A4, seen here at Bathurst with teammate Greg Murphy in tow.

something that shouldn’t happen.

“Also, Supercars should not be selling their sponsorships with a lockout clause that excludes rivals from pitlane. If they are doing that it’s wrong.

“The commercial bucket is too small for that here. It’s not America, there’s not the money to go round.”

On his concerns about the Supercars judicial system.

“I have always struggled with action and consequence. Some penalties in the racing are too harsh for what has happened and in other cases it’s not harsh enough … It’s out of whack.

“This is what I would like to see and let’s use the example of BJR in Darwin this year.

So Giz runs into Percat, Percat runs into Hazelwood and both are out of the race, so they are getting no points for the race.

“It’s found during the race that Giz is 100 percent to blame, so he gets a drive-through.

But he still finishes 11th and gets a handful of points. At the very least he should get less points than the person he takes out.

“So if the person gets going again and finished 20th Giz should finish 21st. But if he’s taken out of the race, Giz can continue but at the end he should get no points.

“I’ve also always believed drivers should have points on their license like a road driver’s license that can be deducted for infringements. If you’re down on points you drive a lot more carefully.

Brad Jones partnered with 1995 BTCC winner John Cleland for Bathurst 2001, coming second in the team’s best result, matching Brad’s second at Bathurst ’94.

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“Craig Baird [Supercars driving standards observer] is very good at his job and would be able to deduct the right amount of points for an offence.”

On the Gen3 Supercars technical rules scheduled for introduction in 2022.

“Why do we need Gen3? We are in the toughest time that as ever been. The cars cost a lot of money to build but as soon as Gen3 comes in they are going to be redundant.

They are going to be worth nothing.

“You’d be lucky if you get $120,000 for them, which is what the engines are worth.

“It’s a huge expense for the teams and how much difference is it going to make for the consumer and the fan or the racing?

“All it does is ramp up the cost of participating. People do not understand as soon as you get a new component on the car you have to go through a whole development process, because the sport is at a level where everything needs to be maximised.

“So it’s not just the cost of throwing out the old and bringing in the new, it’s the package you have to develop to bring it up to speed.

“I just can’t see the need for it right now.

“What is needed, is the cars need to be cheaper to maintain [so] reliability and repairability is better.

“The downforce also needs to be reduced so the braking can be better and there are more passing opportunities. But you need to be careful how you go about it so you don’t end up going down a development

path. All that does is split the field into the haves and have-nots in terms of money.

“They need to be careful otherwise they will just drive people out of the sport.

“I saw the other day Gen3 is going to have hybrid capability. C’mon, what for? All you are doing is ramping the cost up and making it terribly complicated.

“Do we need that? No! Because the entertainment value for our customer is there already. We just need to massage it around so it’s more reliable and cheaper.”

On brother Brad and their relationship.

“When my wife first became part of the family – and she’s one of eight kids – she couldn’t understand how we could speak to each other sometimes, explode and then five minutes later turn around and get on with what we were doing.

“She said, ‘If I spoke to one of my family like that they wouldn’t talk to me for months’, and I said ‘but there are seven others you can talk to’.

“It’s quite a different sort of interaction and it’s been like that forever. But there have been good times and the things we have achieved are fantastic.

“At times it hasn’t been easy and I am sure Brad would say the same thing. But at the end of the day we’ve got on with the job.

“We’ve understood each of us have had different strengths and supported each other in those roles to make BJR what it has become, which is quite amazing really.”

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FIFE EYES 2021 CODRIVER ROLE BRAD JONES Racing Super2 driver Josh Fife has opened up about his targets for 2021 which may include a Supercars Championship co-driver role.

Fife began his career as a successful karter, both nationally and internationally before making the huge leap straight into the third tier of Supercars, the Super3 Series in 2019.

In the last two years, Fife has shown he can match it with the best up and coming stars in the business, including Jayden Ojeda and Broc Feeney.

After a season in the Super2 Series the Canberra native is looking to remain in the category for 2021 and if he feels ready will pursue a co-drive.

“My goals for next year, I would like to stay in Super2,” he told <i>Auto Action.<i> “I would love to have a co-drive but I need to make sure I’m prepared for it, I don’t want to go into a co-drive without being ready.

“We’ll see how we are (early) next year and if I feel like I’m ready hopefully we can get a codrive, if not we’ll just wait another year.”

Brad Jones, the owner of BJR has previously nurtured Jack Smith from Super3 (V8 Touring Cars as it was then) all the way up to the Supercars Championship.

Fife appears to be on the same trajectory and opened up about how accommodating the Albury based team has been.

“They treat you like one of the main drivers,” Fife said. “They put me in event pre-briefs and race debriefs with them (the Supercars drivers) so I learn as much as possible.

“All the engineers and drivers just want to help you out, they will do anything for you.

“We go on the track walks together, give me pointers, what to look out for, it’s really helpful.

“They make you feel as though you are part of the team and one of the drivers which is really cool.”

As Fife revealed to <i>Auto Action<i> in this issues Young Guns feature the deal with Brad Jones Racing blossomed from a chat with his karting teammate, Supercars driver Macauley Jones.

“Macauley Jones raced karts in 2018 in the same team as me, so we got to know them (Macauley and Brad Jones),” Fife recalled.

“Speaking to Brad he recommended that if I wanted to go to Supercars, I might as well just go straight into it.

“We had an evaluation day and a test day at the end of 2018 to get some laps in before 2019 and we locked in a deal (to race Super3) at the end of 2018.”

For more on 20-year-old Fife, purchase the latest edition of <i>Auto Action<i> on sale November 19.

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machines.

“We’ve got a year to go and we’ve got to design the Gen3 car, so that’s what I’m doing,” he announced.

“To all of our fans, we just carry on [from] the last four years and try to get some success for you guys. Thanks for your help.”

Back in 2017 Lacroix was key in the development of the current generation

Ford Mustang used by all Ford teams today.

In the coming months Lacroix will be working closely with Supercars and the United States based Ford Performance division.

Lacroix was a founding member of Triple Eight and moved from Europe to Australia in 2003 as the leader of technical operations.

However, since moving to DJR McLaughlin four seasons ago, Scott McLaughlin has won three Drivers’ titles and the Queensland based squad has taken three Teams’ Championships.

In the last 11 years Lacroix has been a part of 10 drivers and 11 teams’ titles.

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LACROIX REMAINS WITH DJR AFTER MOUNTING speculation about a departure, technical guru Ludo Lacroix extinguished those whispers by confirming that he will remain with Dick Johnson Racing for the 2021 Supercars Championship.

The charismatic Frenchman joined the team in 2017 after announcing his shock departure from archrivals Triple Eight Race Engineering.

Despite a happy relationship with DJR, Lacroix’s future was uncertain as Team Penske ended its alliance with Aussie squad Dick Johnson Racing after this year’s Bathurst 1000.

Despite the American team exiting the Supercars Championship, Lacroix remains committed to DJR squad, taking to social media to make the announcement.

Lacroix is excited by the new chapter that the team is entering and is looking forward to seeing both Will Davison and Anton de Pasquale behind the wheel.

“We’ve got a year to go with the Car of the Future and two new drivers, not very fresh, but new!” Lacroix said.

He confirmed that his main focus next year will be looking ahead to 2022 and the introduction of the Gen3

MUNDAY CONFIRMS REC SALE 23RED RACING Team owner Phil Munday has confirmed the sale of his Supercars REC and also where his two Ford Mustangs are being homed.

Shortly after the Australian Grand Prix was called off and the first COVID-19 outbreak took hold nationwide, Munday’s lead sponsor Milwaukee pulled the pin.

Munday explained on the Parked Up Podcast that this was the first significant step that forced him to pull out of the Supercars Championship.

“It just wasn’t feasible for me to continue with it,” he said.

“Losing Milwaukee as a major sponsor and some of the other sponsors wanted to defer the payments and see what happened for the rest of the season.”

A lot of water has gone under the bridge since he announced his departure from Supercars, Munday confirmed what <i>Auto Action<i> previously reported, that the 23Red racing entitlement contract (REC) has been sold to Brad Jones Racing.

(It’s been) pretty tough for all the teams,” Munday said.

“But it’s a big decision to make and I guess looking back on it, it is what it is, we’ve changed, moved on and sold the license to Brad Jones Racing.

Despite purchasing a REC Brad Jones Racing will remain with four cars in 2021 as the Tim Blanchard Cooldrive REC moves elsewhere.

As previously reported by <i>AA<i> the Blanchards, Tim and father John, will use the REC to kickstart their own team from a workshop in Box Hill.

What Munday did confirm is that he is leasing Blanchard his two Ford Mustangs as well as offering advice.

“I have given a fair bit of support to the Blanchard family in their endeavours (for) this coming season to start their own team and run it out of Box Hill in Melbourne,” Munday confirmed.

“I do have a bit of involvement with the family there to get their team up and running

and they’re doing a great job at the moment, they’ve actually got both of the Supercars down there which I have leased to them this for 2021.”

The former Victorian team owner explained on the podcast that he has been trying to pass on his advice to Tim Blanchard and will be supporting them from afar next season.

“We’ve spoken a lot to John and Tim,” Munday explained. “Just going through some learning curves you don’t need to go down.

“I think that the biggest thing within motorsport is if you try to do everything, you’re not going to do anything.

“You’ve got to know your weaknesses and then fulfill those parts of your life with other people who can help you out, Tickford were absolutely fantastic.

“Tim and Rod were just amazing in the time that I’d been working with them. As I said to both Blanchards it’s very important to not try and to do everything yourself but to outsource what you can, and hopefully they have a really good first season.”

Tim Slade has emerged as the early favourite to fill the Ford Mustang driving seat within the Blanchard operation.

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get off the ground and this would have seen a decreased Porsche Shootout size next month.

This coupled with the difficulties of international travel and the escalating European COVID-19 cases make the 2020 edition of the Porsche Shootout simply unviable.

“While the news is disappointing, it’s clear the outbreak is getting worse in Europe making it

unsafe for the drivers and Porsche Motorsport team to conduct the event.” said Troy Bundy, Porsche Cars Australia’s Head of Motorsport.

“Several of the Carrera Cup markets, like ourselves, couldn’t nominate anyone this year as they didn’t complete enough of their season or in some cases, didn’t start their season at all.”

This means that for the first time in many years, in 2022 there will be no international Porsche Junior driver.

Porsche has vowed to get things back to 100% normality in 2021 with all global Porsche categories running their junior programs, before the year ending Porsche Shootout determines the 2022 Porsche Junior. Dan McCarthy

PORSCHE SHOOTOUT CANCELLED THE 2020 edition of the Porsche Shootout has been cancelled due to spiralling COVID-19 cases within Europe.

The Porsche Shootout which was scheduled to take place from December 1-4 has been called off on safety grounds due to a major spike in COVID-19 cases within Europe where the event was set to be held.

Each year one winning Porsche Junior from each national series competes in the Porsche Shootout with the victor awarded a scholarship with the German brand for the following season.

Former Australian Carrera Cup representatives include Matt Campbell, Jaxon Evans, Nick Foster, Andre Heimgartner, Dylan O’Keeffe and reigning Series winner Jordan Love.

Campbell and Evans both won the shootout and have now become established factory Porsche drivers.

Due to the fact that only four of the scheduled 24 races took place in the 2020 Aussie Carrera Cup Series, a title winner was not crowned and therefore no Australian representative was eligible to be flown over.

Many national series in both Europe and Asia also failed to be completed or in some cases

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2021 PHILLIP ISLAND CLASSIC DATES LOCKED IN THE DATES for the 2021 edition of the Phillip Island Classic ‘Festival of Motorsport’ have been confirmed with the popular historic event once again set to bring in big numbers.

It has been confirmed by the event organisers, the Victorian Historic Racing Register (VHRR) that the classic event will take place from March 5-7, the Labour Day long weekend.

At this point in time the event has been limited to competitors only, however it is hoped that with Melbourne and Victoria emerging from the COVID-19 enforced lockdowns, by March large spectator numbers will be able to attend the event.

“We’ve been working strongly with the managers down there and we’ve come to an agreement, which we feel sure we can move on,” VHRR president Ian Tate told Auto Action.

“It won’t be the bells and whistles of a historic meeting we’ve been used to but we were putting a race meeting on for members, competitors and our supporters over the years who can get their cars out.”

Although the crowd may be limited, Tate pointed out that the competitors certainly won’t be and is pleading with people to enter now and book accommodation as soon as possible.

“There’s no limit on competitors, we are open arms with anyone who wants to race down there,” Tate said.

“We have the same categories as we had this

year, Group S, Group N, Regularity, Formula Ford, Group C and A Touring Cars and much more.

“We need people to put their entries in as soon as possible to support the event, and I’m pleading with everyone if they are going to compete at Phillip Island, for goodness sake book your accommodation now because it’s a long weekend.

“People aren’t traveling what they were used

to interstate and being a holiday weekend Phillip Island will be busier than normal.”

The three-day event will consist of a day of optional practice on Friday, with each category to run a qualifying session and three races over the weekend.

Many of the machines at the 2021 Phillip Island Classic will not have been driven since the corresponding event this year, which snuck in just days before the COVID-19 Pandemic

broke free around the nation.

“Practice on Friday I’m sure will be taken up by a lot of people because it’s better to have a practice on Friday and find out if there is anything wrong with the car which may not have run for 12 months,” Tate said to AA. “Then we have a qualifying Saturday Morning, Race one Saturday afternoon and two races on Sunday.”

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CHIP GANASSI RACING ANNOUNCE 2021 IMSA RETURN LEGENDARY AMERICAN team Chip Ganassi Racing has confirmed that it will return to the IMSA Sportscar Series in 2021 after a year hiatus.

Chip Ganassi Racing which competes in both the open-wheel IndyCar Series and NASCAR Cup Series will return to IMSA in the top-tier Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class joining forces with Cadillac.

From 2016-2019 the Chip Ganassi Racing squad was the factory Ford team in the GT Le Mans class and took multiple victories over four seasons.

Ford withdrew factory support at the end of 2019 and in 2020 CGR elected to withdraw from the series.

The announced partnership with Cadillac will see CGR return to prototype racing in 2021 and has got team owner Chip Ganassi excited to fight for outright wins once more.

“We can’t wait to get back to IMSA and fight for the overall win after several years competing in the GTLM class,” Ganassi said.

“Our relationship with General Motors has expanded from the NASCAR Cup Series and we couldn’t be happier.

“Partnering with Cadillac is a tremendous opportunity for our team and we want to start delivering for them in January at the Rolex 24 At

Daytona.”

CGR again won the IndyCar drivers title with Scott Dixon for the sixth time this year, while Kurt Busch finished the NASCAR Cup Series in the top 10.

Arguably the team has arguably had the most success in the IMSA Series where the team has won the IMSA Series a total of seven times and the Rolex 24 Hours at on eight occasions.

The vice president of Cadillac Rory Harvey is pleased that a team with the pedigree of Chip Ganassi Racing is joining forces with his brand.

“We are very excited to welcome Chip Ganassi

Racing to the Cadillac competition family,” Harvey said.

“Their success across many forms of racing, including sports cars, will be a great addition to our IMSA WeatherTech line-up.

“Chip’s pedigree at winning the Rolex 24 At Daytona eight times as well as their championships in this form of racing gives Cadillac another stalwart team to compete for the 2021 IMSA DPi championship.”

At this point a driver line-up has not been announced, but CGR have confirmed that it will be confirmed in coming weeks. Dan McCarthy

SUPER3 DRIVERS F1 SATISFIED WITH SUPPORTS TWO ROUNDS

LOCKED IN

SUPER3 SERIES category management has confirmed a title winner will not be crowned for 2020. As previously reported, the season was anticipated to be wrapped up after just twoREGULAR rounds. Formula 1 support categories have THE Therevealed early conclusion is because Victoria been and <i>Auto Action<i> looks likely to remain closed to a vastinmajority atisthe possible Aussie representation these of states until at least December due to the categories for 2021. ongoing uncertainty of COVID-19 within the In 2021 the championship will radically decrease state.12 rounds to just eight, however the F2 title from Toyota 86races Racing driverstwo and willFormer still consist of 24 as Series the traditional nowformat Super3 front runners Robotham race gets replaced by aJaylyn three race schedule. and Declan are will disappointed but content At least one Fraser Australian be represented in if the third-tier Supercars Series gets called the series, with reigning FIA Formula 3 champion after just two Oscar Piastri setrounds. to climb into F2 next year.

Robotham all four races this The Victorianhas will won take part in the post-season season, the two at Sydney and FIA F2 championship test next Motorsport month and has both at Bathurst. previously told <i>Auto Action<i> that he has Although is disappointed, he several offersthe on 18-year-old the table for an F2 seat. understands that at least rounds The Prema Powerteam thatthree Piastri drove would for need to be heldpromoted to be declared a series winner. has traditionally its championship“Organisers a bit Super2 winning third-tierwere drivers intoiffy theabout F2/GP2 team, being series afterLeclerc three rounds, so we look nocalled furtherathan Charles and Robert sort of knew we had no chance,” Robotham Shwartzman. told Action. and Shwartzman are MickAuto Schumacher “It wouldforhave been to obviously be competing the F2 titlenice this year with the former expected to make the leap into F1 for 2021 leaving

a seat likely available for Piastri.

Another Australian F3 driver is Alex Peroni, the 20-year-old scored several podium finishes in 2020 on his way to tenth in the title race and is looking to move up also.

The Tasmanian drove two seasons in F3 with Campos Racing and when he spoke to Auto Action crowned as the winner for several weeks ago,series he announced thattheheyear would because we put in a in lotF3ofas effort and time not do another season his sights were quarantining. firmly fixated on F2.

“But2021 I’m not too fussed by it,consists we knew The eight-round calendar of that a nice theyofwere going to call and it after two rounds. mix classic F1 circuits street circuit.

“If we hadatanother round weinprobably Beginning the Sakhir Circuit Bahrain would have beenthen classed the seriesMonaco, winners and the circus goes toasAzerbaijan, that would Monza have been cool, but all in all, I think Silverstone, and Sochi. we that we’re enough to the be the Theproved penultimate roundquick will take place at winner.” circuit in Saudi Arabia, followed by the brand-new His series rival, Fraser is just happy season-ending Abu Declan Dhabi round. he to drive a Supercar a has couple times FIAgot Formula 3 Championship alsoofbeen trimmed from eight rounds to seven, but like F2 will

contain three races per weekend next year.

The other Australian competitors in the 2020 Formula 3 season are likely to remain in the series for a second year.

These drivers are Calan Williams and Jack Doohan, both drivers showed speed at times in 2020 but for one reason or another were unable to thisthe year believes that another round get joband done. simply isn’t feasible.

In the post-season F3 tests the pair performed “I thinkforthis has been pretty strongly theiryear respective teams, withcrazy bothfor everyone,” AA.top “I’m just happy that drivers endingFraser testingtold in the three. we gotWilliams out and drove were for ableSwiss to gooutfit racing.

Calan Jenzer “The guys behind the Liam Motorsport throughout theSuper3 season category and continued Curkpatrick (category manager) the team with them in testing, it appears likelyand the West have donewilla drive fantastic jobteam to get us two rounds.

Australian for the again in 2021.

“Financially for a lot of people it’s just Queenslander Doohan drove for Trident in not the viable and depending on borders well, post-season test after competing withasHWA but I gotthroughout to do my the firstseason. race atDoohan Bathurst in a Racelab signalled Supercar sotoI can’t complain his intentions race with Tridentatinthat.

2021 after topping the timesheets on the final day of testing.

Only one of the seven F3 rounds will be situated outside of Europe in 2021, the season-ending event in America.

Porsche Supercup this year saw New Zealander Jaxon Evans and reigning Porsche Carrera Cup Series winner Jordan Love competing in the series.

In 2021 Supercup will consist of eight rounds, we take didn’t get on thatthemany rounds the“Even first ofthough which will place streets of of racing this year it was still an awesome Monte Carlo. experience I got asignalled lot of exposure out of Aussie Joeyand Mawson to <i>AA<i> it.”intentions to return to the series after missing his the lack of rounds and the theDespite 2020 season. unlikelihood of aW-Series series winner crowned The all women will alsobeing feature on the both Robotham feelwith thateight contesting F1 support card forand theFraser first time rounds Super3 events 2020 was inthe2021, although theinlocation of allworthwhile. the events are announced that Super2 and yetIttohas be been announced.

Super3 competitors would saw alsoAustralian be awarded The inaugural 2019 season Caitlin Superrace Licence the limited Wood in thepoints series even beforewith the COVID-19 rounds. hiatus Dan McCarthy enforced of the category in 2020.

Dan McCarthy

THE PREVIOUSLY announced Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships doubleORGANISERS OF New Zealand’s Toyota Racing header at Sandown willthat be run across one in 2021 Series have confirmed it will go ahead weekend as doubt remains regarding border with a reduced schedule. closures.

The summer open-wheel series that typically “It’s looking more likely that there will be attracts an array of international drivers willone be event, not two,” Shannons Australia held again in January, albeitMotorsport with just three rounds Championships director Michael Smith. limited to the North Island.

“There is still a littletravel bit ofrestrictions doubt surrounding the With international still expected border andmove whenwas they’ll reopen.

We’re to be inclosures place, the made to keep costs now as time goes a little and moretoconfident that of entry as low as on possible encourage as the borders will be reopening andfeasible. that we will many New Zealand entrants as be“The able fundamental to welcome some of those purpose of the state-based Castrol Toyota competitors.

Racing Series is to develop our homegrown racing “But from our point of view, rounds or talent.

This format gives us thethese ability to continue round as it may out to be talent have really been all to promote and turn support local and bring about trying to run a race meeting and giving a top-class motorsport to the New Zealand public,” chance for ourDavis, categories an GAZOO opportunity to finish said Andrew TOYOTA Racing New the year on a positive note.

Zealand General Manager.

“We’re notDowns doing itwill forhost any the other reason other Hampton first two rounds

than to have a bit of fun to round out 2020.”

Although feature before TRSenvisioned competitorstohead to categories Manfeild for the from the Australian third and final event.Racing Group, Auto Action understands solely Victorian-based will Organisers ahave also confirmed thatline-up the New form theGrand basis of Smith Zealand Prixthewillmeeting, still takealthough place, but which expects mixtoofbecore Shannons Motorsport round isastill determined.

Australia Championships classes join the bill.

With previous competitors in thetoseries including “We’ll Formula have some really good current 1 drivers Landocontent Norris,there Lanceand announcements willand be Nicholas made about thatnext shortly,” Stroll, Daniil Kvyat Latifi, year’s said be as much a state-level event seriesSmith. is also“It’ll expected to attract entries from as it will be a Shannons Motorsport Australia overseas.

Championships New Zealand’sevent.

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing is “We’ll have a couple of our categories working with MotorSport Newcore Zealand, Sportthat typically run withoftheBusiness, Shannons, but alsoand giving NZ, the Ministry Innovation an opportunityand to New someZealand of the Victorian categories Employment Immigration that have been on permits andaffected logisticsby to this allowyear. international “We’re just although trying to make we can competitors, a finalsure decision willdeliver be made something for them, in the next few weeks.and there might even be some supersprint regularity just for the “We have or been advisedtype thatactivities the Government’s club competitors.”

Heathdrivers McAlpine decision on international will take

place before the end of November as we have considerable interest in the series this season.”

Davis continued.

“The economic contribution of visiting drivers, teams and support members is important to the viability of TRS and the New Zealand motorsport and wider economy so we will continue to work to enable international participation where possible.”

Image: Revved Photography Rhys Vandersyde

Castrol Toyota Racing Series 2021 Schedule:

SANDOWN DOUBLE-HEADER DOWN TO ONE REDUCED TRS SCHEDULE

Round one: Hampton Downs 22nd – 24th January Round two: Hampton Downs 28th – 30th January Round three: Manfeild 12th – 14th February

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13

CHRISTIAN MANSELL ended his maiden season in the British F4 Championship with his most successful round to date around the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit. Mansell not only claimed three outright podium finishes, but he also clean swept the Rookie Class honours and took the Rookie Championship. For Race 1 Mansell qualified third but fell to fifth on the opening lap, however a collision ahead of him on lap 2 handed him third, where he remained until the end. The 15-year-old was classified in third again in Race 2 and would better that in Race 3. In torrential rain Mansell briefly led, however despite a mistake at Clearways he was able to bring the car home in second.

TRIPLE EIGHT Race Engineering has announced that Australian fuel brand Ampol has stepped up its involvement with the team to become co-naming rights sponsor alongside Red Bull. The squad will be branded as Red Bull Ampol Racing when it takes to the grid for the 2021 Supercars Championship season, with the fuel brand to take up prominent branding on the team’s two Holden ZB Commodores. RV

BART HORSTEN contested the final round of the British F3 Championship at Silverstone and summed up the Australians season quite well with a mixed bag of results from a podium to a retirement. Horsten qualified 14th for Race 1 before steadily climbed up the order and was classified in eighth after a driver ahead received a post-race penalty.

Race 2 was Sydneysider’s best result of the season, having started in 10th Horsten charged through to finish second. An early collision in the final race saw Horsten’s season come to an early end. The Australian ended the year in 10th position.

AUSSIE AIDAN Read contested the seventh and final round of the ADAC GT Masters Series at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.

Competing in the #9 Schubert Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 machine alongside co-driver Joel Eriksson the pair qualified in 25th for Race 1. In the race itself the pair made progress and crossed the line in 19th just over half a minute behind the leader. Despite qualifying in 19th for Race 2 the pair started in 15th as several drivers served grid drops.

Sadly, the pair did not greet the chequered flag.

NEW RULES FOR DTM CONFIRMED

FOLLOWING ON from the announcement it was abandoning the Class 1 regulations mid-year, DTM organisers have confirmed the GT3 ruleset for the 2021 season.

Originally DTM organisers had planned for GT3 models to be upgraded to increase power, however this won’t occur as Germany’s premium category will use its own Balance of Performance measures, rolling starts, with cars retaining the ABS and traction control already featured in GT3.

This is as a result of discussions between teams and manufacturers.

