Motorsport News Issue 160 - 27 August-9 September 1999

test Issue 160

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Doohan

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Advantage INTERNATIONAL

SPORT

The 1999 Bathurst Celebration ofAustralian Motorsport ctober

29^*' September - 3

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We are deiighted to announce an exciting new format for the traditional Bathurst event in October at the world famous Mt Panorama circuit.

The mew format will see the Super Touring cars and other invited categories compete in a sprint race on Saturday and a feature endurance race on Sunday.In addition,the new V8 Bathurst Tourers will compete with AUSCARS in their own 300km endurance race on Sunday morning. A further seven support categories(with over 300 cars)from Commodore Cup,Austin i}fealey. Group

Historic, Oub Car, HQ Holden, Formula Vee and the brand new Mitsubishi Mirage Series Cars, will make up the most inclusive motorsport event ever staged at Mt Panorama.

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HQs National Championships Group N Commodore Cup ; Austin Healeys tiub Cars Formula Vee

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Entertainment

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Motorapor-b

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Open air concert featuring Australian rock legend Paul Kelly starting 5pm.

Tickets can be

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For all your competitor enquiries contact Craig Fletcher on 03 9427 9655

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27 August 1999

Doohan to retire? /

Coleman the fourth man?

RUMOUR of the week: Matthew Coleman looks like the man in the slot to share the second Valvoline Commodore VT in the endurance races. Coleman tested the car alongside proposed co driver Possum Bourne last week and our spies suggest he was quicker than the ARC Champion. FFer Greg Ritter also ran impressively, but bet on Poss and Matty for the Q500 and BIOOO.

By PHIL BRANAGAN MICK Doohan may have raced a 500 GP bike for the Anal time.

Sources at Honda Racing Corporation have told Motorsport News that plans for the five-time World Champion to make a GP swansong at Phillip Island on October 3 are now under threat because Doohan’s left arm,injured in his fall at Catalunya on June 19. is not responding to treatment as doctors hoped it would.

While his leg injuries have responded well to treatment, the nerves in his arm have not, mean ing that riding a 500 competitively would be physically impossible.

The 34-year-old flew to the USA for further surgery this week in a bid to hasten his recovery.

MN’s source said that the deci sion means that Doohan’s retire ment announcement would be forthcoming before the Phillip Island race, at which he would bid farewell to his home fans in what will be called "The Final Lap’.

Two weeks ago, Doohan issued a media release which confirmed our story that he would be out of action until at least the end of September, missing GPs in the Czech Republic, San Marino and Valencia, Spain.

It had been planned for Doohan to make a return to racing on home soil, but the HRC source appears to have put paid to that.

■There are also reports that, at Wanneroo’s recent Shell Advance round, Doohan’s co-owner in Shell Advance Racing, Jeff Hardwick, said that Mick was “80 percent” certain not to race in 2000.

At the start of the season there had been speculation that Doohan would retire at the end of the sea son but Mick stated that he intended to keep racing as long as he was competitive.

Injury, ii seems, may force the decision for him.

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■ The other hot rumour of the week is the latest instalment of the “Where will Craig Lowndes end up?’ yam. With the SCS points leader’s options tucked away for 2000 by MHRT, the most recent version has Lowndes moving to a Harrop/Brock/Mobil operation for 2001, with Castrol and Russell Ingall moving into the prime seat in Clayton.

Sounds too far fetched to be taken seriously, but certain peo ple are swearing by it...

The best there ever was? Five-time World Champion Mick Doohan may not be seen in anger on a 500 again.

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but big year for Shell Advance

Two 500s for Ukawa, Edwards # Two 250s for West, Taylor

DOOHAN’S retirement plans mean that Shell Advance Racing, the team which he co-owns with Aussie Jeff Hardwick, is likely to step up into 500cc racing in 2000.

HRC sources have told MN that the team will run two 500s and two 250s next season.

According to the HRC source, the riders for the 500s were to be current 250 team leader Torhu Ukawa and former world champion Valentino Rossi, but Rossi recently told the Italian media he would con tinue to race 250s - almost certainly for Aprilia - next season.

Rossi is believed to be unhappy with the salary offered by Honda, which was reportedly less thari he Moving on up: Look for Anthony West to be on board a full works bike in 2000. was getting this season frorrf Aprilia.

Should Rossi stay where he is, the man touted as most likely for the ride alongside Ukawa is American Superbike star, Colin Edwards.

There had been speculation in the

By JOE SAWARD British press that Carl Fogarty would MICHAEL Schumacher got back into a race 500s for Doohan, but that Ferrari last Friday - and he may return seems unlikely.

It is likely that one 250 will be a to racing in Belgium this weekend. full works machine for He had been out of action for less than six weeks. Doctors said at the time of the British Queenslander Anthony West, along GP crash that he could expect to be unable to 'with a kitted 250 [similar to what race for at least two months and Schumacher’s West has raced this season]. manager Willy Weber was quoted as saying Rumours suggest that the second rider may be 20-year-old West that Michael would be out for 12 to 16 weeks.

“Over the next few days, I will see how I feel Australian racer Jay Taylor.

The team’s funding is likely to be and after a further medical check, I will decide confirmed soon, following the along with the team if I can make my come announcement that Shell will no back at Monza or earlier,” he said this week Schumacher was given the go-ahead to test by longer sponsor Ferrari’s Formula 1 team. The Italian team has secured his doctors on Thursday evening and the follow ing morning flew by helicopter from Switzerland backing from Agip, which returns to Maranello after out-bidding Shell for to Mugello where he began testing immediately.

His second lap was faster than the fastest lap sponsorship rights (see report last achieved by Irvine and he improved this by half issue).

Should the Shell Advance deal a second in the course of the day. be confirmed as expected, it sets up Miohael was still walking with a very pro nounced limp and we understand that he had a fascinating clash between the Repsol-backed Honda team of cur to be helped into and out of the car. This will probably mean that he will not be able to race rent 500 points leader Alex Criville before the Italian Grand Prix as he needs to be and Sete Gibernau and Doohan’s able to pass the FLA safety test which insists multi-national SAR team.

It also means that the red-hot that a driver be able to climb unaided from his Edwards and 26-year-old Ukawa, car within five seconds.

The test at Mugello suggested, however, that who has won for the SAR-Honda driving is not a problem. Michael completed 65 team in 250s this year, will form one laps of the Ferrari test facility in the hills of the most exciting new 500 teams above Florence - a distance of 340km - the in recent memory.

Carefully does it: Michael Schumacher climbs back into a - PHIL BRANAGAN equivalent of more than a Grand Prix distance.

Ferrari for the first time since his Silverstone crash. (SuBon-images)

The Schu is on the other foot

■ After having been a hired gun for various V8 Privateers Wayne Wakefield looks like get ting his own ride. Sponsor Dave Skillender of Graphic Skills has brought the former Price Attack Commodore of Kevin Heffeman and WW will drive it in the enduros with a TBA co-driver.

That also leaves a seat available next to Charles Ryman, whose Falcon Wakefield has raced dur ing the SCS. ■ Look for a new ride for Dean Canto next week at Oran Park.

The Team Mondeo up-and-comer is moving into V8 Supercars at Oran Park, taking over the Owen Parkinson-owned Commodore VS which has been raced so far this season by Kim Jane, Wayne Wakefield and Kerryn Brewer. If it rains, watch Canto carefully...

■ There were penalties a-plen ty at Winton last weekend. Mick Donaher copped $2000 for almost taking out Rod Nash on the last lap of the Saturday Dash (he has appealed); David ‘Skippy’ Parsons and John Briggs were sent to the back of the class in race 1 for running over the 7500rpm limit and Paul Romano was also RoG’d for having incor rectly fitted data logging equip ment.

■ There was also action taken against support race competitors.

FHolden’s Matthew Halliday was reprimanded for exceeding the pit lane speed limit, while Tyler Mecklem was fined $750 for riding over the back of Greg Ritter in the first FF race.

■ HQ racer Rod Salmon has bought the ex-Phil Ward Nokia Commodore as well as the other bits and pieces to go with it and is gaining the appropriate signa tures to run it in the FAI1000 Classic.

■ Rally star Ed Ordynski joins the Mitsubishi Mirage one-make series this weekend, at Calder Park. Mitsubishi’s own has been brought in to try and challenge round one runaway winner Wan-en Luff.

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27August 1999

■ The September issue ofPC Powerplay Magazine has given its readers a slight preview ofthe new “Dick'Johnson’s Touring Car Challenge” computer sim game. Due for release around Chfistmas, the game allows users to race their V8 Supercai's at four tracks-Oran Park, Sandovm, Phillip Island and... the biggie, Bathurst!

Testing continues, but hopes are for the game to be as good as,if not, better than the NASCAR and Grand Prix computer sims we’ve all been enjoying for years. We can’t wait!

■ Juan Montoya’s victory in Chicago on the weekend - his sixth ofthe seasonbroke the record for wins by a driver in his rookie year.

Montoya had equalled the previous record offive wins, held by Nigel Mansell,the week prior in Mid-Ohio.

Montoya’s six wins have come in 15 races, the same number ofraces Mansell took to win his five.

9Olympic legend Jackie Joyner-Kersee and husband Bob Kersee dipped their toes into the Winston Cup waters last weekend with their Bradford White Water Heaters Pontiac, driven by Tom Hubert making its debut at Brooklyn, Michigan. The gold medal ist’s team will contest the full Winston Cup series in 2000.

Third generation stock car racer Kyle Petty lost his home to fire while attend ing the Watkins Glen round ofthe Winston Cup Series last week. Petty’s Isle of Palms,South Carolina home was destroyed when a fire swept through the upscale beach community, five houses being destroyed in total.

■ While the recent tele cast of'Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia’s battle at the US PGA didn’t effect the ratings ofthe Watkins Glen round ofthe Winston Cup series-3.15 mUlion US households still tuning in-it hit CARTs audience for a 400 yard drive with a one wood! CARTs telecast ofthe Miller Lite 200 from Mid-Ohio drew an audience ofjust 1.1 milHon house holds, a figure described by some as anemic.

■ Access to Queensland Raceway has been sub stantially upgraded for the forthcoming Queensland 500 on September 19. In addition to a major widen ing ofthe existing Champions Way access(up to four lanes), the Ipswich Council has created a new 2km road into the back of the circuit to spread the load. Frequent train ser vices will also run firom Brisbane to Rosewood, with a 15 minute Sunbus connection to the track.

Holders of pre-purchased Ticketek tickets vnll receive free access to this transport. Free parking will also be offered in Ipswich and Rosewood, linking with the train/bus transport system.

Jamie Brock for Bathurst ... but Audi is still waiting

THERE will be a Brock on the grid at Bathurst this year - but it won’t be nine-time winner Peter.

While Brock P will look on from trackside role with Channel 7, son James will grid up for the Bathurst Tourers 300 in a VS Commodore he is currently building in his backyard workshop at the Brock resi dence.

The 23 year-old, who spent the 1998 season working with the British Triple 8 Super Touring team (which ran the works Vauxhalls), is convert ing a second-hand AUSCAR to Bathurst Tomer specs.

Given the lateness of the “go” decision for the race, on October 3, James doesn’t expect the car to be finished until very close to the event and will go into his first race at the Mountain very much untested.

“We’re building the par very much to a budget^” he told Motorsport Newd last week during a brief run in Bruce Williams’ prototype Bathurst Tourer at Calder, “and we won’t have a huge pile of spares, but Fm looking forward to it...”

Given that the entry is very much self-funded and low key. Brock Jnr is hoping to keep a relatively low profile, “but I know that’s going to be difficult...”

The VS isn’t the first car James has built for Bathurst - he constructed the immacu late A30 replica of his father’s first car, which lapped the Mount Panorama track in the lead-up to Brock’s final race, the 1997 Primus 1000.

IN the meantime, Bathurst Tourer co-ordinator Bruce Williams reports 23 entries to date for the 300km race, which will occupy the ‘tradi tional’ 10am starting time slot.

“From what I know of other cars being built and prepared.

I’d expect the final list to, be somewhere between 25 and 30 cars,” he said this week.

WILLIAMS has also con firmed that the Bathurst Tourers will run on Dunlop control rubber.

All cars in the race will compete on a speciallydesigned Dunlop tyre, mount ed on ROH wheels built espe cially for the Commodores and Falcons.

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Photo by Dirk Klynsmith

THERE is still no decision

from the And.! Sport Australia team regarding Bathurst but one decision is possible, but unlikely ^ qua^s.

The ra^ regdations for the O^ber Super Tom^g events allow the use of 4wd cars which have been disallowed ^ from the senes in Australia, ( Germany.

While team manager &m

And this does: Jamie Brock gets a few tips from the Old Man (sorry Peter) at Calder last week.(Photo by Tony Giynn) 'v.

Jones was non-committa f i Baftur^,he was ™ of the rule while at Winton last weekend, where he was run ning a Formula Ford for his son Andrew.

Mclean for Volvo

Privateer title to his two Super Touring THE contenders are wheeling out their Independents titles last weekend, has driven weapons for the final round ofthe BOC for the Volvo team before. At Bathurst in Gases Super Touring Championship at 1997 he shared a Volvo 850 with Jan “FlaBh; Calder this weekend.

Nielsen and, despite never having driven the While the Volvo Australia team has gone for Cameron McLean to boost the series hopes car or the track before, out-qualified Richards and his co-driver Rickard Rydell. ofJim Richards, points leader Paul Morris has received a boost from BMW Motorsport in the form ofa factory engine for the last three races ofthe series.

The engine, alleged ly worth $150,000, arrived in Australia from Munich on Monday and was due to be fitted to Morris’ Versari Paper 320i as MN went to press.

Morris, who has won nine ofthe 18 races Back to the future: McLean in Volvo’s 850 in 1997. (oirk Kiynsmitu) “My role will be to ride shotgun for Jim held in this year’s championship, was pleas by beating Paul so it’s going to be interest antly surprised to get the engine, which will ing,” said McLean.“Calder is a challenging be heading straight home after the weekend. circuit, but there are a couple of passing “Originally we asked BMW in Germany if spots and some good,long straights that they could help us rebuild one ofour existing wilJ suit the Volvo.” engines for Cdder,but there wasn’t enough There is also the likelihood that Audi’s time,” he said.

Brad Jones and Matty Coleman could “Instead they have sent us a fidl works upset the battle, Jones having qualified engine in recognition of our achievements the FWD A4 on the front row for the last this year against factory teams.” two races.

Morris lead the championship on 228 The Audi outfit trails Volvo in the cham points, while Richards is second on 216 and needs to get pole, beat Morris in aU three pionship for manufacturers by 225 points races and hope someone else can as well. to 249 but both championships are stiU up It’s because ofthat that Volvo has drafted for grabs.

McLean in to replace Mark Adderton for the Also in the fight may be Tony Newman, weekend. whose newer Peugeot 406 will finally be ready for a race.

McLean, who added a V8 Supercar

F3

F3 style? Could Winton winner Steve Owen test an F3?

“Yes, I know we can run them,” he said, “and getting cars [fi-om Audi in Germany] . way or the other abouc wnat we win do. We’re still waiting.” ^he team appeajs to have

Bathurst races altogether; ^heir two current ^4^. .inning ‘mix’n’match’ with at least one ^ three cars competing, As we closed for press there ngrmanv ONE thing is more certain; Volvo Australia will be there with the two cars they are running at Calder this weekend.

Jim Richards’ 1998 and Mark Adderton’s ’97 S40s wdl both be making the trip to Mount Panorama.

“It’s a question of running what we are familiar with,” team manager George Shepheard said this week.

The team is still to name its drivers, Shepheard refusing to be drawn on whether it would be McLean [drafted into the team this weekend] who would line up for the team at Bathurst.

“Too early to say. But it’s no secret that we were impressed with him last time he drove for us.”

Should McLean share the Adderton car, it is still the team’s main aim that Rickard Rydell share with Richards.

It is also beheved that Volvo is not happy about allowing Audi’s quattro in the race, but Shepheard was not able to comment on the matter.

THE other piece of the equation, Paul Morris, is a little clearer on his Bathurst plans.

At this stage he is intending to run his NEMO BMW in the races and drive solo in the main Bathurst race, which will be subject to a three and a half hour time hmit.

There had been talk that Morris would share the drive with Geoff Full, who tested Morris’ car at Oran Park two weeks ago. Morris and Full shared a class win at Bathurst in 1991.

-PHILBRANAGAN

up for grabs

ONE of Australia’s leading Formula Ford drivers will get a Formula 3 test in Europe later this year.

The selected driver will be given a full day’s test with the Dutch and German F3 Championship-winning Van Amersfoort Racing team.

Senior CAMS Steward Eric Rubens is behind the initiative and has arranged the test oppor tunity via Dutch former GP driver Huub Rothengather (who also manages Jos Verstappen) to play a part in promoting more young Australians into the international arena.

The recipient of the test, scheduled for

October, will be selected by a group containing Formula Ford Association and CAMS repre sentatives.

“The driver chosen must have the ambition to make a career out of motor racing at the top level,” Rubens said this week,“and be motivat ed enough to want to work their way through Formula 3 and Formula 3000 to Formtila 1.

“The test is with last year’s German Championship team and will be fully moni tored and evaduated with data download for comparison with the team’s regular drivers.”

The F3 test is expected to be an annual event.

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Photo by Sutlon-ltnages

MARK Webber has undertaken a Formula 3000 test with the Austrahan-owned European Racing F3000 team.

The unpublicised test, last Friday, went extremely well according to both Webber and the team, the young Australian completing over 100 laps at the Pembrey cir cuit, in Wales - having not driven an open-wheeler since the 1997 Macau F3 race.

European Racing (formerly Europen Edenbridge Racing) is owned by Australian busi nessman Paul Stoddard, owner of European Aviation and a motorsport nut with, among other things, a huge collection of Tyrrell FI cars.

The team has run a pair of Brits this year - FI pace car driver Oliver Gavin and Jamie Davies - but Stoddard has made no secret of his desire to run Webber. Last week’s test suggests that the team presents a 2000 option for our FI aspirant.

In the meantime, Webber’s management has poured cold water on a recent widelyreported story that he has been offered some season-end races in the West McLaren F3000 team and a possible McLaren FI test.

The reports, quoting Mercedes motorsport manag er Norbert Haug, suggested that with the F3000 title now sewn up by West McLaren driver (and Mercedes sports car team-mate) Nick Heidfeld and with the German now confirmed as a Prost team driver for 2000, that Webber would drive Heidfeld’s F3000 car in the remaining races and then, if he performed weU

By JOE SAWARD

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Webber tests 3000 enough, test McLaren’s FI car with a wew to taking over Heidfeld’s test driver spot in 2000.

“Yes, Mark was asked to contact McLaren about a pos sible F3000 test just before Hockenheim, three weeks ago,” Webber’s manager Ann Neal said this week.

“However, Mark was under the very clear impression that the test wouldn’t be with West Competition but with another (unidentified) team and that it would be with that other team he would race in the remaining three rounds, not West. If that’s changed, no-one has told us...”

“Maybe there is a possibili ty for Mark to test the McLaren-Mercedes further

down the road. Mark has been pressing Mr Haug about that for ages but there’s noth ing more concrete in the offer than that.

“As far as I’m concerned, after all the good work that was done by Mark for the team in the lead up to Le Mans and then what hap pened to him at Le Mans, the least Mark can expect is something with a few less ‘maybes’, ‘perhapses’ and ‘possiblies’ attached.”

The situation remains, according to Neal, as reported in the last issue of Motorsport News. With Mercedes effec tively shutting down its Sports Car programme fol lowing Le Mans, Webber has asked to be released from his

AMG Mercedes contract in order to pursue other oppor tunities.

As we have reported, among those is a possible test programme with Jordan FI before the end of this year, with a full-time test driver spot the ta^et for 2000.

Negotiations with AMG are progressing steadily, accord ing to Neal.

“They have agreed in prin ciple,” she said, “and we are currently sorting out the details and conditions.”

The announcement last week that Jarno Trulli will race for Jordan in 2000 hasn’t affected Webber’s situation: “I always maintained that the likely option for 2000 for Mark was a test driver spot,”

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Neal continued. “That’s what has now led to Heidfeld’s opportunity with Prost, for example.

“As we’ve seen a number of times, and this is another of them, a test driver role doesn’t restrict you to a race role with the one team. A test role with Jordan simply means that Mark is getting FI mileage and that he’s ready for any reasonable opportunity that comes along...”

An FI test deal plus an F3000 race season in 2000 would mirror Heidfeld’s situa tion and provide the best pos sible preparation for FI rac ing. Last week’s test clearly opens up that possibihty.

- CHRIS LAMBDEN

llesi, Heidfeld and Peugeot

By JOE SAWARD

JEAN Alesi is expected to be confirmed as Jamo Trulli’s replacement at Prost Grand Prix.

After the Hungaroring race Alesi announced that he will not be staying at Sauber next year, an announcement which sug gested that Jean knows where his future hes.

The signing of Alesi is a logical step for Prost. Jean and Alain Prost are friends and former team-mates at Feraari back in 1991. Jean is the biggest Formula 1 star in France at the moment, despite his poor results in recent years with Benetton and Sauber.

Alain needs a Frenchman in the team and has never been completely happy with Olivier Panis. Negotiations are still going on for Olivier to stay with the team but it seems much more likely that the second seat in the team will go to rising star Stephane SaiTazin.

The signing of Alesi will help to keep Peugeot inter ested in Formula 1 for another season although it remains to be seen whether the French car company will stay on in FI at the end of the current contract.

This comes to a close at the end of next year but a deci sion will be taken at some point this autumn.

■ The Ford Motor Company has announced that it is moving its European headquarters from Warley in Essex to Cologne in Germany after 30 years in Britain. While this is a major sethack for British prestige, the Ford Premier Automotive Group, which consists of Jaguar . Aston Martin, Volvo and Lincoln, wiU still be headquartered in London’s upmarket neighbourhood of Maytair. Jaguar recently announced that its major target countries are Germany and Japan.

Changing times for Francais blues: Heidfeld (above) looks certain to join Alesi (right) at Prost. When the music stops will Panis (below) still be standing?

(Photos by Sutton-lmages)

FORMULA 3000 Champion Nick Heidfeld tested for the Prost team last week at Sdverstone.

'The German driver completed 32 laps in a Prost-Peugeot AP02 before being sidelined with an hydraulic failure. His best lap was a lm28.51s.

The test has led to considerable specu lation that Heidfeld will race for Prost next season. This would not be a surprise as McLaren has been looking for an FI team in which to place Heidfeld now that he has won the Formula 3000 title.

Frost’s deal with Gauloises insists on there being at least one French driver in the team. That deal still has another year to ran although it is unlikely that Prost wiU let go of the cormection.

The fight for the second Prost seat seems to be between Heidfeld and the team’s test driver Stephane Sarrazin although Pedro de la Rosa should also not be discounted. There is talk that Olivier Panis is still negotiating with Prost but he is expected to go to Arrows next year in order to keep Renault happy.

PEUGEOT Sport is expected to con firm its continued involvement with Prost Grand Prix within the next few days.

Speaking in Finland last week the President of Peugeot Sport Corrado Provera said that it was in Peugeot’s interest to continue in Formula 1 until the end of the current contract. Provera added that such a decision was however conditional on the cost as Peugeot expects “an explosion” in FI budgets as major car manufacturers become more involved in the sport.

We expect a Pi’ost-Peugeot announce ment at the forthcoming Belgian Grand Prix.

■ Pedro Diniz is one of Formula I’s richest peo ple and the Diniz Family fortunes were added to in dramatic fashion a few days ago when the French supermarket group Casino agreed to invest a minimum of US$865m in the Dmiz Family’s Grupo Pao de Acucar supermarket chain. If evraything goes to plan the family will ‘ gain aroimd US$1.5bn in the next five years but will remain in control of the company. The family is now worth around US$2.5bn, which makes it one of the top two or three richest families in South America.

■ Reynard Motorsport’s Chief Financial Officer Robert Swistock has explained that the company’s deci sion to withdraw from its planned WaU Street flota tion was due to “general market conditions”.

Reynard is a 15 percent shareholder in British American Racing but may be planning its own FI programme in the mid term.

■ Among the \flP guests at the Hungarian Grand Prix was world land speed record holder Andy Green, who trav elled at 763mph in Richard Noble’s Thrust SSC jet-car in 1997 in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. Green was a guest of the Stewart team.

K We hear that the Discovery television channel is tiying to nego tiate a sponsorship deal in Formula 1 as it intends to launch much more technical program ming in the years ahead.

Discovery currently spe cialises in travel and nature programming. We hear that Formula 1 has been chosen because of its global reach and the link with technolog}’.

■ The Formula 1 Commission will meet at a hotel near Lor.Ton’s Heathrow airport or Tuesday August 31, two dayc after the Belgian Grand Prix. The decisions taken at the meeting wift then be passed on to the FIA World Motor Sports | Council which is not duo to meet until the start of October in Paris.

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27August 1999

n Grand Prix drivers will probably use head restraints next year to hdp them avoid whiplash injuries. David Coulthard has tried the latest sys tems in testing and says that they are much better suited to Grand Prix rac ing than air bags to reduce head and neck injuries. The McLaren dri ver said that they need a little more development and drivers also need to get used to using them but is confident that they will be introduced, n Bernie Ecclestone says that there is no truth at all in stories suggesting that he is trying to buy the Everton Football Club. The Formula 1 boss was quoted as saying that he was “not in the slight est bit interested” in such a deal. Ecclestone has been linked to a variety of football deals in the past but nothing has ever come of them and he shows no signs of diversifying at the moment.

New Zealand to have V8s bade in 2001?

The study is being undertaken in conjunc tion with local promoter Grant Aitken, with a report due to be tabled next Easter, is conduct with Auckland Council in ing a feasibility study ^ October. to take the V8 circus to “Auckland has the the streets of Auckland opportunity to have a for a Shell Series place on the Shell V8 round. Former Bathurst Supercar Series calendar Event Management direc in 2001 and beyond, and tor Greg Eaton is the preliminary discussions headofEMS. with the category owner EVENT Management Specialist, the compa ny which is running the Bathurst bike races

n The Jordan team has signed up suspension engineer Chris Cooney from the Honda Racing Developments team.

AVESCO have highlight ed a strong desire for the Supercar Series to travel offshore,” Eaton said last week.

The event would likely involve a three-day motorsport carnival, sim ilar in concept to the Sensational Adelaide 500, which was held in April.

Several street circuit layouts are under consid-

eration, with one of the likely contenders being a track close to Auckland harbour which extends into the Hauraki Gulf.

Auckland, NZ’s biggest city, has a large tourist infrastructure, which makes it the ideal candi date to usurp Wellington as the most likely venue in the country for a V8 race.

- PHIL BRANAGAN

Dixon scores Indy Lights win %

AUSTRALIAN Gold

Star Champion Scott Dixon has won his

C

first Indy Lights race in the United States, leading from pole at the 10th round of the series in Chicago.

The win for Dixon, 19, couldn’t have come at a Been there before: After such a dominating season in FHolden last year, most believed it wouldn’t take Scott Dixon long before he took his first Indy Lights win.

n Sylvester Stallone was at Budapest last weekend with fellow film maker Renny Harlin and it seems that both men have agreed to combine their plans to make films about Grand'Prix racing.

Stallone said that the planned film will go ahead and that filming will begin in April next year.

Stallone has not been seen at the tracks this year as he was unable to find funding for his previous project.

n Petrobras Junior Team driver Max Wilson - who test drives for Williams- has been given a one-race ban from Fonnula 3000 for causing an unnecessary accident in Budapest. Wilson has been involved in several controversial accidents this year

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No Bull from Yamaha mij in2 Feasibility study commissioned by Auckland Council

n McLarens sister com pany TAG Aviation is buying the New York air craft charter company Wayfarer Aviation, which is currently owned by the Rockefeller Family. The deals makes TAG Aviation one of the biggest private aviation compa nies in the world with around 125 aircraft in its fleet.

n The Super Nova Fonnula 3000 team will test rising British star Jensen Button in October.

Button has struggled this year with imcompetitive engines in the British Formula 3 series but is tipped to quit F3 to move straight into F3000 with backing from Fina.

SuperNova recently land ed a sponsorship’deal from the Franco-Belgian oil company thanks to signing David Saelens.

MU

(Photos by Sutton Images)

Second fastest quali better time after his early season luck - three top fier Guy Smith closed four placings in the first up towards the end of three races - had desert the race, eventually ed him and he’d slipped crossing the line just from first to eighth in the 0.362s behind, but that points standings. was the closest he got.

Behind Dixon and The young kiwi was a big improver all week Smith, there was a gap end, starting out as 15th of 10s back to a gaggle fastest in practice then of cars led by American moving up the field Casey Mears. steadily before finally The win now moves topping the sheets at the Dixon back up to sixth, end of qualifying. just five points behind Dixon carried his fifth-placed Derek qualifying form into the Higgins and seven race, jumping ahead off behind fourth-placed the rolling start and set Felipe Giaffone. ting the pace from start Oriel Spaniard to finish.

Servia leads the series (124 points) after fin ishing fourth in Chicago.

Mears is second (106), Phillipp Peter third (93).

Dixon has also

/

strengthened his lead in the Rookie of The Year section, now hav ing a 15 point lead over Mario Dominguez.

Indy GP track nearly ready

By DARRYL FLACK

TEAM Red Bull Yamaha WCM has announced that its major sponsor will conclude its three year association at the end of the season After the collapse of the ill-fated Power Horse Yamaha team owned by Alfred Inzinger in 1997, Red Bull became the major sponsor after the factory lease was taker over by American race enthusiast Bob McLean who installed ex-journal Peter Clifford as race director.

The team hao a rocky start after it terminated Troy Corser’s contract after negotiations to re-write his agreement brcrtce down, replacing him with Kirk McCarthy alongside Luca Cadalora.

For 1998, the team experienced its greatest success after new signing Simon Crafar dominated the British Grand Prix and picked up the lap record at Phillip Island after finishing a fine second to Mick Doohan.

After an enforced switch to Michelin, both Crafar and team-mate Regis Laconi struggled (below) mightily in testing and the first half of the '99 season, which culminated in the Kiwi departing the team after coming to a mutual agreement with team management.

Replaced by hardcharging Garry McCoy, the team had its best finish of the year at Brno on August 22, the Aussie picking a career best eighth finish, with Laconi ninth.

Despite the loss of Red Bull, Yamaha intends to support the McLean team next year.

Yamaha’s GP Manager Shuji Sakurada said, “Yamaha has supported the WCM team for the preparation of the YZR500 and intends to continue to do so for the 2000 season.

