V8X Magazine Issue 98

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SUPERCAR MAGAZINE ISSUE 98 2017

REGULARS

FEATURES 23 WALKINSHAW REBIRTH How Walkinshaw Racing is moving on beyond the Holden Racing Team.

30 TANDER: BACK TO WHERE IT ALL BEGAN Garth Tander on his return to Garry Rogers Motorsport.

36 FRATERNISING WITH FOGES: JASON BRIGHT Foges goes one-on-one with Prodrive Racing Australia’s Jason Bright.

44 ENGINEERING SUCCESS Profiling the lead engineers working with the main-game drivers in Supercars.

50 SUPERCAR ROUNDTABLE: PART II Discussing the state of Supercars with key players in the game.

58 GENDER NEUTRAL The female drivers looking to break into Supercars.

64 SETON: THE BABY-FACED ASSASSIN Celebrating the career of two-time champion, Glenn Seton.

70 ICONIC SPONSORS The best sponsor and team/driver combinations.

6 ANALYSIS: RATINGS VERSUS CROWDS The battle to attract crowds in the pay-TV era.

8 ANALYSIS: KIWI INVASION The growing New Zealand influence.

10 ANALYSIS: REAL COSTS The amount needed to go racing.

12 ANALYSIS: SUPER-SIZING THE GRID The wildcard push in Supercars.

14 SPEEDCAFE: NEWS ROUND-UP The latest headlines from Speedcafe.com

16 MARK WINTERBOTTOM COLUMN Frosty on fighting back this season.

18 CRAIG LOWNDES COLUMN Lowndes on evolving as a driver.

20 GARRY ROGERS COLUMN Rogers on Tander’s influence at GRM. 80 SUBSCRIPTIONS Sign up with V8X Supercar Magazine.

82 THE SHOOTOUT Open-wheel and touring-car stars.

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PUBLISHER & EDITOR IN CHIEF

Allan Edwards Published by Raamen Pty Ltd PO Box 225, Keilor, Victoria, 3036 Email: publisher@v8x.com.au CONTENT EDITOR

Adrian Musolino Email: editor@v8x.com.au ART DIRECTOR

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Phone: (03) 9372 9125 Email: office@v8x.com.au V8X Supercar Magazine is printed in Australia by Webstar.

Material in V8X is protected by copyright laws and may not be reproduced in full or in part in any format. V8X will consider unsolicited articles and pictures; however, no responsibility will be taken for their return.

While all efforts are taken to verify information in V8X is factual, no responsibility will be taken for any material which is later found to be false or misleading. The opinions of the contributors are not always those of the publishers.

WHEN HISTORY REPEATS

W

atching Supercars in 2017 is sure to spark a case of déjà vu for long-time fans.

There’s two Shell-backed Dick Johnson Racing Team Penske entries running at the front of the field, followed by two Mobil-backed HSV Holden entries and with Garth Tander back at Garry Rogers Motorsport and Jason Bright at Prodrive Racing Australia.

They provide some of the fascinating subplots in Supercars in 2017 and in this issue of V8X Supercar Magazine.

We uncover the changes at Walkinshaw Racing as the team rebrands following the loss of Holden funding and the Holden Racing Team name, with a new look that harks back to the team’s past with Mobil backing and Holden Special Vehicles branding.

There’s also a Walkinshaw Racing pullout poster in the print edition that features TeamVortex’s Craig Lowndes on the opposite side.

Tander left Walkinshaw Racing at the end of last season

and returned to Garry Rogers Motorsport following a 13-year absence.

We chat with the 2007 series champion about his decision to return to Garry Rogers’ team and his hopes for this season.

Mark Fogarty also sits down with Jason Bright for his own homecoming at Prodrive Racing Australia (formerly Ford Performance Racing), where he joined in 2005 in his bid to setup up his own Britek Motorsport entry.

There’s also the second part of our exclusive state of Supercars roundtable discussion, in which we debate the future of the series into Gen2 and beyond.

We also profile the lead engineers who play such an important role to the success of the drivers and the female

racers hoping to join Simona de Silvestro in Supercars.

In our Motorsport Legends section, we chat with Glenn Seton 20 years on from his second Supercars championship win – the most recent title success for a single-car team.

Also, we celebrate the iconic sponsor and driver/team combinations in honour of Shell and Mobil’s reappearance in the series.

Remember, V8X Supercar Magazine is also available in digital form in the official V8X app (in the App Store and Google Play), online at DigitalEdition.

V8XMagazine.com.au and in the Magzter app store.

Enjoy!

– Adrian

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Into the third season of the current television deal, how is interest in Supercars tracking? As with most Australian sports, attracting crowds while also asking fans to pay for watching all events live on television is proving a challenge.

S

upercars CEO James Warburton is adamant: “The strength of our sport is in its wide appeal. From white to blue collar, four to 84, surgeons to barristers and tradies to truckies… no sport in this country has such a broad and diverse base.”

But that diverse base has been tested with the paytelevision deal now in its third season. Fans wanting to watch every event live must subscribe to pay-television provider Foxtel, otherwise they make do with delayed highlights outside of six marquee events.

Supercars’ crowd figures have come under the spotlight following a significant drop in attendances to the seasonopening Clipsal 500 Adelaide and the struggle to attract fans to Phillip Island, Queensland Raceway, Winton and other permanent facilities.

The National Rugby League (NRL) is also dealing with this dilemma. Crowds have slumped

in a season in which Foxtel launched the Fox League channel, a dedicated 24-hour NRL channel showing all matches live.

Does forcing fans to pay for the privilege of watching all live events detract from the money they would otherwise spend on attending those same events?

“DOES FORCING FANS TO PAY FOR THE PRIVILEGE OF WATCHING ALL EVENTS LIVE DETRACT FROM THE MONEY THEY WOULD OTHERWISE SPEND ON ATTENDING THOSE SAME EVENTS?”

V8X Supercar Magazine decided to ask our readers for their thoughts on the crowd and ratings dilemma, why they aren’t attending events and the state of Supercars in 2017. Here are some of their responses: Richard Mitchell: “The cost of living is one thing with people choosing to spend money on things needed to survive over a sporting event.”

Judy Walters: “We are debating whether to go to Sandown this year. You used to be able to sit in the grandstand for nothing now you have to pay. You could sit in your car on the back straight now you have to pay.

And they are wondering why people are staying away.”

Shane Kent: “I live in Sydney, so I had Eastern Creek, Bathurst and Sydney Olympic Park to go to in the past. But if I can’t watch all the other events without Fox Sports, then I can’t really get into it, so what’s the point of going now?”

Rebecca Rutherford: “Ticket pricing is outrageous, especially if you want to take the family.

Food, drinks and merchandise are extremely overpriced. Plus not everyone can afford Foxtel.

We scrape by with Foxtel but the money we spend on it we could have spent at the track.”

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For all the latest news and features visit V8X.COM.AU

THE CASE FOR A CALENDAR RETHINK Supercars’ push to condense the season has seen the Newcastle finale scheduled for November, as opposed to the December date for Sydney Olympic Park. This shortens the season and allows the final events to carry the momentum generated by the Bathurst 1000 in October.

But perhaps it’s time for a similar rethink at the start of the season, following the Clipsal 500’s lowest attendance in 13 years.

The early March date, it’s argued, gives the Supercars opener clean air in the mainstream media before the AFL and NRL seasons begin, while also allowing the South Australian government to bundle the event alongside local arts festivals in what’s known as ‘mad March’.

But with the AFL successfully intruding into summer with the AFLW competition and increased sporting competition at all times of the year, surely condensing the calendar so events are closer together and can generate momentum from one to the next is more important than battling against other codes?

The Adelaide street circuit debuted on the calendar in April back in 1999 and

reverting back to this date could address some of the concerns around this season’s crowd slump.

Fan Jayson Parnaby says: “After heading to the Clipsal 500 last year, I think the issue is the heat. Four 40-plus days in 2016 were draining!”

Moving into April alleviates the risk of extreme heat at the end of the Australian summer.

Tania Sutton adds: “Ticket prices to the Clipsal 500 Adelaide increase every year and there is less and less on offer every year. However, at the same time we have the Adelaide Festival, the Fringe Festival, the Adelaide Cup, Womad and anything else that I have forgotten.

OPINION

Adam Helgeson: “Not everyone can afford to have Foxtel or like me do not have the time to watch that much TV to justify getting Foxtel, so we miss out on seeing all the racing. I still follow the sport but I can see how so many are just fed up so now have other interests.”

Neil Gibson: “At least when Volvos and Mercedes were involved there was a bit of variety, but now it’s just boring. Silhouette racing with a concocted build to try to keep things equal based around cars that are about to disappear from the production lines.”

Trevor Rothall: “Australians are losing the loyalty to Holden and Ford, just as Holden and Ford lost their loyalty to us...

Supercars has always been financed by rev heads, who are now overtaxed, overcharged and fed up.”

Tony Heffernan: “Bring back cars straight off the showroom floor. Throw a roll cage and up the brakes and suspension then let them race. There is way too much control now. Let’s get more makes onto the grid and make it interesting.”

Ian Cocks: “My problem is the drivers have lost their personalities. They are all tutored in how to speak. Allow a bit of push and shove. The racing, the drivers and the cars are all too sterile. And now that Holden and Ford will lose their individual appeal, I think it is downhill from here.”

Families only have a limited budget. Diehard fans like us will attend regardless but not everyone can and does.”

Moving the event away from the clashing events increases the chances of locals attending without conflicts in their schedule and budgets.

Moving the Adelaide event to April would also pave the way for the Australian Grand Prix event at Albert Park at the end of March to be utilised as an unofficial pre-season launch, generating significant momentum heading into the season opener.

If the Adelaide event can’t reverse its crowd slide, then perhaps this change is needed.

“CONDENSING THE CALENDAR SO EVENTS ARE CLOSER TOGETHER AND CAN GENERATE MOMENTUM FROM ONE TO THE NEXT.”

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Sixteen years ago, V8 Supercars first ventured to Pukekohe Park Raceway for a championship round won by local hero Greg Murphy. We are now witnessing the rise of New Zealanders inspired to race across the Tasman.

A

rivalry is brewing at the pointy edge of the Supercars field on two fronts.

DJR Team Penske has closed the gap to long-time front runners Triple Eight Race Engineering. And three fast Kiwis are leading the New Zealand charge across the two teams in reigning Triple Eight champ Shane van Gisbergen and DJR Team Penske’s Fabian Coulthard and Scott McLaughlin.

The competition between the two teams was fueled before the season started with long-time Triple Eight engineer Ludo Lacroix moving to DJR Team Penske.

“It’s pretty interesting that they are worried about us,” said McLaughlin on Triple Eight. “It’s cool; it’s not a bad thing. We’ve got a good spring in our step at the moment. I’m excited about battling these guys. I’ve got a lot

of work to do to be consistent, as these guys are consistent every week.”

The inter-team Kiwi battle between McLaughlin and Coulthard has also not been lost on the driver of the established #12 Falcon.

“The car is very different to what I’m used to driving with the introduction of new personnel and things like that,” said Coulthard. “Having a quick teammate has been good as well in Scotty Mac. I’ve certainly learnt a lot from him in the short time we’ve worked together.”

When asked what he’d learnt from McLaughlin, Coulthard quickly retorted, “Well, he’s obviously pretty fast, isn’t he?”

But the drivers themselves have downplayed the significance of a Kiwi battle.

“I don’t really see it as a rivalry,” said van Gisbergen.

“I don’t see him (McLaughlin)

as any different to any other driver. It’s good to have another Kiwi up front and another brand. It’s good for the sports interest in our own country but I think there’s a little bit of rivalry between teams with the powers that be, but from my end it’s all good. To have a team constantly competing against us is a good problem to have.”

McLaughlin added: “I wouldn’t say I said it’s a rivalry, but it’s been said by others.”

Despite 2016 Kiwi racers Chris Pither and Andre Heimgartner being unable to secure full-time deals for this year, van Gisbergen said it’s good for New Zealand fans to have three drivers to cheer for.

“Unfortunately there’s a couple less of us this year but the ones that are in there have good cars and are all in pretty fortunate positions,” he said.

“Unfortunately we only get to race in New Zealand once a year,

but the coverage I’m told is awesome over there. I’m proud to be a Kiwi, definitely love the place.

I wish I could live there still but it’s great to be representing New Zealand and if my teammates can’t win I’d love a Kiwi to win.”

“It’s like Shane said we’re all in good cars,” Coulthard added.

“We work hard to be in this position. We go racing because we want to and we love it. We are thankful that we’ve been able to get to this point in our career and have the support of the nation.”

Aussie driver James Courtney was quick to add his thoughts for some light-hearted transTasman banter.

“They’re pretty much Australians, let’s be honest,” he said. “Actually let’s cut the crap, they’re Australian.

They’ve been living here long enough...” To which Coulthard replied, “You only claim the good ones.”

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Supercars is an expensive game, on and off the track. We scoured pitlane to find approximates of some of the big cost items to run in the series.

Wing $2800

Driver $200,000–$600,000 Co-driver $30,000–$100,000

Pits $30,000 Tyres $50,000–$80,000

Gearbox/transaxle $20,000

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For all the latest news and features visit V8X.COM.AU

Team principal $250,000–$400,000 Team manager $150,000–$250,000 Technical director $100,000–$150,000 Design $60,000–$150,000

Engineer $60,000–$150,000 Front suspension $50,000

Seat/safety cell $20,000

Fabrication head $50,000–$80,000 Truck driver $50,000–$80,000 Signwriter $40,000–$60,000

Electrics $75,000

Painter $40,000–$60,000 Panel beater $40,000–$60,000

Steering wheel $7000 Engine $150,000

Panels $20,000 Dampers $60,000

Chassis $70,000 Splitter $5500

Composites $40,000–$60,000 Machinist $50,000–$80,000 IT manager $50,000–$100,000 Engine co-ordinator $50,000–$150,000 Engine development $50,000–$100,000

Brakes $17,000

Chief financial officer $100,000–$150,000 Commercial manager $40,000–$80,000 Media/PR manager $40,000–$80,000 Flights/accommodation $40,000

Wheels $35,200

Factory $750,000

Mechanic $50,000–$80,000

Transporter/freight $165,000 Truck $350,000–$700,000 11

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SUPER-SIZING THE GRID Supercars is opening up the main game to wildcard entries from the second-tier Super2 series, finally bolstering the grid beyond the current licence holders.

G

Garry Jacobson (top), Todd Hazelwood (above) and Jack Le Brocq (below) are amongst the Supercars wildcard aspirants.

Jacobson, Le Brocq, Hazelwood, James Golding and Macauley Jones look set to appear as wildcards at various Supercars events, ahead of the Bathurst 1000 where they will either co-drive with main-game entrants or enter as wildcards.

Prodrive Racing Australia’s Jacobson will co-drive with Jason Bright in the enduros and could make his solo debut before the Pirtek Endurance Cup event.

Nissan Motorsport-aligned Le Brocq will appear as a wildcard in two Supercars events before joining Todd Kelly for the endurance events.

Golding and Jones will also participate in the endurance events with Garry Rogers Motorsport and Brad Jones Racing respectively and will also make their solo debuts in Supercars as wildcard entrants.

