Motorsport News Issue 148 - 12-25 March 1999 by V8 Sleuth

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mI Issue 148

$4.50 (NZ $5.95 IncI GST)

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NEWS

12-25 March 1999

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crushes the opposition in V8 opener Full report inside

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[Mo)(}(o)[?SfpCo)[?0

12 March 1999

V8s to give GP a miss? A significant number of key V8 Supercar teams have expressed a reluctance to return for the

Craig is staying put

... and driving standards questioned

Among the rumour and counter rumour concerning a Ron Harrop/Peter Brock-owned V8 Supercar team (see story else where), comes news that will

Australian GP meeting next year.

squash the part of the tale relat ing to Lowndes driving for the

Shortages of space, access for vehi cles and other problems led Larry Perkins to speak out for the teams at the post-race press conference on Sunday after AVESCO men Tony Cochrane and Gany Craft had also

new team in 2000. KRTs John

Crennan signed Lowndes to a revised contract last Thursday which ties him up until the end of 2000...

met with GP boss John Hamden on

Saturday to express their discontent. “Frankly,” he said, “we’re contract ed to come back next year, but I hope Tony Cochrane can n^otiate us out

■ The Young Lions V8 Supercar team is in budgetary strife. With hoped-for support from both Holden and Mobil not

of it.

materialising, team manager Tony Noske told Motorsport

“The GP can stand on its own two

feet, it doesn’t really need us, and the organisation here is making it too hard for us to do our job. We don’t mind playing second fiddle to the FI show, but at the moment

we’re being prevented finm doing our job and putting on the best show. “I had three damaged cars on Friday and, because of silly limits on vehicle passes and so on, I had peo ple lugging bonnets and other parts for hundreds of metres from some

distant car park. “I think we’re better off out of it.”

HRTs Mark Skaife offered quahfied support, but put another per spective on it: “When we negotiated the appear ance deal at the GP, we had to guar antee 25 cars. Now we have 40 and

clearly that’s some of the problem. “Maybe it’s a TEGA issue and maybe we have to look at it-as a group and say that, hey, we’re sim ply being paid to appear here with 25 cars, let’s just bring the top 25 cars.” GP Chief John Hamden sympa thised with Skaife’s perspective

when Motorsport News caught up with him on Tuesday:

News that drivers Mark Noske

THE lap one incident between Russell Ingall and Glenn Seton in Friday’s first V8 Supercar race at the GP, has led to calls for an

rules as they stand don’t realistically legislate for the problem: “While we’re not about allowing drivers to simply crash into the rear of others and take them out, there is

by starting from a representative grid in the second race, with com bined results deciding the final heat grid.

shock absorbers in the exLarkham EL Falcon. Sounds like

a good deal - it clearly works... ■ Award for “Best Climb-down

by a Media Man” went to the Melbourne Herald Sun motoring editor Paul Cover who, in a

qualifying session would allow dri vers affected in that manner to

■ While Garth Tander was

fined $1,500 and excluded from the results of the opening V8 race, other charges, against Russell Ingall, Paul Romano and Tander (Sunday’s race), were

Schuey to stay in FI while ifs still fun By JOE SAWARD

current Ferrari contract in 2002. Stories had circulated about Michael’s future as a

(Perkins) since the weekend to say

planning to quit.

that of course he wants to support

“I have read the reports,” Schumacher said in Australia, “but they are wrong. I will continue as long as I am having fun.”

dismissed.

■ John Bowe’s CAT Falcon

dekka

result of an interview published in Germany in which manager WiUi Weber said that Michael was

Schumacher is contracted until the end of 2002,

"Ifie teams are in fact contracted

although there is little doubt that there are clauses

to 2002 and I’m sure they’ll be

in the contract which would let him leave the Italian

there.”

team if he wished to do so. There has been specula

“Last year’s race was the best advertising for this year’s and this year’s was better. We’re thrilled...” ■

Saturday morning edition, described Ellery as a “touring car unknown”. Later that day. Cover faced Ellery again across a media room, the youngster having just scored his second podium for the weekend...

“While it can be self-policing - if you do that the guy on the inside is going to run into you - the rules as they stand say that the second driver

Perhaps TEGA would be better off with a slightly smaller field. “Frankly, the thing’s been beaten up a bit. I’ve had a call from Larry

outcome for the weekend, especially the 345,000 four day crowd

Seton maintains that a second

have a reasonable second chance,

going to retire from Formula 1 at the end of his

At the same time, Hamden

means that the Stones prepare and oversee both the engine and

deemed to be in front,” he said.

said, “but Mark may be right.

expressed his delight at the overall

His deal with the Stone Brothers

ing calls, first made during his recent interview with Motorsport News, for a second qualifying ses sion at Shell rounds (for the sec ond race grid), to avoid the very thing that ruined his GP weekend — being taken out of race one, starting from the back thereafter, and never quite getting back into any contention.

dismissed.

All three drivers present at

■ Most thrilled V8 driver at

Albert Park was Steve Ellery.

AT the same time, Seton is renew

a case for saying that when a car comes inside you, there’s a point at which you should give them room and not simply turn across their bow,” explained Skaife. The rules at present simply place all the onus on overtaking cars to complete the move successfully and that, according to Perkins, is wrong: “You can’t simply turn across somebody, just because you’re

Sunday’s post-race press confer ence, Craig Lowndes, Mark Skaife and Larry Perkins, agreed that the

races.

is in the wrong. That’s not right.”

urgent review of the rules gov erning overtaking. Ingall was cleared by the Stewards after contacting Seton’s car as he (Ingall) nosed inside the Falcon, following which the FTR car spun and set off a multi-car pile-up. Seton’s team subsequently protested Ingall’s driving and a fur ther hearing was held on Saturday afternoon, the protest eventually

MICHAEL Schumacher says that he is not

of highlighting those operational things the teams want addressed.

and Todd Kelly only have suffi cient budget for the next two V8

A real spray: The regulations covering driving standards are being questioned by some drivers following (Photo by John Morhs/Mpix) incidents like the race one Ingall vs Seton clash at Albert Park last Friday,

“Sure, there are a couple of small operational areas we can look at,” he

the GP. 'The whinge was just a way

-o

tion that if he does not win this year with Ferrari he will switch to West McLaren Mercedes.

Schumacher also dismissed these suggestions.

“If I am disappointed, I will try again and again,” he said. “It will be the same for me in 2000 and

■ While the double front air

{ ilKffl. Mr

i ■2-

2001.1 am here for four more years and I am going to make the team succeed in that time.”

I’m staying: Ralf and Michael will be together for a while.

Besnard heads for the Hylton DAVID Besnard has signed his deal to race in the Toyota Formula Atlantic Championship in the USA. The current USFF2000 Champion will drive for the Hylton Motorsports team and starts testing in California next week.

Besnard, 22, will drive a Swift in the 13 race series which starts at Long Beach on April 17.

“This is a great opportunity and I intend to make the most of it,” he said at

Albert Park last Sunday. “I want to win the championship and I am sure that the team I have signed

with is capable of doing just that.” He will move from his current US base

in St Petersburg, Florida, to San

I’m coming, mate: Besnard and Mark Webber compare notes.

sported both Shell and Ford stickers by the end of the GP weekend. While the Shell sig nage signifies genuine support, the Ford stickers were applied, says Bowe, “because car owner Kevin Otway is just a huge Ford fan!” The team is of course hop ing that Ford will enter into the spirit of it all...

Fransisco soon to be near the team.

The Hylton team competed in last year’s Atlantic series and is planning to move up the US racing ladder in coming years. The current objective is to move into Indy Lights next season and Champ Cars in 2001, following the example of Della Penna Motorsport, which fields a Champcar for Richie Hearn. Having signed a three year deal with the team Besnard obviously figures high ly in the team’s plans. “I’m rapt. I’m still searching for a bud get but I feel that it’s easier to get what

you deserve in the USA than it is in Europe.

Besnard may also race sportscar in the USA this season and is presently talking to several teams, including Dyson Racing.

dam underwing failures on the two Shell Falcons at the GP caused some concern and sent

the team home early, none of the other three AU Falcons at the

GP experienced a similar prob lem. A different mounting sys

tem utilised by the Shell boys was thus considered as a con

tributing factor. D JR and the other Ford teams at least now have some time to

test the all-new aero kits before

the opening Shell round at Eastern Creek in a fortnight. ■ The FIA has announced its

regulations for the coming GT Championship. The new one race, one winner series will fea

ture ITC-style weight penalties of up to 100 kg to encourage close competition among the field, which is expected to have

up to 35 cars at each of the 10 rounds. Six to eight of the events will be endurance races of up to

500km, and cars will be able to run up to 14 inch wheels, up from 12 last season.

12 March 1999

IMdO®[F8UXo)I70

Falcon AUs in wing controversy FIVE new AU Ford Falcons raced at last weekend’s Grand Prix

meeting under a tempo rary permit, having failed to satisfy the CAMS homologation regula tions. The car was allowed to

race as presented, except that vortex generators, incorporated under the rear wing, had to be removed. Between

Shell

now

series

and

the

opener

Eastern Creek in two weeks’

time other changes are expected to be made to the car as a finalised aero pack age is agreed between Ford, Holden, TEGA and CAMS. The main problems centre around the requirement for Ford to essentially “carry over” the aero kit from the

previous EL model and a number of elements of the

new kit which are clearly

■ The aXcess concept car made a rare appear ance at Albert Park last

weekend. 'The car, devel oped as a rolling demon stration of Australia’s

high-tech automotive industry, was driven around the track by the Federal Minister for

not as per the earlier model. » Specifically, the front 5 underwing is changed (Ford 1 claims the EL underwing ™

■ Testing for the start of the Formula 3000 sea

son in Europe has sug gested that the new ‘spec’ Lola B99/50 will be up to three seconds quicker than the car it supersedes. The Williams-affiliated Petrobas Junior team

bagged best time at the recent test at Barcelona, with Brazilian Bruno

Junqueira bagging quick est time.

■ Several F3000 teams

have been upset by a cut in allotted track time. The FLA has allocated two 45minute session for the car

on Thursday at the race meeting where they sup port GPs but, with 44 entries for the series and

only 26 grid spots avail able, several sponsors are not happy with the amount of exposure they will receive. 'To circum

vent the problem a 30 car maximum has already been stipulated for the series in 2000.

■ Umberto Magioli, one of the great sportscar dri vers of the 1950s and ’60s, has passed away at the age of 70. The pipe-smok ing Italian was a three time wiimer of the Targa Florio in 1953 (for

Lancia), ’56 and ’68 (for Porsche. He also won the

Sebring 12 Hours twice (’59 and ’64) and contest six Grands Prix between 1953 and ’55.

over our first VT before the

simply won’t fit the AU) and ^

homologation

the chord of the rear wing s has also been changed. Again it is claimed that the rear wing had to be altered anyway, as Ford had

finalised...” The bottom line is that V8

out of the EL wing as part of this homologation. The rear wing as present ed had vortex generators on

TEGA Technical Chief

John Sheppard was due to meet with all the Ford teams

as Motorsport News closed for press, to sort out the best way forward and negotiate an equitable solution. “It’s now complicated by

its underside, and the car

also has a gurney lip on the rear of the bootlid.

For his part, Holden Motorsport Chief John

the fact that the Ford teams have a concern about the

Stevenson is extremely

Temporary sanity: Like the other AU driver Paul Radisich drove with‘temporary’wings,

production of its aero kit and wary that some of the

^ pil® ®f bits,” he told Motorsport News this week.

sation for the AU was “a oncer. It wasn’t a champi-

year for them to raise the rear wing, then the change

will be “slipped through” as a compromise in the rush to complete the paperwork. “All we have seen to day is

paperwork or a complete car "’ith the kit on. Just bits.” Stevenson is adamant that last weekend’s dispen-

get it right before the

style,

annoyed at Ford’s late, late

more controversial elements

was

team’s group TEGA is most likely to have the crucial input into getting the process completed.

been asked to take the slots

“We haven’t seen the

onship round. They have to

structural problems some teams experienced last weekend with their front

of the front to the Tickford-

Eastern Creek meeting. “We’ve been easy going

“In return, we have little. We have yet to formally see

about dispensations last

the new kit on a car —

end,” he said on ’Tuesday. “But I’d really hope to have the whole thing resolved by the end of the week.”

TV slump slashes GT Production

Bigger grids for

F1 prize fund

Industry, Science and Resources, Senator Nick Minchin. No word on whether the Senator claimed a travel allowance for the 5.3km Grand Prix track...

remembering that they (Ford) were able to spend three hours climbing all

By JOE SAWARD

cameras

THE Formula 1 prize fund has been slashed by around $75m because Bernie Ecclestone’s pay-per-view “satellite” television service is not

attracting as many viewers as had been hoped.

Ralf

Schumacher’s

Williams. In addition there were prob lems with terrestrial companies being banned from having studios at the race track. This caused uproar in Melbourne and the 'TV companies were eventually

EXPANDED grid capacities for this year’s Century

Championship please series competitors, accord ing to series organiser With

increased

expected for most rounds of the series, PROCAR’s CEO

the digital service have had disappoint ing results. They are demanding a bet ter show from Ecclestone to help to dif

petitors had expressed con cern about travelling to races interstate risking the chance of not getting a start due to grid capacities. “The championship has come a long way since we

ferentiate their show from the normal

supposed to raise around $330m a year,

coverage which is supplied by freeover-air “terrestrial” companies. This caused some upsets in

half of which goes to the teams. If these figures are correct this means that the TV income to teams has, in effect, been

Melbourne with a reduction in the number of in-car cameras available to

halved because of the current difficul

the host broadcaster, Australia’s

Ecclestone says that there is a short term problem and that the TV compa nies involved need to do a better job with the promotion of their services.

which was used by Channel Nine was a

TV or not TV

USA and CART offers a

in the world, cable televi-

real alternative to the casu-

race, a surprise outbreak of unreliability at McLaren and

never seen such a poor

sion has been so badly implemented that we don't even have the option of signing on for Ecclestone’s

al viewer, Would you pay to watch superior Grand Prix cover age - or would you just turn

extravaganza.

off? Torque Converter is

us know.

Why? The pictures tre by FI television were

Well, it had almost

first class - plenty of good

everything. What it lacked was great television cover

age. Never before has there been such a reaction

to the lack of coverage pro vided by free-to-air TV of an

amazing digital technology that enables such images

None. And in the world’s

broadcasting.

Based on several con versations with UK col-

Spare a thought for our

neighbours. In New

vide them for free-to-air

was happening.

NASCAR flourishes in the

Zealand, there was no cov

had caller after caller com

of information as to what

the golden egg is real.

Ft TV viewers at least as

angles, in-car stuff and lots

Australian GP. While Melbourne talkback radio

plaining about the TV show (or lack thereof) viewers in the UK similarly had a lack

and here in Australia, with

of different views of inci dents. But it seems that the

to be transmitted is not

matched by the will to pro The Formula One Association’s vision of an

all-singing, all-dancing, multi-channel pay-per-view show is a good idea. But,

so far, takers in Europe have been relatively few

street

and

Willowbank races are yet to be determined while Indy and Bathurst remain at 40 and 55

respectively, - GERALD MCDORNAN

that the question? enthusiastic as anyone else

beamed into the media cen

Grid capacities for the Adelaide

championship is 36 cars for

at best; one said he had

result for first-time winner Eddie Irvine.

and Oran Park (38).

grid we now have for the 1999

very second-rate coverage, telecast of Formula One.

are: Eastern Creek (50), Phillip Island (40), Hidden Valley (36), Sandown (47), Calder Park (40), Winton (40)

“The smallest available

had everything: plenty of drama just before the a staggeringly popular

Individual grid densities for the 1999 GTP championship

debuted with nice cars five

leagues it appears that our

“While the new densities

should limit the problem of oversubscribed grids, we have developed a fair and suitable elimination process that should ensure aU competitors get to race,” he said.

years ago. The average grid has been growing steadily every year and this year 50 entrants have already indi cated that they will be sign ing on for the ’99 champi onship,” West said.

HE 1999 Qantas Australian Grand Prix

Pommie cousins received

to have.

fields

While the drop in TV money is not a disaster for the big FI teams, it is a major setback for some for some of the smaller operations, which had counted on receiving the money to help top up their budgets. According to the prospectus for the FI bond issue, the sale of ’TV rights is

Channel Nine. While all the leading cars carried two cameras, the only one

if we have trouble squeezing that many cars onto the grid, i it will be a very nice problem

PROCAR.

Bill West said that some com

ties.

“The only potential tight grid may be at Oran Park with 38 available sports, but

Batteries Australian G'T Production

allowed back in.

The cut in the prize fund which will cost the big teams around $10m each has been forced upon Ecclestone because the ’TV companies involved in

Hidden Valley in Darwin, which shouldn’t be a problem.

erage of the race at all. biggest market, the USA, there is only a cable TV and highlights deal. Melbourne proved that F1 can put on a good show but, with television rev

enues sinking and, appar ently, a policy of down grading the ‘ordinary’ cover age networks like Nine

receive, the danger of killing the goose that laid

open for your thoughts; let

From my point view, it has been veryofgratifying to receive so many kind comments since I stepped into the editor’s chair a

-M

^ * ,

'7 '

A. ■Motorspo,r

—

[T B ●T ^ R

■—— L .k—

V..:-

Bran^Ti

Motorsport News, every second Thursday. Moving into the Assistant Editor’s role is Gerald

month ago. To everyone

McDornan. Apart from run ning around the office mak

who has called and written

ing funny car noises (true!)

wishing me well, thank you. Rest assured that any

Gerald is skilled in almost

changes that happen to Motorsport News will be rel atively minor. There will be some, but what you say is

still what you will get; all the

every aspect of the busi

ness and will be applying those talents to all areas of

the sport. It will be a great season.

Enjoy the ride!

lH^O®[?8fJXo)[FO

12 March 1999

Irvine drove beautifully - Watson WHEN Eddie Irvine was a kid

his family made an annual pil grimage from Northern Ireland

8 3

to the British GP.

The youngster made a point of get ting in free wherever possible climbing over and under fences and the cunning 10-year-old even managed to get into the pits at

RjTTvlg

rrs

Brands Hatch in 1976!

In ’81 the Irvines splashed out and bought grandstand tickets for Silverstone, and their reward was seeing young Eddie’s hometown hero, John Watson score the first win for McLaren under Ron Dennis.

Some 18 years later the situation was reversed; Wattie was on the

sidelines cheering on his younger countryman as a commentator for local TV. And McLaren’s role was also a bit different...

“I still feel very emotional,” said “Wattie’ an hour after the race. “I

came over the pits and saw Eddie

gave him my be^ wishes. Then I saw his sister Sonia and burst into tears!” The elder Ulsterman has followed

Eddie’s career since he made it to FI,

and the pair regularly banter in the paddock and exchange friendly jibes. “It’s very difficult being in Eddie’s position in Ferrari. He’s got to put up with tremendous pressures. Today he gave his answer in the most emphatic way he can. He won a Grand Prix with one of the finest dri

ves I’ve ever seen. He never put a wheel wrong. “When I saw there was a gap on

the grid, and Barrichello’s car wasn’t there, I thought Eddie’s going to go for this! I had a feeling from that point. The two McLarens disap peared, then had their misfortunes, and he was in position. That’s the key. He positioned himself such that he was there to take advantage of other issues.

“He was able to control the pace, and keep Heinz-Harald Frentzen

was on the soft tyre, which I didn’t think was the right decision, but he didn’t abuse the tyre, he kept the car in good condition, and drove a beau tiful race.

and Ralf Schumacher behind. He

“When Hakkinen slowed he just stayed back imtil he got across the

line and went for it. As a racing dri-

that Eddie will now be eager to score

ver today you’ve got to have brains,

more.

and Eddie has got brains. You’ve got to know the rules, how to use them and when to them.” Watson knows what it’s like to score your first win, and is convinced

“I think the person it’s going to change most is Eddie. He’s now achieved something that he’s always dreamed about. If you look at the number of people who’ve been GP

drivers and GP winners, it’s a very small percentage. Eddie is now one of those people. The team will now

look upon Eddie not just as there to

support Michael. It’ll be only positive for him.” -ADAM COOPER

Pavicevi Harrop, HRT split for F3000

ENGINEER Ron Harrop has resigned from his consultancy role at HRT after a dis agreement with HRT/HSV MD John Crennan over his role with the champi onship-winning squad.

Andrej Pavicevic has signed to part

At the same time, Harrop has quashed rumours that his departure was due to plans for an imminent new V8 Supercar team being hatched by himself and Peter Brock. Rumours also had Craig Lowndes leaving HRT at the end of this year to join the new team.

ner former Sauber driver FI Norberto Fontana

to contest the FIA International

“I think as a result of rumours in the middle of

Championship.

“It cut the work we would do for the team in

few new conditions being attached to my involve

“Whatever may or may not happen in the

Aussie on call: While his role at HRT may be over, it isn’t

Williams have done a lot of work on it. I think

the only championship team that Harrop Engineering works with. The race engineering specialists are on call to do

it’s a great thing for Australian motor sport and

work for the McLaren F1 team during their time in Australia

I’ll therefore be doing all I can to help make it happen.”

which to go racing in *99 - the rest is up

Fortec

to me.”

The Fortec team attended the first official test date for at series the on Barcelona

team,

the

same team which

Although it will be

ran the Australian

the Fortec team’s debut season in

decision

F3000, Pavicevic is

the

convinced that the

class after came Pavicevic tested a

team is up to the

to FI’

and we hear that the company’s role in supplying spe cialised items to the team is to increase... (Photo by Tony Olynn)

challenge. “A driver the cali bre of Fontana would

February 25/26 with further test dates confirmed for Jerez

(10/11 Silverstone

Mar), (Mar

31/Apr 1) AlRing (Apr 20/21).

not have signed if he

The first race of FIA the

“I can tell you,

wasn’t certain that the team is cabable of

International 3000 Formula

delivering a winning package.” “Norberto’s pres

Championship takes place at Imola in support of the San

ence in the team is a

Marino Grand Prix

real plus,” Pavicevic

on May 1.

Paul Ricard December.

occasional “what if conversations, but that any

become a more com driver petitive

contest the series for Richard Dutton’s

’98 spec F3000 at

Harrop admitted that he and Brock had had

ensured

quickly.”

step

be about seventh in the list of priorities...”

against his and, as a result. I’m sure I wiU

has

able

that I have the opti

‘Junior

“I’ve got a lot of other things pre-occupying me and my business at the moment — racing would

sees it the same way.

Zepter has given me the opportunity

bench-mark my own performances

mum situation in

The

future had no bearing on the decision.

proven vvinner and I will

will

in F 3 last year.

ment with the team that didn’t sit well.

said. “He’s hugely a experienced,

am pleased to say that my long-time supporter Zepter

and

Pavicevic and the

Argentinian

half and, as my involvement precluded me doing quite a bit of work for other teams, I decided it was the irght time to move on. 'There were also a

project was far from a reality. “Now, my main racing interest is in the Junior Tourer category. Myself, Peter and Bruce

3000

Formula

last year, they (HRT) decided to set up their own manufacturing and engineering set-up. Either way, their plans created a conflict with areas of the operation that involved Harrop Engineering.

“I am convinced

that I am ready for the challenge and I

once I had driven a

couple of laps in Fortec’s car, there

was no going back, Pavicevic said.

12Mdrchl999

DIM

Pollock ready for FIA battle By JOE SAWARD BRITISH

BRITISH AMERICAN RACING

American

Racing representatives will travel to Geneva, on Friday to appear before the FIA World

Motor Sport Council. Tliey will answer allega tions that the new team breached the International

began to make conciliatoiy noises in .-\ustralia. telling international journalists that the com plaint has now been

challenge the economic structure

the

Concorde Ag^ypment. At

the momentor^- the top

Sporting Code and the FLA Statutes during its dispute with the governing body

withdrawn.

with

10 teams are given a .slice of the money gen0^ atcd by the sale of Formula I’s TVj^hts.

over whether or not it could run cars in different liveries. The World Council has

drawn,” he bai^. “What we are trying to do is to

B.AR is the 11th Im m FI and as a result is

.start offtwith a clu^i

receiring nothing.

the power to reprimand

the races and the fiiUii^

"Eveiything with the EU

before Pollock can stir up trouble.

There is virtually no .sup port for Pollock among the

_A_auLUtitt^.to the

has become clear in recent

brush off the challenge and

private there is still a

vague stories probably put out by BAR that there are T\’ revenues being generat

battle raging and there are moves going on which .seem to challenge the authority of the governing body.

plann^ Formula 1 bond

issue. Th^ is designed to

raised arimnd $2bn and to pave the way for an eventual 'flotation of

Poll(K;kO'ecentlv sent a letter to lach of the irval

One Holdings company.

team owners saying that

the trip to'Melbourne

tition Directorate.

Brili.sh American Racing

this \'ear, cancelling his

reserves >the right to

plans at thci la.st minute

^ Photo by John

● ^

Worns Mptx

argue that BAR should receive an even bigger pun ishment.

And that could be very bad news for Pollock. At the moment he seems to have

the full support of British

do not a|)peai- to be coivered

American Tobacco, but the

In-

Bernie dfd not make

is likely to misfire because Ecclestone may simple

ed on the Internet, which the

Concorde

Agi-eenient.

Ecclestones Formula

is veiy upset about BAR’s complaint against the FIA to the European Commission’s Compe

The only logkal explana tion for the challenge to the Concorde Agreement is that Pollock thinks that by putting the bond issue in jeopardy he can pressure Ecclestone into arguing for a lighter punishment for

j^jeks that the TV revTtonues are rather lower than tiad been expected and the

But while Pollock is

an incon\(enTence*^i‘

other FI teams.

the team when the World Council meets in Geneva. It is a brave move but it

other Fl^eam owners. It

Beniie Ecclestone who is ^ publicly trying^to-bni+d—hrthe process of fifialis- % bridges Wth the FIA. in ing'the details of his

BAR boss Craig Pollock

sale of the bonds suited out

team bosses have no desire to reduce their share still further. We have heard

of the sport!^

several races or even ban

team will face a shorttenn ban of between one and three races as the FIA

been

sheet and worry abt^

the team, hit it with a large fine, suspend it from

it from FI completely. The current feeling in the FI paddock is that the

has

amid speculation that ho i.< trying to get the final stages of negotiation for the

than bringing about a revo lution in the sport. There is no hope of success unless he has the solid support of the

tobacco giant is not in FI to fight political battles.

Pollock's aggie.ssiva atti

BAT wants to use FI to

tude towards Ecclestone

and the FIA is a high}-risk

sell cigarettes and if the politicking gets in the way

strateg}’ because it is moi#

of that aim, Pollock could

victim of the game, ratl/ir

quite easily find himself in the firing line.

likely that he will hecomt^

George wants GP engine hunt starts American in w

By JOE SAWARD

THE Australian Grand Prix gave

Formuia One

the Formula 1 circus the first true indication of the relative levels of

competitiveness this season, and

while several teams were delighted with what they found others were rather disappointed.

mimim

i INDIANAPOLIS Motor

Speedway boss Tony George wants to see

Although Half Schumacher finished third for the Williams team, the

an American driver in Formula One when it

Melbourne race underlined the belief

travel to the leg American endary

that the Supertec VIO engine is not a competitive power unit this year. This is not a problem for Williams as the team is planning to switch to BMW

track in the new cen \

engines next season but it is bad news for Benetton and British American

with the Ford Motor Company. The new Ford VIO engines were highly impres sive even if there was some embarrass

ment when both Stewart-Fords caught fire simultaneously at the start of the race.

Although no-one is publicly comment ing, there is no doubt that Benetton’s

bosses are now looking for a new engine deal in 2000, hopefully with a major car manufacturer. The obvious target is Toyota, although the Japanese giant is currently planning to enter the sport with its own team in 2002 or 2003

rather than as an engine supplier.

George, who was at Albert Park last week

Press on. Rail: The Supertec engine is struggling for horsepower. (John Morris/Mpix) There are possibilities, however, that

the company might fund the develop ment of a Judd-based engine to ensure

that when the Toyota Team is ready to come into FI it would have a power unit which was already developed. Judd has a Formula 1 engine which he developed for Yamaha. Such a move would make- a lot of

that it is not as simple as they think. BAR seems to be continuing with its policy of waiting for Renault to make a return to Grand Prix racing. This could happen, but it is unlikely to be for some time as the French company has other more important priorities at the moment.

It should also be noted that the high-

sense for Toyota from a strategic point of view although large motor companies

ly-successful Renault Sport team of

tend to think that they will have no problems beating the best in Formula 1.

members in the last couple of years and would need to be completely restruc

Usually they discover, to their cost.

engineers has lost a lot of its important tured.

The other teams on the lookout for

engines are Jordan and Sauber. Eddie Jordan knows that the arrival of Honda

is going to have a detrimental effect on

THE exciting centresprcad poster in this issue, of Glenn Seton’s FTR Falcon, is the first of a collector’s

series of five covering all the new major AU Falcon V8 Supercar teams.

hook for the remaining four (Shell, I’irlek, Castrol and Mitre 10) in subsequimt issues of MSN...

sure a driver needs to travel the usual route

to GP racing.

Racing, both of which have Supertec deals for this year and next. There were some particularly long faces at Benetton, the team having last year turned down the chance to work

tury - but he is not

his engine supply and needs to find a better alternative.

He is negotiating with Mugen’s Hirotoshi Honda about continuing their relationship but this is going to be com plicated as any independent Mugen effort would be frowned upon by the Honda Motor Company. And Mr Honda is a major shareholder in the company founded by his father.

end on a fact-finding mission, says that a US driver may be able to make it to the top with out traversing the usual route through European Formula 3 and Formula

3000 racing.

“For the long-term suc cess I think it’s very important,” he said, “not only a driver, but I think it would be good to have an American involved.

team

“(But) I tend to believe that there are certain

drivers who through the genes that they have, or whatever, are capable, given the ability to pre pare physically and men tally and to integrate into a team and a situa

tion, have the ability to be successful. “I think there are dri vers out there who exist

today that don’t neces

sarily have to go through the European system to

be competitive in this environment. Maybe it’s necessary to do that: I don’t know.”

There has been consid¬

erable speculation that

US NASCAR Champion Jeff Gordon may be look ing for a future in FI in coming

and.

years

indeed, Gordon’s step father

was

Albert

Park on the weekend, primarily seeking a deal for the merchandising of the Indy GP race. George says that there are no lack of opportuni ties should he or other

American racing entre preneurs wish to blood a local

driver

the

European system. “As soon as we announced the race we

got three or four propos als from people who have great ideas on how to do that (get an American into FI) but

we haven’t really given much attention to that,” he said.

“We don’t have any for malised plans to try and assist at this point.” The race, which is yet to have a calendar date

set, could happen

soon as next season but a

2001 date - probably in September - seems a more likely proposition at this time. - PHIL BRANAGAN

U March 1999

Testing times for

ith the first V8 races

Jordan Grand Prix By JOE SAWARD

across Eastern Europe, which is one of the big target areas

for many of the sponsors involved in Ft

JORDAN Grand Prix is

not planning to have an official test driver this year but it will, instead, give several drivers a proper test with the team.

Japanese driver Shinji Nakano, who is out of work this year after racing with Prost Graind Prix in 1997 and

Minardi last year, will be one of the drivers trying out the Jordan.

This arrangement has come about through Hirotoshi Honda of the Mugen compa ny, who has helped Nakano tooughout his racing career. The team is also planning to run Czech driver Tomas Enge, who made a big impact last year in Formula 3000. Enge is being targeted by several FI teams as a possible driver in

helpful in finalising the package with the engine

belt, we have come away without too many scratches on the Caterpillar machine.

management system.

We are trying to sur round ourselves with and

The same can not be

recruit good no-nonsense talented people - people who can operate in a-team atmosphere. There is certainly no room for egos and prima donas at Cat Racing whether you are driving the racecar or driving a broom on the workshop floor, we

said however, for a number of other teams.

Many of the boys were probably a bit too keen to do well early, but I am con cerned with the lack of action that was taken in

regards to a number of inci

dents. Unless CAMS are keen

crash damage - or they have .shares in PPG paint something has to be done about it.

probably avoidable.

was delighted to see the great effort from Steve Ellery. Steve did a fantastic job. He finally has some good equipment with the ex-

major impact not just in the Calculated mover: Eddie Jordan (Photo by oeraid Mcooman)

Audi covered for le Mans 24-Hour Working in conjunction with designers

Tony Southgate and Peter Elleray, Audi Sport UK has developed and built the R8C at their British subsidiary rtn (Racing

Technology Norfolk) at Hingham near Norwich.

The mechanical components of the Audi R8C - the V8 turbo engine, braking system

and six-speed sequential gearbox - have been adopted from the open top Audi R8R (roadster) which has already undertaken extensive testing.