The BoP measures take into account aerodynamic efficiency, engine size and placement, centre of gravity and weight, which are circuit specific.

Using its GT4-based DTM Trophy class as a guide, minimum weight, air restrictor diameter, ride height and boost pressure will be adjusted under BoP, while success ballast will also be

implemented. This sits at 25kg to the winner, 18kg for second and third at 15kg.

Races will remain at single-driver, 55-minutes plus one-lap events.

Also confirmed was a complete DTM platform of categories including DTM Trophy, DTM Electric, DTM Classic and DTM Esports.

A demo of the new DTM Electric category took place at Hockenheim ahead of the DTM finale using a demonstration vehicle. The building of the first prototype will be carried out next year with development taken out by DTM sponsor Schaeffer and category promoter ITR. DTM Classic aims to feature a mix of historic German touring cars, Formula 1 and Group C sports cars.

“Motorsport and the mobility sector are in a transition phase,” the DTM’s boss Gerhard Berger said.

“Therefore, we are now implementing

a progressive diversification of our series’ portfolio for a conscious future that combines the highest demands and innovative trends. We will maintain the DNA of the legendary DTM with fascinating wheel-to-wheel motorsport.

“Traditional motorsport for young and old will remain a fixed element of the DTM platform, from the DTM Trophy via Classic races to DTM Esports. As a separate race series, the innovative and fully-electric DTM Electric is to be added in the near future.

“All in all, it is a strong package with five high-quality elements with which we will lead the DTM platform into a multi-faceted future.”

Next year’s new-generation DTM begins in Russia at Igora Drive in May ahead of a further eight-rounds held in Italy, Belgium, Austria and the Netherlands as well as three in Germany.

Heath McAlpine

2021 DTM schedule:

1 – 28–30 May – Igora Drive, St. Petersburg (RUS)* 2 – 11–13 or 18-20 June – Monza (ITA) 3 – 2–4 July – Norisring (GER) 4 – 23–25 July – DEKRA Lausitzring Grand Prix (GER) 5 – 6–8 August – Zolder (BEL) 6 – 20–22 August – Nürburgring (GER) 7 – 3–5 September – Red Bull Ring (AUT) 8 – 17–19 September – Assen (NED) 9 – 1–3 October – Hockenheim (GER) * – to be confirmed / subject to approval by FIA

INCREASED SAFETY IN TCM

THE NEW builds coming out of Bendigo Retro Muscle Cars will feature systems to both better improve safety and rapidly decrease repair time.

Proprietor Gary O’Brien and his team have worked through 2020 to develop safety improvements for the next generation of Touring Car Masters machinery, whilst also improving the repairability at the same time.

“We’ve done a lot of R&D because what I’m trying to do with all the TCM Toranas and Commodores is to build crash systems into them by making the fronts of each very modular and the rears modular,” O’Brien explained.

“When the car gets a fair old whack in the front, it might be a dozen bolts and a few wiggies before you pull the whole front off it, then you can put new rail extensions, radiator support to have those all sub-assembled.

“From my perspective – being a crash guy – you’ve got to make it easier to work on them at the track.”

Three different models are being built at O’Brien’s workshop including a Torana Hatchback, a VC Commodore and a HQ Coupe, which will be off the highest quality when it hits the track.

“What we’ve done with a customer’s HQ, which is a really high-end build like a Supercar through the workmanship, it’s a step up from the Torana,” O’Brien said.

“It’s got rail extensions, they’re factory rails, but we’ve sliced and diced them and they bolt on. You could have a radiator support

nosecone with a set of rails and instead of putting on racks or jigs, the way they’re all braced up to the wishbones and main crossmembers are, the fronts you just throw away.

“In the rear of the HQ we’ve made it all modular with the back panels, we’ve made composites of coupe quarter panels you see for sale second hand at $8000.

We’ve taken the position to do composites stuff so they are glued and pop-riveted on. The back panels we’ve done the same.

“We’ve got a little crash area in the back of it, a nice beam and a bit more safety around the fuel cell. Originally, you’d need edging and cut a hole in the boot floor with a piece of square tube there.”

The HQ features a number of nuances that O’Brien hopes may soon be adopted by other teams in the category.

“On this HQ, the frame of this car, it could go down the road without sheet metal work,” he said.

“The floorpan is a structure, but basically the sheet metal and the roof just keeps the water off you. The sides are all detachable, again thinking off of crashing it, they all bolt to the framework inside. When you look at it from the outside, it still looks standard so it’s not radical chopping and channelling.

“There’s been a fair bit of thought has gone into how to mount the chassis onto it and how to keep the sides safe in the case of a side impact.”

Heath McAlpine

COURTNEY RE-SIGNS

“No-brainer” for Courtney JAMES COURTNEY says it was a “no brainer” to continue with Tickford Racing into 2021.

The 2010 Supercars champion announced a one-year extension with the Ford squad at Bathurst, along with backer Peter Adderton and his Boost Mobile brand.

Courtney and Adderton joined Tickford after quitting Team Sydney, following the opening round of the 2020 Supercars season in Adelaide.

He replaced Will Davison, who lost his seat at the team when Phil Munday’s 23Red customer entry was forced to a relationship with Will (Davison). withdraw due to financial issues related to the impact of the “To (enter) as the red headed stepchild that walks in when coronavirus. your dad gets re-married, it can be a bad setup but those Because the Australian Grand Prix didn’t go ahead, guys are fantastic.

Courtney effectively raced in every round of the 2020 “We have gelled and just getting better, stronger and why championship, claiming one podium in Darwin, three fourth we wanted to achieve the continuity with our car.” places, 10th at the Bathurst 1000 with Broc Feeney, and 13th Courtney admitted he was one of the few people around in the drivers’ championship. the world that the COVID-19 pandemic had truly benefitted.

“The first couple of weekends we wanted to see how it was “I couldn’t be happier, I think this year with all the drama and how we gelled, because I had never worked with anyone that has gone on, it has been an amazing outcome for me, I at Tickford before,” Courtney explained. think that the results and speed has shown it,” Courtney said.

“Once we worked out it was a good fit, I was enjoying it, “The team has been doing really well. Cam (Waters), Jack the cars were performing, and that everything is great. It was (Le Brocq) and Lee (Holdsworth) are great guys to work a no brainer to lock it away and get it done for the future.” with.”

Courtney is sure he will be even stronger in 2021 after a “It is probably the most open driver group I’ve ever worked season with the team under his belt. with, everyone helps each other, and everyone gets along “I already know all the guys, so I’ll just hit the ground and that has been a pleasant working environment.” running working with (engineer) Brendan (Hogan).

The re-signing of Courtney creates silly season questions “We are already talking about development stuff for next as well as answering some. At this moment Tickford needs IT’S JUST underbeing twopart weeks until running theREC successful Access meeting to field a the year, so it’s great of that andthe the30th direction with the after a fourth to run four Musrtangs in 2021, following of Island’s traditional Island Magic meeting, a competitive fieldMunday led byREC Camto Beller. wayPhillip the team is going.” departure of the Brad Jones Racing. highlight ofHogan the Victorian sport year.

Saloon Cars will alsoREC feature a strong As well as the rest ofmotor the #44 crew will remain with The Blanchard family is departing BJRfield and could end In what. has been a difficult 2020, Island Magic, expected to bealong headed Victorian Courtney up at Tickford, with by the reigning family business Cooldrive as though partthat of the State Circuit Racing Travis Lindorff, whilelinked the Formula “I wantnot to keep crewVictorian working together, they are a good champion a sponsor. Davison has also been with this project, Series, will he provide the first opportunity for those Vees willhe provide close wheel-to-wheel action all little group,” explained. although is expend to go to the restructured DJR Team competitors to enjoy a hit those out for thehad firstalready time since “We got thrown in together, guys started weekend. (see separate story). DM the opening Sandown round in March.

Spectators are not able to attend, however can The meeting is not only attractive to local watch live results on natsoft.com.au or if you are competitors, but top interstate contenders are lucky enough to be holidaying on Phillip Island tune normally in attendance, however due to the into 87.6fm to hear the action. uncertainty surrounding border re-openings many of Heath McAlpine those will wait until next year to tackle the legendary island circuit.

Although entries are slightly down on previous years, the quality remains within each category Auto Action wishes to pay tribute to long-time competing on November 28-29.

Superkarts replace Formula Ford on the schedule member Ian ‘Skip’ Taylor, who passed away due to a event conflict allowing 30-40 of the ultrafast after a long battle with throat cancer. to contest a second meeting at Phillip Island within ‘Skip’ is remembered well for driving the three weeks.

Course Car at all PIARC meetings at Phillip Always strong is Improved Production where the Island, the Australian Grand Prix and at regular frontrunners including Damian Milano in his Sandown.

HSV VY Clubsport leads an array of V8 Holdens Described as a great club member and friend including those of Matthew Logan and Troy Lloyd. to all, ‘Skip’ was honoured as the PIARC Also, to keep an eye on is regular Shannons Winston Maguire Clubman of the Year Motorsport Australia Championship commentator Auto Action sends it condolences to the Cameron van den Dungen racing a rotary powered Taylor family.

Mazda.

Below is PIARC’s statement placed on its And if the Victorian-New South Wales border social media outlets: reopens, Jordan Coxboss has entered “It’s with greatsomeone sadnesselse thattowe DJR TEAM Penske Ryan his rapid “TheSuzuki commission has worked stepconvey up andthe Swift featured in Auto Action’s news of Ian “Skip” passing last night.

Story as haspreviously stepped down from togetherWhat’s extremely well through makeTaylor’s a contribution - something In Workshop feature.

Skip as he wasthat affectionately known for theThe Supercars Commission, 2020 to ensure we could continue I believe is important Some the of the topforSports Sedans in the country willhe said. around our organization andcommissioner the sport, was paving way Erebus going racing,” the alternate role.” compete for CEO the prestigious youngmy two years a roleonmodel, confidant.

His work The and appointment of Ryan and the Motorsport Barry Ryan50k to Plate with “Through the friend, gun Caruso aiming for his racing the John we have inworked Australian motorsport will be forever reconfirmation of Brad Jones to the takeJordan his place. commission, Gourlay-owned A4asChev. in his remembered as Supercars fulfilling and the bar boardsetting and commission, Story joined inAudi 2018 an Steve Tamasi incredibly hard to reduce costs national winning Holden willcomplexity provide to thehigh for future leaders. were two key decision made by alternateseries member, a role that Calibraand benefit stiff as will the Holden Monaro driven Supashock, by It’ssingle not often that brings us general someone the life sport’s annual meeting Ryancompetition will now take over. of all teams.

Michael Robinson. special and genuine aslast Skip, and we feel That means he will attend all at Bathurst week. springs, Xtrac, event as format Others to an eye Cammreduced in fortunate knownwith and learnt meetings butkeep will only voteonif include Dean Jones andfrom Ryan,him. the changes, aero and datato have Along his statecommissioner title winning Chev Corvette, Brett Dickie Our thoughts with Margaret, James another is absent. commission comprises interim - these have all come through the are returning in his Prelude Hamilton during in andtime David as well as the Neil Taylor and vanJamie den Story, who did Honda not attend the and Terry chairman Crompton, Commission the I have his new Holden Dungen familiesWhincup and friends this time.

Bathurst 1000 to VE seeCommodore. his team (TripleatEight), Tim served as a representative of all The fourth Cue 1 and Hourfifth Sports Car Enduro features Service detailsEdwards will be (Tickford advised at a laterScott time finish and claim the Racing), teams. a solid mix of entries Wayne Mack driving hisa decision –toPIARC honouring “Skip” with teams’ title, toldincluding Auto Action he was (independent) and his Sean “I made not will be Sinclair Ferrari GT3,aacontribution Lamborghini, of Porsches beloved course car at the Magic pleased458 to make to plenty Seamer and2020 ShaneIsland Howard from continue and step down with my and even an via MG.the commission. event.”

Supercars. the category term concluding, which allows Porsche 944s, just like Superkarts will back up Rest In Peace.”

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with Dan Knutson

FIA FORMULA 2 Championship front runner Yuki Tsunoda completed his maiden F1 test at Imola in probable preparation for a full-time drive with AlphaTauri next year. Tsunoda drove a 2018-spec Toro Rosso STR13 around the legendary Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola. Dr Helmut Marko, the advisor of the Red Bull-owned F1 teams, has previously stated that Tsunoda would be racing in an AlphaTauri next season. DM

BOTH HAAS drivers, Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen have announced that they are in conversations with IndyCar Series teams as they will be dropped by the American squad at the end of the season. Several weeks ago, Haas confirmed that they would field an entirely new driver line-up for the 2021 F1 season. Grosjean has been outspoken about the IndyCar ovals in the past but admitted that he will put his fear aside to race in the category. DM

SERGIO PEREZ and Daniil Kvyat have both admitted that they are open to the possibility of taking a sabbatical from Formula 1 next year and return to the grid in 2022. Mexican Perez signed a contract with Racing Point for next season, however departing Ferrari star Sebastian Vettel was signed in his place and forced Perez to look elsewhere. He may replace the underperforming Alex Albon at Red Bull Racing.

While Kvyat is expected to be replaced by F2 driver Yuki Tsunoda at AlphaTauri. DM

CHARLES LECLERC’S younger brother, Arthur, looks set to step into the Prema Racing car driven

by Australian Oscar Piastri in the FIA Formula 3 Championship this year. Piastri is destined to make the move up to the FIA Formula 2 Championship after winning the F3 title in 2020. Arthur Leclerc has driven in the Formula Regional European Championship for the team this season and is the favourite to step into the #1 machine in 2021. DM

F1 HAS confirmed Saudi Arabia’s place on the 2021 schedule, announcing a night race on the streets of the city of Jeddah in November. The new event which will become the third race in the Middle East after Bahrain and Abu Dhabi is part of a new long-term partnership between Formula 1 and the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation (SAMF). Next year’s event will run on in the city of Corniche before a planned move to a newly built circuit in Qiddiya for 2023. RV

18 AutoAction

MELBOURNE KICKS OFF RECORD SEASON MELBOURNE WILL, as usual, kick off the Formula 1 season. The Australian Grand Prix on 21 March will be the first of what should be a record 23-race season in 2021 that includes the first ever round in Russia.

“We are pleased to announce the 2021 Formula 1 provisional calendar after extensive conversations with our promoters, the teams and the FIA,” said Chase Carey, the chairman and CEO of Formula 1. “We are planning for 2021 events with fans that provide an experience close to normal and expect our agreements to be honoured. We have proven that we can safely travel and operate our races, and our promoters increasingly recognise the need to move forward and manage the virus. In fact, many hosts actually want to use our event as a platform to show the world they are moving forward.”

Formula 1 and the FIA managed to successfully put together a 17-race schedule in this COVID-19 savaged year.

“The FIA and F1 will continue, as we have done since we’ve started, looking at all of this and developing the return to motorsport protocols

and guidelines,” said the FIA’s race director Michael Masi. “We’ll continue to work with each of the governments, promoters and ASNs and all of the key stakeholders in ensuring that primarily we provide a safe environment for everyone involved.”

The Australian was referring to the remaining races in 2020, but the same guidelines will be carried over and improved for the 2021 season, and that makes achieving a 23-race schedule more feasible.

Missing from the schedule is what should have been the inaugural Vietnamese Grand Prix – that event being canceled due to a political scandal in the country.

Yet Formula 1 has kept the April 25 date open for a ‘to be announced’ race. Formula 1 will definitely opt for a venue that can pay a hefty fee to host the race, so that rules out tracks like Portimão and Imola which staged races in Portugal and Italy this season.

Because they had no income due to having few or no spectators, those two tracks, like many this year, paid no race hosting fee to Formula 1.

That money represents a significant chunk of the income earned by Formula 1 and the teams.

Having major fan turnouts in 2021 at events without major government backing, therefore, will be crucial so that the teams and Formula 1 don’t take financial blows for two years running.

Time will tell if all 21 races are staged in 2021, but the rules require only eight rounds to make it an official world championship.

“I’d love to help them on this quest pushing for change,” he said. “They’re obviously taking their cars green and electrifying more, and I’d like to help them on that road. I’d like to help them in terms of pushing for diversity because within the organisation – as with every organisation out there – there’s not enough of it. So there’s a lot to discuss and a lot to go through, but I think that’s something we’ll do if not after the job is done, then particularly at the end of the year. But nothing’s set in stone, it’s just about talking about it. At the moment I don’t feel like I’m finished, I don’t feel like moving forward. There are

always areas to improve. I love racing, I love the challenge, and I don’t think that’s going to change anytime soon.”

While it is not all about the money, Hamilton certainly is not going to drive for free. His base salary is somewhere around 40 million British pounds ($72m), and he is not going to take a pay cut.

The F1 budget cap for 2021 of US$145 million does not include driver salaries, but there are proposals to introduce a driver salary cap as early as 2022 that would halve Hamilton’s salary.

Provisional 2021 F1 calendar:

21 March – Australia; 28 March – Bahrain; 11 April – China; 25 April – TBA; 9 May – Spain*; 23 May – Monaco; 6 June – Azerbaijan; 13 June – Canada; 27 June – Austria; 4 July – France; 18 July – Great Britain; 1 August – Hungary; 29 August – Belgium; 5 September – Holland; 12 September – Italy; 26 September –Russia; 3 October – Singapore; 10 October – Japan; 24 October – USA; 31 October – Mexico; 14 November – Brazil*; 28 November – Saudi Arabia; 5 December – Abu Dhabi. * Subject to contract.

WHAT HAMILTON WANTS

LEWIS HAMILTON wants something more when he renews his contract with Mercedes. He and team boss Toto Wolff have yet to sit down and have a serious talk about a new deal.

One reason they have not negotiated is that, given the packed race schedule this year, they simply have not had the time. Hamilton also wanted to get the championship sealed before getting distracted by contract talks. Another problem is COVID-19 and social distancing. Wolff happened to be in Monaco, where Hamilton lives, a while back but did not go and visit Hamilton on safety grounds.

But while he has not been negotiating with Wolff, Hamilton has been thinking deeply about what he wants. And it is not just about the money.

“Believe it or not I haven’t got all the answers to what I want to do yet,” Hamilton revealed. “I believe I have the best contract that there is in terms of how it’s structured, in terms of time management, the team that’s put around me… it has been great. I’m always looking to see how we can improve. How can I be more efficient and do more for the partners? How can I position myself to do more for the team?”

The British driver definitely wants to continue at Mercedes.

MILLION DOLLAR SWINGS THE BATTLE for third place in the constructors’ championship continues to swing back and forth between Renault, Racing Point and McLaren − and millions of dollars are at stake. The prize money payout difference between third and fifth places is more than US$10 million.

Thanks to Daniel Ricciardo’s third place finish in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Renault left Italy in third place with 135 points. McLaren and Racing Point had 134 points each.

The pendulum swung the other way in Turkey where Ricciardo earned a single point for Renault by finishing 10th. Sergio Pérez, meanwhile, earned 18 points for Racing Point by finishing second, and Lance Stroll got a couple more by crossing the line in ninth. Carlos Sainz picked up 10 points with his fifth place in the McLaren, and Lando Norris earned five more by finishing eighth and earning an extra point for clocking the fastest lap in the race.

The net result is that Racing Point is now third behind Mercedes and Red Bull with 154 points, next is McLaren with 149, and Renault drops to fifth with 136.

So can Renault bounce back and get ahead of its rivals?

Ricciardo believes it is possible.

“For sure now we are the underdog but it is still doable,” the Aussie said after the Turkish Grand Prix. “There are still three races remaining. If there was only one race left or even

two, I would be more pessimistic. But we can still do it.

“It is a shame that there was a big swing today. Today does sting, we cannot deny that. But with three races to go we still have a chance to pull it off. Although the races [two in Bahrain and one in Abu Dhabi] will be dry there will still be a bit going on. Bahrain has a tight Turn One, and maybe Sergio [Pérez] and Lance [Stroll] want to get into each other … we will see!”

What Renault needs is a swing of good luck for Ocon.

He has scored points in two of the last six races compared to Ricciardo earning points in all six. But then the Racing Point and McLaren drivers have had their ups and downs as well.

It is all going to come down to the final three races of the 2020 season – three rounds to determine how millions of dollars will be divided between three teams.

Or will it be four teams? The ever improving Ferrari is now in sixth place with 130 points, so the Scuderia could get into the mix.

FORMULA 1 COMMITTED TO GOING GREEN RACING FANS who hope that the screaming normally-aspirated engines will make a return to Formula 1 are out of luck. The current power unit regulations are set until the end of 2025, and F1 is committed to staying with the hybrid concept with the new rules package that will be introduced in 2026.

Formula 1 and the FIA continue on their path to have a net zero carbon footprint by 2030.

The plan includes: • Reducing the carbon footprint of the F1 car and the on-track activities.

• Moving to ultra-efficient logistics and travel.

• Having 100 percent renewably powered offices, facilities, and factories.

• By 2025 ensuring all events are sustainable by using sustainable materials at all events with single-use plastics being eliminated and all waste reused, recycled, or composted.

• Providing incentives and tools to offer every fan a greener way to reach the race and ensure circuits and facilities enhance fan well being and nature as well as providing opportunities for local people, businesses and causes to get more involved in the action

during a Formula 1 race weekend.

Formula 1 said in a statement: “At the top of Formula 1’s priorities for both sustainability and the sport is building a roadmap for the internal combustion engine that addresses the environmental goals of our automotive partners and society.

Formula 1 has long served as a platform for introducing next generation advancements in the automotive world. We believe we have the opportunity to do that with a next generation engine that combines hybrid technology with

sustainable fuels. Therefore a working group of F1 and FIA personnel has been set up to investigate a future engine formula powered by sustainable fuels. This group will be expanded to include specialists from the OEMs and energy suppliers as well as seeking expertise from independent research groups. Although the carbon footprint of the cars is a very small percentage of our carbon footprint as a sport (0.7 percent) it is important that the most visual part of our sport is sustainable and can have real world benefits.

“We believe that with over 1 billion of the 1.1 billion vehicles in the world powered by Internal Combustion Engines, we have the potential to lead the way in technologies that reduce automotive carbon emissions globally.

We also believe that there is not a single solution for the sport and the automotive sector. We are working on the engine technologies of the future and can see that a sustainably fuel hybrid engine will be a significant moment for the sport and the automotive sector.”

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F1 INSIDER

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THE GREAT UNKNOWNS

THERE ARE still plenty of unknowns about next year as the 2020 Formula 1 season winds down.

Usually by this time of the year I have already started buying airline tickets and booking hotels for the following year – those of the non-refundable or major fee cancellation types.

But as of now I have not bought anything.

I am, of course, determined on being in Melbourne when the 2021 season begins with the Australian Grand Prix on March 21. I have been to every F1 race in Melbourne and will keep the streak going.

Andrew Westacott, the Australian Grand Prix Corporation CEO, is confident that the 2021 Melbourne season opener will take place.

The COVID-19 situation has changed drastically since this year’s race at Albert Park was cancelled on the Friday morning, and now another surge of the virus is sweeping around the world. The situation will continue to change.

We all hope that a vaccine will be available soon. I believe that Melbourne will be able to stage the race, but can anybody

be really confident that all 23 races on the provisional 2021 schedule that Formula 1 has proposed will actually take place?

Chase Carey, the chairman and CEO of Formula 1, certainly is. He is on record saying that F1 is planning on a full 2021 season, with fans, and that we “expect our agreements to be honoured.”

In other words, F1 is expecting the track promoters around the world to pay the full racehosting fees that are decreed in their contracts.

Canadian race organiser Francois Dumontier noted in a Montreal newspaper: “We have to protect the remaining years in our contract to avoid losing our race. But when I hear Chase Carey say that he expects to see spectators in the stands next year, I think to myself that it probably won’t be possible to do so in some countries. At this time, although the calendar is out, we will not be putting our tickets on sale. And that won’t come in 2020.”

Will there be 23 races? Will fans be allowed to attend?

The reality is that it will be the governments that make the

decisions and not the tracks organisers or Formula 1.

Another unknown is which drivers will be on the grid next year.

Haas rejects Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen will definitely not be back. Both of them are taking a serious look at IndyCar. “I’ve said many times IndyCar is something very high on my list,” Magnussen said, “and I’ve always been a fan. I’d love to try it; it’s a challenge that I’d really get really excited about, a lot of new things. I’ve always found oval tracks to be something that I think is spectacular, very different to what I’ve ever done in my career.”

Oval track racing can be daunting and dangerous, but there are only three oval tracks remaining on the IndyCar schedule: Indianapolis, Texas and Iowa.

“The Indy 500 is something unique, one of the top three races in the world with Le Mans and Monaco,” Grosjean said.

“If you can put your fear on the side a bit and go for it, and accept also the cars have been much safer, the walls have been safer, it’s moving in the right

direction, I think it’s gone in a way that I accept now it can be a good opportunity and a fun experience and hopefully a successful experience.”

Meanwhile, the seats of Alex Albon at Red Bull and Daniil Kvyat at AlphaTauri are in jeopardy. Honda protégé Yuki Tsunoda is being lined up to replace Kvyat. And Red Bull is thinking outside its usual box of junior drivers for a replacement for Albon. Racing Point reject Sergio Pérez is on Red Bull’s list.

“Nothing yet,” Pérez said of his prospects for 2021. “The season is coming soon to an end. Every team that hasn’t announced their lineup is an option so we will see. It looks like I will know whether I continue in Formula 1 or not quite late in the year, so I think a sabbatical is an option.”

We will have to wait and see which tracks will actually host races next year, if fans access will be permitted, and which drivers will be on the grid at those races.

But I am planning on being in Melbourne in March – even though I have yet to book my flight or hotel.

CELEBRATING HOLDEN’S FIRST HERO

PLUS

GREATEST OF ALL TIME? LEWIS IN SEVENTH HEAVEN

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Cover images: Main MTR Images/ Autopics.com.au/AA Archives.