Meanwhile, Hazelwood’s Matt Stone Racing team is working on a wildcard entry for the rising star, who has yet to secure a main-game codriver role.

BY THE NUMBERS

rid size is often used as a barometer of a motorsport category’s health.

Supercars is at a healthy 26-car field compared to other series’ (see table), but the category has responded to the desire to increase the number of participants by opening up the main game to wildcard entries from the rebranded Super2 (formerly the Development Series).

“The Super2 brand is about positioning the series correctly so that it is easily identifiable as the pathway that our drivers progress through,” says Supercars CEO James Warburton.

But the progression of young talent into the main game has been made difficult by the limited opportunities within the 26-car field and teams such as Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport requiring drivers with a budget.

Last season’s top three in the Dunlop Series, Garry Jacobson, Jack Le Brocq and Todd Hazelwood, remain in the second-tier category in 2017 due to the few main-game opportunities.

In response, Super2 entrants and other drivers will now be permitted to enter the main game as wildcard entries. The Super2 Bathurst event has been turned into a non-championship round to encourage teams and drivers to enter the Bathurst 1000, as Supercars looks to increase the field for the endurance classic.

“We’ve set up the Super2 calendar with Bathurst as a non-points scoring round to encourage teams to run as wildcards,” says Warburton.

HOW VASC GRID SIZE COMPARES

“But we’re also keen to give Super2 drivers the opportunity to race as wildcards at SuperSprint events as part of their education process. There is

particularly strong potential for teams to run at their local event, which is cost effective and can increase community involvement in those events.”

British Touring Car C’ship World Endurance C’ship Supercars MotoGP World Superbikes IndyCar Formula 1 DTM World Touring Car C’ship

32 28 26 23 22 21 20 18 16

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News Round-up

Scan the QR codes with your smartphone to link to the full article. QR-code reading apps are available from your preferred app retailer.

A look at some of the topics making news on Speedcafe.com

AMBROSE OPENS UP Marcos Ambrose has laid bare the reasons for his bombshell decision to turn his back on a Supercars return which saw him stand down from full-time duties with the DJR Team Penske squad in early 2015.

In a candid interview with Greg Rust during the annual national CAMS awards, Ambrose admitted that he had struggled to come to terms with the new-age Supercars and was ‘burnt-out’ from his 10-year NASCAR career.

Ambrose has also put a full stop on whether or not he will one day return to professional driving, indicating that part of his life is well and truly over.

The 2003 and 2004 V8 Supercars champion is now content returning to his roots back in Tasmania where he has built a wilderness retreat, Thousand Lakes Lodge.

“I really struggled when I came back to V8s a couple of years ago because the cars are very technical and they really don’t move around like the old V8 Supercars which I’d grown up with,” Ambrose said during the interview.

“The burn-out is certainly there and that’s why

when I came back to Australia I (eventually) realised I wasn’t the right person to lead DJR Team Penske.

“I’ve paid my price in racing 40-plus races a year plus all the other events you do throughout the season.

“You super-size your career in one season pretty much over there (US). A lot of drivers do burn out.”

Ambrose said he remains perturbed by the fact that his decision to step away from leading the new DJR Team Penske alliance has been a let down for some people.

“I have no regrets (about stepping away),” Ambrose said.

“It’s just unfortunate that I let people down. That’s what really bugs me today.”

Scan to read the full article.

PITSTOP COMP FOR TEAMS The Virgin Australia Supercars Championship will offer prize money to the category’s fastest pit crew as part of the new Pirtek Pit Stop Challenge.

Pit crews will be timed at each of the six Super Sprint events prior to the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 with points awarded from the fastest to the slowest.

Times will be recorded from pitstops required at this year’s Super Sprint events, where it is compulsory for all drivers to stop for a minimum two-tyre change.

The quickest team will earn 26 points while the slowest team will claim one point.

The scores will be collated in a leaderboard after each meeting.

Following the completion of the sixth event, the Red Rooster Sydney Super Sprint, the top four pit crew teams will compete for the top prize of $25,000 live on Foxtel in the lead-up to the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

“We are proud to be the naming rights sponsor of the new Pirtek Pitstop Challenge that will reward teams for

being the toughest and fastest at the all-important pitstops,” said Pirtek’s executive general manager Mark Devitt.

“With our ongoing commitment to Supercars and the Pirtek Enduro Cup, we look forward to extra attention being shown to pitstops.

“A pitstop sees the highpressure sport utilising many of the super tough products that Pirtek provides including hoses, adaptors and couplings that need to stand up to the huge demands placed on them by the pit crew teams.

“We wish all the teams well and look forward to the grand final on live television during the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 on the Friday night.”

Race 3 Tyrepower Tasmania SuperSprint, April 7-9 Race 7 Perth SuperSprint, May 5-7 Race 9 Winton SuperSprint, May 19-21 Race 11 CrownBet Darwin Triple Crown, June 16-18 Race 15 Coates Hire Ipswich SuperSprint, July 28-30 Race 17 Red Rooster Sydney SuperSprint, August 18-20

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Expert Insight

BEYOND THE WHEEL Column by Mark Winterbottom

THE GREEN MACHINE

Y

ou won’t be able to miss me out there this season.

The new-look #5 The BottleO Racing Team livery looks great. It really is a mean green machine! But any car that wins races looks the goods and that is the aim this season.

It’s a new car for me in 2017, but there is not much in the way of changes given the regulations don’t allow us to change too much and revolutionise how we put it together.

But a new car is always nice; it’s new and straight and until we get racing, hasn’t been hit!

There are little ergonomic things that you need to get used to at the opening events of the season. Also, we’ve had to deal with the new Dunlop tyres. The tyre is the same compound but the construction is completely different with a squarer profile in terms of the contact patch.

As the only four parts of the car that make contact with the road, they are a very important item to success and it’s been a challenge to understand how they work best in the early stages of 2017.

I’m definitely hungry to put more wins on the board.

I certainly didn’t meet my expectations last year and that’s something that needs to change in 2017. We need to be at the top of our game if we want to be able to challenge the guys at the front and I think we have the potential, we just need to work that little bit harder. The guys and girls back at the workshop want it too.

I’m proud to be representing so many great brands again this year, particularly long-term supporters in The Bottle-O. They go way back with the team and Rod Nash.

We got a couple of wins for them last year but a few more this year would be good.

It’s also a period of adjustment in working with my new race engineer in Brendan Hogan.

It’s great to be working with Brendan. He’s an engineer that I’ve rated highly over the years.

He’s worked with a lot of good drivers and certainly knows what he’s doing when it comes to these cars and the category as a whole. I definitely think he

“I’m definitely hungry to put more wins on the board. I certainly didn’t meet my expectations last year and that’s something that needs to change in 2017.” can help us get back up there and back to a bit of consistency because that’s one thing that wasn’t as strong last year.

We’ve also added some strong engineering talent across the team with Adam de Borre back alongside Chaz Mostert, Sam Potter stepping up from the Dunlop Development Series last season with Jason Bright and Brad Wischusen working with Cameron Waters.

We had one great year of carrying the number #1 last season but, unfortunately, we lost it quite quickly.

The #5 has been my number for many seasons, but I’m not emotionally attached to the #5 as it’s the number #1 we all crave… along with everything that comes with it. So we’ll do everything we can to wrestle it back for next season.

– Frosty

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Expert Insight

RIGHT ON TRACK

Column by Craig Lowndes

THE LEARNING CURVE

T

yres are the big change for us in Supercars this season, as we get our heads around the new-construction Dunlop tyres and the change in compounds at events.

We never stop learning in this industry and we’ve been working on developing our driving style to cope with not only the new tyres but also in the new relationship with ‘Irish’ (John McGregor) and Ken Douglas.

Ken works with the team and has picked up things in my driving style that I’ve gotten away with for a long time that have hurt me in some areas. I got used to where I was at in terms of my driving style and it wasn’t perfect.

The competition is so tight these days that a tenth of a second can bump you down the grid by a number of positions, so we need to find hundredths of a second and not just tenths.

We started at Homebush last season to implement some changes for me as a driver and

have found some things to look for going forward. We analysed things that not all race engineers look at, the actual style of my driving and not just how the car behaves.

My bad habit was that I get used to driving the car in one way. That tends to stick and sometimes you keep up any bad habits that develop over time, even when things like new tyres and engineering changes require a new style.

We’ve got to take all that into account and also now look at this tyre and figure out what it wants. We’ve got to understand

and maximise that, which will require changes to the way I drive throughout the season.

This season has been a much better lead-in for me personally. In true Triple Eight fashion, we introduced three brand new cars in time for the new season. But, in contrast, this time last season we were

still getting TeamVortex up and running.

As a driver, I don’t get involved in all of that side of things, but it’s always there and you’re always thinking about it even if you don’t want to.

Getting used to having a different engineer on the other end of the radio has also been strange. At first it was Ludo Lacroix and he could be a bit difficult to understand on the other end.

When Ludo departed, it left a big hole for us. Bringing ‘Irish’ on at the end last season helped us into this season because it gave us a foundation with him and a lot more confidence.

Now we just need to carry that into the season and translate it into results.

– Craig

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Expert Insight

GARRY THE GURU Column by Garry Rogers

WELCOMING BACK GARTH

T

here is no question that there’s a certain amount of romanticism about Garth Tander returning to the team.

History is important. The fact that he started with us is great and it’s great that the opportunity came up for him to come back, but it wasn’t just about that. I wouldn’t have wanted him to come back if he couldn’t drive. He is still a brilliant driver. And it’s really solid for the team and the sponsors to have him again.

It’s certainly good to have a guy with the racing experience he has and his killer instinct will rub off on the younger drivers in our team, like ‘Bieber’ (James Golding), Richard Muscat and our latest addition, Mason Barbera.

We joke and talk about it now but in the early days Garth crashed a few cars, but he was always fast and then when he matured he became a bloody good driver. To be old and wise, you first must be young and foolish. That is a very, very true saying.

I’m certainly hoping that the others don’t crash as much as Garth did, but I also hope that they end up as competitive as Garth.

While the romanticism of it all was great, at this point in time, what the team really needed was a driver that could get the job done.

With a driver of Garth’s skill available, I would have been silly not to grab him.

With everything that went on with the messy Volvo situation,

it made good sense to have a driver who could get into the car from the first meeting and get results.

Barry and Garth also have history from back when Garth first arrived at our team in the late 1990s.

Garth was from Western Australia and Barry was in his house living on his own. He offered Garth a bed for a week and two and a half years later Garth was still there!

In the end, Barry had to suggest that it might be a good idea if Garth went and got his own place! But really it was a good arrangement for both of them at the time and they got along very well.

I also think they will make a good partnership this time around as Garth has acumen with people; he is a competent public speaker, is very

“WITH A DRIVER OF GARTH’S SKILL AVAILABLE, I WOULD HAVE BEEN SILLY NOT TO GRAB HIM.” knowledgeable about racing and he also has quite a good commercial mind.

I won’t be doing this forever.

I am very happy that Barry has stepped up and taken on what he has and I really don’t have to do that much these days.

While Barry has a certain level of understanding of the sport, he doesn’t have that same level of familiarity of the sport that Garth does.

To have someone with that level of experience to help Barry talk to the mechanics, the drivers and the media and just help out with everything that needs to be done on a modern race

team, I see that as a positive.

Garth will eventually be a part of the business side of the team in the future. That is down the track, but his first job is to win more races for us.

I’d also like to publicly thank my crew once again.

It made me extremely proud that we were able to build two new Commodores from the ground up before the start of the season, bearing in mind the time they had to do it in.

I also want to thank all of the well-wishers we have had since the Volvo debacle for their comments and support.

– Garry

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THE TIMES THEY ARE A’CHANGING WORDS Allan Edwards IMAGES Mobil 1 HSV Racing, Peter Norton

It may no longer be the official Holden Racing Team, but the hunger to win is still as strong as ever at Mobil 1 HSV Racing.

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WALKINSHAW

t was one of the biggest announcements in Australian motorsport history – perhaps even the biggest ever!

In August last year, Holden confirmed the Walkinshaw camp’s worst fears. The Australian arm of General Motors was taking the Holden Racing Team (HRT) moniker and the official factory team status away from the Melbourne-based team and was handing it to Roland Dane’s Red Bull-sponsored outfit in Queensland.

This announcement followed decisions from both Holden and Ford that they are withdrawing from manufacturing in Australia, a situation that will seriously change the face of Supercars.

Holden’s decision to relocate the HRT brand ended a three-decade partnership between Holden and the team based next door to the Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) factory in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton.

The partnership had been a fruitful one, which included six championship trophies (three each for Mark Skaife and Craig Lowndes) and seven Bathurst 1000 victories (starting with the famous Win Percy and Allan Grice win in 1990). But the reality was that, from a results point of view, the team had fallen on tough times in the past five years, while Dane’s team had dominated the Supercars scene.

The significance of losing the HRT name cannot be underestimated. The Holden Racing Team brand is one of the strongest in Australian motorsport, with the merchandise sales at the team’s peak rumoured to

ABOVE: Greg Murphy and Peter Brock do battle in 1997. Mobil’s links with the team date back to Brock’s arrival to the factory Holden squad.

be worth around $1 million a year. This decision would be the Formula 1 equivalent of FIAT taking the Ferrari moniker away from the current Maranello-based team and giving it to another team in the pitlane.

There was much speculation after the initial shock of the announcement as to what the Walkinshaw camp would call its team for 2017 and beyond, but it was no real surprise that it revived its HSV Racing moniker.

Back in the mid-2000s, the Clayton team campaigned four cars in the championship – two under the banner of the Holden Racing Team, while the other two were raced using the HSV Dealer Team name. The Walkinshaw family, which owns the team, is also the proprietor of modified Holden road car specialist, Holden Special Vehicles.

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HSV Dealer Team was incredibly successful in its short-lived history having won the championship in both 2006 with Rick Kelly and 2007 with Garth Tander.

While many may have seen the stripping of the HRT name as a kick in the guts that would take some recovering from, HSV Racing team manager Adrian Burgess was determined not to let it take the focus of the team away from winning races and being competitive in 2017.

“Look, it’s a shame that we lost that moniker, that name, but out of all these things, a cloud’s always got a silver lining, so it was the time for us to regroup and re-energise ourselves,” says Burgess.

“We’re very respectful of the past and the contribution that General Motors has put in over the years, but now is the time for us to look at ourselves and refocus on what we’re doing and who we are and relaunch our own brand...

“Walkinshaw has always been behind all those years as HRT, so we’re excited about the opportunity in front of us and I think that the look and feel of the car and the team name and the two iconic brands that we’ve brought together in the team name is proof that we’ve got our own very rich history.

“But we’ve also got a very rich and strong future in front of us... we’re excited to be representing Mobil 1 HSV Racing.”

However, Burgess, whose previous role was team

manager of Dane’s Red Bull Triple Eight Engineering outfit, insists that the stripping of the HRT brand is not a barb that gives him a sense he has something extra to prove.

“I certainly don’t need any more motivation to go out there and beat anyone else, in fact there is a little bit of a feeling now that we’ve had that pressure taken away from us and we will probably feel a little bit of weight off our shoulders,” he says.

