Motorsport News Issue 143 - 1-14 January 1999 by V8 Sleuth

7-74 January 1999

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Greg IVIurpH$H|n abandons ov^effl dream to join ^ Gibson ^Superteam’

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● James Courtney’s big UK break ● We take the crystai baii to the new year ● LIFT-OUT! 1999 Castrol racing calendar

Photo by Dirk Klynsmith

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FIA Formula One World Championship Mar 7

Australia

Brazil Apr 11 San Marino May 2 May 16 Monaco May 30 Spain Jun 13 Canada Jun 2^^—FranoeJul 11 Great Britain

Jul 25

Austria

Aug 1 Aug 15 Aug 29 Sep 12 Sep 26 _Oct-4-7 Oct 31

Germany Hungary Belgium Italy Europe Malaysia, Japan

Reserves: Argentina, China

FIA Formula 3000 International Championship May 5 Imola May 15 Monaco May 29 Spain Jun 26 France Jul io

Great Britain

Jul 24

Austria

Jul 31 Aug 14 Aug 28 Sep 26

Germany Hungary Belgium Germany

FedEx CART Championship Series Mar 21 Homestead, FI Apr 10 Japan Apr 18 Long Beach, Ca May 2 Nazareth, Pa May 15 Brazil May 29 Madison, II Jun 6 Milwaukee, Wi Jun 12 Portland, Or Jun 27 Cleveland, Oh Jul 11 Elkhart Lake, Wi

Jul 18 Toronto, Can Jul 27 Michigan, Mi Aug 15 Lexington, Oh Aug 22 Chicago, II Sep 5 Vancouver, Can Sep 12 Monterey, Ca Sep 26 Houston, Tx Oct 17 Australia Oct 31 Fontana, Ca

Pep Boys Indy Racing League Jan 24 Orlando, FI Mar 28 Phoenix, Az May 1 Charlotte, NC May 30 Indy 500, Indianapolis, In Jun 12 Fort Worth, Tx Jun 27 Colorado Springs, Co

Jul 17 Atlanta, Ga Aug 1 Denver, Co Aug 29 Colorado Springs, Co Sep 26 Las Vegas, Nv Oct 17 Fort Worth, Tx

Shell Championship Series V8 Supercars Mar 7 Melbourne (agp)* Mar 28 Eastern Creek April Adelaide 500 May 2 Wanneroo May 16 Phillip Island Jun 6 Hidden Valley Jun 27 Sandown Jul 11 Willowbank Jul 25 Calder Aug 8 Symmons Plains

Aug 22 Winton Sep 5 Oran Park Sep 19 Sandown ** 500 Oct 17 Surfers Paradise (Indy GP)* Nov 14 FAI 1000, Bathurst ‘Non-championship races "Venue to be confirmed

Australian Formula Ford Championship Mar 28 Eastern Creek Jul 25 Calder* April Adelaide 500** Aug 8 Symmons May 2 Wanneroo Plains May 16 Phillip Island Aug 22 Winton Jun 6 Hidden Valley* Sep 5 Oran Park Jun 27 Sandown ‘One of two tba "Non-championship race Jul 11 Willowbank

Australian Formula Holden Championship Mar 28 Eastern Creek Jul 25

Calder

1 Janudry 1999

Murphy returns to be a Wynn-er Holden ace joins Steve Richards at Gibson team By CHRIS LAMBDEN GREG Murphy will join Steven Richards in a revamped Wynns V8 Supercar team in 1999. Murphy has had no firm answer on his Indy Lights drive and Frenchman Jean-Christophe Bouillon is expected to seal the Renault Super Tourer seat for which Murf was a contender. The talented and popular Kiwi has therefore signed for the Gibson Motor Sport squad, where he will join Steven Richards - another who has turned his back on a foreign career. Murphy resisted the Shell/DJR Ford drive which was also offered to him, finding it difficult to accept thanks to an option signed with the Wynns team some months back. He was also keen to remain in a, Holden.

Sandown 500 set to return We kear tkat tke Sandown 500 will soon be confirmed for the second week of September,ending specula tion about its future. However,it will not be spon sored again by Tickford. There was considerable doubt that the traditional Bathiirst warm-up race would go ahead in 1999 as a move was expected to Willowbank,but it seems the Queensland Government did not want a race so close to the Gold Coast Indycar GP. ■ Cars, cars, cars. Adding to the ever-increasing list of new car/driver combinations lining up for the 1999 V8 Supercar sea son, we hear that Rodney Forbes ’ivUl be back, teaming up with the leading privateer Lansvale team. The move reunites Rodney’s father Bob with engi neer Wally Storey. ■ Other rumours have Queenslander Paul Morris, back from a season of Indy Lights in the US, working on a V8 deal as well as a Super Tourer package.

“While I’m unbelievably disap pointed about the US thing,I’m really pleased that Richo is part of the picture at the Wynns team,” Murphy said on Monday. “He’s a good mate and his being ^New force for 1999: The Wynn’s-backed team has hardly been there is a big bonus and a huge key a factor previously, but with Steve Richards and Greg Murphy to the success of the team.” on board, the Gibson Motorsport operation will be one to watch Murphy signed a preliminary in the forthcoming V8 Supercar season. (Photos by Dirk Kiynsmith) one-year agreement with options like him to drive for us. At with Wynns’ Gary Dumbrell'on cally cautious with the predictions: Christmas Eve, replacing a previ1999 will be one more step that stage he was unsure of ous option contract, before heading towards getting our team back to where he stood with the to Sydney for Christmas with the position it once held,” he said on Nissan Team in the UK. friends. Monday. “He needed to go back “There are a few details to sort “We’re starting our VTs a lot after Bathurst to figure out out, but the deal is done.” later than many, so it will take us a if there would be an oppor tunity, but it didn’t look hke The Murphy/Richards pairing little while to get it aU together, endows the Gibson team with a However, we’ve got two very he would get a race drive at pair of Bathurst winners, both good, experienced young drivers, all so I think he’ll be quite experienced on Bridgestone tyres we’re all on equal tyres, so I hope pleased to get back here and and Murphy with VT Commodore that by mid-year we’ll start to get stuck in. become a factor. mileage. “The overseas experience It is a strong pairing which could “It will be a long haul and a lot of has been really good for him well restore the Gibson team to the work, but I’m really looking for- nevertheless. He’s matured Back from the UK: Steven Richards a lot as an individual and as high profile it enjoyed three years ward to 1999 ... “In Murfs case, it’s quite similar. . ago. “When Steven was out here for a driver as a result of his time over “I know what it’s like for a young Team owner Fred Gibson is typi- Sandown I said to him that we’d there and he’U do an excellent job. driver who wants to pursue the overseas challenge. It’s tough and I know he’s disappointed that, with aU the support he’s had from New Zealand, it hasn’t resulted in the drive in the US. “That’s why, back in August, we ver (Sandown and Bathurst) THE Shell team is no closer to agreed to a contract that said if he Cameron McConville. securing a replacement driver drives in Austraha he drives for us. McConville has a surprising for the recently departed John I was happy to give him the time he level of experience in many types Bowe. needed to see how the overseas of race cars but, as of Christmas, Prior to Christmas, the team thing panned out. had not had any meaningful chat “At the end of the day, we’ve got had spoken with Neil Crompton, with the Shell team. Greg Murphy and Russell Ingall. two very good drivers and that will Both Radisich (said to be expen Crompton declined in favour of help us get the team back to where sive!) and Baird have Ford Super we used to be. ■ his growing relationship with Tourer and V8 experience. Glenn Seton’s team, Mui-phy was “It’s good for them to be coming Baird ran in the struggling ¤ ^ in where we are now - pretty well under option to the Wynns team British Ford BTCC team this past down at the bottom - and being and, with a year to go on a water season, having previously occupied £1 the role of test driver for BMW tight Team Castrol Perkins con part of that getting back to the Australia (winning the Bathurst tract, Ingall was also unavailable. top...” Good prospects: Steve Johnson 1000 before the unfortunate post While the team is clearly seek A pair of new VT Commodores is ing a V8 driver of some experience, on development experience, the race disqualification in 1997). currently taking shape in the The Shell team had hoped to to assist in the development of the departing Bowe offered his team’s Dandenong workshops. Richards is due back from the all-new AU Falcon, each day that endorsement of Steven for the role. name its replacement before New Other names doing the rumour Year, but a mid-January settle UK on January 7 and “starts passes edges the choice toward Steven Johnson. rounds include Paul Radisich, ment of the quandary now seems work” at Gibson Motorsport on January 11. Although Johnson Jnr is short Craig Baird and recent team dri- likely.

Shell drive still open W

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■ Alan Jones is unlikely to be a starter in the 1999 V8 Supercar season, at least early in the year. Despite having sup port from Channel 9, we hear that Komatsu declined to renew its backing,leaving AJ seriously short of budget for his proposed VT Commodore effort. ■ The Racing for Life V8 Supercar team is expected to reemerge in 1999. Discussions are currently underway with the Shell team regarding supply of one or more of the team’s EL Falcons. Steve Johnson is expected to be the driver, although the current driver roundabout at the Shell team may comphcate matters. ■ AVESCO’s Januaiy 28 Board meeting is set to make some decisions regarding race formats for 1999. The group is faced with the problem of how to cope with an expected excess of entries at quite a number ofits race meetings. Options ranging from a simple “cut” after qualifying to a heats and finals system are up for dis cussion. ■ Word around Melbourne is that BMW wiU take over from Holden as the Australian Grand Prix Celebrity Race sponsor. BMW^ Australia withdrew from its ofiicial involvement in Super Touring racing 12 months ago. ■ Larry Perkins tested a Castrol Commodore on Bridgestones during the week prior to Christmas. No word yet on his reaction as LP disap peared for his Christmas break. ■ Interested parties following the Junior Tourer saga from NSW should note that Bruce Williams’ prototype Commodore will be on show at Eastern Creek on Januaiy 12 for a question and information session. Fax your interest in attending to 03 5335 8799.

lJanuary1999

n Young Aussie Andrej Pavicevic completed 2000km at the Paul Ricard circuit in France at the wheel of a Formula 3000 car before Christmas and declared himself very happy with the way it went. Pavicevic drove the Lola Zytek 96/50 which is backed by his F3 spon sor, Zepter, over six days and went faster each day. It was the 23 yearold’s first drive since his huge accident in the Macau F3 race in November. He has since returned home and will return in January to dis cuss where he will race in 1999. n British American Racing has initiated legal action against the FIA to reverse its rule prohibiting FI teams running their two cars in different liveries. BAR chief Craig Pollack said he hoped to have the issue resolved by midJanuary. BAR wants to run one car in Lucky Strike colours and the second in those of the 555 cigarette brand.

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DJR Falcon for McLean

CAMERON McLean will

race a V8 Supercar this season. The double Super Touring Independent Champion took delivery of the ex-Dick Johnson Ford Flacon EL just before Christmas and will drive it for the next time on Monday January 11. The car has been repaired after its FAI 1000 Classic crash in November and McLean, who had his first taste of V8 racing in Garth Tander’s Garry Rogers Motorsport Commodore at Sandown and Bathurst, is looking forward to driving it. “It will be interesting to see how it is to drive com pared to the Commodore,” McLean said this week. “Driving Garry’s car was a good experience and my input into the set-up of the thing was the same as the other guys in the team, so I

feel pretty good about dri ving it. “Dick will probably drive the car and set a time and then 111 go for a little blast...” McLean has sold his exworks BMW to a Swedish competitor and, along with John Henderson buying his 1997 title-winning Opel, is well-funded to compete in the V8 this season. “We’ll be running the whole series, the GP and all the other races. It’s more expensive than 2-litre racing but that’s because there’s more races and some of them are in places like Perth and Darwin where we’ve never been before.” McLean will run the car in the colours of his long-time sponsors Greenfield Mowers and Redex, and has also ordered a new pantech for the season. -PHIL BRANAGAN

Familiar colours: Cameron McLean has swapped his BMW Super Tourer for the last Dick Johnson Racing-built Falcon EL and will hit the Shell Championship Series trail.

Bernie's Bond Bothers

H Stewart GP techni cal director Alan Jenkins has left the team, clear ing the way for former Jordan man Gary Anderson to head up the team’s technical depart ment. n Audi’s Le Mans preparation has been running smoothly - up till now. One of the R8 prototypes was recently badly damaged when Rinaldo Capello crashed during night testing at Magny-Cours. Testing is expected'to continue early in the New Year. n Timothy A. Mayer, the son of Indycar and FI legend Teddy has been named Senior VicePresident of CART. Mayer will be responsi ble for the oversight of the series, logisitics, reg istration departments in addition to management of CART’S relationship with event promoters. n The FIA has announced a calendar for its Formula 3000 series next year. The series kicks off on May 1 at Imola in support of the San Marino Grand Prix and follows the FI circus to Monaco, Catalunya, Magny-Cours, Silverstone, Al-Ring, Hockenheim, Hungaroring, Spa and Nurburgring. ■ Congratulations to David Segal on becoming a father for the first time on just before Christmas. The well-known media manager for Dunlop and DJR welcomed a son, Nicholas, into the busi ness. Mother and son are doing well: Dad is shop ping for expensive cigars, we hope ...

BERNIE Ecclestone’s

the deal is agreed the hopes of borrowing bonds will probably never Off Hand: John Barnard (left, with Lola’s Eric Broadley) is heading to Prost GP.(snowdon photo) be listed on stock US$2bn from financial exchanges and will only institutions, secured by be available for private the future earnings of issue. Formula One Holdings, Ecclestone’s desire for a have run into trouble. quick deal means that his Reports are circulating family will receive less in - Europe that the than half of the money he 'German bank WestLB is had hoped to raise with wilUng to buy most of the the flotation of the com bonds but will only do so pany, which was original if the borrowing is ly valued at around $4bn. Arrows this year, B3 also and have been discussing By JOE SAWARD reduced to $1.4bn. After the failure of the supplied Prost Grand Prix working together again ever The highly-respected flotation Ecclestone hired PROST Grand Prix has with a variety of parts for since Prost first began to talk Financial Times newspa Morgan Stanley Dean finally announced that the APOl, which was one of of his own team 10 years ago. per reported that the Witter to underwrite a Although Prost is hoping the points of contention John Barnard is to join chief underwriter in the $2bn bond, which would that the AP02 will be better the French operation as between Walkinshaw and deal - the US investment be refinanced by the flota than the troublesome APOl, Barnard. technical consultant. bank Morgan Stanley tion of FOH within five B3 will take over the develthe change in technical struc The news has been Dean Witter - is planning years. rumoured since Barnard fell opment of the Prost-Peugeot ture will inevitably mean that to hand over the bond This was also greeted the new car wiU be something ' out with Tom Walkinshaw AP02. This has been issue to WestLB. with scepticism in finan of a compromise and Barnard designed by the Prost design of the Arrows team six This report was dis cial circles - largely months ago, but the department under Loic will no doubt be spending a missed as inaccurate by because of Ecclestone’s lot of his time looMng ahead Bigois, although we under announcement was delayed Morgan Stanley which problems with the stand that Barnard has been to the AP03 for 2000. while lawyers of Barnard This will be fitted with an says it will continue in its Competition Directorate ●involved in the program for and Walkinshaw sorted out the European current role, but financial of some months in an advisory entirely new Peugeot VIO a settlement. sources in London say Commission. engine rather than the exist We understand that role. that WestLB has agreed A prospectus was ing model, which is a devel We expect that some of Walkinshaw was arguing to take over the majority issued in November but a opment of the same engine Prost’s young engineers will that Barnard was not stick of the bonds if the issue is series of investment with which Peugeot entered ing to his contract and be assigned to work with B3 FI in 1994. reduced. banks reportedly turned Barnard said the contract at its headquarters in The deal is understood down the chance to join Barnard is expected to Shalford in England to had been breached because to include future stock an underwriting syndi his B3 Technologies company ensure the closest possible expand the staff at B3 and options for when Formula cate. the most likely target for Investors are worried had not been paid for work it collaboration and that the One Holdings is floated facility - originally built for recruits will be the troubled had done for Arrows. about the EC investiga and a joint underwriting Ferrari in August 1992 - vrill Arrows operation, although tion but are also curious The problem has now been position with Morgan act as a British offshoot for we believe that Prost and resolved and Barnard and Stanley. This will mean as to why Ecclestone feels Walkinshaw agreed to a non the need to move so his 30 staff at B3 Prost Grand Prix. that WestLB will get mil poaching pact in October The deal is no surprise as Technologies will work for lions of dollars in fees quickly rather than wait Prost and Barnard worked after several important engi Prost on an exclusive basis. ing until the investigation from FOH. neers left Arrows to work in Although Barnard and B3 together with great success We understand that if is completed. at McLaren in the mid-1980s Paris. were both working with

Prost Grand Prix gets John Barnard

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I Jdnuary 1999

Crick CART Works FF for Courtney gets testing Falcon pace

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GREG Crick is another leading privateer to bene fit from the introduction of

THE pace has picked up in testing for the 1999 FedEx CART

the AU Falcon among pro fessional teams. The Tasmanian has just completed the purchase of the Bathurst-winning Pirtek Falcon EL from Stone Brothers Racing and will, sponsorship permitting, con test a full 1999 season. While confirmation from his existing 1998 sponsors, Ericsson and Trust Bank, is imminent. Crick is currently negotiating with a potential naming rights sponsor, whose involvement will enable him to make a serious attack on the full 1999 Shell Championship Series. The additional budget will also enable him to set up a base in Queensland, enabling easier contact and input from the Stones. Failing this, the car will be based in Crick’s Launceston workshops. “I’m pleased we were able to do a deal with Ross and Jimmy,” Crick said this week. “They’ve promised a level of technical support which means there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be reasonably competitive.” Crick is scaling down his own involvement in his Launceston Honda dealership to enable ajfull-on 1999 race effort. He expects to take delivery of tfie now famous EL around mid-January.

Ray FF for Marcos THE 1999 Formula

British Ford

Championship could turn into an all-Australian bat tle following the news that Marcos Ambrose will drive a Ray for the ADR Motorsport team this sea son. Ambrose’s deal comes as something of a surprise after his debut season in FF for Van Diemen. The Tasmanian was the leading VD driver in the 1998 championship, finish ing third behind two Mygales and the leading much of the Formula Ford Festival at BrandsHatch. Under the deal Ambrose will race in the European Championship as well as the British title. The team tested several other marques of car before settling on the Ray, which is built in Kent by long-time constructor Bert Ray. Ambrose will drive along side gun British karter Tom Sisley, whose father spon sored FI driver Johnny Herbert through his early karting career.

Champions’ mount? This is the new Van Diemen RF99 which James Courtney will race this season. (Photo by sutton images) DOUBLE World Kart James Champion Courtney has made a sur prise leap into Formula Ford — at the highest level. The 18 year-old from Sydney will join the works Van Diemen team in the UK for his debut season, having never sat in an FF in his life! The startling adjustment in his 1999 plans comes on the heels of a management deal with TOCA UK boss, Australian Alan Gow. Gow, in Melbourne last week for Christmas, outhned the series of events which led tq the'boost i'n 'Courtney’s career: “I went to the Bercy kart event (the first karting race I’ve beenvto) with James and then he came on to England and we did a few things — visited Williams etc — and then went down to a fun day that Will Hoy organises. “It involves rallying, autocross and a skid-control event. There’s a number of well-known motor racing peo ple at this event, people like Patrick Head, and also a few quite experienced and wellknown racing drivers who’d probably like to remain nameless because, out of the blue, this kid from Australia beat them. He won the autocross and skid control competitions... “^at started as a fun day out started me thinking that James really didn’t need another year in karting. “One thing led to another,I had a conversation with Ralph Firman at Van

... and he can hardly wait JAMES Courtney is elated by his move to top level Formula Ford in 1999 and is ready to attack the next level of racing. “We had been thinking about whether another year in karting in 1999 was such a good thing and now the opportunity has been made to make the step, I’m ready to really go for it,” Courtney told Motorsport News on Monday. Given sufficient testing, he is uncon cerned about the difficulty of making the switch: “The driving style will be a lot different. There’ll be less grip, but the top end will be faster and the brakes quite a bit better. But I’m sure that I’ll be able to come to grips with it. This year’s UK Formula Ford sensation Jensen Button was a regular karting rival: “We raced a lot - he won some things and I won some. Now he’s won the Fomiula Ford championship and the McLarenAutosport Young Driver of the Year - thafs 50,000 pounds and an FI test! That’s what I want to win next year...

Diemen, he did his research and checking on what I’d said this kid could do, and before I knew it we had a deal.” Also assisting Courtney’s cause was the precedent-set ting 1998 Formula Ford sea son enjoyed by Brit Jensen Button, also straight out of karting. Button won the British series, the Festival and, most recently, the Autosport Awards McLarenMercedes Young Driver of the Year. Gow has underwritten the 1999 season himself, but nat urally hopes to attract com mercial support for his young charge: “It’s a shame, but it

“Jensen’s six months older than me, so again it shows that it’s the right time to make the move.” Courtney is a little bewildered by the non racing side of being a racing driver, but is absorbing everything mentor Neil Crompton is passing on: “I didn’t realise it was so complicated. But I’ve snapped into it and we’re off and run ning...” The 1999 prograrnme includes the British series, a couple of European Formula Ford rounds and the important Formula Ford Festival, but with four years of tough European kart racing behind him Courtney is well-prepared. ‘The racing will be just as tough, but to be honest I think we’ll be quite a bit better organised. That’s the advantage of being with a British team.” Courtney will head to the UK late in January, although he is expected back in Melbourne during Grand Prix Week - he is an ambassadpr for the event - for the Australian MotorSport Awards.

remains the case that most of that support isn’t likely to come from Australia. With a few exceptions, corporate Australia waits until you’ve made it before they want to help you...” (jow has no plans to take on any other young drivers: “James is a special case and, having decided that he very much has the intuitive talent to do it, I felt that I’d kick myself one day if I let the opportunity to help go by. I’m in a position to help and I just wanted to do it.” In the meantime, Neil Crompton is also assisting the young racer in his prepa ration for graduation.

instructing Courtney on the “business” of motor racing — people skills, fitness, image and so on — before his return to the UK late in Januai-y. “I’m not in the manage ment business,” Crompton stressed this week. “That’s Alan’s business and he has all the contacts in the world over in the UK, but I do know the Courtney family well and wanted to con tribute in this way. “The Van Diemen deal has sped things up. All of a sud den, we have to get this done in a few weeks rather than a few months, so it’s been quite hectic. I think James’ head is probably spinning right now!”

Dixon’s Indy Lights deal

SCOTT Dixon has secured a

drive in this year’s Indy Lights Championship in the USA. The current Australian Drivers’ Champion will race for ex-Formula One driver Stefan Johannson for the next two years following an impressive test for the Swede at Sebring. Dixon topped the sheets at the Sebring test by 0.6s, besting com petitors like McLaren FI test driver Darren Turner and Tasman Motorsport’s new signing Guy Smith (who drove for Johansson last season).

According to Dixon, the team offered him the drive as soon as his test had been completed. “Johansson Motorsports basically offered me the drive straight after the test and from that point we have been sorting out contracts. I couldn’t be happier with the cur rent deal and will be heading off to the States for the year on January 4, ready for a hectic pre-season test schedule,” he said. With Johannson looking to move the FedEx CART into

Championship Series in 2000 Dixon looks to be heading to the right

team and may be moving into the Ibig league’ sooner than anticipat ed. “Basically, the deal specifies that I drive for the Indy Lights team in 1999 and the plan allows for a first option for me to drive their Champ Car, depending on when the Johansson Motorsports team enters the CART World series,” Dison said. Dixon was due to move to Indianapolis later this week to con tinue pre-season testing for the team. The season starts on the streets of Long Beach in April.

Championship. At Sebring A1 Unser Jr set the pace on a repaved track, lapping in 51.2 secs in one of last year’s Penske PC27s on Goodyear tyres. Also running at Sebring recently were Adrian Fernandez and PJ Jones in Patrick Racing ‘99 Swift and ‘98 Reynard respectively, Mauricio Gugelmin in a PacWest Reynard, Dario Franchitti in a Team Green Reynard, and on Monday and Tuesday of this week Christian Fittipaldi ran NewmanHaas’s first ‘99 SwiftFord for the first time at Sebring. In Arizona Greg Moore was on the Phoenix oval last month while Mark Blundell, Bryan Herta and Max Papis tested at the nearby Firebird road course. Max Papis had his first test with Team Rahal at Firebird, spending two days in one of the past year’s Reynard-Ford 98Is before jumping into the first of the team’s new Reynard 99Is. Bryan Herta shook down the first of the team’s new cars before Papis climbed aboard. Papis lapped almost as quickly as Herta and the new Rahal pairing moved to the Homestead oval this week for three more days of testing. “I was very impressed with the team and the equipment,” Papis said. “I had to get used to the Ford/Cosworth engine and the motor personnel, but they worked with me very well and I’m excited about 1999.” Commented Herta: “I wasn’t surprised by Max’s speed. I knew he was fast and that’s good for me. We can push each other.” Among other testing, Gil de Ferran and Naoki Hattori were at Homestead and Laguna Seca, although de Ferran had to miss the Homestead test after spraining a wrist in a ‘biking accident. Also at Homestead was Champ car rookie Crisitiano da Matta.

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New BAR 01 makes impressive FI debut By JOE SAWARD

THE Formula 1 teams completed the final tests of 1998 in Barcelona with new Williams driver Ralf Schumacher emerg ing from the three days of run ning with the fastest time. Ralf was quicker than both David Coulthard’s McLaren and Damon Hill’s Jordan. Ferrari, Benetton, Sauber, Stewart and Minardi chose to miss the test. Schumacher Jr completed a total of 150 laps with a best of lm22.27s on the final day of the testing. 'Williams teammate Alex Zanardi continued his work and completed 160 laps with a best of lm23..42s, showing his continued progress as he gets to know the team and gets used to the modern FI machinery. Jordan Grand Prix took only one car to the test and for the first two days this was piloted by Damon Hill, the British driver completing 110 laps with a best time of lm22.47s, the second fastest time of the test. He then handed over to HeinzHarald Frentzen for the final day of running and the German completed 83 laps with a best of lm23.65s as he did chassis and tyre development. McLaren had only one car on.hand for David Coulthard to use on all three days as he tried out more new components which will be used on the MP4-14. Despite some clutch problems, the Scotsman was able to complete 200 laps with a best of lm22.89s on the final day, which ended up as the third fastest time of the week.

1 January 1999

n An appeal court in Germany has rejected Wolfgang Eisele’s claim that the FIA should not be allowed to centrally-market the TV rights of motor sport championships. Eisele - who is upset that he was deprived of the rights to the European Truck Racing Championship - had been trying to break the FIA’s monopoly on the sport. n We expect to see a variety of teams trying out their own versions of McLaren’s contractive suspension system in their 1999 cars. The Frost team recently ran a curi ous suspension at Jerez and others are believed to be following suit. The sus pension uses a variety of springs to separate com pression and rebound, giv ing the car an even ride and making each wheel more independent. This can result in cars not needing anti-roU bars.

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Quick off the mark: Jacques Villeneuve was only a second slower than Williams and McLaren in the new BAR, although there was some confusion about the times.

n There have been rumours for some months that Reynard’s Rick Gome has taken over some of the running of British American Racing from Craig Pollock. These first surfaced at the Nurburgring shortly after Pollock sold some of his shares to CART team owner Gerry Forsythe,

Setting the pace: Ralf Schumacher ended up fastest for Williams. Photos by Clive Rose/Sutton Images

n The Stewart-Ford SF3 is to be unveiled at the Autosport International Show at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, England, on January 7. The car should begin test ing in Barcelona in the week ofJanuary 11 when Bridgestone is releasing tyres for the first tests of the new year.

British American Racing turned up in Barcelona with the prototype BAR 01 - the first of the 1999 chas sis to be completed. This lost the first day because of electronic problems and on Wednesday there were problems with the rear bodywork flying off the car.

On the final day of the test, how ever, Jacques Villeneuve was able to complete a couple of runs in the car and recorded a time in the lowlm23s. Curiously, the team reckoned his best lap was a lm29.09s but other teams recorded a best time of lm23.26s.

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h - ■ Back in action: Olivier Panis returned from surgery to drive a further development of the 1998 Prost-Peugeot.

Nonetheless it was a competent start for the new team - although the acid test will come when the other 1999 cars begin to appear in the New Year. Arrows aiTived in Barcelona with two cars and in the course of the three days Mika Salo completed over 210 laps as he continued devel opment of the E-spec Arrows VIO engine. His best lap was a lm24.30s. Salo was joined on the second and third days by Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa, who completed around 25 laps with a best lap of lm24.66s. De la Rosa spent much of 1998 as Jordan’s test driver but is hoping to join either Arrows or Minardi in the weeks ahead. The only other team in action in Barcelona was Prost which had two cars available once again, Olivier Panis was back in action again after his recent surgery and, despite alternator problems, he was able to complete 110 laps with a best of lm24.52s at the wheel of a ProstPeugeot APOIC - a development of the team’s development car. Jarno Trulli used the APOIB and completed 100 laps, despite an engine failure at one point. His best lap was a lm24.74s. Trulli left early on the last day of the test and the team’s test driver Stephane Sarrazin took over for a couple of laps but failed to record a representative lap time.

n There continue to be discussions about testing restrictions for the coming FI season with a proposal that there should only be three days of testing allowed between each Grand Prix. This has gained support from the majority of the teams. They will only be allowed two setsnf tyres per day by Bridgestone. n The Jordan 199 is not going to be ready to test until the early part of February. The car will be a development version of the current 198 but will feature a completely new gearbox and we expect to see a trick suspension sys tem as well. n Rising British star Jensen Button has signed to drive for Renault UK’s Formula 3 team in 1999. alongside 1998 British Foi-mula Renault Sport champion Aluizio Coelho. The French Promatecme operation has enjoyed con siderable success in recent years with Nicolas Minassian and Enrique Bemoldi but is yet to win the British title. -JOE SAWARD

1 Januafy 1999

Willis for NZ G 500 contender

ee it’s great to be back in Melbourne where the tem perature is quite a lot warmer - or. at least, it’s sup posed to bel But it is nice to be home after spending several weeks in England plus a few days in France -1 nearly froze over there. The time I spent in Pommie Land was like being stranded in a large walk-in fridge at a hotel bottleshop. They were turning their lights on just after 3.00 PM and we had fog for days- we lost a day’s testing in France due to the foggy conditions.

By DARRYL FLACK and PHIL BRANAGAN AUSTRALIAN Superbike star Mark Willis will ride in the 1999 World 500cc Championship. The young New South Welshman will pilot an all-new New Zealand-built BSL500 in the championship, starting in April. Willis flew to Auckland before Christmas to meet with princi pals of Buckley Systems, the backers of the Kiwi-designed and built V-3, and is understood to have agreed to terms after he returned to Australia. “Mark is the ideal rider for us,” said design engineer Dave Stewart last week. “He is proven to be fast and level-headed and he has also shown that he can be patient while the program develops. We’re very pleased to have him.” The team is currently working overtime to have the BSL ready for the two big pre-season IRTA tests at PhiUip Island at the end of this month and at Sepang in Malaysia in February. The project is the brainchild of kiwi businessman Bill Buckley. The Auckland-based engineer’s company, Bucldey Systems, is a' world leader in the development of electromagnets, their main

Before myand team-mate Haydon I headedJames across the Channel for three days of testing I met up with all of the team members at the team’s raceshop and I also had a fit ting on my bikes and had a good look at them. I was really looking forward to hop ping onto the bikes as I’m contesting the British Superbike Championship series as well as being the reserve rider for the Corona Beer All-Star Suzuki Team, which is great as I have picked up additional personal support from Corona Beer. We went up to London to the Landmark Hotel for the official launch of the team, gee it was a classy place compared to the style of hotels that we stay at during the Shell Series over here.

etwo on thecharacter Suzuki getting to thedays handling

Silver Fern Racer: The BSL 500 looks like it means business. Mark Willis will debut the bike at Phillip Island’s IRTA test, market being for the production of silicon wafers (used in computers) and particle accelerators, The bike has been under development for more than three

MO Specifications I Engine:498cc Liquidi cooled V3 2-stroke with single crankshaft, i Balance shaft, Reed valve induction,eiec; tronically-controlled I Buckley vertical exhaust power valve. Electrohic ignition with programmable ^ advance curve linked to throttle opening, exhaust power valve and carburettor power jet. Fusi System: Three 38mm electronic power jet Keihin car burettors. Data-Reeording: 2 D data-acquisliion sys tem recording; all

engine details and temperatures, wheel speeds,suspension travel, on- board lap times. Horsepower: 160 bhp plus Gearbox: Cassette 6 speed with inter changeable ratios. Drum selection. Dry multi-plate carbon/tita^ nium clutch. Chassis: Machined alloy twin spar frame, adjustable geometry and engine position. Machined alloy swing arm, needle-roller bearings. Carbon fibre stressed seat assembly.

Suspension: Custombuilt Ohlins. Fully adjustable telescopic ; front forks,single fully adjustable rear shock Wheels/Tyres: Six spoke PVM cast mag nesium wheels, 3:Sx 17 front,S.7SX 17 rear. Mlcheiin radials. Brakes: Twin 230mm carbon-carbon front discs, Brembo 4 pis ton callipers. Single rear steel disc, Brembo 4 piston cal liper. Bodywork: Carbon fibre/Nomex honey comb construction. Weight:.116 kg min. Top Speed:300 km/h

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years. The multi-million dollar project started when Buckley, a hfe-long GP bike racing enthusiast, green-lighted the program in March 1996. Much of the development of the machine has been done inhouse. The engine is an all-NZ effort with the exception of the casting and plating of the cylin der barrels, which is done in the USA and UK respectively. The V-3 engine features a 2up/l-down design, which is the opposite of the original 3-cylin der Modenas KR3. The chassis has had input from a number of experienced NZ GP motorcycle engineers but the development has been over seen by young Kiwi Loren Poole. Ohlins suspension units are used along with Brembo brakes, both mounted to a machined (rather than fabricated) rear swing arm.

from a bike as far as set-up as 1 have a longer frame to other riders, plus my cornering style is slightly different to the most of the rest. When I returned to back to the raceshop I finalised my accommoda tion and travel arrangements for ‘99. I’ll be living in a flat right near the beach and not far from the swimming pool and gymnasium, which is good as I want to continue my training regime in Britain. When I return in February I’ll acoilect my Suzuki Vitara plus jetski and a TL1OOOR bike -1 managed to get hold of a push-bike to assist in my training - all we need to do now is turn the thermostat up a bit to make the place warmer. I’m hoping to join up with the Corona Superbike team when they come over down here to test at Phillip Island in mid February, until then I’m on a mission to keep my fitness up ready for the ’99 season. Getting the opportunity to test with them would be great as I know the cir cuit extremely well and should be able to assist in the testing and develop ment of the bikes.

istics of the bike as i have only raced Kawasaki Superbikes in the past. Without giving too much away, the Suzuki turns in differ ent to the Kwaka^ plus the engine has a different power band, nothing much down low^but plen ty of grunt as the revs build up. Both James and I recorded near identical lap times on the two days that we were able to test, he was fractionally slower, as every team-mate should be! We were right on the Superbike lap record in cool and damp con ditions which was quite pleasing as the bikes were this year’s models. This was pleasing as James has already spent a sea son with the team,pt selected world races as well ae the British championship races. New look: Suzuki’s new signing shows his

new colours in the UK last month. Former World 500cc Motocross racer Jeremy Wattley and exTeam Kawasaki Australia mechanic Dave Martin are going to be engineering my bikes next year. Well I must away andfor start getting a few things ready New Wattley was a gun motocrosser in the Year’s Eve. I trust that you all had a ’80s in both the World and British good Christmas Day and didn’t over Championships. indulge at lunch-time! They understand what I require

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Porsche Besnard,Walsh in Japan F3 tests says no toGP return

AUSTRALIA’S

two

F2000

Champions have tested Formula Three cars in Japan in the last week. David Besnard headed back to Australia for a few days Christmas R & R after completing a successful Formula Three test for the Mitsubishi-backed HKS team at Aida and impressed the team by running within a tenth of the times set earlier this season by regular team driver Darren Manning. “It didn’t have as much grip as I thought it would,” said Besnard this week. “It was a pretty skatey car, but I liked driving it. it was a lot offun.” But, despite showing plenty of speed, Besnard is likely to return to Florida. “They seemed pretty serious. They said they would let me know what they want to do on January 10 and even went through the contract with me. “But I think I still need to be in America. I’ll probably go back there to race; I have to be in Daytona next week for testing - -I’m not sure what I’m driving, but I’m driving some thing - but I see my future in the USA. Japanese Formula Three is a good series, but then what? “I stUl want to make it to the top in America and go from there.” BEN Walsh did not have as long a run in his Formula Three test last week at Fuji but still impressed those who watched. The Asian F2000 series winner got 15 laps in aboard one of TOMS F3 cars, but the car had not been touched since it was driven to the Macau Grand Prix title l;)y Peter

PORSCHE boss Wendehn

Mr Relaxed: David Besnard appears to nod off a little while testing a Dallara F3 car at Aida last week, Dumbreck in November and was not in the best ofshape. Walsh completed his shake down session in the car but had an acci dent in a fast left-hander and the test ended there.“I was just getting into it and still ftuding my way around when it happened,” he said on Monday, “The curve was an easy flat right and the thing just spat me into the fence. Something happened on the

LARRY PERKINS

front of the car; when I got back to the pits they picked it up on the telemetiy right away but I was pret ty bruised.” While he was taking in the acci dent Walsh was approached by a satellite TOMS team and offered a drive there and then but he is keen to wait on the lead drive. ‘We’re talking about serious stuffnot whether T drive but how much signage I can have on the car. I’ve

seen racing in Japan now and shown I can drive the cars. Whatever hap pens, I’ll be in F3 in Japan this year.” Walsh is expecting to head back to Japan later this month to test again, but his problems didn’t end with the crash. On the way home he was stranded in Bah for three days wait ing for a connecting flight to Sydney, spending the Yuletide season in a standby lounge... - PHIL BRANAGAN

Wiedeking has rejected suggestions by MercedesBenz boss Jurgen Hubbert that Porsche should enter Grand Prix racing. Wiedeking, who has rebuilt the company dramati cally in recent years, says that FI is too expensive and the money is better spent investing in production facili ties. Porsche has had such suc cess with the Boxster and 911 models that it does not have the capacity to produce enough cars and is also investing in a new sports utility vehicle to make the company less dependent on the volatile sports car market. Wiedeking said that the company’s focus remains on the US, where FI has little importance at the moment, but it remains to be seen whether the announcement that FI is going to be at Indianapohs in the year 2000 will make any difference to Porsche policy in the long term. -JOESAWARD

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World of Sport

Motor Haiing Calendar Australian NASCAR Series* Feb 13 .. .Calder Tdome ..Rd 4 Mar 4-7 .. .Melbourne(GP) .Rd 5 Nascaronly

TBA

.CalderTdome ..Rd6

Six race series held at Bathurst, Calder Park Thunderdome and Adelaide International Rway.