20 AutoAction

WHAT’S IN THE NEXT ISSUE ON SALE December 3rd

Living Legends - Colin Bond part two, The Tornado - a fast Australian racer, Bahrain Grand Prix 1, Young Gun - Ryan Suhle, Island Magic, AMRS Sandown and more

with Mark Fogarty

THE FOGES FILE AA’s unusually optimistic pundit looks forward to all racing resuming as we cautiously emerge from the greatest crisis in living memory FREEDOM AT last! Well, nearly.

Australia is slowly opening up after months of varying restrictions that have limited movement and lifestyle.

The latest and most significant easing of COVID-19 curbs is Melbourne’s release from the draconian lockdown of the past four months.

Finally, our second largest city and the rest of the second biggest state can get on with life and commerce with some semblance of normality.

Coronavirus, for the time being, has been stamped out in Victoria. No new cases and no deaths for 17 days straight as of Monday (November 16).

In the western world, that is a first. As the northern hemisphere descends into rampant second and third waves of the pandemic, Australia – and near neighbour New Zealand – are essentially COVID-free.

Unfortunately, a new outbreak in Adelaide threatens full national emergence as other regions reclose their borders to SA. But with Melbourne gaining control, if not eradication, of the virus, the prospects of most of the country opening up by Christmas are promising.

From a purely selfish point of view, this is great news for motor sport. Melbourne’s liberation means some more meaningful racing will happen before the end of the year, with encouraging signs for a more robust resumption early in the New Year.

Next month’s Motorsport Australia Shannons Festival at Sandown in suburban southeast Melbourne will be able to host a small crowd, one of the first in the city since it was paralysed by the pandemic in late March.

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By the end of this month, Melbourne and Victoria will be open to NSW again, with SA and Tasmania not far behind. Queensland and WA are the holdouts, but Victoria’s belated control of the virulent virus suggests freedom of movement within the nation will return by early next year, if not by Christmas.

It’s far from a free-for-all, but as we head towards summer, Australia is on the verge of re-opening internally. That will enable race teams to move freely without onerous – and expensive – periods away from base or in quarantine.

The ‘hide-and-seek’ approach that enabled Supercars to complete its season won’t be necessary – nor some of the subterfuge that went on.

Make no mistake, the Supercars fraternity was an exemplar of coronavirus protocol compared with the AFL and NRL. No scandals over blatant breaches.

But rules were bent, if not broken, especially after Bathurst. Queensland Police are still investigating the rorts of the return of Jamie Whincup and Triple Eight, plus Paul Morris – and others.

Their opportunistic manipulation of the rules undid much of the good Supercars did in completing a season within the health/travel restrictions.

There were no outbreaks or blatant abuses during a shortened season completed under extreme restrictions and duress.

Then some elements of southeast Queensland teams – Supercars and support categories – snuck home.

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They were found out and will face the consequences of their deception. Even if designating a leading driver as a “truckie” was strictly and letter-of-the-law legal, it was clearly not within the spirit of the NSW/Qld border barrier.

Most of the Queensland team staff returning from Bathurst did the right thing by holing up just across the border for 14 days.

Otherwise, motor sport in Australia has an unblemished record that justifies its unencumbered resumption early next year.

In-bound overseas travel will be limited well into 2021, but the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix in late March should gain an exemption with limited crowds.

The main point here is that Melbourne’s emergence from four months in strict lockdown is a pathway to semi-normality.

Racing, like life, won’t be the same for a long time. COVID-19 is not going away and precautions will persist well into next year. As will sporadic outbreaks until a vaccine kicks in.

Forget free overseas travel in or out – that’s not happening until far into 2021.

In the meantime, barriers being removed between states will revive economies and allow racing to slowly resume.

Next year won’t be normal, but all going well, it will be more normal than now.

By the time you read this, Supercars should have released its 2021 calendar. But it will be highly provisional and it will be well into the season before unrestricted crowds are allowed.

But if any major sporting code deserves to have the shackles released, it is Supercars despite the small smear after Bathurst. And the rest of racing and rallying has also earned a reprieve.

F1 has also proved it can cross national borders safely.

If 25,000 can attend the Boxing Day Test at the MCG and 30,000-40,000 a day are allowed at the Australian Open, 50K spectators around the open expanse of Albert Park should be a minimum for the F1 AGP in March.

Motor sport faces on-going challenges as we slowly and methodically emerge from this unprecedented global social/health/economic crisis.

But as long as COVID-19 is contained in Melbourne, Sydney and southeast Queensland, we can get on with life on a manageable basis while still enjoying our favourite pastime.

Normally much criticised, Motorsport Australia has stood up to the challenge and provided the FIA with a COVID-safe blueprint.

Australian motor sport has led the way in dealing with the pandemic responsibly. It should be rewarded with sensible freedoms in 2021.

I am looking forward to going to Sandown next month to see some actual racing – for me, the first time since the Adelaide 500 back in February.

Also appealing is the return of TCR and S5000 in Tasmania in late January. I can feel an Apple Isle road trip coming on…

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21

LICENSED TO THR In the latest of our series talking to racing greats, circuit and rally star Colin Bond talks to MARK FOGARTY about his varied and versatile career, across displines of the sport including his daring defection from Holden to Ford

HAD NOT fate intervened, Colin Bond could have been a top professional soccer player. Growing up in leafy, posh Hunters Hill on Sydney’s north shore, he starred as a teenager in the local league with Gladesville Ryde and tired out for state sides Apia and Croatia.

Bet you didn’t know that about Colin Robert Bond, a legend of Australian motor sport! He also thinks he couldd have been successful pro golfer, impressed with his senior game these days in retirement.

Bond, now 78, chose a career eer in cars that proved wise for its ts success over three decades and a lot less wear and tear on his body. He is a fit, activee septuagenarian whose cackling laughter is as infectious as ever.

Bond rose to national stardom by winning the Bathurst 500 in 1969. He was a star of touring car racing and rallying in the 1970s and endured as a competitive, if not successful, racer into the early ’90s.

On paper, Bondy’s record doesn’t look legendary. A Bathurst win, a touring car title and three rally crowns. But a sheer lack of silverware doesn’t reflect his skill, versatility, competitive spirit and mechanical acumen over a long period at the highest levels.

To this day, his enthusiasm and good humour remain his trademarks. His sunny demeanour made him one of the most popular drivers of an era choc-a-bloc with colourful characters.

Bond and his equally ebullient wife Robyn are fixtures in the racing world, attending events and functions as interested and

How and why did you get into in motor sport?

Ho

involved observers. observers They are popular and treasured links to a glorious, transformational past.

For all his affability, Bondy was as hardnosed as any top racer and, later, team boss.

He had the courage to cross the red/blue divide in 1977, joining the Moffat Ford Dealers Team after eight seasons as a Holden hero.

It was, in the day, a brave move that brought him financial success – at the cost of deferring to team owner Moffat, most notoriously in ‘Formation Finish’ at Bathurst in ’77, which he could easily won if he had ignored team orders.

It was a stunning display of superiority by the Falcon Hardtops, but a harbinger of team order tactics that would decades later blight racing from F1 down.

Of course, Bond shrugs it off as, well, just what happened… He enjoyed his career, did reasonably well from it and has no real regrets. His giggles as he recounts his racing and rallying confirm he is a happy man.

Bond’s first serious competition car was this Austin-Healey Sprite. Most successful in NSW motorkhanas, he also raced and hillclimbed the little ‘Bug-Eye’ sports car.

What got me interested were the RedEx Trials in W the 1950s. The amount of publicity they got in the early days really captured my imagination.

This was even before I could drive. As kids, we Th used to get on our push bikes and make rallies us through the bush in Hunters Hill and Gladesville. thr an apprentice mechanic at Grenville I became b Motors under the Harbour Bridge on the north Mo side. They were part of LNC Industries, the Land sid Rover people. I had a Singer 9 for a little while Ro because a lot of the boys at Grenvilles were in be the Singer Car Club, but then I got a Bug-Eyed Sprite. I joined the MG Car Club and ran the Sp Sprite in motorkhanas − very successful.

Sp In those days, there was an event called the CAMS Corrobboree, which was the biggest C event of its type in NSW. All the car clubs e would get together at Pitt Town, a little airstrip w out o the back of Sydney [59km northwest].

You Yo competed in a series of tests and I won that twice tw from two attempts. We used to do other motorkhanas and club events in between, as

well as some rallies. I also did three races with it – a couple of club days on the Warwick Farm short circuit and at Oran Park.

Then I got a VW Beetle 1200 because I wanted to do the 1964 Ampol Round Australia Trial with a couple of friends, George Shepheard and Andy Frankel. We did all right. We won the under-25s class and we finished 56th overall. It just about paid for itself. From memory, we won 250 pounds, and I think that’s about what we had with us when we started the event.

Bob Holden was competing and told me about the Lynx Peugeot single-seater racing car he was going to sell. When we got back to Sydney, I sold the Sprite and bought the Lynx Peugeot, mainly to run in hillclimbs but also in racing.

The first time I ran it was actually at Hume Weir and I put it on pole for my first race!

We did okay in racing, but it was more successful in hillclimbs. I won the NSW Hillclimb Championship three years in a row (1965-67) and came second in the Australian championship twice – once to [future F1 driver] Tim Schenken in his motorcycle-engined White

IMAGES: Autopics.com.au/AN1 Images-Ian Smith/AA Archive

RILL R

PART ONE

500 (’65) and then to Alan Hamilton in his Porsche 904 at Collingrove (’66). We ended up selling the Lynx, but in the meantime, Mitsubishi came on board with these little Colt Fastbacks.

Doug Stewart brought two into the country and we made a bit of a rally car out of them.

Bob Riley and I used to work on the cars and we also drove them. The factory got involved and we went from 850cc to 1000cc and then 1100cc, so we got a better car each year and did pretty well with them.

The last time I drove for Mitsubishi was 1969 and during that year, of course, Harry Firth picked us up to run the Monaro at Bathurst. I was originally supposed to do the Sandown Three Hour (250) with Spencer Martin, but I was already committed to a rally in Papua New Guinea in, of all things, an Isuzu Bellet [which he had also raced in the Bathurst 500 in 1965/66]. That was fortunate because the Monaro had brake problems at Sandown and we went backwards into the fence and the car caught fire. So that was a bit

of a disaster, but three weeks later Bathurst, er aatt Ba Bath thur urst st, Holden had improved the car substantially. bstantially. We had new wheels with slots in them to get a bit of air through to the brakes and they cut some slots under the front bumper bar as well to provide extra cooling for the brakes. The first time I drove the car was at Amaroo Park a week before Bathurst. It was just an old road car Harry had prepared – we used to call it ‘The Iron Horse’ – but I thought it was pretty good. Then we went to Bathurst and the rest is history.

Dumped by Ford, Svengali-like driver-turnedmanager Harry Firth got his revenge by setting up the unofficially (but heavily) factory backed Holden Dealer Team. In a masterstroke, Firth added the youth of Bond and Peter Brock to his experienced Bathurst line-up. Famously, Bond and Tony Roberts won in their Monaro GTS 350, while Brock was third with veteran Des West. As well as Brock, Allan Moffat made his Bathurst

debut ’69, beginning de debu butt in ’69 69,, be begi ginn nnin ingg an epochal epo poch chal al rivalry riv ival alry ry Bond witnessed first-hand as teammate of both.

We qualified seventh because we were still running on the Michelin XAS road tyres when all the leading Falcons were using race tyres. Digby Cooke also had race tyres on his Monaro and he was second on the grid on the front row. Harry had one set of race tyres, but I couldn’t have them because he said they wouldn’t fit my car!

Tony Roberts and I were in the Number Three car and the other two (Henk Woelders/Peter Macrow and Des West/Peter Brock) had the inner mudguards slightly modified to fit the race tyres, which were a bit bigger. It was a bit of a grey area in the rules. Anyway, as it turned out, the Michelins were the better tyre for the race.

Harry took a risk with two young blokes.

Well, we’d competed against Harry in rallies, so he knew me and I also believe the late Mike

Kable, who was Kabl Ka blee, w ho w as a very senior motoring journalist in those days, recommended me to him because of the amount of racing I’d also done. So Harry partnered me with Tony Roberts, an experienced race and rally driver who’d won the Sandown Three Hour with Bob Watson in a Monaro GTS 327 in ’68.

Harry had also noticed Peter Brock doing well in his Austin A30-Holden sports sedan and decided to give him a go as well, again pairing him with a very experienced driver in Des West.

I think Harry saw us as the young apprentices to the wily old hands.

It was an upset, but was it a pretty straight forward race for you and Tony?

Absolutely. We’d avoided all the drama on the top of the Mountain on the opening lap when Bill Brown put his Falcon on its side and partially blocked the track. We were ahead of all that and thereafter we ran with the Falcon GTHOs all day until they had their tyre dramas.

Bondy shot to stardom by winning the 1969 Bathurst 500, his first race for the new Holden Dealer Team, in a Monaro GTS350 he shared with the late Tony Roberts. He achieved early notoriety in the ex-Bob Holden Lynx-Peugeot S/C (top), which was a weapon in hillclimbs.

Everything went perfectly for us. We didn’t have any problems during the race and we were always right there. I was actually doing it pretty easily, I thought. Bruce McPhee was out of phase with his pit stops because he had a bit of a bingle early on and he was always going to have to stop towards the end of the race to take on enough fuel to make it to the finish. We knew that, so it was quite an easy run.

After Bathurst, I won the Lakeside 1500 in the car, this time with the race tyres on it, and then Tony and I won the Surfers Paradise 12 Hour, so Bathurst certainly wasn’t a fluke. The Monaro was competitive everywhere – we even won races at Warwick Farm, a lot of which was tight and twisty.

It was also competitive in the 1970 Ampol Round Australia Trial, which we probably should’ve won [Bond was partnered by Roberts and Brian Hope]. We finished third after getting bogged in the opening competitive stage and had to be pulled out by a guy in his four-wheel drive. So we went from hero to zero right from the first stage and it took us the rest of the event to claw our way back to third.

[Frenchman Jean-Claude Ogier in a Citroen DS21 and Germany’s Edgar Herrmann in a Datsun 1600 SSS tied for victory] Bathurst was the beginning of it all with HDT and I was with Holden for the next seven years.

Was the other highlight of your time there the 1975 Australian Touring Car Championship?

I think winning three Australian rally championships was more of an achievement. We should’ve won four because in ’73, my teammate Peter Lang beat us because I broke an axle in the last event while we were leading. It was a pretty good period overall – a Bathurst win, four straight rally titles for the team, the touring car championship and a manufacturers’ championship, plus lots of race wins.

In those days, I concentrated on NSW and Queensland while Peter focused on Victoria and South Australia. There were a lot more races in those days. We’d be racing at Amaroo Park and Oran Park in Sydney and Lakeside and Surfers Paradise up north. They were good days.

I think the Torana XU-1 came on a little bit too early for Bathurst [1970]. In the first year, even though I led the first five laps, it just couldn’t stay with the Falcon going up the hill. Moffat just pulled out and passed me and then disappeared. But the XU-1 was a good car at most other tracks, and it was a great rally car. Small and agile with plenty of power.

Perfect, really.

24 AutoAction

Hiking through The Dipper in LC Torana XU-1 (top), which was a match for Falcon GT-HO Phase 2 almost everywhere except Mount Panorama.

Unlikely Isuzu Bellet (above left) displaying swing axle-induced oversteer. But for an early error, Bond thinks he could’ve won 1970 Ampol Trial in swift and strong Monaro GTS350 (above right).

The ’75 ATCC was full of controversy. You battled with Allan Grice. It’s fair to say there wasn’t a lot of love lost between you two.

We did race together later on in the STP Roadways Commodore [Bathurst ’83], but in the mid-’70s, he was unnecessarily aggressive.

Against the other leading drivers, you knew in a close situation that you were going to make it

around the corner, whereas if you were on the outside of Grice, you knew there was no way you were going to come out of it without being punted off. That was just him. Everyone else played by the rules, but he didn’t.

You knew that, so you just didn’t try to pass him on the outside. You waited till you could nail him up the inside. We had quite a few comings together.

Well, famously, at Amaroo in ’76 when he launched you sideways over the top of the hill.

He just nailed me and I spun across the track in the middle of the field and got hit by Skelo [Bob Skelton]. He spun me around and then Seto [Barry Seton] collected me and spun me back again. The back of my car looked like a boat.

But that wasn’t the worst one.

I don’t want to put shit on Peter, but that’s what I heard and the fact is that th he left HDT under a cloud.

So I was left there by myself, basically, S but I never felt particularly favoured. bu Harry kept giving Peter support through Ha the back door with special bits and pieces. I know Ian Tate and others in the pie team were a bit shitty because here they tea were trying to beat Brock and Harry was we giving giv gi v him all the bits we’d developed. my mind, I don’t think Peter was In m any better than the top 10 of us. The difference was he was more dedicated diff and he totally believed in his own ability.

Andd if you believe that you’re the best, it’s An a bbig help.

What happened in ’76 that made you Wh accept Allan Moffat’s offer to join him? acc

Bond was talent-spotted by HDT boss Harry Firth, as was Peter Brock, Firth was a hard task-master but delivered great results for Holdens unofficial works team.

Well, the writing was on the wall. Harry Well had become stale and Moffat was offering pay me more. Money was always a to pa bone of contention with Harry. It was a better deal and the Falcon was going to be bette better car than the L34. Moffat had Carroll a bet Smith coming out from America to engineer the cars that year and they were the better th cars in ’77. But then the Torana A9X came along in ’78 and it was the better car.

Back then, switching from Holden to Ford was scandalous. Did you have to think about taking such a big step?

In LJ guise with bigger 202 six (above left), Torana XU-1 was more successful but still out-gunned by V8 Ford at all but short, tight tracks.

Bondy reckoned XU-1 was ideal for rallying (above right), with HDT winning four straight ARC titles in the early to mid-’70s. He ran the rally program from Sydney with later Holden Repco Trial mastermind George Shepheard.

He really fixed me up at Amaroo, again, some years later. He was in the JPS BMW and I was in the Masterton Capri. I was chasing him up the hill in qualifying and going into the sweeper at the top, he brake-tested me. Bang! I went straight into the back of him. Then he took off and I took off, and when I got down to the stop-go corner, I was trying to go around the outside of him and he started pushing me into After Brock was ousted at the end of ’74, Bond was undisputed HDT team leader. By ’75, Torana L34’s mechanical fragility was overcome and he won a controversial battle with Allan Grice to claim ATCC crown. Bond had many clashes with Grice (below right), whom he regarded as unnecessarily aggressive. They later settled their differences, forming a strong pairing at Bathurst in ’83.

the wall. My bumper was sticking out because of the earlier hit and it was ripping his back tyre to pieces.

That was one of the silly things he was likely to do. He was a good driver, but you knew there was going to be trouble when he was around.

During that era, did you feel as the years went on that Brockie was more favoured by Harry?

I think with Peter living in Melbourne and me being in Sydney gave him an advantage because he in the workshop every day. I wouldn’t say necessarily he was getting the best equipment, but the team gravitated to him because he was there all the time. You had to be clever with Harry.

For example, in those days, we had a good selection of tyres and you knew that the Bridgestones were the best at, say, Sandown.

The way you got around Harry was to go to him and say, “Harry, do you think those Bridgestones would be any good at Sandown?”

He’d say “No, cock, rah, rah, rah”. Anyway, 10 minutes later he’d call me back and say, “Look, I think I’m going to put those Bridgestones on your car”. “Oh, really? That’s sounds terrific.”

If you demanded something, he wouldn’t let you have it. You had to make it seem like it was his idea. He was funny like that.

Of course, things had become strained between Peter and Harry in ’74. I’m not sure many people know this, but Peter wanted to take over the team. Holden put a stop to that and that’s why he left and went to Gown-Hindhaugh in ’75. I believe Peter had gone to Marlboro and said to them, “Don’t give Harry the money, give it to me and I’ll run the team”. Holden found out about it and [sales director John] Bagshaw said “Get rid of him”.

Not really. I felt that Harry had started to lose the plot a bit. Everything was becoming a lot more sophisticated and Harry was very much from the old school, and I just felt Moffat’s approach was much more professional. I was ready for a change and HDT had lost a lot of its best people because Harry was so stuck in his ways. He ended up losing the team in ’78 and under Sheppo [John Sheppard], it was a much better team. It was certainly better presented and the cars were better prepared. Harry’s cars always looked second-hand before they even got to the racetrack.

My move to Ford was an easy decision. I got paid more and I got a better percentage of the prizemoney, which was always a sore point with Harry. We never got paid as much as we should’ve. I’d had enough and Moff came along with a great deal. And the Falcon was a much better car. In ’77, we came first and second in almost every race.

Bathurst ’77. It’s still debated to this day whether you could’ve and should’ve passed Moffat to win the thing.

Oh, I could’ve won it, absolutely. He’d run out of front brakes. I think his co-driver Jacky Ickx just wore the brakes out. He was used to cars

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Bond defected to Ford in ’77 – a scandalous move at the time. He and Allan Moffat were totally dominant in XC Falcon Hardtops (above right). A side benefit was running the Ford Rally Team, which he regards as a highlight. He rates the Escort RS1800 (above left) as a rally car great. Long forgotten, Bond starred at ’71 Australian AGP, immediately competitive in second-string Matich McLaren F5000 (below). Frank Matich had big plans for him in USA which never eventuated.

with strong brakes that lasted, but in those days, you really had to look after the brakes in those things. When I got back in the car for the final stint, I was nearly a minute behind Moff. I tried to reduce the gap, but he was matching me until all of a sudden, I was catching him at something like 10 seconds a lap. Next thing you know, the ‘Form Finish’ instruction goes out, so I had to slow down otherwise I’d have easily overtaken him and won by half-a-lap or something!

So, yes, I let him win. In hindsight, I should’ve ignored the team order. Afterwards, Ickx said to me “Oh, you silly bastard, you should’ve just put you foot down and passed. How could he be angry if you won the race for his team?”.

He had a point…

You were honouring an agreement, which is laudable, but it sounds like you regret not overtaking Moffat at the end.

The problem was, it shouldn’t have made any difference to me financially whether I came first or second, but he reneged on that deal.

It cost me $10,000. It took us five years and five grand’s worth of legals to get it back.

So thinking back, yes, I should’ve defied the ‘Form Finish’ instruction, but at the time, the agreement was that Moffat would be allowed to win unless we were

being challenged, which we weren’t.

The year before, Bond and John Harvey finished second to the ailing privateer L34 of Bob Morris and John Fitzpatrick. Years later, there were claims there was a lap-scoring error and that Bond/Harvey were a lap ahead, but Holden declined to protest for fear of upsetting big Sydney dealer Ron Hodgson, who backed the Morris/Fitzpatrick entry. Harvey maintains to this day they were robbed.

There was also debate about the result at Bathurst in ’76. Do you think you won?

I don’t know. You can’t change history. The fact is that we were well in the lead, but unbeknown to me, we had a vibration issue. Down Conrod, we’d be able to pull 5500rpm, but I started taking it a bit easy and backed off to 5000 revs.

I thought I was looking after the car, but it turns out that at 5000rpm, it set up an harmonic vibration that made the fan belt wobble and eventually it threw itself off the pulley. The car was overheating, so I had to come in for a new fan belt. If we’d just driven through 5000 and stuck with 5500, we would have been fine. Anyway we thought we were still a fair bit ahead, but in the end, the officials had us behind Fitzpatrick and Morris on the same lap.

We didn’t protest the lap scoring, so I just presumed it was right. I know a lot of people said later that it wasn’t right, but the result stood.

Were we robbed? I don’t know and it really doesn’t worry me that much. There were other times when we should’ve won Bathurst that we didn’t. You just have to take it as it comes. In those days, there were really only four or five of us who were going to win the race – it just depended on who was still there at the finish.

Jumping forward again, your switch to Ford didn’t have a happy ending with Moffat, but the upside was a successful period running the factory rally team.

In ’78, the A9X came along and the Falcon had reliability problems, so it wasn’t a great year.

And by then Allan and I had well and truly fallen out. But we did take on the rally program and that was quite good.

The Escort BDA was a fantastic car to drive even though it was very basic. Anyone who in rallying in those days still reckons it was the best time. Out in the forest, you could hear these things coming for miles and miles and miles.

They sounded glorious and they were exciting to watch because you could drive them sideways everywhere.

It was also a great period because we brought out world champion crew Ari Vatanen and David Richards for the Castrol International Rally and Southern Cross Rally in 1980 [finishing second and third respectively].

I’m still close friends with Dave today [Richards subsequently went on to establish Prodrive, which was successful in the WRC with Subaru and ran FPV and FPR in Australia]. I think the cars we were running here were equal to the ones in Europe, if not better in some respects. It was a golden era in Australian rallying.

The thing I always liked about rallying was that if you really, really tried hard, you actually went faster. In racing, often if you try hardier, you go slower. In racing, I think you have to be a bit more like a robot where you do the same lap after lap and keep the tyres nice.

Bond’s versatility and adaptability was demonstrated over his career, but perhaps never more so than when he stepped into Frank Matich’s second-string Formula 5000 McLaren M10B-Repco Holden for the 1971 Australian Grand Prix at the now long-defunct Au Warwick Farm in western Sydney. Bondy W starred as a rookie (although his success in sta the supercharged Lynx Peugeot in Formula th Libre races in the mid-’60s was an early sign Lib of his single-seater potential) and was poised for an overseas F5000 career.

How did that happen; why didn’t it go Ho further? fu Frank asked me about racing the McLaren Fr because he was building his own new car be (Repco-Matich A50). The only time we could (R do any practice at Warwick Farm before the AGP was on the short circuit, which really AG wasn’t enough. So I convinced him to let me w do a ‘Formula Libre’ race at Surfers Paradise.

There Th was no serious opposition – mostly Formula Fords – but at least I could experience Fo the th thing in some proper fast corners.

We W turn up at Warwick Farm for the first practice for the AGP and its raining. I’m sitting p in the pits thinking “Oh my godfather, what’s this t going to be like?” Never driven an open wheeler in the wet and convinced that I was w

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After deferring to Moffat in contrived ’77 Bathurst 1-2 (bottom), Bond fell out with the hardnosed expat Canadian. Despite the smiles (right), their relationship deteriorated in ’78, aggravated by Falcon Cobra’s collapse (below) against fully developed Torana A9X.

going to be 10 seconds off the pace.