ABOVE: HSV and Mobil backing features prominently in place of significant Holden signage.

“THE EXPECTATION’S STILL THERE; WE STILL EXPECT AND WANT TO BE OUT THE FRONT... WE’RE ALL COMPETITIVE AND THAT HASN’T CHANGED.” – ADRIAN BURGESS

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WALKINSHAW

But that release of pressure doesn’t mean Burgess and his men aren’t up for the challenge.

“The expectation’s still there; we still expect and want to be out the front... we’re all competitive and that hasn’t changed. We all go racing for the same reasons within this team and that’s to win, so will we try any harder? I don’t think you can try any harder.

“We have been trying very hard for a long time, but it will be exciting to go and do it under a different name and it will be exciting to be the underdog maybe for a little bit, but it doesn’t make it any easier.”

Holden’s decision not only affected the name of the team but also its immediate bank balance. However, Burgess is convinced that the commercial doors are now more open than ever before for the team.

“It’s not a hindrance; it’s not anything we’re worried about. It actually presents more opportunity than we had before,” he says of the financial impact of losing the HRT brand.

“Budget wise, we’ll be back where we were last year.

It’s certainly not the biggest budget in the pitlane, but it’s certainly not the smallest... we’re not going to shrink away and become an also-ran; we’re a front-running team and that’s how we want to present ourselves and that’s how we want to operate and that’s how we should be viewed.”

The number of ‘HRT’ fans who have stuck by the team has encouraged Burgess.

“The social media response has been fantastic and we have amassed a huge following and I think what we represent going forwards is something that they can still be proud of, supporting this team and these drivers and this group of people.

“It’s been great to see their support and hopefully the team name and who we are and what we’re presenting gives them that opportunity to stick with us.

“Okay, the HRT name may have moved up the pitlane, but all the results and the history and all that success that was generated by this group and Walkinshaw Racing and that really can’t be taken away from us. So the name may have changed and the colour and the look of the car has changed, but underneath we’re not a new team.

“We’re the same team; we’re just turning the page and we’re starting a new era. We haven’t lost a single crew member over the break from the race team, which has been fantastic and that’s a sign to Ryan Walkinshaw (pictured right) and I that the guys who are working for us have got faith in what we’re doing and they’re fully on board and supportive and as excited as we are to launch this team and relaunch this brand to go racing.

“The fans have been fantastic; the support we’ve seen has been fantastic and we want to do them every justice and reassure them and make it easy for them to support this team and hopefully what we deliver will do that.”

Burgess and his team are well aware that Supercars is a results-driven game and that this team, regardless of name, has not performed to an expected level in the past few years.

“None of us have been happy with the results we’ve delivered,” Burgess admits.

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“It’s not through lack of trying.

There’s a whole bunch of reasons why we haven’t been as competitive as we should be or we hope to be, but we definitely made some progress in the latter part of last year and a lot of that was with the processes that we put in place in the engineering group.

“As an engineering group we needed to stop trying to find a silver bullet because there aren’t any; just go back to basics and focus on and control the controllable and we definitely saw an improvement and progress in delivering a good car when we rolled it out of the truck.

“We definitely got better in that regard. So, yes, this year we’re definitely looking forward to carrying on that trend and if we can carry on that trend, then I’m sure the results will show that.”

Another major change at the Melbourne-based team this year is the absence of long-time driver Tander, who ironically was the last driver to win a championship under the HSV banner.

Tander has moved down the road to the Garry Rogers Motorsport outfit as the team re-structured its extremely senior (and rumoured to be expensive) driver line-up by bringing in up and coming youngster Scott Pye from DJR Team Penske to partner James Courtney.

However, the well-established Courtney is not taking the challenge from the other side of the team’s garage lightly.

“I don’t know about mentoring him, but I’m a bit worried about how I’m going to beat him,” quips Courtney, when asked if he was looking forward to taking the young Pye under his wing.

“I think it’s going to be a good relationship. He seems really eager, which is great; he’s slotted straight in and he seems like a good bloke. I don’t really know him too well yet. But it’s all moving along nicely.

“He’s very eager to learn and see how our team works, not only within the workshop but also on race weekends and what we do to get the speed out of the car... it’s going to be a big learning curve for Scotty. It’s a very different team atmosphere to what he’s had previously, but I think he’ll be fine.”

Like his team boss, Courtney is keen to focus on the future rather than dwelling on the loss of the HRT brand.

“Yeah, look, it’s sad that it’s the end of an era for us as HRT, but I think what’s probably more exciting is the future for us, so the past is the past, the only thing you can change is the future, so we’re focused on what’s in front of us not what’s behind us, so it is all good. I had a great time for those six years with the team when it was branded that way.”

Courtney couldn’t resist a little dig at the ‘new’ Red Bull-branded HRT. “There was lot of heritage in the names that were involved when it was the true HRT and now it’s just a shadow of what it was...”

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WALKINSHAW

ABOVE: Pye will be determined to make the most of his opportunity after being squeezed out of DJR Team Penske.

However, he said there is no extra incentive to beat that Queensland-based team.

“It doesn’t mean we’re going to be trying any harder; we’re always pushing as hard as we can... it’s been a great reception from the fans in the amount of support that we’ve got with the whole rebranding and name and so many people were saying that they’re never going to leave and we’re the true Holden team, so it’s been great, all that support.

“We’ve probably had more support from the fans than I thought we would have, so it’s an encouraging and a very exciting time to be with the team.”

Pye says he’s looking forward to being a part of the new HSV Racing.

“When I first met with Adrian and Ryan last year I felt that we shared the same goals for this year.

“The whole team is really motivated and I think that Holden leaving the team was not something that’s really going to have an effect on the results as such... I’m sure it’s nice to have that logo on the car, but I feel like now the team’s more motivated and driven than they have been in a very long time and I think having a fresh face

come in as well... I’m certainly excited and hopefully that rubs off on some of the guys as well.”

The youngster is keen to learn from his new teammate.

“We’ve had a very similar career path. Both of us leaving Australia quite young, going to Europe with the aspiration of racing Formula 1 and I think that we should have a very similar driving style as well, which hopefully will work well with the engineers this year in setting up our cars. But in terms of our relationship already, it’s great.

“I’ve known James for a long time and raced against him in the championship now for four or five years, so I think that working alongside him is going to be good fun. I think we’ve got some things planned ahead during this year, which will be quite enjoyable off the track. And on track, I’m sure we’ll have a pretty tough battle as well.”

He doesn’t mince words when talking about his own personal goals on the track.

“I want to be winning races this year,” he says matter-of-factly.

“And then next year, if not sooner, be challenging at the pointy end of the championship, but for this year, I think it’s about being consistently at the front, running in the top five and on the podium.”

While the HRT brand may now be residing in a different state of the country, the enthusiasm for the future and the hunger to win races and championships has far from waned at the Clayton-based Mobil 1 HSV Racing.

So what are the team’s realistic goals for season 2017?

“Everyone says they want to win the championship,” says Burgess.

“But we need to be realistic as well. We want to be challenging for the championship but we need to show to ourselves and everyone else that we’re making progress. If we’re making progress; if we’re on the podium more often, and we’re winning more than two races a year, then that’s the first step to being in that position to challenge for the championship.”

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24/05/2016 4:02 pm

GARTH TANDER

Garth Tander BACK TO WHERE IT ALL BEGAN Garth Tander’s career has come full circle, returning to the team which gave him his V8 Supercars debut two decades ago and extending his record as Holden’s most loyal driver.

WORDS Adrian Musolino IMAGES Garry Rogers Motorsport, inetpics.com, Peter Norton, Glenis Lindley

arth Tander is a rarity in Supercars, a oneThe complications over whether Garry Rogers’ team manufacturer loyalist who has essentially would be able to use the S60 Supercars followed the only driven for two teams in a career Swedish manufacturer’s sudden withdrawal from the approaching 20 years long. team back in May 2016.

Tander has more round starts in a Holden While Garry Rogers Motorsport was left scrambling in than any other driver in Australian Touring the courts to retain the rights to its S60s, Walkinshaw Car Championship/Supercars history. But Racing was about to lose its own factory-backed deal that run could’ve come to an end in 2017, with Holden, further clouding long-time driver Tander’s on his return to the team that gave him his future with the team. break in the series back in 1998.

Just a few weeks after losing the Holden-funded deal to Indeed, the first Triple Eight Race Engineering images of Tander back for 2017, Walkinshaw Racing at Garry Rogers Motorsport bounced back with Tander and show the multiple Bathurst co-driver Warren Luff winning 1000 winner and former the Sandown 500. champion wearing a ‘Volvo’ But it wasn’t enough for shirt next to the team’s Volvo the team to retain Tander for S60 Supercar. another season. With Garry It wasn’t Tander’s first Rogers Motorsport’s Scott flirtation with another manMcLaughlin moving to DJR ufacturer. He first tested a Team Penske, Walkinshaw V8 Supercar in an ex-Glenn Racing recruited DJR Team Seton Racing Falcon at his Penske refugee Scott Pye. home circuit of Barbagallo Tander’s future now appeared Raceway in 1997. And as a to rest on his former team. reward for his success in ForAnd its legal wrangling with mula Ford that same year, Volvo. he was invited to test a Dick “I was fully comfortable Johnson Racing Falcon at with what was going on,” Mallala Motor Sport Park. admits Tander.

But he hasn’t raced anything “We had to just wait, Garth and Leanne Tander’s other than a Commodore in making sure we got things links to GRM date back to their arrivals into V8 Supercars.

Supercars. And that won’t under control and a few things change in 2017. with what was obviously

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GARTH TANDER

ABOVE: It’s 10 years since Tander won his sole title in 2007.

BELOW: Victory at Sandown

last season came despite being let go by HRT.

going on with Volvo during that period of time. But the team had me fully in the loop all the way through that process and I was fully comfortable.

“As I said at the time, I was fully comfortable with where I was at. You guys (the media) were making all the speculations, so I was comfortable.”

But while Tander was comfortable, there were some complications. Garry Rogers is a renowned talent spotter who gave Tander, Steven Richards, Jason Bright, Jason Bargwanna, Jamie Whincup, Lee Holdsworth, Michael Caruso and Scott McLaughlin their starts in Supercars. With James Moffat already locked in and the team’s rising star James Golding waiting in the wings, Rogers would have to forgo his standard practice of promoting youth and for the first time rehire one of his former charges for a second full-time stint with the team.

“People don’t understand that when he left the team he did so on good terms,” says Rogers, who threw Tander in at the deep-end in V8 Supercars after the Western Australian won the Formula Ford championship in 1997.

Tander won the 2000 Bathurst 1000 on his third attempt with the team for second place in that season’s

ABOVE: Tander won his first Bathurst 1000 with GRM alongside Jason Bargwanna in 2000.

championship standings. But results dried up and he moved up the Holden pecking order to the HSV Dealer Team in 2005, winning the title for the factory-backed outfit in 2007 before moving across the factory floor to the sister Holden Racing Team.

“I understood the opportunity he got and it’s never been an issue to me,” says Rogers.

“A really important part of this is that people will have noticed my son Barry has been running the team equally as much as I have in recent times.

“Garth actually lived with Barry when he first moved from Perth and the fact he knows him from those days is a great advantage.

“He had nowhere to live and I asked Barry if he had a spare bed for a couple of nights. Two years later Garth was still there and his girlfriend Leanne would often stay over. Barry finally told Garth after multiple sleepovers

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that it may be time for Garth to find his own place. The rest is history!”

Tander’s history with Holden is impressive. His record includes the 2007 championship, three Bathurst 1000 wins and one Bathurst 24 Hour victory, the latter with Garry Rogers Motorsport. But he felt confident he would remain in the Holden fold, despite the possibility Garry Rogers Motorsport could’ve run the S60 body shell with an off-the-shelf Chevrolet V8 engine. Ironically, it was Walkinshaw Racing who stepped in to help out on the engine front when Garry Rogers Motorsport committed to running Commodores in 2017.

“It was probably more than 50 per cent a potential that we would be in a Commodore rather than a Volvo,” says Tander.

“Then as things played out it was just going more and more towards the Commodore. I was fully comfortable with that as when the team last ran Commodores, those cars were fast. And I know the engine package very well, so it was not a concern for me at all.

“I don’t think that really would have got up, but I think it’s better for the team, we’re either running Volvo with a Volvo engine or we’re running a Holden with a Holden engine.

“It’s just a bit easier that way and we understand that package, we understand the team needs to get up to speed a little with the aero because the aero’s different, but I know the engine very well.”

The implementation of the Car of the Future regulations proved a boon for Garry Rogers Motorsport. The new regulations gave the team a clean sheet of paper and it won two races with the new VF Commodore in 2013 before switching to the Volvo S60 from 2014.

But with Volvo taking back its S60s, it left Garry Rogers Motorsport scrambling to build two brand new VF Commodore Supercars in less than 10 weeks (the average build time is 16 weeks) in addition to preparing two other cars for the second-tier Dunlop Super2 series with no additions to the workforce. Tander described the workload as “astronomical”.

“They’ve done an awesome job, pulling all that together and obviously Walkinshaw Racing has been helpful as far as they can in supplying parts,” he says.

“That’s been the real issue in the off season, the supply chain to get the cars finished, but everyone did as much as they could to get it done.

“The workload was seriously impressive. It blows me away every time I go back there how much has been done in the time that I haven’t been at the workshop.”

A lot can change in 13 years. But there are some familiar faces to welcome Tander back to that workshop.

“There’s about four or five guys that are there from last time, which is good, lots of new faces, lots of people that I know already, lots of new faces to learn as well,” says Tander.

“The team is much, much bigger than when I was last here, considerably bigger. Obviously they’ve got the Development Series program in-house as well.

“Obviously talking with Garry, things were very, very comfortable. We’ve remained quite close friends in the period that I’ve been away from the team. It’s actually

Tander left GRM at the end of the 2004 season. Thirteen years on, he returns home.

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GARTH GARTH TANDER TANDER

CHAMPIONSHIP

C H A M P I O N S H I P & B ATHURST CAREER TRENDLINE

1st

2

1

5

1 6

10th

10

6 10

12

4

11

3

1 3

5

3

BATHURST

1 5

3

4 7

8

6 9

9

12

14

16 19

20th

25

30th DNF

DNF

1998

1999

DNF

2000

Garry Rogers Motorsport

2001

2002

DNF

2003

HSV Dealer Team

2004

2005

DNF

DNF

2006

2007

DNS

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

DNF

2015

2016

Holden Racing Team

been quite seamless, to be honest. Just like pulling on an old pair of runners, it feels comfortable and you just start running.”

At 40 years of age, Tander’s driving days are inevitably numbered. He has increasingly dabbled in GT racing with Audi. But pairing up with the Rogers family does pave the way to transition into management, especially at a team going through a generational change as Barry Rogers steps up to ease the load on father Garry Rogers.

There’s also mentoring the aforementioned Golding,

or ‘Bieber’, who could’ve landed the drive over Tander but will instead make do with wildcard appearances and Pirtek Endurance co-driving duties alongside the veteran.

“I certainly see similarities between Bieber and Garth in his younger years,” says Rogers.