Speedway World Series Sprintcars

Dec 30 .. .Nyora Jan 1 Premier Jan 2 ... .Borderline Jane Newcastle Jan 8 Parramatta Jan 9 —Parramatta Jan 13’ .. .Archerfleld Janie ...Archerfleld Janie ...Archerfleld Jan 23 .. .Parramatta

Rd7 Rd 8 ,Rd9 .RdIO Rdll

.Rd 12 Rd13 Rd 14

Australian Drag Racing Series*

Jan 2

Wlllowbank Raceway

Castrol New Year Series - Rd. 3 Top Fuel

Jan 1 e

Calder Park Raceway

Jan 23

Adelaide Int. Raceway

Jan 30

Wlllowbank Raceway

Rd S. 98/99 Pro Stock Series/ Rd. 1 Pro Bikes Rd 4 Top Doorslammer/ Rd 3 Pro Stock Castrol New Year Series n Rd 5 Top Doorslammer/Rd 1 Top Alcohol

Feb 13

Adelaide Int. Raceway

Rd 2 Top Alcohol Series

Feb 20 ... .Calder Park Raceway Rd 2 Top Alcohol/Rd 3 Top Bike/Jet Cars

Feb 27/28 .Ravenswood Int. R’way Westernationals - Rd 6 Top Doorslammer

1999 NHRA Winstoi\ Drag Racing Series*

Rd 1 Feb 7 Pomona Rd2 Feb 28 ......Phoenix Rd3 .Gainesville Mar 21 ,Rd4 .Houston .. Apr 11 ,Rd5 .Dallas .... Apr 25 ,Rd6 May 2. .Richmond. ,Rd7 May 16 .Atlanta Rd 8 May 23 .Engllshtown ,Rd9 Jun 6 Chicago ■Columbus . . . .RdIO Jun 13 ■Rd 1 1 ■Madison Jun 26 Jul io Bristol ■ Denver Rd 12 Jui 18 ■Rd13 ■Seattle Aug 1 ■Rd 14 Aug 8 Sonoma Aug. 22 ...Bralnerd Rd15 Indianapolis . . .Rd 16 Sep 6 Rd 17 Sep 19 Reading Rd 18 Oct 3 .Topeka. Rd 19 Oct 10 ....Memphis Oct 24 Dallas . . Rd,20 Rd21 Oct 31 Houston ■Rd 22 Nov 14 ....Pomona Bristol is a rton-championship race

cenr J

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All event dates in this calendar were correct at the time of printing. Please consult any individual tracks and/or associations for date changes. Series or events telecast on Network Ten are marked with an asterix. Check your local guides for screening details.

Marlboro to sponsor Mitsubishi WRC team

MARLBORO is to sponsor the factory Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions and Carisma GTs in

the World Rally Championship throughout 1999 and 2000. Team Mitsubishi Ralliart has become the dominant force in World Championship rallying, win ning world drivers’ titles in each of the last three years, and in 1998 it won for the first time the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers as well. ‘We are delighted to conclude an agreement with Marlboro, the sponsor of the most prestigious teams in motorsport over the past two decades,” said Team Mitsubishi Ralliart boss Andrew Cowan. “It is a great commitment that they have chosen to line up with Mitsubishi for the World Championship and they are keen to enhance Mitsubishi’s image still further. We look forward to a long and fniitful relationship.” The team will be now be known as Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart. Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart’s new look also includes a new dri ver. n Rising Belgian star Freddy Lorx, who has long enjoyed Marlboro backing,joins as teammate to triple World Champion Tommi Makinen of Finland. “I am'really looking forward to driving for Mitsubishi. It’s a fantas tic opportunity for me and I hope we can both be very successful in fiiture,” Loix, 28, said. The 1999 World Rally Championship includes 14 rounds, stretching from Argentina to China via Europe, and commences on January 17 with the Monte Carlo RaUy. Mitsubishi’s greatest successes stem from a move to Britain in 1988, when Andrew Cowan cur tailed his own rally career to con centrate on team management. He set up a workshop at Maldon in Essex to prepare Mitsubishi’s first four-wheel-drive World Championship rally car, the Galant VR-4. Cowan has been Team Director ever since and neatly symbolises the relationship between Europe and Japan. A highly distinguished driver in his prime and a recog-

Kicking up the dirt: Triple world champion Tommi Makinen puts the Mitsubishi Carisma through its paces after the announce ment of the Marlboro spon sorship last week.

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New look: The latest Mitsubishi Carisma will be driven by World Champion Tommi Makinen and new recruit Freddy Loix. nised marathon expert, he first drove for Mitsubishi in 1972. The Maldon premises became too small for the ambitious World Championship programme and the team moved to its present factory in Rugby in 1991. It now employs 65 people and works closely with Mitsubishi’s Research and Development department in Japan. The bulk of the initial design work and engine preparation is carried out in Japan, but the cars are constructed in Britain by the multi-national team that has employed Frenchmen, New Zealanders, Australians and South Africans as well as experts from Britain’s renowned motorsport industry. Since the original four-wheeldrive RS version was introduced in 1992, the Lancer has become one of the cars to beat. Successive Evolutions and the equally effective Carisma GT, in which Richard Burns won the Safari Rally this year, have made the team consistent winners on every continent.

quits rallying BRITISH American Tobacco

has pulled its 555 State Express brand ™ out of the World Rally Cnampionsmp after six years with the Prodrive Subaru team, The relationship resulted in three Constructors’'World titles in 1995-96-97 and one Drivers’ title for Colin McRae in 1995. It had been thought that a 555-Prodrive deal was in place for 1999 and the late nature of the announcement - just 12 days before the end of the rela tionship - would seem to suggest that there has been a change of heart withm BAT. This is no great surprise as the tobacco company has been forced to reorganise its plans

following the banning of twin liveries in FI racing. The move would seem to sug gest that British American Racing will run in 555 blue and yeHow rather than the red and white of Lucky Strike. Rallying was being used because the sport has more impact in Asia than FI can cur rently claim, but with the focus of Grand Piix racing is switch ing towards the Asian market. The news may create an interesting opportunity for other FI teams as there are BAT subsidiaries which want to promote the Lucky Strike brand and these could work together to fund a second spon sorship. -JOESAWARD

/ ja/)ua/y 1999

Richards to move on Ford Huge entry for

THE loss of 555 spon sorship for its World Rally Championship team is undoubtedly a blow for the Prodrive Subaru team, which had been expecting to continue its relation ship with BAT. At the same time, how ever, Prodrive is clearly in the process of building up major new sporting plans, which involve close links with Ford in tovuing

car racing, rallying and probably FI as well. There have been sugges tions in Europe that a major deal has been struck between Prodrive and the Italian drinks company Martini & Rossi for sponsorship of the Ford touring car and ral lying programs. Although Prodrive is not running the Ford pro gram directly - because of its involvement with Subaru - company boss

David Richards is appar ently involved in the Ford rally deal. Without a sponsor for the WRC program,Subaru may withdraw from rally ing - which would enable Richards to turn to Ford. There have been con stant rumours in recent weeks that Prodrive is preparing an FI assault in league with Ford and it may be that Martini & Rossi will be involved in that as well.

The Italian liquor com pany has a long history of involvement in motorsport It sponsored the Tecno FI team in 1972 and later enjoying high profile rela tionships with both Brabham (1975-77) and Team Lotus (1979). Since then the company has concentrated on sportscar racing and ral lying, usually in league with Lancia. -JOESAWARD

Tobacco guns Sauber confirms for European engine setback legislation FOUR

British-based

defeat of Chancellor Helmut

tobacco companies have won the right to challenge the European legislation banning tobacco advertis1 I l i. mg and sponsorship at

Kohl in September changed the political landscape in Germany and the new gov® that it will not oppose the

the High Court in London. The case - brought by Rothmans, Gallaher, Bntish American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco - will now go forward to the European Court of Justice. The companies are arguing that the legislation has no legal basis as under Em-opean law health mattersare left to individual govern ments rather than being dic tated by the European Commission in Brussels. If the legislation is over turned by the European' Court'of Justice, tobacco companies will be free to advertise in countries which do not have bans and will also be able to make special arrangements with individ ual governments. In April the European Parliamant Legal Affairs Committee declared the leg islation to be illegal but this did not stop the legislation being passed a month later. It had been thought that the German government would lead the attack against the law but the

^he British companies had go to the High Court before the case could go to Europe and were opposed by ^be British Government, Health Secretary Frank Dobson challenged the right of the courts to refer the question to the European court before it had become law in Britain but his argu ment was rejected by the judge who ruled that it was in everyone’s interest to know as quickly as' possible whether fRe European legis lation will stand up. Anti-smoking campaigners said they were not surprised by the High Court decision but criticised the tobacco companies for fighting for their right to advertise. “The tobacco industry needs to accept that we live in a democracy,” said Clive Bates of Action on Smoking and Health, “and that the government and Europe have decided to try and safe guard health by attempting to ban this harmfrd advertis^ mg. -JOESAWARD

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PETER Sauber last week confirmed that the Sauber Petronas VIO engine program has been stopped and that the Swiss team is look ing for a deal with an engine manufacturer for the long-term. For the moment, how ever, the team will con tinue to use Ferrari VIO engines hadged as Sauber Petronas VlOs, but the only way the team can go forward is to find a manufactoer. There have been

Zakspeed deal stalls THERE has been no announcement of a Zakspeed takeover of Arrows and as the days tick by the likelihood of a deal being completed fades. We hear that one of the problems is that Arrows team owner Jackie Oliver is not willing to sell his shares for the price Zakspeed is willing to pay and Tom Walkinshaw - who is leasing the team from Oliver - can not get the two parties to agree.

strong rumours that Sauber and his partners. Dieter Mateschitz and Fritz Kaiser, were hav ing serious discussions with Toyota. Sources in Japan con tinue to insist that the Toyota management has not yet made a decision about whether to enter FI and even if that deci sion is taken soon it will be at least 2001 or 2002 before the Toyota name appears in Grand Prix racing. -JOESAWARD

F3000 series

The FIA has listed a

total of 23 teams on tjie entry list for the 1999 International Formula 3000 Championship. This includes four FI junior teams: West Competition(McLaren), Gauloises Junior (Prost), Red Bull Junior Team (Sauber)and Portman Arrows(Arrows). In addi tion, Prodrive has an entry sponsored by Russian oil company Lukoil. There is no longer a BMW Junior team but Fina is backing a new operation called the World Racing Team. New teams include Fortec Motorsport, Monaco Motorsport, Witmeur Team KTR and Kid Jensen Racing. There will be 46 cars dis puting 26 grid positions. n The start of the Formula 3000 season has been moved forward to Imola on May 1, two weeks earlier than planned. The race at Monza has, howev er, been cancelled because there is not enough space in the paddock for the F3000 teams. n The French Grand Prix will continue to be held at Magny-Cours until the year

2001. The race had been in difficulties because of legal problems related to access for television cameras. n Ferrari has re-signed technical director Ross Brawn and chief designer Rory Byrne until the end of 2001. Both men joined the team from Benetton at the start of 1997. n The FIA has changed the technical regulations for 1999 banning the use of multiple engine mapping in the course of a single lap. This system was used by several teams to make the engines misfire at certain comers, creating a system of what was in effect trac tion-control. The FIA also announced restrictions for electronic differentials, which can no longer be adjusted by the drivers. n The Grand Prix ofPau - which has been a Formula 3000 event in recent years - will be held in 1999 for Formula 3 cars. This will be organised along similar lines to the old Monaco F3 race, which was open to runners in the national championships in Europe. -JOESAWARD

MoTeC

Engine Management System Training Seminar l Melbourne 30 January 1999

Attention to all MoTeC users and interested persons

MoTeC Australia will be holding a one day Engine Management System training seminar on Saturday 30 January 1999. The cost of attending the seminar is $100 per person which includes course notes and relevant documentation pertaining to this product as well as morning tea, afternoon tea and lunch. Bookings are essential and places are at a premiinn so please phone Jeanette at MoTeC on 03 9761 5050 or fax 03 9761 5051 to reserve your place at the seminar.

I ianua/y 1999

Briefly Historic One group ofcompeti tors interested in taking part in the Australian Historic Motorfest at Winton was the Victorian Classic & Vintage Speedway Club - vmtil it was discovered they had another meeting scheduled for the same weekend at Wangaratta. Seven Supermodifieds took part, along with Mai Church and Frank Nankiville in their Midgets and Keith Stamp in the Champ car. After weathering the severe electrical storm that hit NE Victoria on the Saturday afternoon and several of the narrow wheeled Speedcars getting bogged on the track(much to the embarrassment of their owners!), it was decided to send out the grader to take offthe muddy surface. The warm air soon dried out the cir cuit, and everyone had three enjoyable runs on a track that improved as the evening went on. All competitors went home happy with an engraved glass as a memento. ■ Mai Church has just returned irom a successful shopping trip to the USA where he acquired not one, but .two rare Offenhausers. The first one, the Copper Kettle OSy is due to arrive in bits in March. Another worthwhile pro motion for the Victorian Classic & Vintage Speed way Club.was held at Avalon near Geelong on November 21 when several cars took part in the open ing meeting of the new season after holding a stat ic display at the main entrance prior to the meetmg. The Club is keen to attract new members, and believes the change of venue for its monthly meetings wiU encourage enthusiasts to join. Meeting are held at 8pm. on the second Tuesday of each month at the Hall in Westfield Drive Doncaster (Melways reference 33 E11). Secretary is Max Miller 03 9560 8883. -BRIAN REED

Adelaide H By PHIL BRANAGAN

EVERYONE who misses Grand Prix cars among the trees of downtown Adelaide received a wel come Christmas present last week when an historic Formula One race was announced for the Sensational Adelaide 500 meeting on April 9-11. Sir Jack Brabham will lead the celebration of the Golden Age of GP racing, which vrill feature up to 20 cars from around the world. Two races will be hold for the olden day thoroughbreds, with a format yet to be decid ed for the Saturday and Sunday morning races. The three-time world champion is likely to drive one of the two surviving cars from the 1966 and ’67 sea sons, either his title-winning BT19-Repco or the BT20 in which Denny Hulme took out the title the following year. The field will be restricted to cars fi’om the 1960s, which means that both 1.5 litre and 3-litre cars will be eligible for the event. “There’s definitely cars coming from overseas,” said Sensational Adelaide I > ●

spokesman Mike Drewer. ‘There’s likely to be at least 20 cars, with up to threequarters coming from over seas.” Drewer would not be drawn on who would be dri ving in the event but specu lation in the city suggests that former world champions John Surtees and Phil Hill are possible starters. There is also talk that con temporary drivers may take part in the race, with Wayne Gardner’s name being con nected to an entry. The length of the races are also yet to be determined but, going on data gained at Mallala which suggests that the cars are around 2s a lap faster than V8 Supercars, the longer of the two races will be up to 15 laps. Also expected to appear at the race are cars representing Lotus, BRM and Maserati, and Ferrari is also expected to be there. . The Formula 1 cars raced at Adelaide from 1985 until ’95 before moving to its cur- ~ rent Albert Park home and the locals are most excited that FI cars - even 30 year, old ones are heading “home’.

Bates tops Collingrove

THE 1998 Australian Hillclimb Championship at Collingrove, SA was very well supported by the Historic fraternity with 23 cars taking part.

Victorian Leo Bates proved he is still the man to beat, and took outright honours amongst the Historic competitors with a time of 35.00secs. in his Lobito. This well-sorted 1300CC race car has been the one to catch all season, and his time at Collingrove set a new Group Q record for the

hill.

Other Victorians to do well were John Pitman (MG TC s/c Special) - 3rd in Group L, Mai Short (Lotus Super 7) - 2nd in Group M under1500cc, and Adam DaCosta (Minda) - 3rd in Group M over 1500CC. Adam’s father Ray finished 4th in the class - there’s no substitute for cubic youth, Ray! The next hillclimb events catering for Historic cars will be Mt. Leura, Camperdown (February 14) and Gippsiand Park (March 14, 1999).

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Street magic: Bruce McLaren’s M2B-Ford storms the Monaco streets in 1966. It will be sights - and sounds - like this that will stir the soul at Adelaide next April. (Photo by Ntgei snowden)

Calling all 500s

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Calling England: This ex-Bill Petterson Cooper-JAP Mk V is part of the 500 Owners' Association register in England. It won the first Australian hillclimb championship in 1954. Owners 500 THE Association in England is currently updating its records and is keen to sign up members from down under who run air

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cooled racing cars (other wise known as ‘lovers of pain’) The British based organi sation also caters for 500cc

Formula 3 cars, 500cc mod em, 250cc/650cc F4, 250MRC cars and llOO/lOOOcc V-Twin cars in its register. Cleai-ly a number of these categories don’t apply in Australia - even our 500cc Historic air-cooled racing cars are a relatively small group - so the owners may be interested in joining up with the 500 Owners

Association. It’s good to know there is an international organisation keeping tabs on an important part of motor racing his tory, and if anyone is interested in joining or making further enquiries, contact Duncan P. Rabagliati, 4 Wool Road, Wimbledon, London, SW20 OHW (phone 0181 946 1730, fax 0181946 2367).

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FIA in push for all-weather tyres FIA President Max Mosley confirmed in Monaco that the governing body is looking to introduce an all-weather tyre formula for the 2001 season. This will mean that tyre manufacturers will not have to develop wet and dry tyres as at present but can concentrate on a single treaded tyre construction which will work in all weather condi tions. This will have the effect of slowing the cars in the dry as the tread necessary for

!lamary 1999

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wet weather conditions wUl mean a further reduction in the contact patch between the tyres and the road surface, This will reduce tyre development ^ enable the tyre comparoad-going rubber with the same tread patterns which are used in racing- a valuable marketing tool. The plan appears to be an attempt to lure more tyre companies into the sport so as to add a tyre variable into the races.

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Aussie's Korea move the nltiniiite enthusiastls -JOESAWARD

GP package

SYDNEYSIDER Alan Cho has to returned Australia after his first season of rac

ing in the Korean Formula 1800 Championship. The 27-year-old completed his debut season with some strong results, the highlight being a win in tbe final round of the nine^race cham pionship. Along with that, the former Formula Ford driver added a pole position, a sec ond and four thirds in the growing series. “It was an indiffer ent season,” he said last week. “I started off rac ing for the ValvoUne team but they ran out of money after two rounds. I changed to the Indigo Sungwoo Racing team, which is backed by the Hyundai Motor Company.” Despite the fact that he found the team to be more competitive, Cho was limited by the fact that he was on the Kuhmo tyre.

■Me Air travel to and from Melbourne (from nearest capiitail city) Hie Accommodation (four nights) Hie Pit Straight Grandstand seats Hie Officiai event polo shirts and caps Hie Pit Lane Walk Hie PLUS a personally guided tour of the Formula 1 Paddock and the Jordan team garage!

“The opposition teams were on Hankooks, which were better, but Kuhmo came up with a better tyre for the final race, which was a big help.” The final round win at the Everland Speedway helped Cho to third overall in the series and puts him in a strong position for the 1999 season. All teams in the championship run slicks and wings cars based on the Japanese Formula 4 class.

All are powered by ISOOcc stock Hyundai Lantra engines and all nine rounds are at Everland, a giant amusement complex built along the lines of Suzuka in Japan. As for long-term plans, Cho thinks that his future may be more oriented to the dirt than the tar with Hyundai’s rally interests. “Indigo has had engineers from Motorsport Developments, who run the Hyundai WRC program. They

have also had talks with Prodrive and Mallock Ray Limited, who are also very keen to work with Indigo.” Cho keeps in con tact with Steve Hardman, the former Hyundai Australia Super Touring driver who now works with MSD. Former world rally champion Carlos Sainz started in open wheelers; could Cho follow in the Spaniard’s wheel tracks? -PHDLBRANAGAN

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Making his mark: But Alan Cho considers that his long-term future may rest in rallying with Hyundai.

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Coulthard expects better deal this year

David Coulthard says that he expects McLaren to give him a real chance to win the World

Championship in 1999. '1 have invest ed in the team beyond what would be a normal con tractual situation," Coiilthard said. 'Next year I will find out if that investment is going to be returned." ■ The annual Autosport Awards picked Mika Hakkinen as International Racing Driver of the Year; Dario Franchitti as British Competition Driver of the Year and Formula Ford sensation Jensen Button as the McLaren Autosport Young Driver of the Year. Oddly, Button did not win the award for British Club Driver of the Year, which looked hke being a foregone conclusion. ■ Benetton has unveiled its new windtunnel at Enstone in the UK. The facility - the biggest single investment by the Benetton group in motor racing - cost US$20m and has taken the team three years to com plete. The 60-ton fan needs a 10,000 horsepower engine to run at full speed. The ' tunnel can be run using an actual FI car rather than models. ■ Bemie Ecclestone and tennis star Boris Becker have withdrawn their $lbn bid for the exclusive TV rights to aU major tennis tournaments for the next 10 years because they do not want to be involved in a bidding war. A rival sports marketing group says it has the money to do a deal and Ecclestone and Becker are now waiting to see if they can deliver. If not, Bemie and Boris are expected to bid again.

David Coulthard ■ McLaren's junior team West Competition suffered a setback recently when new recruit Mario Haberfeld crashed heavily while testing at Albacete in Spain and broke his left leg. The Brazilian - who has tested this year for the Stewart team - is expected to be fit within a month. ■ Italian former Grand Prix driver Alex Cafifi is rumoured to be planning to retium to single-seater rac ing in the Indy lacing League. Caffi (34) raced for Osella, Dallara and Arrows in the late 1980s but his career went off the rails during the FootworkPorsche debacle in 1991. . ■ The, Loews Hairpin at Monaco will cease to exist following the sale of the Loews Hotel. The hotel built on the site of the old Monaco station - is to be renamed the Monte Carlo Grand so logic dictates that the hairpin will become known as the 'Grand Hairpin' just as once it was known as the 'Station Hairpin'. ■ Caught between a rock ... and another rock. Frank Williams has sold his home Stargroves - which he bought from Rolhng Stone Mick dagger - to singer Rod Stewart. -JOESAWARD

ISI

Honda ^confirms’ 2000 FI program ."●marker]

THE Japanese daily business newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun has quoted a senior Honda official as confirming that the company will be enter ing FI with its own team in the year 2000. The company announced in March that it was planning a come back in FI but has continually refused to give a timescale for the plans. A leak to a Japanese newspaper

San Marino back on track

However, Eddie Jordan says he is not going to sell his 60 percent own ership of the team. Dr Harvey Postlethwaite and a number of former TyrreE employ¬

ees have been putting together a Honda FI team at premises in BrackneM, England in the course of the last few months. We understand that the Dallara-built chassis are ready to run and that all that is now needed is an official announce ment from Japan. The word at the moment is that

Dutchman Jos Verstappen and Japan’s Satoshi Motoyama will be the Honda test drivers. -JOESAWARD

THE San Marino Grand Prix has been confirmed on the 1999 Formula 1 calendar following talks between FIA President Max Mosley, Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo and the Italian Minister of Justice. Ferrari had been adamant that the race - held at the Autodromo Enzo & Dino Ferrari - should not be can celled because of political problems in Italy and we believe that the FIAT empire asserted pressure on the gov ernment, which has now given assurances that the question of criminal liability in dangerous sports will be looked into soon. At the moment whenever FI teams race in Italy they are leaving themselves open to criminal charges in the event of an accident in which a driver is killed, as hap pened to members of the Williams team and after A3rrton Senna died in 1994. -JOESAWARD

Good 01’ Boys with a slant: Toyota’s prototype for a new touring car formula.

Toyota’s vision for Super Touring future

TOYOTA has unveiled a car which may form the basis of a new touring car formula in Japan. ^ The Toyota Chaser-based machine is a complete breakaway from the Super Touring type machines which competed in the 1998 All-Japan Touring Car Championship and has been described by the local racers as'a Japanese ‘Nascar’. It utilises a tube frame chassis under neath relatively stock-looking bodywork but, underneath, it breaks away completely .' from the ‘Gold Old Boy’ formula by packing a 3.0-litre, twin-turboed V6. The engine is front-mounted and drives the rear wheels. , Former JTCC champion Masanori

Seikiya tested the car recently and com mented that the car “showed promise, but needs a lot of development”. The car is seen as a reaction to the increasing cost of running 2-litre, produc tion-based cars. Despite the fact that the car features specialist racing componentry, costs have been estimated at around $230,000 to buy a car and running costs are said to be con siderably lower than the older JTCC cars. While Toyota is the only manufacturer to show its hand so far, other Japanese manufacturers are said to be watching the car with interest, with the opportunity to develop cars quickly for the start of the season in April.

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1 January 1999

A wordfor the little guys N

ow I am sure you are all bored rigid with American politi cal shenanigans, but I thought you might be interested in the history of David Rice Atchison. Have you even heard of him? No, I didn’t think you would have done. Nobody has. I must say that I was rather shocked when I discovered that Atchison was the 12th President of the United States of America. And, according to all accounts, he was a pretty good president. He did not spend his term of office arguing over the meaning of “sexual relations”; he did not send American troops to war; he did not even bring the office into disrepute. In fact, he did not do very much at all ... I know that historians out there are reaching for their pens and paper to write in and complain' about the historical incompetent who is writ ing this column and that EVERYONE knows that the 12th President of the United States was' General Zachary Taylor, the hero of the Mexican War^ Well, they are wrong. Atchison was the 12th President of the United States and, dare I say, his tory has got it wrong. He is not remembered in the spotlight because his term of office lasted for only 24 hours. On March 4, 1849 the Presidency of the United States should have passed from President James K Polk to General Zachary Taylor. But in 1849 Inauguration Day fell on a Sunday and Taylor was a reli gious man - when he wasn’t killing Mexicans. Tayior refused to take the presidential oath of office until the Lord’s Day was over and, as President Polk could not legally continue his term of office, it was left to the President of the US House of Representatives to hold the fort. The only problem was that his mandate had also expired and so, according to the Succession Act of 1792, it fell to the President of the US Senate, a little-known fellow from Missouri by the name of David Rice Atchison. Although a week is a very long tjme in politics - as those in Washington have proved recently - a day is simply not enough time to do much damage. Atchison’s term of office passed without undue drama. He had some fun by appointing his buddies to posts in a notional cabinet, had a couple of Martinis with some friends, watched the Sunday afternoon movies and then went to bed - history does not relate with whom. The next day Taylor took his oath of office and became the 13th President of the United States and history has been wrong ever since. I guess you can feel sorry for Atchison because, while most presidents have statues raised in

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their honour and streets named after them from coast to coast, poor old Atchison has nothing but a town in Kansas to keep his name alive - and that has to be considered a dubious honour. Such is the way of the world. It is the fate of some to be over looked when the spotlight of his tory passes by - while other less deserving souls leap into the limelight for their 15 minutes of fame.

ne can only won der what history will make of this mod ern generation. Why, they will ask in the future, were the peo ple in the 1990s so interested in who was sleeping with whom rather than chronicling stories of computer programmers who were busy revolutionising the world with their ideas. It is a good question. It seems to me that the same thing happens in ali walks of life not least in Formula 1. Grand Prix motor racing is a world dominated by star names. Every car has to have a designer. We talk about cars designed by Adrian Newey, Patrick Head, John Barnard or Ross Brawn. When we are trying to be a lit tle more correct we talk about a car being designed by “a team led by Newey” but, really, this does not do justice to the hundreds of people who are involved in the process these days. All too often we forget just how much work goes into building a Grand Prix car; and how much effort is needed to get that field of Space Age automobiles onto the grid for a race. We make fun of

B o c 5 .S' i I ^

the slower cars down at the back people iitFI who wear hair nets of the grid but each one repre- and carry hair dryers. sents a vast investment of time. These forgotten men and energy, talent and emotion. women are all highly-skilled - batA lot of racing fans think that ties over laminators are as bitter now that all the Awards cere- ’ as over top drivers - but you monies and Prizegivings are over never hear about them. the whole of the Ft world gone on If you are a kid and looking for holiday to ski resorts in fashion- a job in FI probably the safest able areas or distant beaches, way to get there is to be trained People think that nothing much is as a laminator. They are always going on in Grand Prix racing. in demand and today the composWell, they are wrong. ite department of any rnajor FI Back in the Ft factories in team is as large as the race team. This is their time of year. Their moment u of glory. Telephone any FI team on Christmas Day and you will almost certainly find someone there to answer the phone even if the rest of the what we like to call “Motorsport world is having a party. Valley” in England everything is going gangbusters as the 1999 The faced by biggest teams disadvantage outside Britain is cars are being built. Teams of engineers have that it is very difficult to attract researched and developed the these skilled folk away from Motorsport Valley. designs in number-crunching pro Entire academic treatises have grams and windtunnels. Now the been written as to why they have cars have to be built. all congregated in England but it makes sense. They can switch To it should put thatbe jobremembered into perspective that jobs and keep the salaries going each Formula 1 car needs around up without having to move house four and a half thousand drawings or learn a foreign language. Those teams which chose to for the 12,000 component parts. Computer-aided design and build their cars outside Britain manufacturing techniques have Ferrari, Sauber and Minardi made machining easier than ever have to pay a lot more money to before but a iot of the parts are lure the composite men away. Alain Prost says that he made of composite materials and that is still a cottage industry. No- believes that eventually he will be one has yet invented a machine able to establish a composite than can lay out composites to industry in France but until he has the standards demanded in FI. It trained up enough French engi is left to laminators. You can neers he is having to rely on always spot them; they are the British know-how. Honda is fol-

FI laminators are

the people who wear hair nets and carry hair dryers.

lowing the same policy. If you visit the Sauber factory at HinwiI you know when you are in the Composite Department as every one is talking English and I am sure that the same in largely true at Maranello. It will be interesting to see whether or not rival composite industries can be built up. I am not convinced it will ever happen. I reached this conclusion after being given a marvellous book called “Racing Words”. This is a kind of dictionary in which one finds every word you can imagine in motor racing from “marital sta tus” to “oil pressure relief valve" translated into the French, German and Italian. Careful study of this reveals that some lan guages do not try to come up with new technical words. They simply adopt the English expression. A journalistic colleague last year came up with a brilliant idea when trying to find out what Mika Hakkinen had to say after each session. Rather than have to fight to be part of a scrum to listen to Mika talking in English, he joined the Finnish huddle - which never had more than three or four peo ple. The logic was simple. Finnish does not have the technical words necessary and so when Mika wanted to tell the Finnish press that he had a problem with gear selection he used that wellknown Finnish phrase “gear selection”, The create Germans their own always words want and to avoid too much of what they call “Denglisch” - the use of English words in German sentences. The problem is that technical words in German are always long and have lots of Zs in the middle. The conclusion after reading “Racing Words” is that by the time a team of German engineers has met and discussed what they think is necessary to produce a competitive FI car, a team of English engineers will not only have had the discussion but will have built the car and won the first race. The one company which might torpedo my theory of continuing British dominance in the compos ite industry is the Honda Motor Company. When Honda was building FI engines in the late 1980s it used what might be called the “Ant” theory of engineering. They threw hundreds of engineers at a prob lem and then used the best ideas which emerged from the melting pot. It was a victory of the masses over the individual. In recent weeks America has been abuzz with such ideas follow ing the release of the insect-related movies called “Antz” and “A Bug's Life”. In these films the moral tale is that, while a single bug may have trouble changing the world, if everyone works together you can move mountains... ... Or presidents. n

I Jenuary 1999

!f you couldn’t afford to pay a Mosley for Johnson & Johnson Band Aids or a Triple Tonsil Strangler during 1998, you might be able to this year. PHIL BRANAGAN peers mistily into the crystal ball to bravely predict who will be offended in ’99 - everyone ...

January Controversy reigns at Shell Helix

Racing. Dick Johnson’nominates son Steven as team-mate for the season but Shell management disagrees, wanting Barry Sheene. An impasse exists; Dick threatens to pull the team out of the championship, while Shell counterthreatens to pull their sponsorship.

market by buying all the new money after breaking into his monthly helicopter allowance.

March

A proposed peace deal between Dick Johnson Racing and Shell breaks down when Shell’s compromise driver, Ben Johnson, fails a TEGA drug test. The team misses the AGP support events. A prominent bookmaker in Calcutta Dick shows up but only to assist reveals that he offered bribes.to . . Frank Gardner drive the course car. certain members of the FiA But Frank counters by insisting that regarding a possible Indian Grand only Gardners drive. Wayne is Prix in 2001. The FIA immediately unavailable; an impasse exists. reacts and advises delegates of an The Australian Grand Prix is hit by emergency meeting to resolve the heavy rain after 22 laps. Michael issue. The meeting is scheduled for Schumacher leads in the deluge September 16. until he runs into the back of the The European Economic Safety Car, which was despatched Community votes to adopt a ^ to close up the field in the aquatic common currency, to be called the conditions. Schuey drives back to ‘Euro’. The common money will the pits and tries to punch out the have dire effects on the income Safety Car driver, claiming ‘‘he tried generated by Formula One and to kill me”. Bernie Ecclestone vows to step in. Alex Zanardi wins the AGP for Michael Schumacher’s first test of Williams. He has to be forcibly the new Ferrari ends in restrained from doing donuts after disappointment when the car falls the race; Frank Williams won’t allow apart on the out lap. “I cannot it but promises to look into some explain it," he muses, ‘‘it felt like it other form of post-race celebration was built out of Lego.” for the Italian’s next win.