“We shall co-operate with WCM in anyway we can to find a new sponsor for the future. It is a great pity that a major sponsor has taken the decision to withdraw from GP motorcycle racing.”

Formula 1 racecars mightjust test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway later this year in preparationfor the return ofthe US Grand Prix, which is setfor 24 September 2000.

The Brickyard is currently undergoing renovations

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with its “new”4.2 km (2.6-mile)‘GP’circuit almost complete. When the track isfinished, circuitpromoter Tony George wants to arrange a date so that the Formula 1 teams can experience the new circuit

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No Bull: Regis Laconi.

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How can you tell who uses Vahroline? Just take a look at the winner’s pdium and see what engine inl powers their VS! We congratulate Jason Baigwanna’s superb pie position and three race mns at Winton Raceway on August 22,1999.

3 oiA ot 3 ain’t bad!

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27 August 1999

Rdf's ready RALF

Schumacher

is

expected to begin testing with the latest version of the BMW VIO Formula 1 engine within the next six weeks.

According to our sources the latest new engine - the third which BMW has pro duced - is now ready to be tested and the plan is the engine to be fitted into a modi fied 1999 car and run at BMW’s private test track at Miramas before the Formula 1 circus heads off to the Far East for the Malaysian and Japanese Grands Prix. In all probability this will be after the European Grand Prix on September 26.

As there is a testing ban throughout the month of December the testing will be

important as it will enable Williams and BMW to gather data before the testing ban comes into effect. To date all BMW testing has been carried out by Jorg Muller but the use of Schumacher will give BMW an idea of where they are in terms of development in com parison to other current FI engines.

The which engine Schumacher will use will form the basis of the engine which will be raced in 2000 although there will be constant develop ment throughout the season, as is the case with all the major FI engine programmes at the moment.

-JOESAWARD

H

i once again to V8 Supercar fans. It’s been a little while ‘between drinks’ but, to be honest, the race calendar has been so tight lately with racing every second week, I have been kept fairly busy to say the least.

The Championship is cer tainly getting exciting with only one sprint race to go before the endures start and there is realistically at least six drivers that can win the Championship this year.

I must say I am very happy to be one of those six, hav ing now slotted into third position only 58 points behind Lowndes after having had two very good results at Symmons Plains and on the weekend at Winton.

I have to say that I am very happy with the speed oj my Castrol Commodore of ' late, with the team putting in the hard yards knowing this could be the best chance of winning the Championship yet. I would say that of late that we would have the most consistent VT overall which will be the key to winning.

Larry and the boys have

TOM Walkinshaw and Prince Malik ado Ibrahim are currently negotiating over their shareholdings in the Arrows Formula 1 team - and all the indica tions are that Walkinshaw wdl soon buy the Nigerian out ofthe team.

Prince Malik is rumoured to have agreed to invest US$18m when he bought into the team at the end of last year. This secured 25 percent of the shares for him but we understand that he was due to make a payment at the end of July and that this does not appear to have been made.

This is expected to result in Walkinshaw buying Malik’s

sport is about, which is ‘rac ing’. It is the name of the game and we must never get to the situation where the entertainment value, not only for the spectator but the driver as well, is lost. So far, the last two races, in my opinion, have worked extremely well with very tight close racing, and most of all plenty of overtaking with not too many incidents, and I am sure this driver’s meeting has had a large bearing on that.

thatinteresting has been aspect intro One duced over the last couple of Speaking of passing manoeuvres, at least races is a secondary driver’s briefing at each circuit, one thing that has finally been recognised is that the which is.where all the drivers discuss openly potential onus is not only on,the car danger points at that particu doing the overtaking, but lar circuit in respect to the also on the car that is being likelihood of accidents hap overtaken. Previously there had been so many incidents pening and preventative n measures that can be taken. whereby the car doing the overtaking was being The meeting is chaired by blamed for a collision, when the key players at CAMS the cause was in fact the car and is a great initiative as it in front squeezing or block is the drivers that have input to figure out a logical way on ing trying not fb lose their position, putting themselves how we can get through the out by doing so and making weekend’s racing with good the other guy look like the hard and fast competitive mongrel. racing, with plenty of over It is a situation where the taking, but without the car average motorsport specta nage. tor probably hasn’t under As always you are never stood exactly, as from the going to get 100 percent outset all that is seen is a agreement from everyone, but basically we are finding faster car attempting to pass another and all of a sudden, each meeting some guide lines to race by but not to the guy in front spears off, cross the border line of mak so automatic assumption is that is must have been the ing the wrong type of rules that will result in procession car behind that put him off.

There is no doubt some al racing. times it is, but there are We can never forget that one word which is what the many cases where it isn’t, so

what I am saying to you is make sure you have a good look before you start point ing'the finger.

Ia hear there has been talk of format change for the sprint races next year, which probably is about due.

I thinh one format that might be fairly entertaining would be a short sprint race followuti iiy a longer race with a mandatory pit stop.

Some circuits might not have the pit lane capacity to do this but for the ones that could it would certainly be entertaining and involve more of the whole race teams.

I am getting mixed reac tions on the concept of hav ing the endurance races part of the Championship. I per sonally think it is a very good idea as it just makes the year more intense from a drivers perspective which will mean that the endurance races will be a lot harder-fought know ing what is at stake at the end of it, and Bathurst will be like a football grand final where everything hinges on that one day.

That Sunday on November 14 is going to be huge and if you are a motorsport fan you are definitely going to get your money’s worth there.

o

ran Park is the next round, always good for some hard desperate racing and, no doubt, I should be amongst it.

Catch you next time.

Salo seems set for Sauber MIKA Sale’s showing at Ferrari in recent weeks has put the Finn into the FI spotlight and in Hungary he admitted that he had had six offers for drives in 2000.

No decision is expect ed to be taken until the situation at Ferrari is set tled but there is little doubt that Michael Schumacher will return and Eddie Irvine will depart for a three-year deal with the new Jaguar FI team (currently known as Stewart Grand Prix).

Rubens Barrichello is expected to jump across to Ferrari but nothing will be known until the end of August when the option Ferrari has secured on Barrichello’s services runs out.

Salo is expected to wait until that decision is made before making his move but Sauber seems to be the next best offer available to him.

The Swiss team will again use Ferrari-based V10 engines badged as Sauber Petronas V10s and the team is hoping to be able to produce a bet ter package next year so as to score more points.

The team has been try ing to hire top FI engi neers for some months but there is no sign that any of the big names are going to end up at Sauber for next year and it Is already a little too fate for any new designer to have much of an effect on the 2000 car which will be

Pouring on the pressure: Rusty piled the pressure but Bargwanna held up until the end of race 3. (Photo by Neil Hammond)

lom in the black

BY JOE SAWARD

our new endurance Commodore well under way and with much knowledge gained since the first VT rolled out of the Perkins Engineering shop, I am sure that this one is going to be a bullet and with the pace of the races of late, we wil’ defi nitely need it come Bathurst.

Mk)0®gg/p®gl?

shareholding back from him, probably with some of the US$20m which Walkinshaw raised last week by selling his Ixion Motor Group to the Sytner Group.

As part of this plan Walkinshaw has recently landed a supply of Supertec VIO engines for 2000 and there is well-founded specula tion that Tom has done a deal with Renault to run Nissanbadged VIO engines in 2001 and beyond.

Walkinshaw is well-con nected with Nissan and has just embarked on a major new project with Renault to build roadgoing versions of the Clio Renault Sport V6 24V at his AutoNova factory in Uddevalla, Sweden.

TRACK SUPERVISOR/ WORKSHOP MECHANIC

i

designed by the team of engineers at Sauber led

by Leo Ress.

- JOE SAWARD

NSW Championships Sports Sedans, Club Cars, Prodsports.

Limited Production Sports Cars, AF2,

Eastern Creek International Karting Raceway (Sydney) requires personnel with strong communication and people skills for supervision of karting circuit and mechanical work for workshop.

Must have previous motor racing expe rience.

Full/part time positions available.

Please fax your resume to 02 9672 7531 or contact Garry Holt on 02 9672 7530, mobile 0413 879 879

Formula Ford, Formula Vee, Sports I3(X), Super-minis, HQ Holdens, Formula Alfa, DVe One-make Challenge

11-12 September

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PROMOTIONS

. ^

27August 1999

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McLaren still dominates testing

Jacques's best time was a lm27.25s while Zoma did only a lm29.29s.

Benetton was in action with Alexander Wurz and test driver Laurent Redon, the pair continuing the aerodynamic development pro gramme begun by Redon at LurcyLevis, The Frenchman completed a total of 80 laps over three days while Wurz did 75. The Austrian’s best time was a .■^hn27.57s. while Redon’s best was almost identical.

Jordan had Heinz-Harald

By JOE SAWARD

TI-IERE were three days of test ing last week at Silverstone although the British summer weather was once again unco operative with rain disrupting activity on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The third day of the test was dry but overcast and resulted in Mika Hakkinen setting the fastest time of the test with a lap of lm25.966s.

Hakkinen ran on all three days of the test during which he did 100 laps while the McLaren test driver Nick Heidfeld did the first two days for McLaren (he completed 50 laps) and then switched to a ProstPeugeot on the final day.

The Formula 3000 Champion was within a few tenths of Hakkinen on the first two days but dropped down the order when he switched to Prost.

This meant that it was Rubens Barrichello who emerged as the nearest challenger to McLaren on the final day with a best lap of lm26.08s - just a few hundredths slower than Hakkinen. The Stewart team did three days of tests begin ning with Luciano Burti completing 46 laps on Tuesday.

He was replaced on Wednesday

by Johnny Herbert and the Englishman was joined by Rubens Barrichello on the final day of the test. Barrichello did 57 laps while Herbert completed 70 over two days, his best lap being a lm26.10s - only slightly slower than Barrichello.

Pedro Diniz did all three days of

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Nick of time: Heidfeld tested for McLaren (above) before jumping ship to Prost. (Photos by sutton-images) the test, working on aerodynamic settings and gearbox development, and by the end of the test had com pleted 120 laps of the track with a best of lm26.919s - the fourth fastest time.

The Williams team did only two days of running with both Ralf Schumacher and Alex Zanardi in action. The German completed a total of 66 laps and/the Italian 86 laps. Schumacher set the faster time with a best of lm27.02s - a tenth faster than Zanardi’s best.

British American Racing had both Jacques 'Villeneuve and Ricardo Zonta in action for two days but they were not able to do as many laps as had been hoped because of mechanical trouble.

Villeneuve completed 59 laps over two days while Zonta did only 11.

Sneaking up: How long before Barrichello's test pace gets him a win?

eat the heat! .1

.Steven lohason is just one of m;m}- leading V8 Supercai- drivers to use the RPIVJ Kuool 'Vest ‘'The tempercaurex inside the V8s are extreme. 'The RI’M Kuool Vest has gh-en nw a great benefit by ensimtig lam cooler dur ing race conditions. ” Steven JohnsoiL

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Frentzen nmning on all three days of the test and he completed 187 laps but did not set any fast times as the team was concentrating on brake and tyre testing. His best was a lm27.81s.

Olivier Panis ran for two days in the Frost before handing over to Heidfeld. The Frenchman complet ed 85 laps but his times were slowed by the bad weather and so Heidfeld set the fastest time for the team on Thursday with a lm28.50s after 32 laps.

The only other-team m action was Arrows which ran Tora Takagi on Wednesday and Pedro de la Rosa on Thursday. The Spaniard did 24 laps while the Japanese did only 18.

Minardi did not test.

At Mugello, Ferrari began testingon Wednesday with Mika Salo. He completed 142 laps in the course of his two days of running while Eddie Irvine did the same mileage on Thursday and Friday while Michael Schumacher did 65 laps during his tests.

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IT was the day for final lap victories for “last lap despera dos” at Brno in the Czech

I

World of Sport

I

Motor Racfng ttdendar Shell Championship Series V8 Supercars* ,Rd11 Sept 5 Oran Park ,Rd12 Sept 19 .. .Willowbank Oct 17 .. .Surfers Paradise .Rd 13 ,Rd14 Nov 14 .. .Bathurst I FIA Formula One World I Championship I Aug 29 ...Belgium Rd 12 ,Rd13 Sep 12 ...Italy .. ,Rd14 Sep 26 ...Europe Oct 17

Malaysia

Oct 31 ... .Japan

Rd15 Rd16

rr|

FedEx CART Championship Series* ,Rd15 Sep 5 Vancouver ,Rd16 § Sep 12 ...Monterey . .Rd17 Sep 26 .. .Houston .. .Rd18 t:^ Oct 17 Australia . .Rd19 -—i: Oct 31 Fontana ..

i

SOOcc World Grand Prix

M

Motorcycle C'Ship* Sep 5 SanNarIno Rd12 Sep 19 ...Valencia Oct 3 Australia Oct 10 Oct 24

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Rd13 ,Rd14

South Africa ...Rd15 Rd16 Brazil

World Superbilce Series* RdIO Aug 29 ...Austria ...

Rdll Sep 5 Oran Park ,Rd12 Sep 26 ...TBA Rd13 Oct 10 Japan ..

Republic with Tadayuko Okada, Valentino Rossi and Marco Melandri all coming from behind to take the che quered flag in their respective classes.

Okada’s amazing victory - his second of the year - came after he’d saved his best lap for the last, with the Repsol-Honda rider over taking Yamaha’s Max Biaggi and team-mate Alex Criville on his way to the chequered flag.

“Max and Alex wefe really fast early on but I was just waiting, saving my tyres for the end,” said Okada. “It was really difficult to get past Max but once I was ahead I knew I had a chance to win.”

Biaggi grabbed the holeshot at the start and led for the first seven laps. After that he fought back and forth with Criville until the Spaniard broke away out fronj;, while Okada’s run didn’t happen until the last lap.

Kenny Roberts also slipped past Biaggi at the final esses to take third with the Suzuki.

The race was restarted after Briton Jamie Whitham (Modenas) suffered a fiery tumble on lap two, breaking his right pelvis.

The Briton highsided, bringing down Jose Luis Cardoso (Honda) and Sebastien Gimbert (Honda), his KR3 exploding into flames as it slid down the track.

The fireball then ignited a sec tion of safety air fence, which had to be extinguished and then replaced with bales. The race got under way again 75 minutes later.

By finishing second, Criville now leads Roberts by 51 points.

VALENTINO Rossi earned his sixth win of the season, extend- ^ ing his championship lead over Shell Advance Honda rider Tohru Ukawa after overtaking fellow Aprilia rider Ralf Waldmann on the final lap.

Rossi crossed the line seventenths of a second ahead of Waldmann, who led for 12 laps, with Ukawa another two seconds back in third. Shinya Nakano on his Yamaha was fourth.

MARCO Melandri successfully defended the title he won in Brno last year, the 17-year-old taking the 125cc class after a race-long battle with fellow Italian Rofoei-to Locatelli.

Melandri overtook Locatelli on the last lap; with Locatelli then sliding off the track after trying to retake the lead and, eventually, not being clas.sified as finishing.

Masao Azuma, who is currently leading the 125cc points, finished 12th place after falling hard in practice on Saturday.

Don’t follow the leader: Tadayuko Okada, right, did in the 500s what Valentin and Marco Mel; him in the 250s £ victory in Brno on ti

Oh,not a feeling fnr 2000 leMans

FIA Formual 3000 International C'ship Aug 28 !. .Belgium Rd 9 Sep 26 ...Germany Rd 10

3

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g.

1999 NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series Sep 6 Indianapolis Rd 15 ,Rd16 Sep 19 ...Reading ,Rd17 E Oct 3 Topeka r Oct 10 Memphis Rd 18

■-■i

Aust Formula Holden

mrn Sep 5 Championship* Oran Park Rd 7

fc 3

By QUENTIN SPURRING Australian Rally Championship* .Rd6 Sep 18-19 Tasmania Nov 4-7 . . .Rally Australia . . .Rd 7 That’s my boy: Bobby Rahal is checking his driver options for 2000, although Max Papis looks safe. (RaceAccess) FIA World Rally Championship* Rd 11 Sep 19 . . .China ,Rd12 Oct 13. . . .Italy Nov 7 Australia Rd13 Nov 23 . . .Great Britain . . .Rd 14

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1 cen J

Categories marked * are telecast by the Ten Network.

Check your local guides for screening times All event dates in this calendar were correct at the time of printing. Please consult any individual tracks and/or associations for date changes.

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

Check your local guides lor screening details

Bryan Hurta by Rahal

TIRED of seeing other drivers visit team owner Bobby Rahal’s motorhome to talk about a seat for next season, Bryan Herta is now consider ing possible options for 2000 and beyond.

“I guess I decided to do it because Bob decided to do it,” Herta was quoted as saying last week.

“I’m not happy with the perfor mance that we’ve had this year, any more than he [Rahal] or any body else in this team is. But I was not seriously considering any other options.”

While saying their was no bit terness between them, Herta said that he was disappointed that Rahal wanted to talk with

other drivers.

“If he wants to think someone else is better, or that it will give him a better opportunity, then he should hire them,” he said.

The Rahal/Herta pairing has shown immense promise, although one win in four years is pointed proof that they have failed to live up to expectations.

“This is the last year of our con tract so the ride is open, but that doesn’t mean exclusive of him [Herta],” Rahal said last week.

“I’m keeping all our options open for 2000, at this point.

“All I know is we’ve got to win races. I have no intention of being mediocre. I’m tired of us showing potential and rarely realising it.

And that’s throughout our team.

not any one person. It’s just as a connection, it just hasn’t been there, and we’ve got to figure out what is the connection.”

Herta won the Laguna Seca round of the Champ Car series in ’98 for Rahal, although this sea son he has failed to finish in six races and has just 35 points from the first 13 races.Team-mate Max Papis, hired to replace Rahal at the end of last season, has double the points and led the US 500 before runmng out of fuel two turns from home.

More shake-ups in the Champ Car Series are expected over the next few months as there appears to be a ‘changing of the guard’ in the driver ranks.

TOYOTA looks to have shelved plans to enter its GTOne ear in next year’s Le Mans 24 Hours.

After coming second in this year s race - and for the last two years being favoured to come away with theii first win - the Japanese giant looked likely to try again in 2000 for a win in the classic French endurance race.

However, it looks as though it has decided against keeping the car in competitive shape, with the development i budget required expected to ' not being allocated to the project.

Although no official confirmation was available from Toyota Team Europe, one of the nine Toyota drivers from this year’s Le Mans told AUTOSPORT last week. The ! sportscar project is dead.

That’s what they've told all I the drivers.’ !

The GT-One looks likely to make its farewell performance in November’s Fuji lOOOKm. |

> ^®9®[F8[f)®LF0 \

Monty-zoomer's revenge Sixth win of the season for rookie sensation By PHIL MORRIS IF he could’ve done it any better than his previous week’s eighth to first result, Juan Montoya did it here in Chicago when the Champ Car rookie, starting from 10th, drove to his si.xth win of the season - reclaiming the championship lead in the process.

Montoya drove brilliantly around the one mile oval, taking the lead on lap 63 and setting a new rookie record for most wins in a season while never looking hack.

Montoya finished 0.783s ahead of series rival Dario Franchitti, the win giving him a three point break over the Team Green driver 172-169.

“I am so pleased,” said Montoya. “All weekend the car was bad - we just couldn’t get it working the way we wanted. The team worked all night and this morning it was good ... it was a great day.”

Not everything was per fect for Montoya, though, and some of the other front runners. After the race, Montoya had some harsh words for a number of the slower drivers who held up the faster cars during the race. He had some especially tough words for the driving of PJ Jones.

“He got along side me and wouldn’t let me go - it was a long time. He braked so late, he ran wide and he cut across me again. He did it two or three times. People like that shouldn’t be allowed to race,” blasted Montoya.

Team-mate Jimmy Vasser, who was stuck behind Robbie Gordon for several laps, blamed the trouble on officials, saying something should have been done.

“I’m disappointed. Wally [Dallenbach, Chief Steward]

is supposed to do something about that, but he didn’t. I’m happy with my finish but.

I’m confused why something wasn’t done about Gordon.”

Although he finished sec ond, Franchitti said he also had his share of problems throughout the day.

“I had trouble with the car in the turns, but overall it was a good day and a good race. We’re still close in the championship points. It’s going to be interesting for the rest of the season.”

It took three laps under yellow before the race actual ly got started. Mark Blundell, who started second on the grid had problems keeping up with the leader, causing the start to be waved offfor the first three laps.

Once the racing got underway on lap four, it was pole sitter Max Papis who took the lead. Franchitti, Vasser and Castro-Neves fell in line behind. Blundell, meanwhile continued to slow due to a tyre leak, finally pitting for nev? rub ber a few laps later.

Montoya began his charge to the front of the pack, moving from tenth to second in less than 60 laps of the 225 lap race. On lap 63, he made his move on the leader and took over first.

The only major incident of the race came on lap 99 when fourth-placed Michael Andretti dove to the inside on turn 3 while trying to overtake Paul Tracy.

Andretti clearly had the speed and the line, but Tracy moved down - the move coming too late to hold position and both cars went into the wall.

“Unbelievable, I was in a position where my hands were tied,” said Andretti.

“There was nowhere for me to go. I don’t understand what he was thinking. He was swerving down the straight at me and then he turned into me. He could have really hurt both of us.

I’m very disappointed.”

For his part, Ti-acy said, “ft milestone for Honda being looked to me that we were the 100th Champ Car race going for the same real estate. for the engine manufacturer I was about half a car length and their 42nd win. The day in front of Andretti and we also marked Honda’s 11th made contact heading into win of the season and the the corner. I knew he was fifth in a row. there, but I didn’t think he Championship standings: was far enough up alongside Andretti 124, Tracy 122, to out-brake me. I thought I Fittipaldi 101, Moore 97 was clear of him and I also thought he was down on the apron a little bit.”

Suck it and see: At around the same timb , Franchitti had actually Juan Montoya looks towards taken the lead from the Champ Car title in his Montoya, although when the first season with Ganassi race was restarted Montoya Racing. Chicago produced put his nose back in front his sixth win of,the season and held out until the finish. a new rookie record.

(Photo by Sutton Images) The day also marked a

y

... the prequel in Mid-Ohio After starting eighth position Mid-Ohio, JuaninMontoya drove aat steady, smart race - stretching his fuel, which later became a crucial factor - to win his fifth race of the year in his brilliant rookie season.

Montoya’s victory in the Miller Lite 200, which delighted team owner Chip Ganassi, closed the gap to current series points leader Dario Franchitti the Team Green driver’s “most laps led” point now- being the only difference between the two. , “We came here looking to get some good points out of this and we did, so we're happy,” said Montoya, who has shown incredible magic for mastering new tracks this season.

Paul Tracy finished second with team-mate Dario Franchitti finishing third, Montoya’s team-mate, Jimmy Vasser, placed fourth ahead of Max Papis.

Rounding out the top ten finishers were Gil de Ferran, Helio CastroNeves, Andretti, Cristiano da Matta and Robby Gordon.

After making steady progress throughout the race, and stretching his fuel, a brilliant pit stop vaulted the rookie into third place by the half-way point in the race.

It was clear that Montoya was faster in the straights than both race leader Franchitti and Tracy, who was in second.

Lap after lap, Montoya chipped away at Tracy for the second spotsetting the quickest time with virtually every passing lap.

1 wanted to prove that I was quicker than them [Tracy and Franchitti]. I just kept pushing and pushing and pushing until the end,” said Montoya.

The tide began to change for Montoya on lap 56 of the 83 lap race when Franchitti was forced into the pits a lap earlier than planned, with a slow leak in a tyre handing the iead to Tracy. As the Team Green driver pulled onto pit road, Montoya powered around Tracy to take the lead.

The next lap Tracy went in for fuel.

To everyone’s surprise, Montoya stayed on the track, showing he had mastered the art of conse.rving fuel while still keeping up the pressure.

The Colombian took to the pits the next lap - a quick stop with Montoya

^-

back on the track little more than a heartbeat ahead of Tracy and Franchitti.

Montoya increased his lead for the remainder of the race, finally taking the chequered flag by nearly 11 seconds ahead of Tracy.

“I drove my heart out in the last half of the race,” said Tracy. “I was catching Dario and we beat him out of the pits on my second stop. That was the end of it...”

Franchitti, who led 54 laps, said the tyre puncture and slow traffic cost him the race.

“The car was great in the first part of the race,” he said. “But we had a slow puncture on the right rear... it cost us the race, really.”.

.

Keep your kool: Juan Montoya used great strategy and brilliant driving to push past both Team Green cars of Franchitti and Tracy.(Photo by suuon images)

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27 August 1999

Russia dreams of FI Grand Rrix By JOE SAWARD

RUSSIA continues to dream about hosting a Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Recently, a Lebanese businessman with the of name unlikely Koueider von Heidebrand und der Lasa announced that he is planning to build a Formula 1 stan dard racing circuit close to the town of Tula, 80 miles to the south of Moscow.

The project is to be entirely funded by pri vate money - if it can be found.

To date Von Heide brand und der Lasa has only financed a design study, carried out by an Italian company called Studio d’Architecture e Design from Chiasso. The plan drawn up includes a 3.1-mile race track, with a hotel, conference centre and theme park built alongside.

The design features a number of comer profiles copied from other tracks much as was the case when Magny-Cours was designed. Before work begins he hopes to get FIA clearance for the track.

At the same time Oleg larovoy is promoting a rival circuit to the north of Moscow, close to the city’s Sheremetyevo International Airport.

This would be located in an area where there are no problems with noise pollution. larovoy is a leading player on the automotive scene in Russia.

Both projects are likely to be handicapped by the fact that the country cur rently has two automo bile federations which are competing for control of motor sport in the country.

Even if these problems can be overcome and money can be found to fund the projects, the Russians still need to convince the FI circus to visit Russia, which many in the FI paddock feel does not have the right image for FI because of the power of organised crime inside the country.

Grand Prix racing did consider visiting Russia in the 1980s but negotia tions with the Soviet authorities broke down.

oXo.

Wins back on the Menu -

ALAIN Menu claimed his.

and Ford’s first victory of the 1999 British Touring Car Championship at Knockhill, with a domi nant performance in an incident-filled Feature race.

Laurent Aiello had taken the chequered flag in similar fashion in the earlier Sprint race for his eighth success of the season, but was disquali fied from sixth in race two for punting Jason Plato off.

The Frenchman now leads the championship by 14 points from Nissan team mate David Leslie with just six rounds remaining.

From pole position, Aiello made a faultiest race 1 get away to lead /the Honda of former champion Gabriele Tarquini. It was clear that nothing would impede the Frenchman’s progress to the chequered flag and although Italian the

more straightforward bj.- the six-way battle for second place. Plato was under pres sure from Aiello, who, with Boullion for company, found himself the meat in a Renault sandwich. Leslie completed a neat formation in the second Nissan but,

unable to pass the Laguna, the Scot was vulnerable to a strike by Rydell.

On the first lap Neal and Thompson collected one another and danced each- ? other into the tyre barrier, prompting a 2-lap Safety Car period.

By lap 10, Aiello had grown tired of shadowing Plato, but his attempted passing manoeuvre succeed ed only in allowing Boullion through. It was a further 10 tours before the championelect was able to regain the lost place and two laps later Leslie spied a chance to take

Former champs to the fore: pushed hard, Gabriele Tarquini returned to the BTCC Aiello took a in his German-series Honda Accord with comfortable vic a vengeance. tory by a mar Monu or Mendeol gin of more Ford’s Alain Menu won at Knockhill. than 6s.

(Photos by Bothwel! Photographic) Behind, howchaos ever, reigned. Leslie, starting seventh in the Nissan, found himself in the gravel after contact with Rickard Rydell.

The Scot rejoined last, i? but a storming recovery brought Leslie ninth, earning him two points.

More contact between Rydell Aand his rivals ■ 0 ended with both regular works Hondas collect ing one another.

Thompson pit ted for a new wheel, rejoining a lap down, i;L while Kox was able to continue until his acciBoullion as well. Alas for the dent damage was deemed too Nissan, a wide line presented severe and his race ended on fifth and sixth places to the the eighth lap. Plato had also stalking Kox and Rydell.

The excitement was not to become involved, with Rydell in the chicane shenanigans end there. With six laps left and was forced to retire with Plato, hea'ding for second broken suspension. place, exited proceedings with After the race Rydell, too, an encouraging nudge from Aiello. BouUion’s dreams of his was excluded, only to be rein stated after the meeting. second podium finish were The resurgent Mondeos of short lived as a mistake let Anthony Reid and Menu Kox and Leslie past. Aiello became embroiled in their then made his own error, takown personal battle for third ing a trip across the grass at place. Reid initially held the Duffus Dip and watching helpadvantage, having started lessly as Kox and Leslie from the front row, but assumed his position.

Menu’s superior race pace Extraordinarily, he repeatbegan to tell and, on lap 7, ed the excursion the followMenu pulled alongside ing lap, finally ending up approaching the hairpin, sixth.

Reid conceded the place.

Menu sailed serenely on, Matt Neal, having lost his taking the flag more than power steering, finally came 20s clear, to the veiy obvious through in seventh place to and excusable delight of the take yet another class win Ford Team Mondeo outfit, and in the process wrapped He later dedicated the race up the 1999 Michelin Cup for to Prodrive mechanic Paul Independents title.

Mepham who lost a battle In the feature race Menu’s with cancer 10 days previtask was made considerably ously.

■

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BRITOM TOURING CAR CHAMPIOM©H«l> KNOOCMILL

Round 12 (42 laps) 39m00.056sec 1. Menu 17m51.366s Nissan Priutera FRA f22.443s 2. Kox +6.331 s ITA Honda Accord +24,81 Is 3. Leslie +9.414s Ford Mondeo SWI +27 933s 4. Boullion +12.686S Ford Mondeo GB +28.075S +18.320s FRA 5. Rydell Renault Laguna +30.240S DQ. Aiello +25.091 S Volvo S40 SWE +33.41 Is +26.335S Nissan Primers GB 6, Tarquini +42.126s +27.092S 7. Muller Vauxhall Vecfra GB +42.850S 8. Radermecker +31.334s Nissan Primera GB +43.820S 9. Cleland +35.815s Vauxhall Vectra ppA Fastest lap: Laurent Aiello, 53.024sec, 88.26mph.

Championship positions (after 20 rounds): Aielio 185, Leslie 171, Thompson 124, Rydell 118. Plato 109, Muller 94. Kox 92, Neal 91, Radermecker 91, Menu 82.