“I am sure that if he keeps his eyes and ears open Bieber will learn a lot from Garth throughout the season.

“I am still energetic but I am not quite as energetic as I was. Garth’s business acumen is important; he is very

ABOVE: The ups and downs of Tander’s career, which now spans 20 seasons.

It all starts with a story... what’s yours?

Pre 70s Classic Automotive Restoration Specialists and Service Work. www.restoredclassics.com.au enquiries@restoredclassics.com.au 34

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“IT’S ACTUALLY BEEN QUITE SEAMLESS, TO BE HONEST. JUST LIKE PULLING ON AN OLD PAIR OF RUNNERS, IT FEELS COMFORTABLE AND YOU JUST START RUNNING.” – TANDER ON RETURNING TO GRM

smart as well as being a great driver, so I think he will be a person to help Barry not only maintain but also grow the team.

“I have no doubt that Garth will be a serious contender on track. As a driver he has a few good years left in him in my opinion and whether that’s two or 10, I don’t know.

“There will be a stage when Garth decides to step back from full-time driving and then we would look at maybe endurance races and helping us with our young drivers.

I know he has a lot of positives for us, the team and all our sponsor group.”

Years ending in seven have been kind to Tander. In 1997, he defeated Marcos Ambrose and Todd Kelly to the Australian Formula Ford title. In 2007, he broke through for his maiden V8 Supercars championship win. Now, in 2017, he’s back to where it all began in Supercars for what’s shaping as the final chapter of his driving career. But as we saw at Sandown last season, don’t expect him to fade away quietly…

“I do live to fight another day but it doesn’t feel like I’ve been given a sympathy opportunity,” says Tander.

“I’ve come back to GRM not for the romanticism but because they have a car and a team that has proven over the past few years that it can run at the front.

“Now we are on track, we can talk about development and performance having been given two new cars. And Moff and I have been giving the same feedback, so we know where we need to go with these cars.

“So I see it as an opportunity to join a very strong team at a point where I’m still driving as good as anyone.”

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Fraternising with Foges IN T ERV IE W BY M A RK FOG A R T Y

IMAGES Peter Norton, Glenis Lindley, Prodrive Racing Australia

I

n the latter half of 2016, it looked as though Jason Bright’s driving career was coming to an end. His seven-year stint with Brad Jones Racing (BJR) was over with limited opportunities elsewhere.

But Bright had an ace up his sleeve: ownership of a Racing Entitlement Contract (REC) that had been parked at BJR since he stopped running his own Britek entry. And with Prodrive Racing Australia (PRA) losing its Super Black Racing entry and with a title sponsor ready to go, there was a vacancy to park his REC and continue his driving career.

It’s a return to a team where Bright drove when it was known as Ford Performance Racing (FPR), while also rekindling his own team ownership aspirations.

Veteran Jason Bright tells Mark Fogarty why a return to his old Ford haunt was the best option to keep his Supercars driving career alive. opportunity for myself before I had to give him an answer. So there were a couple of months there where I was looking for a home and I ended up with probably the best scenario where I’m at on a couple of years’ deal.

They have a model that works very well with four cars – they’ve been running four cars for the past few years – and they wanted to have that extra car on the grid.

So they already had sponsorship for a fourth car?

Yes. The Mega Fuels deal was theirs. It was quite funny the way it all happened because as much as I’d looked at PRA and gone ‘I’d love to fill that seat’, as a customer car arrangement, I felt pretty sure that what they wanted in terms of dollars was more than what I was going to

You had a number of options, so why did you decide to park your REC at PRA? It ended up a pretty obvious choice for me. I didn’t realise that there was going to be an opportunity to be at PRA with my licence and driving. The fourth car there has always been run as a customer car and I didn’t realise that they had found a sponsor to run a Prodrive car.

I’d been working on other opportunities to drive or put my licence somewhere and also drive, but none of them were done deals, so when the Prodrive opportunity came up I grabbed it with both hands.

Was one of your options to stay at BJR? No. We’d decided we’d go our separate ways. There was an option to leave my licence there, but that wasn’t my preference. At the end of the day, because I didn’t know where I was going to end up and whether I was going to need a licence to continue to drive with my own sponsorship, I entered the licence myself.

Brad was great all through that period because he knew he needed a licence to run a third car and he gave me plenty of time to find the right 36

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Mark Fogarty is Fairfax Media’s award-winning motorsport writer.

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Fraternising with Foges be able to come up with, so I was talking to other teams that I could afford to do it with.

When (PRA team principal) Tim Edwards called me before New Zealand, I was surprised to hear that they had their own sponsor and were just looking for a REC and a driver. I was looking for a drive, they needed a licence, they needed a driver, Mega Fuels wanted an established driver and so all the stars aligned and a deal was done quite quickly – within five days.

That was pretty satisfying because at that point, going into late November, I didn’t have anything locked away, so when it came along it was pretty good to see a deal done so quickly.

Did you at any stage consider selling your REC? Well, there were possibilities along the way that I could’ve sold it, definitely. Did I want to? No. I’d rather stay in the sport as a team owner long-term even after I’ve finished driving and I wouldn’t say now was the right time to sell when I already have one. Even though there was quite a lot of interest around from different people at the time, I didn’t really feel the need to sell.

Was it or is it a good time to sell a REC? I don’t think so. I think the sport’s going quite well at the moment. The majority of teams have sponsorship now compared with a couple of years ago, when the series didn’t have a sponsor, and a lot more teams were struggling and people were handing back licences. I feel it’s in much better shape now.

ABOVE: Bright spent two seasons at Ford Performance Racing (top) before moving on with his own Britek Motorsport team (above). BELOW: Bright eventually parked his licence at Brad Jones Racing, where he drove for seven seasons (below), before the change to Prodrive in 2017 (bottom). Bright’s licence filled the void of Super Black Racing, which was purchased by Tim Blanchard to replace Bright’s at Brad Jones Racing.

But are they worth as much as they used to be?

Oh, they’re worth more than what they were a year ago and more than they were worth three or four years ago.

They’re never going to be worth as much as they were at their peak (around $1.5 million each) before the sale of the business and halving the amount that the teams own (to 37.5 per cent).

It will take a long time before they get back to the dollars that they were being sold for back then. Saying that, they’re an interesting commodity because their value goes up in direct correlation to the economy. If the economy’s good and there are people that want to sponsor cars, and there are drivers and teams that have money, there’s only one way to get on the grid – to buy a REC. And when you need to be on the grid because you have a sponsor, the cost of buying a licence is not a lot compared with what it costs to run a car.

Did you buy yours at the right time?

I bought mine at a pretty good time. The right time would’ve been in the 1990s when they walked down the grid and handed out bits of paper. But they went up in value during the period that I owned both of them (bought two in 2005 before selling one in late 2009) and when I sold one, it was at its peak and I got the right dollars for it. And then the sale to Archer (in 2011) was good for everyone as well, so I think that I bought them at a good time and sold one at the right time. But, like I say, I wouldn’t sell one right now because I feel like there’s a fair bit of growth to come.

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Clearly, you wanted to keep driving this year, but my understanding is that at one stage late last season you were looking at the likelihood of stepping back and placing the licence with someone to run a young cashed-up driver. Is that right?

Oh, for sure. I mean, I had that as a back-up plan. So at the time when I entered my licence, I had pretty good feelers out there for who was around with a budget to run in the main game, and I felt like I could put my licence at a good team and put the right driver in there if I had to. But my priority was to be out there driving myself.

Why was it so important that you kept driving?

Not to put too fine a point on it, but you are the

oldest driver competing the full championship.

I’m the youngest oldest guy in the series. There have always been guys older than 44 – much older than 44. The Brocks, Johnsons, Bowes all retired well into their 50s…

That was then, though.

Absolutely. I don’t deny that. But it was only 10 years ago that John Bowe retired and Russell Ingall was in his 50s when he retired from full-time racing two years ago. If the results don’t come, then I’d reconsider. But at the end of 2015 I got a podium at Homebush and at the start of 2016 I was in the top 10 for the first few rounds, qualified fourth at the grand prix, top 10 both races in Tassie. Then, for some reason, didn’t get into

BELOW: Foges grills Bright about his driving future.

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Fraternising with Foges the top 10 again for the rest of the year. I didn’t feel like I’d forgotten how to drive after I left Tasmania, so I still feel like I can be competitive.

You’re not worried that lean period was a sign?

No. It was a lean period after the best start I’ve had to a season in probably six years, forgetting 2013 where BJR had a clear advantage (with the switch to Car of the Future), yet it turned into a crappy year. I don’t think I forgot how to drive. So I guess it’s one of those things where we compete in a sport where the finger will always get pointed at the driver. You can take that on the chin and either fix what you have or find another opportunity and I’ve been lucky to end up with a team that is competitive and I can be judged on my results.

Are you confident PRA will give you a competitive car? After all, they’re running a big fleet.

It is a big team and it takes a well-funded operation to keep everything up to scratch. It’s their sponsor and they want to do the best for that sponsor. They’ve built two brand new cars, so there’ll be some shuffling around of equipment, but from everything I’ve seen them do so far, they’re pretty keen to see my car get results.

The key point being that you’re part of the team, not like the Super Black Racing entry, which was a customer deal.

What happened was Prodrive was looking to lease a

“I’VE BEEN LUCKY TO END UP WITH A TEAM THAT IS COMPETITIVE AND I CAN BE JUDGED ON MY RESULTS.” – JASON BRIGHT licence from someone to run their new sponsor. They had a licence because Rusty (French, PRA co-owner) had control of the Super Black one, but they decided not to do that and went with my option. Everything they’ve done so far has been about making sure my car is as competitive as it can be. They’re pretty proud that they have four Prodrive cars, not three and a customer car, on the grid and I’m sure they want to see them all get results and all the drivers push each other.

Is it good to be back with the team?

It is. I was pretty stoked just going to their Christmas party and catching up with a lot of familiar faces, and how pumped they all are and how excited they are to have me back, which is great. I didn’t know what to expect when the deal was done, but I’m pretty chuffed about how welcomed back I’ve been. I think it shows on how good terms I left there and how much I was respected there for the work that I did in the time I was there to help them develop and I think they know there are areas they have to find some speed, so it’s good that they’re putting a bit of faith in me trying to help them find that.

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Many would argue that you should never have left FPR. Possibly, yes. In hindsight, I should have stayed. Hindsight’s a great thing and I left there regrettably because we finished 2006 very strongly. Things probably would have been a lot different if I’d stayed, but you can’t turn back time. It’s only hindsight that would make me say that.

But you went through a tough time with your own team and then took your remaining REC to Stone Brothers Racing. Those were the lost years, really, weren’t they?

Oh, absolutely. It was a tough period. I was fortunate to come out of the whole Britek thing and end up at BJR, where I had seven great years. Won races with them, won their first race ever in Supercars (at Barbagallo in 2011) and had a really good relationship with them all. I could’ve easily been out of a drive back then, but I don’t live with regrets. I definitely think there could’ve been a good five-to-10-year period where I could’ve been battling for championships if I’d stayed with FPR. Were you too greedy with Britek? It looked like you took on too much, with the rally program as well as the V8s.

Not greedy. It was passion, I think, more than anything.

I enjoyed walking into my own workshop and seeing the equipment that we were putting together and building rally cars (factory-backed Fiestas for the Australian Rally Championship) and all the stuff we were doing in-house, which is what Ford wanted at the time. That was very satisfying. When the GFC hit and a lot of sponsors tightened their purses, that’s the bit that hurt.

And it didn’t help that, as I recall, Ford pulled the plug early on your agreed deal.

Yes. As I was told at the time, that’s business. But I wasn’t prepared for that. The team was built on the manufacturer support we were getting and it was the manufacturer support that determined how we went about it. It meant that we had to do a lot of stuff in-house. And when I left FPR at the end of 2006, no one had even heard of a GFC.

You’ve obviously come to terms with what happened and are more accepting of it because I remember at the time you weren’t quite so philosophical about it.

Time heals all wounds… or most wounds. What hurt was that we had a contract with Ford and I felt like I’d done what I’d signed up for, which was the two years at FPR and then they would back me in my own team.

FPR became a winning team and it was all part of a fiveyear deal. It wasn’t so much that the last three years of a contract had been torn up; it was more that it was a five-year deal based on the first two years at FPR. That was what hurt. It was a five-year deal, but it only ended up being three. Britek got bugger-all from Ford in 2008 and nothing in 2009.

ABOVE: Bright is back in a Ford Falcon for the first time since 2009.

Out of all that, you retained a REC which you intend to keep and remain involved as a team owner when you retire from full-time driving.

Longer-term, do you see it evolving back into your own operation?

Not really. There are plenty of teams that run a very good customer program. But I don’t like change for

“THEY KNOW THERE ARE AREAS THEY HAVE TO FIND SOME SPEED, SO IT’S GOOD THAT THEY’RE PUTTING A BIT OF FAITH IN ME TRYING TO HELP THEM FIND THAT.” – JASON BRIGHT

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Fraternising with Foges

enduros and presumably there’ll still be that option if you step down from full-time driving in the next couple of years.

Exactly. There’s a few years in me yet, whether as a driver or co-driver.

no reason. So for all the right reasons, that’s why the Prodrive option was so attractive. They have a model that runs on four cars. Whether they continue with their sponsorship always on my REC or whether I have to find sponsorship to put on it, I’m not one to change just for the sake of it. As long as Prodrive have a competitive car on the grid, I don’t see any reason to change.

CHAMPIONSHIP

C H A M P I O N S H I P & B ATHURST CAREER TRENDLINE

10th

20th

1

11

9

2

3

BELOW: The ups and downs of Bright’s Supercars career.

So in an ideal world, you keep your REC at PRA, somebody finds sponsorship and eventually you put in a young bloke to replace you, right?

Yep.

If you hadn’t secured a full-time drive this season, you would’ve been in demand as co-driver in the

1st

ABOVE: Bright teams up with reigning Dunlop Development Series champ Garry Jacobson for the endurance events in 2017.

4

3

4

3

8

4

5 9

12

5

7

9

5

14

21

21

19

7 11

11

14

BATHURST

16

19

14

16

16

17

21

21

30th DNF

1997*

1998

1999

Stone Brothers Racing

DNF

2000*

2001

DNF

2002

Holden Racing Team

2003

2004

2005

Paul Weel Racing

DNF

DNF

2006

2007

DNF

2008

Ford Performance Racing

2009

2010

2011

Britek Motorsport

2012

2013

Brad Jones Racing

2014

2015

2016

Part-season only

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ENGINEERS

WORDS Adrian Musolino IMAGES Peter Norton, Glenis Lindley

Hiding behind the stars of Supercars but no less important to success in the series are the race engineers, the vital link between the drivers and unlocking speed from their cars. These are the engineers working with the main-game drivers in 2017 and how they got there.

t GRANT MCPHERSON

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN #97 TRIPLE EIGHT RACE ENGINEERING

Last season’s championship-winning engineer started out at rivals Ford Performance Racing/Prodrive Racing Australia, engineering Will Davison and Mark Winterbottom to race wins. The design and race engineer switched to Triple Eight in 2015 to work with Craig Lowndes before pairing up with van Gisbergen for their first championship win in 2016.