Buckingham-based Audi Sport UK will prepare, enter and provide technical sup port for the two Audi R8Cs.

have a strong chance of a good result. The so-called level one

teams certainly do not have a mortgage on the front of the grid and I think we shall see more surprises throughout the course of the year.

hile our team had a

W pretty strong debut, 1

Stone Brothers car and

gory.

wilt) John Bowe

of business because of

incidents which did occur over the weekend were

IN addition to the two ‘open’ R8R sportscars, Audi Sport UK will enter two ‘fully enclosed’ R8 Coupes (R8Cs) at Le Mans on 12/13 June - running the vehicles in the GT Prototype cate

are all at the same level

to see a few teams drop out

Obviously the racing is pretty hard but some of the

the future because his inclu sion in a team would have a

Czech Republic but right

Wfor the year under our

horsepower race at Albert Park.

John Sidney has done a great job and despite the fact the engine was only installed on the Tuesday before the Grand Prix, it

didn’t put a foot wrong. I've had a couple of good races with him over the past couple of years and he has always impressed me and his

went amazingly well. We didn’t have the legs on Ellery but there is still plenty of horsepower to come because our

efforts at the Grand Prix

were also a great advertise ment for the technical con

trol of regulations that now exist in the category. It goes to show if you buy a good car, you now

Dr Wolfgang Ullrich, head of Audi Sport said that, by entering both cars, the company was trying to make the most of their opportu nities at Le Mans - the company also being represented by no less than five former win

was pretty delighted with

I how we stacked up in the

and all working towards a common goal.

While we were disapa fuel pointed to strike injector problem in the final Grand Prix V8 race, Iwas thrilled with our results for the weekend.

If somebody had told me we would be running the top five at our first meeting, 1 would have suggested they book into the “looney farm".

Kevin Otway and Les Laidlaw have done a great job in putting all this togeth er but we still have a long way to go. We will still have to ride

the rollercoaster of ups and downs throughout the course of the year. If we had been caught up in the Seton/Ingall con

’’makeshift" airbox is costing us some speed - probably up to about 20 horsepower

tact in the first race, our

which, in such a close con test, is hard to recover from.

The competitive nature of V8 Supercar racing will certainly make life unpre

Richard Aubert from

weekend could have been a lot different.

dictable.

Autronic also was very

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In preparation for Le Mans Audi Sport Team Joest will

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12-Hour

endurance race at Sebring on March 20, nmning two Audi R8Rs. The full Audi driver line-up, which starts

Romeo Capitanio Australian Top Fuel and Funny Car Champion

its Le Mans preparations in the pre-qualifying heats at the French track on May 2 are: ● Audi Sport Team Joest - Audi R8R: Laurent Aiello, Michele Alboreto, Rinaldo Capello, Frank Biela, Yvan Muller,

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12Mdrchl999

Roberts rocks the Island Suzuki surprises with quickest ever Phillip Island laps SUZUE3 rider Kenny Roberts domi nated the official IRTA tests at

Phillip Island last weekend, setting the qiiickest times ever recorded at the track.

Roberts’ best lap time of 1:31.837 bet tered Simon Crafar’s official record of

lm33.868, set at the 1998 Australian

Grand Prix, while also topping Mick Doohan’s recent unofficial best time by 0.36sec.

Sitting out the test session at the Australian Grand Prix, while team mates Alex Criville, Taddy Okada and

Sete Gibemau toiled away, Doohan said Roberts is “going fast, maybe a little too fast.”

The 25-year-old American tried out a Doohan-style “Screamer” engine, and may opt to use it for the entire season. “I jumped on it, did five laps to break it in, then 15 fast laps,” said Roberts.

sis/rear suspension combination which is better again and I expect we can improve it still further.

“Twelve of them were in the 1:32s. I’m

lm32.305, from Okada (lm32.746) and

keeping my options open, but it sure does have a good feeling. “I’ve still asked the factory for more acceleration,” he added. “Our top speed

Alex Barros’s Honda (lm32.886). They were followed by Red Bull Yamaha’s Regis Laconi (lm32.935), Roberts’ team mate Nobby Aoki (lm33.224) and

is not bad, but it takes a little time to

Gibemau’s Honda V-twin (lm33.746). Crafar (Red Bull Yamaha) continues

After battling slower

'The second place finish

pit stops and a 10 km/h

by Mladin aboard the

mer

u i

buperbike Lhampion Mat Mladin failed by

just half a bike length

to win the Daytona 200

last Monday Miguel ' niiHamal all v ■ , . .. . ^ takmg the wm over the Australian after the two duelled for the

entire 57 laps.

Criville finished second fastest with a

get there.” In addition to the engine improve ments, changes to the RGV500’s han dling on the recommendation of Roberts and his Australian engineer Warren Willing are bearing ftniit.

ii top speed deficit, for-

“This latest version has a new chas

Yoshimma Suzuki equals Gregg Hansford’s I’unnerup finish to Steve Baker

1977 ^ best result for an Australian at the

Florida classic.

Anthony

Gobert

grabbed pole position for *be Vance & Hiues team, the first time an Australian has qualified on pole at Da3fi:ona t. the

to struggle with the Red Bull Yamaha team’s change to Dunlop from Michelin tyres, the New Zealander recording a best of lm33.746. -DARRYL FLACK

luischeduled tyre change

hell of a race and stayed

early in the race.

there with me. We were

DuHamel’s victory was “

was

his

first

Superbike race since sustaining a serious compound leg fracture last year. The Canadian also

“It was a hard race and

ished

DuHamel said. *^e did a

I really felt comfort-

able, the bike was really fast and fiom what I could

tell unless Mat was doing a good job of saving some-

thing, I figured that if I

pulled off the Daytona got out of there pretty double after he won the good and only threw a few Supersport 600 race on weaves at him, then just Saturday.that would be enough to I give credit to Mat,”

after

just going at it.

all the more remarkable

‘Go Show* eventually fin11th

hold him off until the start-finish line.’ -DARRYLFLACK

JBRACE AGE TECHNOLOGY IN METAL TREATMENT The OzCryo process involves metal tempering by 'fry freezing' (or Cryogenically treating) components in a computer controlled environment to almost -200 °C and holding them there for up to 40 hours, slowly bringing the temperature back to normal after post tempering at 150 ’ C. This process has the effect of realigning the molecular structure of the material, effectively decreasing friction, increasing wear resistance and heat and electrical conductivity. The long deep cycle process means that OzCryo penetrates fully through the thickest material ensuring uniformity. In real terms OzCryo performs the heat treatment process accurately and consistently as manufacturers would have (or should have) desired. In fact, today Toyota use the cryogenic'process and Briggs and Stratton now offer the process as an option in their 1998 catalogue. In racing applications this results in increased component and engine life as well as increased horsepower. In karting dyno tests and track tests have shown improvements of up to one horsepower (in a KTIOOS) and three tenths of a second gain in lap times, as well as. a much longer bore life. Tests on Yamaha engines have shown substantial variations in bore composition and hardness. Cryogenically treated spark plugs have shown HP increases and brake disc and pads have shown substantially decreased wear and increased performance, in car racing, brake disc life has been increased by 300%. Valve springs are showing even greater benefits with up to five times the use before tension reduces substantially. Recent international testing on small block Chevrolet engines indicate that horsepower increases in excess of 5% are being achieved with engine assemblies that have been cryogenically treated. Components treated included the engine block, crankshaft, camshaft, rods, pistons valves and rockers. Gearbox and diff wear is amazingly reduced after the cryo process, and suspension components show increased performance. In industrial applications, cutting tools, mining tools and drilling tips have shown up to eight times the life (send us your lathe tools BEFORE resharpening), even golf clubs and balls show increased distance, and rifles have much greater accuracy. Brass musical instruments amaze their owners with better quality tone once they have been treated.

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IMDOSHFSIVCoXrO

12 March 1999

CART’S fun in the sun CART will end its year with a non-championship finale in Hawaii, where drivers will race for the

highest single-day purse in motor racing history.

if 1 won this race and $5 mil Moore.

time. As we saw at our final

held for the first time on

race in 1998 at California, $1 million is an incredible amount to win but $5 mil

island of Oahu. The winner

of the non-points event gets $5 million.

The layout of the airport

way to end this millenni um,” CART CEO Andrew

course will be 1.8 miles and the race format will include two one-hour heats sand wiched around 60 minutes of entertainment.

winner’s purse gets every one’s attention - both dri vers and fans alike.” The street race will be held at Barbers Point

Airport just outside Honolulu. The top 12 drivers

year NEWMAM/HAAS Racing dropped a bombshell less

^ud

lion - it’s almost inconceiv able.”

“This will be an incredible

Craig said. “A $5 million

for better

lion,” said Canadian Greg

Hawaiian Super Prix will be November 13 on the big

than one month before the

beginning of the 1999 FedEx Championship Series by announcing last week that they will run on

Firestone

The points accumulated in the two races will determine

the winner and finishing order.

DELLA PENNA Motorsports driver Richie Hearn has been released from

The pole position will be worth US$250,000, with other prizes available for distinctions like fastest lap.

Homestead Hospital after sustaining a mild concussion during a testing acci dent last Thursday at the Homestead Motorsports Complex.

The race will be televised

“We won’t know what caused the accident

Speedway, will automatical ly qualify for the race while,

on a pay-per-view basis, with those tuning in receiv

until we get the car back to the shop (in Indianapolis) and have a chance to examine

ing a chance to win $1 mil

NASCAR racing, there will also be entries picked at the discretion of the promoter.

lion. Pay-per-view and the

it,” said team owner John Della Penna. “The fact that Richie wasn’t injured is a

from the CART series, which will conclude its season on October 31 in the Marlboro 500 at the California

often

the

case

Newman -Haas

“I probably would pass out

“That’s more money than most people see in their life

US$10

iPi

fired up

who will be allowed to add four cars.

million

The

Hawaiian location are firsts for the series.

credit to the Swift engineers. The car did exactly what it was supposed to do.

Hearn remained overnight at the Homestead Hospital for observation. “We were having a really good test before the accident. Richie was one of the fastest

guys out there running 25.2-second laps con sistently. We continue to be pleased with the horsepower of this Toyota engine,” added Della Penna.

Since Hearn sustained a concussion, he will not be able to drive for one week in accor

dance with CART regulations. Hearn is expected to be back in his #10 Budweiser Toyota/Swift Champ Car in time for the season-opener on Sunday, March 21.

Brian Herta

hurting too BRYAN Herta, one of

eral

the drivers expected to challenge for the CART PPG Cup points

pointed that this has inter

He is obviously disap-

title, underwent an

rupted what has been an

tomy last Monday.

for him, but he’s confident, as we are, that he’ll be

emergency appendec-

The 28-year-old driver suffered pains and

abdominal had a 30-

minute procedure per formed at Henry Mayo

excellent testing program

back in form for Miami.”

Herta is expected to return for the season

opening Marlboro Grand

Memorial

Prix of Miami on March

Hospital in Valencia,

21. He had one victorj’ in the 1998 campaign, three poles and finished eighth in the PPG Cup points.

Newhall

California. |-Images

manager Scott Roembke said this week,

“Bryan is recovering nicely,” Team Rahal gen-

Dunlop Formula PerkinS

RSV 98 Spec 4

E N G I N E E R 1 N G

A new tyre

to complement

neither team drivers Michael Andretti and

Christian Fittipaldi - actual ly took part, the team mak ing the decision to switch brands after the truck had arrived at the track.

Team co-owner Carl Haas, when announcing the brandswitch, said that while the

our famous

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was

difficult to

make, it was “strictly a busi ness decision,” designed to make the team more compet itive this year. In a prepared release Goodyear’s General Manager of worldwide racing Stu Grant confirmed Newman/Haas’

decision, saying that the com pany regretted the timing of the move, especially when it was “coming at a time when Goodyear is devoting addi tional resources - including Formula One technology - to strengthening its CART pro gram.” Goodyear will supply tyres to just five cars for thel999: the single car entries for Penske (A1 Unser Jnr.), AAR (Alex Barron) and Bettenhausen Motorsports

(Shigeaki Hattori), plus the two-car entry for Walker Racing (Gil de Ferran and Naoki Hattori).

& 18 /

this

The team’s transporter was present at Sebring for Goodyear’s recent tests, but

16", 17

rubber

year, ending a long, suc cessful relationship with Goodyear.

decision

1995 Bathurst

■

No BTCC drive for Morris Moior Rating ... but everyone else is ready World of Sport

Calendar

Shell championship Series VSSupercars* Mar 28

.. .Eastern Creek .. .Rd 1

April ... .Adelaide 500 ... .Rd 2 Rd3

The 30-year-old was all set to

partner Bathurst runner-up

June 27

. .Sandown

,Rd6

FIA Formula One World

Chamionship Rd2

May 2 ... .San Marino

Rd 3

May 16 .. .Monaco

.Rd4

May 30 .. .Spain ..

,Rd5

June 13

..Canada

,Rd6

June 27

. .France .

,Rd7

FedEx CART

Championship Series* .. .Homstead, FI

Rd 1

Apr 10 ... .Motegi, Japan .. .Rd 2 Apr 18 Long Beach, Ca .Rd3 May 2 Nazareth, Pa ... .Rd 4 May 15 .. .Brazil

,Rd5

SOOcc World Grand

Prix Motorcycle C'Ship*

■

l_B I

Apr 18

Malaysia

Rd 1

Apr 25

Japan

,Rd2

May 9

Spain .

IB IB IB

l_B

Dynamics outfit until the team was restricted to one car due to

engine supply problems with

Rd3

Neal was in Hnal contention

for the Volvo S40 drive but,

with Vincent Radermecker get ting the ride, he will now drive a solo Dynamics entry. “I’m very disappointed,” said

a good opportxmity. “I really wanted to go to the BTCC, after attending the test and media day. If your heart’s in racing touring cars that’s the place to be.” Morris tested both of the team’s Nissan Primeras in last month and Spain impressed all who watched with not only his speed, but the ease with which he adapted to

Rd5

tion, with which he was not

Rd 6

familiar.

Rd1

April 18 .. .Australia

Rd2

May 2 Britain May 16.. .Spain May 30 .. .Italy

Rd3 Rd4 Rd5

FIA Formual 3000

International C'ship Imola .

,Rd1

May 15 .. .Monaco

.Rd2

May 29 .. .Spain .

Rd3

Australian NASCAR Apr 3

the front-wheel-drive configuaMorris has now returned to

Australia and is looking for ‘work’ in local racing. “There’s plenty of opportuni ty to do something here. I’ve been scratching around and there’s a few things on the go, but I don’t want to harpoon the chances of any of them working out.”

Morris’ option are believed to be connected to several V8

Supercar teams’ endurance programs and, perhaps, include an overseas sportscar appear ance.

Series* CalderT’dome" .Rd5

tea

In the meantime rumours

persist that he may race one of the ex-Diet Coke BMWs in this

Rules changes delayed

TOGA has announced

that proposed changes to

their

British

Car Touring Championship regula tions, previously

announced

phased in during 2000, will be implemented in their entirety in 2001 giving the series, what Alan Gow says will be a new “breed’ of touring car.

While the new regula tions haven’t been fully detailed as yet, May being the month they are expected to be finalised,

Gow did say that they are being designed to provide stability with the current regulations while, at the same time, providing cost

year’s

Drag Racing Series

Championship but, at this stage, rumours is all that they

facturers

Rd3

seem to be.

“Our target of finalising the outline regulations by

Gainesville

April 11

Houston ..

Rd4

Apri 25

Dallas ....

Rd5

BOC

Rd2

i-WoiAMPKacSmt)

FIA World Rally Championship* Mar24 ...Portugal Apr 21 Spain

,Rd4

May 9 ... .France

Rd6

May 30 .. .Italy

Rd7

Rd5

incentives for new manu

become

involved.

LVi

.Goffs Harbour .. .Rd 1

May 7-9 ..Canberra*

Gases

-PHILBRANAGAN

Australian Rally Championship Apri0-11

Championships Sports Sedans, Club Cars, Prodsports, Group N,

BOC Gases Austraian

Street Sedans, Formula Vee, Sports 1300, Formula Alfa

Super Touring Car C'ship

Wakefield Park

April 18 .. .Lakeside ..

Rd 1

May 2 ... .Calder Park

Rd2

May 30

Rd3

..Mallala ....

r 1 ten

Check your local guides for screening times

All BvenI dates In this calendar were

correct at the time of printing. Please

Sunday 21 March

for screening details.

the end of next month

manufacturers to enter

will be achieved,” Gow

the BTCC next year, new

said.

entrants with cars built

“However, we need to

be prudent and objective in ensuring that the new regulations are not intro duced vhth undue haste.

“By deciding on this strategy, we have taken

to the 2001 specs will be

allowed to compete a year

ings for the teams, partic ularly in light of the test ing ban. Giving teams less time to perfect their

early.

cars at each circuit will also have the bonus of

With the full support of current manufacturers,

making the on-track rac ing even more unpredi-

TOCA has also announced a full ban on

catble,” he said.

the responsible view of stability and utilisation of current Super Touring

pre-event testing in 2000

“I also envisage that these cost-savings will

and the implementation of a ‘control’ tyre.

encourage teams to run more than two cars in the

equipment and resources.

“The year 2000 will see very significant cost sav-

championship throughout

To encourage further

the year.”

last BICC seat to Wneant RadennaclHN' BELGIAN Vincent Radermecker has

re-signed with Team Dynamics team for

claimed the last available factory seat in this year’s British Touring Car Championship, signing up to partner

which he has won the last two indepen

reigning champion Rickard Rydell at Volvo.

Radermecker beat former Peugeot dri-

ver Tim Harvey and leading independant Matt Neal to the seat, Neal now having

dants titles.

Rydell will again start the series as

favourite with his main irvals expected to be French touring car stars Yuan Muller, driving for Vauxhall, and Laurent Aiello, the multiple European touring car cham-

pion who will be at the wheel of the factory Nissan Primera.

nET

^SPORTS^

1999 Australian Jet Ski Championships Round 4

Round 5

including access to competitors' paddock area

Feb 27-28

March 20-21

2-day pass $15, Seniors Card holders $5/day

April 17-18

Eastern Beach

City Beach Wollongong

South Broadwater

Adult admission fee only $10 Children under 14 yrs free - Kiosk and bar facilities on site. Tel: 02 4822 2811 Fax; 02 4821 9305

associations for date changes.

Check your local guides

Not endangered: Honda’s new Accord now has another year to race. (Sutton images)

Braidwood Road Goulburn

consult any individual tracks and/or

Series or events telecast on Network Ten are marked with an asterix.

I I— j_.

Watch the little birdie: The 1999 BTCC field is ready for the off. All the drivers look confident of victory except, perhaps, for Yvan Muller, who apparently cannot bear to watch. (Photo by Ralph Hardwiewsutton images)

1999 NHRA Winston Mar 21

so is the car. It would have been

June 6 .. .Italy ..

Apri 4 —South Africa

u~~

were in a competitive position, because the team is so good and

June 20 ..Catalunya

World Superbike Series

QC5jyD!Q50D.

Morris this week. “I think we

Rd4

May 5

■vjMcancanxnK

Matt Nesd in the two car Team

May 23 .. .France

Sit¥erstone~

Nissan.

Apr! 11 .. .Brazil

Mar 21

■"‘-afsai

have faltered at the final hurdle.

May 16 .. .Phillip Island ....Rd4 June 6 .. .Hidden Valley .. .Rd 5

May 2 ... .Wanneroo

PAUL Morris’ efforts to get a full-time British Touring Car Championship drive

PROMOTIONS

E-mail: gofast@goulburn.net.au www.goulburn.net.au/~gofast

Geelong Vic

Round 6

Surfers Paradise

All the fastest Jet Ski Racers in the country. For information phone 02 4963 3944

lEk)0®i7SUXo)[?9

Inverted marsupials and large dishes at the BAR I

'm upside-down, where the kan garoos live," said a journalist irrelevant issue of "team orders"

into a telephone. "And, you

know, there are lots of wombats

and how it was outrageous that

here too."

the F1 drivers had come back to

Melbourne and were saying that they were just as willing to do the same thing all over again.

Ah yes, Australia. The new season. Melbourne. The favourite

city of the Grand Prix Circus. It may be at the other end of the

Team have been a part of theorders sport since the very

world for most of the Ft people, but they like to go there. Most of

beginning. It is a part of the tradi tion and not only in Europe. It has been the same story in Australia. Years ago before Iwas in

the races take place in areas

which are rather too agricultural for those who like bright lights and big cities. Montreal is good but too French; Budapest is good but it's in eastern Europe and everything is still a little post-Communist grubby; Monaco is filled with too many rich twerps in white socks

Formula 1 I used to visit Australia

on a regular basis to watch the annual touring car race at Mount Panorama, Bathurst. Racing at The Mountain was fabulous but it

seemed to me that every time I

and Ferraris; and Barcelona is too

went there Peter Brock Australia's most famous and most

far away from the race track. And so Melbourne wins the game to be Formula 1 's favourite city and it is

loved racing driver was constantly switching between the cars he was running in order to be in the right one at the end of the race.

likely to hold on to that role for some years to come...

It's a great city and the Grand Prix is a great event. And if it

No-one cried scandal then.

Brockie was Brockie, a national

sometimes rains in Melbourne the

locals have an expression to give the visitors a little hope; "If you don't like the weather here," they say, "just wait a couple of minutes and it will have changed. You can have all four seasons in a day in Melbourne."

treasure.

Split the cheque: While Mr

Photo by Tony Glynr

On another occasion in 1977 The Great Race was settled when

●5».

Villeneuve and Mr Pollock were

coming to terms with life in Formula One our man Saward was

coming to terms with man-sized

meals at MN’s favourite eatery.

And it has that very unique modern-Australian feel to it. What

ingredients," he said, flicking back

does that mean? Well... Many

Circus held a competition to see who could come up with the short

his hair, "but we don't do special pizzas to order." Fine, I replied. I'd like the ham and pineapple pizza. Hold the ham. Hold the pineapple. And add

est joke possible in the English

basil. A lot of it."

years ago, so legend has it, the members of Monty Python's Flying

language. The winning entry had just two words.

"Pretentious? Moi?"

I am always reminded of this gag when Ieat out in Melbourne. It's a great city for eating, but there is a tendency among Australian

else. One could have understood such an attitude because

and NASCARs which sounded like

are the three remaining members

with a dramatic flick of the wrist, "is

101st Airborne Division could have

Lancaster bombers. There were

of the Save Albert Park movement

wok-fried kid goat with a guava

landed on it and dug in, before advancing on the French Fry

whiney Formula Fords, booming drag machines and irritating karts, which always sound like mosqui toes looking for a new vein to tap.

waving yellow ribbons as they chain themselves to the railings for

glaze and roasted rocket stuffed with a green tomato marmalade. "But," they add conspiratorially, "I really recommend the Tasmanian langoustine Tortelli cooked in octopus ink."

mountains that were close at hand.

ByWhat now isyouthisarebloke probably asking: wittering on

lot of the members of the

posed to be a

and cosmopolitan Melbourne sub

motor racing magazine. A good point.

A Formula 1 circus stay in the hip urb of St Kilda, which boasts more

Well, the catch-

rants with ridiculous menus.

phrase of the

that it was time to re-invent the

pizza and offered such delicacies as a Thai version of the great Italian classic and even something

race, featuring Barbie as one its

If all of this fails

to keep the race in the news then

Victorian Premier

controversial.

they called The Great Ozzie Pizza.

Poms had to be

told that this expression is normally

topping which consisted of a lamb chop and a fried egg. Unusual... One night this year in St Kilda 1

used in hamburger joints. A ham

drivers, although Inever did go to check how the world's most plastic

burger "with the lot" means that it

female got on.

very simple pizza: tomato and

arrives with everything that the chef can find in the cupboard thrown on top of it, including if you

peace and quiet in Albert Park dur ing the four days of the Grand Prix

cheese with lots of basil leaves. Herbalists out there can draw their

are really unlucky a fried egg, a bit of orange and a slice of beetroot.

own conclusions. There was no

such thing on the menu and the

There is no doubting that the Australian Grand Prix really did

waiter said that the kitchen could

have "the lot" with the Aussie

not handle people making up your

motorsport cupboard being emp

own pizzas.

tied into Albert Park. There were

"You can add and subtract

should simply take away the pad lock keys and leave them there with a big sign saying "Please do not feed the silly people".

On another occasion in 1977 The Great Race was settled when Colin

This was a normal pizza with a

went out to a pizzeria. Iwanted a

the 46th time. Ithink the police

Kennett pops Bond stopped and had a cup of tea Jeff up for a sound byte his wild-haired Australian while team leader Allan Moffat caught orsidekick Ron Grand Prix this Walker who is year was up and overtook him to win the race in chairman of the "Formula 1 with Grand Prix board the lot!". a suitably staged finish... says something Visiting

than its fair share of trendy restau

A few years ago in Sydney I went to a place which had decided

There was a BMW celebrity

about food?

This is sup

thundering five-litre touring cars

Indianapolis Motor Speedway to turn up to see how to do a Grand Prix properly. This was good to

how to do it better than everyone

tions but nothing prepared me for

appeared. It was the size of a small European country. The entire

Prix of the year. It is this reputa tion which led the folk from

George and his team want to get it right and have not decided to bludgeon their way into the World Championship thinking they know

had been warned about the por the Weiner schnitzel which

lot of fun and confirmed its num ber one status as the best Grand

see because it shows that Tony

A few miles out of town Idis

covered a place called Maxy's which believes in good honest food without any pretention. One needs a serious appetite to go there. I

restaurateurs to over-complicate

"Our special today," they say,

That aside, Melbourne was a 'll

"OK," he said, "no worries."

the menu.

Colin Bond stopped and had a cup of tea while team leader Allan Moffat caught up and overtook him to win the race in a suitably staged finish...

There is never a moment of

meeting. From dawn to dusk one is subjected to air displays and rac ing cars of all shapes and sizes and drivers of wide-ranging levels of ability. If there was a moment of quiet then a jazz band or a bongodrum beater is sent in to fill the breach and if that fails then there

It was Walker who stirred up a "storm of controversy" last year when he "raved" about the evils of

team orders. It was just not fair that these Pommy bludgers at McLaren could fix the race like

that. The average man in Australia was outraged. Drivers should be left to decide the issue. When the FI circus reassem bled 12 months after that outburst

in Melbourne the locals took up

where they had left off and every one was rabbiting on about the

Indianapolis knows better than anywhere how to host big events.

The make greatest in Formula mistake1 isoneto not can know what you don't know. If it was easy anyone could do it and it is assuredly not easy to take on the big guns of Williams, McLaren and Ferrari.

British American Racing made the mistake last year of telling the world that they could win their first race. Everyone in Formula 1 knew that was a ridiculous idea. Some even said it. In recent months as it has become obvious how difficult it

is to hit the big time in FI the BAR folk have slightly altered their under standing of their comments. You have to believe you can win, they say. You have to really want to win. The fact is that the early claims

have not been forgotten and that is rather sad in a way because

Jacques Villeneuve did a pretty

good job to qualify 11th on the grid. It would have been impres sive from any new team but the

problem for BAR was that they had talked up the team to such an extent that 11th was a disappoint

ment and they had no-one but themselves to blame.

Oh well, the dreams are all a lit

tle upside-down now. Ididn't see any kangaroos in the BAR pit but there are one or two wombats...

12 March 1999

f/-TM rMs

WmwlSYLS ■

The nominees and winners were:

● MotorSport Drag Racer of the Year Nominees:

Victor Bray Juan Kudnig Gary Phillips Rob Tucker

Webber, Ingi

MotorSpoi

Winner: Juan Kudnig

● MotorSport Speedway Racer of the Year Nominees:

Max Dumesny Robbie Farr

Skip Jackson Peter Logue

Winner: Skip Jackson

● MotorSport Bike Racer of the Year Nominees: Damon Buckmaster

Martin Craggill Kevin Curtain Steven Martin

Winner: Marty Craggill

● MotorSport Rally Driver of the Year

■

Nominees: Neal Bates Rick Bates Possum Bourne Michael Guest

MARK

David

Achiever of the Year to the

Besnard, Russell Ingall and

tides he took home for the 1997

Craig Lowndes all collected

season.

Awards last week.

^ear, which was decided by the

the Melbourne Park Convention Centre at the home of the

while HRT team leader Craig Lowndes won the prestigious

Winner: Russell Ingall

great success for the more than 500 people who attended. Webber took out two awards

David Besnard took the prize for Young Achiever of the Year, justifying the trip he made from

● MotorSport Circuit Racer of the Year

for the second year in a row, adding the MotorSportsman of

his St Petersburg, Florida base especially to attend the awards

Winner: Possum Bourne

● MotorSport Personality of the Year Nominees:

Australian Tennis Open, was a

Nominees:

the Year and International

Jason Bright Russell Ingall Craig Lowndes Jim Richards

Winner: Craig Lowndes

● MotorSport Young Achiever of the Year (sponsored by the Australian Grand Prix Corporation) Nominees:

Marcos Ambrose David Besnard Scott Dixon Adam Macrow

Winner: David Besnard

● MotorSport International Achiever of the

Year (sponsored by Pennzoil) Nominees: Marcos Ambrose David Besnard David Brabham Mark Webber Winner: Mark Webber

● Australian MotorSportsman of the Year (sponsored by Sedgwick’s) Nominees: David Besnard

Craig Lowndes Jim Richards Mark Webber

major honours at the 1999 I^gall topped the voting in the Australian MotorSport MotorSport Personality of the

The glamorous event, held at

Jason Bargwanna Russell Ingall Craig Lowndes Larry Perkins Mark Webber

Webber,

Winner: Mark Webber

Motorsport News,

CircuitRacer of the Year title,

night with his family.

Also taking home major prizes were speedway star Skip Jackson, rally ace Possum Bourne and superbike star Marty Craggill, who won the inaugural prize for motorcycle racing. Hosted by television and radio personality Richard Stubbs, the night was also a great one for the CAMS 1998 Champions, who received their trophies, while singer Patrick McMahon provided the enter tainment in a terrific perfor mance.

12 March 1999

all take top *t Awards

Winners: Mark Webber (above left with AGPC Chief John Hamden and his father Allan Webber) and Russell Ingall (above) took two of the top awards at the MotorSport Awards. Everyone had a good time: from Holden PR soldiers Tim Pemberton and Wally Weissell (opposite, left) and .Mark Skaife (with Adelaide Advertiser motoring editor Bob Jennings) to Phillip Island promoter Fergus Cameron, here bravely wading through AVESCO’s Tony Cochrane’s pockets. Below: Network 10’s Leigh Diffey (with Maree and Victor Bray) and Barry Sheene had differing company. CAMS’ Champions (bottom) received their trophies, while former Castrol Cougar Melinda Price got up close and personal with McLaren’s twoseater and its driver Darren Turner. Host Richard Stubbs (bottom right) kept the night moving, and who needs Neil Diamond when you have the brilliant Patrick McMahon (right)?

12M3rchl999

●-Konica ●-

The old 1-2, times four by CHRIS LAMBDEN

HRT duo Craig Lowndes and Mark Skaife shared the honours as the Mobil team dominated

the V8 Supercar showcase races

at the ’99 Grand Prix in the way that has previously been the

The Stone Bros cars were so new and untested that the weekend

became, effectively, a development run, although by Sunday’s race four, Jason Bright was posting some very competitive lap times.

domain of Castrol duo Russell

Practice & Qualifying

Ingall and Larry Perkins.

of a hectic year, at a track where, of

While that duo were in con

tention for the places, the big and pleasant surprise was the perfor mance of several new combos, specifically “privateer” Steve Ellery (stunningly quick in the exLarkham EL Falcon), John Bowe in the CAT team’s interim EL and

Greg Murphy, who also got into the fray in the Wynns team’s new VT Commodore.

The weekend was an unfortunate one for the five new AU Falcons which turned out.

Although qualifying a very promising third, Glenn Seton was out of contention after two comers

in the first race, never quite to recover, while the Shell team went

home on Saturday after a brace of worrying front underwing failures and no replacement spares.

40 V8s arrived for the beginning

course, nobody is able to test. A

challenge to see just how quickly and how well individuals can arrive

at a good set-up — although for the

leading teams data from last year is a useful start.

After all the homologation and production delays, 5 AU Falcons

made the race - Seton, Johnson, Radisich, Bright and Larkham although there was going to be a scary shortage of replacement front air-dams between them and a

whole new set of problems.

Commodore, fettled by the Perkins team; and John Bowe, running the all-new CAT team’s existing EL at this meeting. The Wynns team too was unveil ing its new VT, along with the new

driver pairing, Murphy and Steve Richards (in the older VS), while John Faulkner, with Betta signage, would debut his VT as well, with the revamped Young Lions, Noske and Kelly, appearing in their pair of ex-HRT VS Commodores.

Of the rest, the big surprise per former was going to be Steve Elleiy, the youngster having settled into his ex-Larkham EL Falcon

well at the previous weekend’s Eastern Creek test. Cameron

McLean too was debuting his exJohnson Falcon, with other new

combinations including Rodney Forbes in the ex-Gardner VS Commodore.