Round 19 (20 laps) 1. Laurent Aiello 2. Gabriele Tarquini 3. Alain Menu 4. Anthony Reid 5. J-C Boullion 6. Rickard Rydell 7. Matt Neal 8. John Cleland 9. David Leslie 10. Yvan Muller

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A us what you think ofMotorsport News and

trip In the Malaysian FI Grand Prix or one ofthree exciting V-Rally 2electronic game packs Specially desigied prize package -4 days/3

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the first ever Malaysian FI Grand Prix in October, thanks to Premium Sports Tours.

l return economy class airfares from Australian

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(October 15-17).

te^pWcirsport News Reader Survey & Competitlou Entry Eerm ti&stitbl MSN Readers Survey Competition,PO Box 1010, North Cauifieid VIC 3161 or Fax to 039527 7766 before 12 noon Monday September 6 7. How would you rate the following elements of Motorsport News?

1. Mow often did you read Motorsport News in the last 12 months? □ Every Issue □ Once a month □ Every Couple of Months □ Once or Twice

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3. How long do you spend reading each issue of Motorsport News? □ Up to 30 minutes □ 30-60 minutes □ 1-2 hours □ over 2 hours

News Features Cart/IRL Motorbikes Formula One Super Tourers V8 Supercars Rally Histories Drag Racing Superspeedway Speedway Karting

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4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

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9. Which type of vehicles do you have within your family? (tick more than one it applicable) □ Family passenger car □ 4wd □ Modified/aftermarket sedan □ Luxury Vehicle □Sports Car □ Veteran/vintage □ Motorcycle □ Racing car - type?

10. Do you plan to purchase a vehicle In the next 12 months?

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10a. If yes is the vehicle to be purchased, □ New □ Second hand 11. Have you attended a motor sport event in the last 12 months?

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11a. If yes , then how many? .Form ula One V8 Supercars Other Circuit Racing, .Moto rcycle Drag Racing .Speedway Rally. .Karting Other (specify)

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17. Have you purchased any motor sport merchandise/products in the past 12 months after seeing it in Motorsport News?

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13a. I am currently a □ Competitor □ Regular spectator □ Race team member □ Official □ Primarily TV motorsport viewer 14. Which categories/programmes do you mostly watch on TV? ' pV8 Supercars □ Formula 1 □ CART □ Super Touring □ Superspeedway □ Rallying □ 500CC GP , □ Superbikes □ Trackside-Ch10 □ Speedweek-SBS □ Start Your Engines-Ch 7 15. What modifications do you plan to make to your car in the next 12 months? □ CD player/sound system □ Alloy wheels □ Body kit □ Exhaust upgrade □ Suspension upgrade □ Engine performance modification □ Tyres □ Interior modifications □ Window tinting □ Re-painting □ Engine replacement/conversion □ Restoration 16. How much do you spend (excluding rego, insurance & petrol) on your car per year □ Under $1000 □ $1000-$3000 □ $3001 -$5000 □ over $5000

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21. Age? □ 18-25 years □ Under 18 years □ 36-49 years □ 26-35 years □ over 65 yrs □ 50-65 years 22. Hflarital Status? □ Married/de facto □ Single □ Divorced □ Separated 23. Your work Status? □ Part time □ Full time □ Retired □ Self Employed □ Student □ Unemployed 24. Occupation category? □ Professional or Manager □ Business Owner □ Clerical /Sales □ Other □ Tradesperson 25. Your income level? □ Less than $20,000 □ $20,001 to 29,999 □ $30,000 to 39.999 □ $40,000 to 49,999 □ $50,000 to 69,999 □ $70,000 to 89,999 □ over 90,000 per year.

CONDITIONS OF ENTRY 1. Competitian ciosas and enlnes must be received by 12 pm Monday September 6 and will be drawn at 10am Tuesday 7 September 1999. 2. Entries must be on Ihe official entry form published in Motorsport News or 8 photocopy of some. 3. One entry per person only. 4. The winnet will be drawn from all fully completed entrtes/surveys recorvea (Note; persona) informatjon is strictfy confWenlial and wiM not be made avaifabla to any marketing, listtng con^jany or agoncy.) 5.

The prize Is; airline travel and eccsmmodation for two (three nights), general admission tor two. Iransfars etc to the 1999 Malaysian FI Grand Prix, Three runner-up onz« of V Riby 2 Playstation packs include CD game arid Peugeot sport bock pock, 6. A first prize winner under the age oH6 must be accompanied by an adult on the prize tnp. 7. The judges decision is «n*l. 8 Wnner will be rxrtfhed by phone and'or and tho lesuH wil be pubSsbed in the September 10 editior ol Motorsport News. 9 Stah o( Ktotorsport Ftows Premum Soevk Tours, uieir commercial pertnen arvi famines are lo entei 10 irrr picmoter of the compeiiion is Au3ltalasia!i Motorsporl fJews. PTv Ltd.

Name: Address: p/c PLEASE TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF 20. Your Sex? OMale □ Female

supplied in (tiis sirrey >s cor*io»a>. tor smsKts purtxsfs and wil! not be released loar^ aiMtngtumu *^igcDaovY0fsuc^ Name and addresses are on))'regwred intxaet fo ioeniify ptts winners)

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Tasmanian V8 deluge displays clearer vision thanks to Rain-X Dubbed as the "Invisible Windscreen Wiper", State Pennzoil-Quaker Australia’s Rain-X automo tive glass care product range is tinly revolutionary.

Any motor racing com petitor or general motorist who did not take advantage of the fast and simple appliat Rain-X of cation Symmons Plains a fortnight ago would have wished that they did. Graphic evidence that justifies this claim was seen vividly during the on board footage broadcast dur ing Tasmania’s deluged 9th round of the V8 Supercar series. As clearly seen dur ing the Network Ten live race coverage, competitors using Rain-X enjoyed excel lent windscreen clarity despite the torrential rain encountered at speeds of over 230 kph.

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Tough times for Pennzoil Sypeiiruck Team

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With both Pennzoil drivers scoring pole positions for the round, things were looking good until the transmission failed during the Sunday warm up. The team’s frustration had to be put aside as the bulk of the day was spent replacing the transmission for the last event, the Top Gun series of six three lap sprint races.

Once back on the track in the hands of co-driver Rob, the Pennzoil Super Truck’s presence on the Mallala circuit lasted just half a lap before a passing manouvre quickly became a spectacular 160 kph accident between Russell and Rodney Crick who were dicing for the lead. Russell’s front bar became tangled with Crick’s rear bar, ripping the bar off, blowing a f’-ont

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toughest luck imaginable with two mechanical sidelining failures and then the crash. We are optimistic of getting it all back on track for Winton, but our Championship hopes are disappearing fast,” He said.

Pennzoil drivers scoop more awards Pennzoil Drag Racing Team drivers were big winners at the 1999 Calder Season Track Awards. ’Calder Park Motorsport and ANDRA awarded teams, drivers and engineers for their efforts out of hundreds of cars raced at the venue during the past season. Pennzoil 53 Studebaker Champion Top Doorslammer driver Peter Kapiris won the Best Engineered Award, a major achievement for the Melbourne based team, considering the quality of the cars raced at Calder Park all season.

1999 Top Fuel Champion Robin Kirby was re-presented with his Golden Christmas Tree at the Calder Season Awards presentation last weekend, while Pennzoil sponsored Junior Dragster competitor TBrendan Maggs was also recognised for his status as highest Victorian pointscorer.

Pennzoil supported BB Altered competitor Shane Baxter was also presented with a Divisional Certificate Award as was Pennzoil Modified Bike ace Terry Emery.

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> 21 August 1999 ..uwwf/.'. ●' ●

15

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Extracting the truth and other forms of torture

T

the game, A vic his is the time of year when tim can be made you really want to be able to to feel weak and look into the briefcases of the Formula 1 team bosses - or at be put onto the defensive least those who are concentrating because he on the business and not spending believes that the their time on their flashy motor cruisers moored on the Costa interrogator knows more than Smeralda in Sardinia. This is the he does. Planting time when contracts are being ;1he seeds of signed and negotiations taking ● doubt is such fun place - presumably using sema and often the vic phore and flag signals between the tims give away boating gin palaces. more than they In the end, however, it all has to think because ; go down on paper and that is hap they assume you pening about now so it is a good know the time to have access to the files of the rich and famous. answers already.

You can make The only time I ever succeeded them feel that it in getting iiito such a briefcase was doesn’t matter when a driver manager was dumb what they say enough to hand his case to me and because their say that he was off to the loo. friends have “But what if I open this briefcase spilled the beans and read everything inside?” I asked. already. Books could be written “Well, if you are that clever you deserve to read it,” he said and on the games that can be skipped away.

For about 20 seconds I did noth played and no doubt there are ing. Most people use their birth schools for such date as a code number; January 1 1955 becomes 010 155 - that sort things in remote country estates in of thing'. The only problem was that Britain...

I did not know my target’s date of birth. And then it struck me that a Unfortunately Ft team bosses lot of people who own briefcases are not actual have either never bothered or never been able to work out how to prisoners and so they tend to run set a combination. They are not all away, talk engineers... absolute rubbish, or deliberately And then I remembered reading plant false stories to confuse the somewhere that about 40 percent chasers. This means that in the F1 of briefcases can be opened by ‘Silly Season’ good information is simply turning the combination hard to come by. There is no short locks round to the original factory age of rumour but one has to know settings, which are usually 000 and what is true and that is hard when 000. a lot of F1 people tell lies.

I did it and the case opened.

I know it is a terrible thing to Oh joy! Oh rapture!

But what should I do? I was suggest but what can one do? brought up to behave in a fair and Blame the parents, I suppose, for not beating them enough when gentlemanly manner. Reading pri vate files would not be considered they were obnoxious children.

Those who were brought up not to cricket. That was for those nasty lie - or at least who were taught spy types... and other cads and bounders. And so I sat there like a never to be caught telling a lie - try to avoid teliing the truth by other lemon with the briefcase open until means. ’ my target returned, at which point I showed him the open briefcase and watched him go very pale.

Let mea explain.

There is, let us I tried the same trick the other say, rumour in the paddock that Subaru is talking to Blue day in Hungary on Ron Dennis’s Wombat Racing and that a deal briefcase but it did not open. has been done for Blue Wombat to “You’d probably enjoy reading what is in there,” said Ron with a use Subaru VI0 engines in 2001. smug iook.

What does a good journalist do?

I probably would.

He goes to ask the team if the sto ries are true.

Oh look, here comes Mr Talking Still, find ing there thingsare out.other And ways I am aofgreat Head, the team’s blue-eyed front believer in interrogation techniques. man.

While there are some FI team ^ “Hello,” you say. “Can I have a bosses I would quite enjoy torturing word?”

- nothing nasty, you understand, “No,” he replies, and sweeps by, just a few electric cattle prods, red disappearing into a motorhome.

Grrr... An hour later he rehot pokers, racks, that sort of stuff - it is much more of an intellectual emerges. challenge to indulge in the psycho “Can I have a word?” you say logical battle which goes on politely. between an interrogator and his “No,” he says and sweeps by, victim. It is a fascinating game of mumbling some excuse about hide and seek with the truth.

Bernie...

There are the crude forms “Oh,” you say loudly, that’s such whereby ‘hard’ interrogators alter a shame. I just wanted to know it nate with ‘soft’ reassuring question you still have a job. ers. Guile is often more successful This usually works when the than full frontal assault. talking head iaa mere employee But this is just the beginning of or a minority shareholder. If he

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Those who were brought up not to lie — or at least who were taught never to be caught telling a lie - try to avoid telling the truth by other means. is a team owner it is more com plicated but any mention of the tax man usually results in a screech of soft leather as his handmade Italian shoes come to a sudden stop. He returns in a hurry.

“I hear you have a deai with Subaru,” you say.

“You cannot honestly expect me to answer that question,” he says, trying to dodge the issue.

“Why not? It is an easy ques tion. Do you have a deal with Subaru?”

“No,” he says, “I do not.”

And there you have it. A novice FI journalist will at this point rush off to the press room and file a 'Blue Wombat Racing chief denies Subaru deal’ story.

But what did Mr Talking Head really say?

I-DO-NOT. When you think about it, why would HE have a deal Vi/ith Subaru?

The question should have been; “Does the team have a deal with Subaru?”

The answer would, of course, have been “No”.

But is that the truth? What is a Subaru? It is a brand. A brand owned by a big anonymous com pany called Fuji Heavy Industries.

Any deal would be between Blue Wombat Racing and Fuji Heavy Industries.

So you ask the question differently.

“Have you spoken to Fuji Heavy Industries?”

“No,” he replies. What does that mean? You could argue that it is impossible to talk to an organisa tion. One can talk to members of an organisation but not to the com pany itself.

And so one has to ask a differ ent question.

“Have you talked to any person employed by Fuji Heavy Industries?”

“No,” he replies (just for a change).

So that is that. Or is it?

Teams have managers agents, lawyers, acquisition and other assorted fixers to do all that rub bish. It is quite possible that Mr Talking Head has not spoken directly with anyone from Fuii Heavy Industries.

“Do you have a contract with Fuji Heavy Industries?” you might try.

“No (...well not on me. It is in my briefcase).”

“Does Blue Wombat Racing have a deal with Fuji Heavy Industries?”

“No (... the contract is between Blue Wombat Racing Cayman Islands Inc and Fuji Heavy Industries)”.

If you ask whether there is a

contract between Biue Wombat Rading Cayman Islands Inc and Fuji Heavy industries, you will run into all kinds of trouble.

“No,” will come the answer, (...what is a contract? Is it not merely a document which is the basis for a future negotiation rather than a binding legal entity?)

Or worse than that.

'Don’t you trust my word?” he will say.

This is an old trick in the F1 paddock. Most journalists are far too polite to admit that they do not trust the person with whom they are speaking. It’s rude to suggest such a thing and Mr Talking Head is bargaining that the journalist will not be as uncouth as to accuse him of being untrustworthy.

And so, you have to mumble that it is not a question of trust or a discussion about honesty. It is simply a question which requires an answer.

“Well,” he will say, “as far as I know there is no deal with Fuji Heavy Industries at the moment.”

That seems pretty clear, doesn’t it?

But what did he really say? “As far as I know” means that he can deny knowing the information if later challenged on the subject. In American politics they call this con cept ‘deniabiiity’.

Just to make sure he has added “at the moment” so that he can later claim that when he denied the deal it had not been done ..

You can go on all day.

Dreaming up questions and then thinking of ways in which the slip pery fish of the paddock will slide out of them. And. of course, you cannot really accuse them of lying later on because technically-speak ing no lies have been told. The questions have been avoided or there is sufficient vagueness to ren der the answer deniable at a later date. Either that or the meaning of the words is being debated. It is a bit like having sex in the White House... I didn’t have sex with her, said the President, but she had sex with me...

What this means is that in the end asking questions is a pointless exercise - unless one knows the answer already and so you can challenge the target at the right moment and get the truth as they scramble to get out of trouble, you catch them out, they often break down - and then the truth is out... and they cannot do anything to stop it.

One leaves with a sense of vic tory. The information itself may not be that exciting but it is game and as everyone in FI will tel! you, win ning is everything.

Mind you. I still fancy using the cattle prod on one or two of them...

V

16 27 August 1999

re; Reach for the stars: Jason Bargwanna got into the Big League at Winton, with pole position in qualifying and 45 Sunday laps with no-one in front of him. It was a good weekend for the Valvoline/Cummins GRMT.(Photos by oirk Kiynsmith and John Grate)

Yessir,Yessir

® Bargwanna dominates Winton with pole, three wins # Bright second, Sngall third closes points gap » Bad weekend for HRT as Skaife and Lowndes struggle @11 cars spear off in race 1 incident @ Another Sunday charge from Radisich ® McLean seals Privateer title as Pretty and Donaher star

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Qualifying report by PHIL BRANAGAN Race report by GERALD McDORNAN mate Garth Tander and leading every lap of all three races.

After an easy win in the first race Bargwanna with stood all kinds of pressure from first Jason Bright and then Russell Ingall to com plete his perfect weekend.

Bright took second on the day from Ingall, 96 points now covering the top four in

INTER ended early for Jason Barg wanna at Winton Motor Raceway as the Valvoline/Cummins Commodore driver took a starring role in the 10th round of the Shell Championship Series.

Bargwanna dominated proceedings, squeezing onto pole position from teain-

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the championship.

Mobil-HRT salvaged some good results from a disas trous weekend. After Mark Skaife and returnee Craig Lowndes qualified 10th and 14th respectively, Lowndes got to 7th and 5th in the final two races after 16th in race 1, while Skaife went 86-11 after a punt from Steven Richards.

Privateer yardstick Cameron McLean sealed the 1999 title with a consistent performance (despite an incident - again - with Larry Perkins) but the real stand-outs in the second division were Mick Donaher (11th in race 2) and Nathan Pretty, who charged to an almost unbel^vable seventh in race 1 (see breakout).

Qualifying

Timing is everything in this business.

You have to be on the track, ready to roar, at the right time; the track itself has to be perfect, and the weather has to be spot-on.

AVESCO must know something that the Bureau of Meteorology doesn’t. The late-winter date of Winton’s SCS round was set in September and both qualify ing and race days dawned fine, bright and warm. After 11 months, it was amazing.

Two weeks after Tasmania’s deluge, it was phenomenal.

Bargwanna’s timing was immaculate. After going soft in set-up for the midday ses sion [in a search for better

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traction] he had the earlier settings restored and set the pace early in the session with a lm23.57s, only to be gazumped immediately by Ingall’s 23.20s. And Russell improved at once with a 23.03s. The pressure was back on Bargs.

He responded. The older of the GRM VTs hammered around in lm22.88s for pole.

He kept on it too, until the Ford Credit sweeper, when he discovered a pile of sand on the line. The Valvoline car gyrated at speed, luckily without damage to man or machine, before Jason returned to celebrate.

It was a bad news/good news/great news for his team-mate. Tander’s brand new VT was right there,

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Quick hide, it’s the Law: Race 1, lap 2 and almost half of the Professionals spear off the outside of the Ford Credit Sweeper. (Photo by John Grote)

running in the top halfdozen in both sessions before delivering a 22.97s for second. Any thought of improving was scuppered at once by falling fuel pressure.

Garth radioing the team to see where the 22.7s from his timing beacon (in the new pit lane, about 800m from the start/finish line) had him. “‘Second’, the team said.

‘Oh,’ I said, who’s first?’

‘Jason is,”’ Garth smiled after the session. It was the Valvoline team’s first front row double.

Ingall, third, was cheesed off. He was expecting to be on pole after a pair of 22.5s during private practice on the previous Monday. On a hot run on his second sef of tyi-es, he dropped a wheel off at Yokohama on a quick-ish lap. He threw the lap away, only to find the chequer waiting at the start line.

“I cocked up. It was my fault. Really,” he ruefully admitted.

Fourth was Bright. He was delighted; as he pointed out, all three cars ahead of him were on their home test track. The Pirtek AU was running perfectly.

In fifth place, Bowe was almost steaming The CAT car had set the pace in the midday session with a 22.90s which, if he would have repeated, would have placed him second. But the car was oversteery and, after raising the front ride height a tad and clicking up

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27 August]999

M](pO®[FS[p®LFO tlje rear dampers, JB attacked qualifying with gusto. To no effect; #600 dropped two tenths, and he was fifth.

Sixth was Murphy. The hero of Symmons was unhappy with the balance of the car in practice but the Wynns team beavered away to get the VT balanced. Murf was on the noise with a lm23.16s, almost 0.9s and 10 spots up on team-mate Richards. The two Gibson cars were still running dif ferent dampers, and it was showing.

Longhurst and Faulkner were on row four. The Castrol AU was running perfectly, the Queenslander gaining ground with every session . Faulkner took the other route, with a big jump to 23.42s. The most notable thing about the JFR VT was that it was running in the colours of the Victorian Police, though Faulkner resisted the temptation to join his brothers in blue by getting his head shaved to raise money for sick kiddies.

Steve Ellery was ninth, Back in the Shell Series for the first time since Darwin Ellery was in top form in the EL, out-qualifying his soonto-be team-mate Paul Radisich by two spots and 0.17s. For his part, the Kiwi was all at sea, admitting that he was struggling. Dick Johnson, in his last race in Kennett County, was 18th.

Splitting the two Fords was Skaife. This was dramatic; both Mobil-HRT cars were struggling, Darwinstyle, for car speed. Skaife admitted that there had been a lot of springs in the VT, while Lowndes took it a lot more personally at 14th with a 23.72s. He said that his braced knee was causing no problems once he was in the car, and was looking to improve for race day. That was the bad news.

But there was some good

news for the HRT duo. With 12th (Seton) and 17th (Crompton) Ford-Tickford Racing was in even worse shape, team leader Seton finding the car a little unbalanced and playing with dampers (even after the Sunday warm-up) while Cromley mis-timed his lap and then spun coming on to Shell Straight late in the session.

Top Privateer qualifier the was Steve Reed, Lansvale car breaking into the ‘Pros’ with 20th, just 0.16s clear of team-mate

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Rodney Forbes. Championelect McLean was next, with new boy Nathan Pretty next in the ‘Priv’ ranks, separat ed from the first three by ‘Is’ Mark Poole and John Briggs, That made the yellow DeWalt car 25th, a number that would be noted with interest on Sunday morning...

RaCG On© (15 ISps) Tf the championship hadn’t Xalready been made interesting enough, thanks to Lowndes’ recent absence, along with his reappearance somewhat down the grid at Winton, two laps into the first race at the country Victorian track it couldn’t have got much better!

Naturally, the start and the first turn always creates interest - Bargs beginning the day as he would have liked, leading the field off from pole with the VCRT VT - but when 10 cars head off into the wild blue yonder it’s a little more than interesting!

It all happened when the field arrived at the sweeper on the second lap...

Massive amounts of dirt on the track - so thick some thought a bobcat had been brought in to place it on the track - had appeared (presumably from either a first lap incident at the same

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Bright and wide; Jason Bright pushed hard in races 1 and 2 until he ran wide, aliowing Ingall to nose through and put the pressure on Bargwanna.

Are these cars magnetic?

McLean and Perkins clanged for the second race in succession, with the Queenlander coming off the worse.

(Photos by Nei) Hammond and Wayne Nugent)

point with the two David and Parsons Layton Crambrook or a turn one incident between Neil and Dugal Crompton McDougall) and it literally turned the sweeper into an ice-skating rink.

The first four cars made it Bargwanna, through Bright, Ingall and Tander although Murphy, Bowe, Skaife, Perkins, Ellery, Seton, Richards, Lowndes, Faulkner, Larkham

victims - their cars Shell Championship Series spearing off the track. implications for Rd 10 - Winton Qualifying I— andThe those in the Forbes all champi became Pos Driver 1 2

Jason Bargwanna Garth Tander

3 4 S

Russell Ingall Jason Bright John Bowe

6 7 8

Greg Murphy Tony Longhurst John Faulkner

9 10 II 12

Steve Ellery Mark Skaife Paul Radisich Glenn Seton

13 14 15 16

Larry Perkins Craig Lowndes Mark Larkham Steven Richards

17 18

Neil Crompton Dick Johnson

19 20

Dougal McDougall Steve Reed

21 22 23

Rodney Forbes Cameron McLean Mark Poole

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

John Briggs Nathan Pretty Truck/ Parsons Mick Donaher PaulWeel Rod Nash Darren Pale Paul Romano

32 33 34 35 36

AnthonyTralt Laylon Crambrook Craig Harris 'Skipp/Parsons Chris Smerdon

37 38 39

Danny Osborne Matthew White Peter Doulman

40 41

Mike Conway MIkelmrie

17

Team/Car Valvoline/Cummins Commodore VT Valvoline/Cummins Commodore VT Castrol SLX Commodore VT Pirtek/SBR Falcon AU CAT Racing Falcon AU Wynns/Kmart Commodore VT Castrol Falcon AU Victoria Police Commodore VT Ellery Racing Falcon EL Mobil-HRT Commodore VT Shell Helix Falcon AU Ford Tickford Racing Falcon AU Commodore VT Mobil-HRT Commodore VS Mitre 10 Falcon AU Wynns/Kmart Commodore VT Ford Tickford Racing Falcon AU Shell Helix Falcon AU Aloe Quench Commodore VS Lansvale Smash Commodore VS Diet Shake Commodore VS Greenfield Mowers Racing Falcon EL John Deere Commodore VT Supercheap Autos Falcon AU DeWall/3 slabs Commodore VS Challenge RecruilmenI Commodore VS Ultra Tune Commodore VS KJ Thermal Falcon AU 5 Aulopro/Budweiser Commodore VS DWS Commodore VS Siemens Mobile Commodore VS Toll Falcon AU Crambrook Motorsport Commodore VS Harris Falcon EL Challenge RecruilmenI Commodore VS Challenge Motorsport Commodore VS Colourscan Falcon EL JFR Commodore VS Galorade Commodore VS Steel Dreams Falcon EL Mkl I SAABWreck Commodore VS

Time 1:22.8850 1^2.9743 1:23.0345 1:23.0896 1:23.1046 1:23.1641 1^3.2969 1:23.4201 1^3.4216 1:23.5693 1:23.5917 1:23.6128 1:23.6622 1:23.7221 1:23.7768 1:24.0102 1:24.0589 1:24.0607 1:24.0949 1:24.2096' 1:24.3687 1:24.5060 1:24.5909 1:24.7617 1:24.8890 1:24.9206 1:25.0403 1:25.1545 1:25.1783 1:25.2587 1:25.2829 1:25.7651 1:25.7769 1:25.8124 1:26.5119 1:26.5161 1:26.8379 1:26.8447 1:27.2906 1:27.2923 1:28.1010

onship hunt were many and varied.

Skaife and Lowndes were lucky enough to be able to scramble back ontrack and resume their championship battle' - the HRT

pair trying valiantly to pro tect themselves from the onslaught of those close behind in the points.

“I’ve never seen so much dirt on the track in my life,” Skaife offered later. “I went into the corner and then... everyone went n everywhere!

Two of their closest rivals Bright and Ingall - made it through and the cars between them and the HRT pair made their series challenges look decidedly healthier.

Seton’s day, though, was finished and, all of a sudden, the third place in the series,

achieved with little fanfare, would disappear.

After spearing off the FTR driver, trying to make his way through the infield, was hit fair and square in the rear by an out of control Richards, bending the chas sis on the AU. “Richo must have been travelling at a fair rate of knots ‘cause I was way off the track when he nailed me,” Seton said after.

“The damage is repairable but not today, so we’ll just have to go home and get ready for Oran Park and the endmos.”

Everyone else continued on, although Perkins' and Bowe’s races would soon come to an end, with both the Castrol Commodore and CAT Falcons overheating their engines after copping radia tors full of off-track dirt...

Having said that, before LP ended his race he and McLean had another coming together, a la Calder Park, this time the Queenslander visiting the stewards, although the case was dis missed.

Continued on page 18

No team orders here: Lowndes got onto Skaife’s bumper in race 2 but there was no quarter given to - or asked for by - the current series leader. John Faulkner's highway pursuit vehicle follows. (Photo by nobi Papeierai

18 27August 1999 Continued from page 17 When the race finally set tled down, Bargwanna was still out in front, the VCRT Commodore looking so much better than it had early in the year.

Bright, Tander and Ingall swapped places a few times, the three racing cleanly for the entire 15 laps. A num ber of times Bright moved close enough to Bargwanna to challenge, although the #35 had enough to hold out the Pirtek AU. * Skaife'and Faulkner tried making their way back through the field, Skaife being held up behind

Photo by Dirk KJynso«Di

Romano for some time before making his way past and fin ishing in a creditable eighth.

Faulkner’s highway patrol VT wasn’t too far behind, clawing back to 10th, Romano separating the pair.

“That’s my luck, spearing off with everyone else!”

Faulkner joked.

“The first sign I had of any dirt on the track was when I went spearing off after Murf. Thankfully, we got it back for a finish.”

Lowndes also recovered, a 16th place finish not too bad considering...

U My knee’s fjne and I didn’t really havd too much of a bother driving with it,

Lowndes said.

“We’ll ice it up between races as a precaution and, hopefully, try and move up a few spots through the field and get some more points Perhaps the biggest sur prise came with Wodonga privateer Pretty, making just his second appearance for the year, coming through the clouds of dust with his fj

seven-year-old Commodore.

Pretty raced close and hard with Reed and Donaher through the entire race, finally finishing a stunning seventh in the car.

“I can’t believe it... I’m stoked,” Pretty said, having

also just learnt he had run as quick as a 1:25.90.

“It’s amazing, the car just rail brilliantly, the tyres were getting better with each lap. I can’t wait for the next race!”

Unfortunately Nathan found out that all good things soon come to an end...

Bargwanna was more than happj with his first race win of the year.

“I just tried to go easy early on and conserve the tyres, and that worked well,” he said afterwards. ((I had a moment at the sweeper where all the dirt was. but, luckily, kept it all n together.

Privateers Dash"' ●_

Close, and Reed has the Speed a cigar 's

nm n f

Rogers Watch: Good taste went out the window in the latest GRM grid identity parade, with ‘Bill’ and ‘Monica’ finally making their SCS debut. There was a card table on the front of the grid with a Clinton sit ting there; I don’t know what was happening underneath, and I don’t ● want to know ...

II As if the Parsons and Parsons situation isn’t con fusing enough, David and David swapped cars prior to Winton. ‘Truckie’ appeared in the #73 Challenge car, out-qualify ing ‘Skippy’ by nine spots.

■ Timing is everything; Challenge Recruitment Racing is take delivery of a new VT for the enduros for DJP and DJP to share. The car is being built by Garry Rogers Motorsport which, after qualifying, looked like being the best decision the team has ever made ...

■ Fellow Privateer Cameron McLean had something of a break through at Winton. After dominating the secondranks all season McLean’s Greenfield team finally got the ex-DJR EL’s engine management system to talk to the crew in Victoria, after apparently being a lit tle shy through the early part of the season.

■ John Faulkner, rmining in the colours of the Victorian Police for the weekend, was escorted to the grid by two cop BMW motorbikes and even had a blue light flashing on the top of the VT. ■ And there was anoth er, unexpected bonus for the team. When a JFR crewmember stopped for fast food on Saturday night, the team uniform of Victoria Police’ cap and shirt earned a substantial discount at his restaurant of choice. Perhaps caps and shirts in the next JFR Media Kit, John?

■ Another 10 garages have been added to

Winton’s already impres sive row of pit facilities. All are wired with 240v power and, apparently, a new con trol tower is next on the / agenda.

■ Here is the news; seen in pit lane and other places at Winton was Network’s 7’s Melbourne newsreader Anne Fullwood, present with pai-tner Jeff Browne, boss of the late Motor Racing League.

■ Crowding: The Benalla Auto Club claimed a crowd of 26,000, about the same at Queensland Raceway’s round. The maximum queue to get in was about 50 minutes, about a quarter of the Willowbank line-up.