DAVID CAUCHI ▼

JAMIE WHINCUP #88 TRIPLE EIGHT RACE ENGINEERING

Cauchi has been with Triple Eight since 2007 and got his first taste of being a race engineer when he was loaned out to customer team Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport to work with Dean Fiore in 2013.

With long-time Whincup engineer Mark Dutton promoted to team manager, Cauchi stepped up as engineer to Whincup in 2014 and continues to do so in 2017.

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JOHN MCGREGOR

CRAIG LOWNDES #888 TRIPLE EIGHT RACE ENGINEERING

‘Irish’, as he’s nicknamed within Triple Eight, moved to Australia and joined Triple Eight as a customer support engineer with Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport. He moved into the role of data engineer last season and stepped up as race engineer to Lowndes following the departure of Ludo Lacroix, allowing Lowndes and McGregor the chance to build their working relationship ahead of 2017.

CAMPBELL LITTLE

WILL DAVISON #19 TEKNO AUTOSPORTS

Little has one of the longest resumes in pitlane in a career that dates back to 1995. He’s perhaps best known for his championship-winning stint with Stone Brothers Racing and his role in the rise of Triple Eight Race Engineering. He then went on to work with Ford Performance Racing, Dick Johnson Racing, Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport, Erebus Motorsport and even a stint in the Supercars technical department. He moved to Tekno Autosports in 2017 to reunite with Davison following their stint together at Ford Performance Racing.

ALEX SOMERSET

SCOTT PYE #2 WALKINSHAW RACING

The Englishman has spent his engineering career moving between open-wheel and touring-car categories in Europe. Following stints with Triple Eight (in England), Honda and Lotus, Somerset headed to Australia in 2012 to work on the development of the Nissan Altima Supercar. He switched to Walkinshaw Racing in time for the 2014 season, working in various roles and now engineering Pye.

RICHARD HOLLWAY ▼

GARTH TANDER #33 GARRY ROGERS MOTORSPORT

The most experienced engineer and driver combination in pitlane.

Like Tander, the majority of Hollway’s Supercars career was spent with Holden. He worked with Holden Special Vehicles ahead of a switch to motorsport that began with Brad Jones Racing in Super Touring but really hit its strides with the Holden Racing Team. He joined Garry Rogers Motorsport in 2010 and enjoyed a strong working relationship with Scott McLaughlin from 2013 to 2016.

MANUEL SANCHEZ ▲

JAMES MOFFAT #34 GARRY ROGERS MOTORSPORT

Venezuela-born Sanchez spent time engineering two and four wheels in Europe and South America before landing in Australia. Sanchez arrived at Garry Rogers Motorsport in 2013 and worked with international drivers Alexandre Prémat and Robert Dahlgren. This is his second season working with Moffat on the #34 entry.

TERRY KERR

JAMES COURTNEY #22 WALKINSHAW RACING

Kerr’s career began in the driver’s seat in Formula Ford before switching his focus to engineering the likes of Scott Pye and Nick Percat in the open-wheel category. He even had a stint in Formula 1 as a mechanical design engineer with Lotus in 2009 but, ultimately, returned home to work as a data engineer with Walkinshaw Racing.

An engineering reshuffle saw Kerr partner Courtney at the end of last season, in preparation for their first full-time season together in 2017.

BRENDAN HOGAN

MARK WINTERBOTTOM #5 PRODRIVE RACING AUSTRALIA

Hogan has spent over a decade in the series with a number of teams, including Paul Morris Motorsport, Kelly Racing and, more recently, four seasons at Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport. He joined Prodrive Racing Australia at the start of the 2016 to work with main-game rookie Cameron Waters, moving across the garage to partner with Mark Winterbottom this season following the departure of Jason Gray.

SAM POTTER

JASON BRIGHT #56 PRODRIVE RACING AUSTRALIA

One of the youngest engineers in the field teams with one of the most experienced drivers in 2017. Potter joined Prodrive Racing Australia straight out of university in 2011, working as data engineer for the team last season in addition to engineering Jack Le Brocq to a runnerup finish in the Dunlop Series. He will be mentored by the team’s chief engineer Nathaniel Osborne in the early stages of the season as he and veteran Bright get up to speed.

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ENGINEERS

JULIAN STANNARD

TIM SLADE #14 BRAD JONES RACING

Upon completing his studies at Wodonga’s Motorsport Training Australia campus, Stannard headed up the road to Albury to join Brad Jones Racing in 2010. He progressed from data to race engineer on the team’s third entry before teaming up with Tim Slade in 2016. The partnership continues for a second season in 2017.

CHRIS STUCKEY

LEE HOLDSWORTH #18 TEAM 18

Stuckey has spent a decade in Supercars and worked with various teams, including Tony D’Alberto Racing, Brad Jones Racing, Erebus Motorsport and Dick Johnson Racing. He spent the last two seasons with Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport, notably winning the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide and claiming a third place at the Bathurst 1000 as engineer to Nick Percat. Stuckey moved to Team 18 in the off season to pair up with Holdsworth.

LUDO LACROIX u

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN #17 DJR TEAM PENSKE

BRAD WISCHUSEN ▲

CAMERON WATERS #6 PRODRIVE RACING AUSTRALIA

Wischusen moved into Supercars after working on the Pontiac GTO program with Holden. He spent most of his Supercars career with Stone Brothers Racing/Erebus Motorsport ahead of a move to Prodrive Racing Australia in 2015. Since that time he has worked with David Reynolds, Chaz Mostert and now Waters.

PHIL KEED

FABIAN COULTHARD #12 DJR TEAM PENSKE

Keed and Coulthard have one of the best engineer-driver relationships in pitlane, as evidenced by Keed’s decision to follow Coulthard from Brad Jones Racing to DJR Team Penske in 2016. Keed spent time in Subaru’s World Rally Championship program before returning to Australia with Team Brock in V8 Supercars. Stints at Ford Performance Racing and Brad Jones Racing eventually led to DJR Team Penske last season.

Lacroix ended a 17-year working relationship with Triple Eight Race Engineering last season, shocking the Supercars fraternity with his defection to DJR Team Penske. The Frenchman joined team boss Roland Dane in Australia in 2003 to build what would be the benchmark team in Supercars. Though his focus was on the design and development of Supercars, he engineered Craig Lowndes last season before his switch to DJR Team Penske and partnership with McLaughlin.

ALISTAIR MCVEAN

DAVID REYNOLDS #9 EREBUS MOTORSPORT

McVean is another product of Walkinshaw Racing having joined the team in 2004 and worked with the likes of Mark Skaife, Todd and Rick Kelly, Garth Tander, Will Davison and James Courtney.

PAUL SCALZO

NICK PERCAT #8 BRAD JONES RACING

Scalzo joined Brad Jones Racing in 2010 following two seasons with Paul Morris Motorsport. Growing up in Wanagaratta, he returned to northern Victoria to work with the Albury-based team and became race engineer of Jason Bright in 2015 and continuing on with new recruit Percat in 2017.

ADAM DE BORRE u

CHAZ MOSTERT #55 PRODRIVE RACING AUSTRALIA

De Borre reunites with Mostert in 2017, continuing a relationship that began when Mostert first joined the series midway through the 2013 season at Dick Johnson Racing. De Borre has worked in various categories including the British and FIA GT Series as well as Asian Carrera Cup before heading to Supercars where he eventually found a home at Prodrive Racing Australia and engineered Mostert to success at Bathurst in 2014. After a year at DJR Team Penske, De Borre returns to Prodrive to re-team with Mostert.

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McVean was part of the team’s 2005, 2009 and 2011 Bathurst wins.

After being replaced as Courtney’s engineer in the latter half of 2016, McVean moved to Erebus Motorsport to lead the engineering department and work as race engineer for Reynolds.

TIM NEWTON

ALEX RULLO #62 LUCAS DUMBRELL MOTORSPORT

Newton has the task of working with the 16-year-old in his rookie season. A 10-year veteran in Supercars, Newton spent most of his time in the series with Paul Morris Motorsport as engineer to team boss/driver Paul Morris and also Dean Fiore. More recently, he worked with Renee Gracie in the Dunlop Series before moving to Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport for 2017 to work with Rullo. The team is likely to rotate engineers along with drivers in the #3 entry.

Blanchard’s side of the garage, with an eye on establishing Tim Blanchard Racing into the future.

GEORGE COMMINS

RICK KELLY #15 NISSAN MOTORSPORT

Commins, like many of his compatriots, ventured to Europe with the aim of making it in Formula 1. After engineering for Dick Johnson Racing, he climbed the ranks of open-wheel categories from Formula 3 to Formula Renault to Williams in Formula 1. He returned to Australia in 2015 and teamed up with Kelly at Nissan Motorsport.

MIRKO DE ROSA u

DALE WOOD #99 EREBUS MOTORSPORT

Italian De Rosa learnt his mechanical engineering craft in the World Rally Championship before heading down under in 2014. Starting out as a mechanic at Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport, De Rosa then moved to Erebus Motorsport in 2016 as number-one mechanic before being promoted to data engineer for David Reynolds. He now works as engineer with Wood to continue his rise through the ranks of the team.

WALLY STOREY & TONY WOODWARD

TIM BLANCHARD #21 BRAD JONES RACING

The only entry to be co-engineered in 2017. Storey, the most experienced engineer in pitlane, is now firmly established at Brad Jones Racing and works with data/co-race engineer Tony Woodward on 47

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ENGINEERS

BLAKE SMITH u

SIMONA DE SILVESTRO #78 NISSAN MOTORSPORT

Smith and de Silvestro both spent time in IndyCar before moving into Supercars. Smith worked with Gelles Racing and Dreyer and Reinbold Racing in the open-wheel category before returning home to work in Supercars, where he worked at Stone Brothers Racing, Dick Johnson Racing, Paul Morris Motorsport, Tekno Autosports and Walkinshaw Racing. He engineered Garth Tander until splitting with the team midway through 2016, which prompted a move to Nissan Motorsport and engineering de Silvestro and Renee Gracie’s wildcard entry at Bathurst ahead of the full-time campaign for the Swiss racer this season.

STEVEN TODKILL

MICHAEL CARUSO #23 NISSAN MOTORSPORT

Todkill and Caruso first worked together at Garry Rogers Motorsport.

Todkill joined the team in 2008 after an apprenticeship in the Formula SAE program. As a data and then race engineer he worked closely with Caruso before moving along with the driver to Nissan Motorsport in 2013 to continue a relationship that is now in its fifth year at the factory team.

DILAN TALABANI u

TODD KELLY #7 NISSAN MOTORSPORT

A veteran engineer of touring cars, sportscars and rally cars in Europe and the Middle East, Talabani worked at Walkinshaw Racing and Triple Eight before landing at Ford Performance Racing/Prodrive Racing Australia. This included engineering Cameron Waters to the Dunlop Series title in 2015 and working with Chris Pither in the Super Black Racing entry last season. With the Super Black Racing entry withdrawing from Supercars, Talabani moved to Nissan Motorsport in the off-season to work with Kelly.

HOW TO BE AN ENGINEER

Inspired by these careers and fancy yourself as an engineer? Well, here’s some things to note…

A background of maths and physics from school is crucial, leading into the mechanical/ automotive engineering courses the majority of Supercars race engineers complete. There are also motorsport technology certificates available, which open the door to practical application of your skills.

An example of this is Formula SAE, in which teams design, build and test a prototype of a small formula-style race car.

Like the drivers, working your way up through the junior formulas is vital. Most Supercars engineers begin in the likes of Formula Ford before progressing through the ranks. A passion of motorsport and cars in general is a must.

As Triple Eight team manager Mark Dutton says, “Watch motorsport, read about motorsport, live motorsport because the person you’re applying for that job with will.”

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CONFERENCE WORDS Andrew Clarke IMAGES Adrian Musolino, Peter Norton, Nissan Motorsport

ROUNDTABLE PARTICIPANTS

1 The Legend Larry Perkins Perkins Engineering 2 The Fan Lisa Burge Nissan Motorsport fan 3 The Marketer Peter Trevaskis Prodrive, marketing director 4 The Team Owner Charlie Schwerkolt Team 18 5 The Driver/Owner Jason Bright Prodrive/Britek 6 The Driver Mark Winterbottom Prodrive Racing Australia 7 The Journo Andrew Clarke V8X Supercar Magazine

In late 2016 we assembled a group of six to discuss the state of play in Supercars from their point of view. We looked to cover as many aspects of the sport so we could to get the broadest view possible.

T

he season may have begun, but late in 2016 we gathered their thoughts on a wide range of issues in Supercars. In part two of the roundtable, we take a look at the spectacle of Supercars, the future of the technical package, the rising threat of GT racing and more.

Jason: My biggest issue with the formats is the minimum fuel drops. I think that’s hurt our racing more than people realise because it just narrows everything you can do with strategy. Basically, everyone can only pit at the same time. You can’t take too much of a gamble on pitting early if a window comes because you can’t put the fuel in.

Larry: I couldn’t watch a race without live timing because that’s essential to knowing what is going on.

You look at that so you can see if someone’s catching someone else or dropping off the pace.

Jason: So many fans love the tower at Bathurst,

which gives you the positions on it. It is such a simple thing. People always say it is a shame we don’t have it at every race and it wouldn’t be hard to do something like that, just have it mounted to the top of the trailer and stand it up when we arrive.

The other thing I think is tyres. The soft tyres are nowhere near as soft as they used to be and a lot of tracks just favours pitting early and getting track position, whereas you used to be able to go that bit longer then you come out pretty fast. There’s not as big a disparity now as before.

I know Dunlop wanted to do all sorts of things, they spoke about five different compounds and a drive tyre and a steer tyre, all sorts of different things, but who knows…

Larry: I think we need to keep it simple because of the logistics and just a softer tyre a harder tyre.

Mark: You have a window where you can fit all the

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PART 2 fuel in and that’s your strategy. A high-degradation track gives the best races. So you go to high-deg track like Perth, then you go to Winton where it goes negative and you get quicker as the fuel load drops. There’s lots of disparity even in the same compound. We’ve got to look at the compounds. I don’t know if two’s enough for the whole season.

BATHURST

Bathurst is in many respects the reason touring cars in this country are such a dominant species, but do we have it right? And by that we don’t mean the race but does it hold its place in the sport the way it has. Is it weakened by being included in the championship or not being the final round? It was once more important than the championship, but is that still the case?

Larry: Well, I reckon 20 years ago Bathurst was the more important, but I think the series has caught up more now. It is ‘another’ race in the series, but you definitely want to watch Bathurst the same as you did 20 years ago.

Peter: The exposure from winning Bathurst is bigger than winning a championship. The great thing about the

championship you carry the #1 on the car and you get that status for the full season, but Bathurst still holds that resonance in the broader media and the public. The numbers are there, you get more coverage and more general investments from sponsors and more exposure in the media by winning Bathurst. But I think they have pretty much equal status in terms of what you end up with.

Mark: It’s a generation shift, too, I think. The world now says Bathurst but I’ve always been after the championship… you know to be the best from a driver’s point of view for 12 months is a really big thing. Luck gets in the way at Bathurst more so than over a season, but the emotion of winning Bathurst you’ll never repeat in a series because it’s all about that last lap. The championship filters it out with 26 starters and two remain type of thing, the emotion is there but it is different.