A number of new teams and dri

There was a lot of interest to

vers were set to debut, most signifi cant of them set to be Radisich, the

observe...

kiwi ex-BTCC driver into the early

with the GP venue by dropping straight onto the pace and heading

developmental work on the Shell

Falcon; Wayne Gardner, turning out

the

brand

new

Coke

Ingall reignited his love affair

the single practice session time

sheets with a 2:00.143, just a tenth up on Skaife, then Seton - quite

happy with the AU at this early

Ford

stage - Longhurst (in the old EL),

whether the front aerodynamics would match the expected rear

Lowndes, Murphy, Perkins, Ellery, Bright and Crompton. An interest ing early top ten...

With a single qualifying session also, picking your lap and a clear run were likely to be significant contributors to a result.

In the end, the HRT duo duelled

for the pole. Skaife was down into

the 1:58s early on to head the list, but on his second run on a new set, Lowndes went into new territory,

with a 1:57.657.

Skaife had one more shot, having already used his fresh rubber, and got into the 57s, but three-tenths away from his team-mate.

“Qualifying has always been Mark’s strong point,” a delighted Lowndes said later, “ so I did a bit of work on that down at the last

Phillip Island test we did.”

“Well, I did some work on my starts,” Skaife responded propheti cally. “Hopefully they’ll be better now too...”

Seton was third. For such a new

teams

centred

around

gain, the actuality seems to be the reverse, most coping with a basic oversteerer.

Ingall was fourth, ahead of .... Bowe! Say what? Yes, the former Shell teamster

was fifth. “The car’s still got a bit in

it,” he grinned, cautiously agreeing

that, yes, it was quite nice to be in front of the old team...

Radisich wasn’t far away, a cou ple of tenths back in the best of the Shell cars, with Perkins between them.

“It’s early days,” Radisich report ed. “There’s still a lot of early devel opment work to do, but we’ll get there.”

Longhurst, Ellery (grinning from ear to ear at the speed in his ex-

Larko car) and Bright completed the top ten, although the latter

caused some concern in the camp

by running wide at turn one and destroying the front air dam on the Pirtek AU. Larkham’s sister car

car, with limited track time, it was an impressive effort. Funnily, while

had the only spare...

the pre-event concern among the

and Johnson filled the next five

Team Orders?:

Yes, just win! Lowndes and Skaife

(top) were never headed from the start of race one. Team Mc-HRT

Crompton, Kelly, Murphy, Larko spots, with McLean the second gen uine privateer,

19th, with a

2:01.317.

Faulkner was struggling with his VT (“it’s oversteering like a pig as you lift oft”), finally losing it at the dangerous turn five, giving the crew some overnight work to do to

denied any McLaren-styie deal,

repair some substantial right-side

but each won two races. Seton is third into the corner but a few seconds later his weekend was

Race 1-10 laps

effectively ruined... Dream debut:

Bowe (left) raised eyebrows with a strong start for the

CAT team, using its existing EL until the new AU Falcon is

ready. Photos: Marshall Cass

panel damage.

Friday’s opening scramble pro duced the now traditional opening lap melee and the damage was sub stantial.

Skaife DID get the start right, blasting away to nose into turn one

ahead of Lowndes (who got pushed a little wide), Seton and the pack. Gardner too ran wide after a

stormer from grid 19. So far so good, but at the similar turn three, all hell broke loose.

Ingall’s Castrol Commodore

there was contact and the FTR

explained afterwards. Ingall was fifth, ahead

Falcon spun around.

scythed down the inside of Seton, Radisich propped to avoid the pile-up but Perkins couldn’t stop either, the Shell car sustaining

front and rear damage, Perkins’ car a foot shorter at the front than it should be. Both drove around to

retire, as did Seton, with steering damage.

nose-to-tail

Longhurst and Bright, with Kelly Mui-phy and Larkham rounding out

the top ten (after Tender’s disqualification from tenth).

Race 2-8 laps

The incident would involve the

Skaife, this time from

Stewards in a lengthy hearing

pole, again made the best start, squeezing his team-mate just a tad to

which, with a counter-protest,

would drag on into the next day. Skaife and Lowndes would later

offer a possible explanation: “We’re not allowed to use air-

bleed valves any more, so we have to start with the tyres a little under

pressure. For the first couple of laps, it’s very greasy and you can’t use your normal brake markers.” They were being a little generous... The drama left the two HRT cars

with quite a gap at this very early stage, while through it all came Ellery (“the space just opened up...”), Bowe, Kelly (fi-om 12th!), Ingall with a damaged front air-dam, Bargwanna, Bright, Murphy, Longhurst, Larkham, Tander, Noske, Gardner and Richards (from 231).

Things settled for a lap or so, but

ensure he got the run into turn one. From

there, again, it was frankly over.

Ellery also did well to emerge from turn one in third, from Ingall and Bowe, with Longhurst,

Bright and the unlucky Kelly fighting for room as they wound out of turn one.

Unlucky for Kelly, because

the

Young

Lions car was squeezed

heavily into the outside wall. It broke the front right suspension

and was out for the weekend. Bright too was to go only a few

then Gardner, having passed Tander’s Valvoline car, was turned

corners more, before a plume of smoke signalled his demise.

around and bounced off the wall. Garth would later face the

Although the team wasn’t specific, it didn’t require an engine change.

Stewards, copping a $1,500 fine

An oil line failure or detachment seemed the obvious.

and exclusion from the race.

Next lap was a worse one for the Valvoline boys as Bargwanna’s car

simply oversteered into a big, big, wall-tapping spin at turn five. It

So they filed through to complete the opener: Skaife and Lowndes, then air, then Ellery, Ingall and Bowe, a gap to Longhurst, Murphy

stopped in a bad spot, so out came

and Faulkner (from 15), McLean,

the Pace Car.

Richards and Johnson.

Lovin’ it: classic

endorsement for Control

rubber was Ellery

(above, leading Ingall). The effectively unspon¬

sored privateer took a pair of thirds, then fastest lap on Sunday. (Photo: Dirk Klynsmith)

Hectic; Romano too

sported a new sponsor and livery, dicing with Paul Weel (hidden) until the last lap of Sunday’s race before the two clashed. Weel’s head¬

It took three laps to clear the

Seton had made early progress

rubble and so the race went green

from the back but now there he

long crash into the con¬

with just three laps to go. Skaife made the perfect rolling

was, spearing off at turn three.

crete moved the barrier...

start getaway and with Lowndes comfortably second, the two headed

Most uncharacteristic.

Others

were

making

(Photo: Marshall Cass)

good

progress from the back - after

for the best possible season start. The action was behind, as EUery

3three laps Gardner was up to

fought off the attentions of John

dropping out of their front airdams, both going off the road as a

to 18th.

result. Both retiring, both with no choice but to load up and go home.

Bowe - successfuUy. “JB had a bit of comer speed on

Radisich wasn’t going anywhere. At almost the same time, he and

With a third race just two hours

me, but I certainly had some

team boss Johnson suffered the

away, a certain circumspection was

same failure - the bottom literally

evident in the driving...

straight line,” an ecstatic Ellery

13th, Bargwanna to 14th, Perkins

Up front, little was changing.

Groovy; Revised Pirtek livery looks good on Bright’s AU and his was the best-performed of the new Fords over the whole weekend, although qualifying cost the team a front air-dam. (Photo: Marshall cass)

Lowndes was never more than a

few lengths from his team-mate and closed in as the laps wound out, but there was never a real

prospect of a pass. Ellery, Ingall

Although Bowe put some late pressure on Ingall, nothing changed and the front runners filed home.

Crompton got the better of his three-way scrap with Perkins and

and Bowe too remained static, but

Gardner, with Tander tenth, just

close, with Longhurst alone in sixth at the end, from Murphy, Faulkner

clear of the looming Seton.

and Richards, Crompton getting the best of a last lap duel with for

Race 4-6 laps

mer boss Gardner for tenth.

that, just six laps, but there was

Sunday’s sprint was literally

a splash of action - particularly

-j ^

Race 3-7 laps

across the back of the circuit - to

This time it was Lowndes’ turn to

get the jump and he turned into turn one ahead of Skaife, Ingall,

Bowe,

Murphy,

Ellery

and

Longhurst.

Through they came at the end of the lap, a relatively clean opening lap, with the two HRT cars already pulling a small gap to the rest. Ingall and Bowe followed in line astern, with Ellery closing down the gap to Murphy, then Perkins and Crompton - starting off a duel that would last the distance.

Setting a time only equalled by the HRT duo, Ellery zeroed in on

capture the spectators’ attention. Lowndes again got it right to lead at the first comer (the pair denied

any McLaren-style agreement...) from Skaife, Ingall, Perkins, Elleiy, Crompton (a great start) and the rest, headed by Tander and Romano.

Bowe was already in trouble, the CAT Falcon having dropped onto

seven cylinders on the warm-up lap with an injector problem. Having been swallowed up at the start, he cmised back to the pits. Seton too was already gone, Gardner had carved across him at

Murphy, slipping by on lap four,

turn one, taking off the front of

while further back Gardner had

Seton’s FTR Falcon - to complete a

joined the Perkins/Crompton con test, the three nose-to-tail. Romano, Noske, and Tander fol lowed, with Seton at last getting a run, closing in on them, having of

perfect weekend... There were

severe mutterings at FTR about “part-time racers”... As the leading duo sped away continued over page

course started stone dead last.

CHASSIS

ENGINE

OTHER

TOOLS

● Tube notcher ● Tube bender

● Porting kits

● Lap timers ● Pit canopies ● Exhaust gas

● Camber/caster gauges ● Spring rate testers

● Valve sprung testers

● Scales

● Height micrometers

PO Box 6330 Shepparton 3632

● Stagger gauges ● Tyre pyrometers

● Ring compressors

Email: speedwerx(§diesel.net.au wvvw.kartsport.com.au/akn/speedwerx.html

● Durometers

● Micrometers

● Tyre pressure gauges

● Verniers

Ph/Fax; 03 5827 1359 Mobile: 014 406 980

● Bore gauges ● Oil filter cutters

● Burettes

((

7.1 .ran” LAP Tlim.

temp gauges ● Technical videos

SPEEDWERX^ '

● Drill sharpners ● Go-kart tools

■ --

r MC.o&l

Unit features a 32 lap recall memory,

'98 Catalogue

and includes Ihp

now available

trackside transmitter. 'A

/J^O®[FSU)®[fO_

12 March 1999

HOT WHEELS V8 SUPERCAR SHOWDOWN Qualifying

Just thinkin’; Seton reflects on a mixed weekend as he waits for the

start of race three.

(Photo: Oirk Klynsmilh)

again, Ingall slipped wide on oil at turn five, letting Perkins, Murphy and Crompton through before he could tag on the back. These four settled into a close col

umn, but the action now came from

the next pair, Tander and Romano, who clashed exiting turn 13. TandePs car clipped the wall and spun vicious

ly across the road, bouncing headlong into the retaining wall.

then Ingall, Bright and Ellery who’d set the fastest lap of the race after a very slow start had seen him 13th on the opening lap. Longhurst, a rapidly-improving Forbes and Romano completed the ten, but there was one more specta cle yet to come. Weel and McDougal clashed at turn 13, the left rear hub shattered

on Weel’s car and, in a flash of axle

More was to follow for the turn

13 patrons... Debutant Cameron McLean com

pleted his weekend with a second, or was it third, visit to the kitty fit ter just as Murphy and Crompton came onto the main straight door handle to door-handle, Murf on the inside. Crompton copped the bad news, bouncing over the kerb and glancing the wall heavily, headed for retirement, while a few more yards on Gardner’s day came to its end in the sand trap. Into the last lap and, up front at least, things were settled. HRT were doing it easily, nearly seven

seconds clear of Perkins, Murphy,

oil flame, the car ploughed head long into the outer wall, then rico

1 2 3 4

Craig Lowndes Mark Skaife GlennSeton Russell Ingall

John Bowe

Larry Perkins

Paul Radisich

8 9 10 11 12 13

Tony Longhurst Steve Ellery Jason Bright Neil Crompton Todd Kelly Greg Murphy

14 15 16 17

MarkLarkham Dick Johnson Mark Noske Garth Tander

Wayne Gardner

Cameron McLean

New cars, new colours: Johnson, an off-roading Gardner and McLean pour through turn one. None of the three had a particularly happy and rewarding weekend, although McLean showed promising speed between visits to the sand traps... (Photo: Marshall Cass)

Pirtek Falcon AU

2:00.326

25:52.889

2:00.266

Bowe

25:53.453

2:00.376

1:59.485

5 6 7

25:55.408

2:00.578

25:56.467

2:00.438

25:56.571

2:00.453

Ingall Longhurst Bright Kelly Murphy

1:59.631

2:00.655 2:00.983

26:03.134

2:01.441

Mitre 10 Falcon AU Shell Falcon AU

2:00.680

26:07.793

2:01.395

2:00.855

Young Lions Commodore VS

26:08.045

2:01.380

2:01.059

Ashby

26:11.386

Valvoline Cummins Commodore VS

2:01.756

2:01.076

Coke Commodore VT

26:13.991

2:03.099

2:01.242

Greenfield Falcon EL

Faulkner Weel Johnson

26:15.146

2:03.001

2:01.317

Jason Bargwanna

Valvoline Cummins Commodore VT

26:16.236

2:02.099

2:01.324

Finnigan

21 22 23 24

John Faulkner Paul Romano Steven Richards Paul Weel

2:05.734

2:01.959

Lindstrom Parsons

26:18.290

Betta Commodore VT Siemens Commodore VS

26:19.678

2:04.315

2:02.147

26:20.064

Wynns Commodore VS

2:00.826

2:02.335

Crompton

Tratt

Falcon EL

25 26 27

Rodney Forbes Trevor Ashby Terry Finnigan

Wakefield

Bob Forbes Commodore VS Lansvale Commodore VT

2:02.934

2:02.949

Sony Auto Commodore VS

24 25

McDougal Pretty

2:03.057

David Parsons

Emerzidis

Commodore VS

2:03.904

29 30

Wayne Wakefield KevinHeffernan

Daily Planet Commodore VS Pace Racing Commodore VS

2:04.220

Conway

26:20.892 26:23.834 26:24.768 26:31.592 26:32.986 26:39.463

2:04.232

2:02.735

Russell

26:49.512

2:09.980

2:04.605

Imrie

31 32

Dean Linstrom Rod Nash

26:53.648

Commodore VS

2:09.481

2:04.947

Nash

26:53.964

2:07.594

2:05.523

Mork

33 34 35 36

Anthony Tratt Mike Conway Nathan Pretty Dougal McDougal

Auto Pro Falcon EL Toll Falcon EL Commodore VS De Walt Commodore VS

2:10.931

2:06.119

9 laps

Romano DNF Heffernan

2:07.489

9m laps 4 laps

2:04.282

2:07.076

DNF Bargwanna

3 laps

2:01.515

Mike Imrie

David Russell Simon Emerzidis Richard Mork

DNF Noske DNF Gardner DNF Perkins DNF Radisich DNF Seton

3 laps 1 lap

2:06.306

Bowe

6 7

Longhurst Murphy

8 9

Faulkner Richards

Crompton

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Gardner Perkins Noske Romano Larkham Tander Weel

Ashby

19 20 21 22

Lindstrom Forbes Heffernan Emerzidis

McDougal

Nash

Conway

Imrie

Bargwanna

DNF Seton

DNF Pretty

Commodore VT

2:08.166

Saabwreck Commodore VS Commodore VS Simons Earthworks Falcon EL Commodore VS

2:09.089 2:09.466

2:10.111 2:13.917

Race 3-7 laps

Race 4-6 laps

Race Time

F/lap

Pos

Driver

Race Time

Lowndes

F/lap

14:04.972

1:59.248

Lowndes

1:59.956

16:14.095 16:17.113 16:17.635 16:18.209 16:20.373 16:24.774 16:33.980 16:35.522 16:35.760 16:38.650 16:42.771 16:51.314 16:53.012 16:58.308 16:59.253 17:05.026 17:05.067 17:11.249 17:15.153 17:15.283 17:15.673 17:18.784 17:23.620 1801.720 18:02.804

1:59.937 2:00.263 2:00.402 2:00.228 2:00.136 2:00.980 2:01.850 2:01.578 2:01.574 2:00.933 2:00.803 2:01.689 2:02.473 2:02.844 2:01.825 2:03.843 2:01.147 2:04.995 2:02.644 2:05.368 2:05.921 2:03.270 2:11.811 2:08.547 2:09.093 2:01.160 2:15.861 2:01.459 2:01.753

Skaife

14:05.530

1:59.281

Ingall

14:10.982

2:00.067

2 3

Skaife Perkins

Bowe

14:11.538

5 6 7

Ellery Murphy Crompton

14:14.921

1:59.935 1:59.360

Murphy Ingall Bright Ellery Longhurst

12:08.100 12:08.491 12:15.716 12:15.929

7 laps 7 laps 7 laps 5 laps 5 laps 5 laps 5 laps 3 laps 3 laps 1 lap 1 lap

14:15.161

2:00.123

14:21.402

2:00.354

Perkins

14:24.631

2:00.382

4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12

Gardner Tander Seton Romano

14:25.251

2:00.413

Forbes

14:28.594

2:00.232

14:29.992

1:59.881

14:32.287

13 14

Bright Longhurst

Forbes

Noske

17 18

McDougal Finnigan

Larkham

20 21

Weel Wakefield

Ashby

Emerzidis

24 25 26

Lindstrom Parsons Nash

27 28

Pretty Conway

Imrie

14:43.618 14:44.590 14:45.972 14:47.374 14:47.990 14:51.125 14:54.793 15:00.096 15:00.452 15:05.886 15:09.898 15:20.420 15:21.018 15:29.716 15:44.481

Mork 31 Faulkner 32 McLean DNF Heffernan DNF Tratt

2:04.064

2:03.718 2:05.505 2:10.745

1:59.848 1 :S9.345

12:30.973

2:02.001

12:31.687

2:00.968

Romano

12:31.701

2:02.744

Finnigan .

12:31.926

2:02.205

2:01.296

Larkham

12:32.273

2:01.687

14:36.619

2:00.333

2:00.510

12:37.029 12:38.869

2:01.501

14:42.785

Bargwanna McDougal

14:43.314

2:01.635

Wakefield

2:00.999 2:02.123 2:02.732 2:02.796 2:02.431 2:03.186 2:02.216 2:04.601 2:03.385 2:04.365 2:04.567 2:06.031 2:06.420 2:08.086 2:10.830 2:02.719 2:01.416 2:04.713 2:07.337

Ashby

Lindstrom

18 19 20

Parsons Tratt Nash

Heffernan

Pretty

Imrie

Russell

Mork

26 DNF DNF DNF

Richards Weel Emerzidis Noske

12:39.370 12:39.557 12:45.841 12:46.627 12:50.989 12:56.253 13:01.963 13:06.018 13:10.013 13:19.578 13:33.062 13:38.554

6 laps 6 laps 3 laps 3 laps

PmOHMAffCe PRODUCTS

DNF Crompton DNF gardner DNF McLean

DNF Conway DNF Tander DNF Seton

DNF Faulkner DNF Bowe

HVLOMHR" Gosket Seolont, "COPflSLIP" flnti-seixe, Lockwire, Roce Tope, Pip-Pins, 'P'

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2:05.341

Race Time

DO VOUR SUMS RND CRLL CHRIS RUSTRRLIfl FOR:

2:00.907

26:01.774

DNF Finnigan

CLUTCHCS -

2:01.205

26:01.582 26:02.704

28 Russell 29 McLean DNF Johnson DNF Tratt DNF Wakefield DNF Mork DNF Radisich

BRRKCS -

25:58.563

Larkham McLean Richards

three weeks boys...

2:00.264

Ellery

2:00.600

Ellery Ingall

“They (HRT) have a clear speed advantage over us all. We’ve got some work to do...” And you’ve got

Chelgrave Falcon EL

1:59.999

Tander

3 4

Perkins stated the obvious:

2:00.188

25:50.920

1:59.399

1:58.927

Race 2-8 laps

(see news pages), but as part of it

Fastest lap 2:00.323

1:58.645

Pos Driver 1 Skaife 2 Lowndes

and surprising event this weekend was the post race press conference

Race Time 25:50.232

2:00.521

his AU Falcon is waiting at home PERHAPS the most unexpected

Driver Skaife Lowndes

1:57.941

2:00.361

youngster, who must be thankful for an aero kit...

Pos 1. 2

FTR Falcon EL

several feet. It was a big hit for the

Race 1-10 laps

1:57.657

Young Lions Commodore VS Wynns Commodore VT

cheted across to the inside. The outer wall was moved back

Lap Time Mobil HRT Commodore VT Mobil HRT Commodore VT FTR Falcon AU Castrol Commodore VT CAT Falcon EL Castrol Commodore VT Shell Falcon AU Castrol Falcon EL

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5 laps 5 laps 4 laps 4 laps 4 laps 3 laps 3 laps 2 laps

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2:03.406 2:04.645 2:05.254 2:05.055 2:05.250 2:07.645 2:08.901

2:08.915 2:01.716 2:01.722 2:04.698 2:01.991 2:01.079 2:03.269 2:03.851 2:08.257 2:05.276

lil!Scs)[ks)m[}Xsx?0

12 March 1999

Today we re gonna party like it’s 1998 After two dramatic and action-

packed days at Albert Park Mika Hakkinen, David Coulthard and Michael Schumacher ended up on the same grid spots they

took a year ago, but only after last-minutes heroics from the

World Champion. JOE SAWARD reports on the thrilling lead-up at Albert Park. elboume and Sydney have always battled one another to be top dog in Australia. In order,to avoid a civil war they had to make Canberra the capital

city in 1927 (much to Melbourne's annoyance) but it has not stopped the fight ing: today Sydney has the Olympic Games coming up

closer to Melbourne than to

Sydney

and

the

Melburnians were able to

stick two fingers up in the direction of the Sydneysiders. The ultimate irony is that when it came to getting Grand Prix racing to Australia, it was Adelaide which stole the big prize in the

mid-1980s.

Melbourne and Sydney immediately set about trying

Games. The same is true in motor

to steal the event... and in 1995 the FI circus arrived in Melbourne. It is now the FI

It is a little known fact that

Aspendale racecourse. WeU, that is if you listen to the folk in Melbourne.

story.

If you listen to the blokes in Sydney they will tell you

this year with the vague idea

first

motor

race

Australia took place between Melbourne

and

the

that it was a motorised tricy cle race at Sydney Cricket Ground.

In the 1920s, when the fashion

was

for banked

speedways, Melbourne boast ed the fearsome Motordrome.

Not to be outdone Sydney built the Olympia Speedway at Maroubra. Neither city

We arrived in Melbourne that

McLaren

would

ahead of the rest; that Ferrari would he chasing and that Jordan would be not be

too far away. There were sug gestions that Stewart and Prost would be good and British American Racing kept on saying that winning its first race was not an

could claim to have hosted the first Australian GP-

impossibility. Friday practice seemed to

which took place at Phillip

confirm most of those ideas

Island in 1928

except

but it was

(Photos by Dirk Klynsmilh. Sutton Images and Mark Thompson/Allspon)

circus's favourite race and,

being at the start of the year, always generates plenty of interest. You are never quite sure what is going to happen. Testing never gives the full

the

When it comes to the crunch: Mika’s your man. Hakkinen trashed his race car on Friday and was pipped for fastest time almost immediately by team-mate David Coulthard. But he bounced back the next day with a dramatic last-second lap to steal his first pole of the season. 1998 started just like this, remember...

Both

and so Melbourne has done a deal for the Commonwealth

racing.

'A.'

the

last.

The

noon and there were 104,000

utes, Hakkinen went to work, He sliced 2s off the pole time, The cloud of McLaren domi-

people there to ask the question. Things were somewhat

nation blotted out the sun of optimism in the other

tic on Friday. He

confused because the wind

garages,

stuffed

nice

had got up and some clouds

Ferrari's dreams and ambi

shiny car into the wall at the top of the pit straight. It didn't really matter. The only impor tant thing was what was going to happen

had blotted out the sun, which had kept everyone

tions were stomped into the

happy on Friday. The early qualifying runs

A few moments later David Coulthard went second

saw the two Stewarts and the

fastest, just a tenth slower

McLarens

were

clearly a dominant force, even if Mika Hakkinen did get a little too enthusias

Scarlet feeler; Eddie Irvine ended up sixth but it was not through lack of effort. (Photo by Marshall cass>

his

in the one-hour qualifying session on Saturday after-

two Williams cars up at the front hut then, after 25 min-

tarmac.

Continued over page

l2MdrchW99

fO"

WiU /AMS

Wfm

TEL N ;two( <s

Continued from page 17 than Hakkinen. It was down to Michael Schumacher to

Pole man: Hakkinen’s pole lap was one of those last-minute efforts that great drivers seem

to be able to pull out when they have to. He took pole by 0.48s. Michael Schumacher (below) had no answer, but he really rung the new 399’s neck. (Photos: Marshall cass and oi* Kiynsmitu:

show everyone how to be a McLaren chaser. What could

he do? He only got to within a second of the fleeing silver cars on his first run. You could almost hear the sobs

from the Ferrari garage. The next round of the bat tle between the McLaren

boys resulted in Coulthard closing the gap to just 0.001s. But Mika was still ahead.

And so we got toPark the final runs. Albert was buzzing with excitement at the drama that was unfold

Get your head on straight: Alex Zanardi's return to FI qualifying was a disappointment. (Photo by sutton images)

ing. David went first and sliced another tenth off the

White leader: Johnny Herbert had problems in qualifying:

pole. It was a confident run. A challenge to Mika's author ity. With a minute to go, the World Champion set off to

after his buildup his head may have been in the clouds.

-■A

nail his team-mate's ambi

tions to the floor. It was great stuff. The fin was cutting through the water to eat David for breakfast. It was clear that it was

going to be close but when Hakkinen crossed the line

the clocks flashed up that he had set a time which was

nearly half a second faster than the Scotsman.

David might have done something on a final lap but

Continued on page 20

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12 March 1999 oYb

Continued from page 18 he stumbled over traffic. His

tyres would not have been as

good so probably he would not have done much... David

had to face up to a confi dence-busting experience. He dredged through his facial expressions to find a good stoic look, but it must have

been crushing. "I was lucky that I was able to start my fastest and

final lap just before the flag dropped," said Mika, "It was a close fight." David admitted that he

was "surprised" and "disap pointed". The McLaren team was

not. The opposition had been blown away, blasted into oblivion

once

again,

Hakkmen was 1.3s clear of

Michael Schumacher and

■that meant that in the race

the gap would probably be even bigger because in quahfying trim Michael can cajole a car to a few extra tenths.

Pnoto by- W.^'aci Coope/AL^oorr

first a 2-seater:

"We are disappointed," said Ferrari’s Sporting Director Jean Todt, trying not to sound like Napoleon after the Battle of Waterloo. "We are a

long way off the performance level that we should have

now a 2-wheeler? DAVID Coulthard kept ahve the Melbourne tradition of

commuting to and fi-om the Albert Park circuit on a

mountain bike, but this time he added a new wrinkle to

the act. While the squaredjawed Scot kept a low profile by 'dressing down' he was accompanied by a mate who

looked physically similar especially since he was wearing a West-McLaren shirt embroidered with 'DC.

Any spectators hoping for an

achieved and that we expect ed to achieve."

If one is being totally hon est, it has to be said that

gle glowing brake disc sent technical authorities into action, crossed the track ille

gally during a McLaren 2seater session and was ear-

holed over the offence by FIA media man Pat Behar. Heath had his FIA tabard (which allows access to restricted areas) removed as

a penalty. ■ The Australian Grand

Prix Corporation found

right from the start of prac tice the Ferrari had looked

like a pig of a car.

The fact that the problem

could not be solved was a

worry for the team. It may not be back to the drawing

board, but the trucks of mid night oil will soon be dehver-

ing at the Ferrari factory in Maranello. All leave will be

cancelled. The war is not

going well.

when double world karting champ James Courtney

ond of Schumacher, which has not always been the case in the past, but as ever he

succinct; Tm pissed off, actually...

■ McLaren 2-seater pilot Darren Turner was restrict

ed to one outing in the MP4-

98T, chauffeuring the 'Hey Hey' contest winner around

on Saturday evening. While he was happy to get on TV he would have gladly swapped rides with Martin

Brundle earlier in the day, as the fomer GP driver

shared the car with musician Vanessa Mae.

■ Speaking of Turner, the young Brit is still without a full-time ride for the season.

The former Autosport

Award ■winner is working on

a deal to race Formula Atlantics in the USA and is

confident of taking to the ovals and road courses this

northern summer. A poten tial Turner vs David Besnard battle should be

worth watching. ■ Ace lensman Darren Heath ran foul of the

authorities - literally - at Albert Park. The FI shooter,

whose 1998 shots of McLaren's extra brake

pedal and Schumacher's sin-

sprung on him unexpectedly and missed the meeting. David Besnard filled in for

was in a subordinate role. Such was the level of com-

RACE

. ■ J.alesi

SPARE

that the new

Ford VIO

engine was a right httle goer and throughout practice both Barrichello and Johnny Herbert were looking good. In qualifying the handling

of Johnny's car went astray (probably because of a shock

absorber problem) and he struggled with understeer.

He was eight-tenths slower

than Rubens but that put

him a frustrated 13th on the

grid,

Fifth was a good showing

from Heinz-Harald Frentzen

in his first race with Jordan.

It confirmed the suspicions that the Jordan Mugen Honda is going to be a fairly useful car this year. Heinz-

Harald was four tenths of a

second faster and four places

had engine trouble during the morning sessions on Saturday.

"The car was very good," explained HH, "the biggest

petition m the pack that half challenge was making the a second meant that Eddie was only sixth on the grid. A few tenths more and he

James handled his corpo

would have plunged into a

rate and media duties with

seething midfield as the gap

impressive aplomb

(Photo by Sutton images)

impressive performance. Winter testing had hinted

was a particularly notewor thy performance as HH had

drawn to the wrong David before they knew what hap

Hakkinen was short and

Fourth place went to

Rubens Barrichello of the Stewart Ford team. It was an

and got to within half a sec

Irvine did quite a good job

■ DCs reaction to being bumped off pole by Mika

Ford, the Brazilian qualifying a strong fourth alongside Schumacher

ahead of Damon Hill and it

themselves one ambassador short over the weekend

found himself unable to head home for the race. The new Van Diemen UK works FF driver had a test session

Tartan around: Ruben Barrichello was impressive all weekend in the rejuvenated Stewart-

In the cu-cumstances Eddie

autograph would have been pened.

i—

between fourth and 13th was 0.9s.

tyres work best for one lap." Being beaten by a new team-mate is never a good start to a year and so Damon

Hill was disappointed.

"The car is capable of doing

better than that," he said. A

■ Practice and qualify

No shortage of Bull; The Saubers ran well in practice but less so in qualifying - though Pedro Diniz, rated by many as

a rent-a-driver, out-sped Jean Alesi.

(Photo by Sutton Images)

ing crowd attendances

increased dramatically over the 1998 Qantas Australian Grand Prix.

Saturday’s attendance of 104,000 was up almost

28.4% over the ’98 figure and actually bigger than the previous year’s race day crowd. The previous

highest crowd attendance on a Saturday at Albert Park was at the first race

in’96-101,000. ■ R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Peter Brock had his car broken

into on race day but, rather than be upset about it, Peter Perfect got a pleasant sur prise. While his car window

■will need repairing, his briefcase and belongings remained intact. Apparently the perpetrators realised who they were robbing and replaced his wallet, credit cards and entry passes. -PHILBRANAGAN/ GERALD MCDORNAN

mcL!"

f ® Villeneuve drove his tail off to line up 11th in the BAR-Supertec, hampered like other engine users by a lack of grunt from the ageing ex-Renault VIO. The paint looks great, especially when it spins ... (Pho^by wa^hai,cass)

12 March ^999

fair point; Heinz-Harald had

But will it be

proved it. It was no great surprise to

called ‘Hungry Jacques’?

find the first of the Supertec-

engined cars seventh on the grid and it could have been a lot worse. The old Renault

VIO engine is not the compet

■ We hear rumours that Burger

itive beast it used to be and

King may soon become involved in Grand Prix racing. The news comes just a few days after suggestions that

in the paddock there were

folks making very grumbly noises about the overpriced French engines. "They're heavy, they're big,

its chief rival McDonalds is on the

verge of investing $100m in Formula 1. Any deal for Burger King - market ed locally as Hungiy Jacks - is likely

they're not very quick and they're not very reliable,"

to be linked to the Benetton team as

said one engineer. "Apart fi-om that they are great." The

fastest

2r^

the hamburger chain is on the verge of announcing a major tie-up with Benetton offshoot Autogrill for the

the

was Supertechnicians Giancarlo Fizzy-fella, who

establishment of Bimger King restau rants at the company's motorway ser vice stations throughout Europe.

managed to edge out Ralf Schumacher's 'Williams by a

tenth of a second to grab the seventh spot. It was not a great day for Benetton

although 10th on the grid was a pretty good effort for

■ In an unusual burst of clarity,

IhArfl

the FLA has issued the details of the

World Motor Sport CouncU meetings scheduled to take place this year. The first will be in Geneva on March

Alexander Wurz who stacked his car into a wall on

12. This will be followed by another in Paris on June 23. The Council will

Saturday morning.

meet again on October 6, during the annual FIA Congress in Paris and

This meant that he had to take to the T-car and that

the final meeting of the year will

was not as well set-up as it

coincide with the FIA Prizegiving in

might have been. In the cir

Monaco on December 10.

cumstances Alexander did a

good job to get to within two-

■ There are to be several big

tenths of Giancarlo. The Williams team was

Fomula 1 tests before the Brazilian

also suffering from Supertec-

to take place in Barcelona between

Grand Prix with the biggest test due

itis and that meant Ralf

March 16-18. There will be a second

Schumacher was eighth and Alex Zanardi 15th on the

grid.

large test at Magny-Cours between

Great sight: Melbourne's skyline frames Ralf Schumacher, Frentzen and de la Rosa.