February

To accommodate the new wave of support for V8 Supercar racing from the state governments, AVESCO announces that the Shell Championship series will take the form of an around-Australia event, with all State governments supplying appearance money and the infrastructure for a series of street races in major centres. AVESCO’s fee for routing the event through any State is $1.2 million, but an AVESCO spokesman claims that the economic benefit to the country as a whole will be $734 million... The Johnson-Shell stand-off continues. Dick tells Shell he will not let Sheene drive full-time, but he might be willing to let Barry’s mate Gerhard Berger have a steer. Shell insists that Steven won’t drive and points out that Berger’s WilliamsBMW connection means that he would have to bring his own Fina oil. Confused Junior Tourer entrepreneur Bruce Williams seizes the initiative and announces a Finasponsored Williams-BMW Junior Tourer, based on the 5-series sedan. The EEC’s float of the Euro is a disaster. No-one wants to hand over their old currency to buy the new and Ecclestone corners the

shine. Ten Eff Wons make an ‘Eccle’; 100 Eff Wons is known as a‘Max’: 1000 make a ‘Mosley’ and a million is known as a ‘Bernie’. The Shell Championship series kicks* off with a 500km street race through the justcompleted Melbourne City Link freeway system. Jason Bargwanna and Garth Tander go 1 -2 for Garry , Rogers Motorsport, who cleverly matches his lead drivers with the two comedians from the ‘Scared Weird Little Guys’. Sandown Raceway announces its closure.

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Ecclestone announces that he will launch his own currency in Europe. The ‘Eff Won’ is a round coin which looks like gold but quickly loses its

The second round of the Shell Championship Series is a great success, with

Green Monster: Paul Tracy is infor a hard 1999. The only way the team had to ensure he didn't crash again was to glue his hands together to stop him driving whilefellow Canuck Greg Moore (right) is not impressed with Tracy’s IQ.

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Shell carries out its threat and pulls its support from DJR. Dick immediately confirms sponsorship from Johnson & Johnson™ but the deal is only short term. Motorsport News wins the media race to describe the deal as a ‘Band Aid™’ solution.

did.’

Dario Franchitti wins the opening round of the CART Championship in Florida, but it is not all good news for the winning Team Kool Green. Stand-in driver Roberto Moreno, subbing for the suspended Paul Tracy, crashes while leading on the finai iap. When asked why, the Brazilian answers,‘‘The team told me to drive just as Paul would, so I

April

Russell Ingall and Larry Perkins running 1-2 for Castrol Racing on the Benalla Bypass round of the series. Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett calls the event ‘‘another outstanding achievement for Victorians ail over Australia” and offers to hold all rounds in the southern state in 2000. Winton Raceway closes. Tracy returns to CART. He causes

havoc at the Nazareth round of the series, spinning in front of the pack and causing a multi car pile-up on the opening lap. ‘‘I have a lot of faith in Paul’s driving," says team owner Barry Green,standing behind green-coloured debris fencing in pit lane. Another bookmaker comes out of the woodwork. He also had had contact with FIA officials, offering

/KlcDO®D^Sm®D^O money for information on track conditions prior to each F1 qualifying session. The FIA reacts swiftly, bringing their enquiry fonward to September 14.

May

The Shell Championship series continues, with a leg on the Campbelltown Bypass in New South Wales. Jason Bright takes the win in his AU but there is talk among the teams that the cars are taking a beating on the open road. TEGA’s technical committee promises to come up with a compromise before the next race, the Sydney Harbour Bridge Supersprint, in June. Gran Park closes. The Johnson and Johnson™ team shows up for the race but fails to live up to expectations. Dick qualifies in the Top 10 and finishes eighth at Campbelltown but Steven’s race ends with a fire which is quickly handled. Motorsport News runs a photo of the car covered in white extinguishant, captioned 'Johnson’s Baby Powder™’. Zanardi takes his second GP win of the season at Monaco. Again, he is not allowed to do donuts by the Williams’ team so he responds by ordering a pizza which he takes to the podium with him. Prince Ranier gives him the trophy; Alex replies in kind with a slice of the Family Hunger Buster, with extra anchovies. Danny Gngais makes yet another kamikaze run at qualifying for the Indy 500. Two broken legs, a broken hip, smashed wrist and heavy bruising indicates that nothing out of the ordinary occurred. Ex-Motocrosser Jeff Ward picks his way through the Nissan Infiniti pistons and conrods to win by nine laps Over ‘IRL glamour boy’, v racing dentist Dr. Jack Miller in the Crest toothpaste'^” Dallara. Tracy is in trouble again at Madison, this time tapping Cristiano da Mate’s car on the formation lap. “It wasn’t my fault,” the Canadian explained after the race. “He provoked me by being deliberately and blatantly Brazilian.”

Bernie Ecclestone’s new FI media policy is announced. Seizing on the idea promoted by the bookie scandal that information is valuable, any journalist questioning drivers about track conditions will be charged a Max ($235), payable before the next Grand Prix media conference. TEGA’s new rules take effect in Sydney. Mark Larkham wins the Sydney Harbour sprint race in the Mitre 10 Falcon which has been reinforced with chicken wire, but Perkins wins the main race in a converted Commodore VT taxi. “If these things can handle the roads around Penrith they can handle anything,” he grins. Eastern Creek Raceway closes. The Canadian Grand Prix is run and won in Montreal, leading to an exciting win for... We don’t know who the hell won. The media revolts to the FIA draconian rules by not covering the race and the only information to leak from the race is supplied by drunken Canadian race fans. Apparently

Know your market: Monaco Grand Prix winner Alex Zanardi delivers the first two deep dish medium Maranello Mangier pizzas with extra ‘Patrick Head Parmesan’ to hisfirst happy customer, aMrB Ecclestone of London SWl.

I January 1999 someone named Gilles rules, followed across the line by Wayne Gretzky and, according to a visiting Bathurst fan, ‘Larry Legend’.

Olofsson. Anders Olofsson is confirmed as lead driver but Fred Gibson refuses to nominate a co-driver. “We want to make sure we get maximum ‘bang’ for our buck (0.7 Eccles),’’ he muses.

July

Meanwhile there is an impasse as DJR. Dick and Steven are at loggerheads over driver pairings for the race; Dick wants the two to share a car but Steven wants to share with Indy 500 winner Dr Jack Miller'^'*'. Crest™ and Johnson & Johnson™ won’t allow it either; “No comment,’’ is all Johnson Jr will say while Dr Miller’s only statement is to “bite down hard”.

Controversy surrounds the Shell Championship series. HRT falls foul of AVESCG’s new ruling that all race cars have to carry a rear bench seat and an operative sound system. Craig Lowndes’ win in the Byron Bay Blast round of the series is nullified when his Commodore wagon is found to have an inoperative CD player. Glenn Seton is declared winner and immediately picks up sponsorship from Pioneer,

Break-up at Ferrari; Michael Schumacher seemed confident at the launch ofthe '99 Ferrari but the seven-year-old designer was a bit ofa worry(sorry, that’s Jean Todt).

Zanardi wins in England! The Italian is masterful at Silverstone and leads home Jacques Villeneuve(BAR)and Eddie Irvine (Ferrari). Williams relents and Zanardi celebrates in style, dancing all over the grid with his new race engineer, Michael ‘Lord of the Dance’ Flatley. The prizegiving ceremony is delayed; after the dance no-one wants to go near Flatley for at least 60 minutes ...

(Pholo by RaceAccess)

What’s that, Skip?:Eddie Irvine announces that he is retiring to Australiafor a life of babes, beer and the odd kangaroo.

aftenvards, “No-one has ever been able to reproduce the superior sound of the 8-track, even with CDs”. Besides, they only cost $20 (or 0.65 of a Max) Wanneroo Raceway closes.

Tracy goes crazy on home turf in Toronto. The local causes a 31 car pile-up on the Queen Elizabeth Expressway outside the track before qualifying even starts and CART suspends him from racing without appeal. “It was just too much,” says an official as he suh/eys the wreckage. “What does bethink this is-the IRL?”

August AVESCG mandates that all Supercars must carry CD stackers, which triggers a race between teams for the biggest and best sound system. Terry Finnigan wins the Downtown Darwin Terrific Traffic Track Tornado round of the series in his Sony Autosound Commodore and other teams pick

5 VT ..

September Monza’s Grand Prix is a failure for up sponsorship from Sharp. Hidden Valley Raceway closes. Eddie Irvine dominates the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim after Michael and Ralf Schumacher fail to start after a violent argument- in Albanian -on the grid. But the big news is from Williams; Zanardi and Flatley announce a new chain of ‘Lord of the Round’ takeaway donut and pizza franchises which offer a combined eating and dancing experience in 60 Minutes™ - or it’s free. Fremantle to Perth street race winner Larry Perkins is disqualified when his 8-track stereo fails scrutineering after the point to point race. “It’s stupid,” states LP flatly

the first time in its history. The new Flatley/Zanardi pizza chain is such a hit that the Tifosi are too busy feeding their yaps to bother cheering for a German and an Irishman and they skip the race in droves. In front of a crowd estimated at 324 Johnny Herbert wins Stewart Grand Prix’s first race from HH Freotzen and Damon Hill. The Monza organisers face ruin but immediately announce a 500km V8 Supercar race for December which will “inject 103.4 Bernies into the local economy”- despite the fact that it will be in winter.

The FIA finally meets to handle the bookie scandal. They determine that there is proof of corruption arid that action should be taken - but late evidence suggests that the FIA ^ official was paid off (in Bernies) to I- ensure that India did not get a . I Formula Gne date. AVESCG I immediately sends an emissary to f the sub-continent to put together a I deal for a V8 Supercar race. I Team Green and Paul Tracy reach I a crisis. Tracy insists on driving despite his recent crashes, but management will not allow him in the car. In the end mechanics glue his hands together to stop him driving the car. Meanwhile team mate Dario Franchitti loses to Greg Moore at Laguna.

October

The Bathurst 1000 for Super Tourers is taken out by Peter Hills and Guy Andrews in their Independent Audi A4 quattro. The two cars which dominated the race, the Jim Richards/Jason Richards Volvo and the Steven Richards/Lou Richards Nissan, both fall foul of the driving limit rule; ‘J Richards’ is assumed by race officials to be the one person while Louie falls asleep at the wheel of the Nissan on his ‘out’ lap and misses the last 115 laps. Bathurst V8 entries reveal that Gibson Motorsport will run a third Commodore sponsored by Bang &

Having won a Grand Prix Eddie Irvine announces he will quit F1 at the end of the year. “Give ’ad enooff,” he says, “and Give seen Bathurst, so Gil be ’eading doon there”. Irvine says he will race V8s and open the new ‘EddieWorld’ theme park, featuring the three things all Aussie men love; beer, women and marsupials.

November The unstoppable Bang & Glofsson™ Commodore wins at Bathurst. Anders and partner Paul ‘Bang’ Tracy are in fine form, the Canadian revelling in a car which can have the odd touch with walls, opposition cars and team-mates but still keep going. “I’m here to stay,” he yells on the podium, prompting an all-night party at the Indianapolis base of Team Green™. Johnson Sr and Dr Jonathon Palmer finish second in the Johnson & Johnson™ Falcon while Steven and Miller crash out of the race on lap one.“Jack™ just popped over the Crest'^'^ on Mountain Straight,” explained Junior, “when the car just went a little Miller Light™ in the rear. Gnce he left the Hotmix™ he was just along for the Ride of a Lifetime™. I feel sorry for Jack™ Miller™, but that’s Supercar™ racing.” The Japanese GP starts in drama when the Radio City Rockettes™ refuse to clear the grid for the titledeciding race between Alex ‘Lord of the Pants™’ Zanardi and Michael ‘When my baby smiles at me I threaten legal action’ Schumacher. In the confusion both drivers stall at the green, allowing Jacques Villeneuve to clear oft to take the first win for BAR’^“. Zanardi and Schumacher clash while walking back to pitlane, the German rushed to the medical centre to have a TM Zanardi Triple Tonsil Strangler with extra cheese removed from a delicate part of his anatomy.

December Following heavy lobbying from the Greens, Feder^ Parliament passes laws banning motor races on public streets (with an exemption for international races such as the GP and Indy races). AVESCG threatens to take its racing off-shore - which it has to anyway, as there are no race tracks left in Australia... The Milan 500 street race is run and won for the first time, with locals Andrea de Cesaris and Nicola Larini (Qlivetti Commodore)take home the 750 Mosley first prize on appeal after the first 19 cars home are disqualified for running nonhomologated CD stackers. Former FI driver Ricardo Patrese is second in a Falcon shared with Indy 500™ winner Jack™ Miller™. And, after surviving a Depression, a world war and 60 years of Tifosi attacks, Monza closes, - CHRIS LAMBDEN and AARON NOONAN HELPED’

18 lJanuBryl999

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IVIotec takes teleoK to the masses Data Acquisition and Teiemetry are the toois of trade for the modern racer and, as DAVID HASSALL reports, one Austraiian company is at the cutting edge

^or almost a decade now, a small Melbourne company has been producing leading-edge electronic engine management sys tems - and selling them around the world. Now the innovative Motec compa ny is making a top-class data-logging and telemetry system at a price which brings it into reach of not only the top professional teams, but even club racers.

The name Motec is now highly respected all around the globe and its latest product, tbe ADL Dash/Logger, is being widely adapted by teams through all the spectrums of the sport. Not only is it affordable enough for virtually everyone, but it is effective enough to have been bought by Williams Engineering for use in its factory-backed BMW Le Mans con tender. Preseiiti iMjtrtortainmi

team, whose engine man Campbell Little has been closely involved in development. Overseas, the Mitsubishi rally team used Motec gear to win the World Rally Championship, as did Jean-Louis Schlesser to win the World Off Road Championship and the Le Mans-winning GT2 Dodge Vipers. In fact, exports are the biggest part of the Motec business, representing 75 percent of last year’s $4.5 milhon turnover. The British operation, started just 20 months ago and run by an exToyota Team Europe man,has a staff of six people and represents $1.25m ofthe business. The head office in Bayswater employs 14 staff under the direction of general manager Ken Douglas,

who has eased the load of company founder and chairman, Richard

BendeU.

BendeU is now estabhshing a new research and development centre in the coastal town of Dromana to ensure that Motec stays at the fore front of product development. In addition to the full-time staff, Motec has six off-site designers while the intricate manufacturing is done by computer giant IBM in the Victorian town ofWangaratta.

The newand logger unit monitors, dis plays records an amazing array of functions in the car with up to 42 sensors able to be wired directly into the compact dash. The entire unit is contained within the small dash display, which is,just 18mm thick yet has the capacity (4 megabytes) to store all the data from a 1000km race at Bathurst, which

can be downloaded and replayed later on a computer. However,the real talent ofthe unit is that it operates as a hve telemetry system, sending all the data back to the pits so that the pit crew can mon itor all the vital information and see a problem developing even before the driver is aware ofit. The team can choose what infor mation it wants continually dis played and can also select the format for the information, such as bar graphs, line graphs, dials or just numbers or text. Amazingly, the communication link is a mobile phone, which has proven to be considerably more rehable and cost-effective than what might be regarded as more conven tional radio signals. Douglas, a former leading produc tion car racer, used the system at Bathurst, along with the Stone

Brothers, HRT, Glenn Seton and John Faulkner. But what exactly does the data log ger do. In essence, it monitors just about anything on a race car that can be measured. In testing and practice, that may include a lot of suspension move ments to record exactly what the car is doing in the comers, which can be overlayed against previous settings to compare performance. In race trim, however, the teams are more worried about the diagnos tics - oil, water, differential, gearbox and power steering fluid tempera-

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The dash enjoyed success at Bathurst with the Stone Brothers

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aiso iooks at aiternative ways to find the funds to go racing and wiil include gust speakers to share their motorsports speosorship secrets. Extensive research has gone into finding out just what is required to put together a complete sponsorship package and fund raising campaign for the professional and budget racer. What is sponsorship? And where are the sponsors? Before you can attract a sponsor you must first understand what sponsorship really Is. You are no longer just selling advertising or exposure but a complex marketing plan. You will also find that sponsors are being replaced by ‘virtual owners’, ‘marketing partners’ and ‘business associates’. Find out what sponsors reaiiy want. Marketing executives need to know how you expect to drive sales for their product whether it be a beverage drink, ice cream, an oil filter or a can of baked beans. You must also show how you can prove you’ve done that you said you would do so that your sponsor can measure the results of their sponsorship in "DOLURS AND

SENSE". To win a sponsor you must work out what they do and how they do it. Then help them do more of it better with your race program. Changing sponsorship needs. Racers need to adapt their sponsorship strategies to the year 2000 marketing plans of the business world. Racing fans will not buy a sponsors product until they have been converted to brands fans. At the "Winning a Motorsport Sponsor Seminar” we aim to show you how to give a sponsor what they really want... “THEIR MONEY’S WORTH”. Racing... Business or pleasure? At the “Winning a Motorsports Sponsor Seminar” you will learn to build a business style and case argument to attract sponsors into the sport so

Great value for your money The "Winning a Motorsports Sponsor Seminar” is an excellent investment for any serious racer wanting to improve their chances of winning a sponsor or funding their racing program whilst remaining affordable for the budget racer. This program is as close as you can get to having a marketing company put together a comprehensive plan for your team without the $15,000 price tag and includes a detailed booklet stacked with valuable information like sponsorship strategies, proposals. Justifications and other correspondence. WE GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL BE BETTER PREPARED FOR THE SPONSORSHIP RACE. Special seminar offer Whilst at the seminar we will show you how our race program can get you into your own race car with a 12 month sponsorship deal worth $350,000 and includes a special offer to seminar participants, conditions apply - details released at seminar.

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you can go racing. Then once you have them aboard, keep them in the sport by delivering value in the form pf measurable business returns. After attending the seminar you wiil be better equipped to present motorsports to business leaders as a new possibility for sales and profits. Fund raising for the budget racer We will also show you alternative ways to find the money you need to go racing and win. Budget racers can still benefit in the small business world whether you get money, lots of money or just tyres and parts. This seminar gives you the competitive edge off the race track and provides you with an AFFORDABLE TURN KEY MARKETING PUN.

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Terms and conditions; flegislration is not complete until payment is received. Tickets and receipts will be issued upon registration and sent out by mail with a confirmation letter and venue details- No one shall be admitted without a ticket. Cancellations; Refunds for ticket cancellatkxis will only be issued up to 5 days prior to each event and will incur a $20 admrnistralion lee. CondMons apply lo acquiring your own race team and 12 months sponsorship deal, these will be sent out at the seminar.

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The men behind the technology: Richard Bendell and Ken Douglas with the Dash/Logger pictured on the wall behind Richard. (Photo by David Hassall) Lures, oil pressure, air temperature, air pressure, coolant pressures,'Gforces on,both axis, fuel mixture strength on each bank, revs, throttle position, spepd, etc. The system can also control the dif ferential, gearbox and auxiliary fuel pumps so that they come on automat ically instead of relying on the driver. For example, the team can pro gram the unit so that the gearbox pump comes on if the temperature stays over 70-degrees for more than 10 seconds, the battery has more than 11.5 volts and the road speed is greater than 60 km/h. This avoids it coming on unnecessarily during a pit stop, for example. Parameters this can beinto quickly and easily like programmed the sysfpm for any ftmction. Wien the fuel level is down for a certain time - thereby avoiding unnecessaiy alarm with comer loads - the driver will be warned, then the pits and then the reserve pump will be turned on automatically. “Basically, the system allows the driver to just get out there and drive,” said Douglas. “He doesn’t have to worry about all the extra things that can be handled by the computer. “The functions it is capable of are basically just limited by your imagi nation. “It is not unusual to have 40 sen sors in the car, which are cheap. In the Falcon we had 114 channels of data (250 is the limit).” What the teams are finding is that their engine guys can stay home from test sessions and simply tap into the data by phone, monitoring the engines from the workshop while they do other work. ■ The top model dash sells for about $8500 (including sensors), but a Sports Sedan competitor, for exam ple, could get by with a unit costing half that much while retaining the ability to upgrade at any time. All that would be needed on top of that would be a suitable computer, which would be about $2000 for a laptop or less for a PC. The basic unit is priced at $2850, which can be optioned with more memory, software and such. The telemetry kit costs $2000, which includes the phone, software and aerial.

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This is a snapshot of the telemetry from Ken Douglas's Bathurst Falcon - in tact, we can see from the information that it is from his 15th lap during Friday qualifying and he has just completed the previous lap in 2m19.404s. The map at bottom right shows that Ken in making the climb out of The Cutting and is on full throttle (red bar graph top left), is pulling 6080rpm (main dial at top) at 176.1 km/h (dial below that) in fourth gear (far right). The two large graphs show traces for revs and front wheel speed for the previous 30 seconds. You can also see that Ken has the differential and gearbox pumps turned on, as indicated by the green lights in the cluster at bottom left, which includes warning lights from sensors located in all eight fuel injectors and for things such as fuel level, temperature and pressure, engine and air temperature under the bonnet and battery condition. The white grid in the middle shows a constant trace of lateral and longitudinal G-forces. Douglas ranks the major functions of the system as: ● Keeping the car alive by control ling temperatures, etc; ● Looking at whether it is faster or slower, and where; ● Finding out why it is faster. “The data allows you to quickly confirm or disprove theories,” says Douglas. “Where the data acquisition has been good is improving feedback from the driver. “But it also takes away some responsibility for the driver because the telemetry will provide the answers, allowing the driver to con centrate on driving. “And in the race, because of all the automatic functions, you can show the driver less information so again he can just concentrate on driving. Instead of having to read gauges, he will just have warnings when some thing is wrong.” This Formulasystems Ford allowed datayear acquisition for the first time so our young drivers are coming through the sport with an early knowledge of the computer age. Motec sold about 20 units to FF drivers - which they can take with them to Formula Holden and even V8 Supercars if they wish, simply by upgrading them. The upgrades can be ordered, paid for and downloaded on the Internet while software updates are provided in the same way, but for free. Motec have found that the motor sport experience has put them well ahead of people in the aviation field despite the existence for many years of black box data recorder systems -

Master of his domain: Bathurst-winning engine builder Campbell Little was enthusiastic about the Dash/ Logger from the start of the de-yelopment program and made the most of the technology. (Photo by Marshall Cass) and are now developing products for that market. On the race track, the system mea sures critical data like suspension movement at a rate of 1000 times a second - or every 2.5mm at lOOkm/h. Things like temperatures do not need to be measured as often. But Douglas emphasises how adjustable the system is and how it can be customised to suit individual needs and taste. For example , one team pro¬

grammed it so that $$$ signs flashed onto the screen when an over-rev occurred! Another team had trouble with their driver resting his foot on the brake, which caused a little drag. So they attached a sensor to the brake and whenever it was touched acci dentally the words “Fuck-wit” flashed onto the screen. To help competitors come to terms with all this new technology and to learn how to make the most of their

equipment, Motec have been running schools around the country for the past four years. Each school goes for two days - one day of theory and one day at a tock and more than 700 people have taken advantage of them to date in each state of Australia. It is good to know that so many Australian competitors are keeping abreast of such a vital aspect of mod em motor sport. The computer age is certainly here to stay. ■

I January 1999

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Equal opportu After a couple of lean years, Wayne Gardner is looking forward to 1999 with relish. The ingredients are coming together for a competitive V8 Supercar challenge and he will again contest the Japanese Sports Car Championship. During a quick visit to Melbourne to check on progress of his all-new Perkins-built V8, Gardner found time for a coffee and chat with CHRIS LAMBDEN:

“All I ever wanted was an quite relaxed about it, equal chance,” he says, “and, Although former he’s 500cc outwardly world .given the tyres we were on at motorcycle champion Wayne any onb time, we did proba Gardner has unfinished busi bly as well as we could. ness in Australian motor “The problem, though, is that sponsorship is to some sport^ His conversion from two to dtegree driven by results and four wheels, like a number of the way it has been, if you bike champions before him, weren’t on the right tyre you demonstrated obvious raw were basically just making talent and .competitive spirit up numbers.” Salvation for Gardner has but, particularly once he put together his own team with come with the adoption by Coke backing, it never quite V8 group AVESCO of a clicked. Control Bridgestone tyre for In a lot of ways, it could be 1999 and Gardner can’t wait. “It’s going to be interesting put down to a couple of bad options and decisions. to see how the pecking order Basically, whatever the dud changes,” he says with a hint tyre for the year was, Wayne of a grin. was on it and it drove him to “There’ll be a couple of sur distraction... prises ...”

Taking shape for 1999: Gardner s new VT 1 Commodore under construction at the Perkins Engineering workshop. (Photo by Tony Glynn) At the same time, Gardner is up-grading his machineiy. VS The remaining Commodore, campaigned with a shoestring crew, is up for sale and 'Wayne has done a deal with Larry Perkins. Perkins provideEngineering a brand new will VT Commodore, prepared in IP’s workshops, crewed by Perkins’ people, for the four big races Gardner will contest in 1999 - the Melbourne GP support races. Sensational Adelaide 500, Indycar sup port races and FAI 1000 at Bathurst. Adelaide has been slotted into Gardner’s program at the expense of the Sandown 500. Why Adelaide?

“Purely a sponsorship thing. It gives us one race in each State, which is better for Coke.” 1999 is the last year of Gardner’s current contract with Coke and he is aware that if it is to continue into 2000 the company will need to see results, in a marketing sense. Although there id" the option of sourcing additional funds to allow for a few sprint races, Gardner isn’t busting his gut: “It’s really quite hard out there at the moment finding money. The four races here plus the Japan thing makes for quite a good, balanced year.” The “Japan thing” is

Gardner’s other racing life, in sports cars, chasing the Japanese Championship with Toyota. For 1999 there are better prospects there, too. “We struggled a bit this year, but things are looking quite good for 1999. The team will have a new car and be much more of a works effort. “The driver pairing will be. stronger, too. This year I’ve had a Japanese co-driver, but one of the things I’ve told Toyota is that I would like a more experienced person. There’s some chance I will be with Max Angelelli.”

This is the last year of Gardners current contract with Coke and he needs results.

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In the land of the Rising Sun: Wayne with the potent Toyota Supra sports car he raced throughout 1998. Next season he will have a better machine and gone will be his Japanese co-driver.

Bathurst. He’s covered quite a bit of ground. First there was a Michelin conference/launch in the Canary Islands, then a coupie of celebrity kart races one at Helsinki in Finland,

e Italian is Toyota’s hot_ shoe, having come close to FI before being signed up for their sports car team. “The sports cars are great. They’re about 7-8 seconds a lap quicker than a V8, obvi ously a real “racing’ car...” The team is currently nmning Bridgestone tyres, but there’s a possibility, with Gardner’s contacts at the company, of some Michelin testing. Le Mans is a possibility again (he drove a Riley & Scott there in 1998) and so is a race or two in other European races. Race-wise, 1999 is looking quite busy for Wayne Gardner. His four races in the Coke V8 Commodore come in tw'o bursts, so once Adelaide is over, at Easter, WG will be gone from these shores until October. The sports car racing fits neatly in the gap. It’s been an equally busy time for Gardner since they the Coke wheeled Commodore away after

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the other the increasingly famous Bercy event in France, put on by wheel chair-bound ex-Formula 1 star Phillippe Streiff. At Bercy, Gardner was part of a new race put on for bike racing heroes (in addi tion to the star-studded car racer event). “I got my arse kicked,” laughs Wayne, “but it was great fun. We had a couple of good nights'out'...” You get the that Gardner is atsense last enjoy ing the fruits of his World success. Championship There’s the “family thing” as he puts it, the ability to com mute between Australia, Japan and his Monaco apart ment, and at last a race pro gram - particularly in Australia - where he now feels he has a realistic chance. “It is the last year with Coke and I’ve just got to put my head down and get a result. “Larry builds a strong car. It will be the equal of his own car and as they discover new things through the yeai-, they’ll appear on my car. It’s a great deal. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. Just an equal opportunity...” n

H!£®D®[FSfJXDD^O

!January 1999

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Always aggressive: Wayne gives Jason Bargwanna the hurry-up during the Australian Grand Prix support races at Albert Park in March, but running Yokohama tyres made it difficult to compete on level terms in his few local outings during the year. Thumbs up: Gardner has long advocated Control tyres and next season he finally gets his wish, as well as a Perkins-built and run VT Commodore to challenge with. (Photos by Marshall Cass)

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reflects on another mi Ferrari technical chief Ross Brawn talks about an opportunity missed

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he 1998 Grand Prix season was typically tough and closely-fought- but few would have believed that that would be the eventual outcome at the beginning of the year. After all, McLaren domi nated the start of the season, winning five out of the first six races. But then Ferrari began to fight back, with Michael Schumacher taking a hat-trick of wins, before McLaren reasserted themselves. After the disappointment of just missing out on the championship at the final race, how does Ferrari’s technical director, Ross Brawn,feel about the 1998 season? “We’re fairly proud of becoming competitive with McLaren -fully competitive, I guess, for the last third of the season and able to beat them when they weren’t doing such a good job in the middle of the sea son. So to finish the year with both championships being decided at the last race was a testament to Ferrari. 'The only regrets are that we couldn’t have been more competi tive sooner because with the work that we did this year, and with the reliability that we had, if we’d been competitive for the first four or five races, we would have won the championship before Suzuka. 'That’s the only regret I have about the season, technically, and there were reasons.for it. Goodyear didn't fully understand what was needed from the tyres until the sea son had begun; and we had a new group at Fiorano designing the car

and there were still some things we had to iron out on the car at the beginning of the season. “I think one of the difficulties that Goodyear had over the winter was deciding whose input to use. Williams made a narrow track ver sion of their 1997 car and we said to Goodyear that we didn’t think that that was going to be as representa tive of the new generation of cars as running an old car would have been. “So we ran our 1997 car with no modifications, because everything was telling us that our 1998 car would be as good if not even better, despite the regulation changes. Williams produced their hybrid, so Goodyear had a lot of confusing information over the winter and, of course, that information came from two top teams. It was a little difficult for them. “But I think that as soon as the new generation of Formula One cars started to run, they saw almost straight away that perhaps the things that we’d been pushing for were nearer the mark and they very quickly changed direction in terms of what they were doing. By Argentina we had the first of a new generation of tyres. “Goodyear made two big changes. One was the wider front, which was very important, and the second was the new family of com pounds. That meant that. Instead of dreading a hot race, we almost wel comed a hot race by the end

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Always trying: Michael Schumacher kept Ferrari in the title hunt with inspired driving like this, because the Goodyear compounds just kept working better and better whereas last year we were petrified it was going to get hot for a race because the Goodyear compound couldn’t stand up to it.” Socar didwas Brawn his new rightthink fromthat the start? “Yes. I think the only hiccough was Hockenheim where we did some thing technically which was a bit of a screw-up and we had a few other things go wrong that weekend which meant that we missed the

problem. 'That’s probably the only race this year where I’d say we didn’t do a good job. We scored a few points, which proved to be crucial, but we weren’t competitive. Apart from the first few races of the year, it's the only race where I didn't feel we had the likelihood of winning the race.” So was the car pretty much on a par, technically, with the McLaren? “By the end of the season, yes. its development was really just a process of evolution. The car was pretty good to begin with . The dri-

vers were complimentary about the car, it was stable, it had good bal ance. they could drive it well. So development was really down to normal things: trying to reduce drag, trying to improve the downforce, working on damping, working on chassis settings, things like that. ■'Early on. we modified the exhaust, which was really a solution to a unique problem that we had. This particular engine needs a very short tailpipe and we thought we had a solution, which looked OK at Fiorano but when we came to run at

% I Jdnuaty 1999

1/1/e asked out F1 man JOE SAWARD to choose his 10 most significant moments of the past season and he narrowed it down to these. The photos are by ALLSPORT:

hoosing 10 moments from the FI season is riot easy because there were many significant and dramatic

events. It would have been nice to include the moment at Monaco when Mika Hakkinen bounced his McLaren off the wall at Ste Devote and got away with the error. And it would have been nice to include the moment when Benetton youngster Alexander Wurz stood up to a bullying Michael Schumacher at Monaco, showing that, while this generation of drivers may be over awed by the German’s skill, there are new men out there who intend to tip him from his pedestal. But with only 10 choices these are what I think were the most sig nificant moments of the year:

body was forced to accept that team orders are acceptable. The decision to support Hakkinen to the title was most sig nificant because of the pace shown by the silver cars in Melbourne, where they ran away from the field at a rate of three seconds a lap. Initially Hakkinen had been ahead but a communication problem between the engineers and Hakkinen resulted in an unneces sary visit to the pits. The Finn was waved through by the team but by then David Coulthard was in the lead. In the final laps of the race the McLaren pit radioed Coulthard and ordered him to move over and let Hakkinen through. David was not happy about it but put on a brave face,

10The art of survival

y More Michael magic

lile the temptation is to search out dramatic moments among the frontrunners in their battle for the World Championship, Another survivor: Giancarlo Fisichella walked away from this multiple roll-over in the Canadian GP. there were also significant and dra matic moments which encompassed Advisory Experts Group that cars declaring the system illegal. bigger issues. This controversial decision did now have to have extraordinary Mika Salo’s accident at Spa was levels of safety. much to create the belief in the FI one high point of the FI season as paddock that the governing body the Finn walked away from an was favoming Ferrari and resulted appalling accident at one of the 0 Back the truck up in- bad feeling and suspicion most dangerous corners in Grand between the two top teams which of theofmost significant Prix racing. It showed just how safe One moments .the year - which was to continue throughout the the Formula 1 cars of today have set the tone for much of the season year. become. n On the race tracks the removal of ■- was dhe decision by the FIA Stewards in Brazil that the FIA the system made little difference. The Finn suffered a suspension failure and'half spim before hitting technical department was wrong McLaren took the brake-steer off the wall but it is a testament to the the cars and still trounced the about McLaren’s brake-steer sys work of Professor Sid Watkins’ tem and should be over-ruled. Ferraris. It was the best possible response to a very dubious decision.

One of the moments most significant and dramatic of the sea son was Michael Schumacher’s incredible drive during his third

3 After you, Mika over David and letCoulthard Mika Hakkinen When moved take the lead in the closing laps of the Australian Grand Prix we dis covered that McLaren had a num ber one driver and that Hakkinen was being backed in the title race. There was nothing wrong with this - despite the rather silly com ments made later by Melbourne’s Ron Walker and the idiotic response of the FIA a few days later, declaring that team orders were illegal. This went against a long-established tradition in motor sport and made no sense at all. -Later in the year the governing

Chasing a dream: Ross Brawn (right) and Jean Todt with Schumacher. tracks like Mugello and Jerez with long straights and more heat gener ation, it caused a problem with the rear suspension and the back of the car, which were getting too hot. “So as a short-term fix we put the exhaust through the floor, which we know from experience can cause less consistency in the car; the onoff throttle effect is greater with the exhaust through the floor. That wasn’t the ideal solution so we then came up with the version which came out of the top of the body work, which has its disadvantages but basically was the best compro mise that we could achieve with what we had. “Thafwas one of the most noticeable changes to the car but it wasn’t a huge performance improvement per se; it was solv ing a problem. From a perfor mance point of view, it was no better than the first exhaust that we had, just that we couldn’t run

reliably with the first exhaust.' So was there anythinginthat Ross learned in particular 1998? “Never give up; that’s always been a motto. “Once again, I think Ferrari proved how resourceful they are. Ferrari have tremendous resources: people and manufacturing capacity, and now design capacity, so it’s a very strong team. There was never ever any hesitation in asking for things we needed to be competitive. 'There’s a very good group of people there who know what it takes and they’ve now got the added confidence of knowing that they can win a championship and they can win races, so even if it didn’t come off this year, we were close enough that it tells people that they can do it. So once again Ferrari’s resource was confirmed to me. I guess I didn’t learn that, but I had it confirmed.” ■

Normal start, staged finish: The field roars away in the seasonopener at Albert Park, but the finish proved to be controversial. Move over, David: Michael Schumacher muscles past an unsuspecting David Coulthard on his way to victory in Argentina.