Larry: It was all about Bathurst, but the championships has come up, which is great for the industry.

Everyone should take a bit of a bow about how good the series is now; it is so competitive. You can have a field split by less than a second, but you go back 25 years and first to second was two and a half seconds at Bathurst.

BELOW: Should the Bathurst 1000 be included in the Supercars championship?

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CONFERENCE

great to win at Bathurst and maybe have some form of redemption for the team. Bathurst can do that, while no other race can.

GT RACING

BELOW: The GT threat looms large for Supercars.

Jason: Bathurst makes you look a hero and the championship makes you a good driver.

Charlie: I’ve always felt it was a big enough race on its own and doesn’t need to be in the championship.

Jason: As far as teaming up drivers that’s gone, but I think as a driver if you’re battling for the championship your approach is a little bit different and I think that’s a shame. I would trade my Bathurst for a championship.

Charlie: We had a tough year, so we focused on Bathurst to try and do something but it didn’t exactly go our way, we couldn’t even get a corner. It would’ve been

We are seeing a lot of hype around GT racing and the Bathurst 12-Hour. Is this a threat to Supercars?

Charlie: I’m not worried at all, but I have difficulties promoting our drivers in GT3s. I think we should be looking after our category instead of other categories.

I know we run the Bathurst 12 Hour, but I just don’t like promoting the other categories as much as our own.

Larry: I think the GT3 is a hell of a threat to the V8s and, like Charlie, I can’t for the life of me understand why we let our drivers do it.

Charlie: I don’t see it as a threat because I don’t see too many team owners in GT3 prepared to employ a professional driver and run a professional car. The parity isn’t good enough either. If you put a bunch of professional drivers in those cars then you’d see cars winning by the length of the street.

Jason: It’s a valid threat if the next gen of Supercar is cocked up. Everything could threaten us if we get that wrong. We’ve always got to make sure that we make the right decisions as a sport whether there’s a threat from GT3 or not.

I don’t see it as a threat if we keep making the right decisions. Part of this will come back to the fact that people follow drivers now and that’s been coming on for a while.

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Charlie: That’s why I’d stop Mark Winterbottom from driving a GT3. I wouldn’t let him because why promote their sport, he should be promoting Supercars. I wouldn’t let him drive another category. If they want to see Mark Winterbottom they have to come to Winton or Pukekohe or Adelaide or wherever we race.

Mark: The problem with GTs is a lot of the guys race for free, which I think is a complete farce because you can’t put an invoice into your boss and say, “Hey, Charlie, here’s an invoice but I’m going to go and race for free for him.” I think you can’t do that. I think from a driver’s point of view I think it’s wrong for the driver to do that.

THE CARS

Next year ushers in perhaps the biggest set of changes since the V8-only era began with the arrival of other engine and body configurations.

Jason: I’ve always felt we should listen to the fans more… what do they want? What’s going to bring them thought the gate because they’re the ones that drive who’s sponsoring us and which television network wants to pay to televise our races. When you look at how much money all of that generates compared to what manufacturers put into the series, it’s like you’re listening to the wrong people.

Peter: I think from where we stand currently as a category and a sport with cars we’ve got, it’s definitely the right move and it’s definitely the right timing for it.

For us with Falcon production having ended, we’ve only got a limited lifespan for that as a racing car and we’re

going to have to look at something different for 2018, we have no choice. It opens up the options for us. But remember, it’s not mandated that we have to go away from the V8. So fans that are scared that they’re going to lose their V8s and four doors, it may not happen.

On the flip side of that, if you’re not really into that and you want see some coupes and some turbos you can also attract a new fanbase, so I think it’s going to help us as a sport in general instead of hinder us.

Jason: I’m not a fan of bringing other engines in, personally. I think the V8 formula has worked very well for us.

Larry: People have got short memories. I don’t know how Supercars think they are going to control it. They have no idea what 1991 and 1992 was about. They’ve forgotten all that. There’s not enough expertise there to get technical parity and the next argument will be about putting sandbags in the 1500cc things with three turbos on them and then selling your car to get that one. To me it’s one of the dumbest things you could do.

“SO MANY FANS LOVE THE TOWER AT BATHURST, WHICH GIVES YOU THE POSITION ON IT. IT IS SUCH A SIMPLE THING. PEOPLE ALWAYS SAY IT IS A SHAME WE DON’T HAVE IT AT EVERY RACE.” – JASON BRIGHT

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CONFERENCE

Perkins shares his expertise with the roundtable.

Jason: Look how much money’s put into the sport from sponsors and fans compared to what the manufacturers currently put in. 2016 is probably the least amount of money that manufacturers ever put into the series and the sport has probably just turned around.

We don’t need them.

Charlie: I agree, however the world’s changing a little bit. IP is quite important today and I think getting the IP of the manufacturer to run that vehicle is important.

The world’s changing and we’ve got to keep up with it.

Larry: I think you’ve got to be bloody careful.

Lisa: I’m a Nissan fan and if they pulled out I don’t know what I’d do. I don’t want to follow Ford or Holden, so I’d probably just walk away again if there were no other options. For me bringing more manufacturers in is a good thing because that’s what I like to see. I don’t like to see just the Holden/Ford thing, that’s just boring. So when Mercedes and Nissan and Volvo came in I thought, “This is bloody fantastic.” I’d love to see BMW back in, I’d love to see them all back in, V8s, turbos whatever. There’s got to be parity, but let them race.

Larry: They can come in tomorrow, it’s just that they want to come in on their terms so they win.

Jason: The money that has been spent on Nissan, Mercedes and Volvo engines in the last few years, plus their lack of reliability compared to what the Ford and Holden have been developed to, is crazy.

Lisa: From a fan point of view, I absolutely love watching that. I’ve loved watching them come in and develop to get it up to a standard of a Ford and Holden.

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Jason: What stops other manufacturers from coming in is the money. If a team wants to switch from being a Holden team to a Nissan team it would be a $7 million starting point. Whereas if you said to Hyundai, because there a lot of Hyundai fans out there, if you said to them, “You can come in and use the Holden engine, you get to use your body shape though and it will cost you $2 million,” there’s much more chance of bringing more manufacturers in.

By opening up what they can bring in it restricts the ones that can come in because not all of them want to go and make that big leap. You’ve got other manufacturers that won’t do it because they can’t come in on their own terms. That’s why I always thought if you make the category good enough, the parity good enough, and it’s what the fans want and the television’s good, the manufacturers come because it’s good exposure.

Lisa: A lot of people I know have jumped off the V8s and are going to the GTs because there’s a bit more excitement in there; different manufacturers and all that sort of stuff, which is not good for V8s.

Jason: It’s much easier to run parity on an engine program when they’re all five-litre V8 engines. It’s going to be bloody hard moving forward, really hard.

Mark: From a competitive point of view you’ve got to have faith they do it properly and force everyone to be involved. Everyone needs to be at the aero tests, not just those who want a change for instance.

Larry: They’re race cars, you have to modify them but I think if you go back to what Brighty said earlier,

“I’VE ALWAYS FELT WE SHOULD LISTEN TO THE FANS MORE… WHAT DO THEY WANT?” – JASON BRIGHT

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CONFERENCE

“I’D MAKE THE JUDICIARY MORE FRIENDLY TOWARDS DRIVERS. IT’S TOO ANTI ALL THE THINGS RACING IS.” – LARRY PERKINS whatever you do, will the crowd be happy? Will the ratings go up? They are the only things that count.

Charlie: We’re a show, we’re entertainment, that’s what we’re here for and we’ve got to base it all on that.

CHANGES

So what would our experts change if they ruled Supercars?

Larry: Firstly, I’d make the judiciary more friendly towards the drivers. It’s too anti all the things racing is.

I think fines should be totally banned. If there’s an issue on the track where someone does something wrong and he has breached a rule, penalise him at the next race after a fair and proper hearing.

Lisa: I would like to see more strategy, I’d like to see them have a little bit less control over what happens in the races. Stop the minimum fuel drop and all that sort of stuff. It would be good to see more women drivers, too.

Charlie: I’d love to have more money to invest in the promotion of our sport. There’s so many things we could do, I wouldn’t even know where to start.

Mark: I think we need to be able to test properly.

When there’s a tyre test don’t just use one person to do that, they get a really big advantage even if they don’t collect the data.

We also need to make sure the control components are better. It is not good when you go down the straight at Bathurst and the brakes explode… as a team we can only control certain things and it is very disappointing when something you can’t control takes you out of the race or worse, puts you in a wall.

Peter: It is not so much the regulations for me it is about other things. I think like we need a night race just from an exposure point of view. I think we need to improve our digital offering; we’ve got a sport that is visually appealing and we’ve got a lot of data and a lot of information we could really do something to help the fans in the grandstand follow the race a lot better when they’re at the track. When you’re away from the track we can really improve experience, too. There are restrictions on what we can do as a team and there are certain things that we would love to do but we cannot because the sport owns that particular part of IP and that’s the rule.

Jason: I’d really like to make the cars sexy. Make them cars that people want to drive, not GT3 but aspirational muscle cars. I feel our fans over the past 25 years or so has been people wanting V8 muscle cars and I feel the cars that we’re racing at the moment don’t give that vibe. Listening to what fans want is more important than the manufacturers.

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WOMEN RACERS

Neutral WORDS John Bannon IMAGES Supplied, Peter Norton

Swiss driver Simona de Silvestro’s three-year full-time Supercars deal could be a watershed moment for Aussie female racers. With an influx of women competing in junior formulas and a talented bunch of females climbing up the motorsport ladder, we look at the careers of three young Australian drivers most likely to follow de Silvestro’s footsteps into the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship.

A

ll eyes will be on Simona de Silvestro in 2017. The Swiss open-wheel ace’s progress in the Nissan Altima Supercar will go some way in helping to break the gender barrier in Supercars.

As she battles the men in the main game, three young Australian female racers will be hoping her progress helps with their own Supercars ambitions.

So let’s meet Renee Gracie, Chelsea Angelo and Emily Duggan, the Aussie female drivers looking to follow in de Silvestro’s slipstream…

RENEE GRACIE

Harvey Norman Supergirls racer Renee Gracie took aim at some of her critics after finishing an impressive 14th alongside Simona de Silvestro in their wildcard entry at last year’s Bathurst 1000 at just their second attempt.

“As I get so much exposure I think people get lost in how long I’ve actually been doing this for,” she says.

“A lot of people give me slack for not doing so well. But I’m only in my second year of Supercars ever…a lot of people think because they see me on TV that I’ve done 50 races. That’s probably the toughest thing.”

The 21-year-old tries to steer clear of any negativity and has a message for the haters – some of whom she’s had to deal with since moving into Carrera Cup in 2013, as a touted rising star, after a series of strong results in go-karts.

“I don’t have anything to say to those people,” she says. “I think I’d be doing a better job than they would.

It’s not something I focus on. What gives me the confidence is the people and sponsors that I have on board.

I’ve got Harvey Norman and Caltex – not just small franchises, actually Harvey Norman itself.”

While not expecting to place 14th in Australia’s toughest motor race, Gracie says she and de Silvestro always had the belief they could score a strong result.

“Yeah, definitely wouldn’t have thought coming to Bathurst that we would have ended in up in 14th,” she admits. “It’s a pretty cool result but that’s what this game is about, surviving and staying there until the end. We didn’t finish on the lead lap, which was my ultimate goal, but we did everything properly. Simona and I didn’t miss a beat the whole time.”

Despite the good run, Gracie says there was plenty of challenges on the day.

“I’ve never been in the car that long either, that was our first challenge, and having tyres degrade,” she says.

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WOMEN RACERS

ABOVE: Gracie is racing in the Super2 second-tier category in 2017.

“The track was gripping up and the tyres were going away from us so learning all those things, which I’ve never experienced before.”

Gracie says she’s still “a bit bummed” about missing out on a better result the previous year but the experience was so valuable.

“The previous year I was gutted but I was so glad we got back out and finished; definitely made the pain ease a little bit instead of getting a DNF,” she says.

“It was tough because you obviously don’t want to crash, no one does. But, looking back at it, we still achieved so many laps and still learnt so much.”

Gracie says she hopes this year’s Bathurst result will encourage more women to pursue a career in motorsport.

“Yeah, it’s no longer a myth, we have actually done it,” she beams. “Hopefully we will encourage young women to make their way into motorsport whether its racing or engineering or whatever because we beat plenty of other people on track there so it shows that it’s possible.”

While admitting she gets tired of the focus on her gender, she doesn’t mind being a point of difference in a grid full of men.

“I feel sorry for the boys because it would be hard to stand out in a male dominated sport as a male,” she says.

“I feel pretty lucky that we stand out and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some negatives to being a female racer.

“One thing a lot of people think is that we get handed things because we are female, that’s not it at all,” she says.

“You still have to be fast. People spend big money on this sport; motorsport is a very money-orientated sport.

It is one of the most expensive that there is. It’s millions and millions of dollars and no one is going to spend that much money on you just because you’re a girl.

“I think it’s definitely changing, 20 years ago probably not. I think now it’s not that bad. I mean, teams respect us a lot more and people are willing to have female drivers like Simona and I. It’s not something I’ve found people do or don’t want. I definitely think times are changing and in another 20 years time it will be completely different again.”

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CHELSEA ANGELO

Angelo has displayed talent and speed throughout her career to date, but a lack of funds at times has hindered her progress. A mid-season switch from Dragon Motor Racing to renowned talent-spotter Matthew White Motorsport saw the Melbourne native tackle Sandown and Bathurst in genuinely competitive Supercar equipment for the first time in 2016. Angelo reflects on her first Bathurst in a Supercar.

“It was awesome! To race there was absolutely perfect, I was so excited,” she says. “I had the nerves creeping up but I was so honoured and blessed to be here. Unfortunately, the race didn’t go to plan but we’re still learning and as I get more experience in these cars we can do better if I get a gig again next year.”

Like many drivers before her, the 20-year-old’s first trip to the Mountain was tough. After a great start where she’d picked up a couple of spots by the first corner, contact with Matt Chahda coming into the Chase forced her to redress the position. The team discovered Angelo had a bent steering arm from the contact and two pitstop infringements later, one for spinning the wheels during the stop and the other for speeding in the pitlane, left her with some thinking to do post-race.

“Now that I look back it’s a massive learning curve for me,” she says.

“This was only my second time here but my first in a V8 Supercar and I’ve had a lot of people telling me to do this, to do that, so it was a lot to take in. My mind just had a million things to think about going into the pitstop with the wheel spin etc. So it was difficult. However, you live and learn.”

Angelo started her motorsport career racing bikes at age eight. After a couple of nasty accidents she moved on to karts at 11. After racing karts for about four years she switched to Formula Ford and then Formula 3, where she scored seven race wins, before jumping into a Supercar.

“In 2015 I did my first Supercar race with DHR Developments at Clipsal but, unfortunately, we couldn’t raise a budget to race full-time,” she says.

“We basically had 12 months off but luckily we had a test day with Image Racing in November at Winton.

Soon after we got in touch with Tony Klein from Dragon Motor Racing and he signed us up for this year.”