(Photo by Marshall Cass)

March 23-24 while there will also be

running at Silverstone and at the Ferrari test tracks of Fiorano and

Practice and Qualifying times Car

Driver

Fri AM

Fri PM

Sat AM

Qual

1:30.324

1:30.462

1:30.969 1 ;32.722

1:30.946 1:31.781

1 2

M Hakkinen D Coulthard

McLaren-Mercedes McLaren-Mercedes

1:33.213

1:33.427

1:31.985 1:31.971

M Schumacher

Ferrari

2:04.843

1:33.576

4 5 6 7 8

R Barrichello HH Frentzen E Irvine G Fisichella R Schumacher

Stewart-Ford

1:34.164

1:32.828

1:32.148

Jordan-Mugen Honda 1:34.050

1:32.947 1:33.029

1:32.876

1:32.276

1:35.959

1:34.595

1:32.289

1:34.135

1:32.994 1:32.975

1:35.355

1:33.323

1:32.691

D Hill

Jordan-Mugen Honda 1:34.625

1:33.957 1:33.420

1:32.661

1:32.695

10 11 12 13 14

A Wurz J Villeneuve JTrulli J Herbert PDiniz

Benetton-Playlife BAR-Supertec

1:36.108

1:34.046

1:33.110

1:32.789

1:34.885 1:34.160

1:34.625 1:33.870

1:32.717

1:32.888

1:33.252

1:32.971

Stewart-Ford Sauber-Petronas

1:34.173

1:33.166

1:35.328

1:35.253

1:32.569 1:32.999

1:32.991 1:33.374

15 A Zanardi 16 JAIesi

Williams-Supertec

1:33.951

1:35.444

1:33.549 1:33.910

Arrows

1:34.541 1:35.699

1:33.305

17 TTakagi

1:34.386

1:34.182

Arrows

1:36.173 1:35.118 1:36.102 1:37.217

1:35.756

1:34.244

BAR-Supertec Prost-Peugeot

1:38.342

1:38.075

1:34.194 1:48.227

1:39.031

1:34.693

1:34.129

1:35.068

Minardi-Ford Minardi-Ford

1:38.065 1:36.677

1:37.958

1:35.839

1:36.481

1:36.848

1:35.316 1:37.013

Benetton-Playlife Williams-Supertec

Prost-Peugeot

Sauber-Petronas

PdelaRosa RZonta

20 O Panis 21 LBadoer 22

Ferrari

MGene

■ American economics Williams

Lilley III and Laurence DeFranco have recently published an indepen dent report on the economic impact of Formula 1 racing in the areas it

visits in Europe. The report has been prepared by InContext, a Washington-based research consul tancy. It reveals that FI races create

1:32.540

"Massive economic benefits at a local

level" amounting to nearly $500m at the 11 European races. The events are attended by more than two mil lion spectators, each of whom spend an average of $229 a day. ■ Former Grand Prix driver

Jonathan Palmer who now nms his

own single seater racing champi onship, Formula Palmer Audi, in Britain has just bought Bedford

Airport with the intention of devel oping the facility into a major centre for corporate motorsport activities.

1:34.412

■r ; i

Palmer has been hosting promotion al events at a variety of different

tracks in recent years with enor

"I would have liked to have

qualified higher," said Ralf, "but if you look at the times they are quite close so it is not bad. I made a mistake on my last run."

Zanardi had problems with the hydraulics of the throttle management

Mugello.

system

Saturday morning and lost

was that expectations were

Trulli was happy. Anything

far too high. He drove with his usual aggression and very nice it was to see but he

pened last year.

would have done better if he Ricardo Zonta had a trou

bled time throughout prac

ensure that the winners of his cham

the grid was a poor result for

pionship move easily up the motor-

engine

failure

Saturday morning and so he

tice because of transmission

had to do his best with a car

problems. Lacking track

that was not very well set-up,

time, he was not very happy

while Pedro Diniz had fuel

meant that he was strug

with the car and then he had

pressure

gling with the handling in qualifying. He also com plained of having run into

lap. As a result he was 19th on the grid, a second a half

meant that he missed a lot of the session as he had to switch into the spare car

slower than Villeneuve. Twelfth and 20th on the

which was set up for Alesi.

He only managed to do one

grid was a big disappoint

qualifying run and in the cir

important track time which

traffic.

"It is not the start that I wanted to have but I wiU do

traffic trouble on his flying

troubles which

my best," he said.

ment for Alain Prost, which

cumstances it was not a bad

had

effort.

The Supertec theme con tinued in 11th position

throughout most of Friday

with Jacques Villeneuve in his Split Personality Racing BAR. As expected the twin-

times. Olivier Panis was out

cars with Tora Takagi out-

of sorts from the start because of transmission

problems on Friday and the

liveried car was not a bad

package. The only major technical problem for Jacques

looked

very

good

with Jamo Trulli doing good

loss of track time meant he was never able to catch up.

mous success. The ambitious Palmer

is even tipped to be considering the purchase of a Formula 3000 team to

Fourteenth and 16th on

Sauber. Jean Alesi suffered

had not had a spin.

brwAriu

was better than what hap

Seventeenth and 18th on

the grid were the two Arrows

sport ladder.

■ Gary Savage, head of Research and Development at Arrows Grand Prix, has moved to Prost Grand Prix

ninil*afil]

And we thought Benetton’s shirts were weird: Having brVAFIbE may look funhy but BAR'S halfand-half look is even odder. (Photo by dim< Minardis with Luca Badoer

seems that travel

beating Marc Gene in a fair ly dramatic fashion. The young Spanish driver did not manage to make the 107 percent cut off. The team appealed to the stewards in the hope that they might let

ling to Australia is a really long trip and it would have been a bit sad to

have sent the poor

chap home with out having raced. And besides he

gunning Pedro de la Rosa. It

him start the race and it was decided that because of

had lapped the

was about as much as the

"exceptional circumstances"

track faster the

team could have expected.

he would be allowed to start.

What were the "exception al circumstances"? Well, it

What an odd world

Down at the back in 21st and 22nd were the two

we live in...

day...

123

in Paris. The move marks the end of

a non-poaching agreement which had been agreed between Tom

Walkinshaw and Alain Prost, after the French team recruited a handful

of Walkinshaw's top engineers at the end of last year. ■ The Jordan team is understood

to be embarking on a major expan sion in its merchandising activities. In Australia team bosses were spot

ted in deep discussion with David Eckert who recently sold his

Goodsports company to Action Performance Inc. -JOESAWARD

12 March 1999

DUC.K

It looked like another McLaren

cruise at Albert Park until a

dominant performance ended in hydraulic failure in both its new cars. When Michael Schumacher

stalled himself to the rear of the grid for the second race in a row Ferrari's hopes looked doomed - until Eddie Irvine took over

for his first career win. JOE SAWARD was there to see the action.

LL things come to those who wait, or o the saying goes.

there was no stopping the

Eddie Irvine waited

first Irish Ft win in almost

patiently through his early years in Formula One racing and, on occasion, waited for Michael Schumacher to get his stuff together and take a position.

Not lacking confidence: Once Irvine hit the front

16 years. Pivotal moment:

Hakkinen’s gear problems allowed everyone a clear run. As Irvine scoots away into the lead the silver car is

at the rear of shot, about to

He was in no mood to wait at Albert Park last

be passed by Michael

Sunday. After 81 GP starts Irvine grabbed the lead when it presented itself

(Photos by Dirk Klynsmith. Sutton Images

Schumacher. and Phil Williams)

and held on to take his first win and the lead in

the 1999 championship. Irvine headed a new-

look podium in the first race of the 50th year of Grand Prix racing’s modern era. In their first dri¬

ves since swapping teams Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Ralf Schumacher finished second and third

for Jordan and Williams while respectively. Giancarlo Fisichella,

Both Stewarts burst into

flames on the grid at the first

start

attempt

(Barrichello raced the spare) and Damon Hill and Jean Alesi never completed the first lap. Despite the loss of the favourites it was a popular result. There seem to be more Italians and Irish at the Melbourne

race than anywhere else

Rubens Barrichello and

in the world and as the

new-boy Pedro de la Rosa scored the final points in

red Ferrari and orange. white and green Irish flags were packed away

what was an unusual result for FI racing. Where were the favourites? Both McLarens

for

the

night,

there

would have been a good

succumbed to hydraulic problems while Michael

deal of Guinness and Chianti consumed around the world that

Schumacher was never a factor after stalling his

maiden win.

Ferrari as they started the formation lap for a second

would have had his share

day to celebrate a popular And, no doubt, Eddie

time.

Buzzin’ Heinz: Germans Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Ralf Schumacher swapped teams in the off-season and took their new

rides to podium finishes in their first race. HH’s Jordan-Mugen Honda looks like having a good season. (Photo by sutton images)

QAM

] U March 1999

TX.S

quickly settled down with

stuck in sixth gear.”

was not nice early on Sunday morning as the FI circus gathered from the

lead of 0.6secs on the first

He was out. A few moments later Villeneuve’s race ended when the rear

start of the season.

responded and for the next few laps the gap fluctuated

Itnight rained and on the Saturday weather Hakkinen able to build a But event organiser Ron Walker is a great optimist. “The rain was great,” he said.

“It

will

make the

lawns look green - and that is good for Melbourne’s image around the world.” After a McLaren-dominat-

ed warm-up the sun came out and the park began to fill

with

estimated

118,000 race fans. It was a

lovely day. The grid formed up without major drama and then the excitement

built up as the minutes ticked away. Finally the grid lined up and the engines began to

RA /O

scream. Both the Stewarts

JRNE

Ford shirts cringed with embarrassment. Clearly the team had not done any pre

lap and l.Osecs on the sec ond.

Then

Coulthard

between the two McLarens.

What was impressive, however, was the speed with which they left the opposition behind them. On lap 5 they were lOsecs ahead

of Irvine

and

looked like it was going to be a very dull afternoon. The McLaren Boys had everything well under con

wing fell off his BAR and he smacked heavily into the wall

was sent out.

trol.

They were 18secs ahead by lap 13 when Coulthard suddenly headed for the pits. “I could not downchange at the fast chicane,”

explained David, “and it got

“The car didn’t accelerate

in his Prost. Mika trolled

around to the pits and the team tried to fix the prob-

season starts in warm tem

peratures. Oil was leaking out of the engine and onto the exhaust pipes. Barrichello headed back

to the Stewart garage to take over the spare but that

meant that poor old Johnny Herbert was left with noth

ing to drive. And Rubens would have to start from the

pitlane. There were more surpris es to follow. At the start of

the second formation lap both Hakkinen and Michael

Schumacher failed to get

away from the grid. The Ferrari

mechanics battled to get them away before the last car had passed them by. Hakkinen did it and was

able to regain his pole posi tion; Schumacher failed. He would have to start from the

back of the grid. This time the field did get away - all except Jean Alesi - who was left on the grid with a trans¬ mission failure.

Hakkinen made a great start and was well clear of Coulthard as the field streamed into the first cor¬ ner. With no-one on the sec¬

ond row, it was down to Frentzen and Irvine to fight for third. Irvine made the better start.

In the course of the first

lap a fast-starting Hill and Wurz came to blows. Alexander lost time but Damon was out of the race.

Up at the front things

fast

properly,” he said. In a flash he was jumped by Irvine and Frentzen and amid much jockeying Trulli somehow emerged in third

aborted while the men in

and

of the

The field bunched up and for three laps ran behind the Safety Car and then the lights went off and the race was on again for everyone except Mika Hakkinen.

began to smoke and then caught fire. The start was

McLaren

one

sweepers beside the Albert Park Lake. It was a big crash and the Safety Car

beat Counned amy wtISs Ratf SctoBacher IocfcGdW_

hi*riicr Infilling irnrtr Hill, who was ‘ bundled off by Alex Wut7 two comers later. (PHo® Bj- Sutton Imases;

f lem, but it was all over. Irvine was in the perfect position as team leader Schumacher had made only

moderate progress through the field because of a steer-

Continued on page 24

12 March 1999

The Dream Team

has a nightmare adder

Continued from page 23

Have a Wurz weekend: Alex Wurz now has another Alex-

ing wheel problem which

Supertec driver to compete against, but Benetton had a lousy race.

meant that the car was

jumping into neutral from

Smile, Mika: Sure, like that’s going to happen.

^ ■

(Photos by Dirk Klynsmith)

time to time. With all the

retirements, however, he was up to fourth. The race was then dis

rupted by another large

While the first that the public saw suggesting that Sunday was not going to be a good day for the McLaren team was the retirement of David Coulthard, a bizarre

period but when the race

hopping into the spare as mechanics

exit from pit lane was getting perilously close and, in his haste to get the car out of the garage, Mika took off before all the plug-in ancillary things had been disconnected from the car, triggering the collapse of the entire McLaren in-garage overhead gantry, Willing hands pitched in to keep the thing aloft as, first. Hakkinen’s defunct race

restarted there was soon drama as Michael

swarmed over his race car. Dennis and

car was wheeled out of harm’s way, then a

designer Newey could be seen in earnest

number of large equipment chests were

Schumacher suffered a right

conversation as Hakkinen warmed up the

wheeled out to prop it all up.

rear tyre failure as a result one of the accidents. Michael had to drive the

spare, only to be told that his race car could be fixed - so he hopped back into it. Oops, it wouldn’t fire up properly again so, guess what, more car-hopping, into the

It was. er, panic stations. Even the unflappable Mr Dennis looked a trifle agifated. Or was that because he was one of the people the damn thing had fallen on

car around to the pits, try

spare.

to?

accident after Zanardi lost control of his Williams at the back of the track. He

was out after a depressing return to Grand Prix racing.

series of events just prior to the start of the GP might have given Ron Dennis a clue.

This meant that there

Hakkinen’s car acquired a misfire during its out lap and Mika pitted immediately.

was another Safety Car

of running over debris from

By now the 1.45pm deadline for final

ing not to lose time but not

The day didn’t get much better.

wishing to demolish the rear suspension. He was

dropped way back. Later he would have fur ther adventures when he

came into the pits unexpect edly and was waved through. He returned a lap later

and the steering wheel was replaced. After that, the car ran well and he set the

fastest lap at the end of the race but he was too far back

to make any impact. Irvine had no such dra

mas. He was able to stay ahead of Frentzen and con

trol the race. He completed his mid-race stop without drama and went on to win.

He was of course delight ed although he recognised that the win was a victory of a tortoise over a hare.

He was followed for much

of the second part of the race by Frentzen, who had stuck to Irvine’s tail all

afternoon. It was a great result for Jordan, particu larly in the light of Damon Hill’s early demise. A few seconds behind the Jordan at the finish was Half Schumacher in the Williams.

He had not made a very good start but by the end of the first lap he was back in fourth thanks to the adven tures of those around him.

then

chased

after

Frentzen.

After the first Safety Car he was knocked back a place by Trulli but was soon back ahead again and there he stayed for the rest of the afternoon after the mid-race

stops had briefly shuffled

the pack.

Ralfs good showing helped to boost team morale, Zanardi having had a dread

ful time. He was struggling with the handling of his car before he lost control and

crashed heavily on lap 21. Fourth at the finish was

Fisichella, which was a good result for Benetton after a difficult race.

Fisichella flat-spotted a tyre at the start and so

struggled to be competitive. At the restart after the

first Safety Car he collided

with 'Trulli and damaged his front wing and had to pit, hut he chased back and was even able to run second dur

ing the pit stops. Eventually, though, he had to stop again and it dropped him to fourth place which he held all the way to the flag. Wurz was less successful. His adventures on the first

lap dropped him to the back of the field but he fought on despite a bad vibration and managed to get up to sixth before his pit stop. The extra grip from the tyres caused his damaged suspension to collapse and he spun out in

dramatic fashion on lap 29. Barrichello eventually fin ished fifth which was a great effort considering that he started from the pits. He charged up through the field to seventh and was

helped by the appearance of the Safety Car, which gave him the opportunity for a quick pit stop and he was able to emerge behind Michael

Schumacher’s

Ferrari.

Unfortunately, at the restart, he overtook the Ferrari before the start-finish line and was

given a 10-sec

Stop-Go penalty. He also suffered

the indignity of having a fuel rig failure during his pit stop and had

make

Continued on

page 28

Damon, Hell:

It was a bad outing for former world champ and AGP winner

Damon Hill. He only went a few comers in the race but the car

was quick in practice and qualifying. Spicy wings: Ferrari’s new 399 has these neat aero kick-

ups on the bodywork. Schumacher holed one of his in the race. (Photos by Sutton Images)

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miDODIr

Continued from page 24

Minardi

failed

to get

either car to the finish. Luca

another stop to get fuel. The Arrows team finished sixth and seventh which was

a triumph of reliability over speed. Fedro de la Rosa was delighted not only to outrun Tora Takagi but also to score a point on his Grand Frix debut. A great effort. Takagi was seventh hav ing survived a collision with Ricardo Zonta’s BAR.

Badoer managed to stay out of trouble and during the pit stop sequence was actually running in fifth position for a short period. He then stopped and rejoined in ninth place but then went out with a gear box failure 15 laps from the finish. Marc Gene’s debut was

The Brazilian did a steady job, despite some bad over

less impressive. He took it fairly quietly in the early laps, trying to keep out of

steer.

trouble, but was forced to

He had to stop after Villeneuve’s accident, to allow the engineers to check that his rear wing was okay. He then stopped again in the

mid-race

and

would

probably have finished sixth or seventh if his gearbox had not overheated as a result of

cooling ducts being blocked. And so Reynard failed to

retire after a collision with

Trulli on lap 26.

When he rejoined he was down in 13th when he collid ed with Gene’s Minardi. Fanis’ race was also a dis

appointment. He had decid

ed to drive a steady and sen

sible race while others fell by the wayside. He was up to ninth place

by lap 22 when he pitted, trying to take advantage of the Safety Car. However, one of the wheel nuts had locked onto the wheel on his

The Frost driver was one

car and, unable to change the tyre, Olivier had no

of the race. He went from

choice but to retire.

12th on the grid to eighth at the end of the first lap.He

afternoon for Sauber. Alesi

It was also a disappointing

then overtook Villeneuve for

disappeared at the start

seventh and stayed there until the Safety Car period.

with transmission failure and so it was left to Fedro

At the restart he man

Diniz to fly the flag. He did a good job too, and was up to fifth place when

aged to jump up to third

least bit surprised, least of all Adrian Reynard who did

Fisichella, despite losing

not even bother to come to

the Frost would not open and he had to go around and make another stop.

of the stars of the early part

win its first race in Formula 1 - and no-one was in the

Australia, presumably real ising that the dream was an impossibility.

to take advantage of the sit uation but the fuel flap of

place and then held off part of his diffuser when he was hit by the Benetton dri

he began to experience gear box problems, losing second, third and fourth before the transmission failed com

ver.

When the second Safety

pletely.

Car occurred the team tried

Number 4 is alive: Little known fact; The Ferrari wrenches put the wrong nosecone on Schumacher’s car late in the race. Here Schuey bowls along in ‘4’. (Photo by John Morris/Mpix)

And here is the Motorsport News: Eddie Irvine had plenty to tell his Ma and Da after taking his first career FI win at Albert Park last Sunday. (Phoio hy rjccAcoss)

Guinness and chiand By ADAM COOPER

ter passed back and forth.

EJ: “I made you!'

The was Melbourne a long timeresult coming

El: “Here’s the first of the losers!"

for Eddie Irvine. Anyone who gets 15 podium finish

EJ: “It’s been a long time coming, but we got

es is sure to win a race

there first...”

eventually. After all, that’s how many Patrick Depailler, Jean Alesi and

The subject soon turned to the hefty transfer fee Jordan squeezed out of

Mika Hakkinen scored

Ferrari in 1995, as a

before, like Eddie, their

opportunity and he took it. He made good choices, the

bemused Jean Todt looked

team worked well. We were

16th visit was made to the

on.

It could have happened before. In Argentina in 1997 Irvine desperately

you many points, but I

made you a lot of money!”

the MP4/14S, Eddie would

EJ: “Femari was our

needed some sort of finish,

biggest sponsor, remem

and decided that second

have been looking at yet another third place, as he

ber?” And so it went on.

did strike, and he was there

was better than risking a kamikaze move on

Jacques Villeneuve. At

Suzuka later that year he led comfortably until get ting that inevitable ‘phone call’ from the pits to allow Michael Schumacher to

Driver

Eddie Irvine

Heinz-Harald Frentzen Half Schumacher Giancarlo Fisichella Rubens Barrichello Pedro de la Rosa

Toranosuke Takagi

Michael Schumacher

3 4

Country (GB) (D) (D) (I) (BR) (SP) (JPN) (D)

10 11

Ricardo Zonta Luca Badoer

Alexander Wurz Pedro Diniz Marc Gene Jarno Trulli Olivier Panis Mika Hakkinen Alex Zanardi David Coulthard

Jacques Villeneuve

Damon Hill ‘Jean Alesi

12 13 14

15 16 17

start.

It’s hard to imagine a team which finishes sec

Ferrari F399

Jordan Mugen Honda Williams Supertec Benetton Playlife Stewart Ford Arrows

Arrows Ferrari F399

1h35m 01.659s 1h35m 02.686s 1h35m 08.671s 1h 35m 35.077s 1h35m 56.357s 1h36m 25.976s 1h36m 27.947s

56 laps I

(BR) (ITA) (A) (BR) (SP) (I) (F) (FIN) (IT) (GB) (CDN) (GB) (F)

BAR Supertec Minardi Ford

Benetton Playlife Sauber Petronas Minardi Ford

Prost Peugeot Prost Peugeot McLaren Mercedes

Williams Supertec McLaren Mercedes

BAR Supertec Jordan Mugen Honda Sauber Petronas

El: “I might not have got

readily admitted. But they

Jordan was one of many long-time Irvine supporters Jordan on selling Irvine to Ferrari:

48 laps - Engine 42 laps - Suspension 28 laps - Suspension 27 laps - Gearbox 25 laps - Suspension 25 laps - Suspension 23 laps - Engine 21 laps - Hydraulics 20 laps - Accident 13 laps - Hydraulics 13 laps — Wing failure 0 laps - Contact 0 laps - Stalled

Fastest Lap: M. Schumacher 1m 32.112s, Lap 55

to take advantage. Just as Schumacher himself has

so often been in the right place in the past. And who’s ever begrudged him

^‘Ferrari was

a victory? What few people appreciated was that

our biggest

Eddie had been given just a day and a half s testing

remember?

in the F399 before

Melbourne: shades of

sponsor, yy

ond being pleased for the

Time

Retirements: 9

been wiped out at the first

Race ClassificationCar- 57 laps - 302.271 km

Pos

catch up. And in the rain in Belgium last season he would have been in with a shout had his race car not

World Championship - Round One Albert Park, Melbourne, 7 March 1999

race with us, and he did not take it. This time he had the

lucky that the cars in front had problems.” Had gremlins not struck

top step.

1999 Qantas Australian Grand Prix

tinctly underwhelmed by the whole thing. “It’s the positive point of the weekend, that Eddie finally won his first race,” said Todt. “He already had the opportunity to win a

1996, his first frustrating year with the team. When

he finally got his hands on it he was able to work

guy who beats them, but

away with his engineer to get the car to where he felt

that was the case for Eddie

who got a kick out of the

Jordan, for whom Damon

win, but sadly his number

it should be, rather than

Hill won that Spa race. “That’s the monkey off

one fans, parents Edmund

how Michael had left it. By Saturday he was begin

Eddie’s back,” smiled EJ

just after the flag. “I don’t want him to do it any more! But I’m glad he did it. We did it last year, and his mum was the first person to congratulate me, and

this is something really special for him. It might change the emphasis at Ferrari, it might help his case.”

and Kathleen, were back

home in Conlig. But one unsung hero from the early days was standing quietly in the background as the party got going. Back in 1985 estate agent Hector Lester loaned the young Irvine an FF1600 car at a time when his career seemed to be over before it

had properly begun.

ning to make progress. His wish to do his own thing extended to his choice of

soft tyres, unique among the front-running teams. But a good car would have meant nothing had he not got past Heinz-Harald Frentzen with one of his

trademark lightning starts. “I made the practice start in first,” Eddie

one of the highlights of the

“It’s unbelievable,” smiled Lester, “but with Eddie’s luck, he was

post-race celebrations as

always going to make it.”

he gatecrashed an Irvine interview by ITV’s Louise Goodman. By co-incidence

“I got a lot of wheelspin, so

While the mechanics

Later EJ contributed to

Lou was Jordan’s long suf

World Championship Driver’s standings: Irvine 10, Frentzen 6, R. Schumacher 4, Fisichella 3, Barrichello 2, de la Rosa 1

fering PR officer when the

Constructors' Championship standings:

team, and it was just like

Ferrari 10, Jordan Mugen Honda 6, Williams Supertec 4, Benetton Playlife, Stewart Ford 2, Arrows 1

old times as the Irish ban-

Ulsterman raced tor the

explained as he supped a beer an hour after the race. I did the second start in

were almost in tears, Ferrari

second, and it was good. A

boss Todt hardly let himself be carried away on a tide of emotion. Frustrated by Michael’s problems, and McLaren’s obvious speed advantage, he seemed dis-

lot of it is down to confi

dence. I just know I’m

going to make a good kart, and I do.

Continued on page 50

Considering Mark Webber’s success, it’s amazing he still wears the same size. Mark Webber has just been awardedthe twin titles of ‘Australian MotorSportsman of the Year’ and ‘International Achiever of the Year’ by Motorsport News. This is the second time that Mark Webber has

won both MotorSport awards. Not that Mark would ever tell you. He’d rather be off racing. CongratulationsMark, Yellow Pages® is proud to share in your success.

7\ Yellow Pages

WWW.yelloWpagCS.COm.au ® Rcgi«cred aadc mark of Tel*tra Corporaiion Limited. YEL 363

12 March 1999

Time to sink or swim: Well, that’s what Keiren Perkins thought when he was strapped into the McLaren two seater for a ride ... until he was told they were out of

time and he had to get out without actually going anywhere! (Photo by oeraw Mcooman)

Too many calories: There were even Teletubbies (sorry, GPTV-tubbies) at the race. (Photo by Dirt< Kfynsmrth)

Mister, Mister: Melbourne Herald-Sun motoring scribe Paul Ellis felt the wrath of Mercedes-Benz motor sport boss Notbert Haug, Ellis reprimanded for not addressing him as “Mr. Haug.” (Photo by Tony Olynn) My NSR gently weeps: Mick Doohan got together with Beatle George Harrison, but he still had that wascally Alex Criville watching his every move. (Photos by sutton and Tony oiynn) Won’t have a bar of that: BAR Technical Director Malcolm Oastler brought his first F1 car ‘home’ to show the folks. The trip wasn’t quite as successful as when he brought

his first Indy Car home. (Photosby GeraWMcDoman)

mPMX

No fattening donuts here: Alex Zanardi left the donuts up to drag racing star Victor Bray (top, left), the CART champion, above, preferring to mingle with a suitably attired Jodie Mears, girlfriend of media-mogul Jamie Packer. (Pholos by Allsports and Marshall Cass)

My bikinis are hand-painted: And speaking of media-moguls, Sara O’Hare (left), fiance of Lachlan Murdoch and recent Sports llustrated swimsuit edition covergirl, also enjoyed the GP atmosphere.

(Photo by Gerald McDoman)

A touch of Class: Le Mans winner Stefane Ortelli oozed class in the (Photo by Dirk Klynsmith) Porsche Supercup races.

I’m all out of faith: Natalie Imbruglia was protected from photographers by

pit lane minders, meaning the only shot we have of the Grammy nominee (Photo by Marshall Cass) was her ploughing her BMW Z3 into a wall. Oh, well...

12 March 1999

9X0.

Owen sounds out Formula

Ford warning WHILE Steve Owen didn’t win both Formula Ford Track Attack races at Albert Park -

Tasmanian Aaron McNally dri ving a sensible, strong race to lead home the field in an

extremely competitive second race - the Spectrum driver did send out a strong warning to his fellow racers that the Mike

Asked whether he believed his dominant win in the first race was

a warning to the other combatants for the Formula Ford crown, Owen was quite forthright in his brief “Absolutely” answer.

In the end for this event, though, it seemed perhaps appropriate that the two who led the 35 car field fol

lowing the conclusion of the lone qualifying session would each take

The complete spectrum: Steve Owen led the charge in the first race and nearly all of race two, although a coming together with Christian Murchison relegated him to eighth. (Photo by Marshall Cass)

Borland-led team is looking good for their second champi onship in a row.

a race win.

Running \vith the strong support of George Stockman and Valvoline for his ’99 campaign, Owen domi nated the season’s first meeting, leading the qualifying sheets with a

McNally’s Vanin the Diemen line poorly chargeleft to the the

Race One

The race appeared to settle down

first turn in the first 10 lapper, the 20-year-old from Perth being quick ly passed by Ashley Seward and Murchison while Owen had got off

2:10.132 second time around the

lake, easily winning the first race after making a break from the lead ing pack and leading the second race before a coming together with

to a clean start and, thanks to not

being in a position to be challenged from the field.

Alex Davison, who qualified in 11th, started making his charge right from the green and on lap two, the Wyrm’s

back through the pack, Owen even tually finishing sixth.

By the fourth time around Owen had stretched his lead to 2.7 sec

onds, while Davison got swamped and suddenly found himself back

Stewart McColl.

where he started from in 11th.

turn, sending him back to seventh

where he would begin the next race - Murchison finally took second ahead of a charging Davison, Seward in fourth, Wade, Christian Jory, McNally, McColl, Kelly and

Thanks to the ability to slip

Justin Cotter.

Race Two

with Occhipinti, thankfully, emerg

stream in the tightly contested race, the Wynn’s car climbed back to sixth by the next circuit.

ing reasonably unscathed. The third lap also saw Greg Woodrow

tinued, Ritter, Seward, Wade and

On lap three Russ Occhipinti had a huge off, his Van Diemen coming

pulling out, his car overheating badly, while Drew Kruck had an off, but the Queenslander was able

car had already moved into seventh.

to resume down the field.

Kelly, Davison, Ken Smith and

to grief after collecting the concrete,

in the first few turns, made a break

rival Christian Murchison took the latter out and sent the Melbournian

on the second lap, Owen leading from Murchison, Seward, McNally, Greg Ritter, Kerry Wade, Owen

The world’s eyes are upon you: Seward and Wade are gone in the first corner of race two. (Photo by Phii williams)

The jostling in the lead pack con Murchison all battling hard for position, trying to dive under each other and gain positions and, in the meantime, allowing the ’V^alvoline

car to skip further away. The seventh lap saw Davison make a bold move under brakes into

the chicane on the back stretch, the Wyrm’s car moving into third while Ritter’s campaign came to a scream ing halt with mechanical troubles, Ritter slowing dramatically. The dicing continued to the last

lap when things really began to get desperate, Davison actually getting onto the grass on the main straight trying to pass Seward - the top five order was Owen, Murchison, Seward, Davison and McNally. Onto the main for the last time

and Owen was six seconds clear,

taking a strong win, while McNally got into the grass aroimd the last

The second of the Formula Ford

Track Attacks was a beauty with the aforementioned McNally taking the win after starting back in seventh thanks to his first race

poor start and following result.

Second time around McNally got a great start, as did Murchison, although last year’s Formula Ford

Rookie of the Year nearly threw it all away at the first comer, going in too deep. Luckily Murchison recovered to third, while Owen to led.

Sqward and Wade, hot off great results the previous day, collided in the mayhem on the first turn -

Seward recovering to finishing 18th, while Wade retired. Murchison chmbed back into sec

ond and the Tasmanian then began to threaten Owen, the two having a great dice for a couple of laps, Murchison passing Owen and going into the lead before again over shooting a turn and trading places.

uros dominate locals in Porsche Sn THE

switch

from

Lamborghini

to Kelleners. Ortelli’s Eschmann

Racing

Porsche for the one-

machine faltered on

make AGP supports

the final lap, relegat ing him to eighth spot.

made a world of dif

ference - in fact, a continent - to the results for the Australian drivers at Albert Park. While

the

struggled

locals

with

the

Porsche 911 SuperCup cars,

German

Kelleners

Ralf and

Frenchman

Stefane

Ortelli dominated pro ceedings in the first race, after early leader Altfrid Heger had a

spin while dicing for the lead.