Must be a message in there, somewhere...

-PHILBRANAGAN

IF McLean won the Dash, he sealed the 1999 title to add to

his two equivalent Super Touring crowns. All he had to do was stay ahead of Forbes.

Which was hard, because the exLansvale VS was ahead of him on the grid. From pole Reed blasted away into the lead he would hold to the flag, McLean tailing Forbes for most of the opening lap until he drove around the outside of Rodney at the Motorsport-.News Esses. Impressive stuff-but despite chasing hard. Big Bird had too much for him and held on to win.

Behind came a big battle.

Donaher and the impressive Pretty were being caught by a Darren Pate/Rod Nash battle. The two pairs hooked up, Donaher getting onto Nash’s tail late in the race, gently tapping it in the MN Esses Gotcha; Reed was too quick in the Privateers’ Dash. (Phoio by Bob pohs) with a lap to run.

Nash’s car spun hard into the lyres, Behind came Pate, Chris Smerdon, Donaher, at what appeared to be full causing considerable damage and, as noise, oversteered onto the straight, Skippy, Peter Doulman, kfike Conway, Rod hopped out and scuttled off to safe Layton Crambrook, new lad Matthew missing the parked Autopro car by, ty. With yellows flying the leaders ooohh, 5cm.

White, Craig Harris and Mike Imrie. came through to take the flag but

!

Shei Championship Series Round 10 WMofi Resiuits Race 1 (15 laps)

Race time Pos Driver F/lap 1 Jason Bargwanna 21:43.0891 1:25.1779 21:50.2148 1:25.2081 2 Jason Bright 21:57.0165 1:25.4203 Garth Tander 3 4 21:57.8340 1:25.4005 Russell Ingall 5 22:07.6026 1:26.5948 PaulRadisich 6 22:09.0333 1:26.2276 Tony Longhursl 22:10.6603 1:25.9008 7 Nathan Pretty 8 22:14.2792 1:25.8194 Mark Skaife 9 22:14.5362 1:26.0022 Paul Romano 10 John Faulkner 22:18.7688 1:26.2217 11 22:19.7865 1:26.3882 Dick Johnson 12 22:22.6867 1:26.8324 Mick Donaher 13 22:25.9625 1:26.2501 Darren Pate 14 Steven Richards 2229.2048 1:26.2960 15 22:29.6999 1:27.1927 Craig Harris 16 22:30.4941 1:25.3069 Craig Lowndes Steve Reed 17 22:30.8127'1:25.9058 18 Cameron McLean 22:31.7778 1:25.4881 19 Rod Nash 22:32.9807 1:26.6590 20 22:33.3777 1:27.4262 John Briggs 21 22:35.0963 1:27.2550 ‘Skipp/ Parsons 22 Chris Smerdon 22:45.1100 1:27.4606 23 Layton Crambrook 22:47.4978 1:26.7229 24 22:54.6349 1:26.1148 Greg Murphy 25 23:05.4676 1:24.9276 Neil Crompton ; 14 laps 1:27.5134 26 Rodney Forbes 27 Larry Perkins 14 laps 1:25.8815 28 Mark Larkham 12 laps 1:25.4679 N/C John Bowe 8 laps 1:24.9980 DNF Mark Poole 9 laps 1:28.2114 DNF AnthonyTratt 8laps 1:27.4158 2 laps 1:38.6583 DNF Steve Ellery DNF Glenn Seton llap 1:37.9697 DNF^ PaulWeel llap 1:47.4549 DNS Mike Imrie DNS DougalMcDougall DNS Danny Osborne DNS Peter Doulman DNS Truck/Parsans DNS Mike Conway DNS Matthew White

On 9 7 6 6 6 7 8 10 8 6 6 5 15 11 6 7 9 7 5 14 10 5 5 9 7 9 8 5 7 4 6 1 1 1

Race 2(15 laps)

Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 IS 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 DNF DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS

Driver Race time Jason Bargwanna 21:34.0207 21:34.1919 Jason Bright 21:37.7702 Russell Ingall Garth Tander 21:38.2778 Paul Radisich 21:47.6860 Mark Skaife 21:48.8756 21:48.9196 Craig Lowndes John Faulkner 21:49.6911 Steven Richards 21:50.0881 Dick Johnson 21:55.0559 21:55.4594 Mick Donaher 22:00.2768 John Bowe 22:00.2961 Tony Longhurst 22:00.6891 Neil Crompton Paul Romano 22:01.3448 Cameron McLean 22:01.5760 Greg Murphy ' 22:05.4052 22:05.6227 Steve Ellery Mark Larkham 22:05.7871 22:08.3473 John Briggs Steve Reed 22:10.7890 Darren Pate 22:11.0911 22:13.9723 Craig Harris PaulWeel 22:20.2510 DougalMcDougall 22:20.6665 Layton Crambrook 22:23.8347 22:24.3750 Chris Smerdon 22:26.8403 ‘Skipp/ Parsons 22:33.7797 Anthony Tratt 22:34.2365 Danny Osborne Mark Poole 22:37.9192 Rod Nash 22:38.7677 22:57.3765 Rodney Forbes Truck/ Parsons 9 laps Glenn Seton Larry Perkins Mike Imrie Peter Doulman Nathan Pretty MikeConwoy Matthew White ''

F/lap 1'25.080l 1:24.9652 1:25.1760 1:25.0317 1:24.8759 1:25.2399 1:24.8986 1:25.2773 1:25.3969 1:25.3468 1:25.6562 1:24.9035 1:25.0088 1:25.0304 1:25.3462 1:25.7423 1:25.6871 1:25.1961 1:25.2109 1:25.8786 1216.4538 1:26.2535 1:26.4522 1:26.3667 1:26.4082 1:27.1115 1:26.5122 1:27.0431 1:27.3140 1:26.9908 1:26.3898 1:27.1154 1:26.8555 1:26.5599

On 10 10 7 6 7 6 12 8 8 7 7 10 5 8 5 7 4 7 8 6 13 15 7 12 8 7 13 6 6 7 6 9 9 8

Race 3'1 5 laps)

Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 DNF DNF DNF DNF DNS DNS i DNS DNS 1 j DNS I DNS

Race time Driver Jason Bargwanna 21:41.1449 21:41.3447 Russell Ingall 21:41.8203 Paul Radisich 21:42.0475 Jason Bright 21:42.1722 Craig Lowndes Garth Tandor 21:42.7780 John Faulkner 21:43.1366 John Bowe 21:43.6460 21:43.8696 Neil Crompton Dick Johnson 21:45.2440 Mark Skaife 22KJ1.8567 22^2.3851 Greg Murphy Paul Romano 22:03.8652 Cameron McLean 22:04.6417 Steven Richards 22:05.0329 Steve Reed 22:06.1629 Layton Crambrook 22:10.4051 22:12.3160 Steve Ellery Darren Pate 22:16.3649 PaulWeel 22:17,7230 Rod Nash 22:19.5341 DougalMcDougall 22:20,4965 2221.7161 Nathan Pretty Chris Smerdon 22:21.9642 Mark Larkham 2223.7696 22:25.5510 Danny Osborne 22:27.1995 Rodney Forbes 2227.5469 'Skipp/ Parsons 22:28.1524 Craig Harris 22:28.6617 Anthony Tratt 22:55.1632 John Briggs Mick Donaher 12 laps 6 laps Tony Longhurst 4 laps Larry Perkins llap Trucky' Parsons Glenn Seton Mike Imrie Peter Doulman Mark Poole Mike Conway Matthew White

F/lap 1:25.2033 1:25.0277 1:25.0418 1:25.1115 1:24.7180 1:24.9548 1:24.3450 1:24.5175 1:24.4471 1:24.6501 1:25.3238 1:25.4316 1:25.5212 1:25.9946 1:24.7976 1:25.7662 1J5.9359 1^4.7747 1'26.2665 125.7976 125.7424 124.7231 1:25.6530 125.9119 1:25.7419 1:26.5949 1:25.7247 126.2901 1:25.6587 1 25.7975 1 25.6801 125.8507 1:25.7957 1:24.8794 1:54.5107

On 7 6 5 8 -7

9 7 7 6 5 9 10 5 8 8 6 10 12 9 7 7 7 10 5 10 5 10 10 8 7 12 6 4 1

Points after 10 rounds: Lowndes 1240, Skaife 1206, Ingallll 88, Bright 1144, Seton 1086, Tander 1080, Bowe 906, Murphy 896, Bargwanna 840, Longhurst 778, Richards 730, Radisich 698, Perkins 646, D. Johnson640,McLean611, Faulkner608,Crompton566, Larkham50l,Noske460, Donaher331, Romano320, Reed283, Forbes264,Parsons242,McConvitle230, Ellery226, McDougalt 183, Weel 180,MM*ra 174, Ashby 138, Briggs 110, S. Johnson 108, Doulman 103, Crambrook 102, Gardner 88, Smerdon 82, Pate 78, Keity 76, Nash 72, Pretty 70, Emerzidis 68, Tratt 67, Skippy Parsons S6, Russell 50, Poote/WokeBeid 42, Crick 37, Flnnigan36, Imrie 28, Harris 25, Conway 22, Ward 20, Kendrick/Heath 17, Osborne 16, Thorn 10, Cotter/Baxter 7, Peters 1.

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27 August 1999

Pretty flies for a white guy

HOME track advantage is one thing Bargwanna, Tander and Ingall showed that by qualifying 1-2-3 on their test track - but how does that explain Nathan Pretty’s race 1 performance?

Sure, the toothbrushed-haired Albury driver lives not far away from Winton and a eight Pros speared off in front of him. But, with no budget to go testing anywhere in his seven-year-old ex-VP Commodore, it was an unprecedented performance to go from 25th to seventh in a 20-minute

sprint race. At the flag he was 3.55s behind fifth-placed Paul Radisich, and had set a lap time 0.7s faster than the Kiwi.

“It was hard work,” he grinned after the race. “The car doesn’t even have power steering, but that could have helped in a way. Bec&use the car is so heavy to drive, you won’t see me doing this [wrenching in the wheel] like everyone else. I just turn it in and drive with the throttle.”

When Steve Reed spun away the

Privates lead Pretty took over, passing Dick Johnson and zeroing in on Tony Longhurst at 0.5s a lap While the leaders were running 25.6s/25.'/s mid race Pretty was running 26.0s/26.1s and his tyres were not graining. After the race they looked unmarked.

“They were prefect,” he said. “I was on the phone and dad said, ‘there's a lap to go’. I said,'Give me three laps and I’ll have Longhurst!”’

He might have, too ...

- PHIL BRANAGAN

r

DeWalt Disney Land: Nathan Pretty former VP Commodore smokes past John Briggs during his charge in race 3.(Photo by Dirk KiynsmUh)

Race Tw© (15 laps) The second wasthan cer tainly morerace orderly the first, although some labelled it as “boring” with very little passing taking place.

Perhaps some of the blame can be levelled at the closeness of the category on control tyres, while most could be cenued on the dri vers meeting the previous day where all present agreed to be on their best behaviour...

Pretty was out almost immediately with the DeWalt Tools car suffering rear end damage at the green.

Bright, Bargwanna, Tander and Ingall, Longhurst were the lead bunch, running the first five laps nose to tail.

Pander’s new VT passed Ingall’s Castrol SLX version in the sweeper on the sixth lap while back in the pack Weel and Smerdon, McDougall were going nose to tail through the esses Weel putting the KJ car off the allowing road, McDougall, one of the Parsons and Poole past.

Bright began looking around Bargs up front on the seventh, although Tander’s pressure on the #4 helped ease Bargs’ load.

Soon both JBs - Bargs and

19

Ingall moved past Tander around “tin shed” while Longhiu'st appeared to be in a bit of trouble as the Castrol AU slowed, Skaife, Roinano, Faulkner and Lowndes getting passed soon after.

Faulkner pushed passed Romano at the end of the sweeper while, in a great move into the Motorsport News esses, Lowndes pushed his way past the #46.

The HRT can- pushed each other, Lowndes and Skaife running cleanly -while still trying to gain valuable points on each other - their battle giving Radisich some breathing space...

Again the race settled in with Bargwanna leading Bright across the line for his second van of the day. Ingall filed in for third, Tander fourth and Radisich, holding out Skaife and Lowndes for fifth.

A notable result came from Bowe, the CAT driver returning from his horror first race overheating dra mas to charge from 31st to 12th.

Race Three(15 iaps)

Tl

le final race started like _ the first two although Bright’s Pirtek Falcon tagged the rear of Bargs’ car

ti-

Looking for... Russell?

Perkins and Longhurst had a corporate meeting in race 3, both Castrol cars parking at the same spot.

In a V formation: Bargwanna and Tander had the front row to themselves for the first time.

(Photos by Phil Williams and Dirk Klynsmith)

Bright, actually opened up a bit of a gap of Tander and Ingall.

Finally, and thankfully, as the race approached twothirds distance, a few manoeuvres began to be made.

Radisich began making a strong move, the #18 Shell car now right on the back of Longhurst before going past just one lap later.

on the entry to pit straight and also into the Motorsport News esses, giving us hope that some action might happen!

Radisich made a move iiito fourth ahead of Tander and now the Shell Falcon began to apply the pressure to Ingall.

Continued on page 20

Flaming row: Bowe starred in practice and charged in the races in the CAT Flacon. Check out the flames from the exhausts ...

Hopping along: Lowndes salavaged some useful points from a bad comeback weekend, running 16-7-5 in the three races.

(Photos by Phil Williams and Dirk Klynsmith)

20 27 August 1999 ^

nr

Dud.

Continued from page 19 Team boss LP’s day fin ished, perhaps much to his own delight, on the fifth with the Castrol car parked around the back of the cir cuit, a coming together with Reed bending the VT’s steer ing enough for Larry to call it a day.

Just to keep him compa ny, fellow Castrol driver Longhurst parked alongside LP for a chat, a broken rear end finishing his afternoon.

Richards moved passed Lowndes on the seventh lap and not long later the Wynn’s car tapped the tail of Skaife, sending the #2 around - a tap which quick ly earned Richards a stop-go penalty while Skaife recov ered enough to finish 11th.

Bright made a mistake on the eighth lap, going in way deep into turn one - luckily gathering it all up in time not to head off the track, although Ingall, Radisich and Tander all filed past.

Bright was able to gather ground again, heading past Tander just one from home, Lowndes also driving past the #34 Commodore.

The final few laps saw the race finish pretty much as it began - processionally although the top 10, from Bargs back to Dick Johnson, finish just over 4s apart an amazing result.

Faulkner and Bowe con tinued their recovery from the first race, finishing sev enth and eighth respective ly, while Neil Crompton also made amends for a horror first race, running home in ninth.

“It was a respectable ninth, thankfully,” Cromp ton said. “I showed the pace.

If I hadn’t ofjust got caught up in the first comer of the first race ...”

There was no one more excited than Bargwanna, the “little man of V8s” walk ing tall after the race.

“I thought grabbing my first pole yesterday was good, but this is even bet ter,” he enthused.

“I drove my butt off today and this is great reward for that and for the team.”

Bargwanna admitted to being extremely nervous before the beginning of the third race, although once the green fell, he felt okay.

“Once the race began I was fine and I just concen trated on keeping the car on the track. We did it extreme ly hard early in the season trying to develop the new car. It wasn’t easy being 20th, but we never g^ve up and I’m just so happy.

“This is for Garry [Rogers] and the team.”

Ingall, content with his second in the last race and third on the day, said he could have challenged Bargwanna for the race three win, although the Valvoline driver protected his line exceptionally well into the corners.

“I tried setting him up, but Bargs was slowing the pace down in the turns and that then put Radisich on my tail and I was then hav ing to defend myself,” Ingall said.

“We’re more than happy to finish in third for the day with coiisistent results. My crew Were in my ear all day telling me about the points and making sure I finished.

“The championship now looks considerably better and, with a new car ,6n the way, that’s a big improve ment, I’m confident of a good result.”

Bright was thankful of a return to form for the Pirtek team after two disastrous events.

“Symmons and Calder were real bad for us, but a good result here has brought us back to within 90-odd points of the lead,” he said. “It’s all going to come down to the endures and it’s going to be a mustfinish for everyone. We’re in with a chance and that’s what counts ...”

The championship now sees just 96 points separat ing the top four - Lowndes, Skaife, Ingall and Bright while the top nine sees a split of just on 200 points, making it one of the tightest battles in years.

And, with just one sprint round remaining and double points applying for the two enduros, nearly everyone of the top nine is in with a chance oftaking out the title.

After the contest looked virtually over going into the Calder Park round just last month, isn’t it interesting how quickly things can change ...

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Red on top: Queenslander Wayne Park leads the Porsche pack at Winton on his way to a 4-1 result. rf>?ioto by rart!Kiynsmth) FERRARI broke through for its first win in the Century Batteries GT car Production Championship at Winton, Wayne Park sharing the Peter with spoils Fitzgerald’s Porsche.

After the Melbourne veter an took the first win Wayne Park took up the running in race 2, steering the 355 Challenge to a 2.3s victory Fitzy and Park took the

first two grid spots for both races, forcing the Porsche of Jim Richards (race 1)and Ed Aitken (race 2) back to third.

Dom Beninca was the best of the rest, despite running a fresh engine in his black Skye Sands 911RSCS. In the first race Park blasted away, using the lighter weight of the 355 to advantage, but it was not long until Fitzgerald was pushing hard. The Falken Tyres seized the line at the

Motorsport News Esses the first time around, dragging Richards through with him.

Fitzgerald built a small lead but Jim was soon hard at it, giving the other CS the odd tap but just failing to sneak through at the flag, Beninca also asserted Germany’s superiority over Italy, forcing Park back to fourth and making it a 1-2-3 for the Glorious Fatherland.

In race 2 Park again gal loped away at the green, only

Pitt upsets Ducati double

Can you hear the footsteps? Pitts stalks Martin with a lap to go in the second race. .John .Monw-Mpu

ANDREW Pitt upset a day of Italian domi nance in the Winton Superbikes races, sweeping past Steve Martin’s Ducati on the last corner.

After Martin led team-mate Craig Connell home in the first race the Kawasaki

Do you like V8 Supercars and want to be part of the

youngster charged past Martin in the Motorsport News Esses, stealing the win from right under his nose.

Shawn Giles (Suzuki) and Adam Fergusson (Honda) shared the other podi um positions.

for Fitzgerald again to take over before a lap was run.

But there had been contact between the two and, with three laps to run, the fiuntmounted oil cooler on the Porsche started to weep oil onto the front tyres.

Fitzgerald was forced out of the race, leaving Richards to second from Aitken and GeoffMorgan (Porsche).

“We are very pleased to come away with a win,” said a delighted Park after the race.

“The championship for us is out of the question but it is great to get some results like this.”

Paula Elstrek celebrated her return to her Mazda RX7 [after several outings in the Class A Maserati Ghibli] by taking out both Class B races.

Ryan McLeod put his Bifortune behind him in con vincing fashion, taking Class C in both outings in his Ascot Car Rentals Falcon XR8.

Colin Osborne (Toyota MR2 Bathurst) took out the second Class S after a rare spin by team-mate Ric Shaw in the race. Shaw In GTP Lights Phil Kirkham belted the Holden Vectras in his Mazda 626, while Nathan Tomas and Warren Luff shared the hon ours for the tiddlers, the Peugeot 306 and the Suzuki GTi sharing the wins.

-PHILmiANAGAN

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27August 1999

27

One Way Wills SIMON Wills sealed the 1999 Drivers’ Australian

Championship without so much as completing the first race at Winton Motor Raceway.

Along with the rest of the Formula Holden field the New Zealander didn’t even have a first race after it was cancelled following two large accidents, but he backed up his title win on Sunday with a dominant,30s-plus victory.

The race started badly, with Paul Dumbrell running off on the first cor ner, forcing Dale Brede and Bob Power to take to the gravel trap to miss him. Further around the track Les Crampton and Peter Hill tangled at the Motorsport News Esses, leav ing Sam Astuti with nowhere to go.

His Reynard flipped over, causing the race to be red-flagged while he was extricated from the upturned car.

After 20 minutes of clean-up the field was flagged away again. This time Roger Oakeshott, Damien Digby and Lars Johansson tangled at Honda, partially blocking the track and causing the cancellation of the race. The crews trudged away into the afternoon sun....

Wills dominated qualifying, the Birrana Reynards topping Chris Staff by 0.55s, and leadiug the rest of the pack by a mammoth 0.8s. Tim

Leahey was a strong third from Matthew Halliday, the neat Dumbrell and NZer Jason Liefting, returning to the series for the first time in 11 months.

In the second race Wifi's was slow away, allowing Staff and Halliday to take the lead. Leahey was chasing, from Dumbrell, Liefting and Asai.

Staffs good run ended on lap 2 when he spun exiting Repco, contin uing on with a stripped second gear until slowing five laps later. That meant only Halliday for Wills to challenge but, on lap *4, the Challenge car speared off at the Ford Credit Sweeper.

Wills added 2s a lap to his lead of Leahey and, after amusing himself by belting Scott Dixon’s 1998 lap record, waved to the crew on the final lap and cruised across the line to win by 31s.

Leahey was second from Asai(who recovered from his own oft), Damien Digby and Bob Power, with Ramsay recovering/to a good sixth after a lap 3 off, despite a spin on the last lap.

Lars fiohansson, Roger Oakeshott and Mark EUis followed.

Livin’ the Vida Loca: Sam Astuti had a wild ride during Saturday afternoon’s Formula Holden race, his Reynard Lowndesing through the air after contact. The race was stopped and Astuti released from the car largely uninjured.

(Photos by John Grote)

Points; WUls 195, Staff 96, Halliday 93, Adam Macrow 70, Paul Dumbrell 54, Brenton Ramsay 50, AkiMiro Asai 49, Todd Kelly 40, Dale Brede 29, Les Crampton 28.

-PMLBRANAGAN

makes the big V perfect I, n

Another Valvoline bomber: Steve Owen belted them in the Formula Fords.(Photo by Phu wuiiams)

bralci

STEVE Owen looked every inch a winner in the two Formula Ford races at Winton.

After giving best to Greg Ritter’s Mygale in qualifying the Valvoline Spectrum driver was there or thereabouts in both races, taking two wins when it counted.

The first race started off like another FF classic. Owen swept across Ritter’s nose at the first corner to take the lead, the field filing through without Waussie Kerry Wade, who spun at Honda.

Ritter and Murchison chased hard, both sweeping past Owen at the Motorsport News Esses, while Mecklem, Davison, McKinnon, Kelly, Kostera and Andrew Jones(up from 10th)followed.

On lap 3 the was carnage at the Esses.

Mecklem had been in a battie with Ritter and Davison and found himself in the wrong spot at the wrong time. The TDK RF91 rode over Ritter’s rear wheel once, then twice, before surfing off over the grass and, eventually, into pit lane and retirement.

The confusion left Owen with a break, which he hung onto in traffic. Murchison was chasing

hard, but the pursuit was broken up when rook ie Nathan Lea turned his Swift in at the Esses, right in front of the second-paced car. Lea cianged oft into the dirt, while Murch lurched up to Honda with damaged suspension.

That allowed Owen to stroke it home by 1.2s from Davison, Ritter (with a smoking rear wheel after the Mecklem incident), McColl(a strong charge), the Jones/Seward battle and Wlheeler.

On Sunday Owen jumped away from Davison and McCoil, the Wynns car hanging on until lap 2 when Alex lost spots to McColl and Ritter. It was now up to McColl to pressure Owen but, by lap 4,the VaJvoiine car had established a small but ultimately winning break.

Ritter got going, the blue car getting by McColl on lap 6 and leaving him to Davison, who followed him off the track two laps later to avoid the spinning Spectrum.

In the wash-up Owen had 1.53s in hand after 10 laps from the recovered Davison, Kostera, Wheeler, Ferrier, Murchison, Wade and Kelly.

-PHILBRAINAGA^i

have moved

to 44-68 Racecourse Road North Melbourne 3205 Ph 03 9326 6088 Fax 03 9326 3822 ■s

22 27 August 1999

Mika's Silver Arrow homes n on Eddie r^.>

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Report by JOE SAWARD OR the last fe-w weeks life has been tough for McLaren, with Mika Hakkinen col lecting only four points while Eddie Irvine has collected 26. In Budapest however the team proved that it can still get it right and Hakkinen dominated the race to score his fourth victory of the year and first since Montreal back in June. Irvine is still ahead in the World Championship but his advantage is down to just two points so, as the TV commentators say, there is everything to play for with five races to go...

Would you like a nice Russian girl?” said the hook er to a well-known British in TV commentator Hungary.

“Yes, where do I find one?” he replied with his housewife-melting smile.

You couldn’t walk the streets in Budapest without being accosted by streetwalk ers. It has always been a lit tle bit like that but for some reason - probably economic the Magyar sex industry has hotted up and seems to have a lot more front than has been the case in recent years.

Capitalism in its purest form is alive and kicking in Hrmgary.

“You know it’s not a Communist country any

longer,” said one pit lane wag,“because they have elec tric hand dryers in the loos.”

Budapest is a funny kind of place where magnificent Habsburg architectural splendour meets dour Stalinist apartment blocks.

The Danube, which has only ever been blue in the Johan Strauss waltz of that name, curls 'through the city, beneath the three dramatic hills of Buda, which bare topped vfith castles, citadels and monuments.

On the other side of the river is Pest and if you follow the great old boulevard which was once called Andrassy ut - but is now known (horribly) as People’s Democracy Avenue or - take

Under pressure: Eddie Irvine quaiified his Ferrari on the front row, although pressure in the race from David Coulthard (right) saw the championship leader slip off the track -the Irishman having to settle for third place and four points.

7^

I

1

a deep breath before saying it- Nepkoztarsasag utja, you win arrive at City Park with its grand buildings, statues and beautiful parkland.

And then suddenly you are back in Stalin-pest at the bot tom of the M3 motorway. A quick Trabant-dodging blast takes you out into the coun try and you soon begin to see signs to the Hungaroring and then you start noticing the Finnish flags.

Qualifying Finns like Hungary. is the only place in It the world where people do not laugh out loud when Finns because the speak Hungarians have an equally

With just five races to go ... Mika Hakkinen is now only two points behind Eddie Irvine for this year’s Drivers Championship.

Fill 'er up: Coulthard hoped to get out of the pits in front of Irvine, but the order remained the same ... for a little while, anyway.

(Photos by Sutton Images)

silly kind of language. They like the girls, they like the beer and they really like the fact that two of the four top cars in FI are now driven by Finns. The ‘Mika and Mika Show’is big news in Helsinki and they reckoned that this year there were around 15,000 Finns in Budapest.

And, of course, by the end of qualifying they all had something to drink about.

The Hakkinen fans had pole position and the Salo fans had a man in a disastrous 18th place on the grid.

“I drove like my grandma,” he grumbled.

The same could not be said for Mika H as he claimed the 19th pole position of his career and his ninth out of 11 this year. It was business as usual and the McLaren team hoped that the race would be rather different because business as usual in recent weeks has been a great qualifying and then a lousy race. 'There is no doubt that the McLaren is the quicker car - not by much, but by enough. The McLaren team is not yet at the panick ing stage but another disas ter in Hungary would make

that necessary because Irvine is sneaking away with the World Championship, something which would have been a daft concept a few months ago...

Irvine kept up his momen tum in Hungary, qualifying second ahead of David Coulthard but he seemed to be a little disappointed.

“I had thought that if I could get pole anywhere it would have been here,” he said. “AH the same it is good to be on the front row, even if it means starting from the “wrong” side ofthe track.”

The Ferrari men reckoned that the F399 would be more competitive in the race which has been the case in recent months.

Sale’s lack of perform.-mc: was odd. given his good showing at Hockenbeim but it could be probably be explained away because to set a good tune in Hungary requires great confidence in a car - and that can onlycome from lengthy experi ence behind the wheel. The modem FI cars are not easy to drive. Testing at Fiorano and racing at Hockenheim do not require such commit-

V

\

Mickey Finn: Sale’s appearance with Ferrari has his fellow countrymen going crazy all over Europe.

Going like a blur: Jean Alesi wished his Sauber was... the Frenchman’s now going faster out the door on his way to Frost!

(Photos by Sutton Images)

ment and so Salo was able to shine but at a technical the as such track Hungaroring it was simply a question of trying too much too soon.

Fourth place on the grid ended with Giancarlo Fisichella - and this was a big surprise because this year Benetton’s performance has been pretty dreadful.

Yet, suddenly, here was Fisichella in fourth and Alexander Wurz in seventh.

The track suited the car to some extent - the horsepower disadvantage being and the two reduced Benettons were both running on soft tyres but even so qualifying produced a great result.

So what was their secret?

Well, the test team spent five days running up and

■t W

down the runways at the Danielson test facility in Lurcy-Levis last week doing aerodynamic wefrk and this just beating Damon Hill by seems to haVe given the 0.003s! engineers a better underDamon has always been standing of how the cars good in Hungary (it was should be set up. here that he so nearly gave This is a great step for- Arrows its first victory in ward,” said technical director / ’97) and so much was Pat Symonds,“and as we are expected of him. And he did not finished with our not disappoint, It will be difficult to overresearch into the problem that has been troubling us take,” he said, “so it will be for most of the year, it bodes down to tactics and getting well for the future. to the finish. I want to get The result was all the some points...» more impressive because Continued on next page Fisichella missed a chunk of That was a hoot: running on Saturday mornUnsure of his spot at ing when he had to go to hosStewart-Ford (nee Jaguar) pital to have “a small foreign in 2000, Rubens Barrichello body” removed from his eye...

Fifth and sixth on the brought his “tartanmobile home in fifth, scoring grid were the two Jordans, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen another two points.

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27 August 1999

Hitting the skids: Alex Zanardi’s miserable season continued, again retiring his Williams in Hungary with diff failure - the fourth time this seasoni Another fine showing: Jordan again came away with the points -four on the track from Frentzen and Hill and a mighty four 10s off it!

(Photos by Sutton Images)

Continuedfrom previous page Frentzen reckoned that he might have gone quicker than he did but for traffic and problems with a bro ken gurney flap. On his final run he managed to drive straight over the nose of Johnny Herbert’s Stewart - which did neither of them any good.

The incident was a blow to Johnny’s ambitions to be faster than Rubens Barrichello and so the Brazilian ended up eighth on the grid with Herbert 10th. The

Keeping cooi with the heat on: Half Schumacher again finished for Williams, aithough ninth was far from what he had hoped for. fact that both drivers were using the harder compound tyres meant that the performance was pretty good.