Mid-way through this season, Angelo switched to regular front-runners Matthew White Motorsport after Supercar driver Chris Pither assisted Angelo with some sponsorship.

“It’s a bit difficult jumping from a different team to a new team,” Angelo admits. “Obviously, we were running with Dragon at the start of the year and I can’t thank them enough. We managed to get to Sandown and Bathurst. Chris Pither has joined me and helped me along, giving me advice in terms of what to do.”

The Victorian admits that de Silvestro’s elevation into the main game probably helps all female drivers rise through the ranks.

“It definitely does. It not only helps me, it also helps other females in motorsport get where they want to,” she says.

“It’s awesome to see girls come up through the sport.

Why not? If it’s something that you’ve got a passion for, go for it. There’s nothing stopping you.”

Does Angelo feel women are treated equally in motorsport?

“Yeah, I think so,” she says. “From my side I’ve been treated fairly. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.

I don’t want to give up on it because people don’t want females in motorsport. I love what I do and I want to be able to pursue it.”

While Angelo has main game ambitions, she doesn’t want to rush in too soon.

“I’ve got lots to learn definitely,” she says. “I want to do quite well in the Dunlop Series before I even think about jumping into the Supercar series. I don’t want to be a driver that jumps there just because there is an opportunity. I want to be competitive in the Dunlop Series and feel quite comfortable before stepping up.”

ABOVE: Angelo is working on a budget to return to Super2.

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WOMEN RACERS

EMILY DUGGAN

In an era of professional motorsport, it’s uncommon to find a racing driver who only started after they left school. But, impressively, 23-year-old Emily Duggan, who’s raced Hyundai Excels and in the Kumho Series, bucks this trend.

“I moved to Sydney when I was quite young by myself,” she says. “I started working. I got my own money and I started thinking about what I really wanted to do. I thought, you know what, I’ve always had that adrenaline feel and I want to drive.”

Duggan says she doesn’t have family money and she’s constantly working the phones chasing sponsors when she’s not working. Those supporters now include Penrite and CarAdvice, amongst others.

“Literally everything that comes into my bank account goes to racing,” she says. “If you love it, are passionate about it and dedicated, it’s worth it.”

In just three years of racing, predominantly in her Hyundai Excel, Duggan has won races and has been a regular podium finisher. From day one she’s taken it seriously, working overtime to play catch-up.

“I’m up against guys that are more experienced,” she acknowledges. “These guys have been racing karts since they were seven. So, I thought, well I can’t just do the races I need to do test days and super-sprints. I probably did three years of racing in that first year.”

Success was almost instant. While leading in just the third race in her class of the Hyundai Excels, she learnt a valuable lesson about the focus required to win.

“I was thinking, I’m going to have this trophy, this is awesome, oh my goodness I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she recalls. “But I had let everything come into my mind and I forgot my braking marker. By the time I had braked it was too late and I spun off. I’m glad that it happened, because that’s been my biggest lesson.”

Duggan’s most memorable victory to date was when

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she won the one-hour endurance event in Series X3 NSW at Wakefield Park. After starting on the front-row she was patient and took her opportunity to pass leader Adam Bryant in lapped traffic.

“I thought I’m not going to win it on the first lap and I wanted that rabbit to chase if that makes sense,” she says. “Lap 22 out of 49 I took it back and led it all the way. So, yeah, it was awesome.”

2016 also marked the first time Duggan raced a Supercar in the Kumho Series at Sandown.

“This is going to sound really corny but every time I jump into the Excel I get a little bit nervous,” she says.

“But the first time I jumped into the V8 it felt like home.

“I’d like to do two years in Kuhmo just to get those foundations perfect because in the Dunlop Series they are racing to get noticed for the main game.

“I race to win; I don’t race to just fill up a grid. The Kuhmo’s are a really good base to build everything up.

So, when I do go into Dunlop, I’m giving it a hot crack.”

Inevitably, like any female racer Duggan, will stand out in what is a predominantly male-dominated sport.

“I think there are good and bad parts about it,” she says. “If you look at all the drivers in the Kuhmo Series, what sets me apart? First of all, in a list of boys names Emily stands out. But it’s about finding more. I want to get there on merit. That’s a viable path. The ultimate goal is to win a championship in Supercars.”

Furthermore, the Sydneysider said a major plus of Supercars is that it’s a sport where men and women compete on equal terms.

“There’s no women’s class and men’s class,” she says.

“There’s no rule about gender. I think the more girls that come in, the better. We can drive, we can race hard.

There’s nothing physically stopping us. We’re not body builders trying to lift the heaviest weight…I don’t really take no for an answer. No just means not now.”

ABOVE: Duggan is hoping impressive results in a variety of categories leads to Supercars one day.

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WORDS Cameron McGavin IMAGES James Baker, Autopics.com.au

It’s 20 years since Glenn Seton took his second Supercars championship win in 1997, the last success for a single-car team. He reflects back on his career following on from his recent return to Mount Panorama.

G

lenn Seton is still buzzing. He’s just got back from the kind of week any racing driver lives for – a week at Bathurst. He was officially at the Bathurst 12 Hour in an engineering capacity, but then came the chance to have a steer himself.

That wasn’t something he was about to turn down.

“Any opportunity you get to run at Bathurst you grab with open arms,” he says. “Even though I’ve been there about 30 times now, you still miss the place when you haven’t been there in a while. It’s a pretty special bit of road. That’s why we all

say it’s the best track in this country and probably one of the best in the world.”

It wasn’t a bad Bathurst weekend on the results front, either. His Castrol-sponsored MARC Focus V8 ended the day second in the Invitational class, just 8.855 seconds behind winning teammates. It was another chance to step onto the most celebrated podium in Australia.

Of course, any talk of the Bathurst podium and Seton inevitably ends up in one place – its top step and the fact he famously never managed to stand on it during his touring-car career. But he’s not too worried about it.

“At the end of the day I’ve stood on the podium many times, just not on the top step, and had a huge amount of rewards every time I’ve been to Bathurst regardless, whether it’s pole positions or standing on second or third,” he says.

“I look back on it based on how lucky have I been to do that and have the achievements I’ve had rather than looking at it on a negative side and getting screwed up about not winning it.”

Using the ‘best driver to never win Bathurst’ tag to describe Seton, frankly, does him a disservice anyway. The first title winner of the V8 era, the first Supercars

Seton defeated John Bowe to win the 1997 V8 Supercars title.

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(nee V8 Supercars) champion, factory driver, team-owner/driver and member of one of Australia’s great touring-car dynasties. Vanguard of our sport’s transition from the vocation of old hands to young, hungry guns.

FAMILY MAN

Seton’s recent Bathurst gallop was notable for the fact his son Aaron was one of his co-drivers. It was like the 1983 Bathurst 1000 all over again, except then he was the 18-year-old Seton and his father, Bo, was acting in the senior role.

They came close to clocking a father/son class win that day, too, building a huge lead in their Ford Capri until the crankshaft upped and left for the boozer with just 16 laps to run.

“It has been history repeating, it’s amazing when you look at it,” he says.

“You don’t think much about your earlier days until later on in life but to have that opportunity back in 1983 to race with my Dad and my first time at Bathurst, it was really special and to run with Aaron has been very special, too.

“He’s in the early part of his career and

I’m at the end of my career. It was so great to be able to put that together because you never know if that opportunity to have a drive together might ever pop up again.”

Naturally, Seton has big tickets on the third-generation ‘Seto’, who has already cut his teeth in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge, Toyota 86 series and Australian Production Car series and this year will be taking over the Ford Mustang his father took to second in last year’s Touring Car Masters title race for his own run at that series. Are we destined to see another Seton in top-level touring-car racing?

“He’d really like to do Supercars, there’s no doubt about that, but it’s a hard road to get there, financially it’s going to be quite draining to get there, the stepping stones to get there can be intensive,” says Seton.

“But he’s a really grounded kid and really thinks about what he’s doing. A good thing also is he doesn’t throw cars away and tear them up, so that’s a really good sign of being able to show the pace but at the same time not tear cars up as he’s making the pace.”

And the progenitor of the Seton motorsport dynasty, Bo. It must be special

for him to see the whole Seton father/son thing playing out again on the track?

“He watches everything that Aaron’s doing now and really takes a lot of interest in it,” says Seton.

“Naturally being the third generation, being a motorsport family all our lives, we’re all very proud of what Aaron’s done, especially my Dad. It’s pretty special.”

YOUNG GUN

If Craig Lowndes is the guy who threw open the door to young guns, then Seton nudged it open first. His Bathurst debut at 18 in the family Capri and some championship outings in it early 1984 were soon followed by an offer to join the factory Nissan outfit, run by Fred Gibson.

Outings were initially sporadic – Bathurst that year in the Exa, a run in the Bluebird at Baskerville in the final Group C race held in the country – and 1985 was a write-off as Nissan sat on the sidelines gearing up its new Skyline challenger for Group A. But when the Skyline finally arrived in 1986, Seton was ready to do the same. A shared drive in team’s second car during the championship immediately showed his

Peter Jackson backing allowed Seton to set up his own team, which would go on to win two championships.

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Seton senior and junior teamed up at Gibson Motorsport under team boss Fred Gibson.

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promise and soon he had his first podium finishes in the bag (Calder and Barbagallo).

By the ripe old age of 21, he had won the second-biggest touring-car race in the country, the Sandown 500, with teammate George Fury.

“Fred was great,” says Seton. “He was a really good boss, very fair and he brought a lot of good young guys on, which was fantastic for motorsport. That’s one of the big reasons the sport today is flooded with good young talent.

“And I was hugely lucky throughout my career, I got great opportunities... Fred, naturally my Dad – he had a touring car when I first started in sedan-car racing. So I got the introduction straight into it, from the ground floor, to become a professional race driver in this country. Those opportunities are much more difficult to get these days without a huge amount of finance.”

Seton attributes a big part of finding his feet so quickly in 1986 to having the best teammate a young driver could hope for.

“George was a really, really good team partner to have for the years I was with Nissan,” says Seton.

“I really enjoyed my time with George and I learnt a hell of a lot from him. When you’ve got blokes like that mentoring and being a help to you, it makes it pretty easy when you’re a young bloke at that age competing in a factory team. I’m really grateful for that era and being involved in that era with George.”

By 1987, the protégé was starting to outgrow the mentor and it was Seton who led the factory Nissan charge that year, winning his first championship races and famously battling BMW star Jim Richards for the championship. He didn’t win it – or Bathurst, where he finished second after bad luck with safety-car timing dropped his car behind the Peter Brock Commodore that would eventually be awarded the race win – but he found out that year he was good enough to.

“That was a pretty key year, knowing I could match it with them, it was definitely a turnaround in confidence and where I was heading,” he says.

“THAT INTRODUCTION OF THE V8 FORMULA WAS PROBABLY THE TURNAROUND POINT FOR OUR RACE TEAM.” – GLENN SETON associated with cigarette advertising, so Peter Jackson were forced to move on for 1989,” says Seton.

“They approached my Dad and myself and asked if we were interested in setting up a race team. My Dad and I looked at it based on it being an opportunity to set up a professional race team and make my career, make it so at least we could control my destiny in motor racing, not only as a driver but also as a team owner. I look back on it now and, gee, I probably would never have achieved as much as I have without doing that.”

It was tough going early on. The first Ford Sierra the team built for 1989 was destroyed in a fiery crash at Lakeside, putting it right on the back foot.

“That was an unbelievably tough year, to put together a race team and then to have to build another car halfway through the season as well, it nearly broke us to be honest,” says Seton.

But pressure makes diamonds. While Dick Johnson Racing’s dominance of the time, then the arrival of the Skyline GT-R, meant the big wins and titles escaped Seton’s grasp in the sunset years of Group A, his team would get its head around the Sierra and become a more and more potent player.

In 1990 he won the Sandown 500 again and that year’s Endurance Championship.

In 1991 he finished the ATCC best of the

Sierras and 1992 he scored the team’s first championship race win at Symmons Plains.

When the V8 formula took over from Group A in 1993, he and his team were ready to make the big time.

“That introduction of the V8 formula was probably the turnaround point for our race team,” says Seton.

“I’ll never forget the first time I tested the Falcon, which was at Phillip Island when we built the first car in 1992, the car we took to Sandown and Bathurst, and I couldn’t believe the grip it had with the wings and the front undertrays they had on them and how easy it was to drive compared to the Sierra.

“We spent a lot of that year building that car and getting ready for 1993. That was a really good decision in terms of where we went because we were straight out of the blocks in 1993, we were very competitive.”

Dominant is probably a more accurate way to describe Glen Seton Racing’s 1993.

Seton won four of the nine rounds, two more went to his teammate Alan Jones and they finished one-two in the championship.

Today, Seton’s only regret is the way he wrapped up that first crown.

“I won the championship sitting in a gravel trap at Wanneroo because I’d gone down the back to Kolb corner, locked the rears and I ended up parked in the gravel,” he says.

“That was a little bit of an anti-climax

TEAM BUILDER

Trace the history of today’s Prodrive team all the way back to the beginning and you end up in 1989 with the formation of Glenn Seton Racing. It was a bold move for a driver still yet to turn 24 and not without its challenges, but one he doesn’t regret making.

“Nissan no longer wanted to be

Seton won the first title of the V8 era in 1993.

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but it was pretty rewarding in terms of what we’d gone through for years with the Sierras and then with the Falcon and a new formula.”

FRONT-RUNNING FORCE

The team’s maiden title success was like the cork in a champagne bottle and the team would stay right up with the front-runners for almost the next half decade. While Seton didn’t win the title in 1994, ’95 or ’96 he did finish on the title podium each of those years (second, second and third) and kept clocking up the wins.

Then in 1997, the first year of V8 Supercars, his second championship, and the one he is most proud of today.

“When I look back on it and think about 1997, which was the year I won the championship when it was first renamed V8 Supercars, I had a very small team of guys,” says Seton. “One single car, I engineered the car myself and ran the car, drove it.

“It was the end of the cigarette era at the end of 1995, so we didn’t even know if we were going to go racing in 1996. The Ford Credit deal came along at the last minute

Aaron and Glenn Seton paired up at the 2017 Bathurst 12 Hour.

and we had to phase back to a single car because it wasn’t a lot of money. We sort of spent 1996 focusing on getting the package back together and everything working again. In 1996 (at Bathurst) we qualified on pole, we had a really fast car and that car rolled into 1997.

“We were a staff of six people, we had a very limited budget, we had a car that was really strong, really good, and we went out and beat the Holden Racing Team and many others who were spending a lot more

than us. I’m pretty proud of that year.”

Today, Seton is still the last team-owner/ driver to have won a championship. Can he see it ever happening again?

“I see where it is today and see that a single guy couldn’t do all that sort of stuff in a race team and win a championship,” he says. “I don’t know if it’ll ever be achieved (again). There are not many out there who are team owners who can actually run the team and things like that. I don’t think there’s anyone, really.”

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WORDS Adrian Musolino IMAGES Autopics.com.au, inetpics.com, James Baker

There are some familiar sponsors and team combinations on the 2017 Supercars grid: Shell with DJR Team Penske, Mobil with Walkinshaw Racing and more. In honour of these partnerships, we present the iconic team/driver and sponsorship combinations that netted success in the Australian Touring Car Championship/Supercars and/or the Bathurst 1000.