Anyway, they put me on a set of wets and off I go. I’m driving it a bit like a rally car – locking brakes, arriving into corners sideways and just catching it and going. I’m wondering how they race these things in the wet, but as it turned out, I was quickest! It surprised me and definitely surprised Frank. It dried out for the final session and we ended up sixth on the grid, with Frank on pole.

What I remember about driving an F5000 was that the sooner you got on the throttle, the faster you went because of the amount of grip in comparison with anything else I’d raced. In the race we were going along quite well and I

was fifth until the harmonic balancer came off the motor and took the oil pump drive with it.

So we just ground to a halt and that was it.

We were supposed to do the Tasman series with Matich and then go to America with him and do the L&M series. But he ended up selling the McLaren to Frank Radisich [father of later touring car star Paul] in New Zealand.

That meant I couldn’t do the Tasman series, but Frank said he’d build me an A50 for America.

Going into F5000 in America cold didn’t seem like a good idea to me and the plan for the second A50 was a bit rubbery, so I decided to stay here with HDT.

Eight years later, Bond had a surprise call-up for the Rothmans International Series – four F5000 races in February at Sandown, Adelaide International Raceway, Surfers Paradise and Oran Park – in the Brabham BT43 later raced (and written off due to a mechanical failure) by Kevin Bartlett. It did not go well, the car plagued by unreliability except in the final round at Oran Park, where he finished fourth.

Next issue: Bondy recalls his Le Mans disappointment and his post-Moffat ‘wilderness’ years before a final flourish 30 years ago.

BONDY FACT FILE Age 788 Lives Sydney Status Retired Racing career 1962-94 Major race wins ’69 Bathurst 500, ’70 Surfers Paradise 12 Hour, ’71 Sandown 250 Championships ’65-67 NSW Hillclimb, ’71/72/74 Australian Rally, ’75 ATCC Honours Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), Supercars Hall of Fame, Australian Motor Sport Hall of Fame

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STORMIN’ NORMAN 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF HOLDEN’S FIRST TITLE

MARK FOGARTY celebrates Norm Beechey’s popular and historic ATCC success in 1970, paving the way for the Lion’s three-generation domination V8 LEGEND Norm Beechey was the first superstar of Australian motor racing, thrilling crowds in the 1960s and very early ’70s with his exuberant driving in a series of exotic machines.

Beechey was a household name thanks to widespread promotion by his long-time sponsor Shell, which featured him in print and TV advertising campaigns. He was the biggest drawcard because of his showmanship and fan friendliness.

He was known as ‘Stormin’ Norman’ for his spectacular, press-on driving style – luridly sideways, rear tyres

IMAGES: Autopics.com.au/AA Archive

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smoking, inside front wheel waving in the air, always charging.

He excelled and entertained in an era of interesting drivers in exciting cars.

His great rivals were Ian Geoghegan, Bob Jane and, at the end of his career, Allan Moffat, perhaps Australian racing’s greatest ‘villain’.

They duelled in bellowing beasts – V8 Mustangs, Camaros and Monaros.

Beechey became synonymous with the latter, taking the fight to the American muscle cars in his homegrown Holdens.

This was the time before extensive TV coverage and the Bathurst-bred hero

cult of Brock, Moffat and Johnson.

Improved Production Touring Cars were the fan favourites, preceding Ford and Holden homologation specials and establishing the foundation of modernday Supercars.

Beechey was a founding father of V8 racing, as acknowledged by his early induction into the Supercars Hall of Fame. As well, he was arguably racing’s first Holden hero, achieving the Lion’s initial successes in the Australian touring car championship.

He starred in the ’60s with his cavalcade of cars, changed almost

annually. Chevy Impala, Mustang, Chevy Nova II and Camaro, HK Monaro GTS 327 and, finally, the cheekily dubbed ‘Trans-Aus’ Monaro (a dig at the imported Trans-Am Mustangs).

Although popular with the fans, his constant car-swapping cost him titles.

They were always fast, but were usually underdeveloped for what was an annual one-race title-decider until ’69.

Beechey won the 1965 ATCC at Sandown in his new Neptune Racing Team Mustang, claimed to be the first major win for Ford’s pony car anywhere

Norm at the head of the field on his way to a title-anchoring win at Sandown (above).

Beechey’s ‘body English’ behind the wheel was always expressive, as shown here at he dives through the Dipper at Bathurst (right). in the world. As a sidenote, Neptune was the local predecessor to Shell on fuel forecourts around the country.

By ’69, Shell replaced Neptune and took over sponsorship of the threecar, three-class entry led by Beechey.

His outright car was supported by Jim

McKeown (Lotus Cortina and then Porsche 911) and Mini master Peter Manton.

Beechey scored Holden’s first ATCC race victories in his metallic blue HK Monaro in ’69, winning the final two rounds of the first multi-race series at (the now long defunct) Surfers Paradise International Raceway and Symmons Plains Raceway.

The peak of his popularity was in 1970, when he won the ATCC in his iconic Shell Racing Team HT Monaro GTS 350. The famed yellow ‘Trans-Aus’ Monaro was the first Australian model to claim what is now the Supercars championship.

Half a century ago last Sunday (November 15), Beechey was officially crowned Australian touring car champion following the final round of the ’70 series at Symmons Plains, outside Launceston in Tasmania.

Ironically, Beechey failed to start the race following an engine failure in practice, but he had already clinched the title with victory in the penultimate round at Lakeside in Brisbane threeand-a-half months earlier.

Of the seven races in only the second multi-round ATCC (from 1960-68 it was decided in one race), he won three

(Bathurst, Sandown and Lakeside) and was second at Mallala.

‘Stormin’ Norman’ claimed the crown with 33 points, four more than his Shell Racing teammate McKeown, who was doggedly consistent in his nimble-butoutpowered Porsche 911. Jane was third ahead of defending champion Geoghegan, both in older Mustangs.

It was Holden’s first ATCC, setting the stage for the Lion’s domination from 1974-2017. Beechey’s imposing 5.7-litre Chev-powered Monaro remains one of the most significant and popular cars in Australian racing history.

A It is a centrepiece of the Bowden collection in Queensland, vying for fame with Moffat’s Boss 302 TransAm Mustang. The Monaro probably gets the nod because what it lacks in sleek, low-slung lines it makes up for in brute appearance and purpose, and the fact that it was built locally from an Australian production car base.

A Sadly, the 50th anniversary of Beechey’s historic triumph hasn’t been B celebrated as it should. Now 88 and still c iin robust good health, he stubbornly rrefuses to engage with media to reflect on his crowning achievement. o A youthful Beechey celebrates with Allan Moffat. Despite the smiles, they were bitter enemies and Norm is still no fan of Moffat.

In 1970, his Monaro usually held off allcomers, including the nimble Porsche 911s of Brian Foley and Shell Racing teammate Jim McKeown (far left).

Since he walked away from the sport unannounced in 1972, Norm has been a semi-recluse from racing. He has regularly attended and competed in historic events since the early 1990s, but shuns the media limelight.

He is a big man who claims small interest in the past. Which is his prerogative, although given how proud he is of his 1970 success, you wonder why he refuses to publicly celebrate it.

Luckily, after some considerable persuasion, Beechey agreed to sit down with me back in 2006 to discuss his career. It was one of the few interviews he had given since he quit in ’72. He refused my request earlier this year to revisit 1970 – disappointing, but again, his right.

With little backing from Holden apart from the supply of a road car, the Monaro GTS 350 racer was built in Beechey’s workshop in the back streets of Brunswick in inner Melbourne.

A tiny crew led by chief mechanic Lou Mallia built the beast over the summer of ’69/70. Also involved was then young drag racer and later touring car engineering guru, Ron Harrop.

Fourteen years ago, Beechey was a gracious and expansive host, recounting in detail the GTS 350’s gestation, starting with why it was superior to his previous Monaro.

“The HK Monaro 327 was a shit of a car,” he said. “Narrow-gutted and you

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couldn’t get any decent tyres under it anywhere. But we thought we could win the championship with the HT 350 because CAMS opened the regulations up to allow us to compete with the Trans-Am Mustangs.

“A very small group put together the Monaro. We all got stuck into it over Christmas and made a racer out of it in two months, I’d say. And we knew we had a fair chance of doing something with it. It was competitive right from the outset.

“What we had with the HT Monaro was more brute horsepower – that was its main attribute. We had a 350 Chevy developing about 550 horsepower.

We were racing against Mustangs with 302s and they were probably full chat at about 450 or 470 horsepower.

“We developed that 350 ourselves with assistance from Traco Engineering in Los Angeles. A very small group put together the Monaro.”

According to Beechey, the key to his success in ’70 was taking time away from his varied automotive business interests to concentrate on racing for the first time. Unsurprisingly, he rates it as the highlight of his relatively short career (mid-1950s to ’72).

“Well, you’d think it would be, wouldn’t you?” he said. “I mean, we beat some pretty tough opposition. We actually gave motor racing the first priority that year and our business suffered.

“I was busy. I had a Chrysler dealership and I was selling new Valiants. But I was also a fully blown Dodge dealer, so we were selling big Dodge trucks with V8 Cummins in them and other Dodge trucks with petrols in dI them. And used cars and trucks. And was selling heavy equipment and I had the three speed shops.

“We had 100 people working for us. We were bloody busy. But in 1970, we gave the racing priority and we just couldn’t do it again the following year. We did that and we won it. Then I probably had the necessity of concentrating on my business.”

The Monaro was stripped back to the bodyshell, but per the rules of the day, had to retain the

A typical Beechey/Monaro pose: rear squatting, hard on the wheel, inside tyre waving in the air. Norm always gave it plenty. standard seats, dash, interior trim and even carpets. Curiosities were the gearshift-mounted hand throttle for downchanges and the twine-wrapped standard steering wheel.

Transferred from the HK, Norm revealed it was “heavy fish cord” that his wife Margaret sowed around the rim to improve grip.

The ‘bellow yellow’ Monaro went through 1970 largely unchanged, except for the mid-season switch to ROH alloy wheels.

The Traco-tuned Chev 350 ran crossover Weber carburettors,, used byy

Beechey since the Nova. His motors were maintained by Repco, which supplied a fuel injection conversion for ’71 for the crossover manifold layout, which Beechey maintains was the key to its prodigious power.

A trick Traco exhaust system also helped, as well as producing one of the most resonant rumbling V8 barks ever.

Norm also revealed Holden put pressure on him to convert to the Repco-Holden F5000 motor.

“Our engine went to Repco and was dyno tested at General Motors’ request

because they wanted me to run a Repco-Holden engine in the Monaro if I could,” he said. “But the Chev developed 70-80 horsepower more than the Repco-Holden.”

After devoting 1970 to winning the championship, Beechey went back to concentrating on his businesses and despite development that should have made the Monaro more competitive, his title defence lacked the commitment it needed.

“We just didn’t put the effort into it,” he said. “In 1970, I took time off from my business, but I still couldn’t devote a as much time to racing as the newlye emerging professional driver like Moffat.

“I remember arriving at Lakeside to d do some practicing on the Thursday [a d day earlier than normal]. We drove out to the track and I see Moffat cruising a around, and I asked the guy who had th the key to the gate, when did Moffat a arrive? He said ‘Oh, on Tuesday’.

“So he’d been up there practising T Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. We ju just didn’t have the time to do that. And in ’71, Bobby [Jane] got his lovely big C Camaro ZL1 going, which was a terrific Battling with Ian Geoghegan at Lakeside (left). Beechey regarded ‘Big Pete’ as his greatest rival. Norm leaning, Monaro squirming (below) – ‘Bellow Yellow’ beast at its best.

Beechey ended Geoghegan’s run of four straight titles in Castrol Mustangs with his ‘Trans-Aus’ Shell Monaro (above). Norm with his wife Margaret (below), who has been by his side all the way. She is still the keeper of his racing flame. car, and maybe Moffat got his thing (Trans-Am Mustang Boss 302) sorted out better. Moffat had by far the best car. They were hard cars to beat.”

Beechey had also enlisted the aid of Australian international, Frank Gardner, regarded as a guru of car development, to advise on improvements. He wasn’t impressed with Gardner’s input.

“I paid him handsomely,” Norm recalled. “He walked around the car and gave us a few opinions here and there. The main thing that came out of it were the big scoops in the front to hold the front down a bit more.

“That’s as much as I can recall. I don’t think anything else came out of it. I think he’d remember the handsome fee we paid him more than anything else…”

The Monaro’s quick decline in ’71 and even more in ’72 was a sad end for a great driver/car combination.

Beechey was fifth in the championship in ’71, scoring a win at Calder in only two finishes in seven rounds. Jane won the title in his Camaro Zl-1 from Moffat’s Mustang in the epic Oran Park finale.

By ’72, the Monaro was outmoded and after a handful of rounds with a best of a third at Sandown, Beechey

quietly retired from racing after winning the WA touring car championship at Wanneroo on September 19.

“By then, it was coming to the end of its tether,” he shrugged.

After an ignominious life as a sports sedan, the Monaro was rescued and restored by collector David Bowden in the late ’90s.

Beechey declined offers to drive his best work in public or promotional demonstrations. He was not interested in driving any of his old cars except his beloved Impala, which he reclaimed and restored in the early ’90s.

As he approaches 90, ‘Stormin’ Norman’ is staunchly resistant. He retains an arms-length interest in Supercars as an occasional guest at big events – and that’s all.

Uncle Norm, you may p profess not to care about tthe 50th anniversary of yyour historic ATCC title – although we suspect that a yyou really do – but your legion of fans certainly do. le We salute your significant achievement s and a wish you well. You are a true legend and your HT Monaro is legendary.

M It I may be clear by now that I am an unabashed th Norm Beechey fan. He was No my teenage hero, and it m was one of the great thrills wa of my career to interview him – finally – 34 years after he retired. He quit the same year I started my career in yea journalism.

I was gutted that he finished just as I started, and I was elated when he agreed to speak with me for the first time in 2006. It may sounds trite, but it was right up there with interviews with Ayrton Senna and Paul Newman.

Perhaps it was more significant because Beechey had such a profound affect on my interest on my interest in motor racing. If it weren’t for him, I probably wouldn’t be here.

So to me, like so many others of my generation, the 50th anniversary of Norm’s ATCC in his homegrown Monaro is a very big deal.

It should be widely celebrated – by both him and the sport – as one of the greatest achievements in Australian motor sport history.

1970 ATCC Results

Round 1 - Calder - March 22 1st Allan Moffat Ford Boss 302 Mustang 2nd Brian Foley Porsche 911S 3rd Jim McKeown Porsche 911S Round 2 - Bathurst - March 30 1st Norm Beechey Holden HT GTS 350 Monaro 2nd Ian Geoghegan Ford Mustang 3rd Bob Jane Ford Mustang Round 3 - Sandown - April 19 1st Norm Beechey Holden HT GTS 350 Monaro 2nd Ian Geoghegan Ford Mustang 3rd Allan Moffat Ford Boss 302 Mustang Round 4 - Mallala - June 16 1st Ian Geoghegan Ford Mustang 2nd Norm Beechey Holden HT GTS 350 Monaro 3rd Brian Foley Porsche 911S Round 5 - Warwick Farm - July 26 1st Jim McKeown Porsche 911S 2nd Bob Jane Ford Mustang 3rd Bill Brown 911S Round 6 - Lakeside - July 26 1st Norm Beechey Holden HT GTS 350 Monaro 2nd Bob Jane Ford Mustang 3rd Jim McKeown Porsche 911S Round 7 - Symmons Plains - November 15 1st Jim McKeown Porsche 911S 2nd Bryan Thomson Chevrolet Camaro SS 3rd Bob Jane Ford Mustang

1970 Championship Points 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 = =

Norm Beechey Jim McKeown Bob Jane Ian Geoghegan Brian Foley Allan Moffat Bill Brown Bryan Thomson Phil Barnes Robin Pare Chris Brauer

33 29 28 21 14 13 10 6 3 3 3

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This season marks the 25th anniversary of Colin McRae’s sole World Rally Championship triumph after one of the most dramatic and controversial seasons in rallying history, as HEATH McALPINE recounts THE YELLOW and blue Subaru Impreza WRXs of the mid-1990s are worshipped around the world and are synonymous with the sport of rallying.

As is the man most synonymous with them, 1995 World Rally Champion and sporting icon, Colin McRae. The Scot transcended the sport. His popularity extended to places where rallying struggled for popularity in a convoluted market. This was highlighted when McRae guest drove at the X Games in 2006 against the likes of action stars Travis Pastrana and Ken Block.

McRae’s ‘if in doubt, go flat out’ philosophy still resonates in rallying to this day, inspiring many of the current generation of WRC stars who grew up watching his all-out attacking style and playing the video games bearing his name.

McRae was surrounded by rallying from an early age, his father Jimmy a multiple British Rally Champion, while his younger brother Alister followed him into the WRC. By 1995, Subaru had established itself as a contender in the WRC against established heavyweights Ford, Toyota and Mitsubishi.

The brand’s first serious journey into WRC competition began in 1989 with the launch of the new Legacy RS (Liberty RS here in Australia), and the Japanese manufacturer’s association with the David Richards-led Prodrive began.

Rally legends Markku Alen and Ari Vatanen were put in charge of developing the Group A Legacy, but sustained success failed to materialise.

It wasn’t until the fourth season of the program and ironically its final event that the Legacy RS Group A finally took Subaru’s maiden WRC victory.

That triumph at Rally New Zealand in 1993 was also the first win for a promising young Scot, reigning British Rally Champion, Colin McRae. McRae’s early WRC career saw him show impressive pace, but that raw speed was punctuated by large accidents, resulting in the label ‘McCrash’ bestowed upon him by the media.

McRae started his career at Prodrive in 1991, delivering the first of back-to-back British Rally Championships, which were mixed in 1992 with WRC events highlighted by a tenacious eighth place in a significantly damaged car in Finland.

Subaru switched to the smaller Impreza WRX Group A for ’94, and despite a solitary win for the

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McRae’s championship year was as colourful as the Scot himself; Subaru came of age with its first title amid team politics, Toyota’s year was marred with controversy, while Makinen went winless for Mitsubishi

team with McRae in New Zealand, it kicked off a new era for Prodrive and Subaru.

In addition to the Impreza, the stakes rose further for the team as it signed double-World Rally Champion, Carlos Sainz, alongside McRae, sparking a decade-long rivalry between the duo.

While Toyota took the manufacturer’s title, season 1994 sent a warning shot to Subaru’s rivals as Sainz finished second in the title, taking victory in Greece. Two wins came the way of McRae, in New Zealand as well as Great Britain, yet it was Toyota’s Didier Auriol took the crown.

The scene was set for 1995 in what was expected to be a battle of the ages, and even 25 years later, it didn’t disappoint.

Eight rallies made up the schedule amid the second year of the FIA’s event rotation program, which saw the Safari Rally, Acropolis, Argentina, Finland and San Remo omitted. Sweden, Australia and Spain returned to a compact calendar, with a driver’s top seven points finishes counting towards the end of year total.

Reigning champions Toyota appeared to be on the decline, but it appeared the Celica GT-Four’s

success was waning due to the FIA’s decision to reduce the restrictor size from 38mm to 34mm.

The change would have significant ramifications with the FIA later in the season.

Reigning driver’s champion Auriol and Finn Juha Kankkunen hoped to deliver Toyota a hat-trick of manufacturer’s titles, and just maybe a fifth driver’s crown in six years.

Sainz and McRae continued with Subaru as confidence grew within the Prodrive camp. McRae was personally buoyed after dominating the season-ending Rally Great Britain to round out 1994, and publicly voiced his title ambitions for ’95 on the podium.

Together, Sainz and McRae cemented Subaru as the most ominous threat to Toyota’s dominance.

It was all change at Ford, with Belgian team RAS Sport taking over the running of its program.

Images: LAT

Two-time WRC champion Miki Biasion was gone with fiery Frenchman Francois Delecour in his place. Providing back up in the second Ford Escort RS Cosworth was Belgian Bruno Thiry.

This left another relative Japanese newcomer, Mitsubishi. Led by rallying great Andrew Cowan, Ralliart entrusted Finn Tommi Makinen and Swede Kenneth Eriksson to spearhead its attack using the marque’s Lancer Evolution.

With the scene set, the teams headed to the Monte Carlo season opener where Subaru achieved a mixed result. A win for Sainz opened up his campaign, however there was drama in the final stage when the master switch failed. With co-driver Luis Moya holding it in place, the relieved Spaniards taking victory ahead of Delecour and Kankkunen.

McRae started off with fastest time on the opening stage, but it came to naught on the Sisteron section where black ice caught him out and he retired from the event.

Sweden was a compltete disaster for Subaru. All three entries retired, suffering an identical cylinder liner problem, which blew the oil filters apart.

Team orders by Mitsubishi handed Eriksson victory over Makinen, though the Finn showed off his superiority by setting a stage time 11 seconds faster than his teammate before ceding to team management’s wishes.

Toyota continued to struggle as local ace Thomas Radstrom took third behind the increasingly quick Lancer Evolutions.

WRC competition had shifted towards new contenders in a young Makinen and Mitsubishi, and fresh McRae and Subaru.

Development was rapid by Toyota Team Europe (TTE) from its Cologne base, shown when the Celicas arrived in Portugal with Kankkunen and Auriol running one-two. It was a rapid change of fortunes compared to the opening two rallies. Team manager Ove Andersson explained that a revised electrical component improved power and handling characteristics of the Celica.

The difference in the end was the weather. Wet conditions suited the Subaru’s Pirellis better than the Michelins fitted to Kankkunen’s GT-Four.

Remarkably, Sainz turned a 22-second deficit into

a six-second victory, despite the Spaniard cutting a corner and damaging the WRX’s brake lines leaving only the rears active.

In a respite from the Swedish disaster, McRae scored his first points of the year in third ahead the Schwarz and Auriol Toyotas.

The tarmac of Corsica followed where the French drivers were heavily fancies, however it was Thiry in the Escort who dominated the event until stage 20 of 22, when a bearing failed, leaving the Ford driver distraught.

Thiry’s demise was Auriol’s gain as he took victory in the Tour de Corse ahead of Delecour and Mitsubishi’s tarmac specialist, Andrea Aghini.

Next were Sainz, McRae and Piero Liatti driving the factory Subarus, while Makinen finished eighth ahead of Kankkunen in tenth.

At the season’s halfway point, Sainz held a 20-point lead in the championship, which was the equivalent of round win. Between events, disaster struck the championship leader, with Sainz tearing tendons in his right arm in a mountain bike accident, forcing him to sit out Rally New Zealand.

McRae, 30-points adrift of Sainz, wasn’t the only threat to the Spaniard’s points lead, with the Toyotas in attack mode with as each of its drivers poised to snatch the championship lead.

New Zealand was a happy hunting ground for McRae. The Scot had won the previous two events, though the improved form of Mitsubishi and Toyota made a hat-trick appear less likely.

With Sainz sidelined, it was a specialised Subaru attack as Kiwi local, Possum Bourne, and another British rising star, Richard Burns − who went on to win the 2001 WRC − joined McRae. The Impreza WRXs also brought a timely upgrade well suited to Rally New Zealand’s fast, winding and undulating gravel roads: an active centre differential.

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McRae proved the master of New Zealand, even against local legend Possum Bourne, winning the event three years in a row between 94-96, ending a three-year winning streak of one Carlos Sainz Ford was brought upgrades for its Escort Cosworths to New Zealand too, through traction control and a revised anti-lag mapping.

This failed to improve RAS Sport’s luck as both retired. Thiry was out on Day Two due to electrical problems, while Delecour damaged the Escort’s left-rear suspension.

Makinen was the early leader from the fourth stage and continued that form during the second day’s opening three stages to edge McRae by more than 10 seconds. Yet the Finn made a mistake during the event’s 10th stage to end his rally among the trees.

Subaru’s fortunes beyond McRae were left with Bourne once Burns retired after hitting a watersplash too fast, damaging his WRX’s radiator.

Mitsubishi’s sole-survivor, Eriksson, was frustrated by a lack of pace in his Lancer as he pushed hard, so much so that he spun four times.

From then on, it was McRae’s rally to lose.

The Scot was dominant, winning his third Rally New Zealand on the trot ahead of the three Celica GT-Fours led by Auriol, Kankkunen and Schwarz.

While the long wheelbase ST205 GT-Four was simply outclassed by the nimble WRX on the Kiwi gravel, reigning champion Auriol snatched the championship lead from the absent Sainz by a single point, while Kankkunen was level with the Spaniard and McRae a further 10-points behind.

Next, the WRC circus headed to Western Australia and its famous ball-bearing gravel.

Immediately, Kankkunen set a scorching pace through the stages on the outskirts of Perth, holding a 30-second lead ahead of McRae. The Finn held a remarkable record Down Under, having won four out of the previous six events since Australia first held a WRC round in 1989.

If Kankkunen’s advantage in front wasn’t enough of a threat to McRae, then the two Mitsubishis behind ensured he had considerable work to do.

Eriksson was six seconds adrift of the Scot, with Makinen the same margin back in fourth.

In a repeat of New Zealand, McRae was a lone hand for the boys in blue. A tree branch ruined Sainz’s return by spearing his Subaru’s radiator.

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Again, part of the factory team was Possum Bourne, but his rally was cut short after crashing on the third stage.

Eriksson had hit the same branch Sainz did but didn’t suffer the same fate. He capitalised on the good fortune as Saturday’s running turned the event in the Swede’s favour.

A month before Australia, Mitsubishi had competed in Malaysia with Eriksson winning the event ahead of Makinen using a new Ohlins damper set-up, which was proving effective for Mitsubishi on the Australian gravel too.

Eriksson soon took the lead, but traded blows with McRae, the pair exchanging the lead as Kankkunen’s early pace fell away.

A thrilling end to the rally failed to eventuate, as McRae overshot a corner and spun out of contention, forcing him to settle for second.

Eriksson took the win, 19 seconds clear of McRae with Kankkunen, Makinen, Schwarz and Thiry completing the main runners.