With the Jordans and Benettons on soft tyres, the two Stewarts were well placed for the race if the temperatures were high.

“Strategy is the key here,” said Barrichello, “because there are very few overtaking opportunities.

There will be a chance to pick up places at the start.”

Splitting the Stewarts was the BAR of Jacques Villeneuve - on soft tyres as ever . 'This was still a good effort from Jacques, but there were not many people in the paddock (including the BAR pit) who imagined that Jacques would actually finish the race. When the team has failed to finish 18 times in 20 starts, it is hard to imagine that the jinx can be broken. It doesn’t stop the team trying but morale is, not surprisingly, low.

Ricardo Zonta was 17th on the grid and did not have any complaints which was a bit of a worry...

Sharing the 12th row of the grid were the two Saubers which were using soft tyres. Jean Alesi outqualified Pedro Diniz, and that was a minor miracle because on Saturday morning Jean had a big one when he had to take avoiding action when he arrived to find Pedro de la Rosa going slowly on the racing line.

One more race and I’m outta here: Relax Jackie, you’ve got five to go...

Cresting the Hill: Frentzen leads team-mate Hill, as has been the case during 1999.

(Photos by Sutton Images)

5s.

“He did three things wrong,”

Jean said when he got back from the hospital, “he was going slowly, he was on line and he lifted off. I had no chance to brake, I just had to swerve. He came to apologise later.”

The Sauber hit the barriers at high speed, wheels and suspension went flying and for a frightening moment it looked as though Jean might have been hit on the head.

In fact he had nothing more than a sprain to his foot.

Qualifying 11th on the grid after that was a mighty performance.

“It was the best I could hope for in the circumstances,” said Jean.

Diniz’s 12th position was a small disappointment to him, the Brazilian complaining that Frentzen had got in his way.

The seventh row of the grid belonged to the two Prost-Peugeots with Jarno Trulli out-qualifying Ohvier Panis. This was disappoint ing for Trulli because he had been third fastest in the morning ses sion. The team decided to go for the harder tyre option and so suf fered a little in qualifying. They hoped to do better in the race but with such lowly qualifying posi tions, the strategy was going to be very important.

The team-by-team form of the grid continued on row eight with the two Williams cars. This was a dreadful showing for the Grove team.

On this occasion Alex Zanardi was faster than his team-mate but it was clear that neither was happy with their cars.

“I don’t understand what really happened,” said Ralf Schumacher.

“The car felt completely different than before. I didn’t have any grip.”

Down at the back as usual were the Arrows and Fondraetal Minardi teams with Luca Badoer coming out on top on this occasion.

In the Sunday morning warm-up the two McLarens were first and second but Frentzen was right with them and Fisichella was within a couple of tenths. Infine was six-tenths down, which did not bode well for the race.

RaC© (77 laps) In Hungary the start is incredibly important.

Overtaking really is very hard after the first few comers and so the opening seconds of the race are always highly-charged with excitement.

When the lights went out this time Hakkinen and Irvine both made good starts while Coulthard thought he had made a good start only to find that his wheels were spinning a httle too much. He was engulfed by Fisichella and Frentzen before they got to the comer.

Further back in the field there were other adventures notably for Villeneuve, who fonmd himself the peanut butter in a sandwich between Wurz and Barrichello.

Jacques’s front wing hit the back of Wurz’s car and was broken. The team decided not to bring him in and he was left to straggle with understeer.

From the word go Hakkinen looked pretty unbeatable but there was always a chance that if would go wrong as it has ir- recent races.

In the first few laps Mika built a lead of over 13 seconds.

All the major players except Coulthard pitted earlier and so Mika was able to stay ahead when he .stopped on lap 31. He continued to build the lead during his second stint and was pushed along when the team - worried that Irvine might be able to pull off a real stunt by going without a second pitstop - asked him to build a big enough lead to take care of all eventualities.

This he did with ease and wheii he stopped for a second time on lap 55 he was more than half a minute ahead. In the final stint he took it easier and ended up winning by just under 10 seconds.

Winning races is never an easy business but as races gc this was not a difficult one. Everything worked as it should have done and when the chequered flag finally came out, the entire McLarenMercedes clan could breath a sigh of deep relief. Another disaster would have been too painful.

V

27August J999

Hey, did I tell you what / did to Apollo Creed? Bernie and Sly talk FI and movies in Hungary, Bernie making his point known!

Chocolates to boiled lollies: Mika Salo put his Ferrari into reverse!

(Photos by Sutton Images)

Coulthard did not have quite as easy a time of it, thanks to a poor start which saw him boxed up behind Fisichella and Frentzen for the whole of the first stint. David and his engineers did the logical and waited. Eventually the others disappeared and DC was able to get the hammer down for four laps and so was ahead when the stops were over.

The only problem was that Barrichello was on a one-stop strategy and was in the way.

David was stuck behind him for seven laps. When Rubens finally disappeared on lap 40, Coulthard celebrated by setting the fastest lap of the race and then went after Irvine who was 3.5secs ahead. The gap was gobbled up in a flash but for nearly 15 laps he was stuck behind the Ferrari driver.

They pitted together on lap 58 but the encounter in the pits was indecisive. They came out as they had gone in - nose to tail. It looked like DC would spend the rest of the day gawping at the Ferrari gearbox but then on lap 63 Irvine slid wide and went off. The Irv rejoined but Coulthard was ahead and gone and the gap between them increased all the way to the flag.

After the race Eddie said that things had not been very good with the car.

“After just two or three laps my tyres went off badly and I was hav ing problems with the front and rear of the car, It is unusual for us not to be quick in the race. I was struggling.”

StiU, four points was better than nothing - which is what Mika Salo scored after a miserable weekend which saw him finish two laps down on the leaders.

“I had a terrible race,” he said. “I got stuck behind slower cars and could not get past them. Basically I could not find the right set-up all weekend. To be honest I am embarrassed by my performance and I feel I have let the team down ... the car was terrible to drive.”

Mika finished 12th.

Behind the two McLarens and Irvine was Frentzen after a good

solid race. He was trapped behind Fisichella and pitted surprisingly early Which meant that he lost out to Coulthard and still ended up behind Fisico. In the end, however, the Benetton retired and Frentzen was left by himself. He chased after Irvine but thefe was not much point - in Hungary catching up is one thing, overtaking quite another.

Hill had a solid race as well apart from one' off-track moment soon after his pit stop which cost him about four seconds. Damon got everything back together and duly finished sixth, to score a point.

Behind Frentzen was Barrichello, scoring a useful two points in his Stewart-Ford, having gone for an unusual one-stop strategy. Rubens made a good start to run seventh and rose to third when those ahead pitted. He then dropped back to eighth but when those ahead pitted again he rose back to fifth and held off a charg ing Hill for much of the final stint.

Herbert on the other hand found his car was not handling at all well and ended the afternoon in 11th position.

“I am^a bit mystified,” he admitted.

Seventh place went to Wurz, who finished just five seconds behind Hill - not as good a result as the team had hoped for.

Much of the hope had rested in the early laps on Fisichella. His start had been good and for the first stint was third - albeit not very comfortably. During the first stops he was pushed back to fourth and then, as he came into the pits from his second stop on lap 52, his engine cut out.

That was the end ...

Wurz’s brush with VilleneitVe which made his car very nervous from the start. He ran eighth early on but was pushed back by Alesi until the Frenchman was given a stop-go penalty. This and the retirement of Fisichella meant that Alexander ended seventh.

Eighth was not a great result for Prost but not much was expected, Panis and Trulli chose different

strategies: Jarno going for two stops and Olivier for one. At the end of the race Trulli was 20s ahead. He had started eight metres ahead and so it was fair to gay that two stops was probably better than one ... but not by much, Splitting the two Frosts was the Williams of Ralf Schumacher. It was not a great result but Ralf had one notable point in his favour at the end of the day, he was the only man to have made two real overtaking manoeu-vi’es. The first had involved passing Zanardi on lap nine, the second was a move he pulled on Villeneuve on lap 40.

Poor Zanardi fell foul to his fourth differential failure of the year. This caused the car to handle oddly. At previous races he has gone on driving the beast but in Hungary he parked it...

Zanardi was one of the few retirements in the race, which pro duced an unlikely 16 finishers.

One of them was BAR’s Zonta, admittedly two laps down on the winner but running nonetheless.

The same could not be said for Villeneuve, who went out with clutch failure on lap 60.

Jacques’s race was troubled from the start. He did not pit for repairs until lap 23- which was very early for a two-stop strategy. The nose was not changed and he was sent out in 18th.

He pitted again on lap 50 and then 10 laps later came trundling into retire, Zonta was running around with Jacques early on but his first refuelling stop went horribly wrong and he had to come back for more fuel four laps later. The second stop went rather better but in the closing laps he had to back off with an overheating engine. The ear made it to the flag but 13th was nothing to write home about. Still, a finish i& a finish and now that BAR understands just how difficult it is to be heroes in FI, such things must be appreciated.

The Minardi team got two cars home but 14th and 17th (two and three laps down) is hardly an exciting result. Arrows managed to

get de la Rosa to 15th but Takagi went out with a driveshaft failure.

Sauber got neither car to the fin ish, although Alesi was classified 16th, having broken down with three laps to go. Jean had driven a lively race - as often he does. In the end the car died.

“This race made me decide that I will not drive for the team next season,” said Jean. “I will honour my contract for the remaining races but after that my life with Sauber is finished.”

Diniz’s story was almost as daft.

He had made a good start and was running ahead of Alesi, but

team owner Peter Sauoer then informed him on the radio that he should let Alesi pass him, “I did this but I was upset,” said Diniz, “and I lost concentration and spun off under braking.”

Peter Sauber added to a most amusing press release.

“I am sorry that Jean has announced that he won’t be renew ing his contract with us, because in our mutual interest we had made the common decision not to say anything before either Spa or Monza.”

Monty Python goes to Switzerland?

$u:fiipeKl

World Championship Round 11 August 15th, 1999 77 laps(305.536kms) Team Pos Driver Time/i.aps M. Hakkinen 1 McLaren-Mercedes 1h 46m 23.536s; 172.524kph 1h 46m 33.242s McLaren-Mercedes D. Coulthard 2 1h 46m 50.764s Marlboro-Ferrari E. Irvine 3 1h46m 50-764S H.H. Frentzen 4 Jordan-Mugen-Honda 1h 47m 07.344s Stewart-Ford R. Barrichello 5 1h 47m 19.262s D. Hill 6 Jordan-Mugen-Honda 1h 47m 24.546s A. Wurz 7 Benetton-Supertec J. Trulli 8 76 laps Prost-Peugeot 76 tans R. Schumacher Williams-Supertec 9 10 O. Panis 76 laps Prost - Peugeot Stewart-Ford 11 J. Herbert 76 laps Marlboro-Ferrari 12 M. Salo 75 laps 13 R.Zonta 75 laps BAR-Supertec Minardi-Ford 14 L. Badoer 75 laps Arrows 15 P. de la Rosa 75 laps Sauber-Petronas 16 J. Alesi 74 laps Minardi-Ford 17 M. Gene 74 laps Fastest lap: D. Coulthard, Lap 69,1m 20.699s, 177.236 kph.

Retirements: Lap 10 A. Zanardi Lap 19 P. Diniz Lap 26 T. Takagi Lap 52 G. Fisichella Lap 60 J. Villeneuve

Williams-Supertec Sauber-Petronas Arrows Benetton-Supertec BAR-Supertec

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Lap leaders: Lap 1-77, Hakkinen.

DRIVERS POINTS: Irvine 56, Hakkinen 54, Frentzen 36, Coulthard 36, M. Schumacher 32, R.Schumacher 22, Fisichella 13, Barrichello 12, Salo 6, Hill 6, Wurz 3, Diniz 3, Herbert 2, Panis 2, Alesi 1, De La Rosa 1, Trulli 1.

CONSTRUCTORS POINTS; Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro 94, McLarenMercedes 90, Jordan-Mugen Honda 42, Williams-Supertec 22, BenettonSupertech 16, Stewart-Ford 14, Sauber-Petronas 4, Prost-Peugeot 3, Arrows 1.

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Maximum eifo maximum effe JASON Bargwanna dominated the Shell

Championship Series round at Winton, taking pole position and three all-the-way wins.

PHIL BRANAGAN

caught up with him after his great weekend, Motorsport News: It must be gratifying to have a weekend like that.

Jason Bargwanna: Absolutely. It goes without saying; it’s without doubt the best weekend I have had

in my racing career.

Not only that, but to start the season in a brand new car which

was right at the start of its develop ment cycle - struggling to get into the top 20 - and take it onto the front row and winning races is par ticularly gratifying.

MN: How hard has it been not

running at the front after being successful in Formula Ford and

Formula Holden, and V8

Supercars last season?

JB; You start the season with a

JB: It has. It’s different, but the

view of trying to win the champi onship and you prepare yourself to be a front-runner and it’s frustrating when you know that you are putting in 100 percent and it’s not coming together on the day.

feel of the car has not been THAT much different. But the

It’s fair to say that Iprobably underestimated the challenge of developing a new car. But, as a team, we never gave up on the goal and Ialways knew that I could do it and this weekend proved that it could become a reality.

time has not come and then you have to sit down and work out

why.

Then you realise that you don’t have the same package to work with; the same set-up doesn’t transiate to the same

performance and you have to basically re-invent the wheel.

Early on the car was very ner vous to drive but it’s never been

MN: Has it been different going from a proven car like the VS to

an ugly pig of a car. But, at this ievel of the sport, a difference of three-tenths can put you well out

the new VT?

of contention.

a

/ think that what we have achieved as a team

has been outstanding and with that momentum, 1 don't see why winning Bathurst is not a possible and realistic goal y}

MN: A few weeks ago, before Symmons Plains, you said you felt like you were driving BET TER that ever, despite the fact that you were battling back in the pack.

JB: Struggling a little with the car has forced everyone in the team, including me, to work harder and find every little bit possible out of yourself and the car. My rate of mistakes has been a lot less than it has ever

been, from giving bad informa tion to the team, to locking a brake, to making a mistake on the track.

Formula V: The Valvoline Team was in fine form

at Winton, Bargwanna and Tander qualifying 1-2 and Jason winning all three races.

But it was not quite perfect, with Bargwanna spearing off the the track right after setting his pole lap.

(Photos by Dirk Klynsmiih and Bob Potts)

And that’s just the things that people can see. One of the things that has been constant through the year has been the quality of work that everyone has put in. There have been qualifying laps this season that have put me 10th, 12th on the grid that have been the ultimate lap you could have achieved on the day. in other words, when we’ve

looked at the computer data for that lap, there have been occa sions when I have driven a near

perfect lap: the car has gone as quick in each sector of the lap that it was capable of going.

They have a 'theoretical best lap’ which, realistically, you are never really able to achieve. It’s your best sectors, on whatever lap it was set, put together. It’s like taking your best score on each golf hole and playing them

all in one round. On a couple of occasions this year I have been within 2-tenths of doing that, which is quite satisfying, but the grid position hasn’t shown that.

MN: What now? Winton was

tops, but does it get easier or harder from here?

JB: it certainly doesn’t get any easier. At this level of the sport there’s no time to relax, and it’s a credit to all the team because it’s the first car that the team has

built'and it is up against the like of HRT and DJR which, between them, must have built 50 cars ...

This is our first. We have a lot

of learning to do in such a short, competitive season. Phillip Island put us behind and took away valuable testing time, but I think that what we have achieved as a team has been

outstanding and with that momentum, Idon’t see why win ning Bathurst is not a possible and realistic goal.

28 27August 1999

4*

Race face: With an on-track debut getting closer, Peter Russo’s face showed the intensity with which he attacked his first racing experience in the US. And, while he and Helen brought in former Rachelle Splatt co-crew chief Tim Piecuch to help oversee the operation (above), Russo still kept a close eye on everything being done around the car.(Phoios by Ocraid McOoman)

m f- >

ing Class s reach m time

The oBd advertising slogan goes “they said you’d never make it and that, perhaps, was the sentiment of many in Australia when Peter and Helen Russo announced they’d be racing in the US this year.

But, as they always have, the Russos defied the knockers and recently this “bucks-down”team from Melbourne made their NHRA debut GERALD McDORNAN caught up with them on their return home to talk about their experience of racing in the big time. mmo

MOTORSPORT NEWS: Well, you’ve done it and made your debut in the US,doing something that many thought wasn’t possible for Peter and Helen Russo. How does it feel?

PETER RUSSO: Great... even though we didn’t get to do a whole lot of runs, we made it to the track, ran well and came away with a car intact and a lot of enthusiasm for the next time we go back.

Sonoma really turned into the ultimate in regards to what we really wanted to do. Our first run (a shut-off 5.65/208) would have been our quickest and fastest ever run first time out- and running a best ever was what we hoped to achieve as our major goal, so that was good - we didn’t blow up any equipment and got to take it all home ... it was the most we could have hoped to achieve.

’

t

HELEN RUSSO: I thought racing in the US was way out of our league, but I'm now more than happy to say that, providing we maintain realistic goals, it isn’t. We haven’t got millions, we haven’t got a huge truck or trailer, but I think we’ve put together a car with a bit of substance and, while we’ve got things we need to work

on next time, we achieved a fair amount of personal satisfaction from what we did. We’re happy.

MN: You originally planned on running both Seattle and Sonoma on the trip over- what kept you from making the haul to Seattle?

PR: Usual new car stuff-car not quite ready, things not done yet, parts not arriving on time. Even my driving suit wasn’t ready, and it all added up to being a little too much to do in such a short space of time.

If we had’ve pushed hard, we could have been ready for Seattle, but it meant that we would have had to drive for 24 hours to reach the track in time for Tech and that would have been rushing too much.

Even though there’s always something still to do when you get to the track, we thought it better to wait the extra week.

MN: Before the first run in Sonoma, despite having 16 years of racing Funny Cars in Australia and having run against some of the best racers on the tour over there, it’s probably right to say that both of you

they mightn’t have been too happy,so it was important that we try not to do anything outlandish.

HR:The great part about the environment that we were in was that we could concentrate on what we were doing, rather than looking over our shoulders all the time and worrying about it [the next were more nervous than you run] being another nail in the have ever been. coffin for the class.

PR: Yeah, it was a fairly ' The NHRA environment made intimidating time -in the lanes, it easier for us- it was a positive being told to fire, even being in the racing environment- and that driver’s meeting - up until then it also helped us justify spending the had all been just'a dream... money that we'd had done for Building the car is no big deal what some thought was a whim. because all you’re doing is just Thankfully, once the call came working, but when you’re at the to fire-up, it was just down to track you then realise that you’ve business. actually got to do something with it now that it’s finished!

MN: Not testing prior to the Sonoma race- was that a drama?

MN: Was some of that PR: It would have been nice to get nervousness knowing that you a couple of squirts in the car, to understand your “standing” in familiarise myself with it and get the scheme of things in the US an idea whether it was anywhere and you really wanted to make near the pace or not. We tried a good impression and not go out there and embarrass going to Bakersfield betweer: Seattle and Sonoma, although the yourself?

PR: You don’t want it to be like ,track said that wasn’t possible so we missed out. every time you run a car in Australia where we were Now knowing that the car’s near the pace and it didn’t do constantly terrified of goofing up anything nasty, we can just and then being in trouble. In the continue on from where we are, US everyone goofs up at some see if we can get it to run in the stage, but first impressions count 5.20s consistently. and, while we haven’t got the budgets and equipment of the MN: On your last chance of pros, we wanted to at least qualifying, the car ran out of the perform to an acceptable standard. groove and got over near the wall. You “clicked” it off at halfIf we started goofing up early.

track, instead of driving it back on line and continuing, is it right to say that because of your time out of the seat, 18 months since you last ran in Australia, that the car was a little ahead of you?

PR: For sure, no doubt about that.

That’s why we really wanted to go testing and that’s why we want to get back out there as quick as we can and get the car running 5.20s so we can get back in the swing of things again.

The pace in the US is really half a second quicker than here, so you really need to be running at least somewhere near their pace to be with it.

MN:So bow hard is it driving in Australia when you’d only drive a few times a year?

PR: Here you never really advance as often -for most of the time you're hoping to just be on an even-keel, so it’s not that difficutt.

But over there you really have to pull your finger out.

If we want to be in with a chance of being around the 14th to 18th spots, we’ll really need to get out of our Australian comfort zone, it all needs to be about 10 steps higher up the wrung.

MN: Looking as the numbers from Sonoma, you appeared to be well and truly on your way to a personal best, and with a chance of qualifying. Do you think that, come Houston in October, you’ll be In with a chance of being there Sunday for racing?

29

27August 1999 PR: Probably not,'cause the bump will probably be in the 5.0s. All we need to do is get some laps in around the 5.20s at 280-290 miles per hour and make sure everything is running properly first. We need to make as many iaps as we can before we worry about stepping up - to get the potential out of the car first.

When we’re right there, we can then worry about making the next step, but there’s no point being unrealistic and blowing stuff up. We can’t afford that...

HR: We’ve got to go softiy, softly and keep everything in perspective - that’s the most important thing. But we can run professionally and we can get some great personal satisfaction out of what we’re doing. If we qualify, that would be terrific, a real highlight of our racing career.

MN: Looking at the performance of the car in the US and knowing that mechanically and tune-upwise the motor is identical to the last time you ran in Melbourne, was it disappointing that you had to go overseas to show that you have an idea about what you’re doing?

PR: Yeah. The thing is exactly the same as when we ran at Calder. The clutch was the only area we were out in at home but not getting that many runs, we really didn’t know how far out it was. Now knowing, we could have compensated, but doing 12 runs a year in

Australia you’re in your own little world...

MN: Putting a race car together at home is pretty much a known quantity, knowing who can do what, where you can buy bits and pieces, etc. How did it aii come together over there.

PR: People couldn’t have been more helpful in most cases, with most really trying hard to help us get everything ready. But one thing’s for sure, there’s no doubt that most Australians could probably make a fortune over there! People like Murray Andersop, who you can go to and,order a car then, when he's finished with it it’s almost ready to race, would do so well in the US as all of the suppliers in the US out-source most of their stuff.

It appears as though no one actually makes anything over there anymore ... they ring up and order it in! Sort of like how most of them eat ... they go out for it.

Naturally, when you’re trying to put a car together that causes a lot of delays.

Steve O’Connor(a Russo crew member for the last six years) came over at the same time as me to the US and he couldn’t have been more helpful ... he worked his butt off helping get the car ready. We couldn’t have done it without his help.

In the first week when Helen got to the US she also did something like 3,000 miles (4,800kms) around Los Angeles in the rentacar picking up bits and pieces to

Two great Australian Helens: Russo and Hofmann discuss race cars in the US.(Photo by CeraW McOoman)

The Ultimate Commitment n WHILE it’s known that even getting to a race track, anywhere, at any time, requires a huge commitment from every one involved, Helen Russo’s commitment to get to the US and race vvith husband Peter can be labelled nothing more than super-human.

With jioth of her elderly parents suffei’ing serious illnes,ses, Helen would drive from her Dandenong home to Terang eveiy second day (around 200 km)to pick her mother up and take her back to Geelong (100km) to \isit

her father in hospital returning her mother home to Terang later that night before heading home herself Helen did this, all the while still helping Peter organise details for their trip, along with parts and equipment with numerous daily phone calls to the US and while also trying to get her now business (a local government legal advisory service) off the ground - a business which was also helping finance the racing operation.

As we said, nothing short of a super-human effort.

/ Little shop of horrors: Russo appeared relaxed when his Dodge Avenger was put through the NHRA Tech department’s stringent body check.

Final fitting: Helen Hofmann and Russo crew member Steve O’Connor helped Russo acclimatise to the confines of his new fuel coupe, especially the now-mandatoiy driver fire shield inside the cockpit.

(Photos by Gerald McDoman)

get everything ready, which was just terrific.

HR:Steve was fantastiche took holidays from Rod City and then paid his own way over there. He was brilliant. Without his help it would have been impossible to do.

MN: When you finally made it to the track in Sonoma, how did the prerace procedures go? ~ HR: Good, in fact it really couldn’t have been much better.

Pomona, although Helen’s The people at the NHRA keen on Houston too. were great and helped us every step of the way MN: Anybody you want to from Carl Olson and mention for their help in Lynwood Dupuy at head getting you to the US? office in Glendora through HR: Certainly Steve tech inspection, body [O’Connor] who really certification, in the driver’s helped Peter out in assem meeting with Peter -they bling the car. were all helpful.

Tim Piecuch, Rachelle Even when we were Splatt’s former co-crew parking the trailer, the guy chief came down from gave us the biggest parking ’Seattle to oversee spot available!

Helen and Al Hofmann, who had more than enough to worry about with their own car, were also fantastic to us. They both spent considerable time advising us, helping out, even SUPERCHARGERS working on the car, all trying to make it all go smoothly for us- which it did.

everything on the car and he was terrific.

We don’t have the operation that Tim’s used to, but I think he had some fun! He’s also helped us recognise some areas that need looking at for next time and that’s what we hoped for.

Darren DiFilippo was also great. He was in the US on holidays and ended up working flatout on the

car for four days. He knows his way around the car, which probably shows why he’s developed into such a good racer.

Also Rachel Ratliff. Her dad Robbie has crewed with us for nearly 20 years and when he couldn’t make the trip, Rachel came. She looked attei everyone in the pits and kept everything clean and tidy.

Attention Drag Racers

MN: What are the plans for the rest of the season?

PR: It really depends on what Helen can do in regards to work- whether she can get away. At this stage it looks as though we’ll run Houston and Pomona, or maybe just Pomona. The back-to-back races in Texas(Dallas and Houston) and then Pomona is probably a little too much for us and our parts, but two r,pces would be OK. Pomona’s fine ’cause it’s just 20 minutes from Geoff Adams’ place where the car is based. Houston is a 30 hour tow,so I reckon just

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l Richards closes series lead with two wins, 1 second l Morris wins race 1 and takes two seconds' l Jones on front row but drive-thru penalty ruins race 2 l Adderton takes first 1-3 on podium for Volvo « Canto and Hills Mondeos split Independent wins

Who’s got JR: Richards was brilliant at Oran Park, taking two wins and a second after some fierce racing with Paul Morris (right).

(Photos by Bob Potts and Dirk Klynsmith)

Report by PHIL BRANAGAN THE battle for the 1999 BOG Gases Super Touring Championship will go right down to the final round at Calder this weekend after Jim Richards and Paul Morris split the wins at. Oran Park’s seventh round.

Richards was in untouch able form in the final two races, but only after Morris took the first sprint and the

two put on a fierce but clean battle in the middle stages of the final race.

The S40 took the lead in the pits in the final race only to have Morris immediately take it back. But fading tyres and canny Richards driving sealed Morris’ fate, leaving him with a dozen point advantage heading to Calder this weekend.

Mark Adderton had a strong weekend, backing Jim up with

a third in the second race, but fading in the final outing.

Brad Jones suffered a race 1 drive-thru penalty which runined his weekend while, in the Indpendednt ranks.

Dean Canto took the first race, but then found himself pressured by Anthony Robson, leaving Peter Hills to mop up with two wins.

David Auger took three awards in the Gas & Gear class for older cars.

Qualifying

I

t wasn’t 'nard to see the importance of the penulti mate qualifying session of the season. Sixteen points behind Morris going in, Richards needed the extra point for pcie, Morris, for his part, could almost be assured a race 1 win from the front row. And Jones, after poling at Queensland Raceway, wanted the keep his momen tum up.

The 30-minute session would be exciting, no doubt.

But then came the weather...

As the cars rolled out, the clouds rolled in. It was already bucketing down on the other side of the Northern Road, 5km away.

Forget 30 minutes; this was going to be over in under 10.

So what happened was slightly odd. There was no queue of drivers, desperate to ‘bank’ a lap time before the wet set in. In fact, Jones pitted after a lap to ‘cross’ his tyres’.

Not that it mattered.

Richards had arrived on the long circuit with eyes on and -guns blazing. His first flying lap was a lmll.48s effort.

which was faster than the morning practice times. He was already up, 15-love.

Morris was finding things much less straightforward.

He was running on used tyres, having found a modi fied set-up [stiffer front to keep the rear tyres happier] better on scrubbed Yokos. He was also after an early result but found a baulk from Hills, which he claimed cost him pole. The two drivers had words in pit lane when the clouds opened, Hills explain ing things as: “I left him room and waved him through ...”

The time, a lmll.89s, left Morris third - not disastrous but not in the ‘Fat Seats’, either. After the session the PMR team set to their assigned scheduled tasks, including an engine swap.

The team’s units were close to their limits, and the one that was going in was just going to have enough to do the first races.

Splitting the pair was Jones. The Audi was, again, flying, Bradley missing his second successive pole by 0.23s. Unusually, he was almost exactly Is faster than

Coleman [who was fifth], the team feeling that the car’s set-up changes which result ed in the FWD A4’s speed increase made it a little harder for Matty to drive rel ative to Bradley.

Neither Jones nor Richards was particularly confident of beating Morris away, Jones saying “the longer the run to the first comer,the worse it is.”

Adderton was fourth. The second S40 had had no prob lems, and Mark felt that he could have gone a little faster. His final 'dry’ lap of the session was going to be quicker until the damp hit half-way around but at least the car was in good shape for the race.

Canto was sixth, all of 0.05s clear of Hills, the two even skipping the odd prac tice so satisfied were they with their cars. Auger fol lowed [no problems] from Robson [ditto], Mark Zonneveld was 10th, going strongly in Tony Newman’s Peugeot 405 which out-qualified the Tdoss’s’ 406. Therein followed a tale of woe; The NZer had

k -

: -j

T-

Mountains to climb: Richards chased hard, eventually finding a weakness in Morris’ defences climbing over the Yokohama Bridge in race 3.(Photo by Di* Kiynsmith) Try-nov-out: McGill (above) got it wrong at the start of race 1.(Photo by Marshall cass)

A for Aggression: The Audi Sport Australia team had a mixed weekend.

Coleman threw everything into getting by both Fprd Mondeos (right, tapping Canto). Jones was in the same role himself; below he finds himself pushed by Hills Mondeo.

■r

(Photos by John Morris/Mpix)

Bradley was not impressed with his drive-thru penalty, but accepted the decision.

(Photo by Bob Potts)

been out in his newer 406 during the week when an upright broke, pitching the car into a wall and breaking the other one. There was no choice but to park the car for the weekend; “Shit, it was a second and a half quicker, too,” Newman allowed through gi'itted teeth.