CASTROL & TOTAL TEAM ▼

In the formative years of the Australian Touring Car Championship, sponsorships evolved from suppliers. So automotive brands such as petroleum companies were the first to truly promote their involvement in the growing series. This included British-based company Castrol, which backed Ian Geoghegan’s Ford Mustangs in his run to four consecutive championships from 1966 to 1969.

Team from 1970, the season in which Beechey took the Holden HT Monaro GTS350 to the championship win.

MARLBORO & HOLDEN DEALER TEAM ▼

Phillip Morris took the tobacco sponsorship era in Australian touring cars to new heights with the Holden Dealer Team. In a deal brokered by the team’s customer and socialite Peter Janson, the tobacco giant first appeared on the Toranas in 1974 and ended a decade later with the famed dayglow livery on the Commodores that finished one-two at Bathurst in 1984. A more health-conscious Peter Brock realigned the team’s marketing with Mobil from 1985, paving the way for Marlboro to switch its focus to its Peter Jackson brand.

CHANNEL SEVEN & BOB MORRIS

Channel Seven’s coverage of the Bathurst 1000 launched touring cars

SHELL & NORM BEECHEY ▼

While Castrol had Ian Geoghegan and later Bob Jane and BP had Allan Moffat, Shell had ‘Stormin’ Norm Beechey. The Dutch-based petroleum giant took over title sponsorship of the Neptune Racing

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into the mainstream consciousness. And the network leveraged its coverage with backing of Bob Morris’ Ron Hodgson Motors entry, with the Seven’s logo doubling as his race number. Channel Seven increased its backing following Morris’ win in the Bathurst 1000, with the team known as Ron Hodgson Channel 7 Racing in time for its championship win in 1979. Seven’s presence on the car even prompted rival Channel Nine to back Kevin Bartlett’s Chevrolet Camaro.

TRU-BLU & DICK JOHNSON RACING ▲

Dick Johnson created his own team in 1980 with the support of friend and steel magnate Ross Palmer’s Tru-Blu company. The distinctive blue livery, which worked so well on the team’s Ford Falcon, made headlines around Australia when Johnson hit a rock while leading the Bathurst 1000 that year. Johnson’s return to championship and Bathurst success the following year ensured legendary status for the Tru-Blu Falcon.

JOHN PLAYER SPECIAL & TEAM BMW ▲

The John Player & Sons (JPS) English tobacco brand, also known as John Player Special for its limited edition product, can lay claim to one of the most iconic liveries in the history of motorsport, made famous by Lotus in Formula 1 and Frank Gardner’s BMW team in Australian touring cars. The JPS Team BMW won two titles with Jim Richards in 1985 and 1987 before the team disbanded.

PETER STUYVESANT & ALLAN MOFFAT

Allan Moffat’s career as driver/owner with varying levels of factory funding saw a number of brands back the Canadian-born Ford icon: Coca-Cola, Brut, BP, Federation Insurance, ANZ and more. But it 71

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was his partnership with Mazda that produced his best-remembered backer, tobacco brand Peter Stuyvesant. Moffat drove the Peter Stuyvesant-backed Mazda RX-7 from 1981 to 1984, winning the 1983 championship and scoring four consecutive top-six finishes at Bathurst.

Holden Dealer Team in 1985. Even in the midst of the Holden’s split with lead driver Peter Brock, Mobil remained committed to the ‘King of the Mountain’ and backed his Bathurst win in 1987 and stuck with him through stints in BMWs, Ford Sierras and back to Holden.

CHICKADEE & ALLAN GRICE ▼

In the midst of the tobacco era, Central Coast chicken farmer Graeme Bailey and his Chickadee poultry supplier backed Allan Grice and took one of the greatest underdog wins in Bathurst 1000 history in 1986. Chickadee appeared intermittingly on Grice’s Commodores at other events, including at the Australian Grand Prix support races (pictured below).

GREENS’-TUF & DICK JOHNSON RACING ▲

Dick Johnson turned blue into green in 1983 to promote sponsors Palmer Tube Mills’ new Greens’-Tuf brand. The colour scheme was set in perpetuity by Johnson’s qualifying crash into the trees at Mount Panorama in 1983, though his championship success in 1984 ensured the green machine could lay claim to a title.

MOBIL & PETER BROCK ▼

After moving on from tobacco sponsor Marlboro at the end of 1984, American petroleum company Mobil moved in as major backer of the

SHELL & DICK JOHNSON RACING ▲

Dick Johnson’s association with Shell dates back to his own Shell petrol station. The Shell logo appeared on his Torana touring cars with the association rekindled with the petroleum brand’s XMO oil range featuring on the Greens’-Tuf Falcons and Mustangs. Shell took over naming rights sponsorship of the expanding team in 1987 in an arrangement that continued for 18 years and produced three championship wins and two Bathurst wins. Shell stepped down as title sponsor following the 2004 season but maintained its links as minor sponsor, returning as the naming rights backer with the Shell V-Power brand in 2017.

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HOLDEN & HOLDEN RACING TEAM ▲

The most successful manufacturer-backed arrangement saw Holden team up with Tom Walkinshaw and launch Holden Special Vehicles for road cars and the Holden Racing Team for the race track. From 1990 to 2016, the Holden brand and iconic Holden Racing Team logo appeared on the factory-backed Commodores. The decision to strip Walkinshaw Racing and realign support to Triple Eight’s Red Bull-backed entries caused a stir amongst Holden fans, who believed the Holden Racing Team name and iconography belongs with the Walkinshaws.

BENSON & HEDGES PETER JACKSON & GLENN SETON ▼ & TONY LONGHURST ▲ With Phillip Morris seeking to move on from its long association between Marlboro and the Holden Dealer Team, it switched its attention to its Peter Jackson brand at the factory Nissan team. It began a long association with Glenn Seton that evolved into his own team from 1989. The Peter Jackson signage became synonymous with Seton’s Sierras then Falcons, including on the first V8 era championship winner in 1993.

A major sponsor of cricket throughout the 1980s, British-based tobacco brand Benson & Hedges joined forces with Tony Longhurst’s own team from 1988. And the relationship started with a bang when Longhurst and co-driver Tomas Mezera won the Bathurst 1000 that year. The relationship between Longhurst and Benson & Hedges continued till 1994, when the banning of tobacco sponsorship forced Benson & Hedges and co out of the sport.

WINFIELD & GIBSON MOTORSPORT

Winfield, the Australian version of Rothmans, arrived late in the tobacco era. But it made up for lost time by pairing with Gibson

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Motor Sport at the height of its dominance. Winfield took on naming rights of the team in 1992 with Gibson going on to claim successive championship and Bathurst 1000 wins with the Nissan GT-R Skyline R32. Believed to be a deal worth $4 million per season, the arranged continued into the V8 era when the team switched to Holden Commodores and added another title in 1994. The end of tobacco sponsorship left the Gibson entries devoid of sponsorship into 1996.

VALVOLINE & GARRY ROGERS MOTORSPORT ▲

CASTROL & PERKINS ENGINEERING ▲

One of the first petroleum companies to sponsor entries in Australian touring cars, Castrol increased its backing of Perkins Engineering in 1993. It coincided with the start of the V8 era and a run of three Bathurst 1000 wins in five years for the team. Castrol stepped down as title sponsor at the end of the 2005 season, though the link continues to this day with the company still in partnership with Kelly Racing/Nissan Motorsport, the team which took over from Perkins Engineering.

Lubricant producer Valvoline has been a regular sponsor of Garry Rogers Motorsport, from the team’s roots in AUSCAR and Super Touring to V8 Supercars. Valvoline was title sponsor of the team during its most successful season in 2000, when Garth Tander and Jason Bargwanna won the Bathurst 1000 with Tander recording second place in the championship. And Valvoline remains with the team when Tander returns in 2017.

PIRTEK & STONE BROTHERS RACING ▼

When Stone Brothers Racing emerged from Alan Jones Racing, Pirtek increased its backing and would ride the wave of success that followed.

The blue Pirtek Falcon became synonymous with success as Marcos Ambrose restored Blue Oval pride following years of domination of HRT with two championship wins in 2003 and 2004.

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VODAFONE & TRIPLE EIGHT ▲

The 2000s saw the arrival of telecommunication giants into the series with Telstra’s Bigpond brand taking on naming rights sponsorship of the series and Vodafone replacing Betta Electrical as title sponsor of Triple Eight Race Engineering from 2007. Vodafone’s arrival coincided with Triple Eight’s rise to the top of V8 Supercars and first championship win that season. The partnership between Vodafone and Triple Eight lasted six years and netted five championship wins and four Bathurst 1000 wins.

K-MART & HSV DEALER TEAM ▼

Tom Walkinshaw Racing expanded beyond its Holden Racing Team entries with K-Mart Racing Team from 2001. The retail chain’s predominantly white livery and sponsorship arrangement only lasted four seasons, but Greg Murphy’s heroics in back-to-back Bathurst 1000 wins in 2003 and 2004 ensured the branding’s longevity.

CALTEX & STONE BROTHERS RACING ▲

Caltex entered the Australian market later than its petroleum rivals, after taking over the Golden Fleece and Ampol outlets. After backing Colin Bond Racing from 1987 to 1993, Caltex teamed up with Stone Brothers Racing from 2000 and was rewarded for its commitment with championship success for Russell Ingall in 2005.

MOBIL & HOLDEN RACING TEAM

Peter Brock’s return to the factory Holden fold saw petroleum giant Mobil also join the Holden Racing Team in 1994. And Mobil remained with the team long after Brock’s retirement, either as title sponsor or minor backer. Following the loss of Holden funding and the Holden Racing Team name, Mobil stepped up its presence as naming rights sponsor of Walkinshaw Racing’s new-look Mobil 1 HSV Racing entries in 2017.

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RED BULL & TRIPLE EIGHT ▲

Austrian energy drink giant Red Bull expanded its global presence by replacing Vodafone as title sponsor of Triple Eight Race Engineering from 2013. The familiar red, blue and yellow colours have appeared on the team’s Commodores since, winning championships in 2013, 2014 and 2016 and remains the predominate sponsor on the team’s entries despite the arrival of Holden backing and the Holden Racing Team name in 2017.

PEPSI MAX & FORD PERFORMANCE RACING ▼

JIM BEAM & DICK JOHNSON RACING ▼

Alcoholic brands stepped up in a big way in the early 2000s with Jack Daniel’s replacing Castrol as title sponsor of Perkins Engineering in 2006 and Jim Beam following suit with Dick Johnson Racing in 2007. But it was Jim Beam and Dick Johnson Racing that enjoyed on-track success with James Courtney taking out the 2010 championship before the sponsor ended a six-year naming-rights arrangement with the team at the end of 2012.

Pepsi’s dynamic liveries were featured at Kelly Racing and other entries before the soft-drink brand moved across to Ford Performance Racing in 2013. Its split ‘fire’ and ‘ice’ livery may have been short-lived but raised plenty of eyebrows, followed on by successive Bathurst wins in 2013 and 2014.

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SHOOTOUT

OPEN-WHEEL AND TOURING-CAR STARS Lowndes to star in his arrival in touring cars, which then prompted a move to Europe to race in Formula 3000 before returning to V8 Supercars.

10 JASON BRIGHT ▲

After winning Formula Ford and Formula Holden titles and the Bathurst 1000, Bright’s open-wheel career continued in North America with a racewinning stint in Indy Lights and a ChampCar appearance on the Gold Coast before returning to V8 Supercars.

7 JOHN BOWE

Bowe won consecutive Australian Drivers’ Championship titles in 1984 and 1985 in a Ralt RT4 Ford before switching to touring cars and winning two Bathurst 1000s and a touringcar title for the Blue Oval.

4 MARK SKAIFE ▲

9 LEO GEOGHEGAN

The older brother to multiple touring-car champion Ian Geoghegan starred in openwheelers by winning the Australian Drivers’ Championship and Formula 2 titles, in addition to taking it to Europe’s best in the Tasman Series.

In touring cars, he scored two podiums in the Bathurst 500/1000.

8 CRAIG LOWNDES ▼

Winning the Formula Ford title and contending in Formula Holden paved the way for

title in 1980. After 12 grand prix wins, he transitioned into touring cars where he finished runner-up in the championship in 1993 and claimed two podiums at Bathurst.

6 JOHN GOSS ▲

The only driver to win both the Bathurst 1000 and the Australian Grand Prix, the latter in 1976 at Sandown. Goss also finished runner-up in the Formula 5000 series in 1975 and won a second Bathurst 1000 a decade later in 1985.

5 ALAN JONES

Jones became the second Australian to win a Formula 1

The only driver to win the Australian Drivers’ Championship and Australian Touring Car Championship in the same year in 1992. He won three Australian Drivers’ Championship titles, five touring-car titles and six Bathurst 1000s.

3 KEVIN BARTLETT

A star of the Australian Drivers’ Championship, winning the title in 1968 and 1969 and finishing runner-up in 1971, 1972 and 1974. Also in ’74, Bartlett won the Bathurst 1000

alongside John Goss and went on to challenge in his own Chevrolet Camaro Z28.

2 RUSSELL INGALL

A star of Formula Ford who won the Australian and British championships and Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch.

His speed translated into touring cars with two Bathurst 1000 wins and the V8 Supercars championship title in 2005.

1 LARRY PERKINS ▼

After winning the Australian Formula Ford, Australian Formula 2 and European Formula 3 titles, Perkins progressed into Formula 1 for 11 grand prix starts. He then returned to Australia to commence a touring-car career that included six Bathurst 1000 wins.

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As a racing driver, Greg Murphy saw the highs and the lows of the sport, and through it all he wore his heart on his sleeve. At his peak, he was one of the most loved sportsmen in New Zealand and he divided opinion in Australia.

He was known simply as Murph.

Love him or hate him, his talent behind the wheel was never questioned. Four wins at Bathurst plus the greatest lap ever driven at the iconic centrepiece of the Australian motorsport world stand him near the top of the pile. That qualifying lap stood unmatched for more than a decade.

He was runner-up in the V8 Supercar Championship twice and climbed to the top step of the podium 37 times in a V8 Supercar with wins in both Championship and nonChampionship events. He also won the Bathurst 24-hour race with childhood hero Peter Brock and scored back-to-back Championship wins in New Zealand’s V8SuperTourers.

In the troughs, he stood on the wrong side of the officialdom, scoring the infamous five-

minute penalty at Bathurst as well as an erroneously applied drive through penalty at Winton that cost him a chance at winning the 2004 Championship. He also had to endure some tough times as a driver as teams buckled around him and fate dealt a cruel hand.

He was fiery and never took a backward step, either on or off the track. His emotions carried him to a period of absolute domination at Pukekohe in New Zealand, and also took him to many a verbal stoush with rivals. Today, his honesty is known well enough to see him active in motorsport media on both sides of the Tasman.

This is Greg Murphy’s story.

Online only at: www.themurphbook.com www.ad42.com.au V8X97 p83 ad-Murphy Murph V8X Ad.indd 1 Book.indd 83

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