Ortelli

took

the

point and held a handy lead until the final lap when he too spun, handing the honours

Couceiro led early until a lap two clash, allowing Ortelli to take the lead, which he held over the final

Kelleners took the win

laps to cruise to a 2s

from Portuguese Pedro Couceiro, while

win.

Wayne Gardner drove

three and fell to 14th,

a strong race, moving through the pack from eighth to get the final podium spot. Greg Murphy was

while Richards had a

Gardner spun on lap strong

battle

Gavin

and

with

Roland

Asch. Jim snuck past both of them on one

eliminated in a first

lap

lap skirmish which

behind Schmickler, ex-

also involved former

FI tester Oliver Gavin, while Jim Richards

moved

through

snare

Mercedes-Benz

fifth ITC

star Bernd Maylander and former Monaco GP winner Jean-Paul

fifth, his car losing

Jarier.

much of its speed in qualifying after a strong showing in untimed practice.

steadily in race one for 16th position and backed it up with the

race

Sunday

two

morning,

Harold Huisman and

Rod Wilson drove

same result in the sec ond event.

-PHILBRANAGAN

IMpOamsipaxFO

12 March 1999

On the fourth lap Murchison

Z3 is torn ●●● up!

again took the lead, although Owen tucked in behind and used

the slipstream to his advantage, the lead changing yet again. Naturally, with such a tight battle on our hands, it didn’t take long for Davison to again

get into the action, along with McNally, the race really heating

up around the Redheads part of the track.

Not the full

On the sixth lap it all hap around the back of the circuit,

coming together, the Valvoline’s left front tangling with

vveathennan Monte Dwyer became the first celebrity in history to be black flagged Dwyer driving without his protective eye goggles! Brereton won the ‘classic’

The Castle's’ Rob^' Natalie Imbruglia stuck

eneounter, leading home' comedian/producer Rob Sitch who had qualified

Z3 Celebrity Race^j ily into the concrete wall

fastest for the race.

in practice for the :

Murchison and Owen had their

right

NiotiteJ^

appearing not to take any avoiding action, while TV

for a number of incidents rather than for mer AFL footballer Dermott Brereton’s win.

I 9‘s Monte Dwye.r

pened. After banging wheels

Murchison’s

THIS year’s BMW Celebrity race will perhaps be remember more

rgtelo by Phil Williams)

Grammy

nominee

her $88,000 BMW Z3 heav-

- GERALD MCDORNAN,

during Saturday’s practice,

rear,

Murchison spinning off into the wall and out of the race - a sad,

but not surprising result from such a competitive battle. With Owen caught up in the action, the Spectrum being able

The road for down to earth adyfsf on camshaft selection to deliver

to continue back in sixth, Davison took the lead, while

McNally filled into second and "The slipstreaming was incredi

reliable road

ble on the fast, flowing circuit and, on the seventh and last lap, it caught up with Davison,

or race

Jory third.

McNally, Jory and McColl all

- winning I iSsorv : performance^ ends right here.

getting past and relegating the previous leader to fourth across the line when the chequered fell

- NcNally took the vdn ahead of Jory by just 0.083 of a second, second further behind, Davison

having to be satisfied with a new lap record and his fourth spot. It should also be worth noting back of the field for the second

following his troubles the previ ous day, stormed through the field to finally finish in fifth - a tremendous result.

Speaking after the win, McNally said the second race made up for his first race result where a poor start put paid to any chances he may have had.

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- GERALD McDORNAN

lerCup

tSB. ■®

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“We came to win this weekend and I made a mistake in the first

race but, thankfully, made up for it in the second,” McNally said.

mh:

while McColl was only 0.25 of a

that Ritter, who had started from

.1 oi

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12Mdrch1999

Report by

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A-

TONY GLYNN Wi

. n

AS expected, Jim Richards dom inated the NASCAR support events at the Qantas Australian

Grand Prix last weekend, the

legendary road race champion taking out all three sprints on the demanding Albert Park cir

cuit in Melbourne and each

time finishing ahead of runnerup Kim Jane and Eddie

A’

Lt ■ #:

Abelnica.

Poleman Richards didn’t have it

all his own way, though, the unre lenting Jane determined to out drive his vastly more experienced nemesis and in the process amass as many series points as possible to bolster his championship hopes. As a consequence, the dice for the

■>

lead in each race saw Richards

irf-

fending off Jane from go to whoa, with the last stimulating encounter

A'-

seeing Jane outbroke Richards and

■-

■

r* r

4 «k>:

take the front running, albeit only briefly, before the canny New Zealander reclaimed the lead.

At the conclusion of hostilities, the good news for Jane was that, as a result of his full-on assault on

Richards, he now held a five point lead over Terry Wyhoon in the championship pointscore, the latter coming home fourth in all three clashes and watching his points lead

diminish

each

time

the

Clean sweep by Richards at star driver Russell Ingall’s Trust BankA/ision Monte Carlo - owned

and operated by Scott Williams -

NASCAR field took the chequered

the rather disenchanted Bathurst

flag. Wyhoon - who chose to run his

winner third-quickest with an unimpressive 2.20.883.

older BP Car care Thunderbird on

Then came Marshall Brewer

the sinuous 5.3 km course, rather

(Pennzoil Products Monte Carlo,

than

convert

the

dedicated

Thunderdome car - was obliged to back off a tad to conserve his

brakes throughout the three-day campaign, this circuit rating as particularly demanding in the retardation department. While acknowledging that his set-up for the Grand Prix circuit was less than perfect, Wyhoon was nonetheless surprised to see that Jane and Abelnica

had

23.113), Gene Cook (Shell Helix TAbelnica Bird, 26.939),

Australia ex-Johnny Benson Pontiac Grand Prix, Ingall lost his brake master cylinder, drilled young Nev squarely up the rear and then careered into the nearby

35.627).

The only incident of real note in

White (Maxicube Freighter Monte Carlo) went off into the kitty litter and brought out the red flag - the undamaged White timed 11th-

In Jane’s case, guru John Sidney

quickest with a 2.35.839.

was calling the shots and had obvi ously provided Kim with a car that

The difference between Richards’ time and that of Lance was a mam

was in Richards’ league, though both Jane and Richards openly stated that Kim was going to be up against it when sheer road racing

moth 22.8 seconds, a situation that certainly didn’t augur well for close racing over the next couple of days

experience counted.

Sensation GP support events. Generally speaking, the field was obviously imprepared for its Albert Park debut, the performance of the slowest car on the track highlight

Richards, making a return to super speedway racing in a one-off deal, was punting a brand-new Hucherson-Pagan Chevy for Ian

Thomas, the splendid Bright Eyes Sunglasses Monte Carlo sporting a ‘97-spec John Sidney powerplant that wasn’t quite on a par mumbowise with the later-spec Sidney powerplant in Jane’s Bob Jane T-

Marts Monte Carlo - and, ironical ly, that power differential created something akin to an on-track level playing field for Richards and Jane.

Practice & Qualifying

Running on Goodyear Sears Point-spec road race rubber, 23 cars

in the Bob Jane T-Marts NASCAR

ing this rather controversial issue -23rd-placed Martin Burrows, who was having his first NASCAR out ing, stopped the clocks with a com pletely unrepresentative 4.45.470 in his Gasoline Alley T-Bird. Using the traditional 107% cut

off rule to maintain some vestige of performance parity and determine which entrants should actually be allowed to race at the circuit, this first practice session would there

fore have seen only Richards, Jane,

from the nominal 30-car entry made it onto the track for the first

Ingall and Brewer allowed to com pete in the scheduled races! So, if the assembled masses were

10-lap practice session on the

expecting to see plenty of door han

Thursday morning (March 4) and it came as no surprise that Richards

ultimately proved to be in a class

all by himself with a chart-topping 2.12.899 recorded on the final lap. What was surprising, though, was the extraordinarily broad spread of times recorded, more than

35 seconds covering the top ten. Jane was second with a 2.15.685,

the reigning NASCAR champion raising eyebrows as he outclassed

brought out the red flag, while Lance spun but carried on - but the sensation of qualifying was the unexpected demise of Ingall. Barrelling up behind novice

Monte Carlo, 34.352), Dick Howe (Ferntree Gully Bolts T-Bird, 34.446) and, in tenth spot, Neville Lance (Autopro/King Koil T-Bird, the session occurred when Matthew

able to achieve.

Coleman beached himself and

Neville Wilson in the Pennzoil

Rodney Jane (Fast Fone Wdafone

achieved a degree of compatibility cuit than his own advisors were

(09.257), Brewer, Wyhoon, White, Lance, Dumbrell, Matthew Coleman (Exide Batteries T-Bird) and Jimmy Ellis (DMC Direct Print Chevy Lumina).

(Melbourne’s Cheapest Cars Monte Carlo, 32.805), Wyhoon (32.523),

both

more in tune with the difficult cir

●5.

dle to door handle racing with plen ty of late braking and desperate overtaking manoeuvres, then they were doomed to be disappointed. Qualifying produced marginally better times for the field, this ses sion attracting 26 competitors, including youngster Paul Dumbrell in the John Faulkner Monte Carlo.

Richards again set the pace, dropping to a solid 2.05.692 and

heading Jane (07.988), Abelnica

concrete.

The damage was extensive and, with only four slow qualifying laps to his credit, Ingall was relegated to

15th with a 2.16.264 - to suggest that he was unhappy would have been a major understatement. Just over eight seconds covered the top ten this time, which meant that most of the realistic con

tenders were making some head way as far a set-ups were concerned - encouragingly, Nolan, still the

slowest competitor, had improved by over two minutes per lap. Race One Race one was scheduled for 10

laps, but reduced to eight after a monumental red flag crash involv ing Howe, Darren Smith (Southern

Cross Racing Pontiac Grand Prix) and Dumbrell on the opening lap. Howe tee-boned Smith solidly, both cars slewing across the track and obliging the inexperienced Dumbrell to slam into Howe’s rear

at a mighty clip - Dumbrell then vacated his wreck post haste, hav

ing detected a fire, before collapsing and earning an ambulance ride to

hospital, where no serious injuries were subsequently detected. The restart 20 minutes later saw

Richards and Jane heading Abelnica, Brewer and Wyhoon, the evident grunt of Jane’s motor on

the straight stretches not enough to enable him to gain an advantage over Richards before the next cor

ner - meanwhile, Ingall, who made

the grid, was down in 22nd spot. There were plenty of spins and dramas as the race wound on, including one for Jane when he tried a desperate late-breaker on

Richards - but Kimbo spotted a beached Daryl Coon in the marbles

as he reached the point of no return and quickly elected to continue straight on, surrendering the cor ner to Richards and thus avoiding any possibility of pounding into the stationary Coon if the exercise inadvertently went wrong. Richards took the flag ahead of

Jane (who set the fastest lap of

i 3 x:

Ingall’s not entirely unexpected fit of pique left team owner Scotty Williams in a bit of a commercial

bind, though, as his sponsor com mittments required a driver for the remaining race and the time to find

a suitable replacement was in short supply - but negotiations with John Faidkner proved successful and the

2.06.068 on lap 3), Abelnica,

#34 Monte Carlo was deemed to be

Wyhoon, Brewer, Lance, Coleman, White, Ellis and George Elliot

back in business.

(Lockies Hotel Monte Carlo) - both

Race Three

Richards and Jane experienced fuel surge problems in the latter stages of the race, while Ingall, who was wrestling with a stuck throttle, only completed two laps before his

Race three on Saturday got off to

patience ran out and he headed to the pits.

Race Two Race two on Friday saw 21 cars

on the grid for the 10-lapper, the field starting in yesterday’s finish ing order.

Richards led from start to finish, heading Jane, Abelnica, Wyhoon, Coleman, White, Elliot, Cameron Fisher (Melbourne’s Cheapest Cars Lumina), Lance and Ellis, the

fastest lap this time being set by Richards with a 2.06.582 on lap 2. Wyhoon spun out of fourth spot and slipped to eighth on lap 2, but regained his composure and was back into fourth by the fall of the

flag after an impressive recovery drive.

On the last lap, Ellis was Liberaced by Bob Middleton (Whiteline Racing Monte Carlo), both cars being comprehensively damaged and clearly unlikely to appear for the third race - and, if that was not damage enough. Perry Schubert arrived on the scene and

angered into the wreckage, drasti cally reshaping the front of his

Monte Carlo on its debut outing (despite a solid repair session, Schubert was forced to retire from

the last race on the next day with radiator problems). One notable retiree from the

front of the field was Brewer, a dri

veline failure being heralded by an ominous plume of smoke. But the retiree who caused the

most excitement was Ingall, who

wrestled briefly w-ith a sticking throttle again, before parking the car, calling it quits on the spot and marching off to V8 Supercar land, never to return.

a bad start for Coon, who managed to hit the wall on the parade lap and did not start!

But the eight-lapper turned out to be another winner for Richards,

though Jane, to the delight of the crowds, threw absolutely every thing at him in a desperate attempt to get a win on the board.

Starting in race two result order, Richards and Jane cleared out on

the 21-car field, learing Abelnica, Wyhoon, Coleman, Brewer, Elliot, Lance, Rodney Jane and Faulkner

to sort out the remaing front run ning positions.

IVhile Jane tapped Richards up the bum on lap 3 and then took the

lead briefly on the next lap from Richards, Faulkner was carving his way up from 21st to seventh in a stirring drive.

Despite Jane’s late-braking lock ups, use of the track verges emd the occasional off-track excursions, the

implacable Richards continued on to the flag to take the win ahead of

Jane, Abelnica and Wyhoon. Jane, who had lost some of his

brake pedal, had inadvertently allowed Abelnica and Wyhoon to get by him at one stage on lap 7 after running wide - but Wyhoon then spun, forcing Abelnica to run wide and, in a blink, Jane was back up to second spot. At the flag, the order was Richards from Jane (fastest lap of 2.05.056 on lap 4), Abelnica, Wyhoon, Elliot, Lance, White, Faulkner, Cook and Rodney Jane. As all three races carried full

points, the end result was a reshuf fle at the pointy end which saw Kim Jane on 1155 points now head ing the NASCAR pointscore from Wyhoon (1150), Lance (10361, Brewer (904), Middleton (897L

Elliot (877), Cook (832), Rodney Jane (773), Abelnica (767), and Ingall (721).

12 March 1999

Jackpot for Jeff Burton p I

JEFF Burton hit the jackpot with a win at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 7,

By Martin D Clar

Vegas victor: Jeff Burton’s Taurus. (David Tayior.'Aiisport pic)

■ New NASCAR Vice President

leading 111 laps and fending off

Mike Helton has stated that, before the organisation starts

his brother, Ward, for the win in the most competitive event of

giving other facilities two-race Winston Cup dates per year, it will look at expanding to new markets, adding up to three new venues before it takes dates away from existing tracks.

the season thus far.

Burton, in his Roush Ford, went

into the race as a favourite, along with team-mate Mark Martin, but

he really didn’t show his hand until the halfway point.

“I’m a big fan of Ward Burton’s. I there and try to have to beat him is

■ Miller Lite beer will sponsor Rusty Wallace and Penske Racing through the year 2003, it

really hard,” remarked Jeff of his

was announced on February 11.

want Ward to do well and to sit

brother. “We were door to door and

all but rubbed a couple of times -

■ Four drivers failed to make the

we always wanted it to come down

field at Rockingham - Derrike Cope, Buckshot Jones, Billy Standridge and Rich Bickle were those not up to speed. Robert Pressley, Steve Park, Rick Mast, Johnny Benson and Morgan Shepherd took provision al slots, with Darrell Waltrip tak ing his second past champions provisional in as many races.

to the end like that. The next time

he’ll get me.” Ward started 30th and was up to

fifth by lap 30, showing his strength for the first time this year - if reliability is not an issue, he will be a force to be reckoned with.

Bobby Labonte poled with a 170.643 mph lap - he was the 51st of 52 drivers to qualify and knocked Michael Waltrip off the top spot. Labonte led the first 16 laps and through a lap 10 caution for Johnny Benson, who hit the wall going into

It took until lap 104 for the sec

the tri-oval, wiping out Tony Stewart in the process. Jeremy Mayfield hit the front on

ond caution to air for debris and then for two backstretch wrecks on

lap 17, he and Labonte swapping the point on several occasions before Terry Labonte and then Ward took turns up front.

laps 119 and 132 - the first was when Waltrip spun with possible help, taking out Elliott Sadler and Steve Grissom, the second when

Patience pays off for the Winston Cup season at the North Carolina Speedway, Rockingham, on February 21, Martin taking the lead following a late caution in a competitive race to hold off Dale Jarrett and Bobby Labonte at the flag. “This race team won this race for me,” remarked

■ Business tycoon Donald Trump

Wallace.

Burton’s

dominance

has apparently bid US$55 mil

showed

lion for a 29,000 acre site on

when he led laps 128 through 184,

Long Island, just 75 miles east of

in the latter stages opening up an

New York City. If his bid is successful, Tmmp

eight second advantage that left just ten cars on the lead lap, Mayfield dropping out of the top

intends to build a track suitable

for NASCAR racing. Time will tell whether the pro posal \vill come to fruition, as

ten late in the going when he encountered tyre trouble. Five drivers stood a chance of

Martin at the Rock A patient Mark Martin won the second race of

Kenny Irwin lost traction and wiped out seven other cars, among them the strong-running Bill Elliott and the again luckless Kenny

winning the Winston No Bull Million Dollar bonus, but Jeff Gordon came the closest, finishing

turned into the corner and the car took off in the

third after leading just one lap fol lowing the final caution for oil on

loose stuff and got into the wall,” said Earnhardt.

lap 232.

Gordon reassumed the lead in the pits, but Martin muscled under the Rainbow Warrior on the

restart and brought Burton with him. Burton drop-

kicking Gordon back to fifth, before retiring in a plume of smoke.

Last year’s race was dominated by Martin, with the Ford marque taking all of the top ten positions this year, there was a mix of all the makes in the top spots, which can

Martin, whose crew got his Roush Taurus off pit

A great race shaped up between Mayfield, Terry Labonte and Bobby Hamilton, the latter rallying

first race at the track in 1989.

back from a one lap deficit. Four more cautions aired in quick succession, two for sheet-metal on the track, with Martin leading

the points standings with a fine fourth place result, Childress team

Jarrett on the second of the restarts.

mate Dale Earnhardt rallying back

road first following final stops - Martin won his

Points leader going into the event, Jeff Gordon retired with a rare engine problem with 82 laps to run while running in the top five and leading laps he wound up 39th. Gordon’s misfortune enabled points contenders Martin and Jarrett to reel the champion in, follow

ing their wrecks at Daytona.

Ricky Rudd won his 24th career pole with a 157.241 mph lap, his first pole since October 1995

at Charlotte.

Rudd led a rash of multi-car teams - Jeff Burton,

The second two yellow flags would wave for rook ie Elliott Sadler, who hit the wall and then Irvan again spun for caution six. Martin fended off Jarrett, whose Yates team had worked on his car all race long improving the han

dling, with B Labonte fighting for second - but the battle was for fifth, between Mayfield, Wallace, Skinner and T Labonte, the latter on fresh tyres.

Runner-up Jarrett (by 1.397 seconds) congratu lated Martin, but added: “It seems like we’ve got second place down pat. We just can’t seem to get

Jeff Gordon, Jeremy Mayfield, Mark Martin and

Rusty Wallace - but his lead was shortlived and he was lapped on circuit 57 with a loose Ford. Burton led the early going, Gordon then showing his strength around lap 40, before scheduled pit stops for the front runners began on lap 80.

into victory lane.”

Only two single-car teams finished in the top ten - Geoffrey Bodine in his new Bessey-owned team was eighth and Bobby Hamilton tenth.

Martin first showed his hand on lap 178, taking the lead from Gordon and leading halfway, then

There were 25 lead changes among six drivers. Burton leading eight times for 227 laps. Final result: Martin (Ford) 120.750 mph, Jairett (Ford), B Labonte (Pontiac), J Burton (Ford),

allowing Roush team-mate Burton by to deal with lapped traffic - Gordon would lead again on lap 255.

Laps later, Jerry Nadeau spun and, at the other end of the track, Dale Earnhardt scooted up the

banking into the wall - “I backed off the gas.

be attributed to NASCAR’s new

aerodynamic rules. Mike Skinner continues to lead

from a lap down to finish seventh behind a strong-running Ernie Irvan, who started 40th.

“Don’t anyone think that Dale Earnhardt is laying down and play ing dead,” remarked J Burton on Earnhardt’s performance, the pair racing side by side for many laps as Earnhardt fought to stay on the lead lap.

Final positions: J Burton (Ford) 137.535 mph, W Burton (Pontiac), Gordon (Chevy), Skinner (Chevy), B Labonte (Pontiac), Irvan (Pontiac), Earnhardt fChevy), T Labonte

(Chevy), R Wallace (Ford), Martin (Ford).

Mayfield (Ford), Skinner (Chevrolet), T Labonte (Chevy), G Bodine (Chevy), Hamilton (Chevy), R

Points standings: Skinner 475, R Wallace 424, B Labonte 423, J Burton 413, Gordon 401, Martin 389, Schrader 389, Mayfield 380,

Wallace (Ford).

Dallenbach 363, Little 359. - MARTIN D CLARK

- MARTIN D CLARK

many other new tracks have been planned in recent months, but many have fallen foul to planning or residential problems. ■ Popular long-running American weekly magazine

Sports Illustrated recently fea tured an article slapping NASCAR in the face and the gov

erning body’s President, Bill France Jr, was apparently quick to reply. The story had been copied for all media representatives and

placed in the Rockingham media centre for all to read.

'The somewhat tongue in cheek

story by Steve Rushin took a direct hit at NASCAR’s good old

boy southern roots and, in partic ular, TV announcer and Charlotte native Buddy Baker -

hopefully. Sports Illustrated will print France’s letter in a future issue.

■ Ted Musgrave, Kyle Petty, Robert Pressley, Ron Homaday and Dave Marcis were among

nine drivers who failed to qualify for the Vegas race, with some

suiprising names taking provi sional slots. Rusty Wallace, Ernie Irvan, Stanton Barrett, Dale Earnhardt, Steve Park and

Jimmy Spencer were the takers, Darrell Waltrip taking the past champions slot for the third time in as many races.

1999 WINSTON CUP SERIES Las Vegas 400 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday 7 March 1999 1. 2.

Jeff Burton Ward Burton ... Jeff Gordon Mike Skinner...

Ford ....i,sr5.267 ,267 ,267 .Chev

.Pont

11. Dale Jarrett 12. John Andretti

Ford

.266

Pont

.266

21. Kevin Lepage ... 22. Michael Waltrip

Ford

.265

.Chev

.265

13. Wally Dallenbach

.Chev

.266

23.

Rich Bickle

Pont

.264

.Chev

,267

14.

Chad Little

.Ford

.266

.Chev

.264

Bobby Labonte

Pont

.267

15. Sterling Marlin ....

.Chev

.266

.Ford

.264

6. 7.

Ernie Irvan Dale Earnhardt

Pont

,267

16. Steve Park

.Chev,

.266

24. Bobby Hamilton 25. Darrell Waltrip 26. Jimmy Spencer

.Ford

,264

.Chev

.267

17. Jeremy Mayfield

Ford

.266

.Chev

,263

8. 9.

Terry Labonte . Rusty Wallace.

.Chev

.267

.Chev

,266

Ford

,262

Ford

.267

Ford

,266

10.

Mark Martin

Ford

.267

18. 19. 20.

Ford

.265

27. David Green .... 28. Tom Hubert .... 29. Buckshot Jones 30. Stanton Barrett

3. 4

Ken Schrader .... Rick Mast Brett Bodine

Pont

.262

Ford

.259

12Mdrchl999

■ Defending Top Fuel Champion Gary Scelzi took an early exit during eliminations for the

second straight event. After qualifying sixth position with a 4.58/309

2X0^

S<hu<

Scelzi was dealt a first

round loss by Doug Herbert.

■ Top Fuel racer Randy Parks suffered a blowover

in the second qualifying session on Friday. The Fluke dragster went into a wheelie. Parks pedalled, but the front came up higher. The car stood straight up, flipped and landed nose first, then sliding backwards and on its side past the finish line. Parks emerging uninjured. “I was amazed how

gentle it was,” said Parks. “The scary part is that

there was nothing scary about it.”

■I Going into the final session Cory McClenathan was in

jeopardy of ending his 136 race-straight qualifying streak. Cory Mac’s MBNA dragster just snuck into the field during the last qualifying session - the second last car to go down the track in fact - with a

4.63/313 shot that put them eighth. McClenathan stepped up in the first round to post a 4.58/318 win over Eddie Hill, but lost in the second to Amato.

■ Following his testing crash the previous week at Phoenix, Scotty Cannon suffered his first

ever Funny Car fire in qualifying. Cannon did a great job pedalling the car on the pass, but paid the price when the motor let go near the finish line. The car went off the end of the track out into the desert and Cannon climbed out ok.

WHILE Joe Amato, John Force and Kurt Johnson

may have left Phoenix’s Firebird Raceway with the NHRA event victories, it

was

the

‘other’

Schumacher - Tony - that claimed all the accolades.

Schumacher, no relation to Michael or Ralf but the son

of legendary Funny Car dri ver Don, etched his names

permanently into the histoiy books with the first 330 mph terminal speed ever recorded - his Exide Batteries-sponsored fueller stopping the clocks at an amazing 330.23 mph - a speed reached in just 4.54 seconds!

“That is unbelievable,” said Schumacher. “We have

some fantastic conditions, here at Phoenix and that was

an incredible pass. I had the best seat in the house. This

Exide team finally got the car to hook in the middle of

the track and it ran real good on the top end, that made the difference.

“330 plus, that’s unbeliev able!!”

Despite the barrier break ing pass, after their semi

final loss to Amato, there

were some long faces in the Exide pit area - the team disappointed they hadn’t

year when I didn’t qualify, I thought there goes my title hopes now,” Amato said,

Don’t make faces, ’cause if the wind changes

gone on to win the event, nor

‘After something like that. you ask yourself what you have to do, and you go do it. This time it worked. They

had a bit of a smirk on his face after his historic 330

had me down and out in

the Exide Batteries fuller.

Beverly Hills, but when the

(Photos by Keith Burgan)

back up the historic speed as an official record - falling just two mph short. “We wanted to back up the speed and we wanted to win the race,” said Schumacher. “If we had beaten Amato, we’d be going to the final and

win some races and we’re

going to battle with these

guys all year. A win today would have given us a big

Sadly, after working hard to get the car ready for the last day of

boost in the points.”

qualifying. Cannon also experienced his first

Tenneco team they bounced

NHRA Funny Car DNQ.

DNQ to lead qualifying at

■ Cory Lee, who drove Garry McGrath’s Team USA Funny Car in

Adelaide two years ago, drove into the four second zone for the first time in

Tom Hoover’s Pioneer

Dodge, qualifying sixth with a 4.96.

Lee i-an even quicker in round one (4.92) to down

Frank Pedregon, but a

dropped cylinder stopped his charge against Wait Bazemore in the second.

■ The only notable

performance from a Dodge in Pro Stock came from

the recently sacked, formerly factory-backed Avenger of Allen Johnson. Johnson, with the

lettering “The Other Dodge” adorning the front of his car, was the only Mopar entry to make the

pro^am, advancing to the

For

Amato

and

the

back from their Pomona

4.54/325. He opened elimina tions with a 4.55/321 trounc

ing of Paul Romine, then fol lowed with a 4.56/323 win

over Coiy McClenathan. That moved Amato into a semi final match with new

speed king, Schumacher. The

much

anticipated

race

between the two fastest cars

on the grounds was over by the time the cars reached

100 feet, as Schumacher lost traction and Amato sailed on

through to victory.

Amato’s final round oppo nent would be the “Bud

King” of Kenny Bernstein, the former Funny Car and Top Fuel Winston Champion having been more lucky than good during eliminations. In the final Bernstein held

a slight advantage off the

line but that soon disap peared in a cloud of tire

haze, as the tires began to slip right about the 330 foot

semis with a string of six

mark - Amato’s crew chief

second runs - while all

Jimmy Prock having a good handle on the raceday tune-

four of the factory-backed cars sat out race day after not qualifying! - DAVE OSTASZEWSKI

up and allowing his boss to post his 46th career win. “After the first race of the

mph pass in Phoenix with

going gets tough, the tough get going.” The enigmatic Force bat-

we would be racing tied with the flu all throughBernstein for the Winston points lead. We’re going to

direction...: Naturally, Tony Schumacher, right.

out the weekend, although that couldn’t stop him from

claiming his 71st career title - running a low et of the event in the final over Cruz

Pedregon - 4.84/317 to 5.09/272.

points, which is our goal. This was definitely a confi¬ dence builder.”

Kurt Johnson was almost

perfect on raceday, scoring his 13th career victory in the final round over two-time ’99

finalist, Troy Coughlin, 6.97/197 to a tire shaking 8.09/120.

The Castrol Mustang had

The AC Delco Camaro

qualified first at 4.85/311 and posted four runs in the

qualified second with a

4.8’s during eliminations.

est car in every round of competition - the final

Force, Coil and company were

relentless

4.89/301,

4.85/308

with

and

4.89/305 wins over Randy Anderson, A1 Hofmann and

teammate, Tony Pedregon

before the final match-up with Cruz.

“Lane choice was critical

for this race,” Force I explained. “I figured if my hot rod ran good anyways, I could outrun him because we had outrun him all'weekend. We needed

that lane choice and we got it.” Like Amato in Top Fuel, Pedregon and his Interstate Batteries Pontiac had come

back from a Pomona DNQ to qualify solidly (second at 4.88/309) and then record strong wins over Mitch

McDowell, Jerry Toliver and Whit Bazemore on his way to the final.

“I thought for the first few hundred feet that we had the

win,” Pedregon said.

“We actually lost a cylin der on the run and after that

happened, that was all she wrote. To get to the finals is

going to move us up in the

6.93/198 and was the quickround win moving ‘Junior’ Johnson to the top of the NHRA Winston point stEuidings for the first time in his career.

“We tested in Tucson before this race and what we

learned there paid off,” com mented Kurt.

“We had to contend with a

hot, slick race track today and my car was absolutely flawless. The car spun the tires in the semis, but we didn’t overreact.

“We had a winning combi nation and changed the clutch to help the car go down a loose race track. I think we have a hot rod that can be a contender for the rest of the season.”

The Phoenix win helped erase the 1993 memories when Johnson crashed in

just his second Pro Stock

Techincial Officer Applications are invited for the position of Technical Officer with the Australian

National Drag Racing Association Inc. Based in Adelaide, the job is responsible for the following areas of the Association’s operations: ● recruitment, training and co-ordination of the volunteer officials,

● development/maintenance of standards and procedures, ● liaison with manufacturers and suppliers to the industry, ● inspection of facilities

● development/maintenance of vehicle and procedural regulations in line with policy The successful application should display

start.

● excellent organisational abilities

“You always remember days like this,” noted Kurt, “but I was probably more

● ability to worth without supervision ● computer skills (Mmaoit ona)

spectacular in ’93!”

Continued next page

● excellent people skills

A detailed job description is available on request. Application should be directed in writing to: Chief Executive Officer ANDFIA PO Box 250 AdelaideSA 5071

12 March 1999

lMD0®[FSjJ9(^J

Read’s Gregor/’s AS predicted in the last

issue of Motors{)ort News (#147) 15-time Australian Ton Fuel Chamnion Jim Pj , P . j

Read

ams aUUUDPRIX

PENNZOIt

son, at a press conference in

Sedgwick

Sydney last week. Speaking at the launch,

another Juan

MotorSport Awards in Melbourne.

Kudnig beat an impres sive list of drivers, including

fellow

finalists

Phillips. Rob Tucker and two-time winner

Victor

Bray. It was the first time a

racer from a categoiy other than Group One had taken out the presitigious award.

Kudnig was presented his award by drag racing leg end and touring car identity Ron Han-op.

Qo^ernment anti-tobpcco

advertising laws came into

effect at the end of 1995. After running one season vvithout any major funding winning the championship three years ago - Read has only competed on a part time basis, running at just the Nationals

and

it’s going to be great to be able to get back out there

and race for Gregory’s ” In preparation for an anticipated full-time return

to racing. Read recently pur-

schedule ahead and due to commitments with his pro posed race track near Eastern Creek, Read will

continue to run with his

own a car that is, at least.

Show me how: Gregory’s Automotive CEO Leonie Webster and drag racer Jim Read. (Photo by John Bosher)

their titles, - GERALD McDORNAN

i AUTO M cjti\/e:

Federal

Mogul

Dragster, downing Dale Carlson and in Federal Mogul

Funny Car three-time alky Funny Car Champion Frank Manzo defeated Pete Swayne at the wheel of Randy Goodwin’s alky Hopper. - DAVE OSTASZEWSKI Welcome back: After not

qualifying at the season opening Wintemats a few weeks back, Cruz Pedregon returned to form in Phoenix,

going to the final round with Joe Gibbs’ Pontiac hot rod.