This lifted McRae to second in the title after Auriol rolled on the opening day.

Although an outside chance before Rally Australia, Delecour’s title hopes were dashed when he shunted his Escort, damaging the engine.

The penultimate round of the championship was Sainz’s home rally on the asphalt of Catalunya.

It started with the news that Sainz would be moving to Toyota for 1996, but that was only the beginning of a controversial and dramatic event.

The early stages were dominated by Toyota, with Schwarz taking the opening stage before Kankkunen took control of the event. A 22-second lead opening leg advantage turned into a minute during the second day as the Fords, Subarus and Mitsubishis couldn’t keep up. A victory failed to materialise, as the Finn rolled out of the event.

Thiry’s luckless season continued when his Escort Cosworth’s front hub failed on the opening stage, while Delecour completed the rally fourth after suffering a lack of power during the first day and a clutch release bearing fault hampering his progress during the second leg.

Mitsubishi’s charge was led by its asphalt specialist, Andrea Aghini, in fifth after Makinen hit an ambulance on the concluding day.

However, this elevated Andrew Cowan’s squad to the top of the Manufacturers’ standings, but that wasn’t the talking point.

Subaru were a class above as title rivals McRae and Sainz swapped the lead on numerous occasions. The intense battle looked to have swung McRae’s way, the Scotsman chasing down Sainz, who led into the final day.

It was a day that would go down in rallying history for more than the achievement of the first Subaru 1-2-3 result.

Prodrive manager Dave Richards issued team orders to maintain position, with Sainz ahead of McRae on the road and Liatti in third. A Sainz victory for McRae would be a blow to his title

hopes, as he would trail the Spaniard heading into the final round in Great Britain.

In response, McRae ignored the team orders, attacking his teammate during the final six stages of the rally. He even blasted past three crew members who attempted to wave the fiery Scotsman down. At the end of the final stage, McRae had done enough to overcome his rival: he’d pushed his WRX to victory by nine seconds over Sainz − or so he thought.

Ignoring Richard’s team orders saw the team punch in late to intentionally earn McRae a oneminute penalty, dropping him to second, officially 51 seconds behind the official winner, Sainz.

Significantly, it set the pair level on points heading into the final round in Great Britain.

A visibly fuming McRae kicked bins and argued the point as his father, rallying legend Jimmy, consoled him after the event. He had no choice but to concede as, in the words of Richards, “He wouldn’t have a car for Chester next month”.

It took the shine off the podium whitewash for the Prodrive cars, which reduced Mitsubishi’s lead in the Manufacturers’ Championship to two points.

Subaru’s challenges paled into insignificance when the results of a routine teardown of one of the Toyota’s turbochargers during final scrutineering in Spain were confirmed.

The three Celica GT-Fours were caught using what FIA President Max Mosley described as, “The most sophisticated device I’ve ever seen in 30 years of motor sports”. The illegal turbo restrictors allowed more air to enter for greater power, earning Toyota a one-year ban and exclusion from the championship results.

With the Toyotas out, the focus quickly turned to the title battle between the two Subarus.

In front of an adoring home crowd in the Welsh forests for Rally Great Britain, McRae finished the opening day trailing Makinen’s Evo by 12 seconds.

The Scot responded on the second day with his brutal attacking style, blitzing the opening stage by 28 seconds to take over the lead of the rally.

Makinen, meanwhile was left stranded after clipping a rock during the same stage, resulting in terminal transmission and suspension damage.

McRae wasn’t immune to bad luck, though.

McRae’s time at the top was short-lived as he also hit a rock on the next stage, which tore a tyre and cost two minutes. Sainz inherited the rally lead.

Sainz won three rallies to McRae’s two including the team-ordered win in Catalunya

Team Toyota Europe began 1995 with reigning world champion Didier Auriol leading hopes of a third-straight manufacturers title, but it ended in disqualification

In his fight to stay on top, Sainz went oh-so close to boiling his Subaru’s radiator as McRae began one of his customary charges, but this was halted momentarily when the Scot suffered a half-spin and clipped another rock, damaging a front strut. It was far from over, though: at the conclusion of the second leg, McRae was a tantalising five seconds behind Sainz as the tussle for the title entered the final day of the season.

Amidst the tension, McRae took an early lead that he would never relinquish, taking an emphatic victory by 56 seconds to clinch an emotional world title. Co-driver Derek Ringer remarked, “Yes! Spot on, Colin” as the pair crossed the line at the final stage, with palpable relief for the pair.

McRae was in delighted shock: he had just become Britain’s first World Rally Champion, and at age 27, was the youngest ever champion, a record that still stands a quarter of a century later.

“It seems a bit strange doesn’t it? I think it will take a while to settle in,” the Scot said at the time.

In what capped off a near perfect rally for the McRae clan, Colin’s younger brother Alister finished fourth in his Escort Cosworth.

A sidenote for Subaru and team Prodrive was a second podium clean sweep, with Burns recovering from hitting a log on the opening day to sit third and help seal Subaru’s first WRC Manufacturers’ Championship.

Having Hav had to stoke the competitive fires of his two lead drivers all season, Prodrive founder found Richards recalled a mixed but successful season. succ “We’ve had our ups and our downs through “W the course of the year and if I look back, I can c think thin of some pretty depressing moments,” Richards surmised.

Rich “The “T sun is shining here, and I just can’t think thin of a better place to be with three cars at the t finish, British World Champion, team award aw − it’s a dream come true!”

The T new world champion was crowned at Chester Racecourse, where McRae performed the now iconic victory donuts, pe made m more memorable when the lid fell off Britain’s first World Rally Champions: Colin McRae and Derek Ringer deserved winners after a tumultuous season that appeared to have them on the road to many world titles

the championship trophy as it was presented to him.

The jubilation of Scot’s maiden title, more than proving his mettle against the highly regarded Sainz, was consummation of a promising talent.

It was expected that rallying’s newest star was to win many more championships, but although he came agonisingly close, there would never be a second title for McRae. His career tally includes 25 wins from 146 starts, now fifth on the all-time list.

A strained relationship with Richards led to McRae’s high-profile move to Ford, then to Citroen before the Scot looked beyond rallying to tackle Le Mans. He even tested a Jordan Formula One car for a publicity stunt for British American Tobacco.

McRae defined a youthful exuberance, a rebelliousness and, with Subaru’s WRX becoming a cult car, lifted the rally scene and inspired a generation of new fans. His untimely death in a helicopter crash in 2007 resonated beyond rallying, revealing his broad following around the world.

A legend beyond motor sport, McRae remains one of the most revered rally drivers of all time and arguably its most famous name to this day. There hasn’t been, and never will be, anyone quite like the 1995 World Rally Champion.

1995 WRC DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP 1 2 DQ DQ 3 4 5 6 DQ 7 8 9 DQ 10

C. McRae Sainz Kankkunen Auriol Eriksson Delecour Makinen Thiry Schwarz Aghini Liatti Burns Radstrom A. McRae

90 85 62 51 48 46 38 34 30 26 21 16 12 10

WRC MANUFACTURERS CHAMPIONSHIP 1 2 DQ 3

Subaru Mitsubishi Toyota Ford

350 307 260 223

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SETO’S SECOND COMI Glenn Seton claimed his second Australian Touring Car Championship in 1997, becoming the last owner-driver to win the crown. In this exclusive excerpt from his new book Seto: The Official Racing History Of Glenn Seton, the Hall of Famer recounts his most rewarding title-winning season.

THE 1997 SEASON was the most satisfying of my career. Nothing within the team changed, but we now had all the ingredients we needed to knock-off our better funded rivals.

The car we’d debuted at Bathurst the year prior and continued to use into 1997 was the best one I ever had. We built it with less roll cage than the previous cars and it actually handled better. We took the John Sidney engines in-house to improve reliability with Scott Owen, who had worked with Dad on the engines in the Peter Jackson days, back on board.

We didn’t have an engine issue throughout the entire ATCC. The only mechanical problem we had during the championship was a tailshaft failure off the start of the third race at Phillip Island.

The car was upgraded to EL-specification for 1997, which was another locally developed evolution of the previous model. The main changes were in the front spoiler, which although had an unchanged undertray, now had reworked ducting, scalloped cheeks and sharper leading edge.

The year proved to be a pretty even contest between the Falcons and Commodores, which had been upgraded to new VS-spec. Early in the season, my car was quick everywhere and I just kept racking up the points, including clean sweeps of all three races at both Sandown and Eastern Creek. To win the last race at Eastern Creek, I had to find a way around John Bowe, (Bowe drove for Dick Johnson Racing) who is famous for his defensive driving. After many laps of planning,

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I snuck down the inside in the middle of Turn Two, making side-to-side contact on the way through.

It was probably the best and most satisfying overtaking move in my whole career.

In the following event at Lakeside I again defeated John in the opening race, holding on to win by two-tenths of a second at DJR’s home circuit.

The win extended my championship lead to more than 50 points, but then a silly mistake put it all in jeopardy. I was leading John in Race Two when my left foot slipped off the brake pedal heading into the Eastern Loop. I couldn’t recover it in time and went straight into the barrier, putting me out for Race Three as well. It was a huge blow and put me under pressure, but also increased my determination to finish the job.

The intensity ramped up further in the next round at Wanneroo in Perth. The front suspension failed at 240km/h coming down the hill in practice, pitching me hard left into the concrete wall. I was lucky it didn’t make the sand and roll over, but there was a lot of damage, so I was quickly on the tools helping the boys repair it for qualifying. It wasn’t quite straight for that session and we ended up fifth – our lowest qualifying of the season.

I was elbowed off on the run to Turn One in both races One and Two, and that smashed the Falcon’s front spoiler on each occasion. We had to borrow a spare from Claude Giorgi just to start Race Three. We were seriously lucky to escape the weekend with the points lead, only two ahead of Bowe and four points ahead of Russell Ingall.

Calder Park (above) hosted the opening round of the season wth three sprint races where Seton, Greg Murphy and Wayne Gardner took a win each, but it was Seton who would be crowned champion for the second and final time in his career at the Oran Park finale (below)

ING In his second full-time season, Russell had made his mark as an aggressive and outspoken driver. He brake-tested me in the warm-up at Phillip Island when he thought I’d held him up. I approached him at the back of the pits and we had some heated words. We never had another run-in.

Russell also got into a spat with Craig Lowndes’ replacement at HRT (Holden Racing Team), Greg Murphy. When Murph said he’d rather see me or Bowey win the title than Russell, a fellow Holden driver, it was quite a big newspaper story! Greg was arguably the man to beat on speed during the year, but reliability issues let him down.

Third for the round at Mallala left me four points clear of John and 24 ahead of Russell heading to the Oran Park finale, which in my mind will remain the best race meeting I ever had in my career.

Our cars were always fast there and I took some pressure off by qualifying third, with John and Russell in seventh and eighth respectively.

Russell broke his steering in the first race and then crashed out of the weekend at the start of the second. With John failing to finish the second race due to engine trouble, I was guaranteed the title.

I’d been conservative in the opening two races and finished fourth and fifth, but with the championship secured I could go for it and won the finale. It was my first victory since the first race at Lakeside, so it was an immensely satisfying victory. The title fight and Peter Brock’s retirement meant the crowd was massive and I could see all the people as I came over the Dogleg every lap of that last race.

It was such a special moment that I celebrated with the only burnout I did in my whole racing career. I’d put a line-locker in the car that year and could lock-out the back brakes, hoping that we’d

Seto: The Official Racing History of Glenn Seton is a newly released 320-page hardcover book chronicling the career of Hall of Famer and two-time Australian Touring Car Champion, Glenn Seton.

For Glenn Seton fans, Ford fans and indeed Australian motorsport enthusiasts, this is a great read and full of fascinating insight and stories of a true champion racer.

Illustrated with hundreds of wonderful images, many not seen before, it’s available now from the V8 Sleuth Bookshop at www.v8sleuth.com.au/aa

A close-knit crew of only six helped Seton the title: (L-R) Bridgestone’s Kevin Fitzsimons, Noel Watson, Tony Murphy, Scott Owen, Steve Smith, John Gray and Shane Corcoran. be able to use it at Oran Park to celebrate.

It was a ripper burnout, so much so that Bridgestone ended up producing a big poster out of it with the catchline, “After winning the championship, Glenn Seton deserves a smoko”!

The fact we had beaten all the big teams with a single car and six people was very rewarding. It’s still the last time a single-car team has won the championship and the last time for an ownerdriver, let alone a driver engineering their own car.

Naturally we celebrated on the Sunday night as a team and Ford Credit later put on a little presentation function, but that’s about all we did.

I didn’t go out and buy myself any sort of present or reward, I just turned my attention to the next race and the next goal. The satisfaction of the achievement was my reward.

During all my years of racing, I never really

bought things for myself. I didn’t need a luxury car in the driveway to be happy. I focused on things for the family, like a house, and making sure the race team never had debts. I always liked to have everything owned rather than have debts everywhere just to have toys. I’m a pretty simple person like that.

As a thank you for delivering Ford the championship, Greg Harbutt took me to the United States in the 1997/98 off-season, taking in the Detroit Motor Show and visiting Ford’s global headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. We looked at the proving ground and an area where they were doing a lot of the motorsport development with four and seven-point shaker rigs. It was in the very early days of that technology and made me want to try and get one of our cars over there, but it never eventuated.

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The AASA along with its biggest series AMRS saw a return to racing several months ago. DAN McCARTHY spoke to the sanctioning body’s leaders to find out how it dealt with a tough 2020 and what the future has in store WHEN THE AUSTRALIAN Auto-sport Alliance (AASA) was formed in 2003, its members would never have imagined the challenges that have made 2020 such a unique year.

Despite the hurdles faced in 2020, the AASA and its primary racing series’ have adapted to maintain its positive outlook to keep racing as it gears up for an even stronger 2021.

The AASA is a motor sport sanctioning body formed in 2003 by the Benalla Auto Club (BAC), and is based in Wangaratta near Winton Raceway in rural Victoria.

The idea behind the AASA was to give motor sport categories nationwide a cheaper alternative to series sanctioned by Motorsport Australia.

The leading AASA program is the Australian Motor Racing Series (AMRS) which contains several categories including TA2, Thundersports and Formula 3.

Round 1 at Winton Raceway went ahead without a hitch as the event occurred before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.

Two rounds have taken place since, one at Sydney Motorsport Park and the other at Queensland Raceway, however due to the border closures the AMRS was to rely on state level categories.

“Predicting what you need to pay for a race meeting you put on is a difficult part of putting it together and committing to it,” AMRS manager Matt Baragwanath told AA. “If you had your travelling categories come with you, then you would be safe and there wouldn’t be a problem.

“It was a deal with local categories and if we didn’t have that commitment for them locally, then we wouldn’t have been able to proceed.”

AA asked whether these effectively state

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AASA business development manager, Stephen Whyte (L) and CEO Chris Lewis-Williams have weathered the storm of 2020 and see more growth for the sanctioning body in 2021 based events could be deemed a success considering the situation.

“From a branding perspective, cover costs perspective and to be able to get people out racing again, yes, absolutely there were a success,” Baragwanath explained.

“Commercially, they weren’t as good as what they should have been from a return on investment.

“We covered our bases and can live to see another day. It was by no means a money-making exercise to get them done, it was [a case of] just covering costs and producing some motor sport for the competitor.

“Commercially speaking, because we didn’t have a sponsorship dollars to go with it, it was very much about just getting the income in to cover costs and then

deliver the event.”

Baragwanath continued, stating that the return of AMRS was not financially driven as he could have called off the 2020 series.

“It certainly wasn’t driven by the financial situation from BAC,” he said. “They would have certainly understood if I’d thrown my hands in the air and said we’ll leave it for season 2020.

“They would have supported me in that decision, but to be really honest, it was actually me that pushed for it [a return].”

“The frustrating thing is that we were probably going to be in for one of the biggest and best years of AMRS. With the media stuff we had planned, the categories we had committed, and all the sponsorship arrangements we had in place,” he said.

“We had all our ducks in a row to start the season and unfortunately it all stopped and

very quickly.

“We’re looking forward to delivering Sandown at the end of the end of November. Hopefully we can finish the year with a bit of a high, the first event for AMRS and first event sanctioned by AASA at Sandown.”

Looking ahead to 2021 and beyond Baragwanath is confident the series will continue to grow in quality and quantity.

“You’d just like to be doing a normal series as we intended to do when we started this year, kick off as normal and then be able to produce events throughout the year,” Baragwanath said.

“There’s very strong support for us to continue with our series and very strong support for categories to continue supporting AMRS.” The tenacity of Baragwanath and the AMRS is reflected in the overall approach of the AASA. Chris Lewis-Williams, the AASA CEO, spoke to Auto Action about the difficulties and challenges that the sanctioning body has had to face in 2020.

“We kept a really tight eye on the money coming in and money going out and put our hand up for any of the government assistance that was there for us,”LewisWilliams explained.

“It’s not been the year we expected to have, but I think as a group we did pretty well. We turned off all the experiences that we could turn off. As a group we have survived very well.”

Outside of Victoria the AASA was able to get its state and club level meetings up and running early on.

That was made possible due to steps that were undertaken over the COVID-enforced break, which meant that once motor racing could continue, the AASA would be ready.

While based in rural Victoria, the AASA runs an array of motor sport disciplines nationally, includuing tarmac rally events and circuit racing with its Super GT, Stock Cars, Minature Race Cars and Australian Formula 3 included in the Australian Motor Racing Series

The Super GT category (above) sees GT3 and GT4 racers mix with V8powered MARC Cars, with intense racing that includes pitstops

“That proved really successful. As soon as we could run events they [the competitors] were back on board,” LewisWilliams said.

“Through the breadth of the group being in different states and the AASA being able to trade in multiple states, financially we are already in a good space.

“We’re cash flow positive, we’ve been able to turn off as much expense as we could when we needed to and negotiated with our suppliers, they were really supportive, so we’ve survived really well.

“We’ve worked really hard to do it, but with a light now at the end of the tunnel, we’re okay as a group.”

When asked about the difficulty of negotiating state borders, the AASA head explained that competitors were keen to go racing and very thankful once it got back underway.

Calling off the 2020 season was never an option for the AASA, with the sanctioning body determined to see its drivers and categories back on the track.

“We knew from the competitors and promoters that we were talking to that everybody wanted to get racing.

Everybody wanted to get to the track because it’s their outlet to normality, it’s their release,” Lewis-Williams explained.

To get racing back under way with the

COVID-19 pandemic still looming, many precautions had to be taken including the now normalised social distancing and facilitation of hand sanitisation.

AASA business development manager, Stephen Whyte, explained the changes.

“Every circuit or venue now has to have a COVID safe plan,” Whyte said.

“A register had to be created to track the amount of people that were coming on to the premises and when they were leaving.

“Social distancing has to be observed, obviously. That’s part and parcel of what we’re doing in life now, but that was certainly part of the policing process.

“Hand sanitisation, register, social distancing; they’ll stay with us!”

With restrictions and border closures lifting nationwide, there is hope for a more

normal or at least ‘COVID normal’ season in 2021.

Lewis-Williams opened up on how he sees the 2021 season playing with only a few weeks until the new year.

“Everything going forward will have a COVID overlay to it,” he said. “There will be regulations from governments about providing attendee data should it be required, knowing who’s on site.

“The days of a rocking up to a motor sport event at the front gate and paying your fee to get in, I just don’t see that happening going forward.

“You’ll need to provide your data, because should any outbreak occur, you’re going to need to have to provide that data back to the authorities for contact tracing.

The TA2 Muscle Car Series sees thundering Mustang and Camaro V8s battling it out and has included some promising young talent

“It’s the same, but with a few changes, but nothing insurmountable. All our systems are already in place to do all that, we’re fully prepared for 2021.”

The AASA’s positive momentum is set to continue into the New Year.

“It’s more of the same for us. Talking to promoters, talking to categories across a whole range of disciplines and making sure that they understand who and what we are,” Lewis-Williams said.

“We believe we’re a good alternative, and if they believe we are, then we’d like them to choose us,” he explained. “If they don’t then we’d like to know the reasons why, so that we can fix them.

“Sometimes you’re not right for each other and you shake hands, until you meet the next time on the merry-goround.”

Whyte agrees, adding that the AASA is on the crest of a wave despite the COVID-19 Pandemic. There have been some positives in traversing such difficult times.

“The biggest thing that has come out of COVID-19 are our relationships with all of our customers, promoters, venues and tracks,” Whyte said.

“AASA at the moment, in all honesty, we are in the strongest place we have ever been and I think that’s because of that keyword communication,” Whyte concluded.

“Communication has been the key and is the thing that we’re doing better, much better as an organisation.”

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THE HUGE LEAP After national and international karting success, Josh Fife jumped straight into Super3 in what he explained to DAN McCARTHY has been a real whirlwind JOSH FIFE accomplished a lot in karting, but after returning home from competing in Europe in 2018, the Canberra resident chose to enter national car racing with a desire to make it into the Supercars Championship.

He made the leap straight from a KZ2 karts into a 600bhp plus Super3 machine, and in only his fifth car racing event, won the final round of the 2019 Super3 Series.

In doing so he beat the likes of young hot shots, Broc Feeney and Jayden Ojeda, a significant achievement for Fife.

“We weren’t expecting that quality field when we signed up,” Fife told Auto Action.

“We were thinking we’ll lay low and just do some racing in Super3 before we go into Super2. When we looked at the field we thought oh it’s quite competitive, but that was really good!”

For Fife, 2019 was a year of building experience and confidence after hopping out of karts just a few months earlier, but by the end of the season he found himself fighting at the pointy end of the field.

“We had no expectations last year, considering we just moved out of karts, our goal was just to try and improve each race

40 AutoAction

meeting,” Fife said.

“Our goal was just to keep moving forward and by the end of the year when we raced at Sandown, we had two race wins and round win. That was a great way to finish.”

The passion for motor racing blossomed when he rode a motorbike a friend’s farm and it quickly took off.

“I wanted to start racing Motocross, so we went out to the motocross track and I did

a practice day there and my parents were like this is a bit crazy.”

“They didn’t allow me to race that but luckily next door there was a go kart track.

We had a look and then it kind of went on from there, I think my parents might regret that.”

In 2010 at the age of 10 Fife began racing at his local Canberra go kart club and over the next several years moved up the karting ranks.

Fourth in the national championship of

20 was followed by a very successful 2016 ca campaign in 2017 when he won not one bu two titles. but “That was a really cool year, I raced DD2 an KZ2, they are both the elite categories and in the senior division,” Fife recalled to AA. “At the age of 17, to win two ch championships in one year that was a b relief, we put in a lot of hard work that big y year, many hours travelling and testing e everywhere.

“To get those championships, that was a always my dream, it was a really good f feeling.”

Winning both titles was unexpected for t young Canberra driver and forced the him to change his 2018 plans, electing to move overseas and race karts in Europe.

“Our plan was to do another year of karting in Australia and try go for the ch championship, but we already did that,” Fi explained. “We were like what should Fife we do, and that’s when we made the move to Europe and raced over there for the first half of the year in KZ. Fife raced for Italian outfit Energy Corse and lived in Bergamo while he continued to deliver solid results on the racetrack.

In April he came back to Australia, before returning to Europe for the World Championship at the end of the year.

In a field of 112 competitors in the World

Fife’s karting career has been very succesful with wins in the 2017 DD2 and KZ2 championships. Driving for the BJR Team in Super3 and now Super2 has been a great foundation for Fife and his quest for a full-time Supercar program in the future.

Championship, Fife sat 11th in the final but was robbed on the penultimate lap with a mechanical failure.

“I learnt a lot over there just how they race and prepare themselves,” he said.

“The competition is like crazy compared to here. Everyone is a lot closer in times; two tenths can put you back 20 positions, so you always had to be on your A-game which taught me a lot for when I came back home.”

In the mid-part of that year Fife competed nationally in which a conversation with a teammate would lead to a drive in the Super3 Series.

“Macauley Jones raced karts that year in the same team as me, so we got to know them [Macauley and Brad Jones], speaking to Brad he recommended that if I wanted to go to Supercars, I might as well just go straight into it,” Fife said.

“We had an evaluation day and a test day at the end of 2018 to get some laps in before 2019, we locked in a deal at the end of 2018.”

Just a few months later Fife found himself on the grid at Phillip Island in the Super3 Series competing for Brad Jones Racing.

“Phillip Island was our first car race meeting ever. We had no expectations, it was just about learning each session,” he said.

Fife admitted that jumping from karts straight into a Supercar was a massive leap and recalled those first couple of races.

“I think the biggest thing I found when I was started racing was that the peripheral vision was a lot different to karting,” he explained.

Auto Action asked if starting car racing at the relatively late age of 18-years-old was a hindrance last year. year “I think at the start it may have put me on the back foot,” Fife said. “I might have wanted to move into cars maybe a year earlier than I did.

“But I don’t regret going to Europe. I think I learnt a lot from doing that. Last year they [his competitors] had the experience, that didn’t help me.”

After recording two race wins at Sandown on the way to finishing fifth in the 2020 Super3 Series, Jones and Fife himself felt ready to make the step up into the secondtier Super2 Series.

Many of his Super3 rivals made the step up simultaneously, and although the intensity lifted, Fife felt the fellow rookies took pressure off him.

“As we moved up together, it didn’t

feel like we were in it alone, I don’t think pressure was there as much,” he said.

“The competition rose up a lot, if you make a mistake you go to last, it reminds me racing back in Europe.

“You always have to be on top of your game. In qualifying you have to make sure that you put your lap together perfectly or you’ll be down the other end.”

In the COVID-19 shortened Super2 season, Fife ended up 10th overall in the series, ever improving to record his best results in the final round at Bathurst.

Despite never racing at the daunting 6.213km Mount Panorama circuit, the 20-year-old recorded an eighth place result in Race One and capped off the season with a strong seventh-place finish.

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WODONGA TAFE DRIVING COMPLEX OF THE lesser-known tracks Auto Action has covered so far, the Wodonga TAFE facility is probably situated better than any other.