I lamavj 1999

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Coming through the carnage; Damon Hill survived to win at Spa. The decisive moment of the year: Schumacher is left on the grid while the rest of the field moves away for the final round at Suzuka.

stint in Hungary. This resulted in he was drifting slightly wide at one comer. Schumacher saw this and on him beating David Coulthard and reviving his flagging World the fifth lap went for the gap Championship hopes. . which was not really there - and The race had been expected to be barged Coulthard into a spin and dominated by McLaren and when out of his way. It was typically the two cars qualified 1-2 on the aggressive Schumacher behaviour, grid there was little hope for anyone but he got away with it. Once in the lead, Schumacher else as passing is almost impossible. In the early laps of the race, as was able to build a lead thanks to Hakkinen ran away at the front, his light fuel load and ran away to Coulthard battled with Schumacher win the race. Late in the race he even went off at one point but for second place. This suggested that the Ferrari driver was running - Hakkinen, who had settled for sec a light fuel-load. The McLaren ond place, had drifted back so far that he was unable to take advan strategists spotted this and pre tage of Schumacher’s error. pared to bring Hakkinen and Coulthard in as soon as Schiunacher made a move in order 0 Smoke in your eyes to keep him bottled up in the vital laps when,he needed to be lapping David Coulthard’s failure at Monza was aengine significant quickly. moment in the World Championship. Schumaclier’s second stop came on lap 43 arid immediately the AVthe time Coulthard was leading a McLarens were called in. troubled Hakkinen and Schumacher. The Scotsman was in total control Schumacher’s pace in those vital of the race and had built a 10-sec laps was so fast, however, that he was ahead of both McLarens when ond advantage without trouble when suddenly his Mercedes-Benz he re-emerged. But the race was not yet won as VIO blew up dramatically. His race was over. the Ferrari star had to push incredi To compound the disaster, bly hard to build up sufficient advantage to stay ahead of the moments later the duelling McLarens during his third pit stop. Hakkinen and Schumacher arrived at the scene. There was a cloud of It was a close-run thing and Coulthard lost several seconds oil smoke and both drivers had to when he was stuck behind a fading lift off because they could not see the road ahead. It was a scramble to Hakkinen. Schumacher was push ing so hard that at one point he get back on the power and went off the road but fortunately Schumacher managed to get ahead. At Monza overtaking is so hard did no damage to his car. When Schumacher pitted he was that this proved to be the decisive able to get out just ahead of moment of the race. Schumacher Coulthard and so was able to pull stayed ahead and when Hakkinen faded away with brake trouble off one of the most remarkable vic tories of his career and close the gap Eddie Irvine moved to second to in the World Championship to just seven points.

score a dramatic and popular Ferrari 1-2.

4 Abortion of a start The of the French Prixstart provided high dramaGrand and a significant moment in the title race. Michael Schumacher had surprised everyone by qualifying only twotenths slower "than pole man Mika Hakkinen. There was a suspicion that the Finn was not entirely happy with the car as David Coulthard, who qualified third, admitted that he could not get his car to handle well. Ferrari’s progress was underlined by the fact that Eddie Irvine qualified fourth. The start at Magny-Cours has always been a critical moment because overtaking at the track is not easy and any move to pass another car is a big risk if the rival driver refuses to give way. This was in the minds of the McLaren men as they lined up on the grid. The one thing they had to avoid was Schumacher and Irvine getting ahead. That would be a dis aster. As the fights were about to go out, Jos Verstappen stalled his Stewart and Race Director Charlie Whiting hit the button to abort the start, but the FLA software was too slow and the lights went out as normal, to be followed by the start-abort signal. By then the fi eld was gone with both McLarens getting away ahead of the Ferraris. The red flags saved the day for Ferrari. At the second start the two McLarens both got away slowly and in a fl ash Schumacher was in the lead with Irvine behind him.

McLaren’s worst nightmare had happened. Irvine kept Hakkinen and Coulthard behind him as Schumacher disappeared up the road at a rate of a second a lap. In those early laps the race was won ...

3Official bungle When MikaatHakkinen skateddur off the road Bridge Comer ing the rain-drenched British Grand Prix it looked as though he would get away with the mistake. He had a 40-second lead over Michael Schumacher and, although the ride across the grass damaged the front wings of the McLaren, Hakkinen was able to keep going at a shghtly slower pace. But then the Safety Car was sent out. It could not have worked out better for Schumacher. Hakkinen’s advantage was wiped out and at the restart Schumacher had no trouble passing the McLaren, who went off again trying to keep the Ferrari behind him. Schumacher pulled away. He later i-eqeived a controversial signal that he had been given a 10second penalty for overtaking under yellow flags during the Safety Car period, but this was bungled % the stewards and the Ferrari tacticians took advantage, bringing Michael into the pitlane on the veiy last lap. He won the race in the pitlane but by doing so made it impossible for the stewards to take away the win - because they had been to blame. The stewards had to with draw the penalty - and make fools of themselves.

2 Carnage in Belgium

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le 1998 Belgian Grand Prix will __ be remembered for many years

0 Move over, pal The Coulthard collision between and Michael David Schumacher in Buenos Aires gave the Ferrari driver the chance to score his first victory of the year and left the McLaren driver furious. ●Although Goodyear had a new wide front tyre in Argentina, the McLarens were still ahead on speed, though both McLaren drivers made mistakes in qualifying which gave Schumacher an unexpected pole position. Michael decided to adopt a twostop strategy to beat the McLarens in the race but he made a bad start and let Coulthard and Hakkinen get ahead. It was imperative that he repass them in the early laps if there was to be any chance of victo ry. He hustled quickly past Hakkinen and went after Coulthard. The McLaren driver had a downchange problem, which meant that

Leaving the rest behind: The amazing French GP, with Schumacher racing away to a winning lead while Irvine holds off the slow-starting McLarens. Had the title ended differently, it may have been a critical moment.

for its destractive multiple accidents at the start. The second crash result ed in a safety car and, with Mika Hakkinen out of the race and David Coulthard at the back, Damon Hill found himself leading the race in his Jordan Mugen Honda. But Michael Schumacher was behind him and challenging hard. In damp conditions at Spa there is no-one who can touch Schumacher and he quickly took the lead and raced away from the field at three seconds a lap. Schumacher’s lead was up to nearly 40 seconds when he came up to lap Coulthard. It was the ultimate insult for McLaren. But in the spray Michael Schumacher misjudged the manoeuvre and made probably the worst mistake of his career and smashed into the back of the McLaren. Without his right front wheel Schumacher drove to the pits and then stormed down to the McLaren pit to scream abuse at Coulthard, who reacted angrily to the suggestion that he had driven the Ferrari off the track. While all this was happening Eddie Jordan’s team enjoyed the luck of the Irish and Damon Hill came home ahead of Ralf Schumacher, giving EJ his first FI victory and a 1-2 finish to make it the perfect weekend for the team.

“I Ferrari blows it There dramatic is httle moment doubt that of the the 1998 most Formula 1 season was the instant in which Michael Schumacher’s pole-sitting Ferrari stalled at Suzuka. Everyone was very edgy at the start, with Trulli stalling as they waited for the fights to go out. The start was aborted and at the second attempt Schumacher stalled. He would have to start at the back.' Suddenly the pressure was off Hakkinen. He was on pole and there were 20 cars between him and Schumacher. The Geiman could not be blamed for the stall. Perhaps the Ferrari mechanics should have been quicker loading the radiators with dry ice after Trulli’s stall - as the McLaren men did for Hakkinen. With the clutch clearances being tiny these days, at the next attempt Schumacher’s overheated and caused the stall. This signalled the end of his World Championship chances and, although he drove an inspired race from the back of the grid, his hopes ended completely when he suffered a right rear tyre explosion after run ning over debris from a crash between Esteban Tuero’s Minardi and Tora Takagi’s Tyrrell. From the moment of the stall, however, the title was lost because not only did Michael need to win the race, he needed Hakkinen to finish third and once Mika was ahead there was no hope as Eddie Irvine could not get ahead ofthe Finn. n

PENNZQIL

advertiseivient:

Pennzoil teams dominate the'dome Brewer, Elliot, Watkins, Pretty and Gillespie all end up on the podium One-two: Marshall Brewer(8)and George Elliot(55)fought out a terrific battle at the Calder Park Thunderdome on Dec. 20th, Brewer taking his first NASCAR victory, while Elliot came home second. Photo by Thunderpia

'aizewskijik

The premier three categories of the Australian Super Speedway Champion ship series conducted on the Goodyear Thunderdome at Melbourne’s

team was going to have a strong result today, said an excited Brewer. “To win an oval NASCAR race in your is rookie, season something special - the crew and myself worked Calder Park Raceway on extremely hard to ensure Sunday, December 20, that our car was in'top were all dominated by condition and we gained Pennzoil lubricated race an advantage over some ina,ciiiii6S. of the other teams rookie NASCAR during our two pitstops.” Marshall J. Brewer, “Sundays result puts driving the Pennzoil us into'the lead for the Chev Monte Carlo, won “Rookie-of-the-Year the fourth round of the Award and we are third Australian NASCAR overall on the NASCAR Championship from the series scoreboard. Pennzoil lubricated Ford Thunderbird Lockies Hotel Chev driver Terry Wyhoon Monte Carlo of former leads the title chase on NASCAR Champion 670 points from two-time George EUiott. and defending champion “All the hard work on Kim Jane (645) and setting up the car paid Brewer is hounding off, it felt great during them with 631 points. the practice session and “The next round of the right from the green flag series is back here at the I felt confident that our Thunderdome under 3>

lights on Saturday, February 13, and our Pennzoil team is chasing another good result.” Brewer said, Bendigo’s Leigh utilised Watkins Pennzoil products to score an impressive back-to-back series of

victories in the two AUSCAR Championship rounds that were contested at the meeting in, his new EL Ford Falcon. Second overall on the day was Albury racer Nathan Pretty in his DeWalt/Pennzoil VS

Holden Commodore after having an epic battle with ‘97 series winner Matthew White. Watkins success places him on the top of the AUSCAR series points tally on 520 points with two rounds remaining. Pretty is lying in third position on 495, a mere 10 points behind White. Later in the day Andrew Gillespie burst through to take over the lead in the Sportsman Championship in his Pennzoil/B&A Automotive XF Ford Falcon, relegating the Holden Commodore of defending champion 'Graeme Gilliland back to second position on the points table,

PENNZOIL

Jackson skips ahead

At the one-third distance in the fifteen round 1998/99 World Series Sprintcars Championship Skip Jackson has managed to grab the^series lead with podium finishes at each of the series rounds contested so far. s,^ Jackson, who is seeking a record third straight WSS title, secured a dominant win at the Adelaide round even though his brand-new Jackson Chassis was not

commence drag racing in the sport's entry level class. Super Sedan. Nine years later he progressed into the Top

Over the next five decades he raced bikes, established numerous world records drag-boat ; racing and moved into the, NHRA drag racing arena. He was the first driver to i break the five-second; barrier at the wheel of h IS nitromethane burning Top Fuel dragster and is the' oldest competitor to win an ; NHRA Top Fuel event and 1993 Winston NHRA; Championship series at; age 57. His wife Ercie is team manager and sponsor liaison manager while also handling the refuelling chores and guiding Eddie on the startline after a smoky burnout.

Eddie

and

Ercie

celebrate their wedding ’ anniversary on Valentines 3

Adelaide which was great,” said Jackson. I was pleased with the resiilt as we’re still settmg up the car. Straight up, though, it sits really mce through the centre section of the corners - which is most important if you want to win races.” “The next lot of races m the World Series is tough with four roimds m six days and that’s hard work for our Pennzoil crew. The/ve got to prepare the cars and travel something like three thousand kilometres m that time,but I know that theyll do it!”

To date Hill has taken h IS

Charlie Di Filippo - Di Filippo Family Racing

While dominating the event, Di Filippo junior reset the official national record at 4.85 seconds on one pass and nearly broke the magical 300 mph barrier on another, clocking a terminal speed of 298.40 mph. Charlie has enjoyed building racing engines over many decades and the only way he could test the more powerful units that he built was on a racetrack, so in 1980 he decided to

he was only 11 years

old.

handling the rough racing surface as expected. “We debuted the new chassis at the Pennzoil launch at Parramatta City Raceway, then I raced the car on Saturday night, coming home second in

Mechanic of the Month Charlie Di Filippo, crew chief for the Di Filippo Family Racing team's Top Fuel dragster, is the inaugural Pennzoil Mechanic of the Month following his son Darren's stunning victory at round two of the ANDRA Australian Top Fuel Championship at Calder Park Raceway on.December 5th.

EDDUE HUIL i s a true professional both on and off the racetrack and, as he fast approaches the ripe; age of 63 years in: March, he reflects on a long and active racing career that commenced on motor scooters when

Presented

Charlie tSTFilippo. Wayne'Nugent pie Alcohol category in a methanol-fuelled dragster before moving to the sport's premier category. Top Fuel, for the 1990/91 season.

Day.

Pennzoil Top Fuel machine down the standing quarter- ; mile with a career best of ;i 4.595 seconds and top speed of 315.90 mph.

replaced his son Darren in the car to make what may have been his last ever competitive passes down the quarter mile. Showing that, despite being 50 years old, he could still drives as good as the very best, Di Filippo stunned when he carded a, ironically, 4.85/298.40 pass - numbers that he identically duplicated for his son Darren's

rides!

PENNZOIL

The nitromethane-burning, supercharged alloy V8 engines fascinated Di Filippo as he searched for more power without any loss of reliability, his low-budget team often stunning the big-buck teams as they toured the nation's dragstrips. "We have a lathe and a milling-machine in our workshop and that is where I make about eighty percent of the components that we consume while racing," said Di Filippo. If we didnt do all of our own machining and engineering we wouldn't be able to repair or replace any of the the broken parts that come with a nitro engine, or develop new bits that gives us that edge at the moment." At the '98 TAC Nationals Di Filippo

"Those fast runs were most satisfying for me after all of the hard work that is associated with running a 6,000 plus horsepower engine in one of these cars, although I think fte Calder Parks speed lights are permanently locked on 298.40," said a smiling Di Filippo. "We are determined to be the first team in Australia to record a 300 mph pass. "There has been a suggestion that there might be $100,000 posted at Willowbank on January 2nd to hit 3CK3 mph ond, if it doesn't happen there, we'll be pursuing that goal at the '99 Nationals at Calder Park in /vlarch." Do you believe your team mechanic, crew chief or team manager should be considered for the Pennzoil Mechanic of the Month? If so, send details to: Pennzoil Mechanic of the Month, Motorsport News, PO Box 1010, North Caulfield NflC 3161.

26 1 January 1999 “Between the two of them, what we are paying them is more than a full season cost us in 1991. It’s a painful exercise.” - Eddie Jordan on the salaries of Damon Hill and Half Schumacher “I explained to Ralf that Queen Victoria was married to a German, so we are all half German!” - Damon at the start of the season on why he and Ralf would get along

sotm .

Everyone concerned with McLaren had good reason to party after taking the title at Suzuka, and ADAM COOPER was there to talk to them about it

t didn’t take long for the party race, but Michael was doing a optimism, pessimism or realism. We to get going in the McLaren helluva job from the back ofthe grid. came here with a reahstic approach. garage at Suzuka. Even as the Depending on how we came out of We knew we could lose and we jubilant Mika Hakkinen stepped the first comer and so on, then we worked hard to avoid it. “What came out of the weekend from the podium celebrations to had a number of different strategies was not the result of any one person, the press conference, his colleagues prepared. We ran pretty much the not Mika, not myself, not Adrian were popping the champagne corks strategy we had planned.” While other members of the team it’s the result of a team.'When you behind the pits. This one had been a long time coming; seven years,to have grown close to Mika since 1993, think that through youTeahse that be precise, at least for those who' Adrian only got to know him this failure comes from the same process, have been at the team since the season. meaning that anyone in the chain “My working relationship with can effectively cause failure. It’s how Senna and Honda days. He doesn’t have a liigh profile at him has been very good,” said the team performs that matters. They’ve just been a bunch of cool the,races, but McLaren co-owner Newey, “and I greatly enjoy engi dudes...” neering him. He gives you veiy con Mansour Ojjeh has lived (.hrough And what about the opposition? the ups and downs as closely as his cise feedback. He doesn’t usually teU “They fought hard through the you what to do with the car, he just partner Ron Dennis. “Itjmeans a lot,” said Ojjeh, reports the problems and it’s up to us year and they fought hard at Suzuka,” said Ron. “because it’s been a long time since to try and fix it, which is fine. we’ve been ’World ‘Our own perforwasn’t mance Champi.ons. always as good as it good for the whole should have been. team. It was a We made mistakes tough season, but we and we paid the I think deserve it. price. But at the same time I think ‘I consider Mika a friend and we kept our cool. “While I have I think this year some sympathy for' he was able to Ferrari, I’m not show the qualities uncomfortable, he has. He’s a lit because I think it tle private, a little was a fair fight and shy, but I think I think it was a fight that now he’s we deserved to win.” attained a big Ron’s got nothing goal in his life, he McLaren boss Ron Dennis;“Of course there is an emotional but praise for the job might change a feeling with Mika because of the injuries he sustained in our car.’ Mika did during the little bit.” year and especially Then there was “He’s very calm.'The pressure was at the Suzuka finale. the man many see as the architect “Niki (Lauda) told me once it obviously very high over the last few of the 1998 success; technical direc never matters how much you win races and he carried that veiy well.” tor Adrian Newey, who has contin If there was one man who could by. It only matters that you win. We ued the winning streak he started at Williams. It might be a little afford to breathe a big sigh of relief, could have won by a huge margin, simplistic to suggest that the last it was Dennis. At the end of the day but maybe to the detriment of the five years have been all about Ron was the man carrying the can rehability of the car. To be able to do Michael Schumacher versus thj’ough the difficult years and it was that, you have to have a driver Adrian, but it’s not too far wrong. he who finally put all the pieces that’s professional and disciplined, together and turned things around. because the reality is that driving But this win clearly meant a lot. “It’s been very stressful!,” Adrian Any thoughts on that seven-year slower is harder than driving fast. “We’re a team. David’s done a smiled. “It’s been a high pressure drought? good job this year and for the last “There’s no sport in which a year. Ferrari have fought very few races we functioned with David hard, Michael’s fought very hard team can consistently dominate,” he said. “It goes up and down; supporting Mika. and it’s been really close. “People feel that Mika receives “We threw away a lot of points that’s the nature of sport. The some sort of favourable treatment. on reliability. That’s an area we important thing is to have the abil That’s not the case. We pride om-have to improve on in the future ity to dig deep and come back to competitiveness. I think that’s selves on giving both drivers the and we’re very aware of that. same equipment. what we’ve demonstrated.” “It’s not unusual when a team “Of course there is an emotional suddenly finds itself not as compet feeling with Mika, because of the itive as it wished to be for a few injuries he sustained in our cai', but At times this year it looked like it was slipping away. Was he years; everybody tends to concen always confident that things would that doesn’t give him any technical trate on performance and reliabili advantage at all. We believe in come right in the end? ty slips a bit. When you find perfor “Confidence is a weakness,” he equal status in our team and I think mance it takes longer to recover smiled. “There are three ways of our results vindicate that reliability. “We were trying to run our own approaching Grand Prix racing; approach.’

Loo

Tfje F1 season i mention som

“FI could do very well without me, but I’m not quite sure how well I’d do without FI.” -Tyrrell when asked at the begin ning of the season if he was going to retire from FI “We deleted the rule for Jacques... we couldn’t stop him.” - Frank Williams on the team’s stan dard ‘no skiing’ clause in driver contracts “Alan Jones’ con tract said ‘no skiing’ — and he was happy to sign that, if it had said no drinking, that would have been a problem.” - Williams on the same subject “Different teams have different styles and some teams have no style.” - Ron Dennis in Australia on the espionage of other teams “We took a punch in the face today. It was hard to accept being lapped. I’m not used to that.” ^ - Jacques Villerieuve after fin ishing a distant fifth in Melbourne “Wait and see.” - Michael Schumacher when asked before the sea son opener what he’d do if Villeneuve tried to pass him on the inside

tempted to say good c nice stiff chassisf but I dc thafs appropriate at

- Harvey Postlethwaite at the launch of the ous blonde TV presenter D<

“All these guys are number two in FI compared to Michael. Coulthard, Hakkinen, Villeneuve... they are all number twos because Michael is the number one driver in FI. So I rate myself with those guys, if not better. Whenever we have the car to do the job I will be able to spank their bottoms.” -Eddie Irvine on being num ber two to Schumacher “I’m a racing driver -1 have every excuse in the book!” - A grinning David Coulthard when asked why he was slower than Hakkinen in qualifying at Interlagos “Tuero is Human. To Forgive Divine.” - F1 Journalist on Esteban Tuero “Silverstone is not a very produc tive place to be in mid-January. Actually, it isn’t very productive to be there in July, either.” - Pat Symonds on testing at wet and cold Silverstone

“It’s useless.” - Villeneuve on why he hasn’t joined the Grand Prix Drivers Association “You’re too old, Eddie!” - Message to Eddie Jordan, who had just turned 50,flashed up on electrbnic-controlled turn stiles which blocked his entry into the paddock entrance in Brazil “I stayed on the beach ... because I am very scared about what might be in the water under neath.” - Alexander Wurz on his holi day by the sea in Brazil ‘The new wing takes some get ting used to... to begin with I thought Ralf was about to overtake me!” - Hill on the sidepod-mounted X-wings “It would be very good if the FIA tried to anticipate things like this instead of just reacting all the time." - Irvine on the FIA’s sudden decision to ban X- wings

1 Januaiy 1999

(Who’s Talking

1.’

- Olivier Panis returning to Montreal where he broke both legs a year earlier ‘If it’s not me, I don’t care who it - Mika Salo on fellow Finn Hakkinen winning the world championship “I was just trying to get Craig [Pollock] angry, but it didn’t work.” - Vilieneuve on why his blonde hair now had blue tints in Monaco “I have a respect for racing dri vers, who have a difficult task to be competitive in a Grand Prix car. But there is no question of responding to what he said. He is wrong. Most opinions expressed by drivers are wrong.” . - Ron Dennis on Irvine’s com ments that McLaren had “blown” the world championship “Just for fun." - Vilieneuve at Silverstone on why he dyed his hair purple “Our objective is to create an optimum environment in which to wor -beginning of Ron Dennis’s long explanation on why McLaren had an imitation marble floor in its pit garage at Silverstone

erodynamics and a n H know whether "he moment.

lew Tyrrell 026, which had sumptulise van Outen (above)sitting on it

“Anything that’s ugly becomes suddenly beautiful if it is quick.” - Gary Anderson on X-wings “At least we don’t have to look far to know where the next headache will come from!” - Tom Walkinshaw on all the problems suffered by Arrows “This year it is really a rocket.” - Mika Hakkinen in Spain talk ing about the West McLaren Mercedes MP4/13 “It’s neat to see all the comput ers and engineers and technology ... stuff we are not allowed to have!” - NASCAR Winston Cup driver Johnny Benson after a visit to the Spanish GP “It was just an extra crash test!’ - Wurz on his accident in Monaco where his Benetton, minus its front wheels, came bouncing out of the tunnel

“No comment!” -Irvine when asked if there is too much political correctness in FI

“We shall be sacrificing a young virgin tonight in the hope of better things tomorrow.” - Harvey Postlethwaite on Tyrrell’s disastrous crash-filled qualifying at Hockenheim “It has been here with us since the beginning of Formula 1, and the FIA sort of confused everyone at the start of the year. Now they have re-clari fied their clarification or whatever... which prob ably still needs a bit of clarifying!” - Irvine at Hockenheim on the FIA’s rulings regard ing team orders

“We discussed that with Damon [Hill] quite a lot. He was the only one who didn’t seem to understand the rules, but we got a blackboard out and drew a circuit map on it to explain to him exactly what it was all about. Now even Damon under stands what weaving is and what is not!” - Irvine on the drivers’ decision on how much blocking and weaving is per missible “You cannot win a Grand Prix if you cannot drink a beer.”

“It was my best crash in Formula

- y;illeneuve on his huge shunt at Spa

nay be over, but the quips and comments and poignant statements- not to ? stuff that wasjust ptain weird - linger on. Here’s a took as some of the quotable quotes from 1998, compiled by DAN KNUTSON: “I don’t fear this weekend’s race at all.”

“I asked the team and they did not answer back, so I thought it was better not to know.” - Vilieneuve when warning lights started flashing on the instrument panel on his way to third in Hungary

“My start was so terrible that it looked as though I was going for a walk, not a race.” - Michael Schumacher after going from pole to fifth after the start at Monza “I don’t think [Schumacher’s wife] Corinna will let him. But I’m going anyway.” - Irvine planning party time after he and Schumacher fin ished one-two in Italy “Same opinion.” “Yes.” “Yes.” “English.” “Maybe slower.” - Some of the loquacious (not!) answers given by the virtu ally silent Tora Takagi at a press conference at Suzuka

He gave me a bit of a driving lesson this weekend. - Coulthard after Hakkinen beat him in Spain

- MercedesBenz motorsport boss Norbert Haug (above)to Coulthard after seeing the latter sip a beer “We had more problems than we expected this year.” - Understatement from Rubens Barrichello about the Stewart-Ford “Come into my office.” - Vilieneuve to Sylvester Stallone, inviting him into the Williams transporter for a chat ‘The Pit Lane Is Definitely Open.” - Message flashed up on the timing TV screens to the teams when nobody went out for the first seven minutes of qualifying in Hungary

‘Throwing a few things around is his way of dealing with pressure.” - Johnny Herbert on Jean Alesi “I realised that it has rained every single,{ime I have come here to race. I have'been coming here for 12 years.” - Hill on Spa ‘The Williams toilet was so busy that we had to do some technical briefings from there. I even had to take my mobile phone in there.” - Heinz-Harald Frentzen giving details of getting sick at Spa

“The day I don’t enjoy getting that rush I’ll just give up on iife. When I’m too old for racing I might get my own go-kart track. I’ll be skiing like a maniac, have a motocross bike, that kind of thing.” - Viileneuve on the buzz he gets from taking risks “I wish he was not so damn quick! I would have had an easier season without him! Seriously, he is one hell of a racer.” - Hakkinen on Schumacher

“I hope my life goes on for longer than that, to be honest!” - Michael Schumacher after signing on for the next four years at Ferrari and being asked if this was a contract for life “I think he probably had to buy a bigger piggy bank.” - Coulthard’s reac tion to the news that Vilieneuve had signed a lucrative deal to join BAR “Too bloody much!” - Craig Pollock on how much he paid Vilieneuve

“Absolutely not. That is not my style. I have never done anything like that and I never will.” - Hakkinen when asked if he would be tempted to push Schumacher off the track at Suzuka “My kids would call him ‘One cool dude’.” -Ron Dennis describing the unflappable Hakkinen

/think the only thing I would ask my own teammate is to stay well away when my daughter yy starts to come into the age ofhaving a boyfriend. - Schumacher (left) when asked what he would want from Irvine

“I almost started whistling inside the car.” - Hakkinen after Schumacher dropped out of the race in Japan

1 January 1999

Sixteen Million Dollar Man World Champion Colin McRae is movingfrom Subaru to spearhead Ford's all-new Focus WRC campaign in 1999. A proven performer with outstanding ability and possessing blinding speed, the young Scot may well prove to be the Blue Oval brigade's wild card in the upcoming World Rally Championship. JON THOMSON provides an overview ofone ofthe sport's true hard chargers. THE one thing you pick up about Colin McRae when you speak with him for any more than about three minutes is that

there is no false modesty about him. Here is a bloke who has absolute belief in himself - he believes he is the fastest rally driver in the World, therefore he is and, given his results on special stages in World Championship Rallies around the globe, there is some evidence to back up his belief. But there have been some low periods in the young Scot’s career - for example, the time in 1994 when he was on the verge of being shown the door at Prodrive for his erratic driving habits as the team battled to give Subaru a World Title. The next year he bounced back to claim the Title. Now he has become the highest-paid rally driver in the world, a rumoured $16 million from Ford luring Britain’s best rally driver to the Blue Oval from the team which gave him his start, nurtured his talent, endured his failures and gave him the World Rally Championship. Is McRae sad that he is leaving Subaru after being with the Japanese manufacturer for so long and having achieved so many milestones in his career? “Well, yes, I am in some ways,” said McRae. “Subaru has given me a lot, but I have also given a lot to Subaru. I am going to miss the people, particularly as I have forged some strong relationships there; but some times you have to move on.” Which begs the question: Is the massive salary at Ford the prime motivatifrg factor for moving from a team in which, by his own admission, he is happy and in which he is still capable of being a winner and in con tention for,the World Championship, to a team with an aU-new and unproven car. “The money was definitely important, but you have to chase new challenges. If you stand still too long, you become complacent and it can affect your motivation,” he said. “But, having said that, I think that for what we do, rally drivers at the top level haven’t been getting the money that we deserve, particularly now that rallying has a higher profile on TV around the world - we are still not the same in terms of profile as ' Formula One, but it’s getting better.” McRae comes from good rallying stock - anyone who followed the sport of rallying in the 1970s and early 80s would be familiar with Jimmy McRae, the patriarch of the clan, whose exploits at the wheel of Ford Escorts against the likes of Russell Brookes, Malcolm WUson and Roger Clai’k were legendary. Jimmy never really cracked it for the World Championship, but the sport was different back then, far more itinerant than it is now ' and Jimmy would never have dreamt that his son would be pulling massive amounts of money fi-om the Ford Motor Company to do something he was paid a relative pittance to do because he liked it. “Dad obviously has been the biggest influence on my career,” McRae said. “From the earliest age, we had that exposure to rallying and that meant our course was set, I think. “I was always into motor sports. I used to kick the foot ball around and that type of

(

'¥■

Pensive: Champion McRae unfortunately experienced bad luck and Wtter disappointments in his final season with the Subaru team, understands what is required, which is “WeU, you know, that was part of the ratio thing, but my aspirations were always with nale behind my decision to go to Ford,” he important, I think. It will be a tough year, motorsport - bikes, initially, but then cars elaborated. “It was an important part of my any development period is , but they’re start took over; there was really never any other ing with a clean sheet of paper and I think early life, watching Dad in the Escorts and, job for me,” said the lanky Scot, who looks with Malcolm (Wilson) now running the Ford they have a lot of things right before we start like he could be just as at home in the run-on works operation, I could see a huge amount the development process,” said McRae. side for Celtic, or Queens Park Rangers. Stories abound that McRae’s new team was of potential for the new Focus - look what he In some ways, McRae’s signing for Ford is keen to sign the Scotsman’s fiercest rival, did with the Escort in the past two seasons. like a spiritual homecoming for the son of a Tommi Makmen, to be a part of a daunting “Malcolm was a very quick rally driver and bloke who was renowned for his ability to “Super” team, with arguably the two fastest is only recently retired from driving, so he throw a BDA Escort around the forest. steerers in the game. “I’ve hear those stories and I understand there is a mod icum of truth, but pretty early on I think they discovered that Tommi had a commit ment to Mitsubishi, so it was never going to happen,” he stated. But, what if it did happen and Colin found himself team-mates with a driver who could match his legendary pace and ability? “I get on pretty well with Tommi. If we were in the same team, we would have a job to do and just get on with it, simple as that,” the Scot’s answer suitably short and leaving plenty of room for speculation as to just how long it would be before rivalj.jgg .^vould build. There has never been a more competitive, or moneyrich era in the sport of rallying and one gets the impresNo regrets; Leaving the Subaru team to go to Ford will still be something of a wrench for McRae. (Mpix)

J January 1999

555 confirms its WRC withdrawal Subaru looks to Mild Sevenfor 1999 support BRITISH American Tobacco has con

Bull dust: WA’s World Rally Championship round is a McRae favourite. (Phil Williams pic)

firmed the much-speculated pull-out of sponsorship from the Subaru World Rally Team for the 1999 season. The company has sponsored the 555 Subaru World RhQy Team since 1993. In that time, it has seen Subaru capture the World Drivers’ Championship with Colin McRae in 1995 and three consecutive Constructors’ titles (1995-97). “Our association with Subaru and Prodrive has been both successful and rewarding,” said Tom Moser, Director of Global Sponsorships for British American Tobacco, in something ofan understatement. “The program has undoubtedly been very effective over the last six years, but the compnay has decided to refocus its sponsorship efforts and we wish Subaru well.” It is believed that Prodrive principal Dave Richards is seeking to secure Japanese tobac¬

sion that the whole friendly show that the of the World Championship with Colin, dridrivers carry from the forest to the public ving his gravel notes car and running over arena could be under pressure from this com- the stages two hoirrs ahead, noting the road bined force. conditions and suggesting tyre choice. McRae hkes the way rallying has evolved Little brother Alister was never far away his salary cheque alone.would ensure a in the days leading up to Rally Australia - in degree of satisfaction - but he likes the short- fact, he trailed Colin into the room for this interview. er, sharper formats and the highly competi tive nature of the sport as it is today. The pair, of course, were team-mates at the “How could you not like it - take Rally RAC Rally late in November and at the Race Australia, for instance,” he explained. “The of Champions in the Canary Islands - they fact that I could go from sixth to first in the performed the extraordinary feat of staging space of three special stages and that any one an aU-McRae final, Alister taking one of the of the top six could have won the event going three heats off Colin, but big brother taking the title in the end. into the final leg - that is even more competi tive than Formula One. It is clear the pair are close and that WHILE Subaru is chasing “I think also the format of the sport is obvi Alister has loads oftalent, as weD. another tobacco-supplied ously working; there are more manufacturers “Alister is a very quick driver and he will pot of gold. Ford is coming in, more TV, more sponsorship and so go a long way; he showed how quick he was rumoured to be chasing on.” in Perth by winning F2 and you know he Italian liquor giant McRae officially lists his residential yUJ be very quick in a World Rally Car when Martini as naming rights address as Monte Carlo, as even post- he gets the chance to prove himself properly,” sponsor for its rally pro Thatcher Britain’s tax regime isn’t attractive said Colin. gram with the new Focus It seemed almost inevitable that Colin in 1999. enough for a man with a pay packet as fat as Colin’s: “I split my time between Monaco and McRae would become a rally driver and, One of the most famous home, but there isn’t much time for either given his early pace and results, it seemed sponsors in the history of ral these days, as the schedule is very busy - similarly inevitable that he would reach the lying, Martini has not been what with testing, competing, recce and so top of the sport - but what would he have involved with a factory team on, we spend probably less than three done had he not made it to the top and in the sport since the pull months of the year athome.” become the World’s highest-paid driver? out of the Lancia team at the The ‘we’ refers to Colin and his wife ofjust “Well, I don’t know,I never really thought end of the 1992 season after over 12 months, Allison, a Sottish lass who about it. I just knew I was going to be a rally often accompanies him to World driver and worked as hard as I could at it to ten years of backing the Italian manufacturer Championship events. make it possible and it happened, so I don’t Martini was a continuous The Mediterranean is not only tax effective want to think about it, really,” Colin said sponsor of Lancia factory with a smile. for McRae, it also provides him with a better climate, a major factor in ensuring he can But the question on everyone’s lips is: Can rally cars from the time the train when the weather turns sour in Colin McRae give Ford and its new Focus the legendary supercharged 037 Scotland. speed and reliability he needs to match that made its debut in 1982. After the factory pull-out. It is pretty important, particularly in the of the Mitsubishi of Makinen and the Toyota couple of weeks we have off in the off-season, of Sainz, the two men who the young Scot Martini backed the Jolly Club Ford Escorts in Italy, rates as his only real opponents. when you have to work harder on your fit cars which although run by Only 1999 wfil reveal this. ness; it can be very hard to do that in when the weather turns bad back home,” he added. Certainly, McRae believes he can and he definitely has the speed and ability to do it The McRae family is obviously a close one. Father Jimmy still travels to every round but the car could be the weak link.

co brand Mild Seven as a replacement spon sor for the Subaru team in 1999. Richard Burns joins the Subaru team, along with Juha Kankkunen, for the new year, which kicks off with the Monte Carlo Rally on January 18. Subaru has been testing in the past few weeks, with Bums and Bruno Thiry carrying out asphalt and snow testing near Val D’Isere in the south of France. Bums announced himself satisfied with the car, stating that it did not appear at the moment that much testing was needed, as everything was already well-sorted. Juha Kankkunen undertook testing in Wales and, again, the new Prodrive man con firmed that the car was weU-developed and only needed fine tuning to suspension set tings, etc - Kankkunen confirmed his inten tion to bid for a fifth WRChampionship in 1999. -JON THOMSON

Ford chases Martini Factory seeks links with legendary Italian liquor . giantfor Focus WRC naming rights

SEAT powering ahead AT SEAT,Piero Liatti has been undertaking testing of a Safari-specification WRC at the team’s Chateau Lastours testing ground. The Italian suggestedthat the SEAT Cordoba was immediately an improve ment on his Subaru,saying that th§ power was more impressive, but the car needed better throttle response. The SEAT team also headed to Lapland last week to undertake serious snow testing ahead of the Monte Carlo event.