■ Keith Agius is believed to be returning to the seat of a Top Fuel dragster in competition at the Nationals, Agius

driving Garry McGrath’s ex-Rachelle Splatt car.

Agius drove the car at the performing a burnout on the main straight, and is expected to attempt a run at taking another Nats Top Fuel crown, he and partner Dave Hoffman having defeated Ray Ward ■ Roy Smith and Mick

■

Continued from page 36 In the semi-pro classes, in

stout ex-Kalitta fueller at a number of NHRA events.

Atholwood elected to miss last weekend’s

form of vehicle maintainence

win

Rapisarda are also keen to try their hand with their

for the title back in 1992.

the spectators perform some

Darren Nicholson took the

team owner Santo

GP demo last week,

“A recent impact study at Willowbank revealed that

the motor vehicles owned by them were over eight years of age. “Also, a vast majority of

■ Word has it that both

Steve Read and Garry McGrath will be joining the Cowin family and

year. McGrath is reportedly ready to send his Olds Funny Car across the Pacific, while Read and

Street Directories that are the most recognisable of

aged 25 or older and 72% of

on Sunday, April 4.

although, with a busy racing

priate to win another Australian Top Fuel Championship,” Read said. “Drag racing is my life and

male, over two-thirds were

pm, the other a week later

Peter and Helen Russo on the US tour some time this

semi-trailer transporter and “first in the fours” race car.

products. “Our research shows that the main users of our service and repair manuals are

76% of their spectators were

programmes from the

chased Graeme Cowin’s

was trying to reach with its

eight years old.

one-hour highlights

The first will screen one

proven Dave Uyehara-built fueller. Universal Press publish a diverse range of products however it is their Gregorys Automotive Manuals and

male, over the age of 25 and

Gary

h documentthat Read was forced to curtail his racing in the sport when the Federal

Nationals TV deal, it has been confirmed that two

week after the event on' Sunday, March 28 at 1.00

Wintemationals events. “Wg are thrilled to announce this support from Universal Press, it will allow ug to again go racing at the level we believe to be appro-

Ms. Webster said the sport of drag racing was a perfect fit to the audience her company

Kudnig wins Racer of the Year Award at last week’s Australian

signed

Gregory’s Automotive titles as major sponsor. Read, along with Gregory’s CEO Leonie Webster announced the deal which will take the team through to the end of the 1999/2000 sea-

BRISBANE Super Sedan racer Juan Kudnig added another trophy to his impressive collection by taking out the Drag

Umversal Press and their

- it’s just the perfect fit.”

■ Further to our brief

last issue concerning the

event will be telecast on the TEN Network.

deal confirmed

harade

Willowbank Top Fuel round, instead deciding to back-halve their car in readiness for the Nats.

The team found a major crack in the rear and they believed the time was

right for the job, also taking the opportunity to add a 12” Sainty diff. ■ Last issues briefs

(#147) contained a story about off-street meetings at Eastern Creek, stating that the meetings were not ANDRA-sanctioned. This is not the case with those events most

definitely coming under ANDRA’s wing. Apologies to all concerned.

- GERALD MCDORNAN

Big day out for Aussies in Phoenix AUSTRALIANS made a

Australian’s first ever run

good showing in Phoenix

over 300 mph - setting up a

as both AndreAv Cowin and David Grubnic made

Dixon.

the Top Fuel field Cowrin advancing to the second round - while

Cunningham scored a big w'in in Stock Bernie

Eliminator - the fourth NHRA national event

round one match with Larrj-

4.67/305.

Gnibnic may have lost in the first round, but the

leak was found after the

Aussie had the best seat in

burnout. Cowin strapping

the house alongside Tony

more than a tenth of a sec

ond holeshot and holding

his career.

4.71/292 over Dixon’s much

backed

number fourteen spot with a 4.71/303

the

young

Express fueller into the pro gram in thirteenth with a

following a flurry of crew activity when a small oil

out for the win with a

Cowin’s K&N

Grubnic put the Montana

Dixon was rattled before the two went head to head,

Stock eliminator win of

dragster qualified in the

came up a little short against Herbert's 4.62'306.

quicker4.59. Cowin then

against

Doug

lined

Herbert,

where another 4.71'300

Schumacher’s 4.54330 pass.

stunning

Cunningham, who hails from Ballarat in Victoria, drove his H'SA '69 Nova the ‘Aussie’ - to the Stock

title downing Chad Loge. - DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

Pro Street Shoutout Saturday April 3 Check out some of the hottest street car action you’ll ever see at Heathcote Park Raceway this Easter Saturday. Pro Street: Ned Karanovic (’57 Chevy),

Chris Hollingsworth (570ci One-tonner), Craig Brewer

(HR Panel Van), Steve Athens (twin-turboed Capri), Shane Cable (big block Camaro), Chris Dalton (R100) & more!

Heathcote Park Raceway Mclvor Highway, Heathcote, Vic Enquiries: 03 5998 7503

12 March 1999

Steve Read claims Top Fuel lead

a Due to persistent rain that hit Adelaide last

weekend, Adelaide

International Raceway had no other option but to

Only four cars front for championship round - most elect to stay home

cancel their Wild Bunch

meeting scheduled to be held last Saturday night. The event was really the last hit-out for the south ern-based racers before the Nationals at Calder Park next weekend.

■ Revolution Racegear proprietor Dale Rodgers and Former Australian

Super Stock Champion Peter Sammut have been

appointed to the National Executive Commitee of

ANDRA. Rodgers, 41, has a 20 year history in adver tising while Sammut, well known for his championship-vdnning racing efforts with brother John, is currently working as Project Manager for VicRoads, overseeing the $200 million Princes

Highway West Development. One more NEC member will be

appointed later this month.

FORMER Australian Top Alcohol Champion Steve Read claimed the points lead in the Australian Top Fuel Championships at Willowbank Raceway on Saturday night, with a lucky win in the Santo’s Cranes/Zenith fueller.

In a worrying sign for the sport, warnings having been issued by many early in the season, just four Top Fuel, cars fronted for the champi onship event - most electing to stay home due to budget shortfalls or wanting save parts for the Nationals in two weeks.

The Santo Rapisardaowned team could not repeat the four second performances they produced while testing at the January 30 Willowbank meeting, quali fying with a best of only 5.33/257 for third spot behind the Pennzoil car of

Robin Kirby (5.14/259) and

B The DiFilippo Family Racing team have signed

Jim Read (5.18/281) in the

Redback Performance

Publications dragster. Terry

Exhausts as sponsors for the remaining races of the ’98/99 Top Fuel Series, with an option for the fol lowing season. The team’s

Sainty was the fourth and only other car in the depleted

298 mph fueller will debut

vith Redback signage and signage of another poten tial co-major sponsor at the Nationals next week.

Gregory’s

Automotive

field with a troubled 8.07/101

in the Eagle Ignition Leads car.

Wayne Rowe is heading to

American’s recent trips to

Australia with Ness quite impressed with the work Rowe had performed on Super Stock racer Bruno Cavallo’s new ’97 Pontiac Trans Am.

Mod racers thought it was safe to get back on the track following Scotty Cannon’s departure to the NHRA, another shark has loomed, this time in the

form of Aussie Ti’oy Critchley. Driving Johnny Rocca’s new ’49 Mercury, Critchley stormed to a 6.30/221 pass while test ing at Darlington, SC last weekend - the quickest

legal IHRA Pro Mod pass in history, Critchley and Rocca will contest the sea

son-opening

Darlington this weekend.

and 6.16 respectively. The first round

was a

Funny Car versus Funny Car and dragster versus dragster affair with Harker’s 5.88/235 way too good for

Reed’s 6.19/235, and Phillips’ even quicker 5.85/237 down

ing Shackleton’s 6.19/218. A close hard fought battle was expected in the final but it never eventuated, Harker

being shut down with an oil leak and Phillips soloed to a 5.86/236 win.

Bruno Cugnetto was a shock first round loser in the third round of the Pro Stock

Championship, the VPW Olds got out of shape, backed off, and pipped at the post by number eight qualifier Mark Marchetti. Cugnetto had top

Back in red: Jim Read appeared for the first time at Willowbank with new sponsor Gregory’s Automotive Pulications. (Photo by John Bosher) recorded two passes in the 7.79/173 mph. Leahy in Super Comp, newly

qualified with a 7.941/172 in

front of Jon Andriopoulos’ 7.948/171

the

Auto

7.80s to reach the final to

Concepts Chev Lumina. Craig Hasted put his Cragar Performance Ford

meet

current

national

champ, Rob Tucker, in the

round by Andriopoulos but

Performance

extended his lead in the

Kudnig in Super Sedan, Graeme Frawley in Modified,

Wholesale

the final.

Tucker’s gallant 7.92 was no match for Andriopoulos’

was on their side in the first

round when Jim Read, con

testing his first meeting with his new sponsors on board, suffered fuel problems in the pits and could not fire the car to make the round.

Read (Steve) simply staged and shut off at the green to receive the automatic win -

Jim Read, no doubt, disap pointed but that is the

nature of the sport. The

Kirby repeat his qualifying effort with another 5.14 to

dispose of Sainty’s 7.79/106. Lady Luck was again with Read in the final when he snatched the win at the

death, his troubled 5.42/252

downing Kirby’s 5.47/190 - a departing blower belt slow ing Kirby’s charge to a third consecutive Willowbank.

win

The second round of the

Queensland Top Alcohol series was run with multi

national champion Gary Phillips continuing his domi nation of the bracket in his another

win

Harker.

over

Steve

Andriopoulos, runner-up at the Nationals last March,

crowned Australian Drag

Racer of the Year Juan

171.

with the only other seven

Series leader Hasted was

eliminated in the second

second timecard, a 7.97 at

Lucas Oils digger, taking yet

Winternationals at

and Steve Reed with 6.04

compulsory qualifying ses sion, when they pushed out a head gasket and damaged

other first round race saw

■ Just when IHRA Pro

lowed by Paul Shackleton

Thunderbird in third spot

the block and heads. The

the US to work with renowned Pro Stock con structor Don Ness for the next two months. Rowe met Ness on the

with a 5.84/244. Phillips sat in second with a 5.90/236 fol

The Rapisarda team lost an engine in the last and

engine was replaced and luck

■ Chassis builder

Harker had earlier top qualified in the Harker Transport/Spectra ThermoKing Avenger, setting low et and top speed for the meet

Oldsmobile - Tucker had run

Championship over Cugnetto

a pair of 7.90s on his way to

by a further 20 points - now 50 points clear.

best numbers for the event, a

Ross Munster in Super Street, John Adin in Comp Bike, Fabio Crystal in

Other winners on the Modified Bike and Latiesha night included Russell , Borm in Junior Dragster,

Schafer in Top Comp, Greg '

-KEN FERGUSON

Winter in the West Queensland’s Wild Fridge scores second straight doorslammer win THE crowd roared when Perth’s Robin Judd

the weekend could win them

knocked out Victor Bray in

the

news when he pulled off a powerful wheelie in the right

8.71/112

Up against Round five winner Les Winter, Judd

lane, before the car swerved

8.98/146 in the final round.

right, hitting the concrete

looked like he was going to

barrier.

The Super Stock final was a grudge match between for mer national champion Steve

the final.

28th

Westernationals at Ravenswood International

have

Raceway on February 27/28. It was in the second round

after

Keeping the revs up, the

Winter’s big white Chev had spun a bearing in the bottom

solo

car then slid across to the left lane to T-bone the other

end but Winter

concrete barrier, narrowly missing out on splitting the

extremely

run

and his

small

crew

of eliminatons and Judd,

thrashed around under the

who is in his first ever sea

powerplant and got the car to

son of racing, powered his

the start line.

fuel tank.

Ian Brown, who was in the

other lane, had his own prob lems, collecting the half

Studebaker to a 6.52 to bet

After trailing off the line.

ter Bray’s 6.62 - this being

Winter’s Chev took hold of

track timers.

the seventh round of the

the final, winning with a

When Duncan crossed the centre he also collected the

Austalian Top Doorslammer

6.83/206 over Judd’s slowest time of the weekend - a

senes.

For Judd it meant a spot

7.07/198 coming thanks to a pushed-out head gasket. Competiton Eliminator dri

in his first ever final and

after rattling off the quickest passes all weekend, he was almost guaranteed the win. Almost. Not

ver Aidan Duncan didn’t have

the best of weekends, trash ing the front of his modified

even

importing

altered in Saturday after noon’s qualifying session.

American John Scialpi to help with the car’s set-up for

He maderthe Channel 10

timers - fortunately Brown

outclass

Queenslander John Parker’s

Flynn and current champion Geoff Chaisty, both of Perth. Flynn, who has been out of racing for most of the season

and used the meeting to test different set-ups, was out of contention early in the race and coasted over the line, while Chaisty running an easy 9.12/147. Winners in other brackets at the Westernationals were;

was way out in front and out

Hank Robertson (Modified),

of further harm’s way. Trevor Morrison took out

Alistair McClure (Super Sedan), Darren Kellaway

the final of Comp with a run of 7.38/177, to beat Rob Pilkington’s 7.58/168.

(Super Street), Paul Nieuwhof (Mod Bike), Renee Camplin (Super Gas), and

Two-time

Australian

Comp Bike champion Mick Sargent rattled off an

Chris Scott Dragster).

(Junior

- DARREN O’DEA

1999 NHRA WINSTON DRAG RACING SERIES - POINT STANDINGS TO MARCH 1 1999 NHRA Top Fuel Championship v\

■IS

1999 NHRA FUNNY CAR

1999 NHRA PRO STOCK

I. Mike Dunn

195

196

2. Kenny Bernstein .. 3. Tony Schumacher 4. Larry Dixon 5. Joe Amato 6. Cory McClenathan 7. Jim Head

I. John Force ....

166 ISO

2. Tony Pedregon

187

3. Whit Bazemore

132

123

Doug Herbert.... 9. Eddie Hill

10. Gary Sceizi

130

4. Gary Densham

128

5. Dean Skuza ....

106

6. Cruz Pedregon .

104 104

7. Del Worsham .

107 87

8. Jerry Toliver ..,

.86

9. Frank Pedregon

.84 84

.89 ,70

Al Hofmann ...

I. Kurt Johnson .. 2. Jeg Coughlin Jr .

3. Troy Coughlin . 4. Warren Johnson

194 188 185 116

5. George Marnell 6.

Steve Schmidt..

105

Jim Yates 8. John Nobiie ... 9, Allen Johnson ..

105

10. Mike Trumble Jr.

.66

.84

.82

12 March 1999

Dud

Sun shines on Island MORE than 320 entries,

perfect weather and the theme ‘a Celebration of

the V8s’ was the recipe for an outstanding 10th annu al Phillip Island Classic held on February 27-28.

t *■

Added to this, the appear ance of V8 heroes such as

Peter Brock, John Harvey,

Terry Wyhoon, Bib Stillwell and others, a number of rare race cars not previously seen and the combined organising talents of the VHRR and the V

Victorian Mini Club, assured

the meeting was truly a clas^;->i

SIC.

Patron Peter Brock was in

fine form as he sipped his bottomless mug of tea and exchanged stories with his mentor Harry Firth 0AM before slipping into Robert Shannon’s well-used Invicta

to do some parade laps of the circuit with a young passen

ger alongside. He later became more seri

ous when he was reunited with his 1979 Bathurst-win

ning Torana in its original red, white and black hvery to battle with another of his old

sparring partners and former team mate John Harvey.

‘Harvs’ was similarly mount ed in his former A9X Torana

- what a sight it was to see

the pair appear over Lukey Heights side by side and then shpstream down the straight just like old times! Teny Wyhoon also joined in the fray driving his mean,

green

700hp

NASCAR

machine. The trio put on a

great show of precision dicing, at the same time, coinciden

tally, as the Roulettes flew overhead, the famous Austrahan flying team getting in some final practice before their AGP demonstration. But back to the 29-event

program. There’s something special about the ’Island because regardless of the sort of racing, it’s always close. A classic example was the

scrap between Stuart Powell’s Faux Pas and the hard charg-

Great sights: If there’s an historic meeting at Phillip Island, there have to be races for Formula 5000s. And, speaking of which... what would an event of this stature be without having Peter Brock there? As always there were some ing Ausca of Ian McDonald. one of many in the event. It’s fearlessly by Keith Simpson. Powell got the better of the starts on both days and had scored narrowly McDonald been able to gain the advantage off the line he

might have reversed the

a healthy sign with so many newcomers making their start in competition through

the Historic ranks.

dog, it couldn’t be shaken off.

Another good feature of Historic racing is that rela

Their battles in the M & 0

Racing and Sports events

off the track for no apparent

tively standard cars can be

battle

entered, an example being

epic

involved Graeme Lowe (Alta),

the

RusseU Budge (Zephsca) and Geoffrey Mclnnes (Riley) in the Groups J, K and L(b) event on Sunday - the sort of stuff you don’t see in modem

Shepard

day racing.

In most categories there were capacity fields, and no better was this illustrated

than in the Groups N(b) and (c) touring car events - they just kept coming! Drew Marget’s Mustang was the one to catch, but an unlikely

GT of Steve from

NSW.

Shepard’s MG is basically a road car and he performed creditably in this, his second only race meeting. At the pointly end of the Group S (a, b and c) sports cars, Geoff WiUiams (Morgan Plus 8) has the legs on the

pretty Marcos of Roger Ealand, the legendary Bib Stillwell showed he can still

punt his Repco Brabham around the ’Island well under

car that served notice was

the 2-minute mark, and

the Chrysler Charger of Garry 'Treloar. He led home a strong field of XU-ls to win

Andrew Rohson continued his

his class and made a big chal

lenge for second outright in the final 6-lapper before lock

ing up the brakes and axle tramping his was into MG Comer. Treloar is a P-plater,

hard luck stories. Right near the end of the day Ken

Bedggood escaped serious injury when his recently com pleted Elfin Catalina speared

result. That we’ll never know. Another

It was lined up alongside the brutish Dalro Jaguar of Les Wright, and like a flea on a

domination of Groups P & Q although Richard Carter

never gave up trying to catch the Lola F5000 in his much

were a feature, as was the

struggle for outright between young Jamie Lamer (Brabham) and the evergreen veteran Brian Sampson (Cheetah Mk.4).

reason and cartwheeled into the air several times. 'The car

was badly damaged and Bedggood was taken to Cowes Hospital for observation. Eighteen months of hard

THE sudden death of Ron Reid on Friday,

February 28 has robbed the Historic racing fraternity of one of its most loyal and popu lar figures. Ron’s involvement in motor sport went

back to the early post-war years when he built the Hudson Special, a car he used not only for racing but also as his honeymoon car with his new wife, Gwen. These days

the Hudson Special is on display at the Hall of Fame at Mt. Panorama.

But the car everyone associated with Ron was the famous Sulman Singer.

Apparently Ron once asked Tom Sulman

And speaking of small, they don’t come much small

what he should do to make the car go

A good weekend for Williams: Geoff Williams had a ball in the Morgan in the sports/racing events. He he exits MG corner with a Lotus Europa glued to his tail, (pnoios by James smith)

the car will be back in action

without too many delays, driver

Andrew

McDowell also had a lucky

escape when his car ploughed into a safety barrier. After a trouble-free weekend it was ironic that both accidents

occurred near the end of the

meeting. -BRIAN REED

Vale - Ron Reid

smaller March.

er than the Eagle Imp driven

work came to a sudden end, but knowing the Penrite crew

quicker and the answer was “Nothing. You drive the thing faster than I ever did!"

One of Ron’s trademarks was the

famous scarf that trailed behind in the breeze. It seems the only ones who weren’t

impressed by this item of apparel were CAMS and he was duly stopped from wear

ing it. However, at his memorable 70th birthday party another scarf was signed by all his friends and presented to him with a “CAMS Approved" sticker attached. For many years Ron was a Toyota deal

er, a great V8 tuner and a popular figure wherever there was Historic racing ^ as John Cummins said “Ron Reid was the cat

alyst of what Historic racing is all about.” ,

In tribute to the late Ron Reid, a minute’s' silence was observed by the VHRR at the ’

Phillip Island Classic - a meeting that no

doubt he would have loved to attend.'

To Gwen and family, to the community of Harden-Murrumburrah where he lived and

to his many friends we extend our deep sympathies,

-BRIAN REED

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12 March 1999

DUil.

Report by

n T7\

SUE HOBSON

“REWIN’ Ron” Pyne, rac ing the Shell/Auto One NSW #7 Camaro, has again taken out the Australian Super Sedan

Championship, with four years between chequered flags for the new champi

-Or

Another Australian Super Sedan Title for Ron Pyne

on at this event. This was the first time the

national Championship has been staged on the clay at Mt Gambler’s

Borderline

Speedway, the February 27 title event attracting some of Australia’s greats. Practice With many teams not hav ing raced at Borderline pre

viously, the chase for set-up was on and it was the Repco Motorsports Z28 Camaro of Peter Logue which set the fastest unofficial practice time, clocking 13.85. However,

the

Suspension

Miami

Camaro

Queensland’s Jamie McHugh was also putting in some con sistently quick times. Unofficially clocked as the second fastest, McHugh was

the only other driver to put in sub-14 second laps, his times being 13.91 and 13.97.

Heats With 15 heats staged over night one, the only two com petitors who took out multi

ple wins were, in fact, Logue and McHugh, both taking two wins from three starts.

Mt Gambler victor Ron Pyne (Geoff Grade pic)

However, it was not only the heat wins that were

Ian Marshall (Federal Tyres) took the first win of

Mick Nicola taking out victory in the final heat of the first round and taking

being put up on the board, as the 12-lap record was broken

the night. Bill Miller (Blair Athol

almost three seconds off

four times - the flying Logue

Auto Parts) also took a win. Miller being the first to dip

Miller’s new record! WA’s Gary Higgs set the

finally set the new record at 2:47:15.

ference between the new 11

The Uneeda Tyre and Smash Repairs Nissan

new record in the next heat, taking the new time down to 2:52:88 - but the following heat was Logue’s, Logue taking over five seconds from Higgs’ time and an overall 10

300ZX of Steven Dale took

seconds off the 1995 time!

and 12-lap records.

the win in heat four, with

Interestingly, the second

heat of the night saw McHugh set a new 11-lap record in a time of 2:44:47, with only 2.5 seconds the dif

under the previous 12-lap record, skimming just over half a second off the previous time set in 1995.

Other heat wins on night one went to John Rodda (K &

J Rodda), Pyne, Darren Kane

(Thorpes Transport), Gavin McEachern (Trident Tyre

1)on't miss your chance to

dn the best money can buy

Centres), John Brown (G

57S

Force

and

Race

Engines and Peter Aylett

- 1W He ^ QZMm. oo.

mom

Road

was black-flagged for nailing Craig Vosbergen (Worldwide Machinery), the Vosbergen Pontiac ending up on its roof Lionel

West

(Central

Springs Inn Daylesford) was awarded rear of field for

jumping the start and Rodda was put back two positions for

gaining a position unfairly. McHugh was holding the most points at the start of

night two, with Pyne second. With heat racing continu ing, it was Tony Grinstead

(Kyneton Auto Parts) taking two wins from two startTS

(Shane Wilson Competition), Peter

Drew

Adelaide),

(Collins

Pyne

and

Girdlestone.

Only one major penalty was dished out during the heats on night two, Logue losing two positions for push ing Pyne. One of the best drives of

the night, however, was by Higgs, who made a gutsy effort around the outside to take second behind Michael

Bagorski. In a spectacular drive

between turns 3-4, Higgs moved around Wayne

after doing a complete rearend rebuild overnight. WA’s Kingsley Jones (Double Glazing Australasia) also took two heat wins, with

bles above the cushion -

Randall and Noel Reichstein

to take the position, after dri ving through the loose mar

(City Bins). Three major penalties were given over the night.

other heat wins going to

Higgs stated he had “turned

Alan Baker (Stein Earth

Des Korn (Boral Tyres)

Moving), David Gartner

the wick up for the night; it was make it, or break it.”

Runner-up: Ford T-Bird driver Darren Kane on his way to the podium. (Geotf Grade pic)

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Swan dive: WA’s Craig Vosbergen makes it a night to remember at Borderline. (Grade pic)

12 March 1999

Logue makes it five on the trot

Nice work: Gary Higgs (4th, left), Mick Nicola (3rd), Darren Kane (2nd) and winner Ron Pyne. (Geoff Gracie pic)

Pole Shuffle With the final 20 qualifiers deter mined, it was then up to the Pole Shuffle to sort out the starting posi tions for the feature event.

Nicola was the first mover, gain

ing three positions, with Baker then taking over from Nicola and moving up the grid. Qualifying 12th, Baker ran through the field to move up to eighth, before being black flagged for jumping the start, a decision that saw Baker demonstrate his

displeasure. Brown was next, moving from fourth to first, although electing to start from the outside position in the A-Main.

by Girdlestone, Gartner, Baker and Logue - Logue put the nose of the Z28 under the Falcon, finally takiiig the position with seven laps

Gartner threw a left rear wheel off,

down

broken steering arm bolt. With 27 laps still remaining, rac ing resumed and defending champ Nicola now got down to business, making a pass on Marshall and

the yellow flying again. Jones hit the wall when trying to avoid Gartner and retired with a

The first caution was triggered at just over one quarter race distance when McHugh and Brown tried for the same racing fine, McHugh end ing up in the wall and unable to

Grinstead to take over sixth.

The flat right rear of Brown came into play at half distance when he came out of turn 2 and Grinstead, in an attempt to avoid Brown, backed out of it, Bagorski, McEachern and Terry Reichstein (Tennant Taxi Trucks) being left with no racing room. Brown and Bagorski were out of the race, Bagorski sporting rearend damage - McEachern’s frontend collapsed two laps later and he

continue.

Unfortunately, the clash also put Brown out later in the event, a slow tyre leak ending any title chances.

The second caution was triggered before one lap was put on the board after racing resumed. This saw newly-recrowned Victorian Champ Logue spear into the wall after he and Girdlestone

Final When the green flag fell in the 40-lap feature, it was Brown who took the lead from poleman McHugh. With only three laps on the hoard, McHugh was attempting some big moves under Brown and they were side by side for an entire lap before Brown regained the lead. Pyne was holding down third, with Kane in fourth and followed

(both travelling at full noise) came together. Unfortunately, Logue sustained an extensive injury to his wrist and was taken away by ambulance.

was also out.

As the laps wound down, it was Nicola who picked up the pace, challenging Girdlestone with ten laps remaining. Four laps later, with Girdlestone now sporting a broken axle, thirdplaced Nicola was a quarter lap behind second-placed Kane. Nicola put the pedal to the metal, catching Kane to challenge him

Rodda was also a retirement at

this point, the Falcon sporting a flat right front. Brown, also sporting an almost flat right rear, was allowed to lead the field again, but Pyne made the move into the front just before

Mount Moments

across the line for second, but Kane

just kept the Thunderbird in front. Pyne comfortably took the Australian Title from Kane, Nicola, Higgs, Grinstead, Marshall, Miller, Gary Bryans (BRH Enterprises)

■ Pre-event woes almost saw the winner of the Australian Title not make it to the track.

Ron Pyne left for the Mount in his well-equipped transporter, but

and Girdlestone - Randall took the win in the Consolation Final.

aiTived at the track with the Camaro on the back of a banana-back after

the transporter dropped a con-rod. Pyne was forced to continue on with only a few tyres and limited

An elated Pyne stated that it was a pretty easy win. “Starting out of three is a privi lege, because off the front line it’s always pressure to see who gets to the first corner - end of story,” Pyne S2ud. “So, 1 decided I’d just tip

spares - but no doubt with his cheque book close at hand. -■ Scrutineering was not such a gi-eat moment for ACT’s Robert Burke, who found the engine in his new ’98 Pontiac set back too far. A hard day working before racing began, however, saw the engine mounted forward an inch and Robert lined up to compete.

it in behind and see which one had the better of the other.

■ The first engine drama concerned Jamie McHugh, who did an engine in practice - and, just to keep the team on their toes, when the engine blew, McHugh also broke an axle. With the axle jammed in place, the diff, along vrith the engine, also

“John [Brown] went the low line

in the main straight on a lapped car. Jamie (McHugh] saw it and dived to the high line. Then John changed his mind and went to drive to the high line, not knowing that Jamie was coming up the outside. I mean, it was just a racing incident.

had to be replaced. ■ Alan Baker also blew an engine in practice. The NSW #3 car had been purchased by Greg Smith (racing the #10 Falcon and then taking over the Baker car after the feature event), but a decision was made by the Smith team to take the engine out of the #10

I knew I had it then, because John

was loose and he just never had the package. His good driving got him to where he was, really. “Then 1 just drove away - the rest is histoiy,” Pyne added. “It was just so easy.”

and put it in the #3, with Baker continuing behind the wheel. Baker had a veiy strong second night’s racing after niggling problems over night one - unfortunately for Smith, however, the replacement engine also died in the final stages of the feature. - SUE HOBSON

Max Dumesny Motorsport

GIPPSLAND Super Sedan racer Peter Logue claimed an incredi ble fifth consecutive Victorian Title - and his eighth speedway crown in total - at Warmambool’s Premier Speedway after down ing a tough field on February 20. Forty two nominations were received for the event, with an entry list comprising 18 top interstate competitors - but Logue, at the wheel of the Daryl Logue-built Repco Motorsports Z28 Camaro, took on all comers and proved to be an unbeatable package on the night. After one complete restart in the 30-lap feature event when David Gartner (Shane Wilson Competition Developments) looped his Pontiac in turn 3, racing commenced with Gavin McEachern (Trident Tyre Centres) driving the high line around Logue to take the lead. Queensland’s Alan Baker (Steins Earth Moving) was third, with Nicola holding down fourth and followed by Nick Girdlestone (Racers Warehouse), Greg Smith (Church Air), Bill Miller (Blair Athol Auto Parts), Steven Vaughan (Performance Techniques), Scott Whittle (Ipta Fibreglass) and Tasmania’s Kevin Purton (Total Air Supplies EL )Q18 Falcon), who rounded off the top 10. With six laps on the board, reigning Champion Mick Nicola (Traralgon Car City IROC Camaro) made the pass under Baker in turn 2 to take over third behind Logue. With McEachern driring the high line, Logue put the Camaro under neath him, the two racing side by side for an entire lap before McEachern put the 'Trans Am back into the lead. The front three cars had moved away from Baker and Girdlestone, Girdlestone coming under Baker in turn 4 for fourth, while Vaughan made the move under Miller to take over sixth.

'The first restart was effected with 17 laps remaining, when Whittle pulled up high on the back straight after he broke a imi and spat the tailshaft.

When racing resumed, McEachern again took the lead, with Logue in second - Baker, who was holding down fifth, pulled infield sporting a bent front arm.

At half-race distance, with McEachern still driving the high line, Logue again put the Camaro underneath, this time making the pass in turns 3-4 to take over the lead.

With 12 laps remaining, Ian Marshall (Federal 'Tyres) spun in the back straight, the yellow flag flying and bringing the field back together. Nicola had now moved up to put McEachern under pressure, Girdlestone also making his presence felt behind Nicola. Smith was the next casualty when he walked the VS Commodore into the wall, triggering the yellow for the third time in the feature. With six laps remaining, the final dash for the flag was on, with Logue still holding the lead. A challenge by Nicola for second saw him move under McEachern in the front straight to take over the position. Girdlestone made a lunge in turns 1-2 to come under McEachern, but was unable to make the pass and crossed in fourth, followed by Vaughan, Purton, Miller, Steven Murphy (Murphy’s Crash and Towing) and Bert Vosbergen (Pick A Part). Logue, who was elated with his victory, stated that this was one of his better title wins.

“Gavin was pretty quick and I didn’t have a clue where Mick was, so I didn’t know if he was trying to come under me -1 just held a tight line,” said Logue

“Really, I just drive - but this is probably one of the first times I’ve ever driven to win the race. Normally, I get out to do a bit of hot dogging and stuff like that, but I was desperate to win it, mainly because we’ve had five or six failures in a row.”

'This win gives Logue five Victorian titles in a row, but he’s won eight state titles in total.

1998/99 VICTORIAN SRA SPRINTCAR SERIES

Australian Distributors for

J(bo$xrrl ^ ^ RACING TIRE

Five in a row: Incredible Peter Logue racked up another Victorian Super Sedan Title in his Repco Motorsports Camaro. (Geoff Grade pic)

For more information on Hoosier Drag and Speedway Tyres call:

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- SUE HOBSON

12 March 1999

Fig's Silver Cup

(Tony Loxley pic)

WA 360 Sprintcar Champ claims more gold the hard way and Tony Gibbs takes out Claremont Speedcar feature MIKE Figliomeni’s dominant run continued when he won the Sprintcar Silver Cup at Claremont Speedway on February 26. The double national Speedcar champion, who in recent years has turned his hand to Sprintcars, won the 360ci Sprintcar race from Trevor Reynolds and Bunbury Speedway promoter Des Ferris - and it backed up the recent win in the 360ci WA Championships, which he won for the second time in three years.