It is on a campus and provides students, testers and others immediate access for learning and furthering their driving skills as Garry O’Brien tells us in this instalment.

TRACK DAYS, driver tuition, club level through to corporate events, the Wodonga TAFE Driver Training Complex is a state of the art venue offering up a full suite of options and activities in a strong location. Opened in 2012, the 40 acre facility straddles the New South Wales and Victoria borders, six hours from Sydney, three hours up the Hume from Melbourne and only 20 minutes from the centre of Wodonga.

The original concept for the fully fledged facility came from a TAFE committee with the aim to facilitate driver training for the heavy transport industry, given Albury-Wodonga’s location as a transport hub.

That meant not only space for driving and testing, but facilities to support classroom training and testing. With that mandate fulfilled, it became clear that the facility would also be ideal for a broad range of automotive activities, from regular vehicle education, vehicle awareness and familiarity, as well as preparation. It is home to Motorsports Training Australia for both driver and technical education and to provide a state of the art facility to the local region.

Despite its original intent as a heavy vehicle licence training facility, the complex’s 1.6-kilometre-long and 11-metre-wide driving circuit was designed with input from professional drivers, including Albury-based Supercars team owner and ex-driver, Brad Jones, and four-time Australian Rally Champion, Ed Ordynski.

“It is a great little track,” said John Boston from Trackschool, which runs courses for novice drivers to road racers. Participants can use their own vehicles or take advantage of one of Trackschool’s race-prepared hire cars around the complex’s layout in what Boston describes as a challenging, fun and safe environment.

42 AutoAction

If you can race it, you can drive it at Wodonga: the 40-acre facility has a versatile layout that can accommodate a large cross-section of vehicles for many uses including driver/rider training, testing, private venue hire and club level motorsport events with strong trackside facilities

“It is very different,” he enthused.

From the parking area, and joining the 394-metre front straight, Turn One looms – a heavy braking, late entry type of corner.

It is a very short run to feed into Turn Two, another left-hander that almost continues as a single corner.

“For a quick lap, it is crucial that you don’t exit too wide as you can’t rotate the car enough to the left for the right hand Turn Three.

“If you stay in the middle of the road, it is a much better drive through that corner and that determines how fast you are through the Turn Four left-hander, which can be flat out, depending on what sort of car you are in,”said Boston.

Following is a short straight to another left, the 90-degree Turn Five is followed by a longer right and then a very long

and sweeping left-hander that combines as almost a continuous sweeper.

“Those corners in say, a Mazda MX-5, can be held in third gear and controlled on the throttle,” Boston said.

Then it is a 160-metre or so, straight run, to a right-hand kink that commands that you hold the middle of the road for a better exit out of the final corner onto the main straight to complete the lap. He reckons a lap in that sort of car would take around 53 to 54 seconds.

“The corner combinations make the track an excellent place to go testing and it’s no wonder many teams go there for that purpose,” Boston explains.

The spacious workshop located conveniently trackside includes facilities for racecar preparation, fabrication, and composites production that match most racing teams. It has six lifts, a wheel-

alignment machine and a dyno machine all under the one roof.

There are plans to further upgrade the track and its nearby facilities. One of the major projects under investigation is for an Observation Deck/Stewards room to be constructed. This could benefit students by providing more experience while offering even more to those looking to hire the track.

To help improve timing and assist with some of the units students need to complete, Dorian timing loops and Speedhive Mylaps are being installed.

The site has been host to a wide number and variety of events, including time trials, car club track days, vehicle manufacturer launch events and validation testing, as well as student track days where MTA pupils gain experience officiating the event.

Situated on the NSW and Victoria border, the Wodonga TAFE Driving Complex hosts grassroots events, heavy driver training and played host to the inaugural FIA Formula 4 test in Australia

In addition to the purpose-built track, the site includes a workshop, classrooms, computer lab, four-wheel drive off-road track and earthmoving sites. The state of the art training facilities include training and licensing for transport (heavy vehicle), logistics, warehousing, civil construction and earthmoving, MTA and Murray Valley Training (motorcycles).

There is ample room situated at the beginning of the straight to hold motorkhana or khanacross events and the four-wheel drive off-road areas are nearby for those more dirt-inclined.

MTA runs both Light Vehicle Mechanic and motor sports courses from the event. The motorsports course, which takes two years to complete, is designed to give students the experience required to make a start in the motorsport industry.

The course thoroughly covers the industry; from unloading trucks to preparing vehicles, as well as mainstream automotive, composites, fabrication and welding units to provide students with ample opportunity to get into different areas of the industry, whether that be working in a race shop, auto repair shop or a racing team.

The complex was chosen for the first FIA Formula 4 racecar test in 2014, and has also hosted events including Carsales’ Car of the Year as well as shows like ‘Chryslers on the Murray’.

The facility is hoping to host larger events in the future, with some upgrades planned that will allow for a larger track density. It will remain a test facility, though, and there are no plans to hold any race meetings.

The circuit is available to hire, for both commercial and private use, for competitive track events, product launches, driver or product training days, or simply for those seeking some track time. The buildings surrounding the circuit are also available for separate or combined hire, including classrooms and conference rooms, which are ideal for functions, training sessions and meetings.

The facilitie’s goal is to keep providing the best motor sports training possible and to continue upgrading the track to benefit the students and the surrounding community.

“Rather than get out of a skid, we look at teaching that they don’t get into one,” explained Trevor Crisp, one of the facility’s instructors. “It is important to us that students are taught to be fully comfortable not only in driving their cars, but all other aspects of the vehicle as well.”

With high-grade facilties, a variety of uses and a great geographic location, the Wodonga TAFE complex is a truly a unique place in the region.

FAST FACTS Track Length: 1.6 kilometres Track width: 11 metres Track pit/reverse area: Reverse area dimensions 26.5 x 150 metres inside of walls, main straight 394 metres Track Corners: Nine Track camber: Up to 1.8 degrees of negative camber Track direction: Anti-clockwise for sprints, regularity and hillclimb Track Density: Single release sprint – maximum of three cars on the circuit at a time, testing/private practice – maximum of three cars on the circuit at a time Track licence: Motorsport Australia, Category C licence; AASA (motorkhana in reverse area) Nearest major town: Wodonga VIC (18km), Albury NSW (23km) Minimum race licence requirements: Motorsport Australia (L2S), AASA Club license (L2S) Biggest event held: Chryslers on the Murray General Manager: Graham Hart Track Manager: Trevor Crisp Address: 45 Albertson Road, Barnawartha North, Victoria, 3691 Web: www.wodongatafe.edu.au/MTA

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Formula One Round 14 Turkish GP

ICE RACE Making no mistakes and conserving his tyres earned Lewis Hamilton the victory in Turkey plus his seventh world championship

Race Report: DAN KNUTSON Images: LAT

SPINS, SLIPS and slides were in abundance during the Turkish Grand Prix.

“With this track and the new surface here, people who are professional drivers, incredible drivers, you saw them losing control,” Lewis Hamilton said after his victory. “That’s how slippery and difficult the conditions were. This was a big test for me because you know what you normally do in the rain, but this is different in the sense that this is ice! I don’t remember having an ice race before.”

With the win, his 10th of the season and the 94th of his incredible F1 career, Hamilton clinched his seventh world drivers’ championship, which ties the record set by Michael Schumacher.

The rain had stopped before the start of the 58-lap race, but the track never really dried out. The track was wet in qualifying, too, and Racing Point’s Lance Stroll, who does well in such conditions, earned his first-ever F1 pole position. For the first time this season a Mercedes driver did not qualify on the pole.

“The track feels terrible,” lamented Hamilton after he qualified sixth. “This whole weekend has been a nightmare on the track.”

The 14-turn Istanbul Park circuit had been resurfaced just a month earlier. And that surface is ultra smooth, so the drivers struggled to find grip when it was dry, and even more so when it was wet.

Williams drivers Nicolas Latifi and George Russell started the race on Pirelli’s intermediate rain tyres, while the rest of cars were fitted with full wet weather tyres.

Stroll and teammate Sergio Pérez streaked away in first and second place. After five laps Hamilton, in sixth, was more than 20 seconds behind Stroll. The crossover point – when it became faster to switch to the intermediates – was reached within 10 laps.

Hamilton pitted for the “inters” after eight laps, and Stroll a lap later.

The second crossover point – when to pit again for a fresh set of intermediates –

46 AutoAction

Seb Vettel (above) told Hamilton post race, ‘It’s very special for us because we can witness history being made today. I think he is the greatest of our era for sure.”

Finishing second and still without a confirmed F1 drive for 2021, Sergio Pérez delivered another strong point haul for Racing Point. Had it not been for the brilliance of seven times World Champion Hamilton, it could have been a win for the popular Mexican driver.

opened up just past the 30-lap mark, and that provided one of the keys to Hamilton’s somewhat unexpected victory.

One key was that while he had a few wobbles he kept his car on the track while many others did not, including rain-master Max Verstappen. The other was that Hamilton did not pit again for tyres.

Stroll pitted after 36 laps. That handed the lead to Pérez, but he was soon passed by Hamilton.

Many of those that did pit again found that their new intermediates were graining and thus losing grip.

“It’s really hard to understand what happened today, and we need to go away and figure it out,” said Stroll, who faded back to ninth.

“The tyres went through phases,” noted Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. “You could see that most of the people who bolted on a new set of intermediates and pushed very hard had graining after a couple of laps, and from then on the tyre didn’t recover. Lance [Stroll] was leading the race and put on the new tyre, which I think at that time was the right strategy, and just dropped back.

“The difference was that Lewis kept it on the road through the difficult phase at the beginning where our car was not competitive. He just stayed there and eked out the advantage over our competitors.

He understood the tyre, understood how to drive the tyre to go fast, and to make it last.”

Pérez, who also did not pit again, finished second – his first podium visit since 2018.

“When I crossed the line, I told the team that I didn’t think the tyres could last another

Daniel Ricciardo was up to the task and fast at times, but his first corner clash compromised his race.

2020 TURKISH GRAND PRIX 58 LAPS

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1h42m19.313s 2 Sergio Perez Racing Point/Mercedes 31.633s 3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 31.960s 4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 33.858s 5 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren/Renault 34.363s 6 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 44.873s 7 Alexander Albon Red Bull/Honda 46.484s 8 Lando Norris McLaren/Renault 1m01.259s 9 Lance Stroll Racing Point/Mercedes 1m12.353s 10 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1m35.460s 11 Esteban Ocon Renault 1 Lap 12 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri/Honda 1 Lap 13 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1 Lap 14 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1 Lap 15 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1 Lap 16 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1 Lap 17 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari Wheel Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari Accident damage Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes Accident damage Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari Gearbox Points: Hamilton 307, Bottas 197, Verstappen 170, Perez 100, Leclerc 97, Ricciardo 96, Sainz 75, Norris 74, Albon 70, Gasly 63, Stroll 59, Ocon, 40, Vettel 33, Kvyat 26, Hulkenberg 10, Raikkonen 4, Giovinazzi 4, Grosjean 2, Magnussen 1.

Constructors: Mercedes 504, Red Bull Racing-Honda 240, Racing Point-Mercedes 154, McLaren-Renault 149, Renault 136, Ferrari 130, AlphaTauri-Honda 89, Alfa RomeoFerrari 8, Haas-Ferrari 3.

Max Verstappen looked in contention for the race win, but in trying to prove his pace over his rivals he came unstuck too many times (above). Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (above right) was one of the first to swap to intermediate tyres and had great pace, but handed a podium to teammate Vettel with a final lap lunge that didn’t work out; Lance Stroll proved his qualifying pace in the Racing Point/Mercedes was no fluke, building a 12-second lead, but used his inters up trying to go to fast to soon (centre right). It was a shocker for Valtteri Bottas with two spins on the opening lap alone (bottom right). lap!” he said. “They were vibrating like hell at the end. It was about keeping it on the track and making the right calls, which we did. The key was managing the intermediates at the beginning and end of the second stint. It made a huge difference.

Lewis was on another level today and, once he got by me, he controlled the race.”

Sebastian Vettel overtook his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc on the last lap to claim third – his first podium in 2020.

“It has been a difficult year,” Vettel admitted candidly. “Qualifying has been the Achilles heel this year, and the races obviously have been largely defined by being stuck in the pack. The midfield is very, very close, and even though you have a better pace, sometimes you can’t really show it, so it’s tough.” He may find some solace in Racing Point’s form as he heads to the team, rebranded as Aston Martin, for next season.

As for Daniel Ricciardo, the Aussie struggled to keep his tyres in the optimum window. He qualified his Renault fifth but finished 10th.

“We made a great start today,” he said, “but I was squashed in between Lewis [Hamilton] and [teammate] Esteban [Ocon] into Turn One, so I had nowhere to go and I clipped my teammate, which is the last thing you want to do. We lost a couple of positions from the incident and then when we switched to the intermediate tyres and we just couldn’t make them last.

“There were moments during the race when I was told I was one of the fastest out there, then just a few laps later my tyres were completely gone. So it was all a bit of a lottery.”

“Obviously, a big congratulations to Lewis for wrapping up his seventh drivers’ championship,” Ricciardo added, “and to do it in such a dominant fashion is very impressive.” Impressive indeed.

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47

MOTOGP

MIR’S VALENCIA WIN SETS UP TITLE CHANCE Reports: DAN MCCARTHY Images: LAT THE CONSISTENT Joan Mir took his maiden MotoGP race victory, the European Grand at Valencia and in doing so put one hand on the 2020 title as his closest championship rivals failed to mount any challenge.

On his seventh trip to the podium, Mir earned the right to stand on the top step for the first time, standing alongside fellow factory Suzuki rider Alex Rins.

It was Suzuki’s first one-two finish in the premier class since the 1982 West German Grand Prix, when Randy Momola led an all Suzuki podium at Hockenheim.

Qualifying was held in the wet, and despite the challenging conditions, the field was as tightly packed as ever with the top three separated by less than a tenth-of-a second.

Factory KTM rider Pol Espargaro took pole from Rins by 0.041 seconds, with LCR Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami only 0.055 seconds from Espargaro’s time in third.

Johann Zarco was next ahead of Mir and Australian Jack Miller who rounded out the top six on his Pramac Ducati.

The other championship contenders all started outside the top eight, Franco Morbidelli from ninth, Fabio Quartararo 11th and Andrea Dovizioso 12th. Maverick Vinales on the factory Yamaha qualified 15th however he would start from pitlane as his team were forced to use a sixth engine.

The 27-lap race took place in dry conditions and would prove to be an attritional affair with crashes and mechanical failures throughout.

As the lights went out Espargaro made a good start and enabled him to hold the lead on the opening lap.

Further back, former championship leader Quartararo fell off his bike after reacting to Aleix Espargaro separate fall just in front of him. Quartararo continued but his title hopes were quickly deteriorating.

On Lap Two, Rins snuck up the inside into Turn 11 to take the lead, his teammate making the same move two laps later.

Despite falling back to third Espargaro remained in the hunt and kept the two Suzuki’s honest through the race.

Tiitle contender Morbidelli was the only rider to run the hard compound front and rear, but it sent him down the order.

On lap 15 Nakagami took fourth from the fast-starting Miguel Oliveira, however the two riders were unable to match the front.

The front three were setting a relentless pace, but it was Rins first to blink, running wide at Turn 11, allowing his teammate into the lead on lap 17.

From there on, Mir controlled the race, taking his first Premier class victory by 0.6 seconds ahead of Rins and Espargaro.

Nakagami was best of the rest in fourth ahead of Oliveira.

Miller limited the damage to finish the race in sixth position.

Despite serving a long-lap penalty for first

48 AutoAction

Yamaha apologised for the incident, describing it as an, “Incorrect understanding”.

In a statement, the company said: “Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. acknowledges, respects, and accepts the decision of the FIM about the incorrect protocols that were followed. It will not appeal against the FIM’s sanctions.”

“Due to an internal oversight and an incorrect understanding of the current regulation, Yamaha omitted to give prior notification to and gain approval from the MSMA for the use of valves by two manufacturers.

“Yamaha would like to clarify that there was no mal-intent in using the valves of two different suppliers that were manufactured according to one common design specification.”

Yamaha has said that it was forced to use another brand’s valves due to a manufacturing shortage, while the Japanese brand’s riders claim that they knew nothing of the development. The rest of the paddock isn’t so sure.

Factory Honda rider Alex Marquez was outspoken saying that Yamaha have blatantly cheated.

“What is clear at the end is that they [Yamaha]

Mir 162, Quartararo 125, Rins 125, Vinales 121, Morbidelli 117, Dovizioso 117, Espargaro 106, Nakagami 105, Miller 92, Oliveira 90

IANNONE BANNED

YAMAHA LABELLED ‘CHEATS’ BY RIVALS JAPANESE MANUFACTURER Yamaha and its two MotoGP teams have been dealt substantial points penalties for an engine breach that has left other teams calling them cheats.

Auto Action understands that an FIM investigation found that Yamaha used engines fitted with nonhomologated valves for the Spanish GP back in July.

As a result, the Yamaha Motor Company has been penalised 50 World Championship Constructor points, equating to double the points accumulated by the manufacturer in the race.

In addition, the Monster Energy Yamaha squad has been docked 20 World Championship Team points, with the Petronas Yamaha SRT stripped of 37.

Controversially, none of Yamaha’s riders, including race winner Fabio Quartararo, have been docked any points for the breach, leaving the pitlane fuming.

The breach came off the back of a raft of engine failures early in the season for Yamaha, which the company put down to faulty valves. Yamaha’s fix wasn’t implemented according to the official protocol, which requires teams to obtain unanimous approval from the MSMA (Motorcycle Sport Manufacturers Association) for technical changes.

lap collision with Miller in the previous race, Brad Binder shot through the pack to finish seventh ahead of Dovizioso.

The second place lifted Rins from sixth to joint second in the championship, while the other title contenders finished outside the top 10, with Morbidelli 11th, Vinales 13th and Quartararo 14th.

STANDINGS

MOTOGP rider Andrea Iannone has been handed a four-year suspension after losing his appeal against a doping ban.

have cheated or have not been within the regulations,” he said.

“At all times the factory is very open, and you know what engine you are using.

“You know everything, you are up to date, as a rider you are always watching when they install an engine or store it. Always you are aware of what you are using.”

Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso does not understand why rivals have not pushed for a stronger penalty.

“I’m not understanding the strategy of the various manufacturers, which seem to have agreed not to go against it [the ruling],” he said.

“I don’t know all the details, so I don’t want to sentence, but it seems very strange to me.”

Dan McCarthy

THE IANNONE doping saga began 12 months ago when the then factory Aprilia rider was found to have Drostanolone in his system during the 2019 Malaysian Grand Prix.

Drostanolone is an anabolic steroid that featured on the 2019 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.

The test result saw Iannone banned for 18-months from December 17, 2019.

The Italian rider launched an appeal in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), however the CAS Panel rejected his plea.

The original 18-month ban imposed by the FIM International Disciplinary Court was replaced by a more severe punishment.

“Andrea Iannone is sanctioned with a period of ineligibility of four years commencing on 17 December 2019,” it said. “All competitive

MILLER’S THRILLER, MIR’S TITLE

ROSSI’S BROTHER SIGNS MOTOGP DEAL

Reports: DAN MCCARTHY Images: LAT AUSTRALIAN MOTOGP rider Jack Miller came agonisingly close to a second career win in the premier class after an epic last lap duel with Franco Morbidelli at Circuit Ricardo Tormo.

Not too far behind was the ever-consistent factory Suzuki rider Joan Mir who crossed the line in seventh to take his maiden MotoGP World Championship.

It was also a momentous day for Suzuki who had not claimed the Riders’ Championship since the year 2000.

Up the front from Saturday qualifying onwards was the Petronas Yamaha rider Morbidelli and Pramac Ducati rider Miller.

As qualifying drew to a close Italian Morbidelli stole pole from the Queenslander by just 0.096 seconds.

LCR Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami qualified third ahead of Johann Zarco, Pol Espargaro and maverick Vinales.

Morbidelli and Vinales were the only title contenders in the top ten as Fabio Quartararo qualified 11th ahead of championship leader Mir. Alex Rins and Andrea Dovizioso failed to reach Q2 and would start from 14th and 17th respectively.

For the race Mir knew that he only had to stay out of trouble to take the title if both Rins and Quartararo were unable to take the victory.

At the start of the race Miller made a blinder with the Ducati whole shot device and led into Turn One. However the Aussie went in slightly hot and ran wide allowing Morbidelli straight back past.

On the approach to Turn Two keen to make up from his poor qualifying position Quartararo ran in far to deep, the former championship leader had to avoid smashing into the back of Mir, Vinales and multiple other riders by taking to the escape road and falling to the back of the pack.

Quartararo attempted a recovery ride and briefly sat as high as 16th before crashing out of both the race and the championship fight on lap 10.

Out front, at one stage out front Morbidelli

results obtained by Andrea Iannone from and including 1 November 2019 through the commencement of his suspension are disqualified, with all resulting consequences, including forfeiture of any medals, points and prizes.”

The one-time grand prix winner is adamant that the source of the prohibited substance was contaminated meat that he consumed in Malaysia

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held a 1.5 second lead, however despite running a softer front tyre Miller was able to close the gap considerably in the second half of the race.

With just five of the 27 laps remaining Miller closed the gap down to just 0.3 second and the fight for the lead was well and truly on.

Miller kept his powder dry until the final lap of the race when he fired up the inside to take the lead at Turn One. Miller ran fractionally wide and allowed Morbidelli back through at Turn 2. The

and expressed his devastation on social media.

“Today, I’ve received the worst injustice I could ever have imagined. They ripped my heart apart from my greatest love.

“No logical sense on these allegation[s] accompanied by incorrect facts. For this there will be an appropriate place and time … because I certainly do not give up.

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Queenslander made another pass at Turn Four, before the Italian fought back once again. From that point on, Morbidelli rode defensively and would take the win by just 0.093 seconds, even closer than the qualifying margin.

Factory KTM rider Espargaro rode a lonely race to finish third after Nakagami crashed out in a failed overtake to pinch third.

Rins finished the race fourth ahead of the two remaining KTMs Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira.

Mir did what he needed to and came home in seventh to take his maiden title, 0.026 seconds ahead of Dovizioso, with Aleix Espargaro and Vinales rounding out the top 10.

STANDINGS Mir 171, Morbidelli 142, Rins 138, Vinales 127, Quartararo 125, Dovizioso 125, Pol Espargaro 122, Miller 112, Nakagami 105, Oliveira 100

“I knew I was facing the strong powers, but I was hoping for intellectual honesty and the affirmation of justice.

“Right now I am suffering at the highest level I could imagine. Whoever has tried to destroy my life will soon understand how much strength I have in my heart.”

While seemingly determined, the likelihood of a MotoGP return appears to be near impossible, despite the 31-year-old having already served almost a full year of the four-year ban.

CAS concluded that while it does not rule out the possibility that Iannone’s anti-doping rule violation may be the result of consumption of meat contaminated by Drostanolone, the Italian failed to provide any convincing evidence this the case.

His absence now means that one ride is still up for grabs on the 2021 MotoGP grid, with speculation that Aprilia is now pursuing the services of Italian Moto2 rider, Marco Bezzecchi.

Bezzecchi, who posted his first Moto2 win earlier this year in Austria, would have to be bought out of his current deal, which sees him signed to the VR46 squad in Moto2 for next season.

Dan McCarthy

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LUCA MARINI, the half-brother of Valentino Rossi, will step up from Moto2 into the premier class for 2021 along with his title rival Enea Bastianini.

The two Italian riders have been Moto2 combatants all season long, however in 2021 they will become teammates at the satellite Ducati Esponsorama Racing team.

Marini has been rumoured to be stepping up into MotoGP for many months, however it was unceertain whether he would ride with Esponsorama Racing or Rossi’s SKY Racing Team VR46. Strangely, both rumours have come to fruition. Marini will continue to run with SKY Racing Team VR46 colours while racing for Esponsorama Racing.

The Italian becomes the third VR46 Academy rider to join the premier class, after Franco Morbidelli and Francesco Bagnaia.

This means Marini and Bastianini will have different colour schemes in 2021 despite being Esponsorama Racing teammates.

“Competing in MotoGP is every rider’s dream,” Marini said. “Having this great opportunity and being able to share it with the Sky Racing Team VR46, Esponsorama Racing and Ducati is even better.

“In these years with the team I have gained experience. I have grown and I have achieved the first important results.”

As previously reported by Auto Action, Bastianini confirmed he would move up to MotoGP next season, last weeks confirmation confirmed it was with the Spanish team.

“I am very happy to go up to MotoGP with Ducati and Esponsorama Racing,” Bastianini said.

“Next season several riders will make the leap to MotoGP. We will start a new adventure together with the fastest riders in the world in which I think that, together with the team, I will be able to achieve good results.”

The news confirms that 2014 Moto2 Champion Tito Rabat will not be on the grid next year after a challenging five years in the premier class.

Dan McCarthy

ANOTHER GARDNER PODIUM

IN THE two Moto2 races at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia, Spain, Remy Gardner scored a seventh and third on his Onexox TKKR SAG Team Kalex.

The first race at the venue saw the Sydneysider ride faultlessly to finish only 3.5 seconds off the leader in third.

Although Gardner did not have the pace compared to his rivals when he returned a week later, he delivered a mature ride to finish in seventh and cement his sixth place in the overall season standings.

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INTERNATIONAL

WRAP

ELLIOTT 2.0 TAKES TITLE SECOND-GENERATION racer Chase Elliott has won his first NASCAR Cup Series title after taking victory in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway.

It was the first time the Elliott competed for the Cup Series crown in the final race and the 24-year-old rose to the occasion.

By taking the title Elliott became the third youngest winner of the Cup Series and joins his father Bill as a NASCAR Cup Series champion, the third father-son combination to do so.

“I’m not sure that I still even know, I’m at a loss for words. This is unbelievable, oh my gosh we did it,” he said. “I mean we did it, that’s all I’ve got to tell you. Unreal!

“My crew chief Alan Gustafson is now a NASCAR Cup Series champion, and very deserving.

