Motorsport News Issue 435 - September 2013 by V8 Sleuth

No. 435 September 2013

Australia $8.95 NZ $10.99 inc GST

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1000 Words Respite after a tough Sprint Cup season for Marcos Ambrose looked headed his way at Watkins Glen, where the Australian took pole and dominated the early running. But a third consecutive win at the Glen it was not to be as Ambrose exited the race after a clash with Max Papis.

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motorsport news

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THIS MONTH’S FEATURES Editorial

Group Editor Steve Normoyle snormoyle@chevron.com.au At Large Phil Branagan

Editorial Enquiries

Chevron Publishing Level 6, 207 Pacific Highway, St Leonards, NSW 2065 Locked Bag 5555, St Leonards, NSW 1590 editorial@chevron.com.au

Contributing Writers

Mark Glendenning, David Greenhalgh, Tom Howard, Edward Krause, Andrew van Leeuwen, John Morris, Bruce Moxon, Geoff Rounds

Graphic Design and Production Art Director Chris Currie Junior Designer Melissa Karatzas

Photography

Sutton Motorsport Images, Dirk Klynsmith, John Morris, Paul Cross, James Smith, Andrew Hall, Geoff Gracie, Sportspics, Michael Vettas, Daniel Beard

The Grid 16 Triple Eight’s ten years

At first British touring car outfit Triple Eight struggled to get to grips with V8 Supercars. But very soon it had things sorted, and five Bathursts four championships later…

Advertising

Advertising Director Chris West cwest@chevron.com.au P 02 9901 6376 M 0416 125 252 National Sales Manager Luke Finn lfinn@chevron.com.au P 02 9901 6368 M 0423 665 384 Chairman, Chevron: Ray Berghouse Circulation Director: Carole Jones

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F1 mid season review

Can anyone stop Sebastian Vettel from making it four world championships in a row? On the evidence of the first half of season 2013, it looks unlikely.

30 Nick of time

Level 6, 207 Pacific Highway, St Leonards, NSW 2065 Locked Bag 5555, St Leonards, NSW 1590 Chief Executive Officer, David Gardiner Commercial Director, Bruce Duncan Motorsport News is published by nextmedia Pty Ltd ACN: 128 805 970, Level 6, 207 Pacific Highway, St Leonards NSW 2065 © 2013. All rights reserved. Motorsport News is printed by Webstar, Sydney, distributed by Network Distribution. No part of this magazine may be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the prior permission of the publisher. The publisher will not accept responsibility or any liability for the correctness of information or opinions expressed in the publication. All material submitted is at the owner’s risk and, while every care will be taken nextmedia does not accept liability for loss or damage. Privacy Policy We value the integrity of your personal information. If you provide personal information through your participation in any competitions, surveys or offers featured in this issue of Motorsport News, this will be used to provide the products or services that you have requested and to improve the content of our magazines. Your details may be provided to third parties who assist us in this purpose. In the event of organisations providing prizes or offers to our readers, we may pass your details on to them. From time to time, we may use the information you provide us to inform you of other products, services and events our company has to offer. We may also give your information to other organisations which may use it to inform you about their products, services and events, unless you tell us not to do so. You are welcome to access the information that we hold about you by getting in touch with our privacy officer, who can be contacted at nextmedia, Locked Bag 5555, St Leonards, NSW 1590.

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Nick Percat might have switched from the Dunlop Series to the Carrera Cup this year, but his chances of finally getting a drive in the V8 Supercars Championship next year are looking better than ever.

38 Rally Oz

It’s that time of every second year again… when the WRC comes to Coffs Harbour for Rally Australia. motorsport news

20/08/13 2:15 PM

Unusual Suspects

60 That tyre guy

American Kenny Szymanski is one of the real characters of the sport and has some interesting stories from his five decades working with some of the world’s best motor racing teams.

Nick Percat Amid the fanfare behind new V8 Supercar winners Chaz Mostert and Scott McLaughlin, fellow 2012 Dunlop Series front runner Nick Percat seemed pretty much forgotten. Which is strange when you think about it, because Percat has also won a V8 main game race – and his win was in the Great Race, no less.

AdVantage Quinn

Most Aston Martins are at least a little bit special but Tony Quinn’s Vantage GT is truly unique, the only current model GT3 car racing in the Australian GT Championship.

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ELMOFO, bro…

It’s an unusual name but then this electric powered Radical is an unusual machine.

Going national

With the ANDRA Drag Racing Series now running in Darwin, and with a scheduled return to Calder later this year, the dream of a truly national championship looks closer.

Speedcar shake up

Speedcar racing is set for a much-needed resurgence with the announcement of a new national series.

Andrew van Leeuwen It’s a long way from Barbagallo Raceway to the Nordschleife, but former Perth boy and MN staffer van Leeuwen these days does indeed reside in Germany – and that gives us the opportunity to get close and personal with some of the biggest names in European motor racing.

Remembering Tony Gaze and Archie White

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Motor Mouth with Phil Branagan The Scoop with Steve Normoyle On The Limiter with Chris Lambden United States of Origin Box Seat Model Behaviour Trade Classifieds Retro Vision Parting Shot

Roland Dane When Roland Dane arrived here to set up Triple Eight’s V8 Supercar team he knew plenty about the British touring car scene but not much about how things went down down under. The early showings from Dane’s Triple Eight Falcons certainly reflected that, but it didn’t take the British team long to get on top of things. And once they did… 5

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Phil

Branagan

Motor Mouth

t is almost exactly 22 years since Michael Schumacher made his Grand Prix debut. Schumacher drove for Jordan at Spa-Francorchamps on that Sunday in 1991. Two weeks later at Monza he was in a Benetton, having been snatched away by Flavio Briatore and Tom Walkinshaw. Two titles at Benetton followed, and the rest you know. The late TW would be quite proud of his older son right now, I am sure. Ryan Walkinshaw has recruited former Triple Eight team principal Adrian Burgess to oversee what both men hope, no doubt, will be the Holden Racing’s Team’s return to the top of V8 Supercars. Just as Eddie Jordan was less than thrilled with Walkinshaw Snr’s coup, you can safely assume that T8 boss Roland Dane is similarly unhappy. But that is, often, how this sport operates. So, what’s next? I am wondering what may happen in Ford land. V8 Supercars racing can be a ruthless business and Chaz Mostert’s outstanding debut semi-season has come about only after Dick Johnson’s team made the seemingly harsh decision to part with Jonny Reid. Since Perth, Mostert has looked like a star in waiting, a point he proved by winning at Queensland Raceway. Mostert has clear links with what used to be known as Ford Performance Racing. Both that team’s drivers have contract dates upcoming, Will Davison at the end of the current season and Mark Winterbottom a year later. You can bet that their respective managers, David Segal and Paul Marinelli, are keen to do new deals for their charges; even more so, surely, since Mostert won at QR. 6

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Imagine this: you run FPR and you have a choice of drivers. What to do? Do you keep both your proven steerers with years of experience or do you go with the 21-year-old?. So imagine this: you run FPR and you have a choice of drivers. What to do? Do you keep both your proven steerers with years of experience or do you go with the 21-yearold? Davison and Winterbottom are in the prime of their careers; Mostert is at the start of his. He has won only one race – but that is one more win that Jamie Whincup had when he joined what was Team Betta Electrical, or Craig Lowndes had when HRT signed him (or, for that matter, Schumacher had when Benetton pounced). Davo and Frosty would be a safe bet, but is ‘safe’ good enough when over recent years neither of them have proven capable of beating, race to race, weekend to weekend, Whincup or Lowndes in T8 cars? Here is another curve ball. The vast majority of V8 Supercar teams have their drivers living close to them and in most cases, that is what the drivers want to. A list of the last decade of V8 Supercar Champions shows a Victorian living in Qld (Whincup); a New South Welshman living in Qld (James Courtney); a West Australian living in Melbourne (Garth Tander); a Victorian living a long way from Mildura, in Melbourne (Rick Kelly); an English-born South Australian in Qld (Russell Ingall); a Tasmanian in Qld (Marcos Ambrose); and a New South Welshman living in Melbourne (Mark Skaife). All these drivers

moved to be close to their teams. There are exceptions to that rule, but not many. In fact, over the last 40 years of the V8 Supercars/Australian Touring Car Championships, only three drivers have not lived close to the teams for which they drove; Tasmanian John Bowe with Dick Johnson Racing in 1995; Kiwi Robbie Francevic with the Volvo Dealer Team Australia in 1986; and Sydneysider Colin Bond with the Holden Dealer Team in 1975. When Burgess starts work at HRT, he will reunite with Courtney who recently signed a new three-year deal and who, currently, resides in southern Queensland. I don’t know whether the Courtneys will be moving to Victoria for next year; I asked the team’s current management and was told, politely, that was none of the media’s concern. Fair enough. Nor do I know whether Burgess will insist that is what Courtney does (and it would not be reasonable to ask Burgess such a question while he is on ‘gardening leave’ between his assignments). I would not even suggest that Courtney will not win much of anything at HRT while he lives in another state. But you would have to think that history does. And I think I can guess what Tom Walkinshaw would ‘ask’ him to do … motorsport news

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Trackside 171012_V 17/10/12 3:28 PM Page 1

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...and a great place to have your It could well be a museum for the motorsport enthusiast, but it’s not, it’s a next family get together or club function!

RESTAURANT featuring some of the best race cars and memorabilia in Australia. Trackside Restaurant combines great food, great wines, served up close and personal amongst an amazing collection of race cars reflecting one of the greatest periods in Australian motorsport history. On one occasion you may dine alongside Godzilla, the 1992 Bathurst-winning Winfield Nissan GT-R as driven by Mark Skaife and Jim Richards. On the next occasion you may be sitting alongside the George Fury Nissan Bluebird that held the lap record around Mt. Panorama for seven years with a staggering time of 2 mins 13.85 secs. Whenever you visit, you can be assured that you’ll be dining amongst a remarkable collection of cars. The atmosphere at Trackside Restaurant is child friendly, fun, relaxed and unique, and lends itself to any gathering, large or small. The extensive menu offers a choice of pastas, gourmet pizzas, seafood, chicken and salads—not to mention our renowned and succulent Stonegrill™ selection of the highest grade of meats, the freshest chicken and seafoods, all served sizzling on a hot stone, the flavour guaranteed to be second to none. Trackside Restaurant offers that difference in dining venues that we all seek—there is no other like it. So if you’re a diehard motorsport fan, or someone who simply enjoys great food and wine, come join us. WE’RE SURE YOU WILL WALK OUT A WINNER!

Visit www.trackside-restaurant.com.au or phone (02) 4322 4433 to find out what the Trackside Team can do for you.

TRACKSIDE RESTAURANT – Cnr Central Coast Highway & Manns Rd, West Gosford NSW

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20/08/13 1:17 PM

Steve

Normoyle

The Scoop

Clay Cross

ight racing at Homebush. That, according to a Sydney newspaper, is the dream of V8 Supercars CEO James Warburton. The new V8 boss has flagged an after-hours Homebush street race as the way forward for an event that is starting to look as though it’s on borrowed time. This year will be the fifth running of the Sydney 500. Whether or not there’ll be a sixth remains to be seen. Clearly, with the NSW government deal coming up for renewal against a backdrop of falling attendances and an event balance sheet that’s, well, perhaps not as balanced as originally anticipated when former state government MP Ian McDonald green-lighted the race in 2009, some fresh ideas for Homebush are sorely needed. Not that night racing is a new idea. After all, racing is held at night pretty much every summer weekend on speedways around the nation. But in road racing in NSW, and in particular at long-lost Oran Park, there is a rich history of it. Those old enough to remember those summer evenings at the ‘Park After Dark’ know just how exciting sedan and sportscar racing can look once the sun goes down. But night racing isn’t even new to V8 Supercars. The first round of the 1996 Australian Touring Car Championship at Eastern Creek was a twilight affair, as was the following season’s opener at Calder. But there the V8 Supercar night racing experiment abruptly stopped. The main issue was the cost of the lighting – or more to the point, who was going to foot the bill. In the end an idea floated by the Touring Car Entrants Association (the body that represented the teams in the pre-V8 Supercars 8

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In reality, Sydney Olympic Park would probably make a better night racing venue than a daytime racetrack. Australia), had to be paid for by the circuit promoters, and when the extra cost of hiring lighting was not offset by a commensurate increase in the gate, they quickly lost interest in running their V8 rounds at night. But 16 years on and a lot has changed. V8SA now stages many of the events itself, and that gives it the freedom to be able conduct the events as it sees fit. Whether night racing will make for bigger crowds remains to be seen. But it’s not hard to imagine an amazing after-dark V8 Supercars spectacle at Homebush. Let’s face it, too: the concrete canyons of Sydney Olympic Park can make for a fairly inhospitable place on a hot December weekend, but it’s usually nice and cool once the sun goes down. And the carnival aspect of the event could continue exactly as it is today, because the showground and ANZ Stadium precinct are already suitably lit. In reality, Sydney Olympic Park would probably make a better night racing venue than a daytime racetrack. But the big plus could be TV. Racing at night in prime time, in summer, away from the footy season – that’s got to be an opportunity to take the sport to new audiences. And the concept could be

developed further: we’ve now got a proper endurance series up and going, finally, but what about a separate summer night racing series to finish off the year? The real beauty of Homebush is that almost no extra lighting would be required. The track layout is 100 percent public roads, most of which already have overhead street lighting. And here is where the organisers must resist the temptation to install a custom lighting system such as we see at the Singapore Grand Prix. For me, the Singapore lights are actually a bit too good, creating a kind of fake daylight that negates the whole afterdark concept. Of course, the Singapore race must have the best lighting possible, because openwheelers don’t have lights. But touring cars do, and the fact that they do makes normal street lighting an option. Just think: brake discs glowing bright orange in the braking areas, the snaking trail of headlights around the back section of the course, before they become more visible under the stronger lighting along Dawn Fraser Avenue and the start/finish straight on Australia Avenue. It would be V8 Supercars with a touch of Le Mans, and those old days (nights) at Oran Park. motorsport news

20/08/13 1:39 PM

! e s lea

e R re

u t u F

1:18 diecast EF-EL Falcon Range Pre-production samples

Apex replicas is pleased to announce their latest project which is the 1:18 scale EF-EL Falcon model in high detail diecast with opening parts. The initial releases will feature cars driven by Dick Johnson and John Bowe, including the 1995 Australian Touring Car Championship winner and Bathurst cars. The pre-production version shown here indicates the high quality and ﬁne detail you can expect from the ﬁnal models, which feature opening doors, bonnet and boot. Keep an eye on Apex newsletters for further announcements and release dates regarding the range,or visit www.apexreplicas.com.au

- Full opening parts - High end detail - 1:18 Diecast

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Chris

Lambden

On the Limiter

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Dirk Klynsmith

eptember in Australia means many things. It’s footy finals time. This year there’s also a federal election (please can we get it over with …). For motorsport fans, specifically V8 Supercar fans, it’s the start of the ‘traditional’ part of the year, the long-distance classics. This year, there are several factors which add to the anticipation. For 2013, the Gold Coast event becomes a full-on domestic long-distance race, albeit split over two days. The international co-driver requirement has run its course, so the driver line-up will be as per the Wilson Security Sandown 500 and Supercheap Bathurst 1000. And so, for the first time in many years, V8 Supercars has grouped the three into a fullon, formal Endurance Championship. Given the diversity of race winners to date in 2013, picking a winner is a hopeless task. While the traditional endurance front-runners – Triple Eight, FPR, HRT – probably head the seedings, Garry Rogers Motorsport, Brad Jones Racing, Tekno Motorsport, and most recently even Dick Johnson Racing, despite its financial struggles, have all tasted victory in 2013. Missing from that podium club have been Erebus/AMG and Nissan, the new boys. While Ross Stone’s crew at Erebus have made steady progress, and were briefly in podium contention at Queensland Raceway in July, it’s not a stretch to say that the new brands, with their four-valve overhead cam engines, haven’t had the impact that everyone thought they would. Before a Car of the Future wheel was turned in anger, the common belief was that the more modern engines would more than match the push-rod incumbents out-ofthe-box, but complying with the category rev limit of 7500rpm has been the achilles heel. Overhead cam engines develop their power through the ability to rev higher and, with that constrained, it’s turned out to be a bit of a slog.

The engine parity situation is a puzzle occupying a lot of time within V8 Supercars’ tech department right now, especially as fuel consumption also becomes a bigger issue as the race length increases. Car of the Future – or V8 Supercars Gen 2 as it will become known, given the Future has now arrived – was launched as an equivalence formula; parity of aero downforce and drag, as well as engine performance. While the aero element has been fairly straightforward, the engine parity situation is a puzzle occupying a lot of time within V8 Supercars’ tech department right now, especially as fuel consumption also becomes a bigger issue as the race length increases. There may even be some form of tech adjustment before the teams get to Sandown. Other factors? Sandown and Bathurst represent the first significant extended test for the new cars. The only real guide was probably that opening pair of 250km races, at the Clipsal 500, back in March, although 500 and 1000km are significantly tougher tests. Clipsal raised a few issues in some teams with the all-new drive-train which hadn’t been apparent during prototype testing, in particular the all-new transaxle. Manufacturers Albins has been pro-active since in evolving a stronger unit, but Sandown and Bathurst will be the ultimate test of both the hardware, and the teams’ ability to manage it. So while the last few endurance seasons have had some air of predictability attached, for 2013 all bets are off. It should be a fascinating series. There are other potential good-news stories as September looms. If the latest rumours are

correct, Daniel Ricciardo may well have been announced as Mark Webber’s replacement at Red Bull (the decision was due as MN went to press). I hope so. I have to say, I thought the concept of Kimi Raikkonen wandering into the team had the potential to be as combustible as it was at McLaren when Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton shared a garage in 2007! Daniel represents a strong and stress-free partner for Sebastian Vettel (the latter a key factor for Vettel’s mentor/ father-figure Helmut Marko), and it will be great for Australia to retain a spot in one of the key F1 teams. Fingers crossed. September is also Muscle Car Masters time. The now well-established Sydney Motorsport Park Fathers Day event will again include a grid of Formula 5000 earth-shakers to complement the over-all tin-top Muscle Car theme. The legendary Ken Smith (Lola T332), along with Clark Proctor (March 73A) and youngster Andrew Higgins (Lola T400) are among the pace-setting Kiwis heading across the Tasman to take on the locals – including Richard (father of Will and Alex) Davison, who will drive the iconic ex-Alan Jones Teddy Yip Lola T332. As they say … be there! And if you live further south and haven’t yet experienced the historic Formula 5000 spectacle live, then there’s another very good reason to head to the Sandown 500. Yes, the F5000 field is moving south from Sydney to support the Sandown V8 Supercar round. F5000s at Sandown. Now there’s history … motorsport news

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motorsport news

19/08/13 4:43 PM

Mark

“

Glendenning

United States of Origin

The issue that apparently dwarfs all others in the sport, and falls second only to the strife in Egypt in terms of global importance: will Danica ever pose nude?

don’t know whether Charlie Kimball would ever pose nude for a magazine. Or Graham Rahal, or Ed Carpenter. I’ve never asked them. As far as I’m aware, no-one has. Until I sat down to write this piece, the question hadn’t even occurred to me. But I do know that Danica Patrick might, one day. Maybe next year. Maybe the year after. She hasn’t decided, apparently, but she definitely hasn’t ruled it out. Now, I should make it clear that I’ve never asked her about it this either, but someone else did back in July. Among the small sub-group of NASCAR journalists whose commission seems to be to deliver a minimum of nine stories per day about the ‘first lady of racing’, someone decided that this was an angle that demanded investigation, and many of their colleagues thought that Patrick’s answer was worth lifting for a story of their own. In the context of the sport, is the question even vaguely relevant? By most objective measures it doesn’t count as ‘news’, and none of the publications I work for covered it at the time, but I remain fascinated by the thought of what might have prompted a scribe to ask it in the first place. Over in IndyCar, where we have Simona de Silvestro racing full-time for KV and Pippa Mann and Ana Beatriz making occasional appearances with Dale Coyne Racing, that line of inquiry didn’t occur to a single member of the press corps. It’s not that IndyCar journalists are somehow more intrinsically righteous than their NASCAR equivalents. And if you judge the value of a story purely by the number of clicks it gets, then you might even argue that not asking was a sign of incompetence: It’s a fair bet that at the end of the year when various sites are looking at which stories generated the most traffic, the one with the words ‘Danica’ and ‘naked’ in the headline will be right up there. Timing-wise, there is one thread of relevance in that Courtney Force – NHRA racer and daughter of Funny Car icon John – was one of the athletes featured in this year’s edition of ESPN Magazine’s annual Body Issue; a kind of rival to the Sports www.mnews.com.au

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Illustrated Swimsuit Edition only with athletes in artfully nude poses. The big difference between the Body Issue and the Swimsuit Edition – aside from the lack of swimsuits in the former – is that the Body Issue features athletes of both genders. Indeed, Force is the only female among the four motorsport identities to have appeared in its pages over the years. Preceding her were Carl Edwards (2009), Mark Martin (2009), and … John Force (2011). If that was supposed to be the justification for putting the question to Patrick, then we hit a problem: based on the publication’s scope, why didn’t the journalist also ask Jeff Gordon, or Kasey Kahne, or Tony Stewart? (The possibility of being decked was probably an influential force behind the latter). When writing about this sort of thing there is always the danger of coming across as self-righteous, and Patrick has neither asked nor needs me to appear on the horizon astride a gleaming white stallion, ready to defend her honour. And that’s not what I’m trying to do anyway. I’ve written before about the disconnect between how Patrick markets herself (sexy girl racer) and how she says she wants to be perceived (don’t judge me by my looks, I’m just one of the guys). She certainly won’t have been bothered by the initial question, nor by the pile of stories that sprung up about it. The only people in the paddock who would have been irritated by it are the drivers who consider her to be a motorsport equivalent to Anna Kournikova: someone whose appearance generates more coverage than their achievements. It’s hard not to have some degree of sympathy for them. Yes, Patrick is a decent driver. And yes, her fame and profile are disproportionate to what she has done in the car. It’s at this point that her fans start to remind you that she won an IndyCar race, and they’re right. So did the guys I mentioned at the start. (Actually, Carpenter has won two). And the three of them combined probably sell fewer T-shirts in a year than Patrick does on an average Saturday morning at Daytona. That’s not Patrick’s fault. It’s

merely a reminder that popularity is not always meritocracy. All this is purely an assessment of her in the cockpit, as I have had no interactions with her beyond asking a few questions in press conferences. I don’t claim to ‘know’ her, and colleagues who do have a relationship with her claim to have had varying experiences – one high-profile journalist friend gets along with her really well, and another paddock figure who worked closely with her for years describes someone who was highmaintenance and annoying. So in that sense at least, she’s like pretty much every other driver you can think of. (Another quality she shares with drivers of a certain stature is that you occasionally see her represented in some really, really bad tattoos on fans. I spotted a full-colour example recently that covered the guy’s upper arm and looked like a vampire Jim Carrey wearing a wig and Motorola race suit). Based on my experiences, she’s maybe the only driver in the country – regardless of the series – whose profile transcends the sport. People in NASCAR like to talk about Dale Earnhardt Jr and Jimmy Johnson being household names, and once upon a time, being a three-time Indy 500 winner like Dario Franchitti would also have earned you a spot in the public’s collective consciousness. The fact is that Patrick is pretty much the only driver that non-racing people ever ask me about. And I get asked about her a lot. So while I’m still yet to be fully convinced by her as a driver, I absolutely recognise her value as an ambassador for the sport. But back to the original burning question; the issue that apparently dwarfs all others in the sport, and falls second only to the strife in Egypt in terms of global importance: will Danica ever pose nude? The answer to that is actually really simple, and should be obvious to anyone who has followed Patrick for any length of time. Every decision she and her management have made over the past eight years has been made based on whether they think the outcome will ultimately extend her brand. There’s no reason to expect them to approach this any differently. 13

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motorsport news

19/08/13 4:46 PM

Andrew

van Leeuwen

Box Seat

“

GOOD conspiracy theory is always a bit of fun. But there’s one that’s starting to genuinely annoy me, and that’s the theory that Red Bull Racing actually do things like intentionally fit fragile parts to Mark Webber’s car so that he won’t compete with Sebastian Vettel. They’ve been around for a couple years now, and when I first read these things in places like Twitter and Facebook, I thought it was funny. But as time has gone on, it became clear that people were serious. Now, while RBR will never say so in as many words, it’s clear that there is a number 1 and 2 situation in that team, and that Webber is not the number 1. It’s a situation that’s developed for several reasons, the most prominent being that, on average, Vettel is quicker. That’s not to say Webber isn’t quick – he very obviously is – but as much as Aussie F1 fans (of which I am one) don’t like to admit it, Vettel is special. So, when it seems like Vettel gets priority on new parts, that’s probably something that does happen. When it seems like Vettel’s strategy is the team’s priority during the race, that’s probably something that does happen. When it seems like Vettel is the team’s favourite driver, that’s probably something that is true. But all of these things are completely different from the team intentionally disabling Webber’s KERS system so that he looks slow. That’s not something that has ever happened. Formula 1 is a very expensive business. Building the cars is expensive, paying the driver’s wages is, for the big teams at least, expensive, and the operating costs of taking this show all over the world are huge. So if a team wants to spend a lot of money, it needs to make a lot of money. It does so through sponsorship, technical partnerships, TV rights, and scoring those very valuable World Championship points. In other words, it doesn’t make sense for the team to go to such strange lengths to have a car not scoring as many points as it possibly could. It would simply cost the team far too much money. The theory seems to have stemmed from Webber’s run of technical issues over the last couple of seasons. And sure, there have been issues. But exactly how many race-ending technical failures has Webber suffered since Vettel joined the team in 2009? The answer is two. You could almost call it three. That’s it. The first was Singapore in 2009, where Webber

retired after spinning thanks to a brake failure. So you can forget that being an inside job. Someone would have to be criminally insane to send a driver out on a street circuit after tampering with the brakes. Forget about it. Texas last season was a KERS problem followed with an alternator problem. It’s in keeping with the conspiracy theories, yes. It’s happened once. Just once. So there’s a far greater chance that it wasn’t purposely done by the team, it was just a KERS problem followed by an alternator failure. You know, things that happen to Formula 1 cars sometimes. The other one the theorists might get on board with is China this year, when Webber’s wheel fell off. Again, it would take a person of questionable sanity to purposely not do the wheel up properly in the hope that a wheel comes flying off and Webber is unable to finish the race. And what about Vettel? He probably would have comfortably won the 2010 Australian GP, but went off with a brake-related issue. He had the 2010 Korean GP almost locked away, and suffered an engine failure (which kept Webber, who had already crashed out, essentially in the title fight). The 2012 European GP, Vettel retired (from the lead) with an alternator failure. The 2013 British GP, a gearbox failure (while leading). Haven’t heard any conspiracy theories about any of these. At the end of the day, motor racing is one of those odd sports where your equipment can fail you. If you break a string on your tennis racquet, it might cost you a point. Then, you grab a new racquet and keep going. Cricket players seem to spend half a test match calling for a new ball, or a new bat, or gloves that fit better, or a helmet that is less sweaty. But in motorsport, you have what you have and if it breaks, too bad. And with new technologies like DRS and KERS, failures become even more likely. That’s going to be an even bigger issue in 2014 when the new engines come into play. Just to make it clear, this isn’t an anti-Webber story. It’s also not a pro-Vettel story. My point is simply that I can’t bring myself to believe that RBR turn down Webber’s KERS and disable his DRS so that he looks slower than Vettel. Being a passionate F1 supporter is fine, and I can appreciate local fans at times being frustrated with the seemingly anti-Australian feel from RBR, which is a product of Vettel being the favourite kid. But let’s keep the conspiracy theories at least a little bit believable.

The theory seems to have stemmed from Webber’s run of technical issues over the last couple of seasons. But exactly how many race-ending technical failures has Webber suffered since Vettel joined the team in 2009? The answer is two.

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When Triple Eight Race Engineering arrived in Australia to take over ownership of an existing V8 Supercar team, few could have anticipated the astonishing level of success the British team would enjoy in coming years. But 10 years on and Triple Eight is not just a winning V8 Supercar team, it is clearly the benchmark operation, the example which all other teams strive to match. Fellow transplanted Pom Tom Howard reflects on an amazing decade of this team in V8 Supercars. 16

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Ray Berghouse Dirk Klynsmith

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ive Bathurst victories, four drivers titles among 105 race wins says it all. It is no secret that Triple Eight Race Engineering has enjoyed a meteoric rise to become the dominant force in V8 Supercars, but what is remarkable is that it has taken just 10 years. Few teams will ever achieve or challenge the Queensland outfit’s record over the past decade. In the V8 Supercar era, the only teams to come close were Stone Brothers in the early to mid 2000s and the Holden Racing Team’s run of championships and (single) Bathurst success over the turn of the century. Rather, this in the realm of the sport’s great dominators, such as McLaren’s run of world championships during the late 1980s/ early 1990s, Peter Brock’s near-ownership of Bathurst between 1978 and ’84, and Audi’s imperious record at Le Mans 24 Hours. Triple Eight’s Australian adventure owes itself largely to Irish-born Englishman Roland Dane, who formed the team back in 2003. But of course its history goes back further. Back to the mid ‘90s, in fact, when Dane and his good mate, the former British F1 driver Derek Warwick, decided to form a team to contest the British Touring Car Championship. “When Derek stopped Formula 1,” Dane explains, “we both started looking to do something on a professional basis. British touring cars was very vibrant with lots of manufacturers in the 1990s, so we started Triple Eight Race Engineering with the backing of General Motors (Vauxhall). We brought in Ian Harrison and it just went from there, really.” The team wasted little time, and after building the foundations in the Super Touring era of the late ‘90s, Triple Eight went on to win three consecutive BTCC drivers and manufacturers crowns from 2001-2003 and continues to succeed today. But it was after Yvan Muller’s title win in 2003 that Dane became disillusioned with the path the BTCC was heading down, following the departure of several manufacturers. He even tabled a proposal for the championship to follow the format of V8 Supercars with V6-powered rear-wheel drive cars to several teams, but it came to nothing. In the end, he decided to embark upon the challenge of V8 Supercars by purchasing the Brisbane-based Briggs Motorsport team and its two Ford Falcons. “In 2003 I became pretty bored of the BTCC and frankly I still am. It’s a boring category for shopping trolleys. The category has got a little bit stronger now but it was commercially weak for a time. We had won

Life’s good: Well, maybe not in the beginning when Triple Eight made its V8 Supercars debut at Oran Park in 2003, top. Triple Eigth launches its first full V8 Supercar season, in 2004, left. Roland Dane and Craig Lowndes have made a pretty formidable combination over the past nine seasons, top right.

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many titles and I wanted a new challenge and I saw an opportunity to do something in Australia. So I decided to start Triple Eight Australia.” “I’ve been traveling all my life, so it wasn’t that big a move from that point of view – and I have a lot of family connections in Australia, too. It wasn’t somewhere I felt out of place; it was a home away from home but also it had a very vibrant touring car scene. “There was, and it continues today, more public awareness of V8 Supercars than there is of any other touring car series in the world. The recognition of Bathurst as a race is around 80 percent of the population in Australia, and around 40 percent of the population know who Craig Lowndes is. This is something I had not experienced in any other form of touring car racing. In Europe you have to get to Valentino Rossi levels to achieve that kind of recognition. “It made a move to V8s interesting from a commercial point of view, and the level of competition among the teams was very high. You see it continuing today. The cars were more exciting, with too much power and not enough grip – it was perfect.” And so the Australian journey began when Triple Eight fielded Paul Radisich and Dean Canto at Oran Park on 15/17 August for their first race. Radisich retired; Canto finished 10th. At that point – and indeed for a good while afterwards – there was little indication that these British visitors from the land of 2-litre Super Touring were going to get to grips with V8 Supercars, let along go on to enjoy the kind of success that they have in the years that followed. The 2004 season was Triple Eight’s first full campaign in V8 Supercars, and it did not go well. The kind of techniques that had served so well in the BTCC did not necessarily correspond in V8 Supercars, and in 2004 they went backwards, with Wilson finishing the championship a lowly 28th and Radisich

a barely respectable 19th. There was light at the end of the tunnel, though, with Radisich claiming second overall at the final round at Eastern Creek, in a result that gave some hope to the future. But that future would include neither Radisich nor Wilson, the pair being replaced for 2005 by Steve Ellery and, a huge signing for the team, Craig Lowndes. The latter would play a pivotal role in the Triple Eight success story. After a disappointing final year with Ford Performance Racing, Lowndes had something to prove and stormed to six race wins, including the team’s maiden victory at Eastern Creek, to finish runner-up to Marcos Ambrose in the championship. But Bathurst that year was the one that got away. Lowndes and the Triple Eight Falcon were clearly the class of the field, but any chance of victory was lost after he grazed a wall. Later an errant wheel from

Paul Dumbrell’s Commodore famously smashed Lowndes’ windscreen, leaving he and imported Triple Eight European star Yvan Muller to enjoy fresh air motoring for the rest of the race on a near freezing Bathurst day… But the milestone year was undoubtedly 2006. Ellery made his exit, and Lowndes was joined by a certain unproven quantity in Jamie Whincup – who wasted little time in removing that tag. In only his second race for the team, at Adelaide, Whincup cruised to his maiden win. So began the Whincup era. Lowndes recorded five victories but once again he was denied the title, by a mere 37 points to Rick Kelly – who famously won no races. By then, though, Triple Eight had already won its first Bathurst, as Lowndes and Whincup shared the honours to claim the inaugural Peter Brock Trophy. Of course, the real significance was not that this was Triple Eight’s first Bathurst win, but rather that the first Bathurst since the death of Peter Brock

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In 2003 I became pretty bored of the BTCC and frankly I still am… We had won many titles and I wanted a new challenge and I saw an opportunity to do something in Australia. 19

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Andrew Hall

Dirk Klynsmith

had been won by Brock’s protégé, Lowndes. More glory followed in 2007 but once again the driver’s championship eluded the team, now running under Vodafone colours. Whincup finished just two points adrift in second and Lowndes was third in the overall standings behind champion Garth Tander, with the pair amassing nine victories between them. Once again the highlight of the season came at Mount Panorama as Lowndes and Whincup successfully defended their Bathurst crown. Whincup finally delivered Triple Eight’s first championship in 2008. It was an iconic moment in Australian motorsport, as Whincup and Lowndes completed the ‘threepeat’ at Bathurst. Three consecutive wins at The Great Race had only been

achieved twice before, when Brock and Jim Richards won from 1978-1980 and Harry Firth and Bob Jane way back in 1961-63. The following season saw Whincup defend his championship and along with Lowndes they accrued another 15 race wins. It was a season of dominance that firmly asserted Triple Eight as the team to beat in V8 Supercars. Despite that avalanche of success, however, Ford had taken the decision to no longer provide factory support to Triple Eight. The logic of dumping its most successful teams seemed hard to fathom at the time, and indeed it logically followed that when the team that did most of Ford’s winnings switched to Holden for 2010, it then went on to do most of Holden’s

winnings… A clean sweep in the first four races of the season at Abu Dhabi and Bahrain for Whincup proved the transition to a different car was seamless. However, a championship crown was not forthcoming as Whincup was forced to end his run as champion, finishing runner-up to James Courtney – driving a Triple Eight-built DJR Falcon. A fourth Bathurst win did arrive though, this time Lowndes conquering the mountain for a fifth time alongside Mark Skaife. To add the cherry on top the cake, Whincup made it a one-two result. The next two campaigns saw Triple Eight continue its domination with Whincup claiming his third and fourth championship crowns. In 2011, Whincup and Lowndes

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Triple Eight Race Engineering

2003-2013 2003 -

Triple Eight take over Briggs Motor Sport and enter first V8 Supercar race at Oran Park with two Ford BA Falcons for Paul Radisich and Dean Canto.

2004 - First full season in V8 Supercars with drivers Paul Radisich

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and Max Wilson finishing 19th and 28th in the championship.

2005 -

BETTER

Records first race win at Eastern Creek with new recruit Craig Lowndes. The squad record six wins as Lowndes finishes second in the championship.

2006 -

Jamie Whincup joins the team and alongside Craig Lowndes and they give Triple Eight their first Bathurst victory. Lowndes finishes second in the championship again.

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Lowndes successfully defend Bathurst crown and finish second and third on the championship respectively.

2008 -

Jamie Whincup secures first championship and wins Bathurst for the third time in a row alongside Lowndes.

2009 -

Whincup wraps up a second championship title as team records 15 race wins.

2010 -

Team switches from Ford to Holden with immediate success as Lowndes wins Bathurst and Whincup finishes runner up to James Courtney in title race.

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2011 -

Whincup and Lowndes finish first and second in the championship with Jamie wrapping up his third title.

2012 -

Fourth drivers title for Whincup which includes fifth Bathurst win for the squad among 19 race wins.

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First season with COTF and become known as Red Bull Racing Australia. Whincup and Lowndes currently first and second in the drivers championship.

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finished first and second in the standings recording 15 race wins, but this was eclipsed last season. Whincup stormed to his fourth title, with Lowndes runner-up again. The team picked up an incredible 19 wins from 32 races, including an astonishing fifth Bathurst victory, a feat which would have seemed laughable back in 2003. This Bathurst win was arguably the most challenging win of the season as Whincup, partnered by Paul Dumbrell, had to balance tyre issues and a near-empty fuel tank while fending off David Reynolds and former Triple Eight driver Dean Canto. After so much success in 10 years it is hard to pick out the key moments in Triple Eight’s rise to prominence. For Roland Dane, though, there are three in particular which

he holds dear. “Winning Bathurst for the first time is one, then winning our first race with Holden in Abu Dhabi, and winning Bathurst with a 1-2 in 2010. These are things which very few people have achieved in the sport here. We have won Bathurst five times in 10 years – there have been people trying to win that race all their lives and fail to do so. For me it is the greatest touring car race there is, and at one of the greatest tracks there is in the world. It’s a very special event and achievement.” The advent of the Car of Future put a dent in Triple Eight’s dominance, although at the half way point in the season it looks as though it’s business as usual, with Whincup and Lowndes topping the points table. More than that, the new car has taken

the team to 100 race wins and beyond, and also also given Lowndes the machinery to become the most successful V8 Supercar driver of all time surpassing Mark Skaife’s record of 90 wins following triumphs at Adelaide, Barbagallo and Hidden Valley. “Its great to have a new challenge with the COTF for 2013 and it is necessary for the championship to move on,” Dane continues. “We have to keep in tune with the marketplace and keep the cars developing in terms of safety, and those things have resulted in the COTF platform. It has some good interesting new technical challenges and we are finding it as hard as plenty of other teams to get on top of this. “I wouldn’t say this has been our toughest season so far but by the same token it is as hard as any we have experienced, as competition is high and everyone is trying to understand the cars.” In motorsport, futures are never certain and this is something Dane firmly believes. Only just a few weeks ago Triple Eight lost its English team principal of two years, Adrian Burgess, to fierce rivals Walkinshaw Racing in a shock move Dane didn’t see on the horizon.

888 by the numbers John Morris/ MPix

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Round Wins – 58 Race Wins – 105 from 312 races Drivers Championships – 4 Bathurst Wins – 5 Won 40% of championships entered Bathurst win record 50% motorsport news

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entering its final lap, when Dane takes a second to reflect on the last 10 years and how his team became the second most successful outfit in Australian touring car history, he simply says with a beaming smile, “I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved with Triple Eight in Australia over the last 10 years and that includes everyone who has been a part of it.”

Dirk Klynsmith

This news has seen Dane return to the team principal role he once made his own in the early days of the team. Looking to the future he is realistic but hopeful Triple Eight’s success will continue. But he has revealed the tough process of passing on the baton of running the team has started to creep into his thoughts. “Motorsport around the world has an inherent fragility about it as it is linked to economic conditions, so who knows what the future holds? But I’d like to think that the team is well placed to have a solid future. For me at some point I will have to hand the baton over to the next generation of racers and it will be handed to racers and people who know and care about the sport. “It will be tough to do when it comes but the enjoyment comes from the family aspect of the team. We don’t all love each over but we operate well and have achieved a lot.” While the Triple Eight story is far from

riple Eight Race Engineering’s Australian history pre-dates its 2003 V8 Supercar debut. As a leading BTCC team, it was part of the two Super Touring Bathurst 1000s, in 1997 and ’98. In ’97 the Brits ventured down under with a pair of factory Vauxhall (Holden) Vectras to be crewed by team owner Derek Warwick and Peter Brock, and John Cleland/James Kaye. Things didn’t go to plan. Brock rolled his car during practice, and in the race was badly delayed at its first stop by the gathering of television crews and assorted onlookers. Warwick complained bitterly on TV afterwards – and from then on at Bathurst a total pitlane ban was enforced on the media (but not, ironically, on the TV crews which had been largely to blame for the shambles). Brock and Warwick finished a distant sixth; Cleland/Kaye did not finish. More pitstop drama awaited them in 1998 when Warwick tried to rejoin the race with the fuel filler was still attached to the Vauxhall. Several Triple Eight crew members required medical attention in the ensuring fire, although Warwick and Cleland were able to continue on their way to fifth place. No such luck for the sister ‘Holden’ Vectra, which Russell Ingall shunted heavily at the Esses mid race.

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here’s nothing like going to the mid-season break off the back of a victory, and presumably Lewis Hamilton will have just spent a rather pleasant few weeks luxuriating in the Monaco sunshine. And while Lewis might congratulate himself on what has been proven to be a masterstroke of foresight in leaving McLaren to join Mercedes-Benz, some other F1 stars will instead have probably been reflecting on team-change decisions for 2013 that, at least at the time, seemed like a good idea… But they might take some comfort in the fact that even if some others are faring better than themselves, once again no one is faring better than Sebastian Vettel as the reigning world champion charges towards a fourth consecutive crown. Andrew van Leeuwen reflects on the first half of the 2013 F1 season as we count down to the last months of the naturally aspirated 2.4-litre V8 era.

Red Bull-Renault (277 points – 1st) Sebastian Vettel Position: 1st Points: 172 Wins: 4 Poles: 3 Mark Webber Position: 5th Points: 105 Wins: 0 Poles: 0

here’s little denying that Red Bull Racing deserves to be leading both World Championships right now. In a season that’s be characterised by teams and drivers going through peaks and troughs, in many cases thanks to tyres, RBR has kept the troughs to a minimum. They’ve been consistently at or near the front on every Sunday, a feat that no other team has been able to achieve. And that’s the difference. Sebastian Vettel has been especially impressive this season. He’s bagged four wins, and has only been out of the top four once – and that was when he suffered a gearbox failure and retired from the lead of the

British Grand Prix. If he can keep that consistency up – and let’s face it, he probably can – he’ll be looking pretty good for a fourth straight title. Vettel has also managed to significantly outperform Mark Webber so far this season. While Webber has had some bad luck – and probably should have a win against his name given what went on in Malaysia – he’s still a long way behind his teammate. He simply too often struggles to match the pace of Vettel. The good news is that Webber is a pro, and won’t be too keen on leaving F1 without winning at least one. Expect it to happen.

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Mercedes (208 points – 2nd) Lewis Hamilton Position: 4th Points: 124 Wins: 1 Poles: 4 Nico Rosberg Position: 6th Points: 84 Wins: 2 Poles: 3

hat a strange old season it’s been for Mercedes. There is little doubt that the team has built a very fast car. In qualifying trim it’s practically unbeatable, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg having shared seven poles between them. But, at least in the first part of the season, there were so many issues with the tyres. The Merc just couldn’t make the fickle Pirellis last, and it became an all too common sight to see the Silver Arrows rocketing backwards through the field on Sunday afternoons. However, we may well be starting to see a change. With the new Pirelli construction (and, you never know, a little help from a certain test), Mercedes now

has a chance on Sundays. It’s come as a surprise for everybody. At the Hungarian Grand Prix, the last race before the midseason break, Hamilton made it perfectly clear that, despite starting from pole, he would be in no position to fight for the win. Then, he went out and beat everybody – and seemed genuinely surprised to have done so. For Rosberg, 2013 has been a very good season. Finally matched against a highly-rated driver, he’s more than held his own, and has added a Monaco GP win to his CV. Not bad at all. Can these guys catch Vettel and Red Bull to mount a real title challenge? It’s not out of the question, certainly if Hungary was any real indication.

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Ferrari (194 points – 3rd) Fernando Alonso Position: 3rd Points: 133 Wins: 2 Poles: 0

Felipe Massa Position: 7th Points: 61 Wins: 0 Poles: 0

et’s be honest, it’s not been a vintage season for Ferrari. And if it wasn’t for the genius of Fernando Alonso, it could be a whole lot worse. The funny thing is that there’s been glimmers of hope for Ferrari. Alonso has won twice, and, in typical Alonso style, keeps churning out the points. But lately, there’s been a little shift, particularly in qualifying. When Alonso is calling fifth place on the grid a miracle, as he did in Budapest, it’s not a good sign. Not that Alonso was wrong. He also conceded in Hungary that Ferrari is behind Red Bull, Mercedes and Lotus, and it’s fairly accurate. That he was reprimanded by the team for making disparaging comments is further proof that things aren’t going as planned. And if things don’t turn around quickly, Alonso can forget fighting it out for the title. As for Felipe Massa, well, he’s four places behind Alonso in the standings, which kind of says it all. Yes, it’s obviously a difficult car, but that’s a big gap.

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Lotus-Renault (189 points – 4th) Kimi Raikkonen Position: 2nd Points: 134 Wins: 1 Poles: 0

Romain Grosjean Position: 8th Points: 49 Wins: 0 Poles: 0

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otus and its drivers have become very good at finishing in the podium. It’s just the top step that seems to be a bit hard to find. The team is always threatening to win, that’s for sure. But apart from Kimi Raikkonen’s win in Melbourne, it just hasn’t happened. Raikkonen’s championship position has come from both speed and consistency. The Finn hasn’t not finished a race in ages, and has been in the points in every single race so far this season. He’s also been second on five occasions. Romain Grosjean continues to be so difficult to read. He’s going from being quick to slow in a blink of an eye, and still isn’t immune to making mistakes (as the Hungarian GP proved). If the Frenchman could just make the most of the occasions where he’s quick (again, Hungary), then he’s be looking much better in the points, and be much closer to his team-mate. The rest of the season may well be very important for Grosjean. He can’t bank on Lotus continuing to give him chances when he’s so inconsistent, so it’s time for him to either step up and become a good Grand Prix driver, or start thinking about a good Le Mans drive.

Force India-Mercedes (59 points – 5th) Paul di Resta Position: 10th Points: 36 Wins: 0 Poles: 0 Adrian Sutil Position: 11th Points: 23 Wins: 0 Poles: 0

t the moment, Force India is the best of the rest. It’s actually been a pretty stock standard season for the team. The Force India is good enough to snag the odd Q3 spot, and both Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil have made appearances in the points. That, combined with McLaren’s horrible start to the season, has led to the team sitting fifth at the mid-way point. Di Resta has been impressively consistent on Sundays, despite the odd wayward qualifying performance. He even strung together a six-race run

of points finishes between China and Great Britain, his highlight a fourth in Spain. Given that he had a spell away from the sport, Sutil has done a decent job this season. Three DNFs has left his languishing behind his team-mate, but the gap isn’t huge, and fifth in Monaco was a highlight. As for the rest of the season, holding on to fifth might be hard for the Force Indians, but unless something goes horribly wrong, they should take sixth, which would be an improvement on 2012.

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McLaren-Mercedes (57 points – 6th) Jenson Button Position: 9th Points: 39 Wins: 0 Poles: 0

Sergio Perez Position: 12th Points: 18 Wins: 0 Poles: 0

cLaren simply got it wrong this season. The car hasn’t worked on any level, with Jenson Button admitting after the Hungarian Grand Prix that the focus was quickly switching to 2014. And why not? McLaren is currently sixth, and while fifth is

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a very realistic target, anything above that is just so unlikely. Button is a proven quantity, and has done the best he can do with what he’s got to work with. But Perez doesn’t have that luxury. His move to McLaren has been horribly timed, and he can’t be happy, particularly given he had 47 points to his name at this point last season. The good news is he hasn’t been blown away by Button in terms of pure pace, but his inexperience has shown a little on race days, particularly when it comes to dragging a bad car into a points finish. Even though the team will already be focusing on next season, there may be a little light on the horizon for 2013. A switch back to an older-spec aero package might help a little, with Button saying after Hungary that he expects the car to work pretty well at Spa. Will McLaren win a race this season? Unlikely. But a podium or two would surely rescue fifth in the championship, and save at least a little bit of embarrassment.

Toro Rosso-Ferrari (24 points – 7th) Jean-Eric Vergne Position: 13th Points: 13 Wins: 0 Poles: 0

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Daniel Ricciardo Position: 14th Points: 11 Wins: 0 Poles: 0

t’s actually been a good year for Toro Rosso. The ex-Minardi team is well clear of both Sauber and Williams, which is promising. The car actually seems to have decent one-lap pace. But, a lot like last year, it comes back to the field on Sundays. In terms of the drivers, there is no doubt

that Daniel Ricciardo has been the quicker of the two. Yes, Jean-Eric Vergne has a couple more points, but for a team like Toro Rosso it’s qualifying that’s the real indicator, and Ricciardo has been the class act. That’s why he’s the one still in contention for a seat at Red Bull next season, not the Frenchman.

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Sauber-Ferrari (7 points – 8th) Nico Hulkenberg Position: 15th Points: 7 Wins: 0 Poles: 0

Esteban Gutierrez Position: 18th Points: 0 Wins: 0 Poles: 0

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auber was talking things up at the start of the season, but so far it’s been a complete disappointment. The team bet the house on its slim sidepod design, and it just hasn’t seemed to have worked. This time last year Sauber was a team capable of scoring podiums. This year couldn’t be more different. Nico Hulkenberg has done his best to help out, but just hasn’t had the tools at his disposal, his best finish being eighth, in the second race of the season. With Force India actually looking reasonable, he’d be forgiven for being a little disgruntled right now. As for Esteban Gutierrez, he’s basically performed as you would expect a rookie in an average car to perform. And given that he doesn’t have the experience to help Hulkenberg develop the car, it’s hard to see the team moving forward in the second half of the year.

Williams-Renault (1 point – 9th) Pastor Maldonado Position: 16th Points: 1 Wins: 0 Poles: 0

Valtteri Bottas Position: 17th Points: 0 Wins: 0 Poles: 0

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ewis Hamilton summed it all up during the Spanish Grand Prix, when he radioed his Mercedes team to tell them he’d just been overtaken by a Williams. That’s where Williams is at right now. When a Williams is driving past, you know you’re having a terrible race. It’s literally worth radioing your team about. Williams has one point. It was scored in Hungary. In other words, the team came ohso-close to going into the break scoreless. With that in mind, it’s hard to judge the drivers. Pastor Maldonado had been on the fringe of the points a few times before his 10th in Budapest, and Valtteri Bottas has seemingly done a good job for a rookie, particularly Canada, where qualified third. At a stretch, Williams might be able to chase down Sauber for eighth. But it probably won’t happen.

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Marussia-Cosworth (0 points – 10th) Jules Bianchi Position: 19th Points: 0 Wins: 0 Poles: 0 Maz Chilton Position: 22nd Points: 0 Wins: 0 Poles: 0

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here’s not much to say about Marussia at this point of the season. It’s been tight between the two backmarking teams, and it’s a 13th in Malaysia for Jules Bianchi that is currently the big difference. Bianchi has certainly been a highlight. The rookie has done a good job, and in each of the eight races he has finished, he has finished ahead of teammate Max Chilton.

Caterham-Renault (0 points – 11th) Charles Pic Position: 20th Points: 0 Wins: 0 Poles: 0

Giedo van der Garde Position: 21st Points: 0 Wins: 0 Poles: 0

ne could assume that Caterham would have expected to pull away from Marussia this season. But that hasn’t been the case, the two teams reasonably evenly matched. That must be a little frustrating for Charles Pic. The Frenchman would have hoped to be ahead of his previous employers, but it hasn’t happened enough.

He has, however, been consistent, and done a reasonable job. As for his team-mate, van der Garde hasn’t disgraced himself, but at the same time hasn’t set the world on fire. With half a season left to run, 10th place is still wide open. But the chances of either of the last two teams breaking through for a first point are so, so slim.

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r e d n e t on

c e Th

He’s a prodigious talent with an enviable junior record, and even a Bathurst 1000 win, but no seat in the main game. With his fellow ‘class of 2012’ rivals all graduated, and a prime V8 seat available in 2014, Nick Percat has his sights fixed on finally getting his shot. And as Edward Krause reports, if he gets it, he’s got a few old sparring partners that will be waiting for him.

ays like this don’t come along very often. One Sunday, at Queensland Raceway, two superstars of the future arrived with a bang. First Scott McLaughlin, then Chaz Mostert took out deserved race wins at Ipswich. It was the first time in 17 years that two series rookies had won races in the same year, let alone on the same day. There was one person who was watching on with a keen interest. Both Chaz and Scott, along with Scott Pye, graduated from the 2012 Dunlop Series, considered one of the most competitive in its history. The top four drivers won 16 of the 18 races. But the man who won the most of those races, who is also a former Bathurst winner, is the only one of the quartet who isn’t racing in the V8 Supercars Championship in 2013. Nick Percat admits to some frustration at being left without a main game seat, but he also finds some personal validation in the performances of his former – and hopefully future – rivals. “It’s good to see Scott and Chaz in there, punching above their weight and beating pretty experienced guys,” Percat says. “So for me, you kind of sit there and go ‘that’s really good’, but then you also get quite, jealous, or whatever the word you want to call it, a bit annoyed that you’re not in there having a go. So it’s a bit frustrating.” At a glance, Percat’s career story reads like that of a prodigy. After starting in karts he moved into Formula Fords at age 15, he won the SA State series in his rookie season. He was runner-up in a single season in Aussie Racing Cars before returning to Formula Ford in 2007. By this time he had come to the attention

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“

I’m just a little bit sick of hearing everyone call him (Mostert) a rookie when he actually made his debut here the same year I did in a V8 Supercar.”

of Walkinshaw Racing, which signed him on a long-term contract. The racing arm brought the then 18-year old into the fold and backed his racing while Nick would ‘fill up the rag bin and clean the wheels’ at the HSV Dealer Team during the week. It also started his mentorprotégé relationship with Garth Tander. “We come from very similar backgrounds, families that don’t have the funding to fund us through racing,” explains Tander. “He worked on his go karts, he worked on his own race cars and has gone about it in a similar way that I have. I could see a lot of me in Nick when we first started working together.” After finishing seventh in the championship in his rookie season, for 2008 he joined Michael Ritter’s Sonic Racing team. Despite three round wins he finished a distant second in the title race to Paul Laskazeski. Too many desperate moves and too many collisions cost him too many points. It was also making him very unpopular with his competitors. Even in the rough and tumble of Formula Ford, Percat’s aggression led to 32

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angst, with some drivers saying they didn’t want him in the series. “In 2008 I crashed a lot at the start of the year,” he admits. “I had really good pace, but was impatient. I wanted just to get through.” “Then in 2009 (Ritter) said to me: ‘You’re faster than everyone. You need to consolidate sometimes and be happy to finish second.’ That’s what probably helped us win the championship. We won every race for the first three rounds, which was a good start. Then when it came to rounds where we didn’t have to win later in the year it didn’t bother me then. So Mick really taught me how to win a championship.” Racing against a quality field that included Kiwis Mitch Evans and Richie Stanaway – who are currently racing on the Formula 1 undercard in GP2 and Porsche SuperCup respectively – and Mostert and Pye, Percat won 10 of the first 11 races. He picked up a further two by series’ end. It was here that the at-times acrimonious relationship between Percat and Mostert started to develop. Twelve months later

Mostert would go on to break Percat’s record, with 14 victories on his way to the 2010 title. Percat moved to the Development Series in 2010 where he went up against Steve Owen, Tim Blanchard, James Moffat and David Russell. He scored an impressive fourth in his debut at Adelaide and after three rounds he was second to Owen in the points. By then Tander realised Percat had something special. Since taking him under his wing in 2007 the pair had become close. Percat shared a house with HRT team-mate Will Davison during his championshipwinning year in Formula Ford and the three of them and Tony D’Alberto were regular training partners. “He did Formula Ford, and did it really well, but he was driving with Sonic and they were regarded as the best team,” says Tander. “When he jumped in the V8 he pretty much could just do it and was on the pace straight away. He developed really quickly and he got himself in a good place as far as his head was at and what he was doing from a skill point of view. So basically as soon as he started the Development Series you could tell he had what it took.” With a mid-season upgrade from the VZ to the VE Commodore, he left the Bathurst round still second in the series. While there was still the odd mistake, the banzai moves and blood rushes that caused so much angst in Formula Ford were gone. Unfortunately dual retirements at Sandown motorsport news

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ended his title charge, but at the finale at Homebush he drove strongly to pick up a pair of second places to cap off an impressive debut. Returning in 2011, this time as Coates Hire Racing under the Walkinshaw umbrella, Percat started the season well with a pair of podiums at Adelaide. Tander was so impressed he made the call to ask HRT to pair him up with Percat for the enduros. “I asked the team if I could have Nick with me for a few reasons,” he says. “One, I thought he’d be fast enough. Two, he’d matured enough to that point, and three, if we made the decision in March then he had six months to get his head around it and prepare effectively. All the preparation for Bathurst wasn’t about driving the car

and where to put the car at the top of the mountain, it was about pre-loading him with all the scenarios that I’d learnt over the period of time that I’ve gone to Bathurst so that he was ready for it. If something cropped up we’d already talked about it.” For Percat, having been in the Walkinshaw fold since 2007, going to rounds, watching Tander and Davison and seeing their experiences first hand meant being part of the factory team wasn’t as daunting as it might have been. But there was an element of the attention that he found tougher than expected to deal with. “Being a rookie, there’s a lot of people doubting; every appearance or function we went to there would always be the question: ‘Do you trust that Nick can do it?’

“I knew the team had faith in my ability. I had the Dunlop Series car, so that was nearly just a bit of relaxing time to get away, to be out of there and not having to try to answer all those questions that were getting repeated all week.” While Nick was impressive during the race, he made one well-publicised mistake at the end of Mountain Straight that almost cost them the race. “I knew Lowndes would be quicker,” he explains. “So when he showed his nose I didn’t outbrake myself or anything, I was trying to let him go through at a spot where I wouldn’t lose any time and just follow and learn off the guy. “I didn’t realise how much marble got built up off-line. I was only half a car off line and

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the next thing the rear of the car is sideways and it’s sliding towards the wall. “My first instinct was to try and square the car for impact and make sure I didn’t have any steering lock on the car as it hit. Luckily I hit dead square, I think it was more arse than anything.” Whether it was arse or class, Percat recovered his composure and was able to hand the car over to Tander in a strong position. GT withstood the late Lowndes charge to win, and Percat became the first rookie Bathurst winner in 34 years. But his celebrations were less than low-key. “Mentally the race is draining,” he explains. “I can remember getting back to the hotel room and HRT had a big dinner on that night. I remember missing the majority of it because I sat down and fell asleep because I was just mentally drained. “We won it so then you’ve got your podium, press conferences, Channel 7 cross, every single media person around wanting a bit of you. So you’re at the track quite late. And then the day after is quite hard because you’re up for the cross on Sunrise at the track, then you drive to Sydney and the whole way to Sydney you don’t get off the phone. I loved every minute of it, and I’d love to do it every Monday after Bathurst, but it is quite draining. “It changed my world a lot, really. I’ll never forget that week, or the week leading up because it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to my career or life. All I’ve ever wanted to do was race V8s, win Bathurst and to tick off that one straight away was unbelievable.” Percat’s Bathurst win was also his first V8 Supercar race victory. It would also be his only of 2011. Percat would eventually finish the 2011 Dunlop Series seventh with fewer points and podiums than in 2010, but more retirements and penalty points. He would also finish behind rookies McLaughlin and Mostert. While a Bathurst victory can make a career, in Percat’s unique case it possibly saved his. Two seasons in Walkinshaw equipment had netted not a single victory in the feeder series. There was no question he had talent and potential. But he needed to re-learn how to build a championship and harness those win-at-all-costs instincts. In 2012 Percat returned to the Mountain in both his Dunlop Series car and as co-driver to Tander. He was fourth in the title race, despite having the same number of wins as series leader Mostert. A ‘dumb racing incident’ in Perth and then getting wiped out when ‘The Dude (Paul Morris) missed his braking marker’ at Ipswich had put him on the back foot as far as the championship goes. But a clean sweep at Bathurst got his title charge back on track. And then came the Saturday press conference. “You’ve been here three years too – you’re no rookie. You’ve been going to Bathurst the 34

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“

I can remember getting back to the hotel room and HRT had a big dinner on that night. I remember missing the majority of it because I sat down and fell asleep because I was just mentally drained.”

same amount of years as me.” The Dunlop Series press conferences don’t usually get a lot of attention. But this one made headlines. Chaz Mostert used the term ‘rookie error’ to describe a mistake he made. Percat responded with annoyance at the term. After a little back and forth between the two drivers, Mostert responded with ‘See you at Winton’. “I’m just a little bit sick of hearing everyone call him a rookie when he actually made his debut here the same year I did in a V8 Supercar,” Percat said afterwards. Percat is a very straight talker – for better or for worse – and it’s something Tander says he’s been working on with him. “He’s an angry little man sometimes!” says Tander. “I saw a lot of myself in him (that way) as well. It probably took him a while to learn that there’s a time and place on how to say things and where to say things. He’s probably still learning that.” Percat laughs off the Bathurst incident as a continuation of the mind games he and Mostert have engaged in for years. “I think the reason we have such a big

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rivalry is we’re very, very similar. We both have good pace, we both race hard and we’re both similar off the track. We’ve raced like this since Formula Ford. We’ve played the same games with each other, it’s just what we do. At Bathurst everyone was like ‘Oh, I can’t believe you said that!’ We just wind each other up; it’s really more in good fun, you know. He tries the same games on me. It’s just we’re very competitive and we’re trying to get the edge over each other.” When talking about Bathurst recently, Russell Ingall said: “If you go there and try and tame it, or think you’ve tamed it on the first attempt, you’ll end up buried in a wall, simple as that.” One year on from his greatest day, Nick Percat was absorbing this lesson. A small mistake and he was in the wall at the Esses. Drivers will tell you that failure at Bathurst hurts more than any other race, especially if it’s your fault. Percat was experiencing all of that on Sunday night – an emotional state that could not have been more polar opposite to 12 months prior. “It took quite a while, really (to get over it),

because you’re not just letting down yourself, you’re letting down a lot of people in the team. The lead up to it everyone works so hard and you feel like you’ve let down everyone. There’s such hype around the event and then to have a result like that is pretty devastating.” It was a full six weeks between Bathurst and Winton. It was enough time for the crash to either mess with his head, or for him to clear it and get on with the job. Two wins and a second provided an emphatic answer, and he went into the final at Homebush with a chance of taking the title. Unfortunately that chance was gone on the first lap. After taking the lead at the start of race one, Percat ran wide on the exit of turn five and hit the wall. “If I finished second to McLaughlin in race one it was all over – I had to beat him,” he explains. “Obviously I pushed too hard on cold tyres. But I wasn’t interested in coming second. I was all out to win it.” Looking back, he reflects on the positives and what he learned during the

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Young Talent Time: Percat, Scott McLaughlin and Chaz Mostert lead the Dunlop Series at Bathurst last year, above. All three have now won main game V8 Supercar races, but only Percat doesn’t have a regular drive. Percat celebrates his victory at Winton last year, above right, flanked by Scott Pye and Dale Wood. At Homebush last year, below.

2012 campaign. “The biggest thing was just racing hard. It was really good with Scotty McLaughlin, Chaz and Pye. We were obviously all close at times and we all raced extremely hard and we never really crashed into each other. I think it’s taught us how to race clean and that’s what you need to be able to do.”

With no Walkinshaw Racing opening in the main series for 2013, Percat entered the Carrera Cup where, for the first time, he is racing against far more experienced racers like Craig Baird, Steven Richards, Warren Luff and others. His pace has been clear, with poles in the opening two rounds and plenty of podiums, but thus far he hasn’t been able to beat Baird one-on-one. “I knew the competition would be very high. Bairdo – the guy can drive a Porsche better than most people in the world. To be honest, I’m driving the car harder than I had to in the V8 to win. You drive every lap like a qualifying lap, so I’ve learned a lot this year.”

He’s also learning that the mind games he’s played on Chaz and others don’t work on an older driver who’s seen them all before. “With Bairdo, there’s been words exchanged in a couple of rounds. Trying to get the edge over him is proving difficult. To him, I’m just a young whippersnapper trying to rattle him and it’s not going to happen. So I need to beat him on the track. It’s been good. It’s just as intense as any rivalry I’ve had – probably harder because he’s a lot more experienced than me.” And while the Cup series has opened his eyes to other possibilities through the Porsche network, such as SuperCup, his number one priority is getting a crack at the

Paul Cross

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main series in 2014. That seemed to hit a hurdle when Percat was loaned out to Walkinshaw customer D’Alberto instead of joining Tander for a third year. While there was much conjecture about why they weren’t linking up again, Percat had no explanation. “There wasn’t a conversation,” he says. “I just didn’t get included. The first conversation was that I’d be driving with Tony. So that’s all there is about that.” When we asked Tander about the omission, he admitted that it had caught him out as well, but also saw a positive in it. “Yeah, I was a bit surprised. But in some ways it’s actually a good thing for him,

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because I think a lot of the time was probably getting tagged as the mini-Garth and he needs to do his own thing a little bit and come out of that shadow. Not driving with me was probably disappointing for him, but I think ultimately it’ll probably help him. He’s got a lot of time ahead of him, a lot of Bathursts to go.” But by Townsville only Greg Murphy had been confirmed for HRT so there were still two seats available. Then, eight days after the Townsville event, it was announced the Nick would be rejoining HRT and Tander for a third straight year. Nick’s future could be directly tied to the Supercheap Auto Racing seat for 2014. In the

final year of his contract with Walkinshaw Racing, a drive will become available at exactly the right time for Percat to step up. And with him back with Tander for the enduros, there’s an excellent chance for him to push his claim. Which presents the tantalising prospect of seeing McLaughlin, Mostert and Percat going head to head once more. V8s needs great rivalries and strong personalities, and Percat would bring that in spades. And if he does, then hopefully one day soon Mostert will again be telling Percat – ‘See you at Winton’. And you can be sure Nick’s reply will be like his driving – direct, uncompromising with a hint of ruthless.

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Worth t

The World Rally Championship makes its bi-annual visit to our shores this m of factory teams and drivers, and a title that might be still on the line, for lo 38

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All images Sutton Images

the wait

ores this month for the Coates Hire Rally Australia and, with a healthy array ne, for local rally fans the 24 months will have been worth the wait. www.mnews.com.au

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hether or not the 2013 World Rally Championship will be still up for grabs when the WRC circus sets up in Coffs Harbour for the Coates Hire Rally Australia depends on what happens in the Rallye Deutschland on August 23-25. Sebastien Ogier went to Germany with a healthy 90-point lead over joint secondplaced Jari-Matti Latvala and Thierry Neuville. Ogier is in a commanding position, but if things don’t go his way in Germany, then the Frenchman could be crowned in Australia. “The most important thing is that it happens,” the Volkswagen driver says. “I don’t care where, if it’s Australia, France or even later, I will be very happy for that.” In addition to Volkswagen team-mate Latvala and Ford Fiesta driver Neuville, Ogier will face the works Citroen of 2011 Rally Australia winner Mikko Hirvonen, Russian Evgeny Novikov and Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi. Hirvonen will be out to protect what is a clean sweep of victories in this event, having also won in 2009, both in Fords. Hirvonen also won the previous Rally Australia in 2006, the last time the event was held in Western Australia. On the local front, Molly Taylor has been a late withdrawal, but Coffs Harbour’s Nathan Quinn has secured an outright-class MINI John Cooper Works WRC drive with an Italian team. Quinn ran the previous two Coffs Harbour Rally Australia events in junior Flying south: Sebastien Ogier will land in Australia either as the new world champ or in a position to seal the deal down under, top, centre left. Mikko Hirvonen, centre right, returns to try to make it four Rally Australia wins in a row. Flying Russian Evgeny Novikov, right.

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2013 Bathurst

12 Hour Highlights

In the year that commemorates the 75th birthday of Mount Panorama, the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour turned on probably the best endurance race ever seen at Bathurst. It was a properly international contest, featuring no less than 19 entries that were either wholly international or which had an all-international driver line up. It was also the biggest field of GT3 sports cars ever assembled on the Mountain, and in the end the victory fell to an all-time legend of the sport in German ace Bernd Schneider, who was teamed with fellow countrymen Thomas Jaeger and Alex Roloff in a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. In typical Mountain style, the race had a climactic ending as heavy showers threatened to derail the German crew’s lead as Craig Baird chased them down in his Ferrari 458. An epic contest, and one that looks to have put the Event firmly on the international map. So sit back to witness almost three hours of non-stop motorsport action from the best around the world at our Mountain.

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20/08/13 3:13 PM

When and where

he rally will be run over 22 special stages from Thursday to Sunday, including the ARMOR ALL Super Special Stages on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at the Rally Hub in Brelsford Park in the centre of Coffs Harbour The event starts with a qualifying session on Thursday morning followed by the Ceremonial Start in Coffs Harbour on Thursday afternoon. That night the first AMOR ALL Super Special Stage will be held at Brelsford Park

Friday:

“

Spectating will be easy at almost 30 dedicated points on daytime Special Stages, all less than an hour’s drive north, west or south of Coffs Harbour.

category cars but this will be his debut in the big time. While the final list was still to be confirmed, organisers expect up to 28 international entries for a total of 70 cars. The chance of the championship being decided in Coffs is merely the cherry on the cake – because regardless of the title’s status on September 12-15, we can expect an impressive spectacle: some of the world’s best rally drivers in factory cars tackling the scenic forest tracks and rural roads of the picturesque mid north coast of NSW. Not only that, but the event will also feature the best of the local rally scene, with the penultimate round of the East Coast Bullbars Australian Rally Championship running concurrently. Eli Evans enjoys a commanding lead in the ARC and the Honda driver will be looking to push even further ahead of main rival Scott Pedder and his Renault. In addition to the ARC, the event also hosts rounds of the Australian Side by Side Challenge and the Australian Off Road Championship. The off roaders will run on a separate course at Glenugie, north of Coffs Harbour. Spectating will be easy at almost 30 dedicated points on daytime Special Stages, all less than an hour’s drive north, west or south of Coffs Harbour. Every night, the Rally Hub at Brelsford Park near the Coffs CBD hosts the arena-style ARMOR ALL Super Special Stage, entertainment and the busy teams’ Service Park. As a bi-annual WRC round shared with New Zealand, this is the third Rally Australia to be held at Coffs since the event’s 2009 rebirth. The share arrangement with New Zealand was initially seen by some as an unfortunate compromise but in some ways it makes the event all the more special. This is, after all, the Formula One of rallying, and it does not even come once a year…

The tight and twist tracks of Tuckers Nob state forest welcomes the world’s best rally drivers to the unique challenges of Rally Australia. Crews then travel through Bellingen town centre to the Newry state forest and two fast and more traditional stages- Bellingen at 10km and then the longest stage of the day called Newry – each with good spectator locations. Spectators on the Newry stage will also see the very popular Classic rally cars make a double pass whilst waiting for the WRC cars to return for their second run.

Saturday: Today we head south into the beautiful fast and flowing open roads of the Nambucca 50km long endurance stage which could well determine the overall outcome of the event. Several fantastic spectator points are available in the Nambucca stage. Crews then visit Bowraville for a brief refuel and tyre swap before tackling the Valla stage and a return to Coffs for a main Service in readiness to tackle the same loop of Nambucca and Valla in the afternoon.

Sunday: Heading north and east out of Coffs Harbour, crews tackle a very demanding Bucca stage along forest ridge lines then into the Wedding Bells stage and the Flooded Gum Rally Village which has several spectator points all located within a short walk of each other in a cleared forest oasis which gives spectators the opportunity to see the cars come and go for extended distances. Crews then travel into Glenreagh for a quick refuel before tackling the Shipmans stage complete with the now famous water splash located off Tallawudjah Road. The afternoon loop repeats all three stages.

- The Rally Hub at Brelsford Park will not only include the AMOR ALL Super Special Stages and Hi-Tec Oils Service Park but also nightly entertainment including the Red Bull Stunt Plane, RAAF Roulettes stunt team, X Games gold medalist Cam Sinclair, 2012 X Factor winner Samantha Jade and AC/DC tribute band Thunderstruck and on Thursday a spectacular action display by competitors in the Australian Off Road Championship. - A big screen at the Super Special Stage will keep Rally Hub visitors up to date with the action day and night.

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Contact Stephen on 0413 motorsport 389 332 news 13/06/13 20/08/13 12:37 1:42 PM

s i h t r o f t u o e y e r u o y p Kee D series

V D w e n t a gre

Two Great New Releases BATHURST 1978 HARDIE FERODO 1000 A massive eight and a half hours of race day coverage from a famous Bathurst classic … With nine wins in the Bathurst endurance classic, there’s no doubting why Peter Brock was – and still is – known as the ‘King of the Mountain’. To celebrate the 35th anniversary of the first win by Holden’s mighty Torana A9X in Australia’s ‘Great Race’, Chevron has dug into the archives of the Seven Network to release the 1978 race for the very first time.

GROUP A TOURING CAR CLASSIC The Group A era of the Australian Touring Car Championship between 1985 and 1992 saw a wide range of cars from different brands tackle one another on tracks all over the country. For the first time, Chevron is releasing three of the best races from the 1980s on this special edition release – plus a bonus extra race, all from the Seven Network archive.

Available Now u a . m o c . s e n i z a www.mymag 7 Combo.indd 1

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motorsport news

19/08/13 3:42 PM

A morning at the

Museum Kenny Szymanski is one of the real characters of the sport. The American is in his fifth decade as a member of some of the world’s best motor racing teams – Team Lotus, Jaguar Racing and now, the Holden Racing Team. Between races, trans-Atlantic flights and travel tips Phil Branagan listened to his interesting stories.

he Upper East Side of Manhattan may be about the last place you would expect to find a place that is all things Formula 1. Apartment building abound. For 24 hours a day there is the hustle and bustle of the city that never sleeps. People commute – few drive. Buses and cabs lurch up and down the Manhattan grid of streets – which are actually fairly easy to get around, even for an Australian with jet lag. Among the rattle and hum of the city is a tiny Oasis that stands as a tribute to one man’s history in Grand Prix racing and a number of other forms of the sport. For almost 40 years Kenny Szymanski has combined his ‘day’ job as a steward with American Airlines with not just following motorsport but being involved in it, often

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at the highest level. He has been a part of teams that have won Grands Prix and World Championships; Champ Car and IndyCar titles; and, as featured in a previous issue of MN, even the Le Mans 24 Hour race. Like many New Yorkers, Kenny lives in an apartment. By Australian standards, it is tiny; the size of a suburban lounge-dining room. But it is not really just an apartment; Symanski refers to it as ‘The 85th Street Museum’. Entry is by invitation only; you need to vault up the four flights of stairs (the elevator was out of service on the day I visited) before you appear at his door. There is no mistaking which one it is; the number of the door, 42, is in the familiar red script of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing and is actually one of the tyre stickers from Juan Pablo Montoya’s Chevy Sprint Cup racer. Then you look down; the doormat says 61

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‘LOTUS’ in bold letters. “I found out that a Chinese restaurant in the area was closing down and I asked if I could have their doormat,” Kenny grins. It is a perfect fit. Which is just as well, because everything has to be a perfect fit, such is the amount of stuff in his apartment. So too, the conversation needs to be to the point; Kenny was about to walk out the door when I rang to say that I was in the neighbourhood. “Going to Pennsylvania,” he explained. “Staying there for a few days.” And without any sense of big-noting himself, he adds, “… at Andretti’s”. Like most New Yorkers, he does not own a car. He will take the 2:30pm bus. To Mario Andretti’s house. Yikes. “I better ring to say I will be late, Mario was going to pick me up.” Then you see the pictures on the wall – many of them. There are some of Kenny but one in particular stands out. It is of Ayrton Senna’a Lotus, returning to Parc Ferme after the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix. One the right, team boss Peter

Warr is celebrating. On the left, mid-jump, is Kenny the American tyre guy. Senna is already half-out of the car after winning his first GP in a deluge. Not far away is a framed piece of paper, water-stained from the race. The first half is nearly washed away, into a grey, inky mess. Along the second half is a neat row of 12s, with numbers written below. It is Team Lotus’s lap chart from that famed race. “Someone was going to throw it out so I asked if I could have it,” he explained. More of famous names; Andretti and Senna feature heavily. Mansell. Piquet. A who’s who of the sport. Time for some questions. MN: Why motor racing? What made you want to become involved with motor racing? KS: As a kid growing up in Wisconsin in the ’60s, I knew that my grandfather went to the Indianapolis 500. In 1960 he brought a programme back and gave it to me. I thought, ‘I have to look at this’, and I thought that it was so cool. Then I found out that a guy who worked in my neighbourhood worked at the Milwaukee Mile, at the State motorsport news

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MN: From a long way away, it looks a little unusual. America is so much dominated by NASCAR and you have Indycar and so many forms of racing. What it is that was so special about Formula 1? KS: I was intrigued with the fact that it was the WORLD Championship. You travel around the world, to South Africa, South America – AUSTRALIA – all over Europe. And North America. At that young age – and I did not know much about the world, and I had seen Wisconsin, Chicago, Indianapolis – it was just a lot more interesting. I started working for American Airlines in 1973. But then, I thought, ‘This is not enough’. So when I came here [to New York] in ’73, I went to Watkins Glen to see my first Grand Prix in person. I had been following the www.mnews.com.au

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Sutton Images

“

Fair Park in Milwaukee. I said, ‘I want to go to the races with you’ and that was it. What got me interesting in F1 was people like [Peter] Revson, [Jackie] Stewart and [Graham] Hill, and [Jimmy] Clark coming over to race at the Indy 500 in the ‘60s. That is what pulled me into Formula 1. So I took an interest in that.

When I started doing it, there were no Americans over there, in the late 1970s. The mechanics, I found out later, thought that I was some rich American playing around, then they realised what I was doing.

racing and went to the Indy 500 as I usually did and in 1976, I went on a hiking tour with Swissair, at the foot of the Matterhorn. After that was finished, I thought that I would pop down to Monaco and take a look. They were still setting it up. I liked what I saw so I went back in ’77. That is when I made contact with Lotus, with Bob Dance, their chief mechanic. He took me on; he took a chance. MN: How do you do that? You just wander up and say hello, or do you play on the fact that the team has an American driver, Mario Andretti? KS: No, not at all. I didn’t know Mario at that time. I knew of him, obviously, but it just popped up. The guy who was running the motorhome, Mike Murphy, was putting chairs on the top. If I see something needs to be done, I just pitch in. I am not much of a hesitater or a watcher. So I started throwing chairs up to him. When I was speaking to him later, I said, ‘I would like to get a job doing something around here’. So he introduced me to the chief mechanic. So I went back at the end the race and

helped them push cars into trailers, lifting toolboxes, whatever I saw that needed to be done. The next year, they asked me to go to Monaco again, I said yes. They said, ‘We need a gopher’. I said, ‘That’s me!’ As it turned out Clive Hicks, who I ended up working with for 10 years working the tyres, that was his first Grand Prix. I had been cleaning body parts and engine bits and so forth and Dance told me to go and help Clive with the tyres. I am no mechanic but I do whatever I can. So we started out together and that was it. MN: You got to work with some great drivers. KS: I started with Mario and Senna. Piquet, Mansell, Elio de Angelis, Johnny Dumfries, Carlos Reutemann, Satoru Nakajima, Ronnie Peterson … that’s a pretty good run! There are any number of artworks in the apartment – sorry, Museum – but one looks particularly special. It is a print of a painting of Senna on that streaming track at Estoril. It is signed by members of the Lotus team. KS: They did about 150 of them. They 63

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wanted the crew to sign it. They went to Ferrari to get [Nigel] Stepney to sign his, they went to France to get [Gerard] Ducarouge [Ed: the car’s designer] and they came to my hotel when I was staying in London and I sat down in the pub and signed each one. Peter Warr signed them; he is gone now. Freddy Bushel has passed now. There were [he counts the signatures] … 21 people. That includes the directors, Hazel Chapman. MN: An obvious question; who is the best driver you have seen? KS: Mario and Ayrton. I put the two of them together. They were the bees’ knees. Helmets sit atop a bookcase, Schumacher, de Angelis, Jan Lammers and Andretti joined by one from Sportscar ace John Nielsen. MN: You went to the V8 Supercars races in Texas. KS: I was waiting to hear from Ganassi Racing [Ed: to assist with the team’s tyres for the Indy 500, held the week after Texas]. No response. Tony [Dowe] sent me an email and asks, ‘Would you mind coming to Texas and helping with the team’s tyres?’ Their tyre guy was down with a bad back. I told him that I was waiting on working with [Ryan] Briscoe. I really like Briscoe. I wanted to look after his black-and-rounds. The Speedway is fun for a tyre guy; you are measuring tyres and stagger and all of that. They were not getting back to me. I made one phone call. Tony said, ‘I need to know by Saturday’. I went back to him and said, ‘Done. I am there’. You can’t wait on people. Done. It was good fun. I really enjoyed that weekend. There is something nice in seeing another series and how they operate. The drivers … Garth was great, I was working on his car. Courtney; good guy, good shoe.

It is while Kenny is going through this story that you realise that despite the accent – and he sounds like a native New Yorker, even if he is not – he is actually speaking a dialect that may be described as ‘English Mechanic’. Blokes. Bees’ knees. English expressions with an American accent. Years of activity among some of the sport’s biggest names have left him calling his co-workers ‘lads’ not ‘guys’. Back to Texas.

MN: They used to be Bridgestone, for a long time!

KS: What is this all about? They gave me a Dunlop hat, they were upset and I said, ‘Well, what am I going to wear?’ So they got me a nice hat. Neil Crompton walks through [Ed: on one of his pit walks, with V8TV crew] and they were over the moon. I had friends from Australia email me about that. They had no idea. When we were packing up, they tossed two packs of these driver cards into the bin. I said, ‘You can’t go throwing that stuff away, that’s PR!’ They said, ‘What are you going to

Then I could feel that I was accepted. It is so important to prove that dedication.” Some of his best stories come from races in the USA or the nearby Canadian Grand Prix. “In 1979, I was in Montreal. Lauda is just starting up Lauda Air. He was there, and he had heard that this guy at Lotus worked with American Airlines. So he pops over and starts asking me about American Airlines. So, we are having a good chat, about crews, so forth. Shortly after that, he does the next

practice session – and he retires! ON THE SPOT! He LEAVES Montreal! “The next year, we are in Hockenheim. He is there, sitting on the pitwall. I spotted him and walk over, and I asked if he remembers me. ‘Of course I remember you!’ he says, ‘You are the American guy who works for American Airlines.’ So I ask him, ‘The first time we have a conversation about anything, you retire two hours later. Was is SOMETHING I SAID?’ He pissed himself laughing.”

KS: Bruce [Stewart, HRT’s marketing boss] wants me to wear a hat. Being a tyre guy I am used to wearing a tyre hat. That’s weird. Continental is on the car and we are running Dunlops!

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T has been a quiet few years for Americans in Grand Prix racing. Kenny’s friend Mario Andretti, of course, is the last American to win the World Championship. His son Michael raced for McLaren for a season 20 years ago. One of the reasons why that was not successful, according to Kenny, was that he chose to commute back and forth from the USA, rather than to move to Europe. “I said to him, ‘Michael, I am only a tyre man but I know what it is to go over there as an American. You have to go over there and let them know that you want this,’ says Szymanski. “When I started doing it, there were no Americans over there, in the late 1970s. The mechanics, I found out later, thought that I was some rich American playing around, then they realised what I was doing. I was working the dolly trolley back and forth for American Airlines, then they did a 180 and realised that I was really keen.

motorsport news

19/08/13 3:42 PM

The Great Race: Bathurst 50 Years

In s and tock read now y to ship

THE GREAT RACE

BATHURST

Australia’s Greatest Motor Race 50 Years at Bathurst. This book is the fourth historical compilation being the 20,30 and 40 year books which all sold out very quickly to an enthusiastic and appreciative market. This new book of over 500 pages details the 50 year History of the running of The Great Race at Bathurst. This huge book is the definitive history and a collectors must.

THE GREAT RACE - BATHURST 500/1000

50 YEARS

1981 Left: Bartlett/Johnson front row was a repeat of 1980, but this time Johnson was the reigning Australian Touring Car Champion. Pic: Chevron Library

1981

50 years of Bathurst 500/1000 - The Great Race

Price: A$99

Australian -00 Includes Postage & Handling

Pic: Chevron Library

Johnson leads when it counts

of the series. contesting three rounds definite referred to as ‘the he 1980 season had showed In the Falcon XD sometimes XD and Commodore of the public donations signs that the Falcon people’s car’ because evenly matched with The Rock at could turn out to be fairly to Johnson after the incident there had not been 1981 in fine style by touring cars. Although Bathurst in 1980, he began in the 1980 at Symmons Plains. an effective Falcon presence taking his first ATCC victory that had tyre form in the longer races at Calder when Johnson retaliated Brock ATCC, Dick Johnson’s much wins at Oran Park and the XD, even without problems, but successive year had indicated that position. He then homologations, was not left Johnson in a strong Sandown help in the way of factory people of races, but with the the XC which some lost momentum for a couple the poor successor to Queensland tracks, he last two races on his beloved thought it would be. this promise. The Holden title. The 1981 ATCC fulfilled still looked good for the it had finish at Lakeside, most evenly matched So it proved. In a cliffhanger vs Ford battle was the flag Now the title. and carried still race the Brock Johnson beat Brock to been since 1976. Peter of the XD, or Johnson’s favourite Dick Johnson nobody doubted the worth for Holden, but sentimental not for Ford. Johnson was preparation of it. did a tremendous job his career, Johnson had some people took him Not for the last time in quite the newcomer which enormous talent in a Sandown enduro, finishing a frustrating run in the for. He had demonstrated race excellent results on home of spins. Brock won that second after a couple variety of cars, had some good and had also done more so, the Ford fans had even but Queensland, in again, yet ground for easy to as all the cracks gathered interstate trips. It was reason to be confident than adequately on his he had put in some sterling the Mountain. forget, for instance, that as 1972, the fray on h team, Ford was a Torana as long ago As well as the Johnson/Frenc drives in the ATCC in only title that year despite finishing seventh in the

By David Greenhalgh and Bill Tuckey

Available now!

Below: Interesting addition was the Bob Muir Army Reserve Falcon, resplendent in camouflage livery.

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1963

The official history of

Special Limited Edition

The official history of

real to be the Camaros’ one retrospect, 1981 was Great Race. Before that, 1976 winning combination chance of victory in the well represented by the that, by their brakes; after a brand new, George they were hamstrung of Morris/Fitzpatrick in of other cars had simply Falcon. The Army Reserve time and the developments Shepheard-prepared with the talented passed them by. team returned to the mountain Bob Muir while Falcons and and Ranged against the Commodores, pairing of Pete Geoghegan for Jaguar XJS for John Goss Lawrence were looking Camaros was the lone Murray Carter/Graeme impressive on 1980 car was in the looked car The Johnson’s run. and Barry Seton. another steady the Donnelly, while Gary much improved since paper, and was certainly hands of John English/John gave it much chance. another team with a good 1980 race, but few people Cooke/Bill O’Brien were Race was still to come. faced the starter. Jaguar’s day in the Great chance. In all, 10 Falcons Allan Moffat had switched 12 Commodores, Peter In the smaller classes, Foremost among the while were aiming to set a Derek Bell as co-driver, to a Mazda RX7 with Brock and Jim Richards first coupe was making the straight win in the race the classic BMW 635CSi record by taking the fourth race, for Allan Grice/David Their lead Marlboro Holden of its many starts in the for one driver pairing. good back-up, supported by John Harvey/ Hobbs. With major sponsorship, Dealer Team car was both the in co-drivers, big drawcard international and well-credentialled Vern Schuppan. The other Jones, presence of one Alan Holden camp was the with Warren Cullen. contenders included Further strong Commodore car which the in Garry Rogers/Clive Benson-Brown the previous year; Peter Brock had taken to victory for who had finished second Janson/Larry Perkins, Wigston/Steve Harrington the last two years; Garth of Alan and the Re-Car entry in the Roadways car, Browne/Tony Edmondson. Camaros entered. There were again three loomed as a real threat This time, Kevin Bartlett for a startling practice for a race win, not just brought had been performance. This transformation approval of four-wheel about by the long-awaited entered himself with Bob disc brakes. Ron Dickson In Moore with Steve Dymand. Stevens, and Graham

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1963 Left: In the beginning, the smaller four-cylinder cars dominated the big V8s. Bert Needham/Warren Weldon Studebaker about to be lapped by the winning Harry Firth/Bob Jane Cortina.

Pic: www.autopics.com.au

Below: Different

representatives from General Motors as the David McKay/Greg Cusack Vauxhall heads the Jim O’Shaunessy/John Brindley Holden S4. Neither finished.

Pic: Chevron Library

The telecast begin s

he move of the Armstrong 500 from Phillip Island to Bathurst Lakeside and Warwick must be put into Farm, Calder and its proper place. The and Bathurst. Mallala ... Island had more history, because that was Today when you the place where look at what Bathurst the first recognised become you tend has Australian Grand to wonder at the held, albeit on a Prix was flukiness of the decision that brought public road circuit well removed the Armstrong to from the dairy farm its Mountain home. Because where the Armstrong the ARDC Bathurst, in fact, was run. following was dedicated then and for many years as a scenic public panoramic drive, was born to the proposition existed primarily as a race circuit that it first in 1938, when for its members, Englishman Peter to provide sport facilities for Whitehead brought them, and that hopefully motor out an ERA to win the inaugural members of the racing car event. enough public would come It is important to along and watch and pay sufficient remember that at the time Armstrong-York money to enable to operate for another were considering the club whether or not year. to move their race from The club’s committee lot of circuits available, the Island, there were a and its manageme the Armstrong as nt saw some of them public just another motor That wonderful old roads. race. had no idea – nor Lowood circuit was did they for probably They still running in Queensland, and years at least – that another five in fact was planning they had got their enduros; Tasmania’s its own hands what was to become Longford, in hindsight on one of the classic finest road racing the in the world. motor races circuit Australia has ever seen, was in full flower; there was Sandown Neil Marsden, vice-presid and ent of the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport, and

director of Sandown, offered his track for the race on the basis of Armstrong giving half the sponsorship and naming rights to Molybond. The erudite and courtly Britisher Geoff Sykes, Warwick Farm, didn’t running want it, because his cause was rooted in bringing out international drivers and fostering Grand Prix pure motor racing. be known, Geoff If the truth Sykes never did like touring cars. So it came to Bathurst. Of course, what the race along with the wonderfully immediately acquired, levelling Mount Panorama frustrating and egoimpeccable organisation scenic drive, was the of the Australian Drivers Club. Racing It was then – as it would be for the next 10 years – under the mailed fist in the steel glove to ex-policeman Jack Hinxman. Hinxmanbelonging club and his race ran his circuits Catalina, finally Amaroo – earlier Mt Druitt, then Park – one way, way only. By the and one book. If it wasn’t in the book, Hinxman didn’t know. He had a want to laconic, dry policeman’s and used ‘copper’ drawl, language, automatical reflexively selecting ly and the argument and present right words so as to avoid finality. “Youse blokes,” he

would say at the driver’s briefing, “have been told about how you enter the pit lane. If you this ruling then you transgress will accept the bloody consequences, and youse can protest your bloody heads off but it won’t do you one bit of good.” Jack Hinxman, his wife Tot, his faithful servants Ray Price, ARDC John Allaburton and Ivan Stibbard – who later took over the job from Hinxman – put a regular 12 hours a day, six days a week into

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John Morris/ MPix

He was keen to have me stay with the team and that was really cool. Mario and DeAnn went into vouch for me. That started it. As a local resident, Kenny is well-placed to watch developments around him, and not far away, work is progressing on the site for the proposed GP in New Jersey. With the west side of Manhattan’s skyline as a backdrop, the race is set to take place in summer next year.

Sutton Images

do with it?’ and I said, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll find something to do with it’. So I am sitting on the aircraft going back to New York, sitting next to [James] Moffat and his girlfriend. I had this idea. The plane was full of people from Oz. So I spoke to the stewardess and I said, ‘Would you mind if I went down to aisle and passed these out?’ I was passing them out like anything. One guy in the back – the last one – said, ‘I don’t want anything, I’m a Ford supporter!’ He roars his approval. Even if some think that the Holden-Ford rivalry is not what it may have been with the arrival of new brands in V8 Supercars, Kenny is never going to be one to criticise passion for the sport.

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MN: What about the race here? Will it work? KS: In New York? I don’t know if it will work but it will happen. They took a beating with Hurricane Sandy but all indications are good. They have taken Chris Pook on board and he started the Grand Prix in Long Beach, and he would not get involved if it was not a serious effort. There are a lot of people around here who know who Piquet and Lauda are, and they know all the new drivers. There are a lot of South Americans and they want their drivers. There is a big Spanish community. Lewis has a big following, of course.

“

MN: How long do you want to keep doing this? KS: For as along as they keep paying me! When I first started in ’78, my first season, I was on an apprentice deal. They were not paying me and I was sleeping on the floors of the hotel rooms. At the end of the season, Mario and [his wife] DeAnn went to [Colin] Chapman and said, ‘You got to pay this guy. He is working hard for you’. In ’79, Peter Warr appeared, and he actually reimbursed me for all my air tickets. 66

MN: Do you have a sense that Formula 1 has a big following here in the USA? We get the sense that NASCAR will blow everything out of the water. KS: NASCAR is levelling off. But the Austin Grand Prix made a big difference. They had 110,000 people there over the weekend. Mario is the ambassador for the race, so you are associating a name that everyone knows, here and around the world, with the race. There will be a tell-tale this year, to see how many people they get. But it was a good circuit, good race.

With that, Kenny has to be going. There is

a bus to catch for the trip to Pennsylvania. But first he wants to show me his wardrobe from many years of hard and sometimes messy work, tending to the tyres of some of the world’s best racing drivers. Pride of place is a McLaren shirt – but not just any McLaren shirt, but one of the team’s orange ‘victory’ shirts the team members wear after a Grand Prix win. This one is from Lewis Hamilton’s victory at Austin last year. Then there is one of several Ferrari shirts. KS: The guy that I was changing the left-front with at Lotus, Nigel Stepney, he moved to Ferrari and he became their chief mechanic. After 9/11, he called me and said, ‘We are bringing a minimum crew to Indianapolis, would you like …’ and I said, ‘OF COURSE!’ Put on that red shirt? Are you kidding me? So I ended up doing, like, five races with them. That was the pinnacle; to work with Ferrari. Then you have Schumacher winning all those races. That’s like being the bat boy for the New York Yankees! He also relates that Michael Schumacher eyed him with some suspicion until he realised that he was not an outsider or a spy … But then, as I am about the take some pics, he rummages through the shirts and pulls out another red one. It is a Holden Racing Team shirt from his role with the team in Austin this year. I can take a pic of people in HRT uniforms at almost any race in Australia but Kenny insists that he wants to wear this one. He puts it on with obvious enthusiasm. Kenny is rejoining HRT for the endurance races, starting at Sandown. He will be the skinny American guy pushing tyres around, undoubtedly with a huge smile on his face. If you see him, say hi – no, make it g’day. He will like that.

I really enjoyed that weekend. There is something nice in seeing another series and how they operate. The drivers … Garth was great, I was working on his car. Courtney; good guy, good shoe. motorsport news

19/08/13 3:43 PM

Experience 25

Years of HSV Now on DVD

Join us as we delve into the inception and development of some of the rarest and most emotive Australian muscle cars ever conceived.

On Sale Now at: 25 Years HSV.indd 1

20/08/13 2:32 PM

AdVantage

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motorsport news

19/08/13 3:30 PM

The Aston Martin Vantage GT of Tony Quinn is a truly unique car. It is the only example of the iconic British GT marque racing in the Australian GT Championship. It also has the distinction of being the ﬁrst, and quite possibly the only, new car to have run in the series. John Morris takes a closer look at the 2013 speciﬁcation Aston Martin Vantage.

All images John Morris/ MPix

www.mnews.com.au

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long standing eligibility rule for the Australian GT Championship (AGT) required cars to be one homologation behind that of the current FIA GT entry. This meant that a 2009 car could not race in the Australian series until the 2010 version had been approved, effectively making them one year-old. The rationale behind the move was aimed at keeping costs in check, with older model cars quite easily sourced at ‘discount’ prices. That all changed for 2013. AGT management opened the category to current specification cars with the ambition of coaxing new teams and larger grids. The category structure was revised to incorporate a ‘Champ’ class for current spec cars and ‘Trophy’ for the traditional contenders. AGT competitors also had the option of converting their cars to the latest Balance Of Performance (BOP) specification with upgrade kits, or choose to race in the ‘Trophy’ class. Whilst many teams elected for the upgrade option, only one brought in a brand new car. The Aston Martin Vantage GT was shipped from the Prodrive factory to Australia in November 2012, arriving just in time for Christmas. Following a brief shakedown at Queensland Raceway with Quinn and Craig Baird, the car was sent south for the 2013 Bathurst 12 Hour. However, in less than 50 minutes of racing the new car was suddenly looking decidedly

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second-hand after having been hit by a fellow Aston and was jammed into the inside concrete wall of Con-Rod Straight. Tony Quinn was sent to hospital with broken ribs, while the new Aston Martin was left worse for wear in the scrutineering compound. The team was able to source the parts and repair the car in time for the Clipsal 500. At the Adelaide meeting Quinn commented that the car went around in much better shape than he himself did, pointing out the difficulty of driving with broken ribs. But it was at the third round at Phillip Island where the true potential of the 2013 Aston Martin Vantage GT was revealed. There the car finished second to rookie sensation Jack LeBrocq in the Erebus Mercedes SLS AMG, both drivers decimating the previous AGT lap record in the process. Tony Quinn is an unashamed lover of the Aston Martin – but then what’s not to love with a machine such as this? The trusty DB9 which it replaced has now been fully restored, repainted black and orange, and sits on display at the Highlands racetrack museum. When asked to compare the new Vantage to his DB9, Tony was quick to point out that both cars were a pleasure to drive. “The Vantage is a better car, though the old one was good too,” he told us. “The DB9 was an older car with a bigger body. The Vantage handles better because the engine sits lower and further back. It is squatter than the DB9 and likes fast corners and high speed tracks. It

also has ABS, which the DB9 doesn’t”. On paper, the differences between the two cars reflect a process of refinement. The Vantage is 183mm shorter and 24mm narrower than the DB9, with a wheelbase reduction of 77mm. The engine output and torque characteristics have been improved, with power rising from 417kW to 448kW, and the new car also benefits from a six speed semi-automatic gearbox with paddle shift, as opposed to the earlier model’s sequential shifter. On reflection, Quinn reckons that the Vantage is perhaps more consistent rather than substantially better than the old DB9. “The old car on new tyres was just about as good (as the Vantage). Tyres were a big factor and wouldn’t last. The new Pirellis hang on much better. The Michelins that we ran back then peaked too early and the rears were gone by one hour.” Quinn’s Vantage is the only current homologation model GT car in the country – and it looks like it will be the one and only. With the intended outcome of new cars and teams in the Australian GT Championship having failed to materialise (in fact, it may have actually contributed to the loss of series stalwarts), at the June meeting of the Australian GT Championship it was decided to revert to the old eligibility rules for 2014 – effectively giving the Aston Martin Vantage the honour of being the only ‘new’ car to have competed in the AGT.

motorsport news

19/08/13 3:31 PM

www.mnews.com.au

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19/08/13 3:31 PM

EL what? ELMOFO is what. It is Australian motorsport’s electric dream, and when John Bowe took to Sydney Motorsport Park in the electric prototype sportscar he created a piece of Australian motorsport history. John Morris was there to cover the occasion and grab a lowdown on the new world of green racing.

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motorsport news

19/08/13 2:31 PM

he world motorsport community has truly embraced green technology. Le Mans prototypes are hybrid cars utilising energy recovery systems to drive the front wheels with electric motors. Formula 1 use kinetic energy recovery systems (KERS) for bursts of additional power, and 2014 will see the FIA Formula E Championship for electric powered cars. Australia has also taken a step towards electric powered racing cars with the ELMOFO, or Electric Motor Force machine. The brainchild of Sydney based businessman Brett Sutherland, the car is built around a Radical SR8 RX chassis. The internal combustion engine is replaced by a prototype dual in-line stack IPM AC motor developed

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by AMRacing, powered by Kokam High Power Lithium Polymer batteries encased in ELMFO-AMRacing billet aluminum modules. In layman’s terms, think of lots of laptop batteries covered in aluminum. The engines produce 310kW and 600Nm of torque for a top speed of 265km/h. The ELMOFO is not the first electric Radical. The E Wolf ALPHA-1 SRF ran in 2011, as did the Toyota TMG EV P001 project which lapped the Nurburgring in 7m47.794s in 2011. Whilst not the first electric Radical, the performance levels of the ELMOFO compares well with the Toyota effort, which produced 800Nm of torque and a 260km/h top speed. While Brett Sutherland is understandably proud of his prototype, he also quite

pragmatic regarding the current limitations of electric technologies. “The car uses what is basically a series of lap top batteries for its power,” Sutherland explains. “The ideal operating temperature for the batteries is 40 degrees Celsius. The critical temperature is 70 degrees; at that point we have to shut the system down. Our original design included oil cooled units, though the additional 18kg in weight lead us to use air cooling instead.” The capacity of current battery systems are the most obvious drawback with electric racing technology, the proposed FIA Formula E Championship cars can only complete 30 minutes of racing. A similar scenario is faced by the ELMOFO. “Our current battery system provides 20

19/08/13 2:32 PM

“

Electric racing cars bring with them new terminology. An actuator makes the machine operate, replacing a throttle or accelerator…

minutes of optimum power, so the plan is to run timed races in the short term. It takes four hours to recharge the unit at this stage, though we are developing a truck-based onehour rapid charge system”. Removable battery trays are not possible at the moment due to the placement of the battery units along the floor of the Radical’s side pods. However, it is a likely consideration for the future, opening the door for longer races with pitstops to change trays in much the same way that a conventional race car stops for refueling. Another issue of concern is the potential for a carbon fibered car to conduct an electrical charge (notice the large rubber gloves used by trackside marshals at the F1 GP). Brett Sutherland does admit to having received a mild kick whilst developing the car but, he said: “Each battery is encased in aluminum, so I don’t see the problems as with KERS in Formula 1.” Electric racing cars bring with them new terminology with which we will need to become familiar. An actuator makes the machine operate, replacing a throttle or accelerator, while regenerative braking is the system that slows the car – think engine braking for this one. “Regenerative braking occurs when the actuator is let off,” Sutherland explains. “The car will slow dramatically when power is reduced to the motors. However, the car is equipped with a regenerative brake bias dial on the steering wheel insert which alters the effects of actuator reduction. There is a point on the actuator response where the car will continue at the same velocity, with neither 74

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Radical concepts: There are at least two other electric powered Radicals aside from the Elmofo, above. Toyota has been very active in this area, developing an electric radical which Jochen Krumbach lapped the Nürburgring in a swift 7m22.329s, below, centre, as well as this Pikes Peak hillclimb special, the EV P002, for Piles Peak legend Rod Millen.

motorsport news

19/08/13 2:32 PM

E M O S 50 AWE F O S T N MOME

T S R U BATH NOW ON DVD

50 Years of Bathurst – 2012 marks 50 Years since an endurance race for standard production cars was first run at Bathurst in 1963, laying the foundation for what would soon become the icon event of the Australian motor racing calendar. Come with us as we take a nostalgic look at the track, the cars, the stars and the characters that have made the annual Bathurst 1000 ….The Great Race. On this very exciting DVD we look at 50 Awesome Bathurst Moments including the Top Ten as voted by you. 1 When Dick hit the rock 2 When Murphy clocked his lap of the gods 3 When Lowndes fought the tears to win Peter’s first trophy 4 When Dick hit the trees 5 When Jim called them a pack of a***holes 6 When Tander beat Lowndes by a bumper 7 When Ford crushed Holden with a 1-2 8 When Brock won by six laps 9 When Bartlett rolled the Camaro 10 When Channel Seven’s In-Car Camera was born We will remember the drivers who forged the Bathurst legend, We look at the Australian Muscle Cars that took on the Mountain and won. We look at crashes and near misses as we celebrate 50 Years of Bathurst.

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$25 includes postage and handling 31/07/13 7:56 AM

any increase or decrease in speed.” After a shakedown of the car, including a best lap of 1m35s, which is the fastest lap for an electric car around Sydney Motorsport Park, John Bowe said he was encouraged and excited by the ELMOFO and the opportunity to be involved in future development. “I like new technology and it is very impressive to drive. I’ve driven a lot of different cars and the ELMOFO is like driving a big V8: smooth around the turns with lots of torque on the exit. The car just keeps accelerating, though it does eventually taper off.” Bowe felt the immediate effects of

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regenerative braking, though soon came to terms with the characteristics. “When I went slow, the regenerative braking was obvious, though once I got up to speed and started to adjust the bias, I didn’t notice any back-off at all”. John also added the term ‘thrust’ to the electric car vernacular. Whilst usually associated with jet engines, thrust is probably an apt term to describe the sound of the ELMOFO as it rushed down the main straight of Sydney Motorsport Park. With no engine noise, there was just the sound of air deflecting across the smooth lines of the Radical SR8.

There perhaps lies Brett Sutherland’s biggest obstacle with his gem of a race car, no noise. The ELMOFO was eerily quiet as it moved from the Radical headquarters to the dummy grid. Brett acknowledged the car may need to have a warning system for the unwary paddock dweller. On the other hand, zero carbon emission, no fuel bills and low maintenance costs due to fewer engine parts – as well as no gearbox – makes it a very attractive proposition. My regeneration: Regenerative braking, forward ‘thrust’ and the absence of an exhaust note were some of the things John Bowe, above, had to get his head around driving the electric Radical.

motorsport news

19/08/13 2:32 PM

A must for any motorsports enthusiast

50 years of the Australian Touring Car Championship is a detailed history of the Australian Touring Car Championship and the V8 Supercar Championship Series. This huge 400-plus page book is the deﬁnitive history of our touring car racing.

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20/08/13 2:29 PM

Top End boost to emerging

national championship With the first ANDRA Drag Racing Series event in Darwin having been held last month, and a return to Melbourne for the first time since 2001 on the cards for October, for the first time in many years drag racing is en route to having a truly national championship

espite reaching some great heights during the late 2000s, professional drag racing remained limited to only three tracks – Sydney Dragway, Brisbane’s Willowbank Raceway and Perth Motorplex. That changed in 2012 when Adelaide International Raceway returned to the calendar for the first time since 2000, holding the Pro Series 1000 in April last year. Motorsport-loving South Australians packed the venue as Top Fuel dragsters made a spectacular comeback. The next step was moving into Darwin, where the professional categories of Top Alcohol and Top Bike raced last month. Redevelopment work at the federal and NT Government-funded venue made it an attractive prospect for national championship events, and Hidden Valley Drag Racing

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Association president Jay Jukes said being able to host an ANDRA Drag Racing Series round was a coup for the Top End. “While the venue is a Territory Government asset all drag racing events are still fully club-run by a fantastic group of dedicated volunteers and we are lucky to have a very solid member base behind us,” he said. The venue is the same as runs the successful V8 Supercars events each year and the shared asset means more motorsports participants benefit from the government spend. “It means all sports need to work together and at times compromises need to be reached but it has allowed us to share a range of common facilities,” Jukes said. “For example, the main straight the V8 Supercars use is built on top of our original return road and the spectator viewing areas are common for most motorsports, along with kiosks and amenities.

We have even branched out to using the same pit paddock for all sports.” ANDRA CEO Malcolm Bulley said the hard work put in on the venue by the club and the government would deliver a boost for the region. “We’re proud of all the Top Alcohol and Top Bike teams who made the trek to Darwin for this historic round of the ANDRA Drag Racing Series,” he said. “Since its redevelopment to meet international standards in 2011, Hidden Valley has taken on a new life.” The last piece in the puzzle is Melbourne, and that is where Calder Park Raceway fits in. Originally slated for a return to the calendar last year, October 19 now marks the day when Top Fuel will thunder back into Victoria. Calder was a fixture on the ANDRA calendar throughout the ‘90s but a motorsport news

20/08/13 8:30 AM

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The main straight the V8 Supercars use is built on top of our original return road and the spectator viewing areas are common for most motorsports, along with kiosks and amenities.”

tumultuous relationship with track owner Bob Jane saw championship racing withdrawn in 2001. With the track’s ownership since changing hands to Rodney Jane, the door was reopened to holding ANDRA events there again. Adding to the increase in tracks running rounds of the professional ANDRA Drag Racing Series, sportsman opportunities have been opened to with 2013 marking the first time rounds have been run in Portland (Victoria), Alice Springs (Northern Territory), Benaraby (Queensland) and Mildura (Victoria).

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Top Alcohol title decided T

he first championship title for the 2012/2013 ANDRA Drag Racing season has been decided with legendary Queenslander Gary Phillips claiming an unbelievable 16th Top Alcohol title with one round of the series still remaining. The championship win takes his number of ANDRA titles to 17, adding in his single Top Doorslammer championship honour. The Lucas Oils Funny Car driver’s progression to the semi finals plus bonus points earned for top speed of the event at the recent Top Alcohol round in Darwin saw him leave the track with a lead of 120 points over nearest rival Steven Ham, just two points more than the maximum 118 that can be earned in the final event at Sydney Dragway in November. “We’re over the moon to win the championship, every season is still a challenge and that is why we keep coming back,” he said. “Mathematically we are now out of range of Steven (Ham) in the points and that means we can breathe a bit easier for the final round in Sydney.” This season has not been one of domination so much as persistence for Phillips. Doggedly racing at every round that he can has allowed him to build up a worthy points tally. Missing crucial rounds in Perth and Adelaide has in turn been Steven Ham’s undoing as far as his championship chances go. He has won only a single event and runner upped in one other and altogether has endured four first round losses from eight events. But this season has been one of strange results in Top Alcohol. Many of the win points have gone to unheralded and diverse names – Rob Pilkington, Russell Mills and Darren Fry among them. This has ensured that Phillips has been able to keep rivals such as Steve Reed and John Cannuli at bay. In fact no driver has won more than once this season. Ham accepted that for him this season was more about testing new parts than a full assault on the championship. “Really, Gary has this sown up now but this has been an amazing season for us,” he said. “We really thought that this was the year of getting used to the new gear, but we’ve been exceeding our goals at most of our outings so it’s a massive shot in the arm for our confidence going into the 2014 season.” Phillips is a racer who is naturally cagey. There are few who hold their cards closer to their chest. But one thing he has always made clear is that when it comes to accruing championships he much prefers to be the one on top. “I’d rather be the target than the arrow,” he said.

20/08/13 8:30 AM

Speedcar shake up Australian Speedcar racing is set for a dramatic shake up in what could be a much-needed resurgence not only for this division but for the whole of speedway racing in Australia. By Geoff Rounds

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motorsport news

19/08/13 2:20 PM

radical and overdue decision by Speedway Australia looks set to finally revamp the national scene for the category to mirror the successful World Series Sprintcars formula. This fast-approaching 2013-14 speedway season will have the Speedcars become one of the talked-about classes again with the announcement of the inaugural national Speedcar Pro Series.

Nearly 20 teams have expressed an interest in competing, with current Australian champion Neville Lance locked in, as well as Mark Brown, Travis Mills, Dayne Kingshott and Ben Dillon. In addition, interest from American drivers is also very strong. Speedway Australia’s regular WSS Race Director Shane Collins will also be overseeing the Speedcar Pro Series and believes that linking Speedcars to other existing events across Australia can help push the class to the forefront of Australian speedway. “We are very confident the series will be a success,” Collins said. “We understand there will be some bumps along the way and we will make mistakes, but we are confident with the support already shown by competitors and venues that this will be successful. “Speedway Australia made a decision as the next part of its development of the sport of speedway to look at introducing another national series which will hopefully prosper development for that class and the sport itself. Speedcars were chosen after some consultation with the Speedcar National Body, with which we have a great working relationship. The resources and support Speedway Australia can offer this series has given the board enough confidence to have Revival: Bold plans are in place to revive the Speedcar division with a new World Series Sprintcars style national series, below.

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a go at it. We hope this helps the profile and exposure of the division and the sport.” The Speedcar Pro Series will be conducted over seven rounds across four states and will also include some of the most significant existing events on the calendar. The opening round at the Perth Motorplex on November 2 will include the iconic “Magic Man 34” race, an event dedicated to remembering the great West Aussie Speedcar ace Michael Figliomeni and his contribution to the sport, which included four Australian Speedcar Championship wins. With rounds held nearly each weekend in November at Collie, Bunbury and Adelaide the Murray Bridge round on December 7 will feature the much sought after Tim Crouch Memorial. “We will really help showcase these blue ribbon shows on a national scale and help them gain even more exposure with the Pro Series involvement,” Collins added. “These events will maintain their existing strong identity and rich history, and we will grab that and promote them even further through the resources we have in the series.” While the promising new series could be a pleasant change for all in speedway, Collins admits not everyone is in favour of the new changes. “We have had a lot of feedback. Of course, not all is positive, but that’s just part of it. To the people we think are important for this to succeed they have been very positive and

19/08/13 2:20 PM 19/7/11 8:22:36 AM

that’s the main thing. The penultimate round will be held at Nowra Speedway in NSW with the Grand Final at Premier Speedway on January 5 which features the Victorian Speedcar Championship. Premier Speedway Manager David Mills is quietly hoping the Speedcar category can be a regular feature at not only Warrnambool but throughout Australia. “We are excited to be able to host the Victorian Title in conjunction with the new Speedcar Pro Series,” he said. “As far as expectations are concerned, I am confident the class will produce some good racing... if we can have a high quality class and more importantly a full field of Speedcars on track come feature time I think we will see some awesome racing. Hopefully that will prick the interest of Victorian race fans and reinvigorate

the class to go onto bigger and better things. “Speedcars can be as exciting as any division going around. Whilst we are very fortunate to have developed a number of well supported high profile Sprintcar events, we also need other divisions to be strong as well. Let’s hope the Speedcars can again become one of these divisions.” Mills’ enthusiasm is echoed by Andy Pearce of the Victorian Speedcar Drivers Association who is looking forward to the combination of the new Series and the state title. “The VSDA are really excited about the inaugural Speedcar Pro Series. The added TV and media exposure the Pro Series will bring to our historical event will elevate it to the lies of which have never been achieved before,” Pearce said. Speedway Australia is currently working with their outsourced marketing company

(who do all World Series sponsorship work) to attract corporate partners for the series and remain optimistic of securing a naming rights sponsor before the $65,000 tournament starts. Collins says another carrot for competitors could be the lucrative $17,000 end of season prize pool for contracted teams. “We are offering up to 12 contracts to teams to do the whole series, and then we also wish to cater for the local racer and really look forward to having them as part of the series as well,” Collins said. “It’s great to be involved in such a dynamic and exciting division. I’m very confident we have the resources to make it work through personnel and infrastructure that is mirrored on World Series Sprintcars, and I’m sure the competitors will hopefully see this as a real opportunity to put this division back in lights on a national stage.”

One last Schatz at Knoxville

“I tried to get in, get out of it and turn down off the middle to get a run. I think one of the things that helped was running a dirt late model. It's something that helped me drive this racecar without depending on the wing so much. “It's taught me to drive the car a different way and helped me roll the corner and, really, get this win.” Lap 39 was the tale of the race when Schatz split the lapped cars of Aussies Lynton Jeffrey and Ian Madsen to close the gap to two car-lengths at lap 40. “The bravest thing you can do is split two Australians!” Schatz chuckled. “You get those opportunities when you come to this race, and you take them. “I would rather crash than run fifth. I told my guys we are going to run for gold here and when the track starts to get a little like that, you don't know if it is going to give you one groove or just start tearing up tyres. I don't feel like there's ever been a race I've been out of – unless I was at the wrong track." Schatz feathered his car through Turn 1 and shot to the bottom of Turn 2 on lap 41. Brown, who was on the cushion, had no answer and the race was over. “I'm disappointed, ” Brown said, “ but I don't take second place here for granted. We are going to start working tomorrow on next year, and we'll be back. We'll get over it and come back and try harder next year.” Schatz cruised the rest of the way with Brown settling for second and Justin Henderson running a solid third. The race came less than a week after NASCAR star Tony Stewart, Schatz's team owner, broke his right leg racing sprint cars in nearby Oskaloosa. KNOXVILLE NATIONALS, 50 LAPS: 1. Donny Schatz; 2. Brian Brown; 3. Justin Henderson; 4. Paul McMahan; 5. Chad

Kemenah; 6. Kyle Larson; 7. Joey Saldana; 8. Danny Lasoski; 9. Steve Kinser; 10. Cap Henry; 11. Dusty Zomer; 12. Greg Hodnett; 13. Brad Sweet; 14. Daryn Pittman; 15. Cody Darrah; 16. Kerry Madsen; 17. Shane Stewart; 18. Roger Crockett; 19. Brooke Tatnell; 20. Kevin Swindell; 21. Ian Madsen; 22. Lynton Jeffrey; 23. David Gravel; 24. Jac Haudenschild; 25. Stevie Smith.

printcar superstar Donny Schatz has produced the biggest drive in 53 years of Knoxville Nationals history to successfully defend his title in a jaw-dropping effort from the rear of the field. Schatz carved his way through the field from his 21st starting spot in the 50-lap feature to earn his seventh title in the world’s biggest Sprintcar race. “This is, definitely, by far the hardest one we've earned, especially with the week we had,” Schatz said. “We didn't doubt ourselves. But some days you know what you're doing, and it doesn't work out the way you expect... you get nervous. “Starting that far back, it's incredible. It's kind of hard to rank them, but I feel extremely fortunate, to be here.” Eventual runner up Brian Brown (for the second year in a row to Schatz) opened up a huge margin in the feature, but behind him Schatz was running eighth inside 10 laps. It didn't matter where Schatz put his car. He used the top and bottom groove to track down the field and on lap 24 when the red flag flew for the five-minute work period at the halfway point, Schatz was fifth. “I told my guys that if we were going to have a shot at this, we needed to get in the top five,” Schatz said. “So, we needed to throw the kitchen sink at it to get that far, and we ended up getting that far. “I got awful tight at the end of that run, but we came in, made some adjustments, changed tyres and got rolling.” By lap 30 Schatz was chasing down polesitter Joey Saldana and he made short work of the Indiana driver on lap 33 before setting his sights on Brown. 82

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motorsport news

19/08/13 2:20 PM

SPECIAL EDITION

of FORD AND I - The birth ry Firth the muscle car era by Har

The birth of the muscle car era

By Harry Firth $12.95 NZ $14.99 (incl GST) Ford and I Cover.indd 1

arry Firth is an Australian sporting legend. Firth ran Ford’s motorsport effort for most of the 1960s. From the earliest Ford Falcons Firth prepared for rallying to the Bathurst special Cortinas, and the Falcon XR GT that was the fuse that ignited the battle between Ford and Holden, Firth was a pivotal figure in Ford’s crucial formative years in motor sport in Australia. In this publication, Firth tells his side of the story of his days with Ford, an era that netted three Cortina Great Race victories and two Falcon wins, all in the space of six years. This is a compelling insight into an Australian legend and a must for all followers of Australian motorsport.

25/07/13 11:01 AM

ed twoThe new import

Left: of the Cortina due to s door version for 1964 but ed Ford’s succes ed unchanged ction of GT continu he rules remain Ford Australia for produ Cortinas in 1964. Here at Bathurst t two-door shared with pressure within d to impor the car Firth er. There Ron , it was decide was cheap n heads the the Falcon ce Besides, it up John Reabur en Head Offi build them. n French car rather than ltation betwe Hodgson/Joh ed under Cutting. lack of consu ted cars suffer towards the was a total full height The impor egan lia. and ner Geogh Inset: The and Ford Austras of bulk sound deade tion of . UKʼs percep brothers Cortina the dual burden sions to suit Ford roads on colonial suspen Paul Cross ed for use heavy duty a vehicle destin the Empire! of the needs of t very flung outpos cars were in some far s meant the winds duty spring tible to cross The heavy , were suscep Con-Rod. full height rigid but, at r speeds down I had overall slowe directional stability, le resulting in in the reduction “Blue Streak” low profi To counter l Goodyear unds which imported specia new T7 and T5 compo back our the We clawed race tyres in so the old T3. ratio than drive softer overall final were much . lowered the on the circuit cornering and se in speed e seriously a nett increa had becom that we saw red the nies by then . BP sponso The oil compa teams red ring racing Shell sponso Leo involved sponso with John Reaburn; supported drove I Total car, lds car which eorge Reyno sponsored the cars but s. also the Bob Jane/G egan. Ford company colourd and Ian Geogh in the respective oil d rule still applie all were painte jack and wheel brace the time to rd The standa able to reduce the car onto es. We were for tyre chang by 20 seconds by lifting compounds change a wheel jack. The softer rubber right hand side ed the e extend chang fully to a have pads. we would front brake meant that so that every possibly the front tyre and was totally blue-printed 1/8 inch The race car was within holes mounting point filling and redrilling suspension by ce, it is now This was done er. For instan s tolerance. and cross-membCortinas had 0.5 degree I in the body , and 2.5 that all Mark side front wheel left well known the control camber on side. The lower centre of of positive the r on the other cambe toward e far too positiv nsate for 0.375 inch been to compe arm pivot was red to have the drilling rumou ting is It the car. roads. Correc r to both sides. of colonial the camber positive cambe angle degrees of s positive castor produced 0.5 full 3.5 degree To obtain the

The 1964 00 g5 Armstron

The boy from Snowy River

n these opening pages here is this quiet, well-broug 37 up country lad, with ht I was learning piano, visions of new ways but was only interested of doing things and with little not the classics. I could in jazz, regard for convention write my own music . I had learned years. much from my time at 15 to 18 in the army during I played drums in the Second World a mateʼs band with War. One of those my future brother-in-law. Usually lessons was an acquired the drummer played hatred of waste and red tape. piano and the rest went to supper. Even now, the worst I had a guitar, but thing you can say to me is: “You was no good at it. My hands were have to do this”. The only good saga of “itʼs always been done When I was discharged at using spanners. this way… your elders it was the start of a know best” was not as I had read it new existence: no in books money, but I had acquired completely regarding things mechanica on the subject – especially worldly knowledge a vast ls. . In the meantime I had gone back to work at the garage with my uncle and was becoming a

service people well alone. They all hated speedy cars and bikes and anyone who drank wine rather than beer. The police never troubled me on the pistol, but complained all the time about speeding could not last, especially – car and motorcycle. This after the uncles and in. So I sat my mum aunts joined down and explained why I was moving to Melbourne . I had this early vision in motor sport, and of being new ways to drive and build I knew it would be cars. hard. At the same time I was being married to a Bairnsdale lass, who moved to the city too – Presbyterian Ladiesʼ Hostel. So, I moved to Melbourne to work for Preston – and the first week Motors there found I had more civilian again. But tools than everyone else put I still slept with the together! I was panel Beretta under my pillow – I didnʼt trust beating but it only took a week for anyone. I had met them to work out I the ex No.2 D/R Fitter; he had given understood all about Continental me all my French and British cars – tools, so I gave him the brazing torch and I had the tools. Pay wasnʼt good, but and we both went it was a start. into London stores and bought some civvy clothes My brother was doing and went on the a spray painting course ANZAC Day March place in Elizabeth at for first – and last St so I moved there – time. I also went to the army for more money, amid complaints from disposals and bought Prestonʼs – but it was Mac Velocette and a 350cc not to last with them, as the manager rode it home. I was lost without a bike tried to make me do around. quick work and would shoddy, not let me work on When I returned home my MG in my own time. So I left to Orbost (if youʼve to go to a place called heard of Orbost, itʼs never AF Hollins in Armadale, in south a small town in East east Melbourne. AF Gippsland – Snowy River country) Hollins leading was a car racing and engine-rec I found that country not changed much life had onditioning firm jointly owned by Alf and while I was away. Julian Barrett and Your relatives still spied on you and Alan Ashton, who were drivers and leading criticised, and all but race mechanic respective my good uncle said the MG As one of my first that I had bought was ly. jobs there was overhaulin a very selfish car. I tried to conform g an MG Magnette, I was quite with life as the locals happy. The Magnette and town conventions expected, was wealthy stock broker but it was not for me. named Maurie Rosenbaum for a the MG and built up I repaired was so pleased with . He a sports boat, but I the car he said to me, would not go to the six oʼclock pub in his Jewish accent, “Mr Harry, swill after work with you vas always use everyone else. I still wore my pistol someone elseʼs monies.” He also gave under my arm – the me some other worldly yobs left us exwhich I never forgot. advice,

Left: A young Harry Firth at the wheel of the Dodge Special he and Mick Scott built for Russell Lane. Above: The Morris van that replaced Harry’s P Type MG – due to the arrival of a daughter in the family.

FordAndI_Ad FPc.indd 1

20/08/13 3:40 PM

Model

Behaviour

With Bruce Moxon

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motorsport news

19/08/13 5:03 PM

o you want a really impressive model to form the centrepiece of your model collection, or even as a great piece of art for your man-cave or Blokeatorium? How about a 1/8 (yes, eight) scale McLaren? And even better, you can tell everyone you built it yourself. I found the 1/8 scale McLaren model at www.buildmclaren.com. You can buy the kit all at once for $1200 US or in stages for $100 US a month over a year. There’s also a delivery charge that’s lower if you get it all at once. Far more affordable, albeit less impressive, are the new 1/18 Lotus Formula One cars announced by Spark. There are three Lotus F1 cars they’re releasing very soon, via Apex Replicas. The 2013 cars, as driven by Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean (including the Australian Grand Prix winner) will be available ‘soon’, they tell me. The other Lotus F1 car is the interim 1967 Type 33, with the BRM engine (below). Jim Clark and Graham Hill raced these cars (with limited success) while they waited for the 49 Cosworth. The 1/18 car coming is the car Graham Hill drove to second in the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix. The 33 was a significant car in its own right – it was the first to use the engine as a stressed member of the car, following on from the 25’s breakthrough of being the first monocoque F1 car. Hill, who won five times at Monaco, might have considered getting a BRM-engined car to the finish. Regular readers will have inferred that I like the EH Holden (but don’t assume that makes

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“

Have a look at the steering wheel and dashboard – the classic ‘red’ six-cylinder engine and the two-tone bench seats. When you open the boot, there’s a separate panel that comes out to reveal the fuel filler pipe! me a Holden man – I’m strictly non-partisan – except where it comes to VW, Peugeot and Renault, but anyway...) The EH was, in my view, Australia’s first truly world class car. It was a handsome machine, with good interior space and appointments, plenty of grunt, a great price and decent build quality. Of course, by today’s standards it’s hopelessly underpowered, under-braked and inefficient. But the car is 50 years old. Which brings us to our point; to celebrate 50 years since the EH’s 1963 release, Classic Carlectables has produced this beautiful 1/18 scale model of the EH Special in Kalgoorlie Gold (opposite). This colour just looks so ‘right’ on the model, bringing out the fantastic detail and fit and finish. ‘Detail’ you ask? Have a look at the steering wheel and dashboard – the classic ‘red’ sixcylinder engine and the two-tone bench seats. When you open the boot, there’s a separate panel that comes out to reveal the fuel filler pipe! Other great details include accurate ‘blacking-out’ in the ‘Holden’ badging, all the

right stickers in the engine bay and faithfullyreproduced cross-ply tyres. This is a limited edition, naturally, but who cares about its collectability – it’s just a really nice model. This car deserves to fly off the shelves – it looks just fantastic. As does the latest offering from Biante. Peter ‘Possum’ Bourne was that rarest of things: a New Zealander who was universally liked and respected in Australia. Possum was a very fast and committed rally driver – spectacular and a just wonderful to watch, any time. His battles with Neal Bates when they were both running WRC cars in the Australian Rally Championship were epic, usually going Possum’s way too. He was also a nice bloke, always had time for the fans and the media. He knew he was good, but wasn’t arrogant about it, but also wasn’t afflicted with any false modesty. So when Biante announce it is bringing out a 1/18 Sun Star model of Possum’s 1996 entry at Rally Australia, well, you just have to pay attention. The Subaru WRX555 is full of detail – the roll cage, all the navigation gear,

19/08/13 5:03 PM

the Pirelli rally tyres, roof vents, the lot – all there. All four doors open, as do the boot and bonnet, showing the boxer engine and the spare wheel. Possum’s licence plate ‘ROJ’ is a tribute to Rodger Freeth, killed at Rally Australia in 1993 when he and Possum had a huge endfor-end crash. I was there that day – one of the worst I’ve had in motorsport. And then Possum died – just short of 10 years later, after a head-on during reconnaissance for a rally in New Zealand. Not only is this a great-looking model, but

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it makes a nice tribute to Possum. And it’s very keenly-priced, just under $120 and available now for pre-ordering at www. biante.com.au Remember the W427 HSV? Released in 2008, this was the most powerful HSV or Holden ever – 375kW and 640Nm of torque and a distinctive body style ensuring that the just 137 cars sold would be very collectible. The car was celebrating 20 years of HSV cars and was a worthy culmination of that experience. So fans of HSV should be heading to Apex

Replicas (www.apexreplicas.com.au) to place a pre-order on this car. Lastly, over at Trax (www.topgear.com. au) they’ve just announced the latest in their ‘Opals’ series. The Opals cars are limitededition resin models and they only make as many as are ordered and no more. This model is of the Valiant Drifter panel van. A dressedup plumber’s van, designed to compete with the Holden Sandman and Ford equivalent, the Sundowner, the Valiant was every bit as good a van as the others, but has never been as popular as a ‘retro’ item, sadly.

motorsport news

19/08/13 5:03 PM

t s r ﬁ d l r o W releases Brock A30

Geoghegan Mustang

Geoghegan Monaro

Ford Landau

Drifter Van

All 1/43rd scale precision resin models and only available in limited numbered releases

www.models56.com.au

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mNews435_Models.indd 87

6/08/13 3:43 PM

20/08/13 3:28 PM

Vale Archie White

ne of motor racing’s true un-sung heroes passed away in July after a long and debilitating illness. Archie White was the motor racing manager for The Shell Company right through the golden age of the sport from the 1960s through to the early 1980s; in fact Archie worked for Shell all his life, from his early teens right through to retirement – a real ‘company man’. Although based at Shell’s Sydney head office and not in Melbourne, Archie’s influence ranged far and wide providing sponsorship support to many of the era’s top teams and drivers. Teams such as Scuderia Veloce and the Neptune Team as well as their drivers Spencer Martin, Bill Brown, David McKay, Norm Beechey, Peter Manton, Jim McKeown and many more including three-time world champion Jackie Stewart all received the ‘Archie touch’. He was farewelled by a large gathering in early August and will be greatly missed by family and his many friends. Ray Berghouse

Paul Cross

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motorsport news

20/08/13 12:39 PM

Clay Cross

Tony Gaze

ven had he never got involved in motorsport, Tony Gaze would have been remembered as an important national figure for his service in the RAAF during the Second World War. By war’s end Gaze was credited with at least 11 kills. He was the first allied pilot to land on European soil when he led his unit into an airfield at St Croix-Sur-Mer, four days after the D-Day landings. He served as a squadron leader, and later was stationed at Wittering, as part of the unit developing new techniques and testing captured enemy aircraft. Returning to combat as a fighter pilot, shortly before the end of the war Gaze shot down a Messerschmidt Me 262, the world’s first operational jetpowered aircraft. For his achievements, he received three Distinguished Flying Crosses. After the war Gaze took up motorsport, competing in a 1500cc HRG sports car and a pre-war Alta openwheeler which he drove in the 1948 Australian Grand Prix at Point Cook. The same year in the UK, Gaze helped establish the Goodwood circuit by suggesting it as a potential replacement for Brooklands to the then Duke of Richmond. In 1951 Gaze raced an Alta Formula 2 at various events in Europe before buying a HWM and becoming the first Australian to compete in an F1 event, in the 1952 Belgian

www.mnews.com.au

mNews435_Obits.indd 89

Grand Prix. The following year he shared a Holden 48-215 in the Monte Carlo Rally with Lex Davison and Stan Jones, the trio becoming the first Australian entry in international rallying. It was also the first major sporting appearance anywhere for a Holden. This wasn’t Gaze’s only contribution to the cause of Australian motorsport on the international stage. In 1955 he helped establish the Kangaroo Stable, an Australianbased international racing team to fly the Australian flag. The team folded in the wake of that year’s Le Mans tragedy, but not before it had provided a young Jack Brabham with an entrée into the European racing scene. Gaze continued to race himself, and finished second in the 1956 New Zealand Grand Prix, behind Stirling Moss. After the death of his first wife, Kay, Gaze returned to Australia in 1976. Later he married Diana Davison, the widow of four-time Australian Grand Prix winner Lex Davison and grandmother of current drivers Will, Alex and James Davison. Diana Gaze died last year. In addition to his military decorations, Gaze's contribution to Australian motor racing was recognised in 2006 with Order of Australia honours. Last year he received the Sir Jack Brabham Award for his achievements in international motor sport. Tony Gaze was 93. Steve Normoyle 89

20/08/13 12:39 PM

Raceshop

The Coventry Collection

Muscle Car Masters’ Genuine Factory Parts

House of Muscle is pleased to partner again with the Muscle Car Masters for another Official Special Build for the 2013 event. Running on our Zombie grey coloured shirt, HoM have the grid line-up of the late ’80s and if you duck over to our Facebook page you will see the grid line up of the early 1980s hoodie, event cap, patch and a twin/pack set of coolers. So get in early to avoid missing out. Avaliable at the 2013 Muscle Car Masters

There’s good news for Group A and V8 Supercar owners with the creation of ‘The Coventry Collection’ motorsport image archive. Journalist and Channel 7/ SPEED commentator Aaron Noonan has secured the significant archive of Coventry Studios gun snapper Graeme Neander covering the mid-1980s to the mid2000s. It includes significant coverage of the ATCC/V8 Supercars Championship, Bathurst 1000 and a range of other events and categories. Not only will images be available to media for editorial and commercial use, but the V8 Sleuth himself is also making the archive available to private car owners and restorers who may be looking for images from their car’s heyday. For more information email aaron@v8sleuth.com.au or call 0438 316 148

Tyre temps on iPhone

New from Davies Craig is this brilliant little device to monitor tyre pressures and temperatures. The Davies Craig iTPMS-8886 is simple, do-it-yourself installation that can be completed in minutes. Simply download a free App, plug-in the Bluetooth transceiver and screw-on the four tyre valve sensors which will promptly display all four real-time individual tyre temperatures and pressures on your iPhone. Screw-on tyre valve sensors are light weight, so no wheel balancing is required. Visual and audible warnings are transmitted immediately to your iPhone via the Bluetooth transceiver should a tyre pressure vary by plus or minus 25% from the set values, or when a tyre’s internal air temperature exceeds 65 degrees. It can be easilt switched to another vehicle, and each sensor has a replaceable long-life battery.

For further information please visit www.daviescraig.com.au 90

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motorsport news

20/08/13 3:43 PM

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20/08/13 3:35 PM

SELL your parts,

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V8 Supercars for Sale

Sedans/Sport Cars

2010 Subaru STi SPEC C

Ex-Rusty French Group C Ford Ready to race in historic Group C. CAMS C of D. Genuine car not a replica. Price As GTHO Phase 3. See it at the Gasolene Muscle Car Expo in July in Melbourne. 0400 247 033

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2010 Tarmac rally or track car, built to highest standards, FIA Possum Bourne Cage fitted by PBMS, carbon door trims/footwells, fresh race engine - dry sump, Cosworth, Motec dash + ECU, Diff controller, DMS, Whiteline bars, PBMS exhaust, 300kW ATW 710 Nm, FMIC, All the Fruit! Regrettable sale, as new has to go. 0407 911 848

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V 1999 EVO VI RS C Cup Car and Transporter 2009 Championship winning Commodore Cup Car and UD International Transporter Package priced to sell. Gene Cook Engine with alloy heads, Modena 4spd dog box, Aim logging & dash. Spares include: Engine, gearbox, shocks, diff, wheels, panels, too many to list. Truck recently had a full recon motor. 0401 234 125

Subway Racing offer for sale the Gemini S/S currently running in the SSC Car sits 1st in class and 9th outright. Car eligible full historic classification built 1979 and has had a full 14 month resto inc engine, gearbox, diff, brakes, paid Bathurst entry for 2013-loads of spares+wets. 0418 492 302

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Rare RS6, 96000km, Techsport serviced, Power FC w h/controller, AVC.R Boost Controller, T/Timer & front downpipe (all APEXI), full stainless exhaust, POTENZA adj susp, ARC front intercooler, RECARO race seat, alum. radiator, carbon fibre openair filter, POTENZA Adrenalin tyres, EXEDY triple plate clutch & more 0402 354 344

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Walkinshaw Racing offers for sale the following V8 Supercars: WR-07–Last run by Fabian Coulthard WR-09–Last run by Nick Percat WR-12–Last run by James Courtney WR-13–Last run by Russell Ingall WR-15–Last run by James Courtney. Can be sold as rolling chassis or turn key cars. Spares also available. 0413 001 666

VY Clubsport IPRA Racecar

Radical SR3 RS 2010

3 way MCA cannister shocks, Harrop 4 spot 343mm brakes, diff/g-box coolers, dry break fuel intank, sweel pot system, 2x sets wheels, kaaz diff billet products, shifter 4-1, headers, side exit exhaust, CAMS logbook, $18,000 minus engine. $22,000, ready to race, fresh 400hp original owner Scott Loadsman. 0458 302 327

Nov 2010, 1500cc, headers fitted, paddleshift with blipper, air jacks, high downforce diffuser, dive planes, AIM MXL, brake pressure logging, lighting, 2 diff ratios, 2 nik links, head restraint, fire extinguisher, 3 sets wheels, original exhaust available, 13.5 hours racing. +64 2 7446 8483

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www.my105.com/8525

2010 Dominator Unit No 51 As raced less engine -Wilwood Brakes AFCO T2 Shocks - Electric Brake Lockoff - 12/13 State Champion Winner - Winter Diff - Burt Magnesium Gearbox Spares - Front & Rear T2 Shock - Top & Bottom Arms. Well maintained done 31 meets. Complete $36,900 or $33,000 without gearbox & spares. 0418 134 174

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20/08/13 2:25 PM

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F3000 - March 85B Immaculate, rebuilt 1985 March 85B with Cosworth DFV. Ex Michel Ferte/ Onyx Racing campaigned in inaugural F3000 Championship. Car imported to Australia in 2011, rebuilt chassis and gearbox. Historic Group R - COD and log book http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=wMpnQWtv6XY. 0418 685 575

Spectrum 011 car rebuilded four race meeting ago including engine rebuild full set front wish bones spare two sets rear shocks. Car has won NSW state titles last two years keeped immaculately. (02) 4577 6483

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74 Porsche 911 RS Replica Built by K-Tec 3.4 litre engine, centrelube cams, 12 point distributor, PMO's WEVO shifter, Elephant Racing suspension, heated screen, new wiring harness and much more. Engine just rebuilt by Fitzgerald Racing! Price Negotiable within reason. 08 9227 8911

www.my105.com/3042 Rally, Off Road & 4WD Transporters/Trailers

Racers Choice Sedan Trailer 15x6'6 floor size, light but strong, punched floor with over wheel straps, no car or suspension damage, beaver tail and fold up ramps and low sides, easy loading and your doors will open, LED, designed for race cars, full custom options available, $4999 or $5499 with tyre rack, Trik Trailers racing. 1300 880 417

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Fiesta Rally Car for Sale

Van Diemen RF06 Top 10 runner in AFFC. MoTeC w. steering, brake pressure, G-force etc. Data from 2009. Proflex dampers with H/L bump and rebound. Upgrades such as big front brakes, cold air intake, heat shielding, exhaust, K&A uprights and aero tweaks. Comes with spare corners. Will sell to NZ/UK. Ready to race. 07 3282 2278

Msport built, left hand drive. Fiesta ST Group N Rally car. 2L Duratec engine, front wheel drive, ideal for Aust Rally Championship. Included with car, extensive spares package, 8 OZ and 5 Speedline Gravel rims, 10 tarmac wheels with new Pirelli Tyres, 5 new 195/65R15 R800. Rally tyres and used. 0418 404 945

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Mitsubishi Fuso Transporter

Long rego & VERY low original kilometres. Unique, custom built to carry race car and no expense was spared on this beautiful project all done to perfection. Up to date service history. Built in ramps & tool boxs. Winch. Profestional 6 wheel conversion. Valuation certificate $55,000. 07 5591 1007

New body 6m floor, 2.3m wide, 2.5m high, Hydraulic lift to clear cab , Hydraulic tail-gate & slide-out. 7 litre turbo diesel, 6 speed, low 145000kms, Velour seats, carpet, electric windows, Climate control, central locking, CD/MP3. New tyres, fully rust-proofed. No expense spared. Ready for custom. 0414 354 721

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Peter Brock Safari Rodeo Built by Holden Rally team for 2004 Australian Safari. Only raced once, driven by Peter Brock, fully restored and prepped post Safari, ready for collector or racing. Sister car won the 2012 Safari outright. Gen3 V8 engine, Holinger 6 speed sequential gearbox, Albins transfer case and driveline. 03 8587 1700

www.my105.com/10017

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81 Untitled-2 93

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Retro Vision

mNews435_RetroVision.indd 94

motorsport news

19/08/13 4:29 PM

www.mnews.com.au

mNews435_RetroVision.indd 95

Sutton Images

Formula 1 makes a welcome return to Austria next year at the Red Bull Ring, which is Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz’s redeveloped vision of the old A1Ring which last hosted the Austrian Grand Prix in 2003. But the A1-Ring itself was an emasculated revamp of a longer, faster and much more exciting circuit originally known as the Österreichring. This is the Österreichring in 1979 during the opening lap of Austrian GP as Gilles Villeneuve’s Ferrari heads eventual winner Alan Jones, Niki Lauda, Rene Arnoux and Clay Regazzoni.

19/08/13 4:29 PM

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Parting shot It was a history making weekend at the Mid Ohio Sports Car Course as the first NASCAR event in history to include more than one Australian. Owen Kelly (bottom) started third on the grid in the Nationwide Series race but ended up 23rd after ending up in the sand trap, while Marcos Ambrose (below) finished seventh after an eventful run from the back of the grid.

NASCAR Media BAM Media

Next issue of Motorsport News on sale 26th September 98

mNews435_PartingShot1.indd 98

motorsport news

19/08/13 4:34 PM

VF Commodore Exhaust Systems

AVAILAbLE NOW INTRODUCING THE ALL NEW PERFORMANCE EXHAUST SYSTEM FOR THE HSV There is nothing better than the roar of a powerful V8 engine. XFORCE Performance Exhaust delivers the muscular V8 growl. Our exhaust systems are manufactured using premium quality materials and in a range of finishes to suit your individual taste and requirements. All of our exhaust systems are specifically engineered for each make and model. Our system ensures maximum performance through our dedication to R & D and the use of the latest in dynamometer technology. Available in your local retail outlets. Trade enquiries welcome. Exhaust systems are our craft. Over decades of experience in racing and dyno proven results, it is beyond doubt that XFORCE systems are the top choice for many motor vehicle enthusiasts. See. Hear. Feel. The difference.

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19/08/13 3:06 PM

LIMITED PRODUCTION OF 750 PIECES WORLDWIDE

Photograph of

Item No.18449

Available August 2013

The lightweight racing seat is cut down, leaving no room for comfort. The harness belts and buckles are well replicated.

actual model

1/18 Scale Model Diecast Replica

The Repco-Holden V8 engine is beautifully replicated. Note the fine craftsmanship of the tubing, parts, hoses and wiring.

The 1971 AGP was held at Warwick Farm Raceway, NSW, on November 21, over 45 laps of the 3.621km circuit. A new local design was appearing for the first time, Frank Matich’s designed and built Matich A50. For the afternoon timed practise Frank Matich in his A50 got down to 1:24.3 to claim pole position. Matich led from flag to flag. He set the fastest lap, slowed by up to two seconds a lap in the later stages and still beat his nearest rival home by two-thirds of a lap.

For more details contact Classic Carlectables on Freecall 1800 088 564 or visit classiccarlectables.com.au A1156 Australian Motorsport News

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