But “Figs” had to do it the hard way, starting from position nine for the 20-lap race. Reynolds, who hadn’t been behind the wheel of a

behind to apply more pressure - Fig then successfully went underneath Reynolds with four left and, once in front, cleared out to take the big win. After the win, Figliomeni said the engine in the car

felt quite strong, but claimed they struggled to find the right set-up in the black Gambler - “but in the end it came to us,” he smiled.

■ Youngster Toby Gibb also had plenty of reasons to smile when he took out the Speedcar feature race, also over 20 laps. After watching Jason Webster and then Steven

.Doyle running at the fresh-air end of the pack, Gibb showed his intentions when he put the pressure on

Sprintcar for some time, was the early leader over

with 14 laps to go.

Ferris, courtesy of their front row starts. In the second lap, Figliomeni and Paul Stubber were

At around the same time, Mick Goode and Tony Tucknott went for a wild ride on the main straight, both landing upside down - Goode’s car caught on fire and, while fire and rescues crews were quickly on the

starting to move their way up from the back when they approached Phil Pack in the #76 car.

Figliomeni opted to go low and got through, but Stubber, who has shown plenty of aggi-ession in run ning the high line, clipped Pack’s car and busted up the front-end of the #31 Sean’s Enterprises Schnee. On the restart, Reynolds led from Ferris, Ernie Redding, Pack and the hard-charging Figliomeni, who continued his progression foiwards to see him in fourth with 17 laps remaining.

The following lap, he got by Redding for third, while BaiTy Bradford (second in the WA title) also got by and was starting to look at home in his new Maxim chassis.

Two laps further down the track and Figliomeni

Tucknott remained in his #11 Mui-phy until the dam aged car was tipped up the irght way.

time this season.

Soon after the restart, Gibb’s car was in front of Webster, Wayne Cover and Scott Glazebrook.

we’ve decided to run the car in the NSW title at Parramatta on March 27,” Farr said. “We decided we’d better get some racing in before the national title at Darwin.

moved into second.

one year later.”

Cover fought back, but the Kalgoorlie-based Little looked comfortable in second and wasn’t about to give

Farr is looking forward to facing multi-title winner Warrene Ekins at the latter’s home track in Darwin for the Australian Speedcar Championship.

from Little, Cover and Neville Lance, who had some interesting duels as he worked his way up from the back of the pack.

itive yet, with different drivers winning the opening races as the series kicked off in California.

Blake Robertson, 'li-avis

Whitney, Craig Dollansky and

Jason Meyers transfeired fi-om the B-Feature to the A-Feature, but

the Aussie duo missed out, running

Danny Lasoski returned to his

home in sixth (Tatnell) and sev

Nationals-winning Beef Packers team and won the season-opener at IGngs Speedway in Hanford,

enth (Murphy). Mark Kinser, who had timed sec ond fastest, flipped in his heat and

California.

destroyed his car. Using a back-up car, he was last in the B-Feature, but used a provisional start to

As at the nationals, he had to overcome Sammy Swindell’s Channellock Stealth to take the

make the A-Feature, where he

win, while Lasoski’s winning crew chief from last season, Jimmy Carr - now driving the Joe Blevins Up

completed only two laps before pulling infield, Lasoski went on to win by over a second and a half from Sammy Swindell, Carr, Jeff SwindeU, Donny Schatz, Tim Shaffer, Brent Kaeding, defending champion Steve Kinser, Joe Gaerte and Dale

Front Phone Cards J&J - finishing third.

Lasoski got his season off to a gi-eat start by setting a new one-

lap record on his way to earning the Vivarin Fast-Time Award. Brooke Tatnell didn’t have the

Blaney.

tive Vivarin Fast Time Award with

a lap of 14.895 seconds around the

Track Championship - but, follow-

Herrera went on to win by over half a lap, as Jeff Swindell and Terry McCarl crashed seconds after the chequer had fallen McCarl flipped down the front straight, destroying his car, but was himself uninjured.

Lasoski maintained his points lead by finishing third, ahead of Shaffer, Steve Kinser, Brent Kaeding, DoUansky, Jeff Swindell, Schatz and Blaney. Tatnell finished a creditable

on the trot by taking out the Preliminary Feature on February 26.

Walker’s family-owned Air Sep Maxim timed fourth fastest behind Vivarin Fast 'Timer Steve Kinser -

Walker then won the fourth heat, before finishing four-th behind Saldana, Blaney and Frankie Kerr in the Chaimellock Dash.

Blaney jumped Saldana at the start, but Walker quickly swept

trying to'pass Saldana for second. Mark Kinser passed both of

them and caught Walker in lapped trafSc during lap 14.

Walker then executed a daring move between McCarl and Gaerte, which gave him the break he need ed to record a US$5,000 win over Mark and Steve Kinser, Saldana, Herrera, Sammy Swindell,

HiUenburg, Lasoski, Dollansky and Jeff Swindell.

As the teams head to a double

feature at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Lasoski has a narrow points lead over Steve Kinser (467 to 458), Herrera (456), Mark Kinser (445) and Jeff Swindell (441).

Freightliner joins Outlaws ■ Freightliner Trucks has added its support to the World of Outlaws series with a multi-year, multi-mil

12th, pushing himself to 20th in the points chase. Schatz, HiUenburg, Herrera and

around Blaney into the lead, which

lion dollar sponsorship which wiU

he held till the end.

see the company provide a

ensuing restart - Pittman also

Dollansky, Bud Kaeding and

Feature, in which Pete Murphy fin ished 10th - Tatnell had timed in

11th quickest, with Murphy 25th. Lasoski took his second consecu¬

Blaney spun away second place

CaterpUlar-powered Freightliner

rolled when the Caseys General Stores Maxim lost a wheel; both

truck to every team that ranks in the top ten of the Outlaws series. ‘We’re reaUy pleased to have Freighthner come onboard with

Tatnell and Pittman were repaired

us,” Series President Ted Johnson

for the restart.

said. “We look forward to a long, successful relationship with this

and then Tatnell flipped on the

Kasey Kahne then hit the wall and rolled, as Steve Kinser was

fine company.”

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■ The double feature event held at

for the full tour.”

Meyers transferred fi-om the B-

trating on winning the Knoxville

Fourth in his heat put Tatnell straight into the A-Feature, while Murphy’s sixth just missed the cut.

“Maybe I can keep them out here

Speedway

shaft.

semi-banked half-mile.

trend of different winners continue when Walker snared his third

less than a second off Lasoski’s

■ Johnny Herrera joined a new

- BRETT SWANSON

his career, the team may now have to rethink its plans, following Herrera’s $8,000 win at Perris Auto Speedway. ‘These guys (Dale Orth & Craig Cormack) planned on running for the Knoxville Championship, but I told them I’d win a couple of races before Knoxville starts,” Herrera stated, after leading all but the opening lap of the 30-lap Feature.

McCarl won the heats and Blaney,

team which was intent on concen

Speedcar.”

ing Herrera’s ninth Outlaw win of

Perris Auto

Mui-phy was last (40th), having not set a time after breaking a drive

“I’m looking forward to racing at Darwin and I believe I’m not really going to have been disadvantaged by not running many shows in the

-DARREN O’DEA

start to his season campaign that he would have liked, timing 30th, pace, while compatriot Pete

enthused.

In the end, it was Gibb, who had broken the drought,

Outlaws Championship has started out as one of the best most compet

successful Florida Speedweek and East Bay Sprint Nationals cam paign in Chris Black’s Eagle,

“He’s a good guy and we get on well and we went pretty hard at it at Avalon. He’s good to race with and even at Avalon, where I won the 1998 Title, Warrene was already focused on winning it back at Darwin,” Fan-

but recovered - both were able to continue.

The 1999 Pennzoil World of

Kings Speedway

“We’ll be using Bob’s Stealth chassis again and Steve’s Fontana engine, but with a new REAP head. Nothing’s really changed - it’s just

the spot up.

Reynolds.

■ Following on from his relatively

“I was just talking with Bob Woods and Steve Smith the other day and

Cover’s experience quickly saw him into second but, after another restart, he received plenty of pres sure from other drivers, including Joe Little, who

Brothers Scott and Mark Glazebrook came together in turn 1, when Scott rode the irght rear tyre of Mark,

leader for another seven or so laps, before pulling up

AUSTRALIAN Speedcar Champion Robbie Farr is preparing to get back in the saddle of his title-winning Midget for the first

scene, he had already slid out of the car.

cruised passed Ferris to grab second, while Bradford got by Redding to slot into fourth. With just over 12 laps to go, Figliomeni’s first sniff of the lead didn’t pay off when he showed his nose to

But he drove a patient race and played follow the

Midget irde for Farr

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12Marchl999

Skip wins MotorSport award SPRINTCAR driver Skip Jackson took out the prestigious Australian MotorSport Speedway Driver of the Year award at a gala evening in Melbourne on March 2. Jackson, the reigning triple World Series Sprintcars Champion and the

double Knoxville Track Champion, outscored Max Dumesny, Robbie Farr and Peter Logue to claim his second consecutive award, which was present ed to the Sydneysider at

the

Melbourne

Function Centre by

V8 Supercar and drag racing legend Ron Harrop (right). Jackson’s wife Lori also made it to the

stage, accompanying over the top enter tainer

Patrick

McMahon

(below)

with her guitar accompaniment, to the obvious delight of the motorsport glit

terati packing the venue.

Battlers Chance Raffle THE new 1999 Gambler Sprintcar that is the basis of the SRA Battlers Chance

Raffle landed in Australia recently and what an impressive piece of equip ment it is.

The car features titanium bolts through

out, ceramic-coated brake rotors, the latest Winters diff, the latest, compact, lightweight tail tank, KSE Power steering, a quick release fuel pump, a 50-inch front axle with aluminium hubs and stub axles and duralite wheels.

Hoosier Tyres were supplied by Max Dumesny Motorsport.

Due to delivery complications, the raffle date was delayed from it’s anticipated draw ing at this year’s Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic and the raffle will now be drawn on

March 3, with the car presented to the win ner during the Annual Easter Trail.

Tickets are stiU avedlable and can be pur chased via the order form elsewhere in this

magazine, or at various tracks where the SRA Sprintcars are racing.

hollow torsion bars and titanium stops, a

Kirkey aluminium seat, Griffith aluminium radiator, a Wilwood brake system with resid ual line pressure valve and Autometer tem perature and oil pressure gauges. While the drawing of the raffle has been

may be purchased. Remember, if you purchase a book of tick ets (10 tickets), the car also comes with a week’s tuition at the famous Jimmy Sills

Other features include hand controlled

School of Open Wheel Racing in Sacramento, California.

have been worth it - when the John Sidney-

U w

City Raceway on March 13, where tickets

delayed from it’s original date, the wait will

For New South Wales fans that have not

seen this car or purchased tickets yet, the raffle car will be on display at the NSW Sprintcar Championships at Parramatta

sliding wing, aluminium shock absorbers,

' *2?

built aluminium Rodeck engine is installed, this car will rank with the best in the country.

Second prize is a trip for two to this year’s Knoxville Nationals and third prize is a trip

for two to the 1999/2000 Australian Sprintcar Championships.

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12 March 1999

VrV Coady, in his first meeting in a 250cc International, emerged as the class winner in

an eventful and sometimes con

troversial program at Oran Park Raceway on February 14 perhaps it was the intense heat, or the hint of romance in the air

at this Valentine’s Day meeting, which preduced the unexpected at round one of the 1999 NSW

Superkart Club Championship. Some 50 entries were recorded

for the first race of the season, with reasonable entry numbers in most categories - the 80s recorded a healthy 14 entries, while 13 would actually contest the day. The racing was expected to be hard, with National champions

Surprise victor: Viv Csmdf took the winner's gold in the 250 international.

Ross Hansen, Michael Crossland

(All photos by tfipixi

and Brian Stockman in attendance,

‘Stockie’ surprising by fronting with a 125cc machine.

100CC NGB Don Collyer and Bill Nelson started the same way they had fin

ished 1998, both changing positions each lap and establishing an early break.

However, they were soon caught by a group including rookie driver Peter Young in the #71 kart. Nelson won the first heat, while Collyer and Young then proceeded to front the pack when it counted over the remainder of the day. Don’s hopes of overall victory were dashed by dnfs and engine problems in the final heats and pre sented Young with an outstanding overall class victory - Nelson took second from Collyer.

Donovan actually managed to displace Crossland from the win ners circle in heat three, when Crossland encountered an electrical

problem. However, Michael again domi nated the final heats to win com

fortably from Donovan and Brooks, who pipped Holdforth by the small est of margins for third overall.

80cc The

Ross

250 Internationals

Hansen/Malcolm

The Inters were made more

Cancian battle was expected to become a three-way affair with the

interesting by the debut of Viv Coady’s brand-new Stockman

long-awaited return of Troy Byron

Honda - however, few expected

in the new Stockman chassis - and

anything other than a black and green streak as John Pellicano dis appeared into the distance.

he didn’t disappoint, quickly estab lishing a lead in the first two heats, only to be temporarily slowed by

Pelli started the day with a crushing win in heat one, while Coady stopped with battery trou

mechanical gremlins.

As interesting as it was for spec tators to see Troy drive back

bles after working his way up to

through the field, it must have been frustrating for the former dual

second position.

Eric Hayes had a troubled run,

National Champ - however, it does underline the potential of the new

with a dnf in heat one and a later

pit lane start when he didn’t hear

Stockman front upright design. Hansen, Cancian and Sharyn Battle fought for the major places in the first heat. Battle winning

the call up. Denis Pana’s day start ed even worse, with a front upright giving out in the esses during the morning practice.

heat one from Ross after an ambi

Pelli continued to claim wins in

tious braking manoeuvre at the end of the main straight forced Cancian to take avoiding action. Ross claimed heat two, while the

heats two and three, while Coady

rest of the day turned into a Byron

benefit, Troy getting an early advantage and keeping a comfort able cushion ahead of the trio.

Sharyn’s charge slowed suddenly in heat two, a fuel line slowing her

Impressive package: Champ Troy Byron threw out a serious challenge in his new 80cc Stockman chassis. in sight of the flag, while a slow start in heat three led to a fouled

plug and sick motor.

Hansen’s consistency brought him first place for the day from Byron, with Cancian lucky to grab the third trophy (to go with a near warehouse of other thirds).

125CC

David Smith to score an impressive

A small field of 125s was brought

victory over the multi-titleholder.

to life by the appearance of Brian Stockman and he quickly set about

Smith pushed Stockman hard all day, while Scott Stockham (not to

stamping his name on the wiimePs

be confused with Stockman - apolo gies Scott) took third in the open

trophy. However, a spin and dnf in

heats one and two effectively ended his hopes for the day and enabled

ers, before being sidelined in heat

three for the rest of the day. Phil Eggins benefited and took

gained more speed in each run to take second.

Pellicano had troubles with race

officials for a plug chop and quick pit entry (via the pit exit!) in heat two and lost first gear, which meant slow second gear starts in the later heats - and new team

mate Sam Zavaglia still has to come to grips with a machine that

third behind Smith and Stockman. Smith and Stockman harried the

uses gears and has a tendency to

250 Nationals all day in the com bined class events and showed the

The final produced great racing, with Coady taking eui early lead as

narrow speed difference between

the slow-starting Pellicano tried

the 125s and a 250 single cylinder machine.

spit mufflers!

hard to work his way past Vic Duncan, Mario Todarello and

Hayes.

250cc National

He tried a little too hard exiting

“Formula Crossland” continued to be an avenue for Michael Crossland to show his tremendous

turn one and spun, losing a lap as he tried to push-start the Giova entry on the run to the esses, final

skill around the Oran Park circuit. Crossland clearing out from the great contest between Greg

lap on him. Pelli then drove like a

Donovan, Gary Brooks and David Holdforth as each took turns in

claiming the minor placlngs. Not this time: John Pellicano’s

luck unexpectedly turned sour at

ly getting it to fire as Coady put a

demon, but made little impression on the leaders.

After the race, there was much

pitlane gossip as to whether Pellicano would be disqualified for push-starting his kart - however,

the results stood, with Coady’s 1402 points enough to pip Pelli by a mere

Oran Park, where he tried too

9 points, while Todarello claimed

hard and went a lap down after

third for the day.

spinning out of contention.

-JOHN MORRIS

l^OCDD^flXoXTO

12 March 1999

Evans and Slot

get new Golfs

Pocket Rocket: Simon Evans’ new VW Golf Mk111 will debut at Goffs on April 10-11.

VICTORIAN speedster Simon Evans and team mate Jason Slot have

taken delivery of their Volkswagen Golf Mklll kit cars and are set to

since the VWs will be the

is expected to be armounced

only kit cars competing. “I’ve got the equipment and the back-up, so I’ll be

shortly, with a Japanese tyre company expected to come on

very disappointed if we can’t come away with victory,” Evans told Motorsport News.

board.

Other sponsors will also be weeks. Evans and Slot have a

10-11.

as I expected them to be and they are so simple to drive.

complete spares package for the cars, including two left

The cars recently arrived from Volkswagen in

“Before our test session I’d never driven a left hand

Germany and are of the same specification that

drive car, but in no time at

Harbour Rally on April

Alister

McRae

drove

Formula 2 victory at API Rally Australia last year.

aU I was up to speed and dri ving the car coiifidently,” he said.

NDPRIX 9-

announced in the coming

“The cars are twice as fast

debut them in the Coffs

MTAS AVirHALIAn

hand drive Golfs to use as recormaissance vehicles.

As well as the ARC, the

pair will tackle the Rally of Canberra, Rally New Zealand and Rally Australia.

A deal with a tyre supplier

Sedewick b MOTORSPORT AWARD WINNER: Kiwi rally legend Possum Bourne took out the 1998 MotorSport Rally Driver of the Year award at the annual

Australian MotorSport Awards hosted by CAMS and Motorsport News last week, Boume topping the list of nominees, which also included Neal Bates, Rick Bates and Michael Guest. (Graeme Neander pic)

- PETER WHTITEN

The cars feature 2 litre

normally aspirated engines with six-speed sequential gearboxes. Both cars are left hand drive and have been rallied before.

Evans’ car was driven in

the Austrian Championship

last year by Raimund Baumschlager, while the car Slot will drive competed at

Rally Australia last year in the

hands

Kris

Rosenberger.

Watman to run Evo 5 in ARC Off Road Champion makes the switch to rallying DOUBLE Australian Off Road

Champion Bruce Watman has made the switch to rallying and will drive a left-hand drive Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 5 in

Steve O’Brien-Pounde, Watman

the top level of the sport - he pur

’The Group N Lancer has received support from Hankook Tyres, Fairfax Newspapers, Bond Roll Bars

plans to tackle all five ARC rounds,

chased a brand new left-hand drive Lancer Evo 5 from Ralliart and the

car has since been built by Bond Roll

and a number of smaller sponsors

the sport.

Bars in Sydney. The car has been extremely well

for the 1999 season.

built and features Proflex suspen sion and the latest Motec datalog ging system.

as well as the Rally of Canberra and Rally Australia in his first year in Watman has also been NSW Off

Evans is confident about his chances of Formula 2 vic

this year’s Australian Rally

Road Champion five times, but

tory in this year’s Australian Championship, especially

Championship.

decided the time was right to branch

To be co-driven by the experienced

out into rallying and tiy his hand at

Watman and O’Brien-Pounde will debut the car at the Coffs Harbour

Rally on April 10-11.

- PETER WHnTEN

12 March 1999

IX.S

Colin McRaef

I presume By JON THOMSON

wrapped around the suspension. Sainz grabbed the lead with a

COLIN McRae has given Ford its first World Rally Championship victory for the

fast time on CSS and CS4 but lost almost a minute on the final section because he had to slow for some

new Focus - and Ford’s first

donkeys.

win on the Safari Rally in 22 years - after a trouble-free run that saw him triumph in the end by over eight minutes to second placed Didier Auriol’s Toyota. McRae’s win was overshadowed a

little following the exclusion of Tommi Makinen for receiving out side assistance following a Toyota protest.

It may have been a square off for the successful Mitsubishi protest over Tommi Makinen’s jumped start in Perth last year but the

result of Toyota’s protest against Makinen’s second helped bridge the gap to Makinen and Mitsubishi in

this

year’s

World

Rally

Championship. Toyota submitted the videotape of

the

incident

that

robbed

Didier Auriol had a trouble-free

day with only a single puncture, while McRae sustained front end

damage after hitting a rock on CSS

back to stay amongst the top three, while team mate Fetter Solberg, had gearbox problems on CSS and

CS 4 and would finish the day in seventh.

Freddy Loix in his Mitsubishi hit

a deep wash away at 160kph on CS S and rolled heavily, landing upside down. The Belgian was flown to

Nairobi Hospital with suspected neck injuries but was soon released. Makinen’s woes continued, a bro

ken fan blade damaging the radia tor and he received a 20s penalty for being late out of the time control after service. He was now in fifth and 12 minutes off the lead. Both Piero Liatti and Harri

Rovanpera had a tough day in the SEATs both with numerous punc

grabbed a wheel brace off the

tures and broken wheel rims. Liatti

ground after Makinen had stopped

lost time with the wrong suspen

to repair a puncture. The locals

sion settings, and would finish in ninth, Rovanpera in sixth.

angry

co-driver

Risto

The order at the end of day one

Mannisamaki clearly shooed them

was Bums by 26s from Sainz with

away. It was a hazard few teams have avoided in the African event

McRae another lm30s further back in third ahead of Auriol and

over the years

Makinen.

This video was enough for the Stewards to uphold the Toyota protest and Makinen was excluded,

leaving Auriol to grab second, Carlos Sainz to take third and local

TTE guest driver Ian Duncan to take fifth.

Day 1

Richard Bums led rally over once away clearly the the fastest the first few stages out of Nairobi on Friday morning. While Burns led both his team mates retired

within three stages Kankkunen and Thiry were both out with ECU failure.

Makinen had two punctures on the opening stage virtually at the same time and lost almost ten min

utes after having to remove arbber

(Photo by Sutton Images)

and lost time, but was able bounce

Makinen of second, protesting that he received outside help. The video showed that a local had clearly

started to unbolt the wheels before

Spray 4-left, Colin: McRae and Grist celebrated their first win for Ford in Nairobi.

Day 2

The day ranstraddhng up and down the second Rift Valley both sides of the Equator. With httle or no wind, drivers had to contend

with incredibly thick dust, making catching and overtaking almost impossible.

First casualty was Burns who was out after a front suspension bolt snapped. Burns and co-driver

Controversy: This tyre change led to Makinen’s shock disqualification. (Photo by sutton images) I have driven well within myself all

McRae did not win a stage all day but only suffered two two punc tures and a minor spin in a consis

rally, and it was down to the others

to take the chances, but you always need a httle luck,” said Bums.

tent and fast day The Scot had

Sainz was also having a shocking day. He had the bonnet fly open on the first stage, smashing the wind

gambled with tyres opting for Michelin’s mousse tyres despite

screen, and then he had two simul

the mousse.

taneous punctures forcing him to stop and change them. Then a third

and I’m sure we would have had

worries that it would be too hot for

“I think it was the right choice

meant he had to complete the stage

more punctures if it hadn’t been for

on the rim. On stage three Sainz smashed rim, destroyed a shock

the mousse tyres, we just had to drive carefully so as not to overheat

absorber and then had to drive for

them,” said McRae.

60km to service.

Makinen set the pace throughout

third.

And

local

Phineas.

Kimathi was leading the F2 class in his Hyundai coupe.

Day 3

Auriol on the final day inpushed pursuithard of Makinen. but, despite the Frenchman’s, pace Makinen was even quicker. Auriol punctured on the penultimate stage losing the chance to catch the Finn

Makinen charged starting 15 rrrinutes behind McRae and cutting the lead at every stage. He won the final two stages and came with in a

Robert Reid worked furiously for almost an hour in the section, repairing the suspension with parts

Auriol had three punctures pre venting him from challenging for

the day a broken as well as catch ing the dust of several cars. It was

handful of seconds of winning the

the lead.

Dvmcan was sitting in fifth in his

was all over.

“I cannot believe it - three punc tures despite driving to avoid every thing in the road! It was so rough, just impossible. There is everything

on the second last stage of the day that he suffered a puncture only to have the TTE film crew capture it on tape and later use it as part of a protest against him.

still to fight for, but we won’t be risking anything,” said Auriol.

utes over Makinen in second with

borrowed from elsewhere on the Subaru with instruction over the radio from team technicians. But it

“I know I had the car, the notes, the tyres and the capabihty to win.

McRae’s lead by nearly 15 min the Toyotas of Didier Auriol, Carlos

Not so fast, Didier: Auriol took second in the event and the

championship. No, he didn’t go over... (Photo by RaceAccess)

Sainz and Ian Duncan all chasing hard.

Group N was being lead by Oman driver Hamed Al-Wahaib in a Mitsubishi ahead of Luis Climent of

Spain in another Mitsubishi Lancer with Hideaki Miyoshi in a Subam

Results - 1999 Safari Rally Kenya 1

McRae/Grist

Ford Focus

DQMakkinen/Mannisamaki Mit. Carisma GT 2 Auriol/Giraudet Toyota Corolla 3 Sainz/Moya Toyota Corolla 4 Duncan/Williamson Toyota Corolla

8:41:39.1

No result 8:56:05.3 8:59:46.3 9:05:35.7

other two. Auriol and Sainz were comfortable in third and fourth. Corolla.

Rovanpera in the Seat blew a turbo lost further time in service

having the it replaced. Team mate

Liatti was out on the second stage of the day with no oil pressure. But it was McRae’s rally having driven a perfect balance of speed and caution to victory. “The Safari is a delicate balance

between speed and caution; we seem to have got that balance right and we are dehghted for the team, for aU the effort, to have developed a com petitive car so quickly,” he said. But overshadowing it was the exclusion of Makinen in highly doubtful circumstances which make

a joke of the FLA rules on outside assistance.

Makinen’s

exclusion

meant

Ford Focus 9:26:28.2 5 Soiberg/Gailagher 9:40:08.4 6 Rovanpera/Pietiiainen Seat WRC 7 Dor/Gormley Suabru Impreza 9:41:38.2

Auriol moved up to second and

8 Al-Wahaibi/Sircombe

seven clear of Auriol with McRae third on ten. Mitsubishi continues to lead the manufacturers title

Mit. Carisma GT 10:05:09.0

Points after three rounds

Drivers: Makinen 20, Auriol 13, McRae 10, Sainz 10, Kankkunen 7, Radstrom 4.

Manufacturers: Mitsubishi 26, Toyota 20, Ford 16, Subaru 10, Seat 6.

Next WRC round: Portugal March 20.

Sainz to third. But the Finn still

leads the drivers points on 20,

clear of Toyota.

A1 Wahibi won the group N battle over fellow Mitsubishi rurmer Luis Climent while Kimathi won F2 in

the Hyundai.

lMo)0(o){?sm®n^

12 March 1999

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DUCK

CLASSIFIED Sedans/Sports Cars

Sportsman VL Commodore. Fresh rrxrtor geartxrx. Not raced since rebuild. New fire bomb, updated fuel cell. Consider split-

Wssan Skyfine GTR 12/1995 R33 unfinished project 95 per cent complete. Needs paint and very little parts to finish. Boot door jams and engine bay painted in saffron pearl (Volvo C70). 17,000 kms. Suit race car compliance. $49,500. Ph 02 4271 7341 or 0416 283194,46

KE20 Corolla 2TG and spare engine. Celica 5 speed and diff. Alloy cage, race seat harness. AOOSRs 13" x T rims. L34

flares. Perspex windows, new front starts (adjustable) 2 spare shells, $2800 ono. Ph 0408 659 659123 Tamworth. ,48

Thiaidenlome HQ rollers x 2. Both alnnost complete. One needs reshell, includes almost new cage, harness, seats, fuel cell, chambered diff etc. $2450 the ott ono. Ph 03 9743 0083 or 0418320673,48

AUSCAR Sportsman XF Falcon. One season old. Never bent,

fresh motor, heaps of spares. Regretful sale. Moving o/s. Lease option available. $8000. Ph 0413 743 573 or 03 9874 4345. ,48 Bob Wright offers for sale his front running HQ #13 circuit race car, new engine, very competitive all tracks, with spares,

rims, panels, gearbox, difi etc. $5500. Ph 03 9758 7433 or 03 97295526 ,4b

MHT VC Brock (Jommodore. Build no 332, 308 V8, 4-spd manual, p/sleer, air con, immac original condilion, with books and delivery papers. Reluctant forced sale. DH0493. $15,500. Ph 0418 133 274 ,49

Cruise Mustang '66 coupe, 6 eye t-bar aulo. Straight body. Good int. Strong motor. LHD. $7000. Ph 07 55761718 149 Ford Escort Club Car, Recaro & Sched interior, Bilstein susp, full race big valve motor, twin 48s, RS extractors, stainless mufflers. Must sell. $4,000ono. Ph: 03 51681371,018 513928 . 149

Groiqi C RX7, fresh 138 p/p ard Holinger gearbox, not start ed. 5:1 LSD, 2 tanks, dry brake fuel system, some spares. $9,500ono. Ph: 02 6241 0678.

Ford Escort Mkl club car. Twin Webers, Pedders suspen sion, full rollcage, race seat, very good paint job, Yokohama A008RS tyres, 1600, Tlghe cam, very competitive. $7500 with trailer. Ph 03 5127 8247 a 0415 860 256

149

Ford Escort Lotus twin cam, ex-rally car, Boreham arch es, adj Bilsteins, 12 pt cage, all-steel Lotus motor. Ideal Targa car. Must sell. $4,500. Ph: 03 5168 1371 (AH), 018 513 928.

con, p/steering. $14,990. Ph 018 231 014 or 02 6562 7762 146

Historic racing car, 1965 Nota Clubman. CAMS log book. Bigible Group M. 1500cc Ford motor. Rebuilt chassis and all parts to complete rebuild. Can be registered. $13,000 ono. Bendigo 0417 546 973 148 Ford T4Bird, 1956 original 312 automatic. Biack exterior, red and white intertor. Both hard and soft tops. Immaculate frame off

149

Austin Healey Sprile "Bugeye." Quickest and best presented in Ausl. Extremely compelilive. Maintained regardless ol cost. Current CAMS log book, ready to race. $23,000 ono. Ph 02

~>i

9652 1482 or 0414 351 364

Suzuki GTi built lor GT Production Racing. Comes with Suzukiu sport racing wheels, slicks, locked dill and coil over adjustable suspension. Best value Suzuki around at $11,900. Ph

1971 Corolla KE20, 4AGZE Supercharged twin cam. Microtech inj, 5-speed, 3.9 LSD, 4WDB, adj camber, front

Jason 1414 8989 203,43

Toyota Siqira twin turbo. Fully sorted, ready to race. Motec engine management, dry break fuel system, spare unraced

Ford Falcon Ed GLi 1994,4.0,5-spd, 16x8 TWIG wheels, rear spoiler, track-tuned suspension package, Momo, tow-pack, air-

Konis. Orig b^, little rust EC, RWC, 6 mths reg. $6800. Ph 03

97770314 ,48

restoration, RHD. $59,000. Ph 07 5537 7289 148

HQ race car. Very good condition. Complete car $3800. Will sell as complete roller minus engine for $1800. Ideal conversion to Group Nc. Assistance given to new owner. Ph Mark 0417 431 421 148

engine. Numerous spare parts, wheels and tyres. $69,000 plus spares. Ph John Briggs 07 3252 3933,4s

Gemini Series race cars. Four to choose from, from $2,500

to $6,000 (pictured). Many race wins, lastest laps. Nothing to spend. Laps Lakeside in otw 68sec. Ph: 07 3391 1682 (BH), 07 3201 1215 (AH).

I«

Sports Sedan Escort MK1 Leylarxl P76 motor, Borg Warner 4 speed, 4 link Torana disc brake rear-end with watts link. Formula

Alfa 2ltr sports sedan rolfer. Ready to race. Just needs mota and gearbox. Engine micknounted. 9" diff. Complete with new seat, harness, radiata, tyres and gauges. Aluminium fuel tank.

Toyota Stariet, factory GT turbos, fully option, 5 speed, 15 inch mags, lOTkw mota, plenty of paential. 12 mths reg and

$5500 ono. Ph 019 331 845 t48

warranty. From $15,000. Ph 02 4721 5060 bh. 148

HQ race car NSW Division winrer. $3000. Ready to race or

Ford wishbone type front-end. Needs roll cage, shocks, body

make an offa. Urgent sale. Ph 0408 022 233 a 0419 287 150

work, engine rebuild for completion. $1600 ono, Ph 02 9585

NSW ,«

1817or 0418423 007,49

Historic racing car, Hartey-Norton special built by Ron Ewing 1955. Competed at Bathurst Orange, Castlereagh, Silverdale, Tamworth, Warwick Farm. CAMS LB log book for 500cc Norton Single, 1340cc Hartey-Norton V Twin and 1340cc Harley-Norton V Twin supacharged. A compete and potential worldbeater. $12,000 ono. Bendigo 0417 546 973. Porsche RSCS 1995, LHD, suitable for GT-P and/or Porsche Cup categories. All set-up information and spare

Westfield SE1 wide. 1997, Toyota 1600cc 20 valve (120kW), 4 wheel disc brakes, IRS. $28,000. Ph: 07 3372 4384.