“I just can’t say enough about our group. I felt like we took some really big strides this year, and last week was a huge one.

“To come out of that with a win and a shot to come here and have a chance to race is unbelievable.”

Elliott needed to win the previous week to stand a realistic chance of qualifying for the Championship 4 and did just that.

Elliott then backed it up in the finale with a second successive race win outperforming his Championship 4 rivals, Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin and Team Penske drivers Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.

In the Championship 4 playoff finale, whichever one of the four competitors finishes highest takes the title regardless of the championship points heading into the weekend.

Elliott’s victory was made all the more remarkable by the fact he started from the back of the grid after his Hendrick Motorsports machine failed to pass the pre-race inspections.

In Stage 1 Elliott made his way up into third

and from then on was in the fight for the title.

The Chev driver led a race-high 153 laps and took the lead one final time on lap 270 of 312, overtaking Logano who performed the undercut strategy to briefly lead after the final stops.

Elliott hunted down Logano, who was held up in traffic, and seized the opportunity with an aggressive move to reclaim the lead.

From there Elliott held on, taking the race win by 2.7 seconds from Keselowski, who was arguably the fastest driver in the race, several slow pitstops cost him dearly, including a three second delay in the final stop alone.

Logano fell to third at the finish just ahead of Hamlin and 45-year-old Jimmie Johnson in his final Cup Series race before a move to IndyCar with Chip Gnassi Racing.

It was fitting that Elliott should win his first title for Hendrick Motorsports in the same race that Johnson, the man that delivered seven titles for the team, finished his NASCAR career.

Over the course of the season Elliott took five victories, including three of the last five to snatch the title.

“All you can dream for is an opportunity, and I’ve been very fortunate to have that over the years and that’s all thanks to some great people,” Elliott said.

In the end Aubry took the win by 1.89 seconds from the Number 38 of Da Costa, Roberto Gonzalez and Anthony Davidson.

The Racing Team Nederland ORECA came home in third shared by Nyck de Vries, Giedo van der Garde and Frits van Eerd.

United Autosports drivers Phil Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque won the LMP2 title by finishing in fourth, Paul di Resta missed out on the honour as he missed the race in Fuji. It was a difficult race for the trio, they suffered a fuel glitch, a five-second penalty and a spin half-way through the race.

The GTE Pro class battle in Bahrain was

won by the experienced Porsche duo of Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre.

However, in the championship Aston Martin it was the Danish duo of Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim that took the honours. The pair finished in the top five in all eight races, taking three race wins along the way.

In GTE Am Larry ten Voorde and Egidio Perfetti took the race win, while on debut former Australian Carrera Cup Series winner Jaxon Evans finished third in class.

The Am title was won by Emmanuel Collard, Nicklas Nielsen and Francois Perrodo in a Ferrari.

LMP1 ERA COMES TO AN END Report: DAN MCCARTHY Images: LAT THE END of the LMP1 era within the World Endurance Championship (WEC) saw the Number 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing trio of Mike Conway, Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi breakthrough to take their first championship title.

The Number 7 trio had finished as runnerup to the sister Number 8 machine the last two seasons, however in the season finale at Bahrain the Number 7 drivers took the Eight Hours of Bahrain victory and the title with it.

Coming into the race, it was tight. Whoever won the race would take the 19/20 WEC title.

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Over the course of the season, Conway, Lopez and Kobayashi collected four race victories, double the amount of their teammates.

Sadly, in the last race for the top-tier LMP1 category (which will be replaced by the Hypercar regulations) the two Toyotas were the only machines in the class.

In the race the Number 7 had a clear advantage as the Number 8 car driven by three former F1 drivers Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima were dealt a 0.54 seconds per lap handicap.

This mean that within three hours the Number 7 Toyota held a one-minute lead. A mid-race Safety Car allowed the Number 8 car to close back up, but the Number 7 trio took the win by over a minute.

The Number 37 Jackie Chan DC Racing car of Ho-Pin Tung, Gabriel Aubry and Will Stevens finished as the LMP2 class winners and as a result third in the race overall.

It was a thrilling LMP2 battle in the closing stages between Aubry and reigning Formula E Champion Antonio Felix da Costa in the Number 38 JOTA machine.

NAIL-BITING IMSA FINALE

Report: DAN MCCARTHY Images: LAT THE 2020 IMSA Sportscar Championship ended with a bang in the Sebring 12 Hours. Despite finishing multiple laps down, Team Penske duo Helio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor did just enough to win the DPi class by a single point.

Australian Ryan Briscoe and his co-driver Renger van der Zande finished the race in seventh, agonisingly short of the title.

In one of the most exciting and bizarre Sebring 12 Hour races in history, Jonathan Bomarito, Harry Tincknell and Matheus Leist took the race victory and in a tight championship battle, only missed out on the title by five points.

The race was full of twists and turns in all IMSA categories, but it was in the DPi class where the headlines were made.

After failing to score a top six finish in the first three races, Castroneves and Taylor delivered four of the next five wins to find themselves in the championship lead heading into the season finale.

Despite starting from pole position, just forty minutes into the race an intercooler malfunctioned on the car. A 25-minute repair left the trio seven laps down and in need of a miracle.

“In racing, anything is possible,” Castroneves said. “We started the season with no points on the board and all of a sudden we’re battling for the championship.

“Unfortunately, in this situation, it was completely outside of our hands.

We literally were waiting for things to happen, and they did.”

The Briscoe and van der Zande Number 10 Cadillac with six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon at the wheel was involved in a collision with the Number 77 Mazda Motorsports Mazda driven by Oliver Jarvis.

“I think there was no way he was going to make the corner,” Dixon said.

“I kind of saw him coming and tried to give him enough without wrecking

myself. I got off track a little bit in the hairpin and got dirty tyres.”

Dixon was forced to limp back to the pits with a flat right-rear before an extensive repair had to be completed, which cost the Number 10 machine down multiple laps.

In the end Bomarito, Tincknell and Leist took the win from Dane Cameron, Juan Pablo Montoya and Simon Pagenaud. Jarvis, Tristan Nunez and Olivier Pla rounded out the podium.

By finishing eighth, Castroneves and Taylor did enough to take the title… barely.

In GT Le Mans (GTLM), Porsche ended its seven-year program with an unexpected one-two victory.

For the third successive year, Nick Tandy and Fred Makowiecki took the class win in the 12 Hour race along with 2020 co-driver, Earl Bamber.

On the final restart, the class-leading Number 25 BMW with Connor De Phillippi at the helm collided with several back-marking cars, knocking it out of contention.

Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor had already wrapped up the class title.

Ryan Hardwick, Patrick Long and Jan Heylen won the GTD race with Mario Farnbacher, Matt McMurry and Shinya Michimi taking the title.

SUTTON SECURES SECOND BTCC TITLE

A THRILLING Brands Hatch finale in Ash Sutton sealing his second British Touring Car Championship in his Infiniti.

Five drivers headed into the weekend in title contention, including defending champion Colin Turkington (Subaru), Rory Butcher (Ford), Tom Ingram (Toyota), Dan Cammish (Honda) as well as Sutton.

Three races saw three different winners, Dan Cammish scoring victory in the opening race. Sutton finished second ahead of Ingram, while Turkington’s ninth handed the series lead to Sutton.

Changeable conditions didn’t hamper Sutton as he took victory in Race Two, while Turkington copped a penalty after tangling with and Cammish.

Motorbase Performance’s Rory Butcher made it three different winners from as many races, with Turkington and Sutton battling for sixth, with Sutton prevailing to win the series.

“It’s an absolute dream to get this, for an Independent team to win the overall championship.

We were in a perfect position today and despite it drying out in race two, the car came alive and I was a bit shocked myself.” HM

FERRARI SEALS THE DEAL

AF CORSE’S Alessandro Pier Guidi took victory and the Endurance Driver’s Title in the final GT World Challenge Europe round, the Paul Ricard 1000km.

Joined by Tom Blomqvist and Come Ledogar, Pier Guidi’s team gambled on its last pitstop by running longer, then changing only two tyres to defeat title rival Mathieu Jaminet in the GPX Porsche 911 GT3R alongside Aussie Matt Campbell and Patrick Pilet.

Ferrari’s success came after locking out the frontrow with AF Corse and SMP Racing, but both faded during the opening stint to allow the Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 piloted by Giacomo Altoe.

The GPX Porsche held the lead until the final pit stop, the AF Corse Ferrari clawed back time after its slow start to be second after the penultimate round of stops. With Pier Guidi at the wheel, the gap closed to seven seconds before Jaminet pitted.

Jaminet fronted a challenge with 30-minutes remaining, but finished 1.6 seconds behind Guidi.

Mercedes driver Timur Boguslavskiy took the overall GT World Challenge Europe title after taking fifth. HM

EHRLACHER BECOMES YOUNGEST WTCR WINNER

ANOTHER RAST DTM TITLE GERMAN RENE Rast took an impressive second successive DTM title with victory in the final race of the season at the Hockenheimring.

Despite a shaky start to the season, Rast overhauled his Audi teammate Nico Muller to lead the championship heading into the final round after taking four successive victories.

Race one saw the pair engage in an epic duel for the race win, Muller

edged out Rast to take the win and cut the championship margin down to only 13 points. With 25 points for the race win, to take the title Rast would have to finish fifth or lower if Muller won the race.

However, in Race two, Rast was simply in another league, taking the win by 10 seconds and with it the title. Muller was second with Jamie Green third as he was in Race one. DM

LYNK & CO’S YANN Ehrlacher has become the youngest World Touring Car Racing title winner after sealing the crown at Aragon Motorland in Spain.

The 24-year-old’s, strongest rival, Honda driver Esteban Guerrieri, closed within 16-points after taking a spectacular victory from 16th on the grid in the first of three races over the weekend finale.

Ehrlacher finished sixth.

In Race Two, Yvan Muller led from start-to-finish in a race his nephew and teammate Ehrlacher took the crown after Guerrieri crashed out.

For the third and final race of the weekend, Lynk & Co young gun Santiago Urrutia took his maiden WTCR race victory ahead of champion-elect Ehrlacher to clinch a one-two for the Chinese brand.

Vernay completed the podium and in doing so won the WTCR Trophy for privateer teams.

For the new champion, it was a struggle to let the result sink in after a difficult campaign.

“It’s just insane,” said Ehrlacher. “This is the best day of my life. I can’t believe what just happened. I’m so proud and happy over what we have achieved, I am forever grateful to everyone in the team that have fought like crazy during a crazy season.” HM

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p ra w S L A N NATIO

SAND ENDURO KICKSTARTS SEASON THE TASMANIAN Off Road Racing Championship finally started on October 31-November 1. It was the 48th Annual Tas Sand Enduro along the Peron Dunes at St Helens which was taken out by Hayden Tatnell.

The Pro Buggy BAT/Chev V8 driver completed 89 laps over two days of off road racing on the five kilometre beach-based course in five and a quarter hours. Second place went to the Superlites’ John Walker while Chris Branch, in his new ProLite was third after he showed great form to lead at stages.

Right from the mass start, where the entire field started together for a dramatic kick-off, Tatnell was in charge. He took out heat one by a lap over Chris Shepheard (Hornet/Nissan) with class rival Walker third. A further lap down was Andrew Giffard (Rivmasta/Toyota).

Tatnell had a two-lap advantage through heat two, which put him three laps up overnight. Branch finished the heat second with Shepheard also on the same lap and some 50 seconds ahead of Walker. It was a similar tale through heat three, but

this time it was Walker in third with an identical time. One lap further back was Mike Males in his SXS Turbo Can-Am X3 Turbo, but Shepheard was a retirement.

Heat four was a non-event with a red-flag after Tatnell completed nine laps and was in front of Males. Branch was a lap down and one up on Walker. Tatnell also won the final heat, with a lap in hand on Walker. Sharon Sulzberger was third in her Super 1650 buggy and a lap ahead of Branch.

Garry O’Brien

Image: Off Road Racing Tasmania Image: Gympie Auto Sports Club

RALLY AND TITLE IN ONE

BIG WIN IN BIG ONE

Image: Tim Allott - WARC

VICTORY IN the Safari Darling Rally came with a bonus as Mike Young and Scott Beckwith also won the 2020 WA Rally Championship.

Round Four was held in Jarrahdale on Sunday November 7 over 101.46 kilometres, with Young and Beckwith taking their Subaru WRX STi to victory by 56.6 seconds. Ben Searcy and Jimmy Marquet (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX) finished second, 1min 6.6s ahead of Craig Rando and Stephen Wade (WRX) with both claiming second and third in the overall points.

Young held a lead of 1min 27.7 seconds after victories on the first four stages, while luck played into his hands on Stage Five where he hit a tree stump. The radiator protector did its job, and he was able to continue although he dropped to third on the stage behind Searcy and Rando. Searcy also won the last stage with Young second.

Title contenders John O’Dowd and Toni Feaver hit a tree stump on the first stage and rolled their Skoda Fabia R5 – it ended their chance for a title hat trick. Andrew Goldie and Murray Hynes were the only other casualties when they crashed their Evolution VII on Special Stage Three.

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Usually separate, the Safari Rally and the 56th Darling 200 were merged because of the restrictions around COVID and the reduction in the number of events for the 2020 season.

Fourth in the rally were Stephen Oxley and Michael Wood (WRX) ahead of Glenn Alcorn and Jonathan Charlesson (Ford Escort MkII) who won 2WD. They were 38 seconds ahead of class rivals Max McRae and Bill Hayes (Ford Fiesta ST) while Mike Joss and Megan Logue (Nissan Silvia S15) were third, enough to take the 2WD title.

Fastest by only 10 seconds in Clubman Masters (over three stages of 50.7km) were Tom van Kann and Stephen Proctor (Nissan 200B). Glenn Cawood and Murish O’Connell (Mitsubishi Lancer) were championship leaders heading into the WA event, but a crash left them second overall for the season. Capitalising were Rod Fowler and Keith Mayes (Peugeot 206 GTi) who sealed the title by coming home second, ahead of Michael Connor and Scott Medhurst (Hyundai Excel) in third.

Alex White and Lisa White (Nissan Silvia S13) wrapped up the Clubman Cup. Garry O’Brien

QUEENSLAND’S biggest short course off road event this year, the Diaper Station 100, was conducted at Landcruiser Mountain Park, Jimna, on October 31-November 1 and it was won by Clayton Chapman.

He drove his Unlimited class Razorback/ Toyota 2JZ Turbo to five heat victories and a comprehensive victory in the final round of the Mickey Thompson AORRA Queensland Off Road Racing Championship. He covered the six heats 1min 7 seconds ahead of Class 66 winner Zac Marsh (Polaris RZR 1000) and class rival Jeff McNiven (Can-Am Maverick X3) who was the other heat winner.

Hosted by the Gympie Auto Sports Club, 66 entries took on the one and two-lap heats of the 10 kilometre course, plus a special night ARB Rallycross where the rain started at the same time. It made the track quite slippery and, while not included in the overall result, it was won by Kye Floyd in his Can-Am. The Swinglehurst brothers Tom and Jake were fourth and fifth overall in their Can-Ams ahead of class rival Bailey Coxon (Can-

Am) and Brett Comiskey (Jimco Aussie Special/Nissan V6 Turbo) who was second in Unlimited. Kristian Truce (Nissan Patrol/ Holden V8) was eighth and the Class 8 victor while Rohan Williams (Can-Am) and Steve Reibel (Class 10 Edge) completed the ten.

Other class winners included Pat Philip (1, Jimco/Mitsubishi V6), Mark Andrew (2, Cobra Custom), Taylor Teichmann (3, Southern Cross/Suzuki), Damien Saunders (4, Rush Truck) and Michael Ranson (5, Mitsubishi Triton/Holden V8).

Class 7 was taken out by Tony Dolton in his Nissan Patrol while Class 5S went to Darren Brandon (Can-Am). Class 66 provided the closest winning result with 12th and 13th outright Brady Vohland and Dan Hughes respectively, only 2.28 seconds apart in their Yamaha YXZ1000s.

The championship must be commended in that it managed to complete six rounds under a COVID-19 safe plan, which saw 150 competitors participate.

Garry O’Brien

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FEATURE AutoAction AutoAction FEATURE

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Total Seal® now offers a unique piston Tim Nic ring designImforage:racers desiring gas-ported ol performance without gas-ported pistons...

Images: David Batchelor

CHAMPS BACK AROUND THE BEND

RENCE. E F IF D G IN N IN W E C A R E H T

THE SOUTH Australian State Motor Racing Championship made its only visit to The Bend Motorsport Park in the shortened version of the 2020 series on October 31-November 1 with a few surprise winners, some close racing and great weather.

GAS-PORTED FEATURE BENIFITS:

CIRCUIT EXCELS

THE PACKED field had a new face at the pointy end with Jayden Wanzek giving Asher Johnston the hurry up and winning a couple of races. At the end of the weekend though, it was Johnston’s familiar name at the top of the points score.

There was a bit of carnage at Turn One in the 10-lap final that saw Wanzek exit with a damaged wheel and tyre. Wanzek still managed a podium finish for the event as Aaron Oliver grabbed the other spot. Bradley Colman rolled in race four which caused the race to end under the Safety Car.

SPORTS CARS

IN THE only other standalone class John Goodacre (MARC Cars Focus V8) with two wins over five races, took the outright win from Panayot Boyaci and Nicholas Paul, both driving Porsche 991 GT3 Cup Cars. Yasser and Sam Shahin shared the latter’s Porsche 911 997 and picked up the other three wins in the four races they contested.

IMPROVED PRODUCTION/ GROUP N

BY THE end of race five, Scott Cook (Nissan Silvia) was a comfortable winner both overall and in Improved Production, beating the similarly mounted opposition of Brenton Faggotter and Grant Maitland.

Chris Brown (Toyota AE86) had been the man to beat on Saturday but was

s...

Total Seal Piston Ring

John Goodacre set the pace in Sports Cars (top). There was variety galore in Racing Cars (above); Scott Dorman took three wins in Saloon Cars (below).

out early on Sunday with a DNF in race three. Adam Poole (Holden Monaro) failed to finish race one and spent the next two races fighting his way back through the field for a win in race four.

Josh Axford took a lucky Group N Historic Touring Car win in his Ford Escort T/C after the Chev Camaro of Graham Jarrett did not make the finish line in the final race.

SALOON CARS/HQ HOLDENS

IT WAS totally Holden in these combined categories. Scott Dorman (Commodore VY) took three wins and claimed top spot in Saloon Cars, well clear of Peter Holmes (VT). Wayne King (VT) scored two wins from the three races he finished and that was good enough for third, while teammate Shaun Jamieson (VY) had a weekend to forget with two finishes.

Daryl Crouch and Darren Jenkins were glued together throughout the weekend with the HQ Holden win narrowly to Crouch, while Lee Smith finished a distant third.

Jayden Wanzek and Asher Johnston duked it out in the Excels.

- Gas-ported performance without gas-ported pistons.

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- Extensively tested in virtually every form of race engine with the same increases in ring sealing time after time.

- Applications are available in both steel and ductile iron for top ring placements. When ordering simply ask for Gas-Ported on your top ring sets.

RACING CARS

THE CATEGORY embraced several different classes where the outright honours went to Tim Cook in his Non-Historic Radical SR3.

Yasser Shahin (Formula Toyota FT40) re-wrote the lap record in the two races he ran in, but the car stayed in the garage on Sunday.

Mike Erwin (Norax) was in amongst the thick of the action, but didn’t finish the final race.

Matthew Roesler (Spectrum 011c) easily took the Duratec Formula Ford win while Sean Whelan (Reynard F84) was a comfortable Kent winner ahead of a very closely matched Glen Woodforde (F83) and Neil Richardson (Van Diemen RF86).

Adam Newton (Sabre 02) and Joel Oliver (Jacer V2K) were nose to tail in Formula Vee 1600, with Newton coming out on top and also posting a new lap record in the process.

Matthew Bialek (Stinger) took the minor podium while Rob Surmun (Stinger) exited the event early with suspected gearbox woes. Nathan Clifton (Spectre) was a very lonely 1200 Vee winner.

Andrew Ford (Birrana 274) never finished outside the top two and was the best of the Historic field.

Mark Goldsmith managed a couple of wins in the Ford V8-powered Elfin 400 with Andrew Ford (Birrana 274) regularly in the Elfin’s mirrors and Jim Doig (Motorlab Asp) third.

David Batchelor

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53

NATIONALS wrap n compiled by garry o’brie

LATE SPRING FOR HSRCA FROM A lengthy Winter hibernation due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Historic Sports & Racing Cars Association returned to the racetrack with its Spring Festival at Wakefield Park on October 31-November 1.

GROUP S - PRODUCTION SPORTS CARS

THE MEYER brothers, Simon and Damien and their MG Midgets reaped the benefits and conditions. Simon led throughout race one for Sa and Sb cars. Damien miscued on the opening lap and dropped to fourth before he worked his way back to second. Third went to Terry Lawlor (Shelby GT350) who had find a way past Colin Wilson-Brown (Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV).

The Sc event was dominated by Mikki Piirlaid

over fellow Porsche 911 Carrera pilot Doug Barbour. Third went to Anthony Richmond (911) from Doug Selwood (Alfetta) after they both spun.

The third non-BMC race went to Piirlaid ahead of Barbour and Lawlor. Piirlaid started brilliantly in the next outing and led the Meyers until Lawlor passed both MGs and chased the Porsche to the flag. Barbour split the MGs to take fourth behind Damien Meyer.

Lawlor was finished for the day and Piirlaid handed his Porsche to Wayne Seabrook for the last. Barbour led early but Damien Meyer took over before Simon Meyer passed both.

Behind Barbour, Seabrook came from the rear for fourth.

The BMC Challenge included several Group N Minis, but none got near Damien Meyer or Brian Weston (Midget). Third went to Andrew Bergan who won his duel with fellow Cooper S driver Paul Battersby.

FORMULA VEES

DESPITE THREE out four race victories for Kevan Peter (Renmax), competition was tight. Tony Paynter (Stag) and Don Greiveson

(Spectre) led race one at stages before Peter won. Second went to Greiveson from Norm Johnstone (Spectre) and Paynter. Dan Brando was in the fight until he spun his Elfin and came back to fifth.

In race two Greiveson led initially before Paynter took over and subsequently spun.

Despite that Paynter miraculously fought back to finish second ahead of Greiveson, Bando and Johnstone. Paynter was clear-cut in his race three victory from Peter, Johnstone and Greiveson. Peter won the last ahead of Paynter and Bando.

GROUP N - HISTORIC TOURING CARS SPLIT BY engine capacity, Andrew Bergan (Mini Cooper S) fended off David Noakes (Ford Escort RS1600) for all but the last wet lap of the U3L first race.

Noakes took a narrow win with Paul Battersby third from fellow Cooper S pilot Geoff Pike,

Chris Dubois (Escort) and Peter Ferguson (Ford Cortina GT).

Jamie Tilley (Ford Mustang) won the O3L race ahead of the closing Noel Roberts (Holden Torana XU-1), despite a five-second penalty, and the Mustangs driven by Adam Walton, Harry Bargwanna and David Stone. Ford drivers dominated the non-BMC race three. Tilley won from Walton, Stone and Noakes. Alf Bargwanna (Torana) was next, ahead of his brother Harry.

Tilley won the all-inclusive fourth race, just in front of Stone and Walton. Harry and Alf Bargwanna were next ahead of Noakes, Battersby and Bergan. A depleted last race went to Walton who edged out Tilley with a big gap to Peter Ferguson (BMW 2002) and Stephen Pitman (Holden EH).

FORMULA FORDS

THE BENCHMARK was Garry Watson (Mawer), but he lost to Philip Oaks (Van Diemen RF88)

TROPHIES THE LURE AT WANNEROO THE TWO-DAY meeting at Wanneroo on October 31-November 1 had respected trophies up for grabs for Historic Touring Cars and Formula Vees.

HISTORIC TOURING CARS

BOTH DAY one races were won by Clint Rayner (Chev Camaro) over Graeme Woolhouse (Ford Mustang) and Grant Johnson (Holden Torana XU-1). Johnson pitted on the warm-up lap of Race three with a gearbox selector pin failure and left Woolhouse to take a comprehensive victory.

Rayner was second in front of Greg Barr (Torana) and Cono Onofaro and Lance Stannard in their Mini Coopers.

Woolhouse backed up for a Race four victory, again over Rayner and Barr, while Johnson was fourth. The Trevor Roy Young Memorial handicap race was led by Steve Wellstead (Mini) before Don Behets (Ford Galaxie) took over. Barr and Johnson ran together and came through to first and second ahead of Rayner and Behets.

FORMULA VEES

AFTER HE took an all-the-way outright and 1600 victory in race one over Ron Lisson (Sabre) and David Campbell (Jacer), David Caisley contested the remaining races in the 1200 class. Franz Esterbauer took over the Caisley’s Jacer.

Campbell was the early second race leader with Ross Murray (Scorpion), Lisson and Esterbauer

close. Murray and Esterbauer each led before Murray came back on the last lap to snatch victory.

But a five-second penalty meant Murray was fourth behind Esterbauer, Lisson and Campbell.

Race three was for the Morton Plate where Campbell led. Esterbauer passed him before Campbell struck back, and then Murray was the front runner. On the last lap, Murray, Esterbauer and Lisson came together. Campbell was unhindered and won from Jeff Cadman (Jacer) and Jason Fowler (Jacer).

In the 1200s, Esterbauer (Ribuck) led throughout race one to beat Andrew Lockett (Ajay). April Welsh (Jacer) and Callum Lamont (Sabre) diced before Welsh claimed third. In Race two Welsh and Robert McAfee (Polar) tangled which left Welsh stranded.

After the Safety Car, Caisley (in Esterbauer’s Ribuck) won from early leader Lockett and McAfee.

Race three was for the BM Graphics Plate where Caisley led from start to finish ahead of Lockett.

Third was keenly contested with Welsh ultimately the victor over Lamont and McAfee.

SPORTS CARS/SPORTS SEDANS

THE CLASSES were evenly matched where Arthur Abrahams (Lamborghini Huracan) won the opener ahead of Ron Moller (Chev Camaro), who relegated Grant Hill (Ford Falcon/Chev) midway through.