Behind came Aaron McGill’s Mondeo, Jim Cornish’s Nissan [after miss ing Friday with electrical problems], the Hyundais of Nigel Stones and Claude Elias [split by Milton Leslight’s Toyota]. Mike Fitzgerald’s Peugeot didn’t set a time, hampered by clutch problems, while Troy Searle was at the back in the immaculate SAE Beemer, as usual missing practice but setting a time during the warm-up that would have had had him 12th on the grid.

Race 1 (12 laps) The front-row pessimism starters of was the well-placed. Despite being on the second row Morris matched revs and clutch per fectly and bounded away into a lead he would hold until the chequer.

Jones didn’t. The A4 crept at the start and then stopped - as the field went around it.

He was fifth when he got rolling and worse was to come; he was given a drivethru penalty for jumping the start. He wasn’t happy as he pitted after two laps, resum ing 13th.

That left Coleman flying the flag, until Adderton swept around him at the first corner. Adderton held him off until lap 4 when the A4 snuck through at the second comer, but by then the lead-

f^Bj^€asesSuper Touring - QuaUfying 1 Jim Richards Volvo Racing Volvo S40 I 2 Brad Jones Audi Sport Australia Audi A4 3 Paul Morris Paul Morris Motorsport BMW 320 4 MarkAdderton Volvo Racing Volvo S40 5 Matthew Coleman Audi Sport Australia Audi A4 6 Dean Canto Signature Security Ford Mondeo 7 Peter Hills Signature Security Ford Mondeo 8 David Auger Gun Racing Alfa Romeo 155TS 9 Anthony Robson Racing Project Honda Accord 10 Mark Zonneveld A-Z Home Improvements Peugeot 405 11 Tony Newman TC Motorsport Peugeot 406 12 Aaron McGill Trinovin/Smeg/Omega Ford Mondeo 13 Jim Cornish Visit Your Vet Nissan Primera 14 Nigel Stones Nigel Stones Hyundai Lantra 15 Milton Leslight aap Toyota Carina 16 Claude Elias Claude Elias Hyundai Lantra NT Mike Fitzgerald M F Motorsport Peugeot 405 NT Troy Searle SAE/Roadchill BMW318i

ers were gone.

On used rubber Morris didn’t take long to get up to speed, with a lmll.l6s on lap 2 but, once the gap was stabilised, Richo started to close. He threw everything at the back of the 320i but Morris was up to the task, holding Jim off by 0.26s at the flag.

Coleman and Adderton were lonely at the finish, while Canto got through on Hills, who had 2s up his sleeve over the recovering Jones at the line.

Robson got the best of a battle with Auger, while Newman, Searle, Cornish, Leslight and Elias followed ahead of the non-finishers.

Stones was hit by McGill at the start, breaking a driveshaft on the Lantra and causing suspension havoc to the Ford, while Zonneveld’s _ clutch woes struck again.

1:11.4861 1:11.7179 1:11.8942 1:12.6183 1:12.6916 1:13.1526 1:13.2064 1:13.2692 1:13.5643 1:13.8159 1:13.8619 1:14.5994 1:15.6786 1:16.5306 1:20.5650 1:23.8501 No time No time

Race 2 (16 laps)

M

ore of the same at the second start?

No way: “I saw Brad get pinged for a rolling start and I was a little bit paranoid,” said Morris later. That - and having his foot resting on the brake on the downhill start - saw the Beemer stall at the green.

He quickly hit the starter and recovered but the leaders were gone. Richards was away into the lead, 2.7 seconds clear after the

lap That was it as far as the lead was concerned; he levelled the score by 10.5s at the flag, The battle was for second, First it was the alwavs-fast Hills in the position, under seige from Adderton, then the recovering Morris, who went outside the Volvo at Shell on lap 3.

Adderton made it past Hills on lap 5, leaving him to Jones [who had made another shocker at the start]. The Audi was finding the Ford V6 a bit much on the straight

SfiliLHS

ENGINE RESEABCH

and, by the time he braved it out at turn 2. Coleman fol lowed in identical fashion a lap later, and that was that for the front-runners.

Behind though. Hills had problems. He had already stated that he wanted to get Canto into second in the Independents’ points, but Robson was pushing the second Mondeo hard, the Honda sweeping by into seventh [and‘Indy 2’] with a lap to go, forcing Hills’ hand and sphtr ting the Fords at the finish.

Behind the pair came another energetic battle, Searle just failing to get by Newman, while Auger led home Zonneveld for 11th.

McGill’s nightmare contin ued, with power steering and suspension problems causing his demise, Cornish pulled over after a lap with a dead battery while Fitzgerald was parked before the race even started.

Continued over page

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32 27August 1999 Continued from page 31

Race 3(23 laps) Morris of hishad brilliant pole, courtesy race 1 lap time, but Coleman was missing, an electrical misfire [fixed by changing the engine mapping] forcing him to pit after the formation laps.

This time Morris made no errors and boomed away from Richards, Jones, Hills [again!] and Adderton, while Coleman was second last after almost cleaning up Zonneveld on the way out of the pits.

f

And, again, no hanging around on used rubber; Morris went 11.5/11.2 on laps 2 and 3 to build the gap to 2.7s but that was as far as it was going to go. Richo started to claw it back and was on the BM’s hammer by lap 9. He followed for two laps, until Morris pitted for' his stop on lap 11 - and Richards followed him in.

Both did good stops. Morris moved first but Richards, two bays ahead, beat him out. As they turned into the first cor ner Morris surged down the inside and re-took the lead, both hanging the Auger Alfa [which they were lapping] out

to dry.

INftNCE

1X Five cylinders, count ’em: George Shepheard and Jim Richards keep an eye on Volvo’s S40.(Photo by Dirk Klynsmith)

USINESS AS USUAL THERE had been talk at Oran Park that Volvo, needing as many points as possible, were putting an extra effort into preparing Jim Richards’ S40 for the penulti mate round.

Rumours also suggested that the Volvo Oz team had flown in a special, 1999-spec engine from TWR for the final two races.

But, not so, according to team manager George Shepherd: “We’ve had two engines for the whole year. Each one will do around 1200 kays before a rebuild, with a 20 day turnaround. The engine we damaged here last time cracked the bottom (of the engine) and that is a problem; they’re not doing any more '98 bits.

'The engine in the car is the one from the start of the year, which has been rebuilt.”

That put paid to the rumours. So if you hear a ‘reliable’ story that Rickard Rydell will be at Calder this weekend to back up Richo, don’t believe it until you see the famed tulips on the side of the Swede's helmet...

- PHIL BRANAGAN

New leader Jones stayed out for two more laps the while Volvo/BMW battle raged. The Audi Oz team was good but, as Brad moved away, the lead battle shot by. Another second and, even on cold tyres, he could have made it back in the lead...

The lead war continued, but Richards had an ace up his'sleeve, He had fresh rub ber on the front; Morris had fresh rights. But, hav ing preferred used rubber, his lefts were fading, and Richards knew it.

When Paul turned right to go over the Yokohama Bridge on lap 16, Richo feint ed left; Morris covered him and the S40 blasted through the gap.

Both knew the fight was finished. Richards built a gap and stroked it home by 6s, closing the points gap to a dozen. Jones was a lonely third from Adderton [ditto].

Hills and Coleman, who caught but couldn’t get past the Mondeo. Indeed, Hills had driven superbly; he was well ahead of Adderton before the pit stops, and his fastest lap was within a half-second of that of both factory number twos, despite his ancient car. came Next Canto, Newman, Auger, Stones) Leslight [three reliable fin ishes], Zonneveld and Elias.

Cornish and Searle both pit ted on lap 5, the Vet visiting with broken drive pins and Troy when a tyre went down.

TTiree races left this week, and 12 points to make up.

Morris looks awfully strong, but Volvo and Richards will be giving it everything at Calder.

Indy Grand Prix: The Cornish/McGill/Newman race 2 battle was a good one.

(Photo by Dirk Klynsmith)

Decisive moment: In race 3 Morris and Richards pitted together, but the Volvo beat the BMW out. The Morris dived through on turn 2.

(Photos by Dirk Klynsmith and John Mom's/Mpix)

Round 7 Oran Park, NSW Augiust 15 Race 1 Pos Driver Race time F/lap On I 14:28.9346 1:11.1629 2 Paul Morris 2 Jim Richards 14:29.1994 1:11.4098 2 3 Matthew Coleman 14:41.0694 1:12.3166 3 4 Mark Adderton 14:46.5995 1:12.4289 2 5 Dean Canto 1453.5700 1:13.1768 3 14:53.9908 1:13.4049 2 6 Peter Hills 7 Brad Jones 14:55.9955 1:12.2280 4 8 AnthonyRobson 14:59.9104 1:13.6661 4 1501.3679 1:13.7565 4 9 David Auger 15.06.2249 1:13.8773 5 10 Tony Newman 15:12.7959 1:14.5437 6 11 TroySearie 12 Jim Cornish 15:26.6240 1:13.9535 5 maps 1:16.4467 4 13 Milton Leslight 14 Claude Elias maps 1:20.3113 7 8laps 1:19.4007 7 DNF MikeFitzgeraid DNF Aaron McGill 8laps 1:14.6635 3 2laps 1:16.5332 2 DNF Nigel Slones DNF Mark Zonneveld 1 lap 1:32.1773 1

Race 2 Race time F/lap On Pos Driver 1 19.20.3007 1:11.6487 6 Jim Richards 1930.8670 1:11.2637 4 2 Paul Morris 3 Mark Adderton 1942.3543 1:12.8028 7 1943.7687 1:12.753712 4 Brad Jones 5 MatthewColeman 1950.1346 1:13.1053 3 1953.2122 1:13.1419 6 6 Peter Hills 7 Anthony Robson 1957.1997 1:13.0350 2 19.57.6817 1:13.5899 4 8 Dean Canto 20:11.0263 1:14.0457 6 9 Tony Newman 20:11.5959 1:14.469710 10 TroySearie 2916.6254 1:14.3987 2 11 David Auger 12 MarkZonneveld 29.27.8087 1:15.134613 ISIaps 1:16.6605 6 13 Nigel Stones ISIaps 1:17.1036 6 14 Milton Leslight DNF Aaron McGiil Slaps DNF Jim Cornish 1 lap Olaps DNF MikeFitzgeraid DNS Claude Elios

Race 3 Race time F/lap On Pos Driver 28:14.7835 1:11.617914 I Jim Richards 28:20.7980 1:11.2496 3 2 Paul Morris 28:24.6369 1:11.8190 3 3 Brad Jones 4 Mark Adderton 2851.1148 1:12.405613 2904.3227 1:12.8504 3 5 Peter Hills 6 Matthew Coleman 29d)4.S692 1:12.661212 7 Dean Canto 29:16.0203 1:13.146714 8 Tony Newman 22laps 1:14.5928 3 9 David Auger 22laps 1:13.8980 3 10 Nigel Stones 22lops 1:16.6903 5 21 laps 1:17.0414 3 11 Milton Leslight 12 Mark Zonneveld 20lops 1:14.822214 13 Claude Elias 20(ops iai 3004 2 DNF Anthony Robson 20taps 1:13.6855 4 DNF Aaron McGill 9taps 1:14.4941 2 4laps 1:14.6569 3 DNF TroySearie DNF Jim Cornish 41aps 1:14.5502 2 DNS MikeRtzgerald

Drivers Points:Morris 228,Richards 216,Jones 158,Coleman 140, Hills 101,Adderton 75,Canto 51,Robson 41,Watts 40,. Newman 31,Auger 25,Henderson 23,Williamson 17,McGill 15,Wall 8,L.Searle 8,Cornish 5,Townshend 3,Rea 3,Zonneveld 3,T.Searle 3,Elios I,Leslight I,Teuton 1,Stones 1.

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27Augusl 1999 Good timesf Bradbury led both races but had to split the victories with Greg Keene.(PhcMO by Lynlt'y Pf-iJi'

LA\-

By EDWARD KRAUSE PETER Bradbury was looking good for a clean sweep of the Pirelli Porsche Cup until a suspension problem derailed him in race two.

The TNT Porsche was fastest in both qualifying sessions, both times under the old lap record and he was the only driver in the lml2s. Greg Keene and Martin Wagg were next in both sessions, with Terry Ashwood and Wayne Cooper each claiming the final second row spot for races one and two respectively.

Bradbury got a bad start, falling back to third behind Keene and Wagg, but on the third lap he was through at Buttons corner into second. He then chased Keeiie down, both pulling away from the rest of the field and both setting their

fastest laps on tour five, Bradbury breaking the lap record, setting a lml2.9614s,0.3s under the old mark.

Mid-race Keene started to build a small lead but by lap 10 Bradbury was right on his tail. Putting the utmost pressure op Keene, Bradbury looked for a way through at every corner, but Keene held firm. Then, on the penulti mate lap, Bradbmy got his nose inside of Keene coming off the bridge. There was contact and both spun.

Bradbuiy was the quickest to recover, taking off in the lead while Keene fell back to third behind Wagg. Keene then had his right rear tyre shred, having to park the car on the final lap. Bradbury went on to win the race and wrap up the championship with three races to spare.

Wagg got second. Cooper third after a

spirited battle with Ashwood v ho fell back to fifth at the end. Mike Kilpatrick took Class B honours and fourth overall.

Race two saw Bradbury get a better start and lead the field at the end of the opening lap. Keene followed him until lap four when Bradbury slowed sudden ly going into Recaro pomer.

Keene pounced but it was obvious that the TNT Porsche had a problem. It turned out the rear suspension had “gone soft”, and Bradbury had to nurse the car home, still finishing third behind Wagg.

Keene took a deserved win in a spread out race. Terry Ashwood had to deal with Mike Kilpatrick who had 27s up his sleeve over.his nearest Class B rival, but he ran off the track after the bridge, losing Ashwood but held onto Ms lead to take out the B honours.

33

Luff at first sight

WARREN Luff was in a class of his own in the debut meeting for the new Lease Plan Mirage Series.

Luff, the only driver not on P plates, was fastest in qualify ing by 1.3 seconds and won both races in 4.5 and five seconds respectively. The second race he started from the back of the grid after he was found to be ‘minimally underweight’, which meant that the highlight of the second race was his drive through the field.

Star attraction was Audi Super Touring manager Kim Jones, who qualified second in the second Media/Celebrity car (he ain’t me^a,sc we guess he’s a celeb!) and was running behind Luff when his car expired with a crank angle sensor failure. Also from the back, he came through to finish sixth.

Gavin Harvey(son of’83 Bathurst 1000 winner John)fin ished second in both,followed by Barry Nesbitt and the real Media car driven by Fast Fours & Rotaries editor Dean Evans, who led race two early until l.uff came through.

rROffiR''.

Life begins at 50: Warren Luff was the class of the field in the opening Mitsubishi Mirage races.(Ph«o bv Marshall cass)

You can’t be Shaw

By EDWARD KRAUSE TWICE Christian D’Agostin could reason ably have thought he was going to win each ROH Wheels Commodore Cup race, and twice Tim Shaw robbed him of victory almost within sight of the chequered flag.

D’Agostin got a great start from the second row, having qualified behind Shaw and Wayne Wakefield, who were 0.8s and 0.5s respectively under Wakefield’s lap record, but was sandwiched between the two off the line.

He still squeezed through to lead through turn one, but at corner two he locked his brakes and had a big moment, allowing Shaw to take the lead with Ray Sidebottom, who also got a great jump from sixth to third, and then

Wakefield. These front four pulled away from the rest of the field and began to fight among themselves.

D’Agostin applied the pressure and this time Shaw made the mistake, a big lose followed by a spectacular recovery through the dogleg gave D’Agostin the momentum on the straight to take the lead. He then began to edge away slightly, but Shaw reeled him in with two laps to go with Sidebottom right on his tail.

On the last lap Shaw made his move heading to the esses but D’Agostin squeezed him and held on.

At the final turn Shaw threw it inside and made the pass to take the win from D’Agostin and Sidebottom, Wakefield fourth and David Gittus fifth. ’ Race two was a similar

affair, D’Agostin again leading off the line from Shaw, Gittus, Sidebottom and Wakefield. Sidebottom had two near misses, both times out of Recaro cdmer, the second time he clipped the wall and allowed Wakefield to get alongside, but contact between them saw the Queenslander back to fifth again. Shaw attacked D’Agostin as both Sidebottom and Wakefield made their way past Gittus.

Shaw was getting des perate, trying the outside of the ultra-fast kink off the main straight, having to abort at the last moment, but at the end of that lap he pulled the same move as in race one and took the lead.

He wasn’t headed again, even opening up a small gap as D’Agostin just held off Sidebottom, followed again by Wakefield and Gittus.

Phox by Dyx Ktynsmrtn

HweaMiiis PAUL Stephenson(above i was too strong in the Formula 2 categoiy. taking poie and two com fortable win.s in one of three Chas Jaeobsen Dallaa-as. But newcoma'James Manderson made his mai'k, qualifying second fastest in his Dallara-TOMS and, if not for stalling on the grid at the start of race one, the FVee graduate looked a likley ehalenger. Stephenson pulled clear to win race 1 from Lewis, David Choon and Manderson. who passed Rod Anderson on the final lap.

Lewds got the Jump in race two but Stephenson was quickly »to the lead. Manderson latched onto the back of Lewis and their duel let Stephenson slip away to a comfortable \ictoiy.

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34 27 August 1999 n Don Prudhomme has announced the signing of Dick LaHaie for the 2000 season, LaHaie taking over the tuning ofthe Miller Lite Top Fueller, driven by Larry Dixon.

LaHaie replaces Dale Armstrong who moves over to the team’s Copenhagen Camaro Funny Car. “Dale and Dick are the 'best of friends. IfI could dream about assembling the best team I could, I would choose to have Dick on one team and Dale on the other,” Prudhomme said last week.“Well,I woke up and it came true.

I am confident both teams will go straight to the top.”

LaHaie,the 1987 Winston Top Fuel champion,tuned Scott Kalitta to two consecutive titles (’94/95). He joins the Prudhomme camp from Doug Herbert’s team.

Armstrong returns to the Funny Car class, where he tuned Kenny Bernstein to four consecutive Funny Car titles. n Tim Wilkerson returned to action in Brainerd in an effort to protect his position in the Big Bud Shootout. The former JCIT Pontiac pilot was behind the wheel of the Pro Motorsports Dodge Avenger, which was being tuned by “Nitro Nick” Boninfante.

The team got the car into the show in 14th (5.22/259), but lost a roimd one match-up with Whit Bazemore. The two race deal will conclude at Indy where Wilkerson will compete in both the Big Bud Shootout and the US Nationals. n Cristen Powell, who replaced Wilkerson in the seat of the JCIT Pontiac, is still without a license.

After several failed attempts, which delayed her debut in Funny Car at Sonoma and now Brainei'd, the team looks to a possible Indy debut.

“I haven’t had any luck,” said Powell. “It’s smoking the tyres every run, and it’s real fiustrating.”

-DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

DIM

S

Top Fuel points shuffle THE tight points battle for the Winston Championship in Top Fuel became even tighter following the running of the Colonel’s Nationals in Brainerd, Minnesota this past weekend. With the top three drivers out in round one, and first through seventh within 93 points going into the event, the standings saw some major shuffhng.

On the heels of announc ing that Dick LaHaie would be the new crew chief in the Don Prudhomme Top Fuel camp in 2000, Larry Dixon piloted his Miller Lite drag ster to his first win of ‘99 , defeating Eddie Hill in a wild final round.

Following a few raindrops that held up action earlier in the day, the pair lined up for the final round. Dixon was away first, but Hill caught and had passed him by 300 feet and was march ing away to a win when the blower belt exited the Pennzoil fueller at 1100 feet, allowing Dixon to blow past to take a close 4.59/294 to 4.69/249 win.

“I saw a whole lot of Eddie pulling away from me,” said Dixon. “Then he went/away real quick ... I got a huge break!

“Eddie totally had me cov ered until right near the end of the track when I just slipped by. It takes some luck to win in this sport and I got some in the final.

“We’ve struggled this sum mer and after smoking the tires last week in Sonoma, Dale Armstrong took a hard look at the clutch set-up. We then put seven runs together in the 4.60’s and 50’s and that’s what it took to win.”

Drama for Dixon really unfolded in the semi finals when he was paired against low qualifier (4.56) Gary Scelzi. The Winston driver had a shot at the points lead if he could come away with an event win, but it didn’t quite happen that way Dixon leaving first and

marching away to take a 4.54/307 to stunning 4.56/315 victory.

Hill had one of his better weekends in recent memor/, reaching a final round for the first time since this event two years ago. The 64 year old posted back to back 4.5s, his slowest run of the weekend being in the 4.6s.

Despite his first round loss, Dunn widened his point lead over Bernstein, while Scelzi and Kalitta moved up in a tie for third, both within one round of the leader.

Schumacher dropped one spot to fifth and Joe Amato, who was third coming in, left in a sixth place tie with Dixon.

John Force again slaugh tered the competition in Funny Car using a final round 4.92/313 to-stop the 5.00/305 of Whit Bazemore and the Kendall Camaro Force taking his eighth win of the ’99 season.

The Castrol Mustang ripped out the hearts of the other flopper teams during qualifying blistering the Brainerd asphalt to a 4.869 at 305.98 to quahfy number one yet again.

In eliminations Force, Austin Coil and the rest of the team showed no mercy as they blasted 4.91/318, 4.90/298 and 4.91/316 wins over Dale Creasy Jr, Del Worsham and Tommy Johnson Jr. Other than the final, the semi final race with Johnson was the only close race that Force encountered all day as the Interstate Batteries Pontiac was there wire to wire, losing with a 4.95/308.

“It’s great to get back in the winners’ circle,” said Force. “This is really a good bunch of guys I got. Austin Coil is something else. The money from Castrol and Ford and all that is what it takes, but he’s really the one behind this deal....him and Bernie (Fedderly) and (John) Medlen. The drivers get all the credit, but it’s the crew guys that put it all together.

The things they can do with

Now Date, about that shirt: Don Prudhomme tells Dale Armstrong all about his new job for 2000.

Same old, same old: John Force won yet again in Funny Car. (Photos by Gerald McDoman)

a hot rod are amazing. Good race with ‘Baze’. I guess those guys are going to chase us all the way to the finish.

Bazemore, appearing in his fourth straight final round, showed that the Kendall team have found consistency as well as the strong performance needed to compete with the Castrol juggernaut.

The Tim Richards-tuned monster qualified third at 4.98 before taking a 5.10/289 first round win over Tim Wilkerson. He received a single in round two when A1 Hofmann was unable to answer the call and a 4.99/299 stopped Ron Capps, who suffered an explosion and fire at half track.

qualify on the pole while Coughlin ended up third at 7.004. The deg’s driver made it a sweep against the Johnsons earlier stopping Kurt with a 7.09/193.88 semi final round shot.

“I had two game plans going into the final round.” said Coughlin. “One worked out and the better team won at that moment and turned on the win light. I can’t say enough about how well our team works together. We’re one group working towards one goal - winning.”

Craig Treble scored his first Pro Stock Bike win, stopping Dave Schultz in the final round, 7.44/177 to

Jeg Coughlin Jr. scored the Pro Stock win, defeating Warren Johnson in the final, 7.06/194 to 7.16/179.

Coughlin left on the Professor in the final and never looked back.

Johnson did set new track records at 6.955/197.59 to

7.53/179. The real shock came in the opening round when Matt Hines cut a .640 light and lost to Chris Reuter. One pair later the same fate fell on points leader, Angelle Seeling as she was holeshot by CJ Smith, dropping a 7.48 to 7.40 decision.

In the Alcohol categories, Rick Santos scored a 5.53/249 to 5.66/250 victory over Rob Wend]and to take home the dragster crown while Larry Miner took a close decision o\ e." Jay Payne in Funny Car, 5.86/248 to 5.89/246.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

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27 August 1999

ANDRA AGM produces no surprises NO real surprises came out ofthe 26th annual ANDRA

AGM,held in Adelaide last week, with the “highlight” being the finahsation of the draft of the new rule book following its complete rewiitmg earlier this year, made possible by a new rules process introduced in 1998.

Some changes to the ANDRA Constitution, on notice since April, were rati fied, with the minimum number of available dele¬

i

«

gates at Divisional Council level now being six.

Further changes were agreed and put on notice, one being where a Divisional Council delegate fails to attend three consecutive meetings, the position will be declared vacant.

A review of track incidents saw a number of regulations presented and considered. In future, drivers or riders expe riencing handling difficulties and failing to abort a run may face instant disqualifica tion and/or fines, in addition

to tribunal action. Safety pro cedures in the pits were also studied and failure to observe safe practices could also results in the same penalties as on-track incidents.

Further items to come out of the ANDRA AGM also included: r A review of the Australian Drag Racing series would be carried out prior to the February 2000 National Control Council meeting.

From 1/10/99, a min imum of six vehicles will be

Huge turnout spurs on new Sydney track By GERALD McDORNAN

DRAG racing legend Jim Read was “overwhelmed” by the turnout to a meeting at the Blacktown Civic Centre in Sydney a fortnight ago, with around 1,200 drag racers, business people and fans gathering to voice their support of Read’s proposal for a stand-alone drag racing facility near Eastern Creek.

Called by ANDRA, the meeting was extremely positive for the sport and the prospects of the new facility, according to NSW ANDRA Divisional Director, and for mer Australian Champion, Terry Agland.

“This was a very positive evening,” he said. “If we could be as assured of a posi tive response from the Premier we would be in clover. Surely a response of this size must convince the Government that this issue is not going to sihiply go away - it will have to be addressed. ANDRA has identi fied the lack of drag racing opportunities in Sydney as the single most important issue facing the sport today and we will continue to work towards a resolution.”

i-equired to enter and attempt to qualify any bracket, before ADRS points are allocated.

The development of ANDRA championship series at state level would continue, with a South Australian series scheduled among three tracks during the 1999/2000 season.

Regulations and points would mirror the ADR Series as far as possible.

It was confirmed that Pro Stock vehicles must utilise manual shifters from 1/10/00.

The NCC also reaffirmed it’s intention to increase the use_of Australian bodies in Pro Stock. Discussion would continue on how to achieve this without hardship for existing competitors with input invited from interested parties by 1/10/99.

A further meeting that Read, publisher David Cook and ANDRA CEO Tony Thornton held with NSW Sport and Recreation Minister flohn Watkins early last week also gave Read confidence that his pro posal may bear fruit with Watkins, who is believed to have not been supportive of the concept, committing to “support the Premier’s decision” - the proposal currently before the Premier’s Department.

“The meeting at the Blacktown Civic Centre was something that the Minister, or the Premier just couldn’t not take notice of,” Read told Motorsport News last week.

“We’ve put a lot of time and effort into trying to get a stand-alone facility up and running, despite the best efforts of some, and to have the kind of support we received was just terrific.

“Since there has been no drag racing in New South Wales, the sport has suffered, the industry which supports it and lives from it has suffered and the public, who want to watch the fastest and most spec tacular motorsport around, have suffered.

“We’re hopeful that the Premier will see the positive benefits to the state and sup port our proposal ... it will only be good for everyone,” he said.

affirmed that bodies other than those currently used in Top Doorslammer were still acceptable, modified to a limit determined by ANDRA. Where airfoils are used on supercharged sedans (i.e.; Top Doorslammer), it was confirmed that they may only utilise a single element.

Previous side-plate dimensions were replaced with an overall limit of 120 square inches.

A review of electric and computer-based equip ment directly influencing the operation of vehicles would be conducted. The term com puter was considered to apply to any electronic, pneu matic, mechanical or hydraulic device reacting to a function of the vehicle.

A standardised Christmas Tree location would be confirmed in February, 2000.

dad Graeme Cowin have landed in the US this week to continue their campaign on the NHRA tour.

Having already compet ed at five events this sea son, qualifying at three, the Cowins and the K&N Filters/Auto Meter team have targetted five of the last eight races of the season, beginni ng with the US Nationals in just over a week’s time.

“Racing at the highest level is fantastic ... it absorbs you totaUy ... you live and breathe racing,

performed above expectation.s and we’re learning more every step of the all of it making us way tive.

competi¬

“This trip we’ll be spending nearly three months on the road and it will give us the opportunity to learn more about the car, cracks, conditions and our opponents and that excites us about the prospects, Graeme Cowin also told Motorsport News

the team has ordered a second chassis, a new have We

McKinney Top Fuel chas sis ordered, which we’ll pick up just after Indy,” he said.

“It’s a twin to our cur rent car and will serve as our back-up and display car for the remainder of this season, then become our primary car next year.”

Graeme will again over see the operation, with Shane Place and new team member, Brisbane’s Jason Walker,joining the family on tour.

n Former Competition Eliminator campaigner Morrie Huckel has taken up the position of ANDRA Technical Officer, replac ing Peter Williams.

Huckel, who ran a record setting B/A Ford Thunderbird in the early’90s, has been responsible for Quality Assurance and training, among other duties, in the public trans port industry, experience that ANDRA CEO Tony Thornton believes will be invaluable in his new role.

Along with Huckel’s pri mary focus of the training and administration of ANDRA’s many volunteer officials, he will also be responsible for technical, procedural and safety matters, co-ordination of the ANDRA rules process and general research.

B ANDRA has also

Marketing Consultant.

Whitchurch’s company.

Allround Event Company, wOl be responsible for the sales of advertising in ANDRA’s 2000 rulebook, along with their Contingency Sponsorship Programme.

B Calder Park Raceway has released its calendar for the 1999/2000 season, with just four national opens on the schedule the Olympics and an eai'ly start to the AFL season

dertaker and the 300 mph overtaker: Jerry Toliver will be joined by Jim Epier at WWF Racing.

Cowilts head stateside Two to rumble Andrew Cowin said just prior to the team’s depar ture last weekend.

“Our car and team have

Huckel appointed

appointed former Victorian Divisional Director Lindsay Whitchurch to the role of

(Photo by Gerald McDoman)

ANDREW, John and

35

in

“I am excited to have Jim

Funny Car are the “inthing” at the moment with Jerry Toliver con firming late last week that Jim Epier would now be driving a second car for the WWF team.

Epier, the first Funny Car racer to top 300 mph, will join the team immedi' ately with his current spon sors also moving over to the WWF operation.

His “Stone Cold” Steve Austin ride will be cloaked in a Corvette body, provid ed by sponsor Ecklers.

Epier on board as the dri ver for my second team,” Toliver said last week.

“With the addition of the second car, it enables us to compete at the same level as other top teams in [the] NHRA and the cohesive effort between the two teams will provide us with additional data, which in turn benefits our entire program.”

The WWF/Toliver/Epler deal is for the balance of the 1999 racing season and “beyond”.

- GERALD McDORNAN

-TWO

car

teams

being to blame...