140

wheels included. Price $168,000 ono. Ph Bob or Rodney Fabes 02 9450 2100. ,48

Group C XE Falcon with CAMS otg book, absolutely original,

Suzuki GTi red 90 mod. 8/99 reg. 96-spec engine. 46000kms. Sport air lilter extractor, Auscar mag wheels, A1 cond. $8500

Fred Gibson la King George Tavern, last raced 1984 James

ono. Ph 0415 158 714 a 02 4735 5142 140

Hardie 1000, then rebuilt and housed in Bathurst Mola Racing

never converted to anotha category, neva damaged, built by Museum eva since. Runs and sounds great. $35,000. Ph a lax 02 6331 7995 i4s

148

Historic racing car Porsche special built by Alan Hamilton in 1965. Competed at Lakeland and Templestowe. Won 1965 Victorian Sportscar Hillclimb Championship. C/\MS otg book. Bigible Group M. 1720 cc mid-mount 356 Porsche motor, VW gearbox. 2 seater Clubman type body. Can be registered. $13,000 ono, Bendigo 0417 546 973 148

Brock Commoilore VC black, manual, no 429. Factory fitted Grp 3 engine. Very rare car. 12 mth reg. $19,000. Ph 02 6679

XD Falcon drag car. Less motor, current ANDRA tech. CIO stage 3, 5000 rpm stall convertor, 9", 4:11s, MT slicks. Auto

meter dash, mega-shifter, roll cage. Freshly built, may trade. $10,000 ono. Ph 03 9408 9796 bh, 03 9462 0050 ah or 0414 338270. ,48

Sports sedan Escort Mkl Leyland P76 motor. Bag Warner 4speed, 4 link, Torana disc brake rear-end with watts link.

Formula Fad wishbone-type front-end. Needs rollcage, shocks, body work, engine rebuild fa completion. $1600 ono. Ph 0418 423 007 a 02 95851817 148

Group C A9X, otg books, detailed history, recent restaatton, current road registration, perfect Targa car, or return to race

track. $32,000 a will sell incomplete to suit any budget. Ph 02 62426675 ,48

Open Wheelers Bowin P6F Historic Formula Ford, 1972. Full rebuild including a new engine just completed. Immaculate. Log book

and cert of description. Complete with ratios, spares and reg lightweight traila. $22,000. Ph: 02 9312 9986,018 253 983. 1«

7117,48

Austin Healey Sprite, Mk2a, IIOOcc engine, Weber, extrac

tors, all steel b^, superlighls, RE510s, watts link rear, spares. Fun club car a suit histories. $8000. Ph 03 9569 8306 148

Scan English offers fa sale his title-winning Escort 2 litre sports sedan. Spares package includes new 3 piece wheels, wets, gearbox, pads, axles, mota. Contenda la 99 tide, with low running costs. $9500 ono. Ph 0418 736 619 or 07 3826 4111 bh to haggle 148

Factory team Jackaroo. Race ready la 1999 Australian Safan or oil road championship. Fresh engine never raced, Motec

injection, dual Prollex on all wheels, close ratio gearbox, twin Terra Trips, 180 litre fuel cell, carbon libre pads, race seats and bells, all FIA approved. Complete car ready to race. $35,000

ono. Numerous spares also available if required. 12 mths rego NOT 679. Ph Ross Nicastri on 0418 226 752 u9

Speedway VL Commodore. 3 litre Nissan-powered, spare

motor, panels, struts, plus heaps mae. Very quick reliable car

$10,000. Ph 03 5659 0111

Superkart, 250 Int, 98 Stockman MR2, 93 TZ yamaha (260ks+). Spare 1996 mota plus barrels, heads, crankshaft, 4 piston rings, gearbox sprockets, wets, leathers, etc. Complete package, ready to win with. PDA. Ph: Vic Duncan, 02 6766 4522 (BH), 02 6760 9063 (AH). ,49

Nissan Pulsar GTiR Group N rally car. Ex-Dean Tighe 1997 QRC champion. Ready to race. $25,000. For more info ph Andrew Theo 07 3883 3133 Brisb. Inspection will not disapp '

Rotax Max 125,6 weeks old, $2600. Kali Indy rolling chassis with spares, exc cond $1000. Kali Epoch full rebuilt as new

AUSCAR Sportsman XF Falcon. Brand new, season ago.

chassis, new fillet seat, brakes, disc etc $1600. Ph 03 6362

Prolessionally built. Never bent. $10,000. Spare race engine,

2683 >49

wheels and spares. Also small truck and enclosed traitor avail

*571^

able. Ph 0413 709 981 a 08 8263 2159 148

k «Ul

U Torana Club car, possible Group NC. Fresh 208 motor.

XUI gearbox, race seat, roll cage. Exc cond. Complete with spares and tandem trailer with brakes, tool box, tyre rack. $9500 ono.

9824

9406

0419

461

BMW 31 Si super tourer, ex-Longhurst-McLean, 6-speed sequential, adjustable shocks,12x BBS wheels, spares include spoilers, difis, ratios, panels, brakes, shocks, uprights, drive-

shafts etc. Would consider lease or purchase complete

$64,000. Ph 02 9709 4655 a 018 868 306 148

Yokohama Clicks, Dunlop wets. $35000. Ph Trevor 0412 057

I Super Sedan IROC Camara V43 quick change diff. Six meet ings old, 600hp motor complete and registaed. Ready to race. Comes with heaps ol spares. Good car. $12,500 complete a $14,500 with good frailer buill to carry supa sedans with spares Gemini race car. Very competitive car, has race wins and

fastest laps. Koni suspension, new tyres, brake and HP engine. Four spare wheels and lyres. Heaps of spares. $5000. Ph 07 54954095 149

Subani WRX Impreza GTP car 1996. Full Ptoflex suspension, two complete and one short motor, 12 wheels, 12 near new

254

295 a 03 9763 2856

si^teikart - 250 International Zip Eagle, lightweight factory frame, only used 14 times. Carbon fibre body work. Maintained

regardless of cost by Dave Hepworth. Immac cond. Bargain

$13,500. Ph: Phil Brumby 03 9428 4731,0419 005 056. i«

For lease Christian Jory Racing 93 Swift only one position left to become part ol this immaculately prepared 2 car team fa 99 Vic series with national rourxfs. Qptional transport, pit crew and all equipment provided. Engine fastest 93 Swift in Aust.

Expressions of interest ph Peter Banfield Motorsport 03 9762 6719a 0417 159434.49

Kart - CRG Charlotte, four races since new. Set up for Mazda RX7 series IV. Ex 97 Targa Tas Terratrip, Wolf comput

JICA. Qual 5th at first outing, started 2nd in JICA final at 99 Oceania C/ship. Would suit other sentor classes. $3,500. Ph:

underneath car in traila. Ph 03 5975 1666 a 03 5975 6116 148

er, series 5 engine and gearbox, Simmons wheels, mounted

0418882030. 149

Thunderdome HQ, all log books, new sealed mola (as new)

slicks, cage, adj suspension inci Konis. Lots of spares. Road

Formula Vee Spectre, brarxl new engine (zero miles) front oinning car. two gearboxess, two set rimsiWide. Lots of spares.

sealed box, can be test driven befae sale. $4500 ono. Ph 03

reg. Lakeside 63s. Tidy quick road car. $19,800. Ph 02 6622

9563 7072.148

1147bhi48

Exc cond. $12,000. Ph 03 9369 4812 a 0417 311 240 149

12 March 1999

SIM,

1976 Toyota Coaster Bus. 5/R near new. Reco engine, 4

tyres, stxxks, springs. $12,000. Ph 07 4632 1194 bh 1® Camaro Super Sedan. NSW ACT Board approved. Complete roller, less engine aixl box. $1800 ono. Ph 0416 241 006 or 02

speed, tieavy duty tail shaft, Harrop full floating 9" diff, complete with Harrop rear brakes & Detroit Lrxtker internals. As new cond. Can be test driven in my ute. Half new price is $5,500. Ph: 08

9628 5170.®

85822853. i«

Ui Torana speedway car. 192 engine 350 Holly, full fibreglass body, ready to race. Good reliable car. Complete with trailer and all spares. $2500 ono. Ph Garry 03 53451070 I®

Mazda RX7 series III rear axle housing. Has been

1973 International dual cab and crew cab seats II plus

strengthened, comes v/ith axles, no centre. Best offer. Ph: 0417

equipment. 13ft tray, LP gas petrol electric winch and ramps. Plenty of spares, long rego. $7500 ono. $6500 less winch. Ph 02

014 761,0397221060. m

Formula 500, rebuilt twin 250, forward motor. Ready to race. With spares. $4000 ono. Ph 03 6452 2036.« NASCAR Pontiac Grand prix. Complete car, ready to race,

Ford Boss 302 block, STD bore, genuine transam, C8FE cast ing, very rare. $1750. 351 Cleveland rods, shotpeened, pol ished, bronze brushed, SPS bolts, resized ready to run. $650.

Spectre Vee No V5185. New body and paint, spare set new

plus spares and pit gear car. $30,000. Ph 02 9605 7013 rx 0413

Ph 03 9387 4146 m

unused tyres. Engine fully rebuilt by VW Performance. Not start

075219 .«

ed. $4500. Ph 03 9735 5315.«

TE Cortina street sedan. Alloy head, 38 thm roll cage. Productton barwork, stainless steel fuel tank, big 4 core radiator,

Datsun 1600 parts: drxrrs, struts, hubcaps, diff, harness, seats, tail light, head light, gearbox, 1800 motor carbies, bumper bar, roll cage, boot lid. Priced from $5. Ph Ross 03

rearjy to race. $4000 orx). Ph 07 4164 3133 bh or 07 4162 4629

5334 6364 ah Ballarat, mb

Relax Max 125 kart engine, 6 weeks old $2600. Kali Indy rol&ig chassis with spares, exc conditon. $1000. Kali Epcxrh fully rebuilt, as new chassis, new Tillet seat, brakes, disc etc.

49 5W

aoaoc

ah. .«

$1600. Ph 03 6362 2683.®

1962 AngBa sedan.. Sandblasted shell, full fibreglass front and mould 4 Bnk rear-end, unfinished project $900 Ph 07 5578 3652 m

Crankshaft Nissan steel, ground to suit Ford 1600 cross flow or to make Stocker twin cam. Complete with steel flywheel (10 bolt) and bearings. All new. Just completed. $1600. Ph 03 9646 4296 Of 03 9499 6701 ah..«

Two-ways, corpplete set. As new. Antenna-helmet mike and relay - Scanner/two pit crew sets/one spotter set, chargers to suit, Dorian timer. All In own cany case. $5000. Ph 02 9636 4447 or 0418 637 454.

Pontiac 23' heads writh manifold - r/rockers, stud girdle, rocker covers. $4000,23" Chev dash 10 heads with manifold r/rockers,

speed gearbox, tyres near new, good mechanically, 5 speed box spare, stripped lor motor/home conversion. No rust, no rego. $3950 ono. Must sell. Ph Peter 03 5275 4904 i4a

43652210 m

Transporter 40 ft hydraulic tail lift, shower basin, 4 bunks, room for 2 cars, plenty of storage space. $5500. Ph 02 9605 7013 or 0413 075 219 i48

Wanted Engine dyno wanted. Any condition. Heenan and Froude, Stuska, Superflow, Shenk, etc. Anything considered. Ph 08 9375 2722 fax 08 9276 8174 >«

Datsun 'A' series information on PRL Sumy. Eg car and/or

equipment. Injection and suspension components. Close ratio 'C series, gearbox. Ph 07 4779 3320 or 0414 527 291. 1® Model cars Tamiya FI kit. Wolf WRI, Model Box Ferrari 250 GTO no 8404 and 8444, Bang no 7083, 7095,1015, 7141. Also fire engines. FI books, sports car videos, FI Racing first issue . Ph 02 4948 4472 i®

Grand Prix on video, pre-1987 for sale, swap or loan. Ph: Richard 03 5480 7137.

1®

EHn 600,1969 Group 0 Formula 2 historic. This car has signif

VH Sedan 6 cyl 3-sp on Methanol. 500 Holley superflow head,

stud girdle, rocker covers $3000, or both sets $7000. Ph 02

icant history and comes with C/WIS certificate of description. Spares include cxiginal fuel injection system, gear ratios etc. Carr will be sold to genuine buyer, with or without engine, for

blue crank, red block, starfire rrxJ, HQ race piston race tyres lO"

9636 4447 or 0418 637 454. m

plus spare. Winning car from last seasrxi in its diviskxi. Will sell

Winter quick change diff. New crown wheel and pinion and all bearings, with gears and axles and steel diff tubes offset, like

SUSPROG3D for Windows 95 V3.50 (build 0.214) NOW AVAILABLE. A complete three dimensional automotive suspen

realistic offer. Also Bowin P6b requiring restoraticxi - offers. Ph

Sigma modified production 26 methanol engine, 15" race rub ber (1/2 to 3/4). Highly competitive, power steering, would make perfect super street s^an with minimal work. $3500 orx). Ph 07

new. $2500. Ph 07 5494 8962 ah..«

sion design & analysis software package fex road & track $255.

LT Torana 9 inch diff with stud pattern to suit U Torana. 6/3

Download SUSPR0G3D and other automotive software evalua

diff gears with mini spool. Excellent condition. $900. Ph 07 5594

4164 3133 bh a 07 4162 4629 ah. ,®

8962 ah..«

tion programs from http://byoung.mtx.net/ 1® Engine dynamometer, Heenan & Froude, DPX 445, 600bhp at 9000 rpm. Offers. Ph: 08 8376 0460 (BH), 018 082

0417336 189 Mefb..«

car trailer and spares. $5500. Ph 02 6881 8879. i«

Holden parts. BrarxJ-new VS heads $800 pr. EFI manifold and throttle txidy $150. Various new EH hyd cams from $100. LH/X

Drag Wild Honey Nostalgia FED, ex Withers AA/FD, 390 ci BB/Chrysler, 440 heads by Walder, 727 torqueflite, new Dominator converter. Olds rear, MW centre, comes with near ^

——^

Elfin 700 1976 Group Q. 1600 cc Ford. Immaculate condi tion. Very competitive. Fastest Group Q at Wnton. Cheap to run arxl maintain. $37,500. Ph Peter Whelan 08 8373 2070 bh, 08 82954342ah OT 08 83732087fax. 1®

new enclosed trailer and heaps of spares. $23,000 ono. Ph 04192310401®

Camaro 88, tube chassis, strut, 4 link, SU, BB, Lerxx). 1120 kilos with 92k driver. Ran in T/D '92. 638ci Merlin, Big Chief,

Jessel etc. Lerco 4 sp. Will separate $?. Ph: Barry Smith 00 11 6449385426. le

Rear engine dragster. 250 inch chassis. Pro built on jig. Brand new, takes big or small bkxk. Comes with engine plates, diff housing, axles and steering rack $3200. Ph 02 9730 2262 i«

Engines

Kinsler fuel injection. 57mm butterflies 10 1/2 inch tubes.

Complete with fuel rails arxi linkages. $1800 new. Ph 03 9587 6199.

Chev small block exhaust steel headers, stainless secorxJaries, suit 18’ Chev and VT chassis. $2500 new. Ph 03 9587 6199 ua Genukie Minilite wheels. 15 x 18. Suit Porsche. Set of 4 \with nuts. $600. Ph 03 9720 9975.«

Haltech F9 programmable fuel injection computer. Still in box. 4 cyl harness included and sensors. This can also control your ignition timing etc. As new. $1000 firm. Ph Tete Travis 0418 951 072 i«

nxxls to head, Haltech elec ign system, purpose-built injectxxi

Isuzu FSR 500, 6.5 Itr, 6 speed, dual cab, 48" sleeper, 45'

separate. Dry sump. 400+hp. $3,500ono. Ph: 03 9359 5722 (BH), 03 5784 3105 (BH). .®

Ph 08 8633 2300 or 08 8633 2232 ah t«

Ford Siena Cosworth cylinder head, ex Peter Brock. $1,000.

Ph:0351681371,018513928. i«

Repco tool storage, 4 units all new - RTC26 wall cabinet $270; RTC300 4 drawer chest $240; RTC200 2 drawer chest

$150; RTC30 5 tray toolbox $120. Suit prof workshop or race team. Will sell individually or in one lot to best offer. Sydney area. Ph:0412615 333orfax02 97125315. .®

Adelaide FI, Gold Coast Indy posters and promo material loo numerous to list. Also some mid 70s FI posters. Ph Anthony 07 5479 10491®

$12,000 obo. Ph 03 5472 41161«

9634 1299 (BH), 02 9686 8596 (AH), 0417 475 409. Chev SB 355 Street Strip engine, manifold to sump. 265 Hemi turbo engine. Injecd Computer 351 injectors. Will

plus last 10 years of racing photos. Ph: David (X Bill 0419 448 931. 1®

block and crank. $900 (XX). Ph/fac 08 8278 5298. i«

Transporters/frailers

Phone for details. $6,000, Ph: 02 9604 8910,0417 253 324. .®

Car racing photos: all the 1999 new cars & colour schemes,

Ford 1300CC Cosworth con rods and flat top pistons. 711 M

manifold, dry sump etc. Will separate parts. POA. Ph: Mark 02 149

256. 1®

20 X 10 ft shipping container, shelved and carpeted, with lighting. Strxked with an extenisve range of nuts, bolls and fas teners. Very easily relocatable. Full inventory listing available.

Bfocfix-10 alloy heads, brand new in box, bare. No time wasters $3,500. Ph: 0412 599103. f47

Ford 1600CC Crossflow arce engine A parts. Major

Off-road buggy class 1, Southern Cross, Buick V6 turbo, Porsche 930 trans, Saco steering, Fox-Bilstein shocks. Centreline wheels, intercixn, spares done. Little work. $16,000.

V8 booster - new $250. Ph 02 6242 6675 wa

Other

mini semi tri-axle, 8' inside height, 45' awning etc. PDA. Ph: Andrew 03 5248 7377.

I960 Crew

149

Chev Duallie 454. 4 speed, gas & petrol,

sleeper box & turbo wing. Hus 40' Chapparal (USA) trailer, 240v &12v power & lights, generator, awning and much mcxe. PDA.

Ferrari. Williams, Target Reynard. Fully operational, full-size race car simulated in exc cond. Investment opportunity. Ideal for

corpexate ent, trade shows, prcxnotions etc. $22,000 orx) (rrp $50,000). Ph 0413172 551 149

Sparco 2 layer suit lex medium build. Size 8 Rac« Sale boots and nomex gloves and sexjes, all blue. Only worn a few times. $450 ono. Ph 02 9625 3440 ah 1®

1*-

Ph: Andrew 03 5248 7377. t«

Kart engines - JICA 98 Rotax, with clutch, carby, muffler, if required. Very little use, rebuilt by Yaiwood Racxng Developments. Ready for running in. $2,350. Also, Yamaha J, suit Junkx Light. Placed 23 at State Level (Rookie). 1 race since rebuid $1.000. Ph: 0418882030. ,®

Chev Brodix, Track 1 alum heads, studs and spare springs. Near new. $2750. AP 7 1/4 triple plate clutch with flywheel suit Chev. $750. Willwood 4 spot calipers, rotors, hats and hubs $750. Ph 08 8388 9110 i®

350 - 4 bolt block, steel crank, altoy Brooks rods, fcxged Speed

Super Kart or go kart, AX5, KT110S, Horsman clutch, suede steering wheel, tacho, digital temp, wet weather tyre, starter

valves, dual valve springs, Milodcxi roller rockers, chrome moly

trailer $1000. Ph 03 5331 4073 i®

retainers. $10,000 ono. Ph 0414 821 526 WA i® Chev 364 - Steel stroker crank. Dash 8 Hi Port heads, 6'

mex, spare Kartech seat log book, many spares $^00. 2 kart

Go kart engine. 1998 KT 100s, barrel and crankcase ported by Lightning Karts. Only run 4 times Very competitive. $1000. also stainless steel power pipe $150. Ph 08 8339 4703 i® Segieifcart 80cc. David Wade's iVctorian championship win

ning kart, Mac Minarelli chassis. 4 wheel brakes, top HP Yamaha engine. Kart maintained by Roby Canui. Ratios, wets arxJ dries mounted. Many spares. $4250 ono. Ph Geoff 0417 369 996 or 03 9705 2791 i«

Pro pistons, Isky roller cam. Dart cylinder heads, stainless

Carilto rods, Ross pistons. Summers Bros gear drive, roller cam and lifters, rev kit, splayed caps. $15,000. Chev 355 bottom end steel crank, Hnk rods, TRW pistons $2800. Ph 03 5996 07901® Chev 307 ci blue-printed. Trix Powerglide. O' LSD. All out of HR Holden. $3000 the lot. Will separate. Hear running. Castlemaine 0417 380 8971®

372 Rodeck Sprintcar engine. Cola crank. Eagle rods, Wiseco

pistons. Peterson dry sump, 2 7/16 Hilborn injection, BrcxJix

Speedway

heads etc. $16,000. Ph 02 6297 2818 or 0418 630 408 ah..«

The car and motor used by Skip Jackson, $50,000 ono. One

Escort 1300 crossplan Ritter engine, dyno time only, all steel, 42mm Webers, dry sump, comp clutch and exhausL Suit group

new Shaver engine $60,000 ono. Plus many spares available.

Q, Clubman, F3. $7500, Ph 02 9211 28541«

Ph Paul 02 9829 7229 ah 1®

Cosworth Mae engine. Not run since pro rebuild. New down-

Sprintcar - J&J ,as raced by Danny Smith, with cx without

draft head, new block, 40 mm DD Webers, all steel, dry sump,

Dexovan 372. Raced once since complete rebuild. 1 new J&J roller, 1 Maxim complete Sprintcar, 360 engine, not raced.

1090 bh or 02 9888 2305 ah. i«

Extensive spare parts. Contact Les or Margaret narrower, 03 54461688. i®

1300CC 11,000 rpm cam. $6500 ono. Save heaps. Ph 029632 Holden 204 turiio en^ne. Alloy 12 port head, Carillo rods, steel crank, roller cam and rockers. APEP pistons, T04 turbo,

Parte JfJiij

10 W 1

FSR Isuzu dual cab, turbo, 6 speed truck set up as service wehicle for 1998 Play Station Rally Round Australia. Only 80,000 km ex-govemment vehicle, full set new steel belt radials, carries 200 litres hot and 200 litres cold water, external shower, full

length rolFout awning, all original seats replaced, new bull bar with 4 Cibie Oscars, VHJF and UHF radios, plenty of rego. $28,000 ono. PVX 752. Ph Ross Nicastri on 0418 226 7521® Ford L9000,350 CAT, 13spd Road Ranger, air ride, 1200 litre tank, 25kV generator. Also 45ft Dorsey trailer, air ride, new tyres,

full awning, big compressor, winch, engine changer, air con, oil & fuel tanks, lots of cabinets, lounge with toilet, TV, fridge etc. Both professional units in exc cond, priced to sell. POA. Ph: Steve 0411700303.

i«

Si^zer Sedan VR Commodexe ccxnplete or roller. Fresh Chev 358CI Brodix heads, all new engine parts. Bult by Chris Milton, Tilton clutch, Q/change diff, lots of spares. Ph Jason 08 8261 6672 POA. 1®

VH Conwnodore, 6 cyl 4 speed, lock diff, 15 race tyres. 2nd

last year in season points. On methanol, must sell. $3,500. Ph:

rollcage to suit small sedan. Ph: Chris tx Nbk 02 4731 5754. i« Ford twin cam head - just fully rebuilt with all new parts, Performarce cams and bolt kit $5,000. Ph: Rod 02 6562 7762. i« Twin 45 DCOE Weber caibs with bellmouths. $400 each.

0738036309. i«

Ph: 03 5448 7162,015 508 491. i«

S<4ier Sedan ex-Allan Butcher high bar, rolling chassis ccxn plete less engine. Bert box, loads of spares, inc alloy wheels.

Turtle Mow-off valves, Bosch, new, suit most cars up to 15

psi. Used in factory Porsches, Saabs & Volvos. $100. Ph: 0418 455412,02 4340 5048. i®

Two open face helmets with inbuilt earphones and boexn microphones. Both used once. $150 ea. F2 Cheetah Mark 6/Mark 7 wheels, 2 front, 2 rear, in very good condition. $1100 the att or offer. Ralt RT3 rear legs also partial built FIT3 and vari ous mounting brackets. $350 or offer. New alloy Golf to Hewland adaptor plate $250. Golf inlet and exhaust $250. Cosworth oil pump and filter adaptex $350. Ph Ian on 03 9237 Super sedan Camaro ccxnplete. Ready to win. Strong engine. 600hp. $15,000. Ph 02 6582 11541®

4602 bh or 03 9878 9515 ah. 1®

^ ^

VS Commoflore ute drive train for sale. Doug Nash 5

Kincrome 400 PCE tool kit. Seven drawer roller cab with nine

and three roller bearing draw add ons. Brand new still in boxes. Cost $5200, Sell $3400 ono. Can deliver in Vic. Ph 03 5984 0929

148

Alfa Romeo showroom sales brochures. Various models from

early 70s Giuletta Sprint, Alfasud, 1980s GTV, Alla 75 to 1990 rrxxJel 33 16v. All brochures exc condition. Ph Gail ah 03 5334 6364 Ballarat, i®

Race suit for sale. 1 single layer blue nomex, 1 double layer nomex. Good condition. Urgent sale - best offas. Ph Craig 02

035248 7377. i®

Boxed and mint. $5000 the bt. Buyer collects or pays freight. Mcxe than 1200 mags. Ph Patrick 02 4967 3679 ah or 02 4969

New 35’ Motorsport Trailers gooseneck. Air cond. 240/12V power & lighting. This trailer has everything. POA. Ph:

Autosport magazine. 1974 to Jan 1999. Almost every issue.

1299 bh.i®

Red 'Clubmans' RPM race suit, size large, $125. Black 'Indy'

Andrew 03 5248 7377. .«

Luev Pantech 7.8m x 2.1h x 2.4w. Side access door. Lined

internally with cupboards and sink. 12v & 240v. Fold down bunks. $6000. Ph 08 8633 2300 or 08 8633 2232 ah I®

race boots, size large, $100. Underwear, 2 piece, size large, $80. Two arm harness, black, $50. All gear brand-new. Never used. Must sell. Ph 03 9799 3289. i«

Lsnited editbn prints 'Donouts' signed by Alex Zamardi and

Chip Ganassi. Sold out in USA. $350. Emerson Rttipaldi, last win signed, $300. Mario Andretti JPS Lotus, signed, $300. Ph Grant 0411 239 585 a 03 9704 6536 ah 1®

Mallock U2 MK2. Group LB race-winning car. 105E fitted Cosworth parts, Holinger gear box. A factory-built car interna

Chev small block exhaust: steel headers, stainless secon

Michelin. Also one set of Avon wets used, all 15 inch.. Alloy

92-93 Shoe! Quattro Senna replica. Very rare. Perfect condi tion. Large size. Best offer. Ph 0412 163 854 >«

9894 26091®

Parts daries, suit 18 degree Chev + VT chassis. $2,500 neg. Also Kinsler fuel injection: 57mm butterflies, 10.5" tube, ccxnplete with fuel rails and linkages $1,800 neg. Ph: 03 9587 6199. i® Race tyres, new & used sfck tyres including Avon, Duibp and

C60 Chev 454 10 speed, gas & petrol, 11' lounge, velour interior & 36' trailer. Both units are fully loaded. POA Ph: Andrew

Weber carbie with ram tube and air box. Genuine 550hp. $13,000 ono. Ph 03 5626 6382. <e

UUttVi

tionally Imown, complete with spares and new trailer. $ 28,500. Ph Roy Williams 03 5229 3375 i®

GP tickets (2). Alan Jones stand. Row B. $400 each Ph 0419 Astral 1981 Tourmaster motorhome. 692T 350hp. Jake 7

1035261®

speed limited cruise control, air bag suspension, original air

Set of 43 original TRAX cars: FJ. EH. Monaros, GT Falcons. Most unboxed, but perfect condition. Reluctant sale. Will not

condition. 2 3/4hp ducted electric air conditioning, watercooled, Super silent Genset professional fitout 1995, Has the wrxks. Top condittan. Beds 2-6. $110,000. Ph 02 658211541® Open car trailer, electric brakes. 4m x 1,7m. Suit Escort, Datto etc, $2400. Ph 02 9526 84361«

separate. $3500 ono. Ph 07 3888 0081. i® Stewart-Ford fan seeking Stewart posters and/or photos 9799 and also like to know if there is a Stewart-Fad fan club. Ph Josh 02 4323 1299. i«

Motorsport News Classified Advertising sells. See page 47 for booking coupon

IRVIIM

26 February 1999

DlrS

Mantai^ Guinness and Chianti Continued from page 28

Editorial Editor

“I just wanted to keep up with the McLarens. There’s a fast right hand corner out the back, and they went through that tOkph faster than me. I thought OK, fair

Phil Branagan Technical

Editor

Tony Glynn Assistant Editor Gerald McDornan

Graphics Co-ordinator VIv Brumby

Advertising Advertising Enquiries Chris Lambden

Administration

enough, third position it is then! I just hoped they’d break down, and they did. Perfect.

Chris Lambden

the pit stop, I didn’t do anything, I Contacts 89 Orrong Crescent Caulfield North VIC 3161

gap to McLaren, and he got all the victories, so this year the roles are reversed.”

“The second safety car was a bit of a pisser. I’d worked very hard to get away from Frentzen, and then the safety car comes out and I lose all that gap. Iwas get ting very close to my pit stop, so I had to get a gap again. If he went one or two laps later before stop ping, the race was over for me, and I was going to be second. In the second part of the race, after

Managing Director

testing situation. "Michael did a lot of pre-season testing for me, which made the car reliable. Hats off to him, he did a good job! Last year did I all the tyre testing which helped close the

On Sunday night Eddie hosted a dinner for his mechanics and

Jacques Villeneuve dropped by to say hello, and both seemed gen uinely pleased that he’d had his day in the Aussie sun - not least because he’d put one over on Michael.

Then on Monday it was back to the usual work routine as Eddie

headed off to Malaysia for a PR

just cruised. But in the first half, I was pushing like hell.”

function. At least before Brazil he has “five weeks to bask in the

After the race he could find a lit

glory” as World Championship

tle tongue-in-cheek humour in the

SKTJ

some old pals from the Jordan days. Later Mika Hakkinen and

■ _ ^

leader.

(PO Box 1010 North Caulfield 3161)

A point or two

Phone 03 9SZ7 7744

there,

Fax: 03 9S7.7 7766

and

could stay in front all the way to Imola in May. And

Email, mznews@corplink.com.au CompuServe. 100237.116S

after

Contributors

that,

who

knows?

General. Mike Kable. Jon Thomson.

We’ve got to do as good a job

Brian Reed. Darryl Flack. David Hassall, Aaron Noonan, Allan Schofield

as McLaren, that’s

FI: Joe Saward. Adam Cooper Europe. Quentin Spurring

clear now. We can’t blame the

US. Phil Morris

tyres,

NZ: John Hawkins

and

can’t use the tyres to do a better job

Speedway: Dennis Newlyn, David McNabb, Wade Aunger, Geoff

than them.”

Rounds. David Lamont. Chris Metcalf. Sue Hobson, Michael Attwell,

Me and Eddie; Irvine

Tony Millard (UK), Darren O'Dea Rally: Peter Whitten, Jon Thomson Drag Racing: Gerald McDornan,

and Jordan announce that El will race in F1

in Japan in 1993.

Greg Ward, Jon Asher (USA), Dave OstaszewskI (USA),

Me and Sonia: Eddie’s fitness owes much to

Nick Nicholas, Steven White,

Ken Ferguson, Scott Jug Super Speedway Martin Clark (USA),

his sister, Sonia.

Brett Swanson, Grant Nicholas Karts: Allan Roark, Sean Henshelwood GraemeBurns

Me and Tomas: Irvine and Tomas Mezera

Photographers. Sutton Motorsport Images, Dirk Klynsmith, Bothwell

title in the UK in 1997.

fought hard for the FF (Photos by Sutton Images)

Photographic, Nell Hammond, Nigel

Standing to attention: Irvine really rose to the top at Macau's

F3 race in 1988. Here he leaves pole position in the second race; right behind is 1998 Bathurst 1000 winner

Rickard Rydell.

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 nOTORSPORT NEWS is published by /Vistralasian Motofsport News Pty Ltd ACN No 050 179 928

Oieciois C Lambden (Managing), A Glynn Publisher: C Lambden

Printed by:

Wilke Color 3749 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

TORQUE CONVERTER WILL RETURN NEXT ISSUE

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Opinions expressed in Motors(x>ri News are not necessarily those of Australasian Motorsport News Pty Ltd or its staff.

Sy' Ba'y Foley

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