Nissan cuts WRC funding NISSAN Motorsport Europe has announced that it has cancelled its proposed pro-

gram for the 1999 World Rally F2 Championship, instead focusing on Le Mans and the 1999 British Touring Car Championship. Finn Toni Gardemeister, who was recently signed by Nissan to head their ’99 F2 campaign, has been released from his two-year contract. Nissan Motorsport’s involvement in the British Rally Championship is also expected to be cancelled at the end of this year, which should in turn see the can cellation of the proposed Almera World Rally Car.

Work commences on Evo 6 NEWCOMER Freddy Loix commenced testing for Mitsubishi Ralliart on the Lancer in the South of

France, while in Wales test ing was carried out with usual test driver Lasse Lampi. The Ralliart team had a hectic test schedule in December, which also involved testing in Finland, Spain and Japan. “Ofcourse I can go quick er, but for me the most important thing was to do a little bit of running on snow and ice”, said Lots. World Champion Torami Makinen, Loix and Lampi are also in the middle of a testing and development program based in Finland with the all-new Lancer Evolution VI, while the team also continues testing the Evo V for the opening rounds of the 1999 season. -JON THOMSON

the Italian team were pre pared By Malcolm Wilson, the man in charge of Ford’s World rally program today. As the sponsorship chase continues. Ford has breathed a sigh of relief with the homologation approval of the new Focus Despite fears that it would not pass the mandatory homologation tests, it has been given the all clear by Fli^scrutineers. The Focus officially passed the tests designed to check that new cars comply with aU FIA regulations - despite recent speculation, the only concern was over aspects of the water pump and in con junction with the FIA, Ford has apparently formulated a solution to the matter. Meanwhile, after testing the Focus in Norway, the Ford team and its new man, Colin McRa, has been m the South

of France prior to the Christmas break in prepara tion for the Monte Carlo Rally. “Testing in Norway went very well and the Focus felt really good on snow and in France it was just fantastic on asphalt,” said the Scot enthusiastically. “While I’m eager to drive the Focus again, I was keen to get back home in good time for Christmas and see AUison and my new baby daughter Hollie, who was bom while I was away testing.” Ford will enter two Ford Focus WRC cars in each of the 14 rounds in thel999 World Championship, with Colin McRae tackling every event and the second car being driven by Frenchman Simon Jean-Joseph on asphalt rallies and Swede Tomas Radstrom on gravel events. -JON'raOMSON

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Mount Panorama pic by Dirk KJynsmitli j|

Super speedway Champion Matthew White is making a bidfor double glory, competing in both NASCAR and AUSCAR this season. GRANT NICHOLAS spoke to the NASCAR rookie about the step ’ up into the high-horsepower Stock Car ranks and the Ford versus Holden AUSCAR parity problem. \l A*T the opening round of this season’s NASCAR series at Mount Panorama, young Matthew White made a huge impact on the super speedway fraternity when he brought his new -Maxi-Cube/Freighter Trailers Chevrolet Monte Carlo home in third place. A short time earlier. White, the 1996/97 Australian AUSCAR

Champion, decided to graduate to the NASCAR ranks and, after seek ing advice from competitors and team owners, purchased the Monte Carlo that Cairns businessman Ian Thomas campaigned last season. When Bob Jane announced that the categoi-y was going to be part of the AMP Bathurst 1000 race meet ing in early October, it was music to White’s ears, as he was contem plating making the move to the

high-horsepower class - and the announcement that the NASCARs would be contesting a round of their series at the Qantas Australian Formula One Grand Prix meeting next March was an added bonus. Thomas’ crew-chief, Peter Sportelli, became White’s mentor and set the Chevrolet up for the famed mountain circuit, as well as assisting the youngster as he shook the car down on the flat track at

Calder Park Raceway prior to the trek to Bathurst - in addition, Thomas lent his transporter and supplied his comprehensive parts inventory for the weekend. “It’s a great category and I sort of got the feeling that, if I don’t go into it now, I would be left behind,” explained White. “Right now, Calder Park is spending more time than in any other year pushing NASCAR.

“I told my sponsors that we were hoping to run in the top 10 during the Saturday and Sunday races, but I didn’t know how I was going to go in the car - to be honest, the night prior to testing it at Calder Park I hoped that I was able to accomplish the task that I had set myself,” White said. During his test session on the road circuit at Calder Park, White was lapping in the 61-second region despite running with Mount Panorama gearing, producing simi lar times to what Jim Richai-ds and Charlie OBrien had recorded in the past. “I felt that the heavier NASCAR was easier to drive on a road course than my Holden Commodore AUS CAR, as the tyres are wider and offer more grip, the brakes weren’t locking all the time like in the Holden and the transmission was nice to shift -1 felt a lot more confi dent and reasonably comfortable in the Chevrolet after that session,” he elaborated. “The extra power wasn’t a prob lem at all, as these cars have so much traction compared to the AUSCARs- in fact, I was now look ing forward to tackling the Mountain.” As a NASCAR rookie. White decided to slowly build up to a com fortable speed on the daunting 6.2km circuit while becoming famillar with the 3400 pound stock car and learning the track layout. “It took me quite a while to get up to speed at Bathurst, as there are so meiny blind comers,” he said. “If you can see around a comer on a track, you can get up to speed pretty quickly, but in this instance you don’t know where you have to The other half: White's A USCAR Commodore runs in close comftany with #11 Dick Howe at the Dome.

be positioned before entering the corner to keep the mom'entum flow ing. After several sessions, though, I was able to make up a consider able amount of time across the top of the mountain. “All of us that hadn’t been to the circuit were something like 10 to 12 seconds slower than Russell Ingall and Kim Jane - but, by the last race, we were only two or three sec onds in arrears, which was quite pleasing, even though we were two or three steps behind that pair dur ing practice and qualifying. “They were setting up their cars and changing gear ratios, while we weren’t going fast enough to start making those type of advance ments. Next time we race there, though, I believe that there will be another couple of seconds to come out of the car - I’m actually looking forward to returning.

really loose at the Xmi Thunderdome race, despite rannii exactly the same settings as tl previous meeting,” said White. “I spoke to John Sidney and 1 said that Kim and Rodney Jai were experiencing the same pro lem with their two NASCAR Mon Carlos. “So we made some adjustment continuing to tighten it up - bi even in the last race, after we tightened it up more,it was diabol cally loose. “I struggled for the first five ( six laps, then the tyres stepped c and the handling got better; bi before that I was just about tumir around on every corner. “We were as quick as Pretty ar Darren McDonald, but all of i lacked power compared to Watkin Ford - he slows us down throug the middle section of the corner

“It really is a parity problem, as the AUSCAR rule book provides the Ford runners with 35-40 horsepower more and a significant torque advantage over the GM teams -1 think that the series organisers obviously need to review the rule book, as the Ford teams definitely have an engine performance benefit over us. “The tyres that we used there then puts his boot down and bio were actually slower than the ones us away. None of us can get cli utilised'^four years ago - they were,^ into his slipstreain to be able softer in the sidewall and probably make a passing move, were some thing like three seconds “The only way we are going off the pace, compared to the older beat him is when we start off i units that, I used in practice on front of him; but getting in front ( Thursday - that’s where the quick him is a problem. I had a good 20 laps went, compared to when to 300 metre lead on him in th Jimmy won up there years ago. first race, but over a period c “Hopefully, they will be able to I lost that and he was able to locate some new Goodyears that while we pitted under green - his will suit the Albert Park circuit, as stop was quicker and he roared out we all want to present a good race of the pits ahead of me and that there - I think in the region of 30 was the race lost. cars have been entered for the “It really is a parity problem, as event. the AUSCAR rule book provides “We plan to do some extensive the Ford runners with 35-40 horse testing before that race meeting, as power more and a significant it is going to be a battle to keep the torque advantage over the GM brakes on the car on such a tight teams - I think that the series layout, plus I need more time in the organisers obviously need to review car if we are going to be competitive the rule book, as the Ford teams with some of the road race regulars definitely have an engine perfor that will be reappearing in the mance benefit over us. class on that weekend.” “Now this wasn’t a problem when the Fords had a handling problem. In the meantime. White is con centrating on the AUSCAR But last season, the three competi Championship, where he is second tive Ford teams won half the AUS overall on the points table behind CAR races and that is when only Falcon driver Leigh Watkins after 10% of the cars competing are Falcons - so that tells you that winning the first round and finish ing second in the next - the series there is a parity problem. “But this sanctioned inequality pointscore sees Watkins ahead on 520 points from White (505) and has made our team all the more , DeWalt/Pennzoil/Goodyear determined to be the leading Commodore racer Nathan Pretty Holden team, as we want to win our second AUSCAR title regard (495). 'My AUSCAR Commodore was less of the Ford performance issue -

NASCAR Rookie: Matthew White wants to be more than competitive at Albert Park next March.(Dirk Klynsmith pic) and our other goal for this season is to be genuinely com petitive in the NASCAR at the FI Grand Prix meeting at Albert Park. “All in all, the next few months should be extremely productive and our team is anticipating some worthwhile results, particularly if our present form is any sort of a guide.” Chasing title points: Matthew White cur rently lies second in the AUSCAR series pointscore and nar rowly heads thirdplaced Nathan Pretty (in background).

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7. John Umseher,^ Union Steel 8. LeanneRoss,#1 BobJaneT-marts ... 9. Chris Roberson. #54 Tyre Sea) la DaBas Crane, #50 Danas Crane Racing

32 I Jdnudry 1999

lH!ik)D®[FS[D®l70

MARSHALL Brewer held off a strong challenge from George Elliot in the closing laps of the 93-lapper at the rain-affected s Calder Park Thunderdome on December 20 to claim his first NASCAR victory in his pristine Pennzoil Chevy Monte Carlo. Brewer, who topped the Sunday practice time sheets, ran with the leading bunch for the duration of the event and hit the front after a { turn 2 melee involving pack-leader Jimmy EUis in his GB Galvanizing Chevy Lumina - at the same time, series points leader Kim Jane, in second spot behind Ellis, lost a power steering hose on his Bob Jane T-Marts/Repco/Goodyear Monte Carlo, the uncharacteristic failure sending him to the pits and into retirement. Under yellow until the 90-lap mark, the affable Brewer lined up ahead of hard charger Terry Wyhoon’s BP Car care Thunderbird % and Elliot’s Lockies Hotel Monte Carlo, the trio the only cars still on Happy campers: Winner Marshall J Brewer (left) and runner-up George Elliot were well-pleased with their day’s activities.(Thunder-Pics photo) the lead lap. field, which was gridded up accord On the green and with three ing to championship series points, a clear laps of racing to go, Elliot legacy of the heavy rain which quickly disposed of Wyhoon - who upset the schedule - Ingall then was sadly handicapped with a rumbled and shook his way around badly shpping clutch - and then sat the Dome for four ignominious laps, right on Brewer’s bumper. before straggling back to the pits But it would take more than and an early end to his afternoon, Elliot’s attentions to distract though with enough points in hand Brewer from the task at hand and to rank fourth in the series. he ultimately rocketed across the In the afternoon pre-race practice line to take a well-deserved and session. Brewer was quickest with ejftremely popular win.' a 28.5256-second lap, the current EUiot, who had a nughty straggle condition of the track guaranteeing to get past the lapped Neville that Max Dumesny’s record of Lance, was obhged to settle for run 27.1278 seconds is unlikely to be ner-up status, while a disappointed challenged in the forseeable future. collected both concrete walls. Wyhoon managed to hang onto^ , Then came, a lap down, Lance Cheapest Cars Monte Carlo), Daryl Then came Wyhoon (28.5559), Car-owner Scott Williams swal third. (Auto Pro Thunderbird), Gene Cook Coon (Pontiac Grand Prix) and Bob Lance (28.5582), Kim Jane lowed hard when he saw the dam 'It wasn’t aU doom and gloom for (Shell Helix Thunderbird) and Middleton (Whiteline Transport age to the previously stunning (28.6360), Terry Byers (Monte Wyhoon, though, as he at least had Ellis, while another two laps down Monte Carlo). One of the biggest shocks of the Vision/The Fireworks King Monte Carlo, 28.6823), Elliot (28.8196), the. satisfaction of setting the was Rodney Jane in the Bob Jane fastest lap of 28.4171 seconds on Telecommunications Monte Carlo, meeting was the practice session Carlo, but - much to Ingall’s Rodney Jane (28.9276), Cook lap 67, which was in the more the latter still coming to terms with demise of Bathurst winner Russell amazement - decided to carry out (29.0070), Ingall (29.5968) and Ellis Ingall, who was determined to get the necessary repairs to get Ingall (29.9750). promising pre-clutch problem phase a broken wrist, Pointscore: Wyhoon 670, Kim the best out of his car at this meet on the grid for as long as possible to of his race - and he dso now,heads Another two laps down in eighth, Jane 645, Brewer 631, Ingall 624, the series pointscore from Kim ninth and tenth, respectively, were ing, but dramatically came unstuck cbliect those valuable series points. Lance 606, Byers 553, Middleton Thus it was that Touring Car leg Jane and Brewer. Eddie Abelnica (Melbourne’s in turn 1 after only three laps and end Ingall rather circumspectly 531, Rodney Jane 530, Cook 444 lined up at the rear of the 13-car and James 443. - TONY GLYNN

Brewer's best Xmas present

Combined field causes upsets

Big boys stumble: Two of the sports big names came to grief at the Thunderdome, Kim Jane (above) having to park during the race and Russell Ingall (below) never really able to put on a proper show.(Thunder-Pics)

CALDER Park’s experiment with a combined AUSCAR and Sportsman field saw the AUSCAR Ford of Leigh Watkins take i the outright honours from Nathan Pretty, while the winning; Sportsman of Andrew Gillespie and class runner-up John; Umseher actually crossed the line in 13th and 14th spots, respec- ’ lively. The whole 16-car AUSCAR field was giidded up in front of thel7-car Sportsman entiy for the 20-lapper and. after losing a couple of runners, ultimately finished in front of the Sportsman group, which somewhat' negates the point of the exercise, as there was clearly no performance ’ overlap with the better Sportsman contenders and the lesser-ranked| AUSCAR competitors. The quickest AUSCAR was that of Nathan Pretty, whose De; Walt/Goodyear Commodore carded a 31.2205 on the eighth lap, while reigning Champion Graeme Gilliland set the quickest Sportsman time of 33.4208 seconds on lap 14. With a performance differential of more than two seconds per lap. therefore, it was hardly surprising that the whole Sportsman field was lapped during the course of the 20-lapper. ; And it also came as no surprise to see the upsets caused in the. Sportsman ranks as the significantly faster AL SCARs blasted through ; their lower-powered peers. ; Class leader Gilliland was only one of the casualties, a mam srtaight j lapping incident caused by the AUSCARs demoting him to a lowly 21st- 1 place finish, the ninth Sportsman home, while frustrated AUSCAR j debutant Paul Dumbrell finished the race with badly smashed front pan-1 els after literally bulldozing a path through the slower Sportsman field. l Post-r’ace, the general view voiced by both classes was unfavourable and manv considered the exer-cise to be quite pointless and frightening, paiticuladv as AUSCAR drivers were continually havnng tojump heavrIv on the brakes time and again to avoid accidents - and the Sportsman competitors were less than happy about their inability to get out of the wav of the lapping AUSCARs while endeavouring to race their cla«mates. -TONYGLYNN

Zffl®i7®gg/p®g^g FORD is back on the winner’s podium at the Thunderdome and Leigh Watkins delivered the bad news to his peers in no uncertain terms on December 20, holding out runner-up Matthew White with compara tive ease while taking out a hard-fought 50-lapper in his Falcon AUSCAR. Watkins, who had been trailing race-leader White’s MaxiCube/Freighter Commodore, was the first to pit just prior to the halfway point and subsequently took over the front-running. Despite everything White threw at him, Watkins then held the for mer AUSCAR champion at bay and led across the hne as the flag fell. White was less than enthused about the Ford’s performance (see feature on pages 30-31), as were the majority of the Commodore punters in the 14-car field.

1 January 1999

Winner Watkins wipes the I field with AUSCAR For' r

There was no doubting the sheer straight-line grunt of the V8 Ford engine, which early in the race allowed Watkins to negate any han dling advantage the Commodores the enjoyed through Thunderdome’s steeply-banked turns - and, once Watkins’ pit stop strategy paid off and the Ford emerged at the head of the field, it was all over for his Commodoremounted opposition. White, thirdplaced Darren McDonald (Powermac Products) and Nathan Pretty (De Walt/Goodyear) in fourth. The Watkins Ford has been sur rounded by controversy ever since information about fabricator Stewart Stancombe’s handiwork at

Big stick: Leigh Watkins' victorious Ford has put a significant dampener on the championship aspirations of his peers.(Brett Swanson pic) Bacchus Marsh became common recently by Colin RusseU at Calder practice session with a 31.0782, mind the fact that he was only knowledge. Park’s request, the car had the Nathan Pretty was well outside the licenced a few days earlier. Word had it that on at least a sanctioning body’s written approval current lap record of 30.6053 sec On lap 21, Watkins headed for couple of occasions during the con for every aspect ofits construction. onds held by McDonald. the pits and was foUowed by White The fact that the car has been struction period the vehicle was White was second with a 31.2834, and McDonald a lap later. inspected and given the thumbs deemed legal is bad news, indeed, ahead of McDonald (31.4540), the After the usual reshuffle of posi down by Calder Park Tech for the basically stock-spec Tramstop Garden Centre tions settled into a realistic order, it Inspector John Torr - nonetheless, Commodore runners, as Watkins Commodore of Tony Malley was Watkins at the head of the the project was carried through to wiU now be a very difficult competi (31.4627), Watkins (31.7201), 16 pack and he never looked like he Calder Racing and Performance in completion, and, when inspected' tor to attempt to pass under virtu year-old debutant Paul DumbreU in was going to be demoted, despite ally any cir Sean Henshelwood’s usual Wynn’s the enormous pressure he was Eating Leigh’s dust: Third-placed #44 McDonald and Nathan Pretty.(Thunder-Pics/Agfa) cumstance - Commodore (31.8459), Darryl experiencing from the almost des n x-r.. and when he Speers (I&V Truck and Trailer perate White. gets his han Repairs Commodore), Shane At the flag, it was Watkins from dling package Houlahan, Anthony Leitch (Aust White, McDonald, Nathan Pretty up to speed, Heavy Haulage Commodore) and and Malley, while a lap down were look out! Luke Sheales (Abel Auto Wreckers Nigel Benson (Fire Protection Thanks to Commodore). Australia Commodore), Leitch, the torrential The race itself saw White, DumbreU and Nicole Pretty (De rains that fell Watkins, Nathan Pretty and Walt/Goodyear Commodore) - in in the morn Malley take the early front run tenth and two laps do'wn was Amin ing, proceed ning, White eventually asserting Chadha(A&P Racing Falcon). Pointscore: Watkins (520), White ings were put his superiority and opening a gap on hold for over th'fe next pair- Malley then fell (505), Nathan Pretty (495), Malley some hours back a tad, but held station ahead (470), McDonald (454), Leitch (435), until the track of McDonald, Speers and DumbreU, Nicole Pretty (422), Houlahan dried out. the latter putting on an impressive (394), Leigh Moran (391), Eddie Quickest in display given his virtual complete Woods(389). -TONY GLYNN the afternoob dack of Dome miles and bearing in n i-T

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34 1 Janudry 1999

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\ Valiant effort: Kevin Schwantz has parked his Busch Grand National team for the time being.(Clark pic) Geoffrey formerly Geoff Bodine,Bodine, will drive Chevrolets for Power Team Racing in 1999, with veteran crew chief Jim Long and Busch Series driver Joe Bessey aS team owner. Bodine sold out his interests in the ex-Alan Kulwicki team to Mattei Motorsports and in October was told he would not return as the driver. Long brings experience and cars from Stavola Brothers, who have ceased operations due to sponsor trouble. unie Donlavey Racing has announced a new sponsor and driver combination for 1999. Short track Late Model driver Mike Harmon, 40, brought Big Daddy’s sauce with him to the team for his rookie season. The next race car-owner

Stock Bv Martin D Clar Donlavey competes in will be his 800th, his only win coming with Joedy Ridley in 1981. Jon Wolfe, former assistant chief for Joe Gibbs Racingcrew and driver Bobby Labonte, has joined Butch Mock Motorsports and dri ver Ted Musgrave as crew chief, alongside new team manager Troy Selberg.

Richard has rejoined'Slugger' Hendrick Labbie Motorsports as chief mechanic with Waliy Budweise r Dalienbach’s Chevrolet. Labbe was released in early December from Robert Yates Racing, where he served as crew chief for Kenny Irwin.

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obert Yates Racing has moved R the Texaco-sponsored Kenn y Irwin team from it’s Charlotte home to Harrisburg, close to Charlotte Motor Speedway, leav ing Dale Jarrett’s team at the headquarters.

evin Schwantz has closed his NASCAR Busch Grand National series team. Lone Star Motorsports, laying off 311 employees except a secretary. Schwantz is currently seeking

Tough scene: World Champion Schwantz was to quickly discover that US Stock Car racing is a political and financial quagmire. (Clark pic) sponsorship for the 1999 season, but apparently things are not looking too promising in that area. If Schwantz could find a driver

with sponsorship, he would look at fielding the team for that driver but, ultimately, he still has the urge to pilot a car full-time.

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Stock? Yeah, right, Pro Stockers are anything but stock! See the V8 factory hot rods tear down the Calder Park quarter mile in the second round of the Australian Pro Stock Championships. Tucker, Cugnetto, Polito, Quattrochi and more running headto-head in their 900 hp tin tops. Also on the bill will be Pro Stock Motorcycles along with a full field of Competition Eliminator cars. Super Stockers, Super Gassers, Super Sedans and a whole lot more. Gates open 9.00am. Qualifying begins 10.00am. Eliminations from 4.30pm. For more information, contact the Calder Park Information and Weatherwatch line on 1 900 937 445 or find us on the internet at www.motorsport.com.au

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I Jdnuery 1999

Controversial combined field Competitor reactions mixed as Calder Park runs itsfirst combined Sportsman and AUSCAR race

THE Sportsman class, apart from the weather, had some thing else to think about, as the December 20 Thunderdome meeting was to be a trial run with the class combined with AUSCAR. The first race was run for Sportsman alone, with the second race a combined field in which the faster AUSCARs were expected to experience passing dramas as they lapped the markedly slower Sportsman entries. Race one and Andrew Gillespie really showed them how to start a race and quickly settled into the front position, with Graeme Gilliland slotted in behind. Ron Savas was next, with a small gap opening up back to the next three cars of Sam Milton, Leanne Ross and Gerry Raleigh, who were very close together. On lap 2 of 10, Gilhland went a

Basic problem: Sportsman Champion Graeme Gilliland is clearly no slouch when it comes to racing super speedway, but his 253 cubic inch V8 Commodore was never likely to match the pace of the significantly quicker 308 V8 AUSCARs in the Dome’s first combined field event. The above Thunder-Pics photo highlights the speed differential between the classes as Gilliland’s #18 CitiWest Rentals Commodore is swept up by AUSCAR front-runners Leigh Watkins(#47 Falcon), Nathan Pretty(#2 De Walt Commodore)and Darren McDonald (#44 Powermac Products Commodore), bit wide on turn 1 and Savas dived into second behind Gillespie - who didn’t let up the pace this time and the three of them stayed that way till the end.

Milton sat in fourth and withstood all the pressure Ross could exert until the final lap, when Ross slipped by for fourth. Race two, a 20-lapper, was com-

Top 3close in HQ points

bined vsdth the AUSCARs and produced a mixed reaction from the competitors. Although the classes were combined, the points were awarded to each class - when the

lapping started, it was very confus ing, especially for the spectators. Savas got a good start and led Ross and Gillespie for a couple of laps, until Gillespie snuck into sec ond when the three of them were three-wide down the back straight and then took the lead shortly after. John Umseher and Chris Robinson were lurking and, when Savas, Ross and Gilliland all spun in unison at turn 4, they swooped. All three cars got going again while Gfilespie pulled an enoimous lead, with Robinson next from Umseher. The AUSCARs started to pass the tail-enders at about the eight lap mark, but Gillespie, the last one to be lapped, was at lap 15. Umseher passed Robinson with only a handful of laps left to take over second, while Tony Hewlett was fourth, ahead of Raleigh. - GRAEME BURNS

.-s'

McDonald, Spott Walker and Wicks in strugglefor series domination

THE rain put paid to the two races scheduled, but the one race that did occur had an excit ing finish, with cars going every direction to avoid a slower car on the finish line and John Harding flattening one side of his car. The start order was on the pointscore, because of a lack of qualifying. Start number one was red flagged when Dallas Crane, NeviUe Haley and someone else had a big moment on lap 1, with Crane dri ving his car back'to the pits on the front rim when the tyre shredded, while Haley’s boot was open. On the restart, Haley was well back, while Ian Hibbert and Percy Richardson had a spin before work ing their way back into the bunch. The front eight cars of Mark Wicks, Glen McDonald, Scott Walker, Harding, Richard Ireland, Jim Simmins, Gavan Bond and Andrew Koolan edged away from the rest and on lap 6 caught some tail-enders. By lap 7 of the 20, McDonald and Wicks had a small gap and things settled until half-distance, when Tracey Moulden had a spin on the back straight and was stranded for a couple of laps.

John Spencer worked his from ninth and passed Harding to take over third place and was closing on McDonald and Wicks. Scott Walker used the traffic well to jump from fifth up to third before the pace car appeared to clear Moulden’s car from the circuit. David Keleher showed some signs of close racing with a tyre rubbing. With four laps to go, the green light came on and Scott Walker made some big moves around the outside in turns 3-4 to slot into sec ond place behind McDonald. A spun car in turn 4 recovered with one lap to go, rejoined the cir cuit and was still building up to speed when the field caught up to him. The front group of cars had to chop and change positions on the track, with the order at the front changing as they evaded the slower car. Scott Walker thus stole the win from Steve Walker, who had come through from mid-field, while McDonald salvaged third from Spencer, with Wicks being the loser in the deal and finishing next. Harding got through the tangle, only to hit the wall and finish with two flat tyres. - GRAEME BURNS

Looking,looking: #3S Ian Hihbert rotates alongside #44 Robert Hepburn and #20 Ken Leigh.(Chris Carter pic) JOHN Faulkner made the most of the program, which was thrown into confusion by the wet weather with a late start better than no start. There was a short practice ses sion, with grids decided on the overall points, which saw Faulkner start from near the rear of the 12car field - Sean Henshelwood made his debut in the class driving the Rodney Jane car. Race one was a 10-lapper and Matt Coleman got the start and led the field. Bradley Radclyffe - even with Santa on board - clipped the tyres, while Faulkner was up to third by lap 2. Lap 4 saw Faulkner into second place and Chve Henderson drop out with a problem. A great race developed for third, fourth and fifth between Adrian Bartsch, Cary McCarthy and Richard Downing, who swapped places several times while Faulkner chased and was closing on Coleman. But the laps ran out and Coleman led Faulkner and Bartsch across the line.

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Race two saw Faulkner start from the front, but Coleman was deemed to jump the start and got a stop-go penalty, which saw him drop from second to last and, with the bit between his teeth, the chase was on. Bartsch was in sec ond, with Geoff Durack and McCarthy Sleighed ’em: Santa Radclyffe.(Graeme Bums pic) with Coleman second and next. Coleman came through the field McCarthy third, while Bartsch setand was up to fomth by lap 5 of the tied into fourth rmtil the last lap, 8-lap race. Lap 6 and he slipped by when he took over third. Durack and, with Faulkner slowAs the front three crossed the ing, Coleman slipped into second line they were bunched up very ahead of Bartsch on the last lap. tightly, with Faulkner holding onto The third race, also an 8-lapper, first from Coleman, with Bartsch saw Faulkner lead from the start, third. - GRAEME BURNS

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36 1 January 1999

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Alley dresses up for Jerzees in ’99 Veteran nitre tuner Ray Alley has been named as crew chieffor Bob Vandergriffs Jerzees Racing Team for the 1999 NHRA Winston season.

Top Bikes saddle up again

An extra championship round has been added to the Top Bike series, foUowing the rainout of their November 14 meeting at Calder Park. Calder Park will again play host to the nitro-biuming two-wheelers at its February 20 event. The fuel bikes will headline the event vdth the Top Doorslammers.

James Arthur returns With the prospects of his track in Sydney getting closer to reaUty each day, Australian drag racing’s living legend Jim Read is again hitting the track. In a hmited campaign. Read will be contesting this week’s Top Fuel series round at WUlowbank, along with the same track’s March round and Wintemationals in June, plus the Nationals at Calder Park in March. Read has purchased Graeme Cowin’s semi-trailer transporter, along with Cowin’s historic “first in the fours” Dave Uyehara-built fueUer for his ’99 campaign, although the new chassis, which has been repaired since its Wintemats crash, won’t appear until March at WUlowbank.

You never, never know, if you never, never go

In making the announcement, Vandergriff stated that Alley’s background and experience are what led to his choice ofthe Californian as crew chief “When you mention the name Ray Alley among his peers, you seem to get a consistent opinion a leader who fields competitive teams,” said Vandergriff. “His statistics are always among the leaders, whether it be elapsed time, or speed.I feel he will bring the Vandergriff Motorsports’ JERZEES Dragster operation to the next plateau.” Alley drove a limited fuel Funny Car schedule throughout the 1960s and 70s, although his exper tise has always been in making the difficult nitro-powered engines go quicker and faster. Mey served as crew chieffor Kenny Bernstein in 1981 and, with Bernstein and Dale Armstrong,introduced the com puter era to drag racing in 1985 with the invention ofthe RacePak data logger. Along with working with and for Bernstein for many years, includ ing his Top Fuel Championship season in 1996, Alley has worked for Shelly Anderson and Cristen Powell, to name a few. On his move to Vandergriffs operation, AUey says the team has all the makings ofa winner. “I plan to build on what has already been estabhshed here,” he said. ‘We will be aggressive from the first race in Pomona in February to the last race in Pomona in November and every race between the two,” said Alley. “Our philoso phy for ’99 wfil be to qmckly estabhsh a pattern of a car capable of running in the 4.60s, then step it up to run in the 50s. “This will allow us to compete on a heads-up basis with aU teams,” added AUey.

Discussions are currently imderway with the King Cobra Rod and Custom Club in Darwin regarding the possibilities ofthe Hidden VaUey track running a roimd of the Top Doorslammers in May. ANDRA’s CEO Tony Thornton met with the doorslammer teams at AIR on December 12 to discuss the concept, which received strong support. It is believed that the Northern Parks not parked in ’99 Territory government is keen to Top Fuel racer Randy Parks has announced that his Fluke/Rydin follow up on the success oftheir Decal team will contest the entire V8Supercar round held at the . NHRA Winston Drag Racing same venue last year- and the Series torn- in 1999. huge success of Victor Bray’s oneoff appearance at that same event. Continued on next page

New crew chief: Ray Alley will join Vandegriff for '99.(Ostaszewski)

Vale: Buddy Morrison

WELL-KNOWN US Pro Stock engine builder and team owner Buddy Morrision lost his two-year, battle with cancer on December 15. He was 54. Morrison was partner with David Reher in the famed Reher-Morrison Racing Engines and Reher-Morrision ; Pro Stock team. After opening together in business for the first time in 1971, the pair went on to build one ofthe most success ful performance engine building businesses in the US, along with, as team owners, winning seven NHRA and ’ IH^ Pro Stock championships and numerous event victories, including 38 on the NHRA tour alone with dri-1| vers Lee Shepherd (deceased)and Bruce Allen (pictured above by David Ostaszewski). With Shepherd driving,, the Reher-Morrison-Shepherd team won four consecutive NHRA championships (1981-84)and two consecutive IHRA championships(1983-84). Following Shepherd’s death in a testing accident in March, 1985, Allen joined the team and claimed their ; third consecutive IHRA title. David Reher and Buddy Monison were honoured as the “Pro Stock Engine Builders of the Year” five consecu-1 tive times(1982-86) on the Car Craft All-Star Drag Racing Team. Reher, Monison and Shepherd were named “Persons of the Year” by Car Craft in 1980. j A founder of the Pro Stock Owners Association, Morrison’s activities weren’tjust restricted to di'ag racing - at' the time of his death, he was actively involved in a new NASCAR Craftsman Track prop-am with driver David Stair. ; Parts and technology developed by Monision and his partner are used by many top NASCAR teams and they . have also found their way onto the starting pid of the Indy 500. - GERALD McDORNAN Monison is survived by his wife, Susan and sister Carolyn.

IR cancels Top Fuel

Speaking to Motorsport News prior to,heading to Queensland to contest the third round of the series, at which just six cars were again expected to be present, Rachelle Splatt crew chief Peter Raceway cancel its booking of Wileman said the Valvoline/ the country’s premier bracket ' Cummins/Dragway team, after for what is, traditionally, one of doing their budgets prior to the its biggest meetings of the year. beginning of the season, had never Now scheduled in its place will be listed the Adelaide event on their extra rounds of the Top schedule. Doorslammer and Pro Stock series, “We’ve got a budget to contest those brackets having already been most of the rounds this season, but to AIR on December 12 for a roimd not all of them - and we’ve got to of their respective series, although stick to it as best we can,”'Wileman rain brought a premature end to said. “Of course we’d like to ran all the the eventjust prior to eliminations. For the Top Fuel round, it is rounds, but, while there is very htbelieved that just the Robin tle national television coverage Kirby/Pennzoil and the Di Filippo and that’s what our sponsors want - we’re finding it very hard to con Family Racing teams were intend ing to enter the event, with many vince them to increase their com teams citing lack of budgets and mitment to our program.” With spectator numbers again prizemoney and the lack of sponsor down at venues over last season ship opportunities due to no nation and with a number of Australian al television coverage as their rea sons for not being able to attend promoters wishing to hang their this, along with a number of other promotional hats on just one nitro scheduled rounds ofthe series. bracket, the cancellation of a round In the two rounds ofthe Top Fuel of the premier bracket comes at a series contested prior to Motorsport very worrying time for the quarterNews going to press, just five and mile sport. The majority of Top Fuel teams six cars, respectively, bad been pre in Australia are believed to have sent at the events.

THE worrying prospect of just two entries turning up for the January 23 round of the Australian Top Fuel Series has seen Adelaide International

1998/99 ANDRA CHAMPIONSHIP DRAG RACING SEB 98/99 ANDRA Top Fuel Championship I. Darren DiFilippo, True Flow Exhausts .150 Romeo Capitanio, Sidchrome Proto ...150 3. Rachelle Splatt, Valvoline/Cummins 140 4. Steve Read, Santos Cranes/Hi-Tec Oils 100 .80 5. Terry Sainty, Eagle Products Robin Kirby, Pennzoil/Keatings Trans. . . .80

Next round - Willowbank Raceway jan 2nd

98/99 ANDRA Top Doorslammer C’ship. 215 I. Victor Bray, Cascrol ’57 Chevy 2. David Simpson, Simpson Racing Falcon ,160 3. David Koop, KoopDeVille ’55 Chevy ..130 Lindsay Murray,'97 VS Commodore Ute90 5. Michael King, Castro! ’57 Customline ...60 ..60 Gary Phillips,'98 Holden Statesman . . .60 Robin Judd,'53 Studebaker 8. Shane Bcoate,Thunder Road Race Cars .. .40 Peter Kapiris, Pennzoii/VPW '53 Stude .40 Next round - WUlowbank Raceway Jan 30th

recently written to a number of pro moters requesting a dramatic increase in prizemoney or, at least, sought a solution to their funding problems. Sources say that the letter costed a Top Fuel round, for an eight-car field, at approximately $140,000, while the current prizemoney pay out sits atjust over $50,000. The current situation is one of the main reasons which convinced champion Graeme Cowin to close down his racing operations in Australia and head to the US, where he and his family team will contest a limited schedule on the NHRA Winston tour next year. On the rescheduled Top Doorslammer and Pro Stock rounds, ANDRA CEO stated that the late calendar changes were often a problem for teams, with most wanting to make their travel, transport and accomodation arrangements well in advance. “People appreciate that the weather is totally beyond our con trol, but that doesn’t make the issues of funding or time any easier for the racers. I’m very pleased at the attitude they’ve taken with this and I trust the track will recognise their effort and commitment,” Thornton said.