Nov 13-Pro Stock/Top Doorslammer/Pro Stock Motorcycle Dec 10/11 - Victorian Champsionships/Top Fuel Jan 22- Top Alcohol/Pro Stock Motorcycle Feb 17-19-2000 Nationals B Adelaide International Raceway’s season calendar is also out and about, with the national open dates for' AIR as follows: Oct 16- Supercharged Outlaws Shootout Nov 5/6 - Springnationals /Top Fuel Dec 4- Pro Stock/'Top Fuel Bike Jan 15 - Top Alcohol/Pro Stock Motorcycle Feb 12- Festival State Champsionships/Top Doorslammers/ADBA Aprl- SAvWAWild Bunch Shootout

1999 WINSTON DRAG RACING SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS AT AUGUST 22. 1999 / /

PEHNai'■Br

* 1999 Winston Top Fuei Championship 951 1. Mike Dunn, Team Mopar 2. Kenny Bernstein, Budweiser King 932 .930 3. Gary Sceizi, Team Winston ,930 4. Doug Kalitta, Kitty Hawk ,921 5. Tony Schumacher, Exide Batteries ,904 6. Joe Amato. Tenneco Automotives . ...904 7. Larry Dixon, Miller Lite .857 8. Doug Herbert, Snap On Tools .8 16 9. Cory McClenafhan, MBNA .802 10.Bob Vandergriff, Jerzee’s

1999 Winston Funny Car Championship 1,479 1. John Force, Castrol Ford Mustang 2. Tony Pedregon, Castrol Ford Mustang ..1,157 3. Whit Bazemore, Kendall Chev Camaro ..1070 .706 4. Del Worsham, CSK Pontiac Firebird 5. Dean Skuza,Mateo Tools Dodge Avenger 703 6, Frank Pedregon, Penthouse Pontiac 702 .630 7. Tim Wilkerson, JCIT Pontiac Firebird 8. Cruz Pedregon, I’state Batteries Pontiac ..605 ,593 9. Cory Lee, Pioneer Dodge Avenger. .573 10.Jerry Toliver

1999 Winston Pro Stock Championship 1, Warren Johnson, Goodwrench Pontiac..1,221 2. Kurt Johnson, AC Delco Chev Camaro.,1,099 3. Jim Yates, Splitfire/Peak Pontiac Firebird 919 4. Jeg Coughlin Jnr, Jegs Mail Order Olds....901 5. Richie Stevens, Valspar Pontiac Firebird ..766 6. Troy Coughlin, Jeg’s Mail Order Olds... .693 7. Mark Pawuk, Summit Racing Pontiac . .670 8. Allen Johnson,Amoco Dodge Avenger. .666 9. Mike Edwards, Dewco Chev Camaro... .619 .596 10.Greg Anderson, Troy Humphries

27 August 1999

ire rt

iVi e

By Martin D Cfar A Western Australian round of the 1999/2000 Australian

n Robert Yates announced that Kenny Irwin will not be back to drive the Robert Yates Texaco Fords in 2000.

NASCAR Series appears to be ‘highly unlikely following ; Wanneroo Raceway’s cancella tion of its November 28 round - the opening round of the series last week.

Wanneroo Raceway General Manager Adrian Chamber’s told Motorsport News that the venue still hoped to run a round of the series, preferably on Februaiy 19 in conjunGtion with the second fGund of their Night Masters Series, although this would cur rently appear to be almost impos sible to achieve with a super speedway round of the series scheduled for the Thunderdome ; the previous weekend.

The cancellation of the WA .round, though, has caught Calder Park’s Events Manager Peter n Bridge unawares, with Bridge i.telling Motorsport News last ; Fi-iday that “that’s a ramour that I I’ve heard, although I’ve got no official confirmation on that, so ‘ weTe working to the November 28.date.”

“The NASCAR race in November is definitely off., it ‘ won’t be happening this year,” ; Chambers confirmed.

Chambers said the venue, : along with event promoter, for; mer NASCAR racer Barry Blake, i cancelled the event due to its ‘clash with the Winston Cup ; NASCAR Japan race.

“When they came to us originaln ly, we had cbfflculty finding suitjiable dates... first it was August, then October, then September n and finally November,” he said.

“After we’d finally settled on the date, we learnt that it clashed i with the.Japan race and that cast : doubt about soine drivers being ' able to make the WA round.

“While We are keen to run a i round of the series in Perth, it’s j important that it’s a round of the jchampionship and has all the I leading drivers.”

Series promoter Bob Jane is i expected in Perth early next ^ month on business and Chambers ; is hoping to be able to finalise a ; date for a WA round with Jane i'then, although a major reshuf fling ofthe calendar would appear to be required for Wanneroo to l achieve its February 19 date.

AJ Cup team

n A J Foyt will apparently announce at Darlington on September 5 that he will be field ing a Winston.Cup team in 2000.

Foyt will be competing with sponsorsliip from Conseco, an insurance company that current ly backs one of his IRL teams.

Aitfiough Yales’statement clearly says 2000, don’t be sur prised if li-win is ousted from the ride beforo season’s end.

In his second season on the cir cuit, Irwin has posted one top five and two top ten re.sults- he is 20tb tn points, with an average finish of 22.4. n Kodiak tobacco will not be bacK !

Stewart upset about Burton incident

TONY Stewart’s third placing at Michigan was a series best for him, but it did not come without controversy, after a rac ing incident with Jeff Burton.

“It was just a mistake,” said Stewart. “I thought I had him cleared and came/up the track too quick; it was my fault.”

Burton was passing Jimmy Spencer and moved low on the front stretch, but Stewart was coming fast and had to drop down to the apron to pass Burton.

When Stewart came back up the track, his rear quarter panel hit the front fender of Burton, sending Burton into the wall and dropping him from fourth to sixth in points with a 37th placing.

“Stop trying to make something out of nothing here,” Stewart told the media.

“Jeff Burton was one of the first

guys who helped me when I got started in the Grand National Series. There is no rivalry.”

Stewart also continues to learn

from Jeff Gordon; “It seems every time I get to the front, Jeff Gordon is there. Every time I pass him, he gets right up behind me and gets me real loose and makes me lose

about 200 yards. That’s part of the learning curve - he’s making me earn it the hard way.

“I have to figure out what to do to keep the car on the track when he gets behind me - and I’m getting tired of seeing him in my mirror, that’s for sure.”

- MARTIN D CLARK

Gordon's Glen makes five

JEFF Gordon became the first driver to win five

races this year with a victory in a no-drama event at the Watkins Glen circuit on August 15 -it was also Gordon’s fifth straight road course win and third straight at the Glen.

Gordon headed by 0.763 seconds circuit specialist Ron Fellows, driving a Joe Nemechek-owned Chevy to the flag in just his fourth Winston Cup event - unfortu nately for Canadian Fellows, his car developed a mis fire in the final laps and he was not able to challenge Gordon for the win.

Dale Jarrett, who qualified ninth, finished a careerequalling fourth, further padding his points lead and running with the leader all day.

R Wallace, who hasn’t won a circuit race since 1996, was the pole-sitter and he led the first lap before Gordon took over up front.

On lap 21, another circuit ace, Boris Said, driving an Ernie Irvan-owned Ford, headed the fray, Said fading later with transmission trouble.

The lead then sw'apped hands between Wally Dallenbach, who finished seventh, Gordon, Wallace, Fellows, Jerry Nadeau, Bobby Hamilton - the first time this season - and Michael Waltrip, who led under pit sequence and then Gordon took the lead for the final time on lap 71 of 90.

For Nadeau, it was the first time he had led a Winston Cup race - nine laps - and he finished a career-best fifth to boot, after starting sixth (his previ-' ous best result had been 15th)_. Nadeau led when Gordon pitted with 34 laps to run for his final four-tyi-e and fuel stop. ' Kyle Petty posted his second straight eighth placing on a road course: “If only I could finish like that on the speedways,” said Petty.

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Rookie contender Tony Stewart was a disappointing (for him) sixth. Stewart had shown to be stronger, but got a penalty for leaving the pits with the fuel dump can still attached to the rear quarter - while moving back through the pack, Stewart made a mistake and dropped to the rear of the field, but rallied to recover *'or a great finish.

Mark Martin finished out of the top five at Watkins Glen for the first time in eleven years, his problem a new race car that they just couldn’t get to run, a possi ble geometry problem ending ten straight top five results this year.

Dale Earnhardt made his 600th career Winston Cup start at the Glen: “The 600th start was pretty sorry,” said Earnhardt, who lost control late in the race and slipped into a barrier to finish 20th.

Bobby Labonte finished a lowly 24th after a spin Kenny Irwin, Johnny Benson, Jeff Burton and Mike Skinner also went for off track excursions, Skinner with help from team-mate Earnhardt.

Ricky Rudd was heading to his second straight top ten result, but a piece of gravel got lodged in the gear linkage and ended a hopeful run.

Bill Elliott and Nemechek collided on the final lap, Elliott wanting seventh from Nemechek and the latter ending up in the gravel, placing 30th - “tomonnw. Bill and I will be fiiends, but today we’re not,” said Nemechek.

Final result: Gordon (Chevy), Fellows (Chevy), R Wallace (Ford), Jarrett (Ford), Nadeau (Ford), Stewart (Pontiac), Dallenbach (Chevy), Petty (Pontiac), Skinner (Chevy), Martin (Ford).

Points standings: Jarrett 3359, Martin 3059, B Labonte 2997, J Burton 2943, Gordon 2877, Stewart 2861, Earnhardt 2704, R Wallace 2511, T Labonte - MARTIN D CLARK 2508, Skinner 2506.

1999 WINSTON CUP SHtreS RMSWTS HICHIGAN SPEEDWAY, AUGUST 22 I. Bobby Labonte 2. Jeff Gordon ..

3. Tony Stewart .

...Pontiac

.Ford

.Chevrolet

12. Rick Mast ..

...Pontiac Ford

13. Michael Waltrip ...Chevrolet 14. Matt Kenseth Ford

4. Dale Jarrett ..

5. Dale Earnhardt ....Chevrolet 6. Chad Little ...

Ford 7. Mark Martin ..

...Ford

8. Jimmy Spencer 9. Hut Stricklin ..

...Ford

10. John Andretti

II. Elliott Sadler

...Ford .Pontiac

Ford

IS. Sterling Marlin ....Chevrolet Ford 14. Rusty Wallace 17. Geoffrey Bodine ...Chevrolet Ford 18. Jeremy Mayfield 19. Bill Elliott Ford 20. Steve Park

.,.

■Chevrolet

Chevrolet

... .Chevrolet

29. Jcr7> Nadeau .

n Florida businessman Bob Lane and some associates became partners with Cale Yarborough Motorsports and will field a sec ond car for ARCA driver Mike Ciochetti later in the year - Lane owns the Winners Circle die-cast collectible company, but they are not involved in the venture. n Ricky Rudd has set a deadline for sponsorship for his self-owned Winston Cup team, following Tide’s announcement that they will not return to sponsor the operation in 2000. By the middle of September, Rudd hopes to have something in place to run his team next year -if not, the outfit will be sold, or auctioned. n New NASCAR team PPI owmer Cal Wells has been talking to several drivers about piloting his Tide-sponsored Robert Yatespowered Tamms next year.

Apparently Wells has spoken with Wally Dallenbach, Jeremy Mayfield, Ward Bui'ton, John Andretti, Steve Grissom and A1 Unser Jr. Dallenbach is the number one candidate at present, posfing top ten results in the last,four races with Hendrick Motoreports but Mayfield could be a factor, he is rumoured to be out of his Penske-Kranefiiss ride m 2000.

Sources indicate that Robby Gordon could replace Mayfield next year in the Mobil 1 Fords.

ma

i/

Points to 22 Aug, 1999

27. Kenny Wallace ... .Chevrolet 28. Rich Bickle .Poritmt 30. Ricky Craven

n Ricky Craven has signed a con tract with Midwest Motorsports to pilot the #50 Chevrolets for the remainder of the season.

Vi

23. Wally Dallenbach ..Chevrolet 24. Dale Earnhardt Jr. ..Chevrolet 2S. Ken Schrader .Chevrolet 26. Terry Labonte

n John Wolfe has left Butch Mock Motorsports as crew chief to join Team SABCO - shop fore man Troy Selberg will take over some of Wolfe’s duties until a suiteble replacement is found.

3'

.Ford

21. Johnny Benson 22. Joe Nemechek

as primary" sponsor of the Larry Hediick-owned Chevrolets cur rently driven by David Green.

The contract expires in 1999 and the company does not want to continue their backing of Hedrick - it’s not known whether they will support another team.

I. Dale jarrett

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2. Marie Martin

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3. Bobby Labonte ■. ■ .

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●i. jeff Burton 5. jeff Gordon 6. TooySteww^ .

7. Dalr Earnhardt Sr .

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27 August 1999

Mike Raymond joins Speedway Australia Inaugural AGM sees Nelson and Trewin appointed promoters’representatives

SPEEDWAY Australia

one of the best promoters of the sport.

Incorporated (SA), the competiHe made news recently when he to)-based alternative to NASR, and Jeff Cooper withdrew both held its inaugural AGM as Lismore Speedway and the yet to Motorsport News went to press, be completed Willowbank Australian Motorsport Speedway from the Australian Commissioner Mike Raymond Speedway Promoters Association being installed as the indepen (ASPA). dent Chairman and other asso “I’m honoured that the propo nents of SA have asked me to take ciation presidents - Neville Harper, Sam Papa and George a position on the board and I will gladly accept it because I see SA as Tatnell - being invited to take being good for the competitors,” up positions as their association Nelson stated. representatives; Geoff Trewin “NASR is a promoter-based thing and Larry Nelson will represent that is motivated by money and the promoters. profit which will come from the The appointment of Raymond as competitors’ pockets. NASR is all chairman is a huge shot in the arm about control - control of both com for SA, as he will bring a wealth of petitors and promoters. experience and provide valuable “As an ASPA member, you have guidance to the association in his to support NASR and neither role as titular head. myself nor Jeff Cooper liked the Nelson is also another significant tactics employed, so we withdrew from both the ASPA and NASR. appointment to the board - a pro moter for 16 of his 29 years in “Luckily for us, it seems everyone wants to come and race at speedwmy. Nelson has often been considered to be something of a Willowbank, so I don’t think it will hurt us at all. renegade, but has always rated as

“SA gives conipetitors and other promoters an alternative that doesn’t favour the big city tracks and I think it will be more warmly embraced by everyone,” Nelson con tinued. “Nothing has been proven yet from the NASR point of view.”

In Nelson’s opinion, Queensland competitors will be happy to join SA. “Queensland will never be a NASR-based state and NASR accepts that and have even stated that,” he explained. “In my opinion - and it’s not just in Queensland there’s a lot of support out there for - BRE'TT SWANSON SA.”

Mark K again!

MARK Kiuser continued his win ning Knoxville Nationals momen tum. claiming victory when the Outlaws debuted at MetraPai'k Raceway in Billings. Montana, Tim Shaffer was second ahead of Stevie Smith - it was Kinser’s 17th A-Feature win of the series.

- BRETT SWANSON

Hectic VIC Super season

SUPER Sedan racing is set for a huge season in Victoria and, with the class in such high demand, not all tracks can be accommodated vihth events and are now on a waiting list.

With meetings programmed nearly every weekend for the 1999/2000 season, VSSA Inc President Steve Reddecliffe stated that the class had to knock back sev eral tracks, as the VSSA was unable to allocate meet ings in its hectic calendar.

“The class is looking very strong this season with competitor numbers again continuing to increase, which should give the class some great fields for the season.' stated Reddecliffe.

“Of course, a'lot of our calendar is due to our com mittment to Western Auto Speedway, which we are hoping will le.come the home track for Super Sedans in the new millenium.

“Our negotiations with promoter Geoff Trewin are still not completed, although we hope to have our cal endar finalised within the next seven days. We have ten events proposed for Bacchus Marsh track, one being the All Stars Series, one our VSSA Southern National Series and the other eight being independent

events run by Western Auto Speedway, which will probably be series events in their own right.

“We will again be running the Super Sedan Southern National Series, with six events being programmed over the season. With 33 finahsts in last year’s series, this has proved to be a very popular event on the Super Sedan calendar, with tracks anxious to be a part of its success.

“There is cun-ently a lot of controversy over dates, with the Victorian round of the All Stars clashing with the ASCF National Title (being held in Tasmania), both being set down for January 21-22 and, unfortu nately, until this is sorted out, we can’t finalise our own calendar - hopefully, everything should he worked out within the next couple of weeks.”

Some of the new strategies being undertaken by the VSSA Inc include offering all Super Sedan registered drivers in Victoria and South Australia honorary mem berships, which entitles them to a newsletter and vot ing rights with the VSSA. ' ..

Further inquiries regarding the class can be directed to Steve Reddecliffe during business hours on (03) - SUE HOBSON 59751666.

You’re invited to be Meet a karter part of Australia’s David Graffin fastest growing motor sport AGE: 19

OCCUPATION: Apprentice CLUB: Southern Tasmanian Kart Club

Why not see what it's all about for yourself? Attend a race meeting at your local club and talk to the drivers and crew. There are classes to suit almost everyone from 7 years to 77 +.

Midgets 7-11 years Rookies 10- 12 years Juniors* 12-16 years in TWO weight divisions Seniors* Over 10 classes of varying power & driver weights to choose from. * Other more powerful classes available for experienced racers.

CLASSES: Senior National Light & Clubman Light ACHIEVEMENTS: 1996 (Junior National Heavy).

Charters Towers and Townsville Club Champion as Junior, 3rd Queensland State Sprint Championship. 1st Queensland State Dirt Track Championship, 1st National Dirt Track Championship. 1997 j’nd National Dirt Track

Championship Senior Nat Light & Club Light.

1998'1st Queensland State Dirt Track Championship SNL & CL, 1st National Dirt Track Championship in CL. 1999 1st Queensland State Dirt (rack Championship SNL 1999 FAMILY INVOLVEMENT: My father and 11 year old brother all race karts starting 1990.

AMBITIONS: To race V8 Supercars. I've been offered a test drive in an new AU Ford in early 2000.

As many of you would have read in the Amoco Knoxville Nationals report elsewhere in this edition, my meet was not a good one, especially when our expecta tions were so high and we didn’t even make the A-Main on Saturday night.

The weather was bad on Wednesday night when we quali fied and ended up back in 22nd position in the 64-car field that night - then we had to wait until Friday morning to finish our heat races, after Wednesday’s show was washed out. i In our heat, we didn’t hook up with the racing surface as we would have liked and I was forced to make the A-Main via the BMain - I finished it in 20th spot.

Then, later in the night, I ran in the Kele & Associates Australian/ American Challenge race, finish ing in fourth place after starting out of fifth.

o

ur Jensen Construction crew worked on the car overnight, looking for a set-up that would suit the changing conditions.

I made it into the B-Main and started out of 14th and progres sively moved towards the fifth.

Then a yellow came out with two laps to go and on the restart I dropped to seventh - and that’s where I remained, after missing the transfer into the A-Main.

t was great to see Brooke (Tatnell) get into the A-Main and put in a solid performance.

I think it is the first time that he has made it into the Nationals feature since he started racing here in 1990. He has been really performing great on the Pennzoil World of Outlaws trail in recent times.

Last had Saturday its annual night, break Knoxville from rac ing after the Nationals, so we ven tured to Sioux Falls to run in their annual Gold Cup Race.

I had a horrible night and fin

37

Jac Haudenschild brought the crowd to their feet with another major win.

In recent weeks, he has won the $50,000 winners purse, plus the Gold Cup - it’s nice if you can get it.

I Terry have aMcCarl tough battle with in theahead Knoxville Track Championship - I’m cur rently running second to McCarl and have to win both of the remaining features if I’m to retain my title for a third consecutive year.

I

n the near future. I’ll be returning to Sydney to commence prepa rations for my fourth World Series Sprintcars title.

My brother, Paul, was in Melbourne meeting with our pri mary sponsor Pennzoil, as well as getting a few things ready for our 1999/2000 Down Under season.

I’m currently sourcing some new components and race equip ment that will be shipped to our raceshop back home.

o

n a sad note, I would like to pass on my condolences to my aunt, Anne and my two. cousins, David and Adam, foilowing the sudden death due to a heart attack last week in Sydney of my 45 year-old uncle, John Raw due to my heavy racing schedule in the USA, I unfortu nately wasn’t able to jet back for his funeral.

See you soon,

ished 12^h in the A-Main, while THE closure of Claremont Speedway at the end of the coming 1999/2000 season will end the 72-year history of the longest run ning dirt track speedway in the world and the town of Claremont.

The first meeting on May 14,1927, was at the detriment ofthe football match between Claremont-Cottesloe v Subiaco at Claremont Oval held at the same time. Speedway cost two bob and an extra shilling for a seat in the gi-andstand.

Despite the uncertain weather, the crowd of 15,000 witnessed a thrilling programme of Solo and Sidecar races at break-neck speed.

An exhibition has been assembled at the Claremont Museum, 66 Victoria Avenue, Claremont, to recall some of the highlights of the era.

The display includes two fully restored bikes, a video featuring the “Master of the Speedway,” Chum Taylor and an array of race pro grammes.

- DARREN O’DEA The exhibition will run until September 20.

The Australian Karting Association Inc For information about karting & how to get started call NSW 02 9834 3860 VIC 03 9362 1144 WWW.karlguide.com.auMa.htm

QLD 07 3844 8507 www.akaqld.asn.au TAS 03 6272 6848 SA

08 8242 3513

WA 08 9409 4441 hil[)v'Avwvv.ararh.ncl..iu/users/ak.iwa/index.litm

NT

08 8978 2916

National AKA Web Site www.aka.asn.au

38

27 August.1999

Mark K's second Knoxville Nats

Support series

‘f

n The Pennzoil World of Outlaws Championship series just keeps going from strength to strength with the recent announcement of two'new speedways and a junior or support series. <,Due to the rapid growth of the series in recent years, series founder and president Ted Johnson announced on August 9 that he will start a support series in 2000.

“With our increased television coverage and the new tracks being built for us, it’s time for us to start a support series,” Johnson said.

“This will provide valuable experi ence for the young racers.”

The series will race at various facilities and support the national ly televised events. It will feature a substantial points fund and a competitive purse structure - it will use the same rules as the Outlaw series and will be overseen by one of the original Outlaws, Rick Ferkel.

Some criticism has already been levelled at the series using the same mles, many people believing that it should utilise a more costeffective 360 cubic inch engine instead of the 410ci units.

By Brett Swanson

New tracks

The 4/lOths of a mile track will be built at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth and will mn two Outlaw events next season.

This track will feature 70-foot wide straights banked to eight degrees, with 80-foot wide, 10 degree turns and will seat 15,000 people.

Texas Motor Speedway already hosts NASCAR and Indy Racing League(IRL)events. n At the same time, Lowes Motor Speedway president Humpy ’V^eeler announced that they are also to build a dirt track facility to compliment the existing asphalt super speedway.

This 4/lOths of a mile facility will debut in May 2000 with a two-day Outlaws show to coincide with the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 week activities and will then return in October with another two-night show, this time to be tied in with the NASCAR GM Quality 500 week activities.

The track will utilise the same North Carolina clay that NASCAR

n Speedway Motorsports Incorporated(SMI)has just announced plans to build a new dirt track speedway on which rounds of the Outlaw series will be run in the year 2000.

racin^/Started on and the dimen sions,are almost identical to those at Texas Motor Speedway, except that the turns will be banked to 12 degrees and a permanent grand stand will seat 12,500 people.

ri

fill Star dates I now confirme'’ But Australian Title clash seems

unavoidable as Tasmanian promoters stick to original Supers schedule THE race schedule for the inau gural All Star Super Sedan Series has been finalised with the series visiting three states in as many weeks.

The rich invitation-only series will usher in the new millenium at on Yandina Speedway Queensland’s Sunshine Coast where the opening round will be decided on Januaiy 2 - round two will be decided the following night (January 3) at Brisbane’s Archeifteld Speedway.

Tbe trail will take a brief break before hostilities resume at Newcastle Speedway on Wednesday, January 12 - Sydney will be the next port of call when Parramatta City Raceway plays host to Australia’s top Super Sedan competitors on January Iff The series then heads further south to 'Victoria for the final two fixtures, the first of which is sched uled for the impressive new Western Auto Raceway at Bacchus Marsh on January 21.

Premier Speedway in Victoria’s western district has been selected to host the series Grand Final on January 22.

The involvement of Bacchus Mai-sh promoter Geoff Ti-ewin with the new Speedway Australia organ isation may see the penultimate round of the NASR-sanctioned trail transferred to Geelong’s Avalon Speedway.

Series organiser Bany Pearce is hoping that a clash with the Australian Super Sedan Championship will be avoided.

Pearce is confident that the national title, scheduled for deci sion at Premier Speedway in New Norfolk outside Hobart on January 22-23, will be moved back one week to accommodate those All Star com petitors wanting to make the jour ney across Bass Strait.

The Tasmanian promoters have indicated that they are pushingahead with their oiiginal schedule, so we have to hope that a compro mise can be reached in the very near future. - CHRIS METCALF

Max Dumesny Motorsport

track on August 14 - in a thrilling finish, Kinser held off last year’s winner Danny ‘The Dude’ Lasoski, Kevin Gobrecht and Tyler Walker for a US$100,000 payday.

Lasoski qualified on the pole for the 30-lap feature, leading the first 17 tours using the low groove and heading a hard-charging Walker up high.

Kinser moved through to second from his seventh starting slot just prior to a red flag for a three-car flip in turn 2, triggered when Joey Saldana toppled over.

Terry McCarl had nowhere to.^o and did the same thing, then P.J. Chesson rolled into McCarl Chesson returned to the field sans new wings, McCarl taking the worst hit in his Forbrook entry with a bent chassis.

With the red flag out, Karl Kinser got out the wrenches and went to work on his son’s Moparpowered Maxim, changing both front and right rear shocks to help the car run in the high groove.

Help it did and, within a lap of the restart, Kinser blasted around The Dude, Gobrecht moving into second briefly until the final lap, when Lasoski turned the wick up in the low line, but couldn’t quite pull the pass off.

For Karl, it was his 13th Nationals win as a car owner - his last coming with Mark in 1996 and for Chrysler it’s first.

Representing Australia were Knoxville ‘local’ Skip Jackson, Brooke Tatnell and Peter Murphy.

All three drivers did well to qual ify for the 22-lap B-Main, Tatnell the surprise of the trio and starting fifth, with Jackson 14th and Murphy 18th.

Tatnell really got hooked up in the B, chasing winner Jeff Swindell to the chequers after passing track points leader Terry McCarl and Jac Haudenschild for the runner-up slot.

It seemed the Nationals jinx had hit Jackson again, Skip placing sev enth in the B and sixth in his heat on a track where he has plenty of experience.

“We just couldn’t get it running the way we wanted it to,” said Jackson. “If we could have had a caution earlier, maybe we could have had something for them.”

Murphy, driving a new car for the first time in his career, finished fourth in his heat and 12th after dodging a flipping Ed Lynch in the B - but his tracking got knocked out of whack in the scramble around Lynch and 12th was all the

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could muster on a bumed-out right rear tyre.'

With the likes of top dogs Gary Wright, Fred Rahmer, Paul McMahan, Daryn Pittman and Kasey Kahne behind Murphy, the Aussies all have to be pleased with their results even Andy Hillenburg didn’t advance to the AMain, finishing ninth and missing his first A since May of 1992, a string ofsome 507 races.

Following a popular win with ease in the B-Scramble the previ ous evening and a heat victory ear lier that day, Tatnell started 22nd in the 30-lap A-Main and finished a desendng 12th.

“We tightened the car up too much between the A and B,” said Tatnell. “We loosened it up again during the red flag,(in the A) but it was too late to gain any further.”

Jeff Swindell, who advanced from the B-Main, had p great run going in the 30-lap feature, moving from 21st to eighth, passing the most cars.

Craig Dolansky also had a strong showing, winning the Wednesday night A-Main. which was held on Thursday afternoon because of rain - he advanced to fourth in the Nationals and would have been a top three contender had his fuel pump shaft not broken.

Walker also showed very well in what could be his last Nationals he has just signed a three-year with contract with 'Tyler(no relation) Jet Motorsports to run the NASCAR Busch Series.

Final rescdt: M Kinser, Lasoski, Gobrecht. Smith, Herrera, Walker, S Kinser, J Swindell, Schatz, S SwindeU. - MARTIN D CLARK

Aussie Nats diary

Wednesday, August 11: Skip Jackson timed 22nd (.15.972 sec onds), Kerry Madsen 24th (16.016), Brooke Tatnell 27th (16.153). Fast Time - Joey Saldana (15.477).

Thursday, August 12: Jaymie Moyle timed 36th (16.750), Peter Murphy 39th (16.808), Robert Jackson 60th (17.761) - Fast Time, Danny Lasoski (15.955).

Heat 3 - Murphy fourth, quali fied into A-Feature; Heat 5 Moyle seventh, qualified into BFeature.

Non-Qualifiers Race - Robert Jackson seventh, qualified into CFeature.

C-Feature - Robert Jackson ninth. B-Feature - Jaymie Moyle 18th. Preliminary’ Feature - Peter Murphy 11th.

Friday, August 13: Held over from Wednesday due to rain.

Heat 2 - Tatnell first, qualified into Preliminary Feature; Skip

Jackson sixth, qualified into BFeature. Heat 4 - Kerrv' Madsen ninth, qualified into C-Feature.

C-Feature - Kerry Madsen 17th. B-Feature - Skip Jackson second, qualified into Preliminary Feature. Preliminary Feature - ' Tatnell 15th, Skip Jackson 20th.

Scramble/Non-Qualifiers Program; Heat 4 - Keny Madsen fourth, qualified into Non-Qualifiers Feature.

Kele & Associates Australian/ American Challenge - Tatnell second, Skip Jackson fourth, Madsen eighth.

B-Feature - Moyle fifth. NonQualifiers Feature - Madsen 21st.

B-Scramble- Brooke TatneH first.

Saturday, August 14: D i Feature - Moyle 10th. B-Feature | Tatnell second, qualified into AFeature. Skip Jackson seventh.

Murphy 12th. A-Feature Brooke -BSWANSON Tatnell 12tli.