Richard Bloomfield and his new Porsche were next, ahead of Brett Niall (MARC Cars Focus) and John

Images: Mick Oliver

the way of Kluck from Peachey as Baltinas was marginally in front of Conacher for third.

FORMULA FORDS

Roderick (Lamborghini Gallardo).

The reverse grid race saw Hill win from Abrahams, Moller and Epple, while Bloomfield was a retirement.

A Safety Car interrupted Race three for Walter Epple (Porsche) who was stopped in the Esses. When the race resumed, Hill won from Moller who just held off Abrahams. Bloomfield was next ahead of Niall.

OVER THE three races, Josh Matthews (Stealth) was victorious three times. Simon Ridgewell (Van Diemen RF93) led from pole in race one but fell down the order. Matthews took the lead and was never headed while Ben Leslie (Stealth) was second after dicing with Mark Pickett (RF92).

Leslie was the race two leader until passed by Matthews and ultimately retired as Pickett filled second ahead of Tomas Chapman (RF92). The finish order was the same in the third race as Leslie charged to fourth.

IMPROVED PRODUCTION/STREET CARS

EXCEL CUP

IN THE first race Barry Baltinas (IP BMW M3) won after Paul Kluck (Nissan Skyline R32) was penalised five seconds and relegated to third behind Street Car rival Mark Conacher (Datsun 1600 Turbo).

Behind Ben Peachey (Datsun 200B Turbo) and Steven Turpin (IP Holden Commodore VE), Rachel Beers (IP VE) sixth until Neil Pollard (Honda Civic) snatched it away.

Race two went with Kluck as little separated Baltinas and Conacher while Trupin was fourth in front of Peachey. The reverse grid Race three went

54 AutoAction

WITH TWO wins Robert Landsmeer was set to clean sweep until Jack Clohessy had other ideas.

Landsmeer won race one although Jake Passaris pressured all race long. He had to settle for second.

Clohessy challenged for third but Anthony Jewell was able to hold him out.

Race two was red flagged when Jewell and Cameron Atkins clashed. At the restart Ryan McNess led only to be passed by Harrison Douglas who subsequently lost out to Landsmeer, but held off Clohessy. In the third race it was Landsmeer

Images: Riccardo Benvenuti

b f hhe bbunkered before k d att TTurn Two. T The Th race was called early, Watson winning from Cameron Walters (RF86), John Pymble (Reynard), Keith Hammond (Mondiale), Grahame Burton (Hawke) and Travis Clarke (RF86).

In front Watson was untroubled in a dry race two where Walters emerged clear of Clark who pipped Pymble on the line, Oakes, and Geoff Walters (RF89).

In a closer race three, Watson was just over half-a-second in front of Cameron Walters. Third went to Pymble over Clark after several position

changes. h W Watson t won th the last l t ahead of Walters while Clark finished in front Pymble and Oaks.

GROUPS O, Q, R

MULTIPLE HILLCLIMB champion Malcolm Oastler (Group R Kaditcha AF2) was unbeaten.

Race one was for Q & R only with Aaron McClintock (Richards) second until edged out

by David Stone (March 82). In the standalone Group O race, Wayne Seabrook (Rennmax) won ahead of Paul Hamilton (Elfin) as he had one less on a slippery track.

The first combined race had to be restarted after Dan Nolan (Nola Chev) ran off and was stranded in the Turn Two bunker. Stone was second with McClintock from Martin Dunlop (March 802).

Stone was second in Race Three, clear of Seabrook, but lost his second place to Dunlop on the final lap of Race Four.

In the last race, Stone again placed second with Kieran McLaughlin (Van Diemen Formula Ford) coming home in third.

ahead until Clohessy passed. They swapped a couple of times before Clohessey finished first from Landsmeer and Passaris.

DRIVING A local car, Queenslander Jamie Furness stole the show. Michael Howlett led race one initially until Furness took the lead. Three cars come together in Turn One, which effectively took out Howlett, Michael Woodbridge and Brian Pangler before Furness won from Rory Sharp.

In the reverse grid second race, Howlett led before Furness came through to win ahead of Howlett and who passed Scott Hames on the last lap. Furness won last ahead of Sharp and Ryan Davis.

F1000

FORMULA RACING

IT WAS a bad start for David Turner when he put his Lola T492 into the Esses wall. Simon Alderson (Van Diemen FF2000) made the best start and led race one when passed by Andrew Nielson (Ralt RT4). Alderson placed second ahead of Stuart Kostera (RT4) and Ricky Virago (RT5).

Neilson led the second race from start to finish and won from Alderson with Kostera third. Nielson’s good run ended in race three with retirement and that gave Alderson victory over Kostera and Virago.

TIME CHALLENGE

TWO GROUPS contested the first Rob Janney Memorial where Peter Dyball (Ford Falcon AU), Jamie Scott (Ford Escort), and Marty Cash (Holden Commodore VT) ended up on equal points.

Mick Oliver

A SLOW race one getaway prevented Aston Roskill (Lotus Elite) from a five-race clean sweep. He was second behind Noel Bryen (Renmax BN1) and ahead of Mal Reid (Prad Holden). Roskill was a comfortable winner of the remaining races. Bryen retired from the third in Race Two, with David Reid (Cooper Porsche) was the runner-up. In race four Don Greiverson was second his Spectre Formula Vee. Garry O’Brien

KING REAPS BATHURST WIN

HQ HOLDENS

OVER THREE races Jordan Oon (Stohr) scored three wins. He won race one from Adam Lisle (Stohr) while Aaron Love (Radical) was passed by Elliott Schutte (Stohr) and Max McRae (Radical).

Lisle was also second in race two ahead of Schutte, and held the lead in race three where McRae and Love made a better starts than Schutte. Oon took the lead on lap five to win as McRae filled third.

GROUPS K, L, M

Image: BlendlineTV

HAY SHINES AMID RAIN INFREQUENT RAIN showers contributed the outcome of placegetters in the fourth round of the Mantic Clutches NSW Hillclimb Championship at Ringwood Park on November 1, but it did not affect the outright winner Ron Hay. Hay only took on the A3 1.3km course for the first and third runs in his Formula Libre under 3.0-litre Synergy Dallara with the latter producing the FTD of 64.46 seconds. The MG Car Club Newcastle run-event attracted 42 entries and while Hay was easily the quickest, it was far closer between second and third.

At the wheel of his Open & Closed Sports Westfield Megabusa, Zac Le Lievre held the second-best time until Peter Brown (Supersports Pro Sport Mulsanne) pipped him by a little more than half-a-second on his third attempt.

Fourth outright and the fastest tin top

award went to Tim Blake (Improved Production Subaru Impreza WRX) who produced a 72.42-second flyer on his fifth and final run. That was enough to relegate Greg Boyle (Nissan Skyline GT-R) by twotenths. The rain forced Boyle to packed up early and settle for fifth.

Garry Christopherson (Road Registered Westfield SE) finished sixth ahead of Colin Mayman in his VW Beetle, and the big black Chev Corvette driven by Andrew Fraser.

Daryl Small in his Sports Sedan Holden Commodore VL finished tenth overall.

The biggest class was the Road Registered Non-Log Booked AWD with eight entrants. It was taken out by Karen Wilson (Ford Focus RS) who was ninth overall and the fastest female. Second was 12th placed Frank Fargnoli (WRX) ahead of Theo Poteris in the Focus he shared with Wilson.

Garry O’Brien

THE OVERALL winner of the unique Bathurst Speed Weekend on November 7-8, with its combination sprint and hillclimb, was Steven King in his Uberkart Reaper.

As the COVID-19 pandemic had forced the cancellation of many events, the Bathurst Light Car Club (BLCC) was pleasantly surprised to have almost 60 entries for the Conrod and Mountain Straight single weekend activities.

The BLCC had planned to run a flying one-fifth on Conrod in May before it was deferred to September. but this too was still within the restricted period.

In lieu of this, the supersprint was untaken. It was really a combination of events – sprint, lap dash and rolling racing.

It started down from the kink after Forrest’s Elbow, ran through the Chase and ended after Murray’s Corner at the main circuit finish line under the Pit Straight bridge. The cars went off two at a time, one quicker than the other – by design to avoid any sort of door banging in the Chase.

King was one of the few to run on his own and completed four runs, with a best of 45.32 seconds in the ZR Kawasaki-powered kart. He was 1.5 seconds quicker than Jake Hancock in a Subaru Impreza WRX while Steven Parashis (Ford Falcon XT GT) was less than one-tenth slower in third.

Not entered for Saturday’s event, Mathew Windsor consolidated the Mountain Straight to McPhillamy Park hillclimb – the same course used for the Australian Hillclimb Championship a year earlier.

The Hayabusa-powered Radical SR3 pilot started cautiously and only really got up on the wheel when King set his benchmark 46.54 time fourth run.

Windsor eclipsed that on fifth attempt by 0.02 seconds and then dispelled any doubt with a 45.59 flyer on the last run. Holden Commodore driver Malcolm Michel was the best of the tin tops and third quickest overall with a 48.59-second run set earlier in the day.

Two days on Mount Panorama with up to 13 sessions on track at $370 was excellent value, making an event likely to flourish in the future.

Garry O’Brien

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55

NATIONALS wrap n compiled by garry o’brie

LIGHTS ON MARK ANNIVERSARY TWO ROUNDS of the NSW Motor Racing Championships at Wakefield Park on November 14-15 had more significance than usual. Round four included categories running under the newly-installed lights that happen to coincide with the 30th Anniversary of the Western Sydney facility and followed up with a new program the next day.

IMPROVED PRODUCTION U2L

PACE AND reliability were the ingredients for Justin McClintock to take overall honours in his Honda Civic. He didn’t have the speed of the Jason Hendy and Kurt Macready Nissan and trailed the pair in race one until the latter pulled out with a fuel leak and subsequent fire. Ian Price (Ford Escort) was third ahead of Phil Armour (Suzuki) while Henri Price (Civic) retired, and Craig Wildridge (Escort) had a tyre issues.

Macready had further issues in race two when the engine failed, and Hendy was an early casualty with an oil sensor drama.

McClintock won easily ahead of Armour with Henri Price coming through from the back for third ahead of Ian Price. Hendy was back for race three and charged through to second, however unable to make an impression the leader McClintock. Third went to Armour ahead of Price and Wildridge.

HQ HOLDENS

IN HIS strongest performance to date, Glenn Deering qualified fastest and warded off multiple challengers in each of the races for a perfect three from three for day. In race one he repelled in turn, Layton Crambrook, Luke Harrison, and David Proglio, who finished second ahead of Harrison and Chris Molle.

In race two Proglio challenged all race long but had to again settle for second as Matt Barker came through for third just ahead of Harrison and Brett Osborn. In the night race, Deering stole an early advantage and maintained it throughout. Harrison and Proglio diced throughout out with the latter getting the judges’ nod as they crossed the

line Then followed Barker, Barker finish line.

Crambrook and Molle.

MAZDA RX-8 CUP

FOR MOST of the day Ryan Gorton looked likely of a clean sweep. He won the first three encounters before race four saw him go off at Turn Two on the opening lap. A problem with the ABS brought about two further miscues at the same corner and he come home seventh which was good enough for second overall.

The round three victory went to Steve Devjak who battled with Justin Barnes in each outing and finished with a second, two thirds and a last race win. Barnes was third overall, third in race one, second in the following two races and was leading the last until rear suspension damage relegated him to fourth.

Jake Lougher was third in the under-lights finale ahead of Stephen McLaine after Brad Harris was fourth in the opening two and Anthony Soole filled the spot in race three.

IMPROVED PRODUCTION O2L JORDAN COX and his Suzuki Swift Turbo easily won the three races. Joe Lenthall (Mazda RX-7) and Scott Tutton (Mitsubishi Evolution III) made better starts before Cox shot by after a lap or so.

Tutton passed Lenthall who was clear of Nigel Williams (Holden Commodore), Darren Herbert (Evolution V), Matt Holt (HSV

Clubsport) and Dan Ridley (Commodore VK) VK).

In the second race, Tutton held off Cox until Turn Four. Lenthall finished second as Tutton retired with a broken driveshaft, which left Bob Brewer, a race one retiree, to bring his Commodore home third ahead of Williams and Holt. Cox’s best performance came under lights where he cruised to another victory. From the rear of the grid, Tutton finished second ahead of Brewer whose start line penalty would drop him to fifth behind Williams and Holt.

SPORTS SEDANS

WITH THREE out of three race wins Grant Doulman (Ford Falcon/Chev) maintain an unbeaten record after three rounds. In race one Steven Lacey (Chev Camaro) offered the only challenge until he succumbed to gear selection dramas and finished fourth. Nick Smith (Mazda RX-7/Nissan Turbo) finished second with Stuart Inwood third.

Fifth and best of the National Trans-Am cars was Hugh McAlister (Mustang) ahead of Michael Coulter (Mustang) and Graham Cheney (Camaro). Willem Fercher (Holden Monaro), Phil Ryan (Datsun 280ZX/Chev) and Darren Steedman (Ford Escort V8) had separate incidents at Turn One while Chris Jackson (Holden Calibra/Chev) was an early retirement in his comeback.

Doulman led race two until passed by Lacey midway through. The former quickly regathered the lead before Lacey retired with a puncture. Smith went out with a faulty ECU connection which left Inwood a clear second as McAlister fought off Fercher and Coulter. In the last it Doulman all the way ahead of Lacey who ultimate placed third behind the pacey Smith. Inwood was fourth, clear of Coulter, McAlister, and Cheney.

FORMULA VEES

OVER THREE races up to eight drivers were in contention and in the end, there were three different winners. After numerous positional changes in race one, Aaron Lee won by just 0.029 seconds over Aaron Pace, with Jason Cutts third just in front of John McDonald in a Jacer top four shutout. Then came Darren Garry Rogers TCR driver Jordan Cox took out all three Improved Production races at SMSP in his mighty turbocharged Suzuki Swift

56 AutoAction

Williams (Sabre), Simon Pace (Checkmate) and Craig Sparke (Jacer). Dylan Thomas (Stinger) set the fastest lap in his charge from the back before suspension damage ended his race.

Lee and Williams pitted at the end of the race two warm-up lap and Thomas retired two laps in with oil pressure issues. After the early lead changes, Cutts was able to pull a small gap to beat Simon Pace, Sparke, McDonald, Corey Ogden (Corsica), Luke Collett (Polar) and Aaron Pace who recovered from a big spin at Turn One. In the last, McDonald was out with rear suspension damage on the warm-up. Aaron Pace won, edging Lee from the rear of grid start by 0.01 seconds. Simon Pace was third ahead of Cutts, Sparke, Williams, Ogden, and Williams. In the 1200 class, Mathew Pearce was first in each, ahead of Stephen Butcher (Stinger) and Michael Gale (Mako) each time.

FORMULA RACE CARS

NOT EVEN a flawed start could prevent Rod Brincat (F3 Dallara) from victories in each outing. He led all the way in races one and two before stalling at the start of race three.

He was 20 seconds adrift of the leaders after

Images: Riccardo Benvenuti and Bruce Moxon

Left-to-right: Glenn Deering took three-from-three in the HQ Holdens; McClintock drove his Civic to victory in Improved Production U2L; Grant Doulman won all three Sports Sedans races in his Chev-powered Falcon, while the Formula Vee saw three drivers − Aaron Lee, Jason Cutts and Aaron Pace − win the three races.. Lee Vella (below) won three out of four in Superkarts.

lap one but still scored a comfortable win.

Phil Morrow (Dallara) was second in race one, hit oil in race two and retired in race three. In F4 Mygales, Nathan Gotch and Adam Gotch were third and fourth in the opener, and then second and third in the second with the order reversed. Nathan Gotch took the family bragging rights with third behind Rob Rowe (Dallara) in the last.

FORMULA FORDS

THE FIGHT for outright was a two-way affair, Tom Sargent (Mygale) triumphant after losing out to Cody Burcher (Spectrum) narrowly in race one and then won the next two outings. Jake Donaldson (Spectrum) was third in race one, before a blown clutch ended his day.

Noah Sands (Mygale) scored third in race two but fell to sixth in the last behind Zach Bates (Mygale), Jordan Mazzaroli (Spirit) and Jude Bargwanna (Spectrum).

Meanwhile among the Kents, Mitch Gatenby (Spirit) was in a different class to his rivals where Daniel Frougas (Spectrum) was second each time.

SUPERSPORTS

NICK KELLY led every lap in his Radical SR8. Fellow SR8 driver Neale Muston offered challenges in the three races and finished with a pair of close seconds after

race one finished early with an alternator failure. Likewise, for Peter White (RR8) with a pair of thirds after he retired from the first with a front suspension issue.

Mitch Neilson (SR3) relegated Stephen

Champion (SR3) on the penultimate lap to take a race one second and did the same in race two for fourth, although he left it to the final lap. Neilson followed up with another fourth in the last ahead of Champion who nabbed fifth off Peter Clare (SR3).

SUPERKARTS

THE DAY could not have started any worse for Lee Vella (125cc Avoig Elise) with engine dramas in qualifying that preceded similar woes in race one. That wasn’t enough to rule him out, and he come back with luck swinging his way to win the next three races.

Tony Moit (250 Anderson Maverick) was a very accomplished winner of race one, ahead of the 125s of Mark Robin (Avoig), Aaron Cogger (Avoig) and Lucus Vitale (Anderson). Moit was second in the next outing but did not appear after that. Paul Campbell (Avoig) picked up the last two seconds ahead of Vitale and Jock Dos Santos (Arrow) respectively.

Garry O’Brien

AutoAction

57

We take a look back at who or what was making news in the pages of Auto Action 10, 20, 30 and 40 years ago

Testing your motor sport knowledge

1980: ALLAN MOFFAT continued his war with CAMS regarding the eligibility of the Mazda RX-7 in touring car racing.

Moffat declared it was the governing body’s last chance to accept the Japanese sportscar or else the former Ford favourite was unlikely to drive a racecar in Australia again. In other news, Richard Davison took the Australian Formula 2 crown at Sandown and Bryan Thomson’s Mercedes sports sedan was revealed.

1990: A MANAGEMENT shake-up was in the works at CAMS after consultants Ernst & Young alleged abuse of power, particularly by the National Executive.

Those effected included CEO John Keeffee and a new commercial division, which was yet to be headed up. The annual production car enduro at Winton was won by the Youlden brothers, while behind Brad Jones and Mark Larkham teamed up in a Ford Falcon.

ACROSS 2. What position did Colin McRae finish in the 1994 World Rally Championship?

4. How many times did Colin McRae win the British Rally Championship?

7. For his final rally, McRae subbed in for an injured Citroen driver, who was this? (Surname) 10. In 1997 McRae enlisted the help of the 1993 WRC winning co-driver Nicky who? (Surname) 12. When McRae entered Le Mans with Prodrive Racing in 2004, what position did he finish in class?

13. What was McRae’s highest finish in 2003?

15. The 2003 season would prove to be McRae’s final year in the World Rally Championship. What brand did he compete for that year?

18. Who did McRae beat in the 1998 Race of Champions final? (Full name) 19. In which model Vauxhall did McRae make his WRC debut early in 1987?

24. In 2006, McRae competed in his final WRC event in what country?

25. What was the name of the Scottish co-driver that McRae won the 1995 WRC title with? (Surname) 26. In what country was Colin McRae born?

28. How old was McRae when he was tragically killed in a helicopter accident?

58 AutoAction

29. In 2005 McRae drove in selected WRC events with Skoda, scoring points in his local rally. What country was this in?

DOWN 1. McRae made several guest Porsche Supercup appearances and finished tenth at which notorious F1 venue?

3. How many WRC events did McRae win over the course of his career?

5. At the end of 1998, McRae left Subaru to join which manufacturer?

6. In 1989 McRae broke through to score his first points in New Zealand. What car did he drive in that rally? (make and model)

2000: A BATHURST preview in November. Nah, that can’t be right! Well in 2000 it was, but that wasn’t the big news. The Holden Racing Team was prepared for a future without Craig Lowndes after the star driver confirmed his exit from the squad to drive for arch-rival Ford. HRT’s reigning champion, Mark Skaife, expected his partner to be an equal to Lowndes.

History shows Jason Bright was chosen for the 2001 season.

2010: THERE WAS drama for Mark Webber, Dick Johnson Racing and Greg Murphy, while championship contender James Courtney was offered an eye-watering deal to switch his allegiances to Holden. Webber’s tilt to become Australia’s first World Drivers’ Championship winner since Alan Jones was a do or die scenario in Abu Dhabi. Ownership troubles at DJR continued to arise, while Murphy left Paul Morris Motorsport, but retirement was not on the horizon.

8.

8 Which country did McRae debut in the WRC 1987?

9.

9 In 2004 McRae competed in the Le Mans 24 Hours with w Darren Turner and which Swedish Bathurst 1000 winner?

(Surname) w 11.

1 McRae is still the youngest WRC champion. How old o was he when he won the title in 1995? (In years) 14.

1 McRae was set to compete in the 2007 Race of Champions for Team Scotland. Who was he going to C drive d with? (Surname) 16.

1 McRae competed in one round of the British Touring Car Championship in 1992 for which brand?

17. In 1993 McRae took his elusive first WRC victory.

In which country did he do this?

20. How many WRC titles did McRae win throughout his career?

21. What was the name of Colin McRae’s rally driving younger brother? (First name) 22. Colin McRae is renowned for driving a Subaru Impreza, but which model Subaru did he drive from 1991-1993?

23. Who pipped McRae to the 1997 WRC title by a single point? (Surname) 26. McRae won the 1995 World Rally Championship, but who finished second to him that year? (Surname) 27. Colin McRae finished as the World Rally Championship bridesmaid on how many occasions?

# 1798 Crossword Answers 1 down – Tickford 2 down – Winterbottom 3 down – Four 4 across – Luff 5 down – Five 6 down – Brodie Kostecki 7 across – Will Davison 8 down – Hidden Valley 9 across – Three 10 across – Second 11 down – Third 12 across – Across 13 across – van Gisbergen 14 across – Alex Davison 15 down – Jack Lebrocq 16 down –

Heimgartner 17 down – July 18 down – Two 19 across – Anton de Pasquale 20 down – Six 21 across – Ten 22 down – Eight 23 across – Zero 24 across – The Bend 25 across – Hazelwood 26 down – Dunlop 27 across – Thirtyone 28 across – Whincup 29 across – Forty 30 across – Thirteen

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Lancia Delta Integrale

Chevron B23 Spyder

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Get it SEEN! Get it SOLD! Ads from just $29.50

LED Rechargeable LED Handheld Work Light

RSP-500 Pneumatic Roller Seat

• • • • •

Max output: 400 lumens 3.7V 2600mAh Li-ion battery Rechargeable via USB 3 hours operating time 4 Modes: White COB, Red COB, Top Light On-Off, Spotlight On-Off • Magnetic base & torch arm end

• • • •

380-500 seat height Ø300mm padded seat 360º swivel wheels Moulded tool tray

32

$

Order Code: A360

Sheet Metal Shaping Book - Tools, Skills & Projects

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$

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SAVE $22

RR-5G - Manual Section Rolling Machine • • • •

25 x 3mm flat bar cap. Ø5mm round bar cap.

Hardened & knurled rolls Weighs 6kg

• • • •

55

• • • •

680kg hydraulic lift per jack 270mm max. tyre width 620mm max opening Sold in pairs

Order Code: A332

79

297

$

SAVE $20

• Includes 8 formers • 19.05 & 25.4mm square • Ø9.52, Ø12.7, Ø14.29, Ø15.87, Ø19.05, Ø22.22mm round

SAVE $44

SJ-24D Bead Roller

• • • • •

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275

• • • •

TC-900 Industrial Tooling Cabinet • • • • •

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349

899

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X8S-PLUS - Pedestal Grinder with Linisher & Mitre Table Package Deal • • • • •

30 Tonne Pneumatic / hand operation CNC fully welded frame 155mm ram stroke 200mm horizontally sliding ram

PD-35 - Industrial Pedestal Drill • • • • •

200mm fine & coarse wheels 50 x 915mm linishing attachment Mitre table with angle guide Includes pedestal stand 1hp, 240V motor

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529

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• • • • •

1 tonne load capacity 2540-3600mm adjust. height 2300mm width inside frame Swivel wheels with brake Includes mobile girder rail, 1T x 3M chain block & 1T girder trolley

N*

PTIO VIA REDEM

Order Code: K016

572

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31.5mm drill capacity 3MT spindle 9 spindle speeds Swivel & tilt table 1hp, 240V motor

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900 x 450 x 900mm 75kg load capacity per drawer 4 x 100mmm Drawers 2 x 200mm Drawers Includes drawer dividers

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300 x 1mm steel capacity Cast iron construction Segmented pressbrake blade Wiring groove rolls

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319

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CM-300 3-in-1 Pressbrake, Guillotine & Rolls

$

AACT1120

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429

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UNIQUE PROMO CODE

• • • •

5281' $1' ( 648$5

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HPM-30 Trade Hydraulic & Pneumatic Press

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UB-100 Workshop Manual Bar Bender

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275

2

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1.2mm mild steel capacity Cast steel construction Tool steel quality blades Gear drive shearing action

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109

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259

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$

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PBK-10H - Hydraulic 10T Panel Beating Kit - 14 Piece

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44

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• • • •

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2 :,9(/ 6((/6 :+

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NSW (02) 9890 9111 QLD (07) 3715 2200

VIC (03) 9212 4422

1/2 Windsor Rd, Northmead 625 Boundary Rd, Coopers Plains 4 Abbotts Rd, Dandenong

WA (08) 9373 9999

11 Valentine Street Kewdale

12_AA_191120

*Remote areas may require depot collection in your town Specifications & Prices are subject to change without notification. All prices include GST and valid until 31-12-20 *FREE VIA REDEMPTION Visit unimig.com.au/redemption to redeem & see full Terms & Conditions. Only available for eligible products purchased from 26/10/2020 - 31/12/2020. Must submit claim online by 14/01/2021.