I Janua/y 1999

Shock annouiuement of Canberra closure CANBERRA International Dragway announced on December 15 that the facility has closed, the move resulting in the cancellation of the season’s major event, the Nitro Funny Car Challenge on January 1. The facility is located on land leased from the Commonwealth

venue for enthusiasts to compete and provides first class motorsport entertainment for the region, “It is extremely fhistrating thathaving put so much time, effort and funding over many years into establishing a national standard facility in the national capital catering for Australia’s most popumotorsport - we find ourselves position of a complete cloS’lre,” said CID manager Geoff _ Commonwealth Govenment

Government, the lease providing for an extension option at the site for a period often years, But a breakdown in negotiations with the Department of Defence, the government department charged with the responsibility for December 8, 1988, which mcluded the management and renewal of “ extension for a forthe lease, has forced the current December closure and the cancellation of all ’ the other complex activities, mcludmgtovertrai^g CID IS a national standard facihty which returns in excess of two million doUys per annum m visitor revenue to the ACT. The only sanctioned and operational purpose-built drag racing complex in New South Wales, CID - which was built without government fimding - is a safe and legal

Commonwealth could, on one hand, issue a lease in 1988 which includes ^ extension for ten beyond 1998 and on the other hand, at the expiration of the lease, the Department of Defence, acting foj- the Commonwealth, would renege on the option with one week’s notice. “The forward planning and logistics involved in sporting promotions

seem to be lost upon the bureau crats responsible for the manage ment ofthe Dragway lease. “The matter is now being dealt with by the Dragwa/s legal repre sentatives in an attempt to resolve the lease options,” Develin added, “I find it ironic the closure of the facility has come about at the time the ACT Legislative Assembly has been presented with a motor traffic amendment bill which will see stricter laws in an effort to control illegal racing and burnouts on pub lic roads. “The CID management com mends the introduction of this bOl; however, it finds the closure of the only regional complex available at which this activity can be presented legally in a safe environment rather hard to comprehend. “Perhaps now is a good time for all you serious drag racing competi tors and supporters - in fact, all motorsport enthusiasts - to stand up and be counted and express your feelings to your local and federal assembly and government members and sport ministers.” - MICHAEL ATTWELL

New allegiance: Tony Gillig is switching to NHRA.(Ostaszewski pic) Parks, who campaigned in 1998 lar sentiments and it is believed in the Brad Hadman-built car for he win be making a decision in the merly run by Alan and Blaine near future to his team’s future on Johrion, has swtched to a Murf the European scene. McKinney car for the new season. Parks recently debuted the new 8HRA Joses yet another car with a big win at a match race of its stars in Bradenton, Florida, top qualify The IHEA has lost another one of ing with a 4.92 and improving that to a 4.90 that remained as its leading racers,folowing the announcement that twice IHRA low et ofthe event, which was run in less than ideal conditions. national event winner and second place finisher in the 1998 Pro The decision to change chassis builders was made on purely geo Stock points chase, Tony Gilhg, will switch to the NHRA in 1999. graphical grounds, with McKinney’s shop in Indiana far Despite saying that he enjoyed closer to Parks’ Illinois base than racing in the IHRA competition, the 28 year-old GiEig said that his Hadman’s Tacoma, Washington, shop. team had always wanted to make Parks’ new mount has a number the switch. ‘The opportunity arose to race of structural changes,including a lighter chassis vnth a modified NHRA and we had to jump on it. motorlocation to make for easier We know it will be tough, but we weight distribution. are up for the challenge,” he said. The car is also taller to accom Gillig and team plan to test modate a larger fuel tank for their new Steve Schmidt engine. Ram clutch and G- Force 5-speed increased fuel flow in the system. in Houston next month. Gillig will use his tiled and true Nybo quits Euro Top red and white Rick Jones Fuel - Lantz shaky Oldsmobile in the upcoming season. European Top Fuel racing is start ing to look a little shaky, with the Euro Vette about to announcement that top runner Jens Nybo is quitting due to lack start Cooking offinances - and “first in the English Pro Modified racer Alan fours” Peter Lantz is also consid Cook has stepped up his operation with the pm-chase offormer IHRA ering leaving the sport for the same reasons. Pro Mod Champion Tim McAmis’ 1963 Corvette. “It is a very difficult decision, The mountain-motored Vette but I can’t keep running this oper ran a bet of6.48/214 dmlng the ation in a serious way without a 1998 season and Cook is hoping to bigger financial back-up from match these numbers during the sptosors-and that’s very hard to 1999 European season. find m Denmark, as in every other Previously, Cook ran a nitrouscoimtry, especially because we assisted Dodge Avenger, this car can’t race here,” Nybo was quoted having been sold to finance his as saying about his decision, new mount. Nybo graduated to Top Fuel For the new season, Cook is also from Top Alcohol in 1995, winning joining with fellow Enghsh racers the European Championship in his first season. Rob Loaring and Nick Davies to form a two-car effort, Davies dri The following season Nybo won ving his and Loailng’s Olds the first ever officially sanctioned Cutlass. FIA European Top Fuel Loaring will perform the tuning Championship. duties on both cars. Lantz has also expressed simi-

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38 I January 1999

£A£

Graham tbps in Super Series

Pocket Rocket: Speedway jewels such as the beautifully crafted Bob Boast VIC #33 will line up in Grafton on Jan 30.(Brett Swanson pic)

NSW Compact Speedcar Title THE Grafton District Services

Club Ltd has shown its support for Grafton Speedway by taking up the major sponsorship of the NSW Compact Speedcar Title to be held on January 30. Further support has come from the Grafton City Council, Big River Auto Spares, BRC Racing and Coombes Car Sales. The North Coast Compact Speedcar Club will host the title and has offered all visiting drivers every support to make the event -

entrants are from Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales. Promoter Greg Coombes has put a lot of work into the track surface and good racing is expected - this will be his first NSW title and he has shown his support both finan cially and via his promotional efforts.

Gates open at 3.00pm, as does scrutineering and racing starts at 6.00pm. For further information, contact the host club on: 02 66 432966(BH), or 02 66 447067(AH).

Ferguson flies at PCR WARREN Ferguson was "the latest Goodyear Sprintcar Stampede winner as the lights went out at Parramatta City on Raceway December 19. In a fairytale result, the bespectacled youngster from Erskine Park led the 18-car field flag to flag in an incident-packed 30-lap feature to claim victory in the Ivan

Pahner entry. With temperatures soaring into the 40s in Sydney, PCR Track Manager Stuart Telfer found that he and his team simply couldn’t get enough water into the racing surface, the howling easterly leav ing the track unusual ly dry and slick which would play into poleman Ferguson’s hands as the night wore on as, after countless' nights of

racing as Kerry Madsen’s crew chief, he has considerable knowledge of slick track set-ups. Todd Wanless was runner-up, ahead of John Shore, Adrian Maher, Bruce White, Peter Attard and Bob Jackson, the latter holding a narrow lead over Attard for second spot in the series pointscore behind the dominant Robbie Farr. -WADEAUNGER

Bendigo Masters 360 Championship JANUARY 1 will see the return

of Sprintcars to the Prince of Wales Showground - Bendigo Speedway - with the running of the Bendigo Masters 360 Championship. Incorrectly touted as the Victorian Sprintcar Championship, the Sprintcar Racing Association (SRA) of Victoria and the Bendigo Speedway Club held discussions to clarify the matter. Members of the SRA executive then did a track inspection on December 10 and highlighted some areas which needed attention. A further track inspection was scheduled for December 26 and it was expected that all issues would have been addressed. The Bendigo Masters 360 Championship is a pseudo 360ci State 'Htle and is being run outside the auspices of the SRA and the Sprintcar Control Council of Australia.

One of the men behind the event, triple Victorian 360 Champion Garry Chippindall is expecting a big field of cars from Victoria, NSW and the ACT. Included in that field should be current Victorian 360 Champion Greg Mattschoss and his team mate, Harold Brennan Jim. The entry list also includes previ ous 360 state champions Chippindall and David Argus, mul tiple Mini Sprint champions Wayne Milburn and Blair Jones, former GP Midget champion Tony Simone and veterans Bob Forbes, John Christie, Butch Hope and Terry Cantrell. Locals Rod Matthews, Ian Thomsen, Andrew Light and the two-car team of Geoff Clifford and Darren Russell are also in the frame. At the time of writing, 18 of the 27 potential entries are confirmed. -BRETT SWANSON

Speedcar Maestro: Pointscore leader Steven Graham in devastating form in his Fox Sports Stealth-Gaerte. IN dramatic circumstances, points leader Steven Graham won the second round of the $100,000 Speedcar Super Series at the Gilgandra District Speedway. 30 year-old Graham blasted his #14 Fox Sports Gaerte-powered, Stealth Speedcar to the lead in the originally scheduled 30-lap feature race, but the event was brought to a spectacular and premature end when third-placed Mark Brown crashed. Brown’s #2 Rondalee V4 Scat flipped high into the air, crashing into the wire catch fence. Brown remarkably hanging his car verti cally on the track cables some 20ft in the air. It was 15 tense minutes before the talented former Victorian racer was delicately extricated from the car, which was wrapped dangerous ly in the track’s electrical wiring. Amazingly, Brown was uninjured in the crash and subsequent removal, but his car sustained some major suspension damage. Also sustaining damage in the freakish accident was the track lighting itself - with 20 laps com pleted, the feature race was declared because the power was imable to be turned back on due to the danger of electrocution. At the point when the race was declared, Graham was leading from second placed Troy Jenkins and Brown in the Richard Petty Diiving Experience main event. Brown was allowed to keep his third place in controversial circum stances, due to a new ASCC ruling that now allows cars involved in an accident to retain their placing at the time of the stoppage. In the past, the rule has been that if a car involved in the stop-

page would not have been able to to blast past half the field in his bid restart without repair, it cannot to run down the points leader retain^its original position in the before the event was declared. “I think I might have had some final placihgs. thing for the leaders,” said Troy The rule met with hostile opposi after the race. “I had a tough nm in tion fi-om many car owners and dri vers in the field and discussion on the heats and that certainly hurt this topic remains hot at the time of my qualifying effort for the feature race. If we’d started in the first writing. It was a controversial night all three rows, I think we could have won.” round. Though the win now gives Graham’s move to hot lap the #41 machine and then switch to the #14 Graham a 900 point lead, he was spare car for his time trial (thereby quick to concede that a race decla missing his original time trial seed) ration is not his style. “I don’t like to win that way,” caused much discussion,- especially since he set quick time in the Graham said. “There was no way around what happened, but I would Infinity Chassis qualifying session. The current points leader failed have preferred to slug it out with to finish in the top three in either of anyone who came up for a look in his Fontana Automotive heat races, the last ten than have it go red flag but came from position #4 in the then chequer.” Placed fourth in the main was main event to inherit the lead from early pace-setter Adam Clarke in Queensland live-wire Darryl the Clarke’s Food Service #76 Bonnell in the ex-Bflly Boat Gaerte Stealth, sponsored by Lennon Infinity. Clarke looked like he was back to Engineering. Following Bonnell across the line his old self, after a bone-crunching rollover at Parramatta City was Sydney Fontana pilot Glenn Cox Raceway the weekend before left in the #9 Maureen’s Nail Bar machine - a satisfying result for a him knocked unconscious for sever al minutes and feeling very sore for driver with some considerable ability. Rounding out the top ten were several days. Using his spare #76 machine (the South Aussie youngster Adam #77 was badly damaged in the PCR Baines (Baines Engines #52), crash), Clarke was looking good for Victorian veteran Noddy Bishop a win at Gilgandra (he won at this (Merc Bits #0), Darren Jenkins venue the year before) until the (Leer Fontana #0) and second gen eration racer Haydn Bishop (Merc throttle linkage broke and he coast Bits #10). ed to the infield. The O’Brien Aluminium Pole Graham zoomed by to lead for Shuffle was won conclusively by two laps until the red lights came Clarke, but the battle for suprema on for Bro-wn’s spectacular crash. Somebody who may have caused cy was breath-taking. The Fontana Automotive Heat Graham some grief if the race had run it’s full course, though, was Race Series saw wins from Bishop, Australia #2-ranked driver Troy Glenn Cox, Clarke and Bonnell. The Greg Boscato top points Jenkins in the Dominator Engines award went to Clarke. REAP Fontana. -WADEAUNGER Jenkins came from position #11

lI^CDOGlTSmCDEPO

1 Januaiy J999

Marih's Horsham

ADELAIDE’S Phil March surprised the World Series Sprintcars regulars with vic tory in the first WSS round run at Horsham’s Blue Ribbon Speedway on December 27. Before a record crowd, Goodyear Eagle Trophy Dash winner March guid ed his self-constructed Les March Autos machine to a narrow victory over Brooke Tatnell and Skip Jackson. The win, March’s fifth career WSS A-Feature tri umph, was the first for the SA driver since the Wagga round six years ago. In a feature race shortened by five laps due to

tyre wear concerns, March led every lap, despite constant pressure from Tatnell. “Our Shell Helix/ Phantom Comics Schnee was the fastest car out there, but PhQ just blocked and held his position, as he is entitled to do,” explaiued Tatnell, who started from the second row. “He did a'good job, as a couple of times I got under him when he got loose, only for him to claim the line for the next comer.” Points leader Jackson redeemed a potentially disastrous night with yet another podium finish, continuing a remarkable record of consistency after having placed the

Pennzoil/Skilled Jackson no lower than third in each of the six rounds contested to date. “I didn’t do a good qual ifying lap,” Jackson com mented, adding “then the motor wasn’t running properly, but the crew worked their butts off so that it all worked out okay in the end.” Danny Smith, who only flew into Melbourne from Indianapolis on the moming ofthe meeting,finished a tired fourth in the Diecrest Engineering/ Carline Mufflers J&J of Bendigo car owners Les and Margaret Harrower, the American’s greater experience on shck tracks proving crucial in defeating

young rookie Drew Kruck. A late-race pass by eighth-starting Smith demoted the Titan Garages & Carports Maxim to fifth in the young Queenslander’s second only WSS AFeature qualification. David Anderson was next home, ahead of Max Dumesny, Dean McComb, Garry Brazier and Andrew Scheuerle Dumesnys Valvohne J&J had topped preliminary qualifying, only for Max to draw a six inversion of the Dash. Pointscore (after round 6): Jackson 4655, Brazier 2880, Hannagan 2690, Tatnell 2525, Green 2175, Farrell 2160, Farr 1870, McComb 1780, Madsen 1725, Dumesny 1605.

Max's Fireball

DUAL Australian Sprintcar Champion Max Dumesny endured a rain delay and a determined Ryan Farrell to take out the 30th running of the Fireball Derby, which had side - McCubbin and Dumesny returned to its birthplace at were next, from Anderson, Farrell, Redline Raceway, Ballarat, on Daryn Maggs, Steve Knight, Blair December 6. Jones, Matthew Reed, Wayne The Albury Express, David Milburn, Ray Scott, Drew Kruck, Anderson, ran Dumesny hard dur Rod Matthews, Judd and Tony ing the mid-section of the race, but Simone. had to settle for second, while Tim In hot laps before the start, McCubbin ran a consistent third. Reed’s troubled weekend ended Farrell, who had topscored with after the' engine popped and two heat wins, blasted from sixth to stopped. the lead before falling foul of a After everything that the crowd lapped car with just six laps left to had endured, it deserved a good run - Farrell recovered to record a race as a reward and what it got fighting fourth place ahead of Jeff was a great race. Judd, who had worked his up Mattschoss lead the field away through the B-Main. for the 25-lap feature and con trolled the race for the first ten 30 years after the inaugural run ning of the Fireball Derby was won laps, as Anderson, Dumesny, by Graeme McCubbin, Bill Willis Rankin, Farrell and McCubbin and Jim Knight at Redline diced behind him, before Farrell, Raceway, the event returned to its using a higher entry line into the spiritual home after many years of turns, assumed the lead Mattschoss slowed soon after with being shared between other tracks. The event also marked the return a flat tyre. of full-bore Sprintcar racing to the Anderson and Dumesny were circuit after some 18 years - and it fighting hard, swapping positions was a triumphant retirni for reign in lapped traffic until Dumesny ing Australian champion Dumesny started to edge away. Farrell had a moment coming out in his Valvoline/Spies Transport J&J. of turn 2, but just managed to Farrell had top scored with two maintain his lead - but Dumesny heat wins and when it came time to was now on his tail. draw an inversion, he drew the Surprisingly, considering the number six, putting Rob Rankin off track surface, the race had run non pole with Greg Mattschoss along- stop until lap 19, when FarreU and

Dumesny came upon Scott. Dumesny went for the outside around Farrell and Scott, while FarreU tried to go under Scott. “I’d stuck my nose under him a couple of times to let him know I was there,” Farrell later stated. The two made contact and both spun, forcing the fibrst break in the race. At this point, Rankin had a good race going in fourth, which ended after contact-with a lapped car. Maggs then lost fourth place when his car slowed and stopped on the track with just two laps to go. Meanwhile, Judd and Kruck had been quietly moving up through the field. In the two lap sprint to the end, Dumesny held on from Anderson, McCubbin, Farrell, Judd, Kruck, Knight, Matthews, Scott, Jones and Milbum. For McCubbin, third place was special, as his father, who had been the inaugural victor thirty years ago, was asked to present Tim with his trophy. While Farrell was naturally dis-' appointed with the end result, he flew home happy in the knowledge that he had been quick and deserv ing of better - but, more important ly, he had put on a hell of a show for the fans. -BRETT SWANSON

around the track with much better balance than the other car, which is encouraging with all the races we have coming up. Unfortunately, though, we had an oil leak at the end of the race, which hindered our efforts to chal lenge Brooke Tatnell for the win. But we did make a lot of improvements on Saturday and we finished a solid second. As New Year approaches, thethe J&J Auto Sports Team Is gearing up for the busiest time of the year for our racing schedule. We are very proud to introduce our new sponsor, Pennzoil, who will aid our efforts for now and many years to come. We are very fortunate to have such a reputable sponsor joining our loyal supporters, Skilled Engineering and the rest of our great team. On Monday, December 15, we unveiled our new car with the Skilled/ Pennzoil colour scheme to the assembled media and sponsor's guests under the hot sun at Parramatta City Raceway. We enjoyed having lunch with the media members and the sponsors, plus it was great to debut the brand-new #7 Sprintcar in front of everyone who con tributes to J&J Auto Sports.

Our nextround race meeting the sixth of the was World Series Sprintcars Championship at Horsham on December 27, which started our busiest racing period. We all take in five WSS rounds in seven days, which is certainly hard work in any form of motor racing. But I am looking forward to this, because this is the time of the year that we all have been working so hard for - and we are looking to putting this new Skilled Engineering/Pennzoil car up the front. Hopefully, after the Borderline race at Mount Gambier on January 2, we will be further in the series lead.

On behalfLori of J&J Auto Sports, myself, and especially AJ - who really enjoyed getting pre sents from Santa - we would like to wish everyone a Happy New Also present was FAIBright, 1000 Year and a safe holiday season. Classic winner Jason AJ missed getting a Sprintcar who has been sponsored by Skilled Engineering for a number under the tree this Christmas; of years - he had several goes in maybe in a couple of years he’ll be luckier! my Sprintcar. This was the first time I have Happy holidays, ever seen my car go around with me on the outside. I was a bit ner vous that Jason was going to show me up a bit; but, luckily, the track was very dry, with the weather dam aging his efforts to outspeed me seriously, it was a great day because we were able give back a little of the many efforts everyone gives gs. On Saturday, December 19, we raced back home at Parramatta City Raceway, which was the first race for our new car. This car was good right out of the box. It went

FA11000 victor, Jason Bright.(Loxley pic)

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40 IJenuafy 1999

DUCK.

Presidents Cup win by Anderson REIGNING Victorian Sprintcar Champion David Anderson defeated a big field, including American Todd Shaffer, to win the 18th running of the Presidents Cup at Avalon on December 19. For Anderson, it was his second win in this event in the past three years and it was also his second straight win in the 1998/99 SRA Series, the Presidents Cup being Round Two of the current series. Controversy raged over second place, which went to Wamiambool charger Stephen Bell, who had spun in front of the pack and caused a pile-up, but was then restarted from his front row posi tion. Tim McCubbin showed a develop ing aggressive streak when he charged from 11th in the B-Main to third in the feature in bne of the best drives of his short career. 30 cars were on hand and the racing went smoothly, with only one stoppage during the eight heats nin. Shaffer won the opener in the Bo'b Jane T-Marts J&J in the quickest heat of the night, which was' still slower than Bell’s tr^ick record. Darren Walsh won heat two in the Hussey Perfonnance/Chemblast JSR and Bulmer won the first of his two heats'in his J&J. Bulmer also won heat eight to top the points. Heat four had the only stoppage, when Daryn Maggs lost a torsion arm as Mike Van Bremen’s D&F Racing Products Foster took the wm. Tony Bartlett’s Daytona Signs Grizzly was in victory lane in heat IN hot and humid conditions, it was a class field which turned up at Wagga International Raceway on December 12 for round two of the Victorian Productions Modified Association’s pointscore series, which was won by Trevor Mills from Wayne Sullivan and Peter Jacobson. As with the opening round, Jacobson - who is not the current national champion, as I incorrectly stated in the last report - won his opening heat in fine style. Greg Worling, who is the reign ing national Champ, had a torrid tussle with Paul Salau and just managed to get the upper hand at the last moment. Old and bitter rivals Wayne Sullivan and Trevor Mills went at it in the second heat, with Mills sweeping round the outside into the lead. Paul Egan was also in the action, grabbing second and pushing Sullivan’s Commodore back to third. Neil Watson was having a ball in heat three, lifting wheels helter skelter on the rough track until Jacobson worked his way into the lead - Worling claimed third.

five and Anderson grabbed heat six with a last lap pass, ^^ggs recovered to snare heat seven. After bending his new Avenger chassis during the opening round of the series a month ago, Alan Barlee returned in the Torque Performance Oils car, only to drop a valve before his first heat,

B-Main

Seventeen cars were on the schedule for the 15-lap last chance race and, incredibly, McCubbin was sitting back m 11th place. Starting alongside him was Rob Rankin. Rankin, who normally drives Kevin McCallum’s car, had jumped into Geoff Clifford’s J&J after an injured Clifford found the discom fort of driving a bit much. Bob Forbes in the KL Linear Systems Stealth led away as Tony Simone spun in turn 4. For the first eight laps, Forbes led until they encountered heavy lapped traffic. Rod Matthews got the better run and jumped from third to first, but Forbes retook the lead before they crossed the line. Next time around, Matthews took the lead and kept it as Forbes faded to fifth. Matthews was now leading from lan Thomsen, the dicing pair of Wayne Milburn and McCubbin, then Forbes and Rankin, who had a deflating front tyre. As the leaders were coming up to take the chequered flag, Scott Stephenson hit the turn 1 wall and rolled -the race was then declared.

Presidents Cup

After scoring top points for the first time, Bulmer then inverted

That’s another: Wagga's David Anderson claimed his second Presidents Cup at Avalon.(Brett Swanson pic) the first eight cars, which elevated Jeff Judd to pole from Bell, Walsh, Bartlett, Van Bremen, Shaffer, Anderson, Bulmer, Johnson, Maggs, Butch Hunter, Gerard Boult, Matthews, Thomsen, Milburn and McCubbin. As already stated, things had gone relatively smoothly until the first lap, when Walsh spun and stopped in turn 4 and, as a result, Milburn, Thomsen and Matthews came together, but all continued. On the next start, the field got to turn 4 again before there was con tact and Maggs roUed. After the red, the field reassem bled and this time at the start Bell got sideways - Bartlett got off the gas and was hit by Bulmer, who spun and was collected by Boult, who spun to a stop across the front straight. Further on, around in turn 1, Van Bremen spun, causing Bartlett, Johnson and Walsh to crash hard, with Bartlett rolling and Walsh also out. StiU without a lap completed, the only cars not to have stopped so far were Judd, Bell, Anderson and McCubbin, who made up the first two rows. - Yet another start and this time Bell looped it in front of the field Judd had nowhere to go and hit Bell and spun 180 degrees.

Bell continued, as Johnson clipped Judd and launched into a snap roll that jarred Johnson’s back. Judd was now sent to the rear, but Bell, who triggered the melee, was put back on the front row alongside Anderson. Finally we got a clean start and two laps had been completed before Maggs spun, taking Boult with him. Anderson led the next eigh teen laps non-stop, opening up a gap'over Bell and Van Bremen, who then dropped some places with a halfloseonlap 10. McCubbin was now third and Hunter’s great run in fifth place

ultimately ended on the infield. Over the closing few laps. Bell closed in on the tail of Anderson and was just waiting for an error which never came as the race was flagged offfive laps early. Anderson made it two straight series victories, with Bell a close second, McCubbin a great third after his earlier trouble and Shaffer fom-th, after the car was worked on in the pits during one of the red light periods. Thomsen grabbed fifth ahead of Boult, Van Bremen and Judd, who was the last remaining cai-. -BRETT SWANSON

GOODYEAR Sydney Sprintcar Premiership pointscore leader Robbie Farr, who proudly displays the carbon fibre nose on his O’Brien Alnminium Sprintcar’s top wing.(Tony Loxley photo)

Wagga Mod Prod winner Mills

On a mission: Trevor Mills was determined to leave Wagga with the victor's gold. (Brett Swanson pic) With a perfect score, Jacobson As the pack entered turn 2, Phil Pottage led away heat four, was off pole from Mills (shades of but both Mills and Egan blasted Worling looped it, causing a mas round one)- Watson, Sullivan, through from the back of the pack, sive pile-up - Worling, Watson, Egan, Salau, Worling, Darren these two puUing away until Egan Jacobson and Salau all suffered Cockerill, Craig Garlick and damage, but were able to continue, broke a rocker - Sullivan grabbed with Worling sent to the rear as Pottage were the top ten starters. second from Pottage. Mills was on a mission, getting As Worling jumped from fourth Jacobson, Watson and Salau took the power down well as he blasted to first in heat five, Watson ran the top positions. off the line into the lead from The final heat went to Egan from around the outside to go from fifth Jacobson and Sullivan, as Watson Mills and Jason McKinnell. to second with Jacobson on his tail.

started to fall back. Mills was pushing hard as Sullivan tried to pass Jacobson amd Egan began a real charge. A couple of cautions negated Mills’ advantage and then Jacobson started to struggle, like Watson earlier, with a car not handling too well due to the earher crash. Sullivan made a successful pass into second and then Egan passed Jacobson and Sullivan for second place - sadly, one lap later, the Falcon’s gearbox let go and Egan’s charge was over. Salau, like Egan, had been on a charge, until his run also ended with a broken throttle cable. The two leaders pulled away from Jacobson and then Sullivan really applied the pressure over the closing laps, but was unable to find a way around, or under, his adversaiy. Mills was elated at taking the win from Sullivan, Jacobson. Garlick, Cockerill, Worling, Pottage and the Victory Lane Hard Charger, Graeme West. -BRETT SWANSON

1 January 1999 THE Australian trio of Jamie McHugh, Peter Warren and Cameron Meehan proved too strong for the touring United States' squad of John Soares, Charlie Swartz and Don Shelton in the second Super Sedan Test Match at Gympie’s Mothar Mountian Speedway on December 12. In a much more competitive contest than the opening encounter at Kingaroy the previous weekend, another inspirational performance from Jamie McHugh (Miami Smash Repairs Camaro) and a series of mechanical maladies within the American team proved to be the dif ference between the two sides. McHugh again proved to be the trump card for the home team, scoring 17 points with two heat wins and victory in the 15-lap finale in record time. Warren (North Coast Concrete Commodore) provided solid support and scored 11 points without actu ally recording a race win. Meehan (Australian Garages Falcon) also scored 11 points, but really looked out of his depth at this level, spinning several times under pressure and finishing almost a lap behind in the final. Any doubts about the ability of Shelton after his disappointing per formance the previous week were dispelled when he quickly mastered the unique kidney-shaped circuit and topscored for the visitors with 17 points, including four heat wins. Swartz suffered a blown head gasket in his own mount and

Victorious team; Peter Warren contributed to the demise

of the USA Super Sedan side.(Graham Jordan pic)

Aussies triumph over USA again

Swartz was back on track for the McHugh before dropping to third as switched to Soares’ Ford-powered Camaro, only to encounter another final and finished in second spot the laps wound down. setback when a troublesome radia Pointscore: Australia 39 behind McHugh to boost his tally to tor left Shelton as the sole .10 points for the night. (McHugh 17, Warren 11, Meehan Shelton led the first half of the 11) defeated United States 29 American representative in the final two heats. final, swapping the lead with' (Shelton 17, Swartz 10, Soares 2).

In the supporting Super Sedans, only a small field gathered, but it put on a reasonably good display. Wayne Randall steered his Ian Boettcher Motors Mazda RX7 to two heat wins to qualify on pole for the 15-lap feature event. On a shck, dusty surface, Randall was never threatened and picked up his third feature race win for the year. Ian Marshall, who also picked up a heat win, brought his Federal Tyres Commodore home in second place, ahead of Bob Domjohn, Don Birt, A1 Starling and Geoff O’&efe. Chris Albert had worked his way from the rear into fourth before being blackflagged after a some what innocuous clash with Domjohn along the main straight. Modified Productions were also down in numbers for round four of the Autobarn Series and suffered further casualties as the night pro gressed, resulting in a somewhat lacklustre 20-lap feature event. Gary Pagel was untroubled in taking out the event ahead of Mark Pagel, Brock Clifford, Dustin Horne, Glenn Pagel and Andrew Whittaker. By contrast, a whopping 60 Street Sedans were in attendance for the final round of the Dairy Farmers-Cruise Tri-City Series. Lester Wilcox was an easy victor in an incident-packed 20-lap fea ture event, downing A1 Green (who had earlier clocked a new 8-lap record), Chris Elliott, Tony Hehir, Dale Christensen and Craig Harm, who wrapped up the series pointscore. - CHRIS METCALF

John Pyne extends lead Victory lane for ugh and Gilmour Brooke in PCR Xmas Cup

JOHN Pyne woji round five of the Gough and Gilmour ■V8 Super Sedan Series at Wynns Newcastle on Speedway December 20, extend ing his lead in the event to 56 points. It was John’s brother, Ron, who led the early going in his #7 Auto One Pontiac Firebird, but a rear-end collapsed brought the whole show to a sudden end coming, out of turn 2. John was right on little brother’s tail, challeng ing for the lead; when Ron’s car stopped, so there was a subsequent crash which saw the #7 car spin to the infield. On first inspection, it appeared that John had turned Ron around (stranger things have happened), but a video replay revealed a shower of sparks a split second before contact was made between the two.

Ron knew what had happened, so he rallied with the stewards when John was directed to the rear of the field at the restart.

Explanation complete, the jury allowed John back to the pointy end of the field in his #9 Teterin Engines Pontiac Grand Prix and that was all she wrote. Enter another win in the John Pyne log book and a substantial lead over second-placed Robert Carrig, who was racing that night with some additional motivation. Miffed that he had been omitted from the Teterin Engines USA vs Australia Super Sedan Test Series, Carrig was driven to impress in the #16 Tool Specialists Firebird. Placed second overall in the series, Carrig put the Firebird into second place for the main and even passed Pyne in an earlier heat to further rally his cause for selection.

Max Dumesny Motorsport

the most controversial member of the Australian team at present. His motor was deemed oversize by Sedan offi cials and, as a result, he has received a hefty sus pension - a move he immediately appealed and he is subsequently clear to compete in the test series while that out come is pending; his results are also TBC while the process of appeal continues. Robertson did find another block for his motor while the appeal process is going through the system and was scheduled take his place in the team alongside John Pyne and John Brown on Boxing Day at Newcastle. Pointscore: John Pyne 143, Robert Carrig 87, John Lodge 85, John Brown 75, Stu Robertson 74, Keith Sims 58, Ron Pyne 52, Dennis Sims 50, John Smith 49, Peter Garratt 37. -WADEAUNGER

BROOKE Tatnell may be suf fering in the fortune stakes dur ing the World Series Sprintcar rounds of late, but at Parramatta City Raceway he has matters well and truly in hand after busting the 2WS Christmas Cup wide open and recording a comfortable victory in the 30-lap main to lead home a class field. The December 19 show was the last event before Pennsylvania Posse member Todd Shaffer hit town for the first of the internation al shows over Boxing Day and New Year. “I want to dedicate this to my nephew,” Tatnell said in victory lane. “It’s his birthday today and I’ve been telhng him all day that I was going to win for him. It’s nice to be back home and winning races, I can tell you.” Robbie Farr had a shocker, though. The luckless “Action Man” was innocently involved m a crash com-

ing out of turn 4 in his second heat, the result seeing the #3 O’Brien Aluminium Avenger roll hard, com plete with SBS Speedweek racecam fastened to the roll cage. Pino Priolo was most apologetic after the incident, admitting that he came into turn 4 a little too hard, which subsequently sent Farr on his way. Nonetheless, the damage to Farr’s car and his chances of a guaranteed feature race start had already been done. Farr would start the B-Main from the front row and easily trans fer to the feature event at the rear, but it wasn’t long before a huge bicycle turned into another jarring roll-over in turn 2 for the Milperrabased screen print proprietor. It was a DNF that did Farr’s point lead at the track no good at all - due to WSS commitments, Farr’s lead had begun to dwindle, as Robert Jackson and Peter Attard did their best to make hay while he was away in recent weeks. -WADEAUNGER

1998/99 VICTORIAN SRA SPRIOTCAR SERIES

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Third across the line was John Brown, round ing out the Pontiac trifecta in his G-Force Engines #6 Firebird. For someone who started the season late. Brown has been quick to make up the lost ground and now sits in fourth overall for the Gough and Gilmour series with thi-ee rounds remaining. Brown, too, was look ing to justify his inclusion m the Australian line-up, though the pint-sized hard-charger is confident in the belief that his own ability and previous test match experience will assist his plans. Following Brown home was the much talked about Stu Robertson in his wounded #4 Terry Olsen Transport Firebird, which had front-end damage and Stu was worried that he might lose a wheel if he pushed the car too hard. Robertson is probably

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POINTS STANDINGS TO JAN 1ST. I. David Anderson 723 2. Tim McCubbin .597 533 3. Stephen Bell . 531 4. Phil Johnson . . ,529 5. jeffjudd 6. Mike Van Bremen 500 .486 7. Tony Bartlett .477 8. Daryn Maggs 9. Colin Bulmer ,464 .445 10. Ian Thomsen

AVALON RESULTS - DEC i9TH. . David Anderson 2. Stephen Bel! 3. Tim McCubbin 4. Todd Shaffer (USA) 5. Ian Thomsen 6. Gerard Boult 7. Mike Van Bremen 8. Jeffjudd 9. Wayne Milburn 10. Charles Walter Hunter

42 1lanuBiyl999

Klarich cleans up Dirt Mods

Hancock doubt: World Champ Greg Hancock (astride bike) may miss a Coventry ride in 1999. (Patrick) Oxford could be favourites to take Brett Woodifield, Adelaide rider whothe wasyoung voted either he, or his pal Hamill. Britain’s best newcomer of the The Oxford circuit is less than one hour’s drive from the year in the Premier League two Midlands base of the two years ago, has now assured his Americans. immediate future in British speed way. Woodifield had an average Frederica in for Denmark willtime stage speedway the first in below the criteria set by the British eleven years when the.Danish Department of employment for the By Tony iHillan Individual Championship is raced automatic renewal of his work per mit to race next year. wants to bring in bikes that need there next May. The track is right in the middle However, the Government little maintenance and encourage of the town, which is on department has adopted a lenient newcomers." Denmark’s North-East coast. view and his permit has been merican rider Brent Werner Meanwhile, Grand Prix race renewed to race for Peterborough in their elevated role as part ofwon the hugely successful director Ole Olsen has abandoned indoor Brighton Bonanza, raced plans to build an ice racing circuit Britain's new Elite League. on a 110 metre indoor shale cir- at Vojens, where the Danish GP is cuit. staged. Anew pay been V. Werner took advantage of falls agreM by code British has promoters which is regarded as ‘wage cap- by fellow American Greg Hancock Aa British drastic court effect ruling on all could forms have of ping’ to ensure clubs do not over- and then the speedy British inter stretch their resources by bringing national Martin Dugard before track racing in Britain. Grasstrack promoters Ian in star names to the British winning a last heat battle in the League. final with Paul Hurry, who had Barclay and Reg Slack have been held partly responsible by a judge Immediately Grand Prix rider won the event a year earlier. Jimmy Nilsen from Sweden, who In a team meeting earlier, for crippling injuries suffered by races alongside Leigh Adams for Britain beat a ‘Rest of the World’ Sidecar driver Andrew Glenie. The judgment by Swindon, has said he Judge Graham Jones does not wish to be any dealt with an accident in part of it. 1993, when Glenie “I want to ride for became confined to a Swindon again, but if the wheelchair and his pas figures are anything like senger Peter Lain was those suggested to me, I killed. cannot afford to do so,” he The decision evolved said. “I have committed around a controversial $32,000 for equipment inner fence at the specifically to use in Matchams circuit in England and I can’t do Dorset and Glenie is that for the money sug suing for 1.3 million gested.” pounds. The problem in Britain It is understood that is that tracks agree a poli the promoters will be cy and then get an inde appealing and insurance pendent sponsor to pay would actually cover the for the additional rider damages claim, but there costs. are many complications before the whole matter can be resolved - but, as Top PrixBritish rider next star season Grand Brett Woodifield to race UK. (Mike Patrick pic) a test case, it could be Joe Screen has signed for crucial. new Elite League club Hull team 70-42 and some 4,000 peo ple packed the Brighton Centre to Vikings. ork is moving on apace to Screen rode for Belle Vue last watch the afternoon and evening get the British Elite League season, but with that club racing racing. on television next year and many in the lower Premier League in 1999, he has made the move. World Champion doubt Greg the promoters could be Hancock has expressed key to abelieve lucrativethis sponsorship Another former international, Former Paul Thorp, without an Elite as to whether he will be racing for package for British speedway. Rupert Murdoch’s Sky Sports League place last season, will Coventry again next season, folalso be at Hull, where he rode last lowing the recent point limit deci- ' has agreed to provide air time and sions by the British promoters. cover part of the production costs, year in the lower League. “It looks as if either Billy Hamill, but the key to transmission actualor me, will be missing if they stick ly taking place seems to be with the 40 point limit and seven whether Poland, Scandinavia, Sheffield Promoter Neil has flown out to try andMachin intro duce Honda-powered petrol- man teams," Hancock said. “I am Czech Republic and California are fuelled bikes to Australia and he is not taking anything for granted; it interested in taking a feed of the . . . talking with Perth promoter Con is going to be a tough decision for coverage. If Sky transmits the action, it is Migro with a view to rekindling the promoters to make.” But, if the 1997 World likely Fox Sports in Australia could interest in Solos racing again on Champion is not required by received the pictures as part of a Migro’s promotions. Machin has been encouraged Coventry, it is certain he will be deal with their ‘sister’ station in the UK . by talks with Migro and said “he snapped up by another track and

TOOVTOOMBA’S Ray Klarich teenager David Rodgie and Shane proved too strong for a field of Conradi in the 10-lap event that mostly interstate rivals to take was completed without interrup tion. out the opening round of the Wilson (Ipswich and West Steggles Cup for V8 Dirt Modifieds at Archerfield Moreton Fencing Gambler)had ear lier recorded a heat win, as did Speedway on December 12. Mark Lowe. The recently renamed racing cat Bruce Ayers and Peter CampbeU egory was making its first Brisbane appearance for the season after were the standout performers in the Litre Sprintcar division, win being washed out the week before. Despite the absence of many of ning two heats each and then fin the big name competitors in the ishing first and second, respective division, the 20-lap feature was an ly, in the 15-lap feature event. John Caple exited the event on exciting event, as Klarich (Super Rooster Chev)reeled in early leader the opening lap when he tipped Rob Schofield before clearing away over in turn f4 after tangling with to take out the event in record time. Dave Donaldson. Brendan Palmer finished third, Schofield remained in second position when the chequer ahead of Stuart Farmillo, Brian appeared, comfortably clear of Mck Harders and veteran John Santin, Sam O’Connor, Dennis Shipway. AMCA Nationals were down in Mazzer and Ray Eggins, who start ed strongly, but dropped off the numbers, providing Jim Klnight pace and was then hampered by an with an easy run to the flag to outside flat rear tyre in the closing clinch yet another feature race vic tory. stages. Russell Bonsey annexed second The four qualifying heats were shared evenly between Klarich and position from Shane Newstead, Wayne Lemon and Jamie Ross. Eggins, with two wins apiece. Rod Wilson recorded his first The two preliminaries were Limited Sprintcar feature race win taken out by Newstead and Geoff -CHBIS METCALF when he downed Richard Atkinson, Fane.