1999 WORLD OF OUTLAWS SERIES POINTS SCORE

Australian Distributors for

Xoo$ifr

MARK Kinser won his second Amoco Knoxville Nationals at the historic half-mile Iowa dirt

POINTS STANDING TO AUGUST 22,1999 £L

^ RACING TIRE

For more information on Hoosier Drag and Speedway Tyres call:

NSW: 02 9679 1990 Fax 02 9679 1187 VIC: 03 9331 6477 Fax 03 9331 7444 SA: 08 8332 0800 Fax 08 8364 0296

I. Mark Kinser 2. Danny Lasoski 3. Steve Kinser 4. Stevie Smith 5. Johnny Herrera 6. Sammy Swindell 7. Donny Schatz 8. Jeff Swindell 9. Andy Hillenberg 10. Tim Shaffer

8105 7975 7867 7750 7673 7622 7570 7179 7077 7068

11. Daryn Pittman 12. Tyler Walker 13. Brooke Tatnell 14. Kevin Gobrecht IS. Dale Blaney 16. Jac Haudenschild 17. Craig Dollansky 18. Travis Whitney 19. Frankie Kerr 20. Joe Gaerte

6837 6588 6252 4325 4160 3545 3297 3277 3107 2898

GRAYS HARBOUR PARK, AUGUST 22

I. Mark Kinser 2. Sammy Svrindell 3. Tim Shaffer 4. Danny Lasoski 5. Stevie Smith 6. Johnny Herrera 7. Kevin Gobrecht 8. Andy Hillenburg 9. Jeff Svsfindell 10. Donny Schatz

11. Lance Blevins 12. Brad Furr 13. Brooke Tatnell 14. Randy Hannagan IS. Daryn Pittman 16. Steve Kinser 17. Dale Blan%‘ 18. Shawna Wilsk^’ 19. Donny Fry 20. Randy Ridge

1

27 August 1999

N

igel Sadler, the 20 year-old from Adelaide who rides in

England for Peterborough, fin ished third in the World Under-21 Final at Vojens in Denmark.

Sadler finished second in each of his first two rides, won his third race, but then had a disappointing third in heat 19. A heat victory there would have earned him a ride-off for the title with England’s Lee* Richardson, who emerged as the champion Mildura’s Kevin Dooian, stili awaiting clearance to ride in England for Belle Vue, finished 11th with a creditable six points.

Peter French ptc TRIPLE state champion Mark Wells will have a new Murphy Sprintcar when he rocks up for the '●start of Glaremont Speedw;ay in October. WA chassis guru .Geoff Murphy confirmed that he was : putting together a new conventional car for Wells for the 1999/2000 season - and, once again, DARRENO’DEA Murphy wiU be responsible for much of the setting up of the car.

Z Speediw Title If Western Auto

i I

THE Australian Speedcar Control Council (ASCC), one of the strongest opponents to NASR, has announced that the Australian Speedcar Championship in the year 2000 will be held from February 2-5 at 'Western Auto Raceway in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria.

“After considerable deliberation with three tenders to choose from, the executive committee of the ASCC has accepted the proposal from Western Auto Raceway to ran the 2()00 title,” stated national president Sam Papa.

“The year 2000 ASCC Australian Speedcar Championship is the only national event sanctioned by the ASCC and must be given the prestige it richly deserves - we are also looking to shortly announce where the following three national titles will be held.”

The recently run 1999 Australian title at Darwin’s

Hidden Valley Speedway, won by local veteran Bob Holt and hailed as one of the best titles ever run, has lifted the standard expected for such an event and the ASCC is keen to maintain that high standard, believ ing that the new Victorian venue is capable of staging such a prestigious and long established event in only its first full season of operation.

The ASCC is also taking steps to put in place struc tures that will lift the image of Speedcar racing in Australia, such as establishing a national Internet site, the marketing of Speedcars with sports marketing companies, forming the ASCC’s own series, affiliacing with other bodies (through the proposed Speedway Australia body) and affiliating with USAC (the ASCC is already affiliated with the New Zealand Speedcars).

- BRETT SWANSON

iuiiker honoured... and Doty a chance for Sprintcar Title

INAUGURAL President Wayne Bunker was honored with life

membership of South Australia’s Sprintcar Action Club when the successful asso ciation held its seventh annual general meeting in Adelaide.

Bunker was presented with a specially engi-aved plaque marking his conferral as the club’s first life member, in recognition of his dedi cation and service to the club since its inception in 1992.

Outgoing president Danny Knight welcomed Tim McAvaney to the chair as Sprintcar Action’s new chairman, while Des Deyoung accepted the position of vice-chair¬

man. Club stalwarts Peter Tucker and Di Franklin were returned as secretary and treasurer, respective ly and Deb Campbell was appointed social secretary - the committee contains several new faces and comprises James Baker, Paul Carruthers, Des Packer, Darryl Squiers, Steve Green and Peter Smith.

"Wai'm acclamation greeted the announced engagement of Peter Tucker and Deb Campbell, Tucker being a former confirmed bachelor, while the lady in his life is the widow of well-known Victorian speedway identity Ian Campbell the SA speedway fraternity extends its best wishes to the happy couple.

S.O.S. RACEPARTS Suppliers of quality race parts

■ Weld Wheels ■ Eagle chassis ■ Pro Shocks ■ All titanium parts Mail order available - all credit cards accepted

Ph: 02 4332 8755 Fax: 02 4385 8395 Mobi!e: 0411 470 712 21 Sanctuary Place, Bateau Bay, NSW 2261

■ Speedway City promoter Wendy Turner has revealed that negotiations are continuing with Brad Doty in a bid to have the US sprintcar legend present at next year’s Australian Sprintcar titles in Adelaide.

“Brad was very impressed with his first trip Down Under earlier this year and is keen to return in February,” said Turner, admitting that she has spoken with Doty sev eral times in the last fortnight - the man instrumental in Doty’s Australian debut, Brian Linigen, has indicated he would make the specially-built winged buggy avail able if talks with the American come to fruition.

-DMcNABB

By Tony Millari

I

van Mauger, the six-times World Champion who now lives on Queensland's Gold Coast, has confirmed his interest in promot ing a Speedway Grand Prix in Australia - Mauger has just spent five weeks in Europe and has met with GP race director Ole Olsen and Benfield Sports international,

Craig Watson, enjovinp a fine season with P^tish Premier League club Newport, is set to step up to the British Elite League next year.

Watson has agreed a shortterm contract to race for Eastbourne for the rest of this season and the Sussex club is expected to be among the front runrtprs for his signature on a permanent basis for next year.

the company that now owns the GP rights.

He says he is iooking to stage : a GP in Sydney during October i 2001 and he will hope to promote another in New Zealand a week later.

We talked about gc tig ahead in 2000, but with the Olympics in Sydney and the Americas' Cup in New Zealand, I think there is enougn on at that time. If we do it properly for 2001, it could work,”

Sydney Mickwith Powell has finally rider broken British Premier club Glasgow, where he was skipper until the recent recruitment of veteran former world number two Les Collins.

Powell made his debut for

Mauger Southsaid, Af rica,California and Malaysia are all being looked at for possible GP venues -rom 2001, when it is hoped to expand to a ten meeting series.

Berwick against the Isle of Wight and will be staying with the Border club for the rest of the season.

p our Australians are Qurrenriy in a the top eleven in the British Elite League averages - Jas:)n Crump has just overtaken World Champion Ton y Rickarosson to

The for 26 traumas year-old have Markcontinued Lemon and 1999 will be a year he’ll want to forget.

He started the season without a club after being released by Poole - he was recruited by Eastbourne, but sacked to make way for the Swede Peter Nahlin and then moved to take a place in the Hull team.

Now he has broken his wrist in a crash at Craven Park during the League meeting with Poole.

top the figures, Jason Lyons lies second, Ryan Sullivan nintn and Leigh Adams 11th.

Oxford riders Todd Wiltsnire and Craig Boyce, both from Sydney, lie 24th and 25th.

M

ark Loram, the leading British rider at the moment, is set for yet another Grand Prix appear ance.

Loram, who won the Swedish GP as a wild card and has since raced at Wroclaw and Coventry in succeeding GPs, is set to take the place of the injured Brian Andersen, or Mario Jirout, in the next GP at Bydgoszcz in Poland on August 28.

Loram has already qualified for the GP Challenge round at Lonigo in Italy in October.

Former World Champion SimonLongtrack Wigg is intending to move to Australia, where he will live permanently on the Gold Coast, Wigg, who suffered a relapse when about to fly home to England last year from Australia where he’d raced in the Series 500 meetings, has applied for Australian residence.

He has sold his Oxfordshire home in England and his possessions are in a container at the docks waiting for his medical clearance to leave for Australia, The former Grand Prix rider is hoping to become involved in speedway promotion and other spin-off activities if his paperwork goes through OK - but there has been some concern about his ; health by the authorities.

IN the 10-lap Kele & Associates Austrahan/American Challenge, ; Randy Hanhkgan proved to be the man to beat, leading aH ten | laps to defeat Brooke Tatnell, Joey Salidana, Jackson, Danny | Smith, Brent AntiH, Phil Gressman and Kerry Madsen. | Madsen was in a borrowed car for the Knoxville Nationals .support j event, following a hard wreck in his qualifying heat - the team did | rebuild the car, but a second iim showed the car was far woree than they !

- MARTIN D CLARK 1 first thought and Madsen parked it.

AUSTRALIAN SPRINTCAR CALENDAR VICTORIA S.RA. Western Auto Bendigo ....

Western Auto f Avalon Warrnambool Western Auto Avalon Western Auto Western Auto Avalon

.Oct 30 .Nov 6 .Nov 13 .Nov 20 .Dec 4 .Dec 10 .Dec 26 .Dec 26 .Jan 8 .Jan IS

39

SPEEDWAY CBTY S.A. . .Nov 6 Official Practice ..Nov 13 Sprintcar Masters ... .. . ,Nov 27 All-Star Show . .Dec 4 World Series Sprintcars All-Star Show . .Dec 01 . .Dec27 World Series Sprintcars AMCA National Titles . . .Jan 1S . .Jan 22 Sprintcar Spectacular .

Australian S/car Title .. ..Feb, 5 All-Star Show . . .. .... ..Feb 12

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40 27 August 1999

JXo.

Report and photos by SEAN HENSHELWOOD WITH only one round of The 1999 Wynn’s Series left to run, a pattern of likely champi onship victors is starting to emerge after the third round in Geelong on August 15.

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In fi’ont ofa brave crowd and in typ ical Victorian winter conditions, Jamie Whincup(Formula A), Neil McFadyen (Intercontinental A) and Adam Graham (Junior Intercontinental A) stamped their dominance on their respective classes, each driver taking a dominant win in the final.

#3 waiTies Smsrtl qualified 17th, but took an excellent second.m the iCA final.

Junior Intercontinental A Championship leader Regan Payne (PCRyPCR/Dunlop) may not have won a final in 1999, but he cei-tainly has been the most consis tent drivers in the field, pole posi tion (33.2543) at Geelong on his first visit proving the point.

Behind him, Melbourne driver Jace Lindstrom (Arrow/Comer/ Bridgestone) grabbed second from Ryal Harris (Energy/Ital Sistem/ Bridgestone), round two winner Adam Graham (Tony KartWortex/ Bi-idgestone), Peter Hamilton (Mike Wilson/Parilla/Dunlop), Tony D’Alberto (CRG/Parilla/Bridgestone), Ben Redmond (CRG/Parilla/ Dunlop), round one winner Geoff Grant (CRG/CRG/Bridgestone), Troy Woolston (Arrow/Comer/ Bridgestone) and Glen Saville (Top Kart/Parilla/Bridgestone).

Heat one saw Payne take victory over a second clear of Graham, heat two saw Graham take a three sec ond victory from Harris, while the wet third heat saw chaos and Graham lapped after choosing slicks in preference to wets in the drying conditions.

Harris took a dominant win in that heat, over 14 seconds clear of reigning New Zealand Champion Wade Cunningham (CRGWortex/ Bridgestone).

Tl)fe pre-final was just one of those races...

Graham made another one of his electrifying starts and raced away, Redmond into an early second ahead of Hamilton, Daniel Elliott (Tecno/Parilla/Bridgestone) and Payne.

The battle was for third, between Hamilton, Elliott, Payne and Harris, with James Gurr (Kosmic/ Parilla/Bridgestone) catching.

Hamilton made a move on Redmond for second, bogging down both drivers, Elliott making the most of it to take them both.

With Graham gone up front, the battle between Elliott, , Payne, Hamilton, Redmond and Harris was one of the weekend’s high lights, the lead often changing three times a lap.

Poised: Daniel Elliott prepares for battle in JICA - Elliott, fourth in the final, is now third in the series pointscore, behind Payne and Graham

Junior

Intercontinental

A

But Harris forced his way through by mid-race and set off in pursuit of Graham, the battle for third continuing unhindered.

Graham took victory by 3.6 sec onds, wdth Harris a further 2.4 sec onds clear of Elliott, Payne, Hamilton and Lindstrom.

pointscore (after three rounds): Regan Payne 137, Adam Graham 129, Daniel Elliott 116, Geoffrey Grant 113, Andre Morgan 106, Jace Lindstrom 98, Peter Hamilton 98, Ryal Harris 95, James Gurr 94, Ricky Occhipinti 88.

Final(29 laps) Graham did it again, taking a strong lead from Elliott, Harris and Gurr, while Redmond’s weekend was over at the start, the talented young Melbourne driver out with a fouled plug.

Cunningham’s Australian-tour was getting progressively worse.

After pole at Adelaide’s opening round, he lasted only one corner before coming together with Adelaide’s Andrew Hobby (PCR/ PCR/Bridgestone).

The race settled into a rhythm, with Graham the length of the straight ahead with ten laps to go, with Harris second, Gurr third and Elliott fo-urth - they held these positions to the flag, with Graham taking the win by 6.7 seconds.

Fifth was Payne, sixth was Glenn Powles (MonzaT’arilla/Bridgestone), seventh Lindstrom, then Ricky Occhipinti (Tony Kart/Comer/ Bridgestone), Adam Bulks (Arrow/ Ital Sistem/Bridgestone) - who did a fantastic job to recover from shocking ankle injuries sustained at the second round only two months prior - and Saville, who continues to improve.

After a disappointing run at Ipswich, the Arrow team had their work cut out for them at Geelong and they delivered the goods, Bart Price (Arrow/Rotax/Bridgestone) taking pole with a best lap of 32.185.

Kris Walton continued his fine form with PCR to take second (PCR/PCR,'Bridgestone) ahead of Alan Gurr (Kosmic/Ital Sistem/ Bridgestone) Brendan May (TibLFiart/Parilla'Bridgestone) mak ing a retm-n to the series for fourth and Jason Burns (Tecno/Parilla/ Bridgestone) in fifth.

Sixth was Barclay Holden in his debut for his new team (Azzurro/ Fox/Bridgestone), then co-points series leader Neil McFadyen (Top Kart/Comer/Bridgestone), Andrew' Tomlinson (Tony Kart/Vortex /Bridgestone), Trent Rogers (Tony Kart/Vortex/Bridgestone) and Daniel Richert (Mike Wilson/ Parilla/Bridgestone).

Being oversubscribed with 36 entries, the field was divided into four, A to D, a series of heats deter mining who would be forced to come through the repechage on

intercontinental A

Sunday morning to qualify for the 32 starting positions ,n the finals.

Price .took the heat one win from McFadyen, Walton defeating Tomlinson in the next.

Round two saw victory for Tomlinson over Small, while McFadyen took the win from Walton.

Round three was Small from Price, after a fantastic race-long battle and McFadyen from Tomlinson.

Overall, McFadyen had grid posi tion one for the pre-final from Tomlinson, Price, Walton, Burns, May, Small, Matthew Wall (CRG/ Rotax/Dunlop), Richert and Blake Curtis (Btrel/StarkWega).

Courtesy of mechanical failure during the heats, Gun- was off posi tion eleven in the final, making his job tough - and it got worse.

In the roll-around laps, Gurr stopped with a fouled plug.

The mle in previous years stated that if you do not meet the green flag for the start of the pre-final, you are not eligible to compete ,n the final.

Gm-r was shattered, his champi onship over - or so he thought.

After a grueling 27 laps stuck by the side of the circuit. Gunreturned to the pits to be toid that the rule had been overtm-ned at the start of 1999 - he was still in with a chance, however slim.

McFadyen grabbed the early lead, but w-as taken by Walton at the start of lap 2.

Win number two: Neif McFadyen ciaimed another series victory and a strong pointscc^lLa&

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27 August 1999 Celebration: Jubilant Jamie

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Whincup (centre) took his first Formula A win and the champi onship series lead, mix of tyre choices from slicks to wets seeing an interesting pattern emerge.

Whincup grabbed an early advanUge, while the slick drivers slipped to the best part of three quarters of a lap behind.

Then conditions changed Cathcart was the best of the slick drivers and caught Whincup n? the final comer, finally beating ham to the flag by a mere one thousandth of a second Completelv out of sorts were 1997 rhi’topion David Clark (CRG Kotax/Dunlop) and 1998 champion Ryan Wlodzinski (PCR/ PCR/Dunlop), neither driver man aging to break into the top five with any success, adding to their woes in the 1999 Series.

Small had made a strong move on Price and was third, but looking for the lead, a position he would take from Walton on lap 10.

Also moving into contention was local driver Mark Domaschenz (Tecno/Parilla/Bridgestone).

Domaschenz is something of a hired gun in Geelong, having raced for almost every team in existence at some point - this weekend, he was subbing for the injured Shanan Sidebottom.

At the chequered flag. Small took victory clear of McFadyen, Walton, Domaschenz, Price and New Zealander Jonathon Reid (Arrow/ Rotax/Bridgestone).

Final(40 laps) With Gurr starting from position 32, McFadyen was feeling confident he could come away with a handy points lead going into Eastern Creek’s final round.

Small grabbed the lead at the green light from Domaschenz, McFadyen and Price.

Wall and Jason Hryniuk (Haase/Titan/Bridgestone) came together at turn 1, both drivers forced off the circuit. Wall able to continue with a badly bent kart for only 15 laps.

Domaschenz pounced on lap 3, taking McFadyen with him and dropping Small to third - his move was shortlived, however, breaking a chain as he came on to the front straight to start lap 9.

McFadyen by this stage held the lead from Small and Reid, with Price, Walton, Tomlinson and Richert in close proximity.

With 23 laps to go, McFadyen held a four second advantage over Small and Walton, with Price out after an altercation with the hardcharging Tomlinson.

By this stage, Rogers was start ing to make his presence felt, forc ing his way past his team-mate for fifth and moving on Walton.

Further down the field, Gurr was making fantastic inroads into McFadyen’s advantage, moving into eighth with 19 laps to go (he was 20th by lap 3).

With fourteen to go, the order

was McFadyen, Small, Walton, Troy Hunt (31.833, Top KartJ set Tomlinson, Rogers, Burns, Gurr the ball in motion with a staggering and Richert. lap for pole position in trying condi Things remained status quo at tions, which saw the first of the two sessions run in the rain. the front in the closing laps, with Behind him, Jamie Whincup Gurr taking Rogers for third with four to go, giving him the podium (31.901, Tecno/Parilla/Bridgestone) nabbed position two ahea.d of the position he needed to keep the ever-improving Clint Cathcart championship alive.

McFadyen held a 5.2-second (Arrow/Rotax/Bridgestone), round advantage at the line from Small, two winner Mark Winterbottom Gurr, Rogers, Burns, Walton, (Kosmic/Vortex/Bridgestone), Michael Caruso (Tony KartTVortex/ .Holden, Tomlinson, Tim Macrow (Kosmic/Parilla/Bridgestone) - who Bridgestone) and Gary Dann (Tony was fastest in the opening wet KartTVortex/Bridgestone).

Rounding out the ten were qualifying session - and Curtis.

The pre-final saw Clark, Logan and Pearce off at the first turn, with Whincup, Cathcart and Wlodzinski leading the field away.

Hunt was fourth at the close of the opening lap from McLeod, William Yarwood (CRG/CRG/ Bridgestone) and Dann - Hunt took Wlodzinski as the reigning champi on dropped back down the field.

Hunt was up to Cathcart by lap 8, a horsepower race developing on the main straight, Cathcart’s Bartolo-tuned Rotax getting the better this time of the notorious Hurst-tuned Comer of Hunt, Cathcart pulling away in the clos ing laps.

At race end, it was a strong win to Whincup (4.501 seconds) from Cathcart, Hunt, McLeod, Winterbottom and Dann.

Final(40 laps) Cathcart grabbed the immediate lead, Whincup dropping back to fourth behind the experienced McLeod and Hunt.

Caruso had pulled to the mechanical breakdown area on the roll-around lap with a suspected flat tyre, only to be told to rejoin, albeit almost three quarters of a lap in arrears - his fight towards the front would be one of the highlights of the weekend.

There is no question in Australian karting that Tyson Pearce’s race number - 13 - is a clear indication of his luck.

Operator: Alan Gurr, from 33rd to third, was electrifying in the ICA final.

Malcolm Heath (PCR/Ital Sistem/ Bridgestone) in seventh, Tyson Pearce (Omega/Parilla/Bridgestone), Richard McLeod (Azzurro/Fox/ Bridgestone) and Brendan Dive (BireVSaetta/Bridgestone).

Heat wins went to Hunt from Whincup in one and two and Cathcart from Whincup in three.

Winterbottom had the pace, but Only days from a race in Japan suffered two flat t}rres in as many heats, putting him'behind the eight that would have a major influence on his career in international ball before the finals had come.

Heat three was held in the wet„ a motorsport (see separate story),'

Intercontinental A pointscore (after three rounds): Neil McFadyen 149, Alan Gurr 124, Jason Burns 109, Andrew Tomlinson 101, Kris Walton 101, James Small 92, Jamie Carter 76, Jonathan Reid 76, Chris Gilmour 75, Matthew Wall 73.

Formula A

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After steadily coming through the heats, Pearce was in a reasonable position to come through with a strong result in the final - but it didn’t come and he stood stranded by the side of the grid on the rollaround lap with a fouled plug.

Lap 3 saw Cathcart maintaining his lead from McLeod, Hunt, Whincup, Heath and Clark, who on lap 5 came into the pits to call it a weekend.

Lap 4 saw Whincup move into second, then the lead on lap 8, a lead he would not relinquish.

On lap 21, Hunt’s weekend came to an early end, a mix of worn tyres, late braking and a rock through his airbox into the engine causing a spin, retirement and a setback in the battle for champi onship honours.

With 12 laps to go, things up

Hunt opens FOUR-TIME Australian Kart champion Troy Hunt blitzed an all-star Japanese field to, take first place in the Formula 1 Driver Selection Series of races held in Japan , and may have opened the door to a Formula One driving j career.

18 year-old Hunt was the fastest qualifier in time trials and won the l&-lap pre-final by near ly six secondiStarting at the I'ear of the field for the final = starting gnd posi-i, tions were reversed-. Hunt had , moved throu^ the field to reach sixth place before his motor blew - however, he was chosen as the ; winner of the series on the basis of his driving skill, sportsman-i ship and presentation.

Hunt received high praise tmin the oi-ganisers of the series, w'ho n commented on his high calibre of' driving skill.

The Fm-mula 1 Driver Selection Race was held at the famous' Mizunami Lakeway in Japan.

Hunt was selected from the 36 competitors and will be sponsored) to attend the worlds only motori racing university. Elf La Filiere I located at the famous Le Mans circuit in France i, in 2000.

Only 24 places are offered each j year to quuHfied students who, want to make motor racing their ; career, the school teaching them , the skills they will need to reach the top. front w'ere pretty certain. Whincup holding a four second lead from Cathcart, McLeod, Winterbottom and Dive, Seven laps from home, the unthinkable happened, 1998 ICA Champion Whincup lapped 1998 Formula A Champion Wlodzinski, forcing him to pit and retire from the race.

At flag fall, Whincup held a 6.50second advantage from Cathcart, McLeod, Dive, W’interbottom, Heath, Chris Cox (Ital Corse/ Saetta/Bridgestone), Caruso, Dann and Scott Logan (PCR/PCR/ Bridgestone), Formula A pointscore (after thret: rounds): Jamie Whincup 15.-, M.irii Winterbottom 138. Troy Hunt 136, Clint Cathcart 118, Richard McLeod 116, Michael Caruso 90, Brendan Dive 88, Malcolm Heath 84, Chris Cox 82, Garj'Dann 82.

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42 27 August 1999 Report by JON THOMSON

,, AN incident-filled first heat, snow on stages and a broadside by Possum Bourne levelled at rally organisers made for-’§n intriguing and dramatic Rally of Melbourne, which saw Cody Crocker emerge with his first ARC round win and Neal Bates leave town with his title hopes alive.

Crocker’s Group N Subaru emerged as overall winner after taking a close-fought battle with Ed Ordynski in heat one and a third place in the second heat.

With both Bates and Bourne crashing out of the first heat as a result of the icy and, at times, snowy conditions, the young Melbourne driver stepped up to the plate and hit a home run.

The Rally of Melbourne attracted a field of 94 starters to battle the treacherous condi tions which, after a cold change on Friday, saw deep snow on top of the great Dividing Range, making for a unique backdrop to an Australian Championship rally.

It was this snow which saw Bourne slide off the road into a tree, causing massive dam age to the front of his Subani and provoking him to criticise rally officials and the role of the crews in the zero cars opening up the course.

Bourne had been heading for an easy win in the heat after Bates inverted his Corolla on the second stage of the day, the first time the Canberra driver had crashed out of a rally in six years - the difference came the next day, Bates’ crew being able to fix most of the damage to the Corolla, while Bourne was sidelined and left to contemplate the damage to his Subaru, estimated to be more than $50,000.

Bates was able to claim an easy unchal lenged victory in heat two and now heads to the final round in Tasmania just eight points behind Bourne, after scores are adjusted to drop the worst scoring rally.

Heat One Bates opened his account well on the chal lenging Mount Slide stage, taking fastest ahead of Bourne on a wet and sfippeiy road, something which has been a part of every round of the ARC so far this year.

With Bates ahead by two seconds, he endeavoured to continue the form in the longer 24 km Sylvia Creek stage and was in maximum attack when, on a fast right-han der, the tail clipped a ditch and a large rock, rolling the Corolla over.

Bates and co-driver Coral Taylor confessed afterwards that they believed their title hopes were then over - little did they know the drama which would unfold later in the day.

Bourne would emerge from the stage with a massive lm4s lead over team-mate Crocker, who was in an intense battle with his Mitsubishi rival, Ed Ordynski, another 11 seconds behind in third.

The battle for Formula Two saw Rick Bates

MitCmckor vmiorious

o a c

Not dead, resting: Bates/Taylor Recovered |° from day one roMover and emerged with a 11 day two victory and revitalized titie hopes. So in' his privately-entered Daihatsu emerge with fastest time, after Simon Evans spun his VW kit car in Sylvia Creek - but the Golf driver was still leading the class by 30 sec I onds.

On the other side of the Black Spur after the service in Marysville, Ordynski tried a bold move to grab an advantage over Crocker, bolting on some new Yokohamas specially developed for mud.

Ordynski’s' move meant he could take a 16second lead over his young opponent after stage four.

Bourne was continuing to open his outright lead and cruising when, in the Ben Cairn stage, the sixth of the day, the Kiwi encoun tered a massive amount ofsnow and ice.

He was all but a passenger as the Subaru slid off the road and struck a tree - it was at a point where hang glider pilots launch their craft and Bourne believed that, if he hadn’t hit the tree, he wouldn’t have stopped until he got to the bottom.

“There was no warning. The road changed from gravel, wliich had been snow-ploughed, to untouched tarmac and we were off. The tail stepped out and I couldn’t get it back; we were very lucky,” said a disconsolate Bourne.

The Subaru driver was particularly critical of the fact that the zero cars had not given any information back to the start of the stage to let them know the stage had not seen a snow plough after the 16 km mark.

“It’s their bloody job to let us know if there are any hazards and they didn’t let us know.

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should have radioed information to the start and they didn’t,” Bourne added.

'The crash left Crocker in the lead by 5s at the end of Ben Cairn in another close fight with Ordynsk,i who had dropped 4s to the Subaru in the slippery conditions.

With just the spectator stage over 800 metres left to mn, Crocker had to hang on to secure the vdn - a slip at the hairpin, howev er, almost cost him the win, Crocker conced ing two seconds to the Mitsubishi driver, but the margin enough to give him his first heat win in an ARC and keep the Subaini flag flymg.

While Ordynski claimed a narrow second placing, one of the standout performances was from the third-placed crew of Stewart Reid and Michelle Murphy, teamed together for the first time in the Rhone Poulence-sponsored Evo V Lancer.

In what was a Group N benefit. Kiwi Stumpy Hohnes took forndh in his ex-Crocker Subaru, finning the pace of the top nmners in the Australian title just a little hard to match in what was his first International outing..

Another great drive was also put in by Queenslander John Goasdoue, who had to battle the muddy and slippery conditions weU back in the field because of not being regis tered for the ARC - but he still managed to take fifth.

The F2 fight came down to Evans after Rick Bates had thrown out a strong challenge all day, but the Golf was able to easily grab the win in the end, Brett Middleton taking third.

Heat Two It was a late night for the Bates crew, putting the Corolla back into a shape that would enable it to run on Sunday. The rear cross member had been bent, but the team wound every last millimetre of adjustment on the suspension to give some straight wheel settings, as well as having to change the turbo as a precaution after the car- had spent so much time on its lid the prerious day.

Without another WRC machine to battle.

Bates was easily fastest on the opening stages and managed to negotiate Sylvia Creek without problems.

Ordynski was in second place, despite a slip on Mount Slide which damaged the rear of the Lancer.

Crocker was in third place and a sm-prisc was Victorian contender Darren Windus in his Subaru WRX STi, who was fourth.

Evans was on a charge, his stated aim to really put to rest any doubt that he was faster than the Rick Bates Daihatsu - Evans was in fourth place after Sylvia Creek and really flying, more confident after the slip pery conditions the previous day.

But, without a strong opponent, Neal Bates was streaking ahead in the Corolla and most

attention was focused on the Group N battle for second.

Ordynski again played a trump card with tyres and, while Crocker decided to use Pirelli mud rubber, Ordynski believed the stage would be hard-packed and went for gravel Yokohamas - the gamble paid off, the Mitsubishi in clear second with a 10-sec advantage after four stages.

John Long in his Lancer, who had driven a cautious first heat, was up into fourth place and on a charge, but unlikely to catch the fly ing Ordynski and Crocker, about 35 secs ahead.

Crocker knew that he only had one card to play on the 15.6 km Ben Cairn and was on a charge when he slipped off the road and punctured a left front t3re, which destroyed any chance he had of catching Ordynksi - the Subaru driver limped to the finish and dropped over a minute to the Mitsubishi.

The final stage around the De Bortoli win ery was fought out in front of more than 7000 people and saw Bates cruise to fastest to take the heat win and equal third overall for the weekend with Reid, who would be seventh in, heat two.

Ordynski claimed second ahead