GARY PAGED, on Ms way to winning the Queensland Modified Production Title at Toowoomba.(Graham Jordan pic)

Winning return by Burrows

SEAN Burrows enjoyed a win ning return to competition when he steered his Venuefinder Cosworth to an effortless win in the 20-lap Speedcar feature event at Archerfield Speedway on December 19. Making his first appearance for the season. Burrows moved to the front on lap 4 and sprinted away from his pursuers. Despite this show being the last local outing before the arrival of the Super Series trail, only nine cars fronted for competition. ■Veterans Stan Burrow (Burrow Automotive Autocraft) and Barry Wixted (Nev Brennan Volvo) swapped the lead in the opening three laps, before Burrows swept through to assume the front run ning. Sydney’s Scott Jenkin (Hornsby Diesel Pontiac Stealth) was looking dangerous as he quickly moved from the rear into fourth, before spinning to a halt on the infield near turn 4. Wixted dropped off the pace as the race progressed, sliding back to fourth behind Burrow and Grant Draney (GWD Duggan Gardner). Doug Cavell, former Litre

Sprintcar pedaUer Robin Hamilton (Zoo’s Place Gambler) and newcom er Paul Smith completed the field. Jenkin (two), Wixted and Burrows shared the spoils in the qualifying heats, all of which were completed without incident. As is often the case, the Stars Dash proved to be the most exciting race of the night, with Burrows edging out Jenkin, Wixted and Draney. Microsprints fronted with a good field of cars and put on their best performance ofthe season thus far. Jeff Kelly took out the opening heat, with Geoff McDoimell victori ous in heat two, before Kelly bounced back to take the final qualifier. The feature event was a family affair, with Geoff McDonnell lead ing Ron McDonnell home. Kelly, who led early until a cou ple of untidy moments cost him dearly, finished in third, ahead of Neil Graham and the consistent duo of John Lawson and Bob Hebert. Darryl Walsh (Hi-Tec Oils Commodore) continued his domina tion of Modified Sedan competition, racing to an effortless win in the 10-lap feature event. - CHRIS METCALF

On a mission: Murphy’s #0 Morrie Williams Motorsport Maxim almost took the Fall Nationals gold. (Martin D Clark)

Giant-killer Pete I Aussie Sprintcar driver Peter Murphy pulled offa major coup in the United States when he came within a hair's ' breadth of victory at the Pennzoil World of Outlaws' Fall Nationals seasonfinale. WADE AUNGER brings us up to date on the quiet achiever's Stateside success. PETE Murphy has never enjoyed the profile of his fellow Aussie Sprintcar drivers, who are breaking their backs and their resources to succeed in the -jj-g i T 1- i. -i.i-ui-u > 1In fact If an^hing, there been far less hoo-hah and a littles more

Over a year and one NARC win later, the Califomia-hased Williams team made the trek to Knoxville for their shot at the Nationals, ^ ^oing back to C3.liiorn.i3, for tri6 closing dstos of the NARC tour, the team stayed

Aussie hero; Peter Murphy displays his national pride. It now appears that Murphy may not be returning to Australia at all this season.(Wade Aungerpic)

friendship was significant enough ^uj his second straight Knoxville for Kinser to leave behind the Track Championship and Brooke O’Brien Aluminium Maxim he Tatnell was moving into the top 20 drove at Parramatta two seasons of the Outlaws, Murph was on the ago and offer Pete the chance to brink of his greatest triumph. drive it. Qualifying fastest in the Vivarin Performance equipment now in Quick Time award from 53 competihis hands, there was little doubt he tors, things looked to be off to a would grab the opportunity and great start for the likeable Aussie, C3micism in some circles surrounda + r Unfortunately/missing the top make, or break it. ing his attempts to pull off someBut Kinser’s generosity didn’t four transfer to the A-Main in his During his time with Williams, thing special Stateside. heat (he ran fifth, Jac Murphy has always maintained a stop there. After four years of plugging Murphy returned to the USA Haudenschild won) also dropped tangible link with Steve Kinser. away, the Penrith-based full-time In the past, he’s crewed on the after Ron O’Brien purchased the him from starting in the dash event racer has pulled off the single most #11 Quaker State Sprintcar and Maxim used in Australia and and guaranteed little but a hard significant result for an Australian joined the effort in taking the King Stateside found himself helping road ahead. in the history of the Pennzoil World Starting in the B-Main line-up. of the Outlaws to the yard of bricks Kinser and at the same time help of Outlaws competition. for his rookie shot at the 500. ing himself to spare bits and pieces though, Murphy was relentless, Murphy hauled the #0 Morrie taking a comfortable win and setIn all that time, there’s little no longer required by Kinser. Williams Motorsport Maxim into “I basically built up a car from ting himself up for a #9 starting doubt Pete has been paying atten second place during the World of tion. the spares that Steve threw away. I spot in the A-Main. Outlaws season finale at the Las Few pro-Outlaw fans could have “There’s been a lot of nights had to straighten a fair bit of stuff Vegas Motor Speedway and, in myself, but Steve’s throw-aways expected what happened next, where my car was the testing vehi doing so, wrote his name into the Mark Kinser spread-eagled the cle for Steve’s set-up in the feature look better than the gear someone record books during the main event race,” Murphy told me earlier this like myself can afford to run,” field and ran away to a halffor the Fall Nationals. Murphy recalled. straight away lead, until Tyler The quietly spoken bloke who year. “I’d go out in the B and, if the When he had time, Murphy raced Walker spun in turn 2 and brought set-up worked, he’d use it in the calls Steve Kinser a good mate has main race. If not, we’d make some the shows Steve did, parked along- the field back under caution, done it just as tough as his Down „ side the Quaker State transporter This was when Pete was ready to Under counterparts - he’s had the changes, and juggling his time as crew and pounce - sweeping onto the high‘almost competitive’ Knoxville rides ^^asn t always one way traffic driver as best he could. line, he sizzled past the big dogs of and struggled through to qualify for There were nights when Murphy It was when an opportunity came Outlaw competition including the C-Main during the Nationals. outqualified Kinser and it was the He lost a marriage to beautiful #0 Williams Motorsport Maxim up to show his wares to Williams Lasoski, Blaney, Schatz and after a chance meeting that his hfe Sammy Swindell, Queensland Compact Speedcar dri- that seemed to have something the changed. Coming out of turn 4, he blazed ver Julie Vine, but he never ever Quaker State team needed, Pete came back to Australia to past Steve Kinser - on the outside, lost hope ^t’s been over a decade since a drive for Ian McKee and Ron The King of the Outlaws had to Battling to overcome some young Murphy (wheeling a broom O’Brien, but unfortunately the be impressed. Not only had he at Ivan Walker’s engine shop as a mediocre rides and some average already wrapped up the Outlaws fresh-faced 17 year-old) first laid association didn’t last. results, Murphy was probably enti He hustled back to the USA to crown for ’98, but his good mate tled to drop the bundle at some eyes on his hero, the great Steve Kinser. join Williams, while Robbie Farr Pete Murphy was on fire, stage -1 never saw it. After 17 laps at the front, Mark Showing a bit of raw enthusiasm took up the ride with O’Brien. But meeting a wealthy garbage After consistency with the NARC Kinser was running midftrack. and more than a little willingness contractor by chance during a On lap 18, the Aussie took the World of Outlaw event where Pete to do all the little jobs, Murphy stars and eventually a win, the Hanford (CA) based outfit headed lead. Passing Mark Kinser high on worked his way into the big fella’s was crewing for the King of the to Knoxville. the track, Murphy hterally zoomed Outlaws would ultimately turn out , plans, While Skip Jackson was racking away to a healthy lead, leaving r the next several years, their Ove to be quite a twist offate.

behind the best drivers in the world today. Only when he encountered dense lapped traffic did Murphy momen tarily let up. That was all Mark Kinser needed. As Pete’s tyres began to go away, Mark found the rubber in turns 3-4 and sped back past with three laps remaining. Kinser took the chequered flag, but Murphy finished an historic second, with Sammy Swindell, Danny Lasoski, Steve Kinser, Terry McCarl, Gary Wright, Stevie Smith, Dale Blaney and Donny Schatz trailing him home. After the race, Mark Kinser (who will run with the Karl Kinserwrenched Mopqr team next year) was full of praise for the Aussie. “Pete showed us the track and stretched us out pretty good. I got caught up in some lapped cars and he got out of our sight before I started to find some rubber in turns three and four. He got hung up, too and we ran him down,” Mark said. This result came hot on the heels of a strong sixth place in Texas only a couple of weeks earlier and one can only hope that car-owner Williams is impressed enough to consider a full-time assault on the Pennzoil schedule next year. Not without his share of critics in Australia, it must be a truly satisfy ing feeling for Pete to achieve some thing so remarkable. But the naysayers can’t argue the toss on this one - that night in Las Vegas was a banner day. indeed, for Pete Murphy, who smoked the Outlaws and very near ly became the first Australian to ever win a Main.

lJanuaryl999

DU(o.

iXo.

By SEAN HENSHELWOOD

AS part of what is arguably the world’s best karting team - a team which in the past has taken its World Championship winning drivers from karts to Formula 3, Formula 3000 and ultimately Formula 1 (read Jarno Trulli and Jan Magnussen, to name just two)you would have to think that Australia’s leading internation al class Tony Kart driver Michael Caruso had a bright future. He hadn’t always been involved in motorsport and, with his Italian background, he was initially attracted to soccer. “I’d been playing for a couple of years, but always in defence. I , guess it was my competitive nature, but I really wanted to be in attack. But the coach wouldn’t allow me to play in that position, so I went look ing for another challenge,” Caruso said. “One of the guys who worked with my Dad (Mick Caruso runs a North Sydney high performance mechanical workshop and formerly ran Falcon Sports Sedans, funnily enough against Jamie Whincup’s uncle, Graeme) was into karts and he took us along for a look one day - before long, we were hooked.” The rise of the young 15 year-old Sydney-sider has been meteoric. Having started karts in 1994, he won the Australian Junior Intercontinental A Championship (the only jiuiior international class in Australia) in 1997 and took out the elite North American Championship in a one-off race at Charlotte late the same year. 1998 saw his debut in Senior competition and, in his very first race at the highly competitive VictO'rian Open Championships, Caruso set pole position against a fancied field of past champions in what was then the elite class of Australian karting. Clubman Light. From there he had a difficult ini tiation, as some of the older diivers felt that this was too fast a rise for a junior driver and proceeded to help the young Tony Kart diiver off the circuit. He came back, though, showing with his debut season in Intercontinental A that older, more experienced drivers didn’t phase him, being one of the few drivers to take it to 1998 Australian Champion Jamie Whincup in the four round national Wynn’s Series, ' winning the second round. He hasn’t always been a Tony Kart driver, however, having start ed his career with DAP, the team which had a stronghold over Australian karting in the 80s. “Our first race was Cadets in Wollongong in mid-1994 as a team mate to Dean Canto,” Caruso recalled. “From there we joined the DAP Dealer Team in 1995, but couldn’t come to terms with its level of grip for international classes and approached Tony Kart importer Jim Morton mid-1996; the rest is history.” ' 1995 saw him compete with suc¬ cess in the DAP, winning the FLA Legends of Motorsport feature at the Sydney Entertainment Centre and placing third in the Pro Kart Masters at Wollongong in Js. “For 1996, we made the move to Junior Clubman and also continued in Js. We entered the Premier State Cup, placing well in Js, but became frustrated with officialdom and decided at that point to concentrate

on Junior Clubman and Junior Intercontinental A in the CIK Series,” Caruso explained. “Our introduction to CIK interna tional racing came through our then engine builder Lindsay Dive, whose sons Brendan and Clinton were regular competitors. Initially, we joined CIK racing with a PCR/PCRWega combination, but quickly changed to Tony Kart for our second meeting after having lit tle success with PCR.” Meanwhile, in Junior Clubman, Caruso was starting to gain greater success, outqualifying 1997 Australian Intercontinental A Champion Troy Hunt for the third round of the Premier State Cup he then went on for further podium finishes on his way to runner-up position in the series, not bad for his first year in Clubman against one of Australia’s most competitive fields. CIK level competition was where the action was, however, despite the field sizes, as the level of com petition was the highest in the country and, most importantly, it was the only level of the sport in Australia which was recognised internationally - this is where the Carusos wanted to be. “The second round of the 1996 CIK Championship was Ipswich, where we debuted the Tony Kiart on Bridgestone tyres and qualified third,” he said. “From there, we improved to qualify on pole for the final round at Lithgow, finishing third in the final behind my good mate Alan Gurr and Clayton Pyne and ahead of Champion Ryan Briscoe. “We also had good success in Junior Clubman with the Tony Kart and our second race with the chassis was the 1996 CAMS Nationals at Oran Park, where we

finished third behind Troy and Mark Winterbottom. “I believe we could have won that race, but our inexperience with the chassis being only our second race meant that we weren’t prepared for things like the grub screws coming loose in the axle. Apart from that, it felt really strong and I honestly believe we had both Troy’s and Mark’s measure. 1997 saw Caruso all but domi nate the CIK Championships, with victory in four of the five rounds. The year, however, started with Oceania aborted the Championships at Melbourne’s Todd Road circuit, aborted because the promised international contin gent never arrived. Despite this, the local competi tion was intense, Michael qualify ing fourth, then finishing third behind impressive Melbourne junior James Small and Tony Kart team-mate Pyne. The opening round of the CIK series was at Orange in NSW,just after the 1997 Nationals at Gladstone in Northern Queensland, where Michael took third in Junior International, behind Arrow AX6 driver Bart Price and Adelaide’s Jamie Carter. Caruso took victory at Orange, as he did at the second round at Ipswich, the third round at Raleigh (Coffs Harbour) and the final round at Melbourne’s Todd Road. The only round he didn’t domi nate was the Oran Park round of the championship, where, despite qualifying pole as he had done at every other round of the series, he finished as runner-up to Alan Gurr. In early November, just prior to the final round of the Australian Championship which he had just wrapped up at Oran Park, Caruso made his first official international

visit to contest the North American Junior Championships. The event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway also doubled as the North American Championships for all other classes, including Superkarts and as the final of three rounds of the CIK Championships for Formula A and Formula Super A. Michael was dominant all week end, despite qualifying a disap pointing eleventh - but he finished the pre-final second and fought Italian CRG driver Marco Ardigo all the way to the flag. “America was incredibly profes sional; I couldn’t get over it. The level of competition was as I expect ed, although to be honest I would have thought that the American drivers, on home soil, would have been more competitive.Tt was real ly only the international drivers who put up any sort of resistance,” Caruso stated. 1998 was the debut year in seniors - and what a debut year it was. In the Wynn’s Series in Intercontinental A, it was the junior sensations from 1997 who were the stars of the class, with Whincup, Caruso and Gurr the standout performers - Whincup dominated three of the four rounds to take a comfortable win in the series. His only real competition, though, came from Caruso, who, after a disappointing opening round on tyres which by evei^one’s admis sion couldn’t match the Dunlops on the day, came through to take a fabulous win at the second round at Ipswich. Third in Melbourne’s third round and second in the final round saw Caruso finish a comfortable second in the series with 172 points to

Whincup’s 227 - Caruso’s result also helped Tony Kart to their sec ond consecutive Manufacturers Cup. “There was no doubt, Jamie had the measure of the field this year,” Michael said afterwards, “although, had things been better at Adelaide’s opening round, I feel we may have taken the fight right up to the last round. As it was, by Eastern Creek the title was all but Jamie’s.” And what of the future for a man who, with the just announced defec tion of former World Champion James Courtney to Formula Ford, could be well on the ‘hot’ list as a replacement - it’s not inconceiv able, considering that Courtney’s talent and introduction to Tony Kart supremo Roberto Robazzi was bought about by Caruso’s mentor and team boss Jim Morton. “1999 will see us in the elite Formula A class, something which we planned to attack from our firstever race in CIK/FMK competition in Juniors,” Caruso enthused. “We would have liked-to'have gone straight from Juniors into Formula A, but Jim (Morton) thought it would be better to spend a year learning in reeds(ICA). “If the budget allows, we would really like to race in a couple of European rounds this year, as well and probably the World Championships. “I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to be a Formula One driver hke my hero Michael Schiimacher, but realistically if we don’t manage to attract that sort of attention over the next couple of years, I would like to do Formula Ford, either here, or the US, or the UK and see what eventuates from there. But for the time being, though, the focus is aU karts.”

1999

hceania Champs 1

are still on track Despite FMK date clashes, Europeans have already entered for the Eastern Creek event- and promoter Holt has secured a television deal with Channel 10

THE International Oceania Championships event scheduled for Eastern Creek International Karting Raceway on January 29-31 is well on track, despite some date clashes with rounds of the Italian Chamnionshins ui iLdiidn wiidinpionsmps ircui prorno er arry o is e organiser 0 e even , oge er with bydney s North bhore Kart Club and, with such credits as the successful Australian challenge for

the America’s Cup bid with Alan Bond under his belt, he is undoubtedly the man to make the event happen. Originally, promises from FMK karting supremo Ernest Buser suggested that a full contingent of European teams and drivers would be coming Down Under for the event, but an event scheduled the before and an event scheduled vveek after, which overseas teams must attend, has put large

numbers in doubt. Despite this, assurances have come from the FMK that overseas drivers will attend. These assurances have seen early entries from both 1998 European Formula A Tecno/Rotax driver Luke Hines (son of multiple World Superkart Champion Martin) and 1998 Formula Super A Top Kart factory driver Rickard Kaell. Kaell, in fact, was the Oceania Super A Champion at the last

William Yarwood: Young Aussie will be looking for a victory at Eastern Creek while competing against the Europeans.(Sean Henshelwood pic) international at Melbourne’s Todd Intercontinental A Junior, Road circuit in January, 1997. Aside from the proposed The classes on display will be the European influx, it is hkely that a elite Formula Super A, Formula A, large contingent of New Zealand Intercontinental A and also drivers will attend the event, as will a number of Japanese drivers. It was also rumoured early that we may even see the attendance of 1985 World Formula One Champion Keke Rosberg with his son Nico, who is one of the hottest prospects on the Junior “However, I have been in the sport for quite a while and it is time to Intercontinental A circuit. move on. And for those who will miss ‘The opportunity is there and I’m really looking forward to it.” attending the event, have no fear Courtney sets some sort of new Australian record with his move Holt and his team have obtained straight into a major league international Formula Ford team, without Channel 10 coverage, with a half having even sat in a Formula Ford race car! hour programme likely to air with For full details on James Courtney’s new motor sport direction, see in the first few weeks of February page 5 in this issue. keep an eye on yom local guide. - CHRIS LAMBDEN - SEAN HENSHELWOOD

Courtney moves out of karts!

AUSTRALIA’S double World Champion James Courtney is mov ing on, directly into the British Formula Ford Championship for 1999 and - apart from charity and fim races - is unlikely to be seen in a kart again. “There’s a bit of sadness that I won’t be racing karts any more, because karting has been good to me,” James told Motorsport News this week. “I wouldn’t be where I am now - about to set off to England to join the Van Diemen Formula Ford team - if it wasn’t for my experience and results in kartiag. n

OSaing EVENTS Iff or inula Vee ^iTKARTING wvv The Formula Vee Association of Victoria

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Who Can Drive?

Any person l6 years or older. Any driver nnder 18 years mnst have written consent from a parent of guardian.We anticipate the drive day being ran in January 1999

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46 1 Jdnudry 1999

Oh,what an enhan<ement! Driving Force: Michael Andretti has helped develop No Fear’s new range of soon-to-be-released ‘Driving Force’ shoes. 1994 Indy Gold Coast winner Michael Andretti

that hurt most was when a tyre blew while carrying out

is already looking forward to the 1999 season in one of NewmanMaas

testing at Elkhart Lake, other, at Mid Ohio the MiUer Lite 200 in

Racing’s Swift chassis ,, although Andretti, thankfulpowered by Ford s new ^ generation engines. bruises as a conseAfter winning the PPG quence. Cup Championship title in ' With the competition in ’91 and finishing ininner-up the FedEx series, from the in ’86, ’87, ’90, ’92 and ’96, outside, appearing to be Andretti describes 1998 as becoming more competitive one of his leanest. with each season, and with The-senes got off to a , the older generation of drigreat start when he won the vers like Bobby Rahal retir at round opening ing, Andretti believes win Homestead by a mere 0.075ning.^aces in the future will seconds over rising be more difficult. Canadian star Greg Moore Andretti’s 37th CART victo¬ rythe Naturally,, Newman/Haas team were buoyed by the early season success of Andretti and they thought they were to be con sidered strong contenders in the title chase. for Unfortunately

“Years ago there were a few good teams that had a technical advantage over the rest and, naturally,they won the majority ofthe races. “It doesn’t surprise me that a lot of the Europeans and drivers from other conti nents are competitive right from the start.- if you can drive a race car, you can drive a race car anywhere. “If they join our style of racing young enough, they can adapt pretty quickly.” That being the case in regards to the FedEx series, Andretti has no regrets about his time as teammate to Ayrton Senna at McLaren

“I don’t have any regrets about my time at McLaren at all,” said Andretti. “I love this type of racing. I experienced FI and, after doing it, I definitely prefer to be racing in this series. I don’t want to return to FI, I want to finish my career here.” Andretti believes that double FedEx Champion Alex Zanardi is going to have a hard time in FI this year with the Williams team, not because of his dri ving, as he believes it is as good as anybody’s, but he thinks the Williams team is on a downslide and it will take them more than a year to return to form. Off the track Andretti has

NASCAR 99 oa PlayStation

been busy putting together a company to merchandise a specialised range of Andretti-labelled sports'and leisure clothing in conjunc tion with worldwide apparel manufacturer No Fear.

Andretti, who was brought up in a family accustomed to success, the rest of the season didn’t quite live up to his expectations. “Last season was very „ frustrating, very frustrat ing,” shrugged Andretti. “The Ford engine combined with the Swift chassis makes a good package, but the Goodyear tyres weren’t as strong as the Firestones last season and that was disappointing,” The Newman/Haas team, recognising that they need ed a strong tyre package to remain competitive, consid ered the possibilities of run ning Firestone in ’99, although they have remained loyal to Goodyear and will continue to work on developing a winning combi nation. Accidents also played a part in Andretti’s frustrat ing season and, when ques tioned on which of his two serious accidents during ’98 had the most effect on him, Andretti said that the one

season.

Toyota has launched a motorsport-style enhancement pack for the new Corolla Liftback. The aggressive and stylish TTE Rallye marks the launch of the Team Toyota Europe brand into the Austrahan market. The TTE Rallye pack includes an aggressive rally-style front air dam,side skirts, mesh radiator grille, exhaust exten sion and unique decals. The pack is designed to be comple mented by the newly introduced 15” Corsica alloy wheels for the Corolla Liftback. For additional enhancement, an interior kit including a sports-styled leather gear knob and boot, an aluminium foot rest and pedal set and monogrammed TTE floor mats will be offered as an optional extra. The interior kit will manual cars only. “The Corolla TTE Rallye pack is destined to be popular with motoring and motorsport enthusiasts,” Toyota Australia’s Rory Macdougall said. “The TTE Rallye pack will appeal to those who appreciate a vehicle’s racing heritage, or those who dream of driving Carlos Seiinz’s Corolla. “Toyota has recognised the market’s appetite for vehicle enhancements and this is our response,” he said.

Already Andretti and Christian team-mate Fittipaldi, along with fellow FedEx stars Rohby Gordon and Paul Tracy and other leading international motor racing heroes are wearing the popular No Fear range of apparel and footwear. Several of the drivers have been involved in the

3 Testing and development: Michael Andretti’s skills aren’t just restricted to the race track. The ‘91 PPG champ is currently developing his own clothing label in conjunction with clothing giant No Fear. “The drivers and the teams are getting better all the time - we are so equal now,” he said.

in Formula One in 1993, a time where he found it difficult to adapt, returning to the US before the end of the

design, evaluation and development of the compa ny’s new range of ‘Driving Force’ fireproof race boots that will be released in Australia within the next few months. Andretti has raced in the new ‘Driving Force’ boots during the later half of the ’98 series, stating that they were “fantastic,” providing plenty of pedal feel and com fort in both the long and short races on the FedEx tour. Look for the No Fear ‘Driving Force’ shoes, avail able soon. - GRANT NICHOLAS

A.'

Electronic Arts, the Trying his hand: 1998 Daytona 500 winner Dale world’s largest interac Earnhardt gets some tive entertainment soft ware company, has practice in a real NASCAR released the exciting new before trying to take on NASCAR 99 game on Richard Petty in EA Sports' PlayStation after the new NASCAR 99 game product had earlier been released for Nintendo 64. NASCAR 99 features a today’s stars against the me new physics model for the who helped build the sport, cars, new drivers and new such as the “King” Richard tracks. The level of detail in Petty. “EA Sports really did a the game is believed to be incredible as the user has nice job with NASCAR 99,” total control over every . said 1998 Daytona 500 win ner and seven-time Winston aspect of the car in the preCup Champion Dale race setup, in the pit and on Earnhardt. the track. “It’s a lot of fim matching NASCAR 99 allows play ers to race on 17 official up against the other drivers, NASCAR-sanctioned tracks although I’m looking forward and speedways and compete to racing the legendary dri vers in the game. I raced as any one of 31 current against Petty earlier in my NASCAR star drivers. career and, to tell you the Six legendary drivers are also available for NASCAR truth, I miss it. Now I get t« fans who want to match up race him in NASCAR 99.”

^(o

4 December 1998

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48 lJanuary1999

CLASSIFIEDS

Sedqns/Sporfs Cars

Batsun 1600, 1972. Fresh 2,1 engine, 2 x 45mm Webers. Datrally manifold, ceramic-coated extractors, Veto seal, fully stripped interior, custom radiator. Good body & paint. Also, 71 Datsun 1600 stock, some rust. $6,000 Ph: Jason 0416 160 021, 0296222960 .« Sportsman XF Falcon #5. This is not a worn-out AUSCAR. Walker roll cage and seat. Brand new engine, dyno time only, full Autometer dash, Harrop full floater, latest fuel tank. Car is completely ready to race. Car can/has run 33s. Genuine reason for sale. $11.OOOono. Ph:Tony Ross 0882501903(AH). 1<3

Toyota Mkll Sedan,efi turbocharged, 5 speed box, 2 litre 6 o/g, mag wheels, goes good. Club Car. $1,800ono. Ph:035447 7530. m Escort Sports Sedan, 2-litre. Winner of Old Formula Junior series, 2nd outright State Championship. Lakeside 59 sec laps. Easy to drive & reliable. Ideal for 99 2 Litre series. $10,500ono. Ph: John English 0418 736 619,

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III Group N car. Ex Stewart reid, done only9,000kms, no accidents. Fully prepared, mint condi tion. Plenty of spares, ready to race. $45,000 or will trade pres tige car. Ph: Mick 0418 751 585. 144 Ford Escort Lotus twh-cam,ex-race car. Boreham arch es, adjustable Bilsteins, 12 pt cage. All steel Lotus motor. Ideal Targa car. Must sell. Ph:0351681371,018 513928. 144

■*»

Mazda Sports Sedan (R100 style). 13B monster port, 51mm Weber, close ratio Selectmaz gearbox, 4.8 locker diff, Avon slicks. Run 55sec /Vnaroo, T:10s Wakefield Park. $4,000. Ph: 018 493 102 (Newcastle). 144 Brock Commodore VH Group 3, red, 5 litre, 138,000kms, build no. 1114. Good original condition. $10,900ono. Ph: 07 55341397,014 879810. 144 Ford Escort Club Car. Recaro and Scheel irtterior, Bilstein suspension, full race big valve motor, twin 48s, RS extractors, stainless myfflers. Must sell. $4,000. Ph: 03 5168 1371, 018 513

Torana SL/R 5000 Club Car. 308(VL Group A), T5,9 inch, 4x11 inch vented discs with bias, front 4 spot calipers, alloy fuel tank, log book, excellent condition. Ready to race. $12,000ono.Ph:035975 6396. ,a Mazda RX3. Top running car at Lakeside. Fully maintained with fresh engine for 1999 season. 13B B/P 300hp, Konis all round. Series IV front brakes and gearbox, 8 point stell cage, 4.8 Mazda ditf, 51mm Webers, new paint, ROH wheels with Falken tyres. For sale $12,500 or able to lease for 1999 season. Car also available less motor. Ph: Tony Dunn 07 3210 0244 (BH),07 3848 6489(AH). 143 HQ race car. Professionally built, straight car. Only used rarely. Registered tandem trailer and spares. Must sell before Christmas.$5,800 ono. Ph:0414 641 802,02 47543175. 143

Mustang race car, Group N Appendix J. This log book oar has all the right bits & potential to win races. Will sell with unraced new motor sep to car. 289 Windsor motor, 48 IDA Webers etc. May trade. Ph:036334 3433,0418 590 318. T43 De Tomaso 74 GTS, A1 condition. Fuel injected, 490hp,Carillos, Cosworth pistons, Chev crank, Simmons 17" wheels. Large Harrop brakes, roll cage. Cobra seats. Ideal road/club car, Targa car. Road reg. A real beast, drive to appre ciate.$ 70,000ono. Ph: Tony Jory, 0418 130 133,03 6328 1506 (AH),036326 5555(BH). m

‘84 Mitsubishi Starion JA. Rve speed, 2 litre turbo, a/c, p/s, power windows, Cobra car alarm, leather seats, silver duco. 2nd owner, 160,000 kms, full service history. Excellent cond. RWC.$7,500. Ph:0352561195. i«

E-type Jaguar. Highly developed. Great value, $38,000. Ph: Aaron 0249901699. ™ Ford Mustang GT Sports Sedan. 351 Ford dry sump, top loader, Harrop 9" floater. Big 4 spot brakes all round. Bilsteins, BBS wheels, Zakspeed suspension, Sabelt harness, wets on rims. Plenty spares. Oran Park 44.2. $32,000ono. Ph: Kevin 02 47821145,0414 822427. ,a

Marcos 3000GT, 1970, Essex V6 engine, very original condi tion, extremely rare. Ideal for Historic racing or Targa. Terrific handling and vert reliable. $27,000. Ph: 03 9533 5535, 0413

832528. 143

EVO 3 Gp N rally car. Fresh engine and gearbox, LSD & Ralliart viscous, Drumnxind suspension, underbody protection, 6pt harnesses, aluminium sump guard, headgasket. Super com petitive car. $32,OOOono. Ph: Robert Ogilvie 02 6241 3011. 143 Brock VH Gip4J. Build no. HDT900. Excellent paint, detailed undercarriage, stainless steel exhaust, new Bridgestone tyres, spare (new) cloth seat fabric, alarm. Personally autographed by Peter Brock. $19,950. Ph: Mike 08 8270 5420 (AH). «

928. 144

Subaru Liberty RS turbo, 1990 sedan, 555blue, road car. Full Old rego no. S88ENP. $16,500. Ph: 0418 731 115 (Brig). 144

2 X Ford Mondeos - 1 x 94 chassis as raced by Radisich to win World Cup, 1 x 95 chassis as raced by Kelvin Burt in BTCC. Both cars with MoTeC ems, x-trac sequential etc. 94 chassis $43,000 firm, 95 chassis $48,000 firm. Spares packages avail able. Ph: 02 9597 6393, 018117 070. m

AUSCAR. Immaculate VS Commodore, complete roller less engine. Yellow light, fire bomb, fuel cell & chum, harness, com plete Autometer instrument panel, turbo brakes & M21 gearbox. New gears & bearings in diff; C, R and P cage. All new panels. Engine can be supplied. $9,000. Ph: 03 9781 2377, 0419 155 635. 144 Ford Escort Lotus twin cam, 9/1970, white/black trim, never raced or rallied. Good honest oar. $8,000ono. Must be sold - no tyre kickers. Ph: 03 9499 3088,018 367 004. 144 Suzuki Swift Gti, 1987, ISOOdohc 16v efi. Hi performance exhaust system, hi-flow air induction, alloy wheels, Kenwood sound system, electric mirrors. Never raced. Factory air. Tidy car. $7,990. Ph: 07 4691 5833 anytime. 144

Space frame VH Commodore Sports Sedan, immacu late condition, this vehicle is priced for a quick sale and must go due to new car. Complete or will spjlit Ph: Danny 03 6331 2624 (BH), 03 63301881 (AH). 143 HQ Holden, QLD No a Plenty of spares: bonnets, doors etc. Must sell, urgent. $4,200. Ph: 07 5593 6368 (AH), 07 5530 3111 (BH). 143

Suzuki GTi, current shape, NSW Supersprint Champion, main tained by Croydon Autosports. Dry break fuel system, factory LSD, 16 wheels/tyres, springs. Ready for 1999 GTP. Road reg. (SEC 677). $13,000ono. Ph: Edward Gavin 02 9872 5134. ,a ThundenkNne HQ. All tog books, new sealed motor (as new), sealed box. Can be test driven before sale. $7,200ono. Ph: 03 ' 95637072. 143 Thundetdome HQ rollere x 2. Both almost complete, one needs re-shell, includes almost new cage, harness, fuel cell, chambered diff etc. $2,700 the lot ono. Ph: 0418 320 673, 03 9743 0083 (AH). 143

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Description:

The Bacchus Peugeot Historic Clubman sports car. CAMS Group M tog book and certificate of description. Fully sorted. Lotus 7 fun and performance for half the cost. $15,000. Ph: 03 5281 5490 all hours. .« Mazda RX3 Club Car. Complete rebuild in 1997, 136BP by LK, 51 IDA, new SJ 5 speed dogbox (cost $6,500) by KG Engineering, LSD, 4 wheel discs, log book, strong front runner, ready to race. $12,500neg. Ph:0397925617. ic Toyota Supra twin tiabo. 5th outright Bathurst GTP 1998. Fully sorted, ready to race. Motec, dry break fuel system. Spare unraced engine. Numerous spares. $69,000 + spares. Ph: John Briggs 07 32523933. NASCAR Commodore, new paint, spare wheels. Looks good. Roller. $6,000.Ph:075578 7870

Vauxhall Cavaliers (2). Ex Cleland/Thompson 1995 BTCC Mallock Super Tourer cars (Cleland won 95 champbnship), as subsequently raced by Jim Richards, Russell Ingall, Bob Tweedie. Extensive spares inventory, one spare engine, 3 years set-up info. Still front-running proposition for good young drivers. Priced to sell at $55,000 each (spares neg.). Will consider sensi ble offer for whole team. Ph: Bob Tweedie 018 162 762 (Sydney). 142

HQ Hokleii, one of the best presented in Australia. Known as the Boral car, 4th NSW 1996 D'lv One Ch'ship, top 5 Indy 1997, NSWRRC lap record Oran Park. Top 12 Bathurst 1998. Fresh C&B, new drive train, brakes. Heaps of spares, delivery any where in Aus free. $8,500, no offers. Call Dave 0418 492 302,02 47542666. 143

AUSCAR Falcon last season rookie winning car. With a spare set of wheels, fuel chum, jack etc. $22,500 ono. Will lease if required at a reasonable rate. Ph Jason 0412 779 999143 Escort Sports Sedan, 730kg, 114kW 2 litre Pinto, dry sump, Cosworth pistons, Holbay rods, 48 Webers, stainless exhaust, LSD, 80% slicks, 5 speed. Top 3 car Victoria last 2 years. Ready to race. $12,500. Ph: 03 9763 7898 (BH), 0413128 287 (AH). i4j

Send us your classified and we'll run them for FREE Yes! Motorsport News Classifieds are absolutely free for readers' private car & equipment sales. Simply post or faxyour ad to us&we'llrunitfor 2 Isswes absolutely free. Please keep adsto no more than 30 words, plus a photo if required. Name: Address:

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NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS Please use the form provided and print clearly. Please note we are unable to return photographs used in classified ads. Ads will appear as soon as po^ible after receipt. FREE Classifieds are for the sale of private goods and vehicles only, not business advertisii^. Classifieds close last mail Thursday prior to onsaledate^Photosjnaik^^

/J^(DOCo)[FSm®l70 Historic Racing Car, Porsche Special, built by Alan Hamilton in 1965, Competed at Lakeland and Templestowe. Won 1965 Vic Sports Car Hillolimb Champs. CAMS log book. Eligible Group M. 1720co mid-mount 356 Porsche motor. VW gearbox, 2 seater Clubman type body. Can be registered. $15,000ono. Ph:0417 546973 North Balwyn. 142 1963 Holden EJ Special, unfinished restoration, 46,000kms, factory auto, heaps of spares. Reluctant sale - wife is ogrel. $2,000ono. Ph: Rick 0411 878 886,0297476100(AH).

HQ race car #3Z Top hp James race engine, immaculate presentatton Monza red. Marsh seat, 2 sets ROH wheels,3 sets suspension. 3rd Vic pointscore 1998, currently 3rd Champion of Winton. Can be seen Winton 5/6 December. $8,500ono. Also custom-built trailer to suit: 4 wheel elec brakes, rocker susp, drop axle, winch etc. $2,750, or $10,500 the lot. Ph: Richard Gay 03 53394747.0414834630. 142

I January 1999 Birel Torsion factory kart,from Italy, raced once Australian Champs (changed teams)m $3,750 (normally 5,650 new). Or with brand new Ital System piston port engine, in box, $4,950. Otherwise suit any class with open tyres. Ph: 03 5275 2305 (BH),03 5250 2994(AH). 144

Barlercanlj

Mondiale M87 Formula Ford converted for hillclimbing. Lotus twin cam 1876cc, 220hp on methanol, 200hp on avgas. Steel crank, forged pistons, 45mm Webers, Mandel extractors, twin plate clutch, Quaiff diff, Mk 9 Hewland. $15,000ono. or $5,000 for engine. Ph:024996 4129. 143 Go Karts: 1995 Tony Kart Esprit + 1994 Sirio Flugel Port Reed engine. 1997 Geelong Club Champion, 1998 runner up. Unbeatable Sportsman kart, c/w many spares Support provid ed. $3,000ono. Dino 295 chassis -r 2 v/fasf KT100J engines. 1997 Geelong Club Champion, 1998 runner up. Suit Jnr or Snr National Classes, o/w many spares. Support provided, $3,500ono. Whole set-up(2 karts + 3 engines -r trailer + many spares)$8,000ono. Ph:039570 7589. 143 y

: ●

●T ●

7^SP;6Kai.EDk Yy' lt«P-.r?nmg

Top Kart, FMK Championship-winning kart with two 95 Comer engines as run by Neil MoFadyen in Junbr Inter A. Complete with starter and set-up info. $5,500. Ph: Gary MePadyen 02 96060191. 112

F/Vee Kestrel, front running car. Raced three successful seasons NSW, with loads of spares plus motors, g/boxes and spare body. Enclosed trailer with annex, plus Dorian timer. $11,500. Ph; 02 4889 4340. 143 Drive available, 1999 Qld Formula Ford series, with champi onship-winning team. $950 per day all inclusive. Ph: 07 5446 7611, 0418 797038, fax0754467480. 1.5

Superkart, 80cc Yamaha CMP. Title and record holder. Fully overhauled to start fresh season. Heaps of spares plus fully enclosed trailer. $8,500ono. Pfi: 02 4579 0880. 112 Historic Racmg Can 1965 Nota Clubman. CAMS log book. Eligible Group M. 1500cc Ford motor. Rebuilt chassis, and all parts to complete rebuild. Can be registered. $13,000ono. Ph: 0417 546 973 North Balwyn. 142

Engines

Sports Car, monocoque tub, Subaru 1600 motor, fibreglass body. Running but needs little work to complete. $3,600. Motor: 13B EFI, turbo and gearbox $2,000. Ph: 02 6734 2259,02 6732 3353. 113

Holden '53 Group Nb, log book, trailer, spares. $15,000ono. Ph: Ken Zinner 03 9568 0363. n3 BMW 2002 '95 WA Streetcar endurance winner. Motec, Cosworths, Schrick cam, Getrag c/r 5 spd, LSD, Hugh brakes, carbon fibre box guards, boot, doors, bonnet; 36pt cage, Bilstein adjustable suspension etc. The ultimate 2002 - Targa, Classic Rally & Racing. $25,000ono. Ph: 08 9307 8070. 113 Capril V6 1970, one owner since 1971, hardly used since 1981. 14" alloy wheels') spare engine. Eligible for CH Rego. $7,500. Ph: 0418 554 829 ail hours. 112

Superkart: Peter Worrall's 125cc Australian championship winning kart. '97 Stockman chassis with full bodywork, '94 RS 125 Honda engine, just rebuilt. $6,500. Ph: 02 9824 7350. 113 Formula Ford RF95. One of the best in Aust, maintained regardless of cost. Ex Webber, Bargwanna, top 10 finishes in 1998. Lamer engine, one meeting old, spares inc wheels, tyres, shockers, body panels, stands etc. Ph: 0417 335 965. 113

T-Tirr.. March DSR Cosworth IndyCar. 300 miles from new, 150 mile turbo Cosworth engine. Original and race ready 250mph. Spares, extras. $Neg. Ph: Dennis 00 11 649 232 6538 for details. 112

n Mazda 20B full race motor, PER ported, high comp, light weight rotors, carbon apex seals, oil system mod. Comes com plete with Hilborn in], Miototech ign, oil cooler, remote filter, braided lines, extractors. Rebuilt Sept 98 by Rotomotion. Featured in Fast Fours & Rotaries mag. $15,000. Ph: 08 9447 7479, 0418 947 403 (AH), m Chev 6 litre race dar engine, built USA by Ryan Falooner, genuine 600hp. 4 bolt, BWIer dry sump, 6" Carillos, JE pistons, steel crank, roller rockers + cam, rev kit, alloy heads, Falooner fuel injection ino race injectors, loom, MoTeC ecu, carbon fibre air boxes. Only 2 races old. Ex Sports Sedan $12,500. Ph: Mike Imrie 0418 551 170. 113 372 Rpdeck Sprintcar engine. Cola crank. Eagle rods, Wiseoo pistons, Peterson dry sump, 27/16 Hilborn injection, Brodix heads etc. $18,000ono plus Sprintcar spares. Ph: 02 6297 2818,0418 630 408 (AH). 113

Speedway

Valiant AP6 Super Sedan. Full chassis, fibreglass panels. Methanol, injected 360.727 auto. Video available. Complete car on trailer $15,000. Will negotiate to sell separately. Ph: John 07 5535 6266, or 07 5525 2178 (AH). 144

1991 Reynard, ex factory car, low kms, fully rebuilt Benson RED engine, good assortment of spares $65,000 ono. Ph: Jeff 03 9570 3683,018172889. 112 Van Diemen RF95, very competitive car in exc cond. Genuine low mileage top Lamer motor, various spares. Ready to race. $30,000. Ph: 0414 646 949. 112

Escort RS2000 Modified Production. 2100cc avgas engine, power steering, Wilwood brakes, quicksteer, all fibreglass panels. Ready to race. ASCF & Board rego. $4,700ono. Ph: 02 9548 2227,0418 424 689. 113

Super Sedan, Commodore, Dave best chassis, quiCK change ditf, 4 aluminium bead lock rims. Ready to race less engine and gearbox. Plenty spare parts, too much to mention Car $11,500. Spares $2,500. Ph: 03 5176 1352. 143 Lola T360 Fomiula Atlantic. V&H category Group Q with a

Tumham Formula Vee. May be eligible lor historic Vees. Winner NSW Hillolimb series 1998. Strong engine, good tyres. Includes trailer, body moulds etc. $5,800. Ph: 02 4982 9955 . 144 Kart: 96 Rookie Speed Cadet. Unused 98, ex6 condition, blue printed motor and some spares. $2,200ono. Ph: Sean 03 9379 3497. 144

lers

Motorspoit 24il enclosed trailer. Tri Alko torsion axles, elec tric brakes, nose cone, electric door winch, 12v lights, full lined work bench. New condition. 5 months old. $15,000. Ph 03 5447 1232 or 0417 106711. 143 Fully enclosed 10x5 kart trailer. Low profile, brilliant white colour, 5 spoke mags. Holds 2 karts plus heaps of storage space. Fully lined with int. lights. Fully lockable, very secure. $1,900. Ph: 03 9570 7589. 143 Race car transporter 30', fibreglass, flat-sided, Inc large enclosed annex. Tyre racks, work bench, kitchen, fridge, sink, stove etc. 12 months reg. Goose neck type, suit FlOO/Chev. Ommac. $19,500. Ph: Mike Imrie 0418 551 170. 143 Fully enclosed car trailer, 22ft long, 8ft wide, 6ft high, aluminium/steel frame, lockable doors both side & rear. Bee winch, 240v/12v lighting, workbench, tyre rack, reg, excellent corxfition. $7,500. Ph/fax; 02 44761992. 10 Brand new Daytona 12.8 car trailer (used once). Tandem wheel with tilt action, metal ramps. 9 months rego. $3,000ono. Ph: Jason 0416160021,02 9622 2960. 113 rChev 88 Silverado4>ually 6 seater. 454 efi auto, p/steer, air, electrics, custom bars. Ideal tow vehicle, set up for goose neck trailer. $29,000. Ph: Mike Imrie 0418 551 170. lu Tandem pantech; fully enclosed with ramp and low ground clearance, suitable for Multiple karts or Formula Ford/Vee. Side access available and plenty of room for storage. $2,500. Ph: 07 55715894,0419660408. 113

Wanted Motorsport News Nos 1 - 72. Also 1997 Primus 1000 beer tankard or bazza glass. Ph: 02 6236 8267. 144 Navigator for Grand Prix Rally. Experienced navigator with mini cockpit usage wanted by Porsche 993RS driver from 27/2/99 to 3/3/^. All expenses paid. Contact Ian Ross 0412 351 403,03 9530 6095,03 9614 1155. 144 Isuzu G200 motor, complete. /\ny condition considered and/or cylinder head in working order, G180 crankshaft any condition considered, Gemini Lynx inlet manifold and/or side draught Webers or Del Ortos. Ph: 07 46915833 anytime. 144 Schroeder manual steering box out of Compact Speed Car. Ph: 03 9796 8696. m Quick«hange efiff, wide 5 hubs, brake to brake, front wide 5 hubs and steering rack. Ph: Andrew 08 8391 2225 after 5pm. 144

Open Wheelers

For Lease: Alex Davison Van Diemen RF95. Fully prepared drive for 1999 season, includes: all preparation (by Michael Ritter), transport, pit crew and equipment; dedicated snr race engineer at all meetings; 10 races plus ample testing; engines (optional), tyres and all consumables; championship-winning (ex Tander) oar, best RF95 in country. Genuine enquiries with suitable budgets only. Ph: Richard Davison 03 9427 8224,0417 313 652 or Michael Ritter 03 9899 3183,0418 306 313. 144

BBS rims, 16" and 17",8- 8.5 “ wide,some centres. Rims $50 each. Also, seleotion of 16” and 17” slicks, wets and intermedi ates, second hand,$50 each. Ph:03 6331 2849(BH) 03 6334 1385(AH), m Tyres: new Dunlop DOS &D15 - 8 of 290x690x18, 8 of 290x675x18: new Dunlop W01 wets - 2 of 290x690x18, 2 of 290x675x18. $350 each ono. Large quantify good used as above,$50-150 each ono. Ph:07 4691 5833 anytime. 144 Intercomp comer scales,2complete sets of pads,$1,900. 4 X wet weather wheels & tyres (Dunlop), 8" and 10”, $400. Ph: Ken Hastings039480 4040. 143 Ford 351C 4 bolt block, 302W efi system, complete $1,200. Carilta rods 351C $1,200;4MAB crank $450; Accel race dist, 351 Ford, $480; BBS rim sections, 16", various offsets, from $50. Ph; Kevin 0247821145,0414822427(AH), lo Hewland Me 9 transaxle, with spare ratios, $4,000ono. Ph: 0885524000,0419 777 229, i«3 Qatsrai 1600 parts;3 x diffs R180; 1 x bootlid; numerous inte rior items; 1 x Datsun 1600 ohc rocker; rare Datsun 1600 badges. Heaps more. Ph: Jason 0296222960,0416160021, >43 Hewland Transaxle LGSOO, complete rear end, Inc uprights, CVs,axles, drive flanges, hubs, discs, Harrop calipers, Chev bell housing. 30 ratios, spares, c/w pinion. This unit is ex USA Can-Am and will handle up to 700hp. Ph: Mike imrie 0418 551 170. .« Twin 45 DCOE Weber carbs, with bellmouths, $400 each. Ph:07 32079410,0418 717 929. 143

Raft RT23 Formula Holden rolling chassis/complete car. Huge spares package incl. Ex Murphy/Brede. Also R System 2 brand new, never used. Ph; 0418 295 429,0418592 888.

[11! 7" Mazda RX7 Series 4,13B, EFI, turbo. Complete car, with 10 point 4130N roll cage. Uncompleted project., racing purposes only, $6,500. Ph: 02 6734 2259,02 6732 3353. 112 HQ race car. Professionally built, straight car. Only used rarely. Registered tandem trailer and spares. Forced sale, $6,400ono. Ph: 02 4754 3175,0414 641 802. 142 BMW 2002 race car. Seam wieded, cage, big brakes, braided lines, Waggot cam, extractors, strut brace, baffled sump, lightened rods, modified suspension, turbo guards; spoil ers. For racing, Targa, Classic rally,'hillclimb, sprints. $12,000ono. Ph: 08 9307 8070. n2

Formula Ford: Vector MG97 spec, unused since complete ground-up rebuild. Includes race engine, full range of spares and 3 sets of wheels & tyres. Very cheap - $21,000. Also, F/Ford race engine, new '98, $4,500; Dorian data 1 trans¬ mitter, as new with accessories $350. Ph: 07 5575 5001, 0414 744 700. 112

good history. This quality and unique Lola has been totally rebuilt and is ready to campaign. Fresh Weissner BDD Cosworth engine and FT200 box. Price neg and the car will be sold. Dont miss this opportunity to own a rare and beautiful car that is extremely competitive. Ph: Bob Sanderson 02 9953 9469. 112 Historic Racing Car - Harley-Norton Special built by Ron Ewing 1955. Competed Bathurst, Orange, Castlereagh, Silverdale, Tamworth, Warwick Farm. CAMS Lb log book for 500CC Norton single. 1340cc Harley-Norton V twin and 1340cc Harley-Norton V twin supercharged. A complete and potential worldbeater. $12,000ono. Ph: 0417 546 973 North Balwyn. 142

Parts Two-ways, complete set: Car, open helmet, mike & relay; scanner, chargers, Dorian timer. As new in own carry case. $4,500. Chev dash 10 heads and Pontiac heads. Ph: 02 9636 4447,0418637454. m Mercedes Benz 190E 2.3-16 fuel injection complete $1,500. Complete body kit KOOO, exhaust manifold $500 or offers. Ph: 03 63341385 (AH) or 03 6331 2849 (BH). 144 Ford Sierra Cosworth cylinder head, ex Peter Brock. $1,500.Ph:0351681371.018513928. m BDG con rods, resized, ready to use. $1 .OOOono. Ph: 08 9295 4031 after 6pm WST. 144

Old (60s) single seater race cars - Lotus, Brabham, Merlin. Anything, any condition. Good prices paid. Check your bams and sheds for dust-covered classics... Ph: Rick 0011 643 312 6615. 113 Mechanic/Manager ( and crew) for Group A team, 1999 & 2000 seasons. Mechanic/Manager: Experience & good attitude vital; excellent remuneration and conditions. Crew: Experience not necessary, but must have enthusiasm and be reliable. Expenses paid. No know-ails please! Confidential enquiries to Western Sydney Motorsport, P.O. Box 100. St Marys South, NSW 2760. 113 Mazda 10A/12& peripheral ported engine. Must be in good cond.Ph: David 03 9682 2466 (BH). lu Wheels, 3 piece or mag, 7" and 8" rm width, 3" offset 4 of each size, 4.25" 4 stud PCD. Also, 5 point seat bett harness. 2 of, and 45 DCOE s/d Weber. Ph: 03 9846 6348. i« Full floater diff, suit Mazda RX7. Ph: 0419 897 983. «

Other HRT and Ayrton Senna fan is lookrig for other fans to cor respond with, Guys & girls welcome. Write to: Danielle Clements, P.O. Box 205, Newstead, Tas 7250. 144 SncgxQn tool chest, 7 drawer roHcab, rrodel Kra 3027, tam per free lock. Brand new, still in box. Cost $2,000, sell $1,500. Ph. 0298886982. m Boat: Stephens 15'6" Tunnel Runner, complete tum-key. on dual axle trailer. 308 Holden ski engine. Autometer gauges, all competition running gear, argo-v-drive, Menkens prop. Make excellent ski or 4.2 Oz Boat. $9,900. Lifeline Race Products He jacket with carry bag. as new, with balHstic pants, $1,000: Superwinch 2500 pound, 12v elec winch, new in box, $600; 253 Holden block, crank. Group A rods and ACL fiat to p prstcxis to suit, all balanced etc, $300; 308 Holden eyfinder heads corrrplete with s/s valves, springs etc $800. Ph: Chris Kenner 0106 322096. 143

1 January 1999

Dl/d

rLfjLatauuart Bringing up Junior n

NEWS

Editorial Editor David Hassall TeehnicaS Editor Tony Glynn Assistant Editor Phil Branagan Gra|»lliBcs Co-ordlsirBator Viv Brumby

Advertising Advertising I'liarsager Gerald McDornan

Administration ManagSirag Osrector Chris Lambden

Contacts 89 Orrong Crescent Caulfield North VIC 3161 (PO Box 1010 North CaulReld 3161) Phone: 03 9S7.7 7744 Fax: 03 9527 7766 Email: msnews@corplink.com.au

CompuServe; iooz37,ii6s

Contributors General: Mike Kable, Jon Thomson, Brian Reed, Darryl Flack FI: Joe Saward, Adam Cooper Europe: Quentin Spurring, US: Bruce Smith, Phil Morris NZ: John Fiawkins Speedway: Dennis Newlyn, David McNabb, Wade Aunger, Geoff - . Rounds, David Lament, Chris Metcalf, Sue Hobson, Michael Attwell, Tony Millard (UK), Darren O'Dea Rally: Peter Whitten,Jon Thomson Drag Racing: Gerald McDornan, Greg Ward, Jon Asher (US7\), Dave Ostaszewski (USA), Nick Nicholas, Steven White, Ken Ferguson, Scott Jug Super Speedway: Martin Clark (USA)x. Brett Swanson, Grant Nicholas Karts: Ian Salvestrin, Allan Roark, Graeme Burns, Sean Henshelwood Photographers: Sutton Motorsport Images, Dirk Klynsmith, Neil Hammond,, Nigel Snowdon & Diana Burnett, Brad Steele, Tony Glynn, Thunder-Pics, Marshall Cass, Mike Harding, Brisbane Motorsport, Frank Midgley, John Bosher, Phil Williams, Mike Patrick (UK) Tony Loxley, Daniel Wilkins, Wayne Nugent MOTORSPORT NEWS is published by Ausiralasibn Motorsport News Pty Ltd ACN No 050 I 79 928 Directors. C Lambden (Managing), D Hassall, A Glynn Publisher: C Lambden Printed by: Wilke Color 37^9 Browns Rd Clayton 3168 Distributed by: NDD Ltd Material published by MOTORSPORT NEWS is copyright and may not be reproduced in full or in part without the written permission of the publisher. Freelance contributions are welcome, and while all care will be taken. Australasian Motorsport News Pty Ltd does not accept responsibility for damage or loss of material submitted. Opinions expressed in Motorsport News are not necessarily those of Australasian Motorsport News Pty Ltd or its staff. ‘■Recommended and maximum price only.

Subscriptions (I year-26 issues) SI 10 Australia Overseas (Air Mail) AS 170 New Zealand, PNG AS 180 Malaysia, Indonesia AS 190 Phillipines, HK, Japan AS200 US, Canada AS2I0 Europe Post or fax to address above. Bankcard, VISA, Mastercard, Amex accepted

ADVERTISING WORKS. IT’S THAT SIMPLE! Call Gerald McDornan on

03 9527 7744

Dear Sir, [j Congratulations and full credit to Bruce Williams on putting togeth er, in the flesh, a vehicle proposal which will provide a ‘nursery’ class (maybe it should be a University Class) for those up and coming dri vers that desperately need an opportunity to drive and gain expe rience in relatively inexpensive touring cars. As a motorsport enthusiast since 1953, a manufacturer and sponsor since 1962, I believe Bruce Williams is on the right track to develop a whole new batch of competitors and, from the Australian performance industry perspective, a class that Australian manufacturers and sponsors will, I have no doubt, support to the hilt. Supercars have become too expensive to build, operate and sponsor. I believe the shift away from Holden-engined Commodores was not in the interests of Australian parts manufacturers or sponsors. There has been huge interest in the prototype and Peter Brock is thoroughly behind the vision. The Junior Tourer class also has great implications for ‘multiple’ uses in converting Auscars, as well as allowing junior Tourers - special ly built to compete in Auscar and in some cases to compete as sports sedans, allowing more opportuni ties to race throughout the year. Furthermore, there are more racetracks and dates available throughout Australia than there are events awarded (at gi-eat cost to promoters) to the ‘Big Gun Supercars’. Here is an opportunity to give promoters that will never be allocated a Big Gun event a very competitive category, perhaps at the expense of some lesser and fad ing classes, to fill out their pro grammes and give the public a real spectacle. Programmes, promoters and enthusiasts all benefit from afford able Ford vs Holden clashes. They always have and always will. This class needs all the assistance it can get and my company and I will support it to the hilt. Hopefully the ‘Controllers of Motorsport’will do the same.

What do the buzzwords mean?

rv'i/A

Send letters to TaIk Converter to PO Box 1010 North Caulfield Vic 3161. our E-mail address, or fax to 03 9527 7766 The staff of Motorsport Mevw does not necessarily agree with readers. opinions e der fans to their Jap bombs and European cars in their own countries where they came from - and should stay there, I’m not going to say anything about Channel lO’s appalling cover age of the last hour of the race apart from next time we could have less racing and more ads NOT. Finally on a sad note I would like to say what a great shame it is that Castrol killed off the Cougars. They were a great team; they finished

report that he is showing inter est in V8s for 1999 (that’ll be a loss for Super Tourers if he goes) and his talent has been illustrated. Come on Dick - give a talented local Queenslander a go. Gavin Young Fairfield, Qld

12th the last two years at Bathurst. They didn’t run as many races in the season as the Level 1 teams or the top privateers, but they did a better job. They kept the car straight and consistent and didnt break the car. Some of these other teams are busy trying to drive through each other instead of rac ing and causing crashes and breaking their cars. Hope to see you next year, Melinda and Kerryn.

R D (Dave)Bennett Perfectune Engineering Moorabbin, Vic

Peter Selten Singleton NSW

Locals are best

How about Cam?

Dear Sir, The V8 Supercars are at their best at the moment. They should let them run as they are and let the foreign bombs at their pretend Bathurst race on the long weekend in October. pVopfe say the V8s are outdated; they are Australian cars for Australians. Leave the four cylin-

Dear Sir, I’m interested to see that among all the names being suggested as replacements for John Bowe at the Shell team, nobody is mentioning a young Super Tourer driver who has done evei^hing but win a race in a privateer car up against some strong factory cars. Yes, Cameron McLean. You

toJ VLEA^tHT >T TO^T IN THe'iSa.OSiON OF ONgS HOME «nO C50|£T1.V CONTe«pl-ATe TH£ epoil.5 OF A SWCCeSSFUl- SEASONfe MOTOR ^RTCOMPeTtTlON... fO R€MB«ER-to£yW££lTO WHEEL. BATTu£,TM£6R6ATH TAKiNC, FllVlSH ..

Dear Sir, Mark one down for the ‘don’t hke’ the new paper, but don’t worry, I won’t stop buying MSN over that! Two serious things I’d like to mention; first is congrats to ail your columnists. I really enjoy reading these sections and, secondly, can we have an explanation of some of the terms used in some of the less mainstream areas of motorsport. 1 can think of is ,Couple , of.examples ,,, peddlmgit (drags) and slick track’ (speedway), Sometimes reading the reports are like reading Latin. Nigel Smith hgmonaro@hotmail.com «

ASST ED: McLean in a DJR

Desperately seekmg

Falcon - you must be psychic. See our news pages.

phOtOS

Barg-wheelin’; Jason Bargwanna should have rated higher in our 1998 Photo: Mpix Top Ten rankings according to reader Farthing

sX^

Tough on Bargs Dear Sir, While I would agi*ee with most of your Top Ten V8 driver selections (issuM42), you have been harsh on Jason Bargwanna. Until Bathurst, you would have rated Bargs as the new face of the year, having won a race and nearly a Shell round, ahead of Bright, and Bright’s Falcon only beat Bargs home by a short distance at Bathurst... > I know Bathurst counts for a lot, but Bargwanna should have been closer at least to Bright in the 1998 season’s ratings. Tor T? Matthew Farthing Chris Lambden; You’re not the first to suggest Bargs should have scored better. It was very, very close once you got past 4th spot and,of all ofthem,Bargs is the one Fd expect to have to eat humble pie aboutin a big way next year™.

●: ●

Dear Sir, I have been subscribing to your great mag for several years now & look forward to each edition. As an old (52) Motor Racing fan, I am still a big Norm Beechey fan, but only have some B&W photos taken by the late Lance J Ruting at the late Warwick Farm. Missing from my collection is a. PK 752 The 48/215 b. Chev Impala c. Hillman Imp d. The Vanguard/Citroen Norm drove at Phillip Island. I wonder if you could please put me in touch with anybody who would have these photos? I thought you may have a colour version of the Impala pic printed on page 44 issue 141? I am also interested in contacting anybody who has perhaps convert ed old film to Video of Norm in action? You mention the Peter When’ett Video crew at the Historic Winton any contact information for a copy please? Thanks, and all the best to all for the festive season & 1999. Ian Schilling Isle Of Capri, QLD

Don’t write off JB Dear Sir, Is Jason Whittaker (Torque Converter #142)on medication? How many people out there seri ously think that John Bowe will be at the back of the pack with the Caterpillar Team? I reckon it will take only a handful of races to s0@ the Tasmanian right at the sharp end of the Ford pack in 1999. Co get ’em John - prove the knockers wrong! Alan Schaefer Port Macquarie NSW

3-.-

y Foley

May 16 Phillip Island Jun 27 Sandown Jul 11 Willowbank

Sep 5 Oran Park 'Non-championship race

BOG Gases Australian Super Touring Championship

Castro/

Mar 14 Oran Park Jul 18 Eastern Creek April Lakeside Aug 1 Willowban k May 2 Calder Park Aug 15 Oran Park Oct 3 Bathurst 1 000 . May 30 Mallala Jun 20 Winton

h/lotOFsport Calenda

Auto Trader British Touring Car Championship Aprs Donington Park Jul 18 Snetterton Aug 1 Thruxton Apr 18 Silverstone May 3 Thruxton Aug 15 Knockhill May 16 Brands Hatch Aug 30 Brands Hatch May 31 Oulton Park Sep 12 Oulton Park Jun 20 Donington Park Sep 19 Silverstone Jul 4 Croft

World SOOcc Grand Prix Motorcycle Championship Apr 18 Malaysia Apr 25 Japan May 9 Spain May 23 France Jun 6 Italy Jun 20 Catalunya Jun 26 Netherlands Jul 4 Britain Jul 18 Germany Aug 8 Portugal*

Aug 22 Czech Republic Sep 5 San Marino Sep 19 Valencia Oct 3 Australia Oct 10 South Africa Oct 24 Brazii Oct 31 Argentina 'Reserve date, subject to track inspection

SBK World Superbike Series Apr 4 Apr 18 May 2 May 16 May 30 June 13 June 27

South Africa July 11 Australia Aug 1 Britain Spain Aug 29 Italy Sept 5 Germany Sept 26 San Marino Oct 10

USA Europe, England Austria Netherlands TBA Japan

FIA World Rally Championship Jan 20 Monte Carlo Feb 14 Sweden Feb 28 Kenya Mar 24 Portugal Apr 21 Spain May 9 France May 26 Argentina

Jun 9 Greece Jul 18 New Zealand Aug 22 Finland Sep 19 China Oct 13 Italy Nov 7 Australia Nov 23 Great Britain

Australian Rally Championship Apr 10-11 Coffs Harbour Canberra* May 7-9 Jun 5-6 Queensland Jun 26-27 Forest(WA) Aug 14-15 Melbourne Sep 18-19 Tasmania Nov 4-7 Rally Australia

‘Round of Asia-Pacific Series "World Rally Championship round

Century Batteries GT Production Championship As of press lime Procar had not confirmed whether the series would be mn on the VSSupercar or Super Touring support program. iBA.

13.

Winston Cup NASCAR Series Feb 7 Daytona Beach, FI Feb 14 Daytona Beach, FI Feb 21 Rockingham, NC Mar 7 Las Vegas, Nv Mar 14 Hampton, Ga Mar 21 Darlington SC Mar 28 Fort Worth, Tx

April Bristol, Tn Apr 18 Martinsville, VA Apr 25 Talladega, AL May 2 Fontana, CA May15 Richmond, Va May 22 Charlotte, NC May 30 Charlotte, NC Jun 6 Dover Downs, De Jun 13 Michigan, Mi Jun 20 Pocono, Pa

ANDRA Australian Top Fuel Series

Jan 2 Mar 6

Willowbank Willowbank

Mar 20 Calde r Park Jun 13 Willowbank

ANDRA Australian Top Doorslammer Series

Jan 23 Adelaide Jan 30 Willowbank Feb 20 Calder Park Feb 28 Ravenswood Mar 20 Calder Park

Apr 10 Willowbank May Hidden Valley* Jun 13 Willowbank ‘Date and round tbc

ANDRA Australian Pro Stock Series Jan 16 Calder Park Jan 23 Adelaide

Mar 6 Willow bank Jun 13 Willowbank

ANDRA National Events Mar 18-20 33rd Annual Nationals Calder Park Jun 11-13 31 st Annual Winternats Willowbank

NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series Feb 7 Pomona, Ca Feb 28 Phoenix, Az Mar 21 Gainesville, FI April Houston, Tx Apr 25 Dallas, Tx May 2 Richmond, Va May 16 Atlanta, Ga May 23 Englishtown. NJ Jun 6 Chicago, III Jun 13 Columbus, Oh Jun 26 Madison, III Jul io Bristol, Tn

Jul 18 Denver, Co Aug 1 Seattle, Wa Aug 8 Sonoma, Ca Aug 22 Brainerd, Mn Sep 6 Indianapolis, In Sep 19 Reading, Pa Oct 3 Topeka, Kan Oct 10 Memphis, Tn Oct 24 Dallas, Tx Oct 31 Houston, Tx Nov 14 Pomona, Ca

Jun 27 Sonoma, Ca Jul 3 Daytona Beach, FI Jul 11 Loudon, Nh Jul 25 POcono, Pa Aug 7 Indianapolis, In Aug 15 Watkins Glen, NY Aug 22 Brooklyn, Mi Aug 28 Bristol, Tn Sep 5 Darlington, SC Sepll Richmond, Va

Sep 19 Loudon, Nh Sep 26 Dover Downs, De Oct 3 Martinsville, Va Oct 10 Charlotte, NC Oct 17 Talladega, Al Oct 24 Rockingham, NC Nov 7 Phoenix, AZ Nov 14 Homestead, FI Nov 21 Atlanta, GA

IHRA Snap-on Tools Drag Racing Series Mar 14 Darlington, SC Mar 28 Bradenton, FI Apr 11 Rockingham, NC Jun 20 Cordova, II Jul 11 Leicester, NY Aug 1 Stanton, Mi ,

Aug 29 Norwalk, Oh Sep 12 Epping, NH Sep 26 Rockingham, NC Oct 3 Budds Creek, Md Oct 17 Shreveport, La

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You iwutst push fAe ikmits.

vmm^^

Jason “Mad Dog” Bargwanna V8 Supercar

you wU!

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Face your fears. Live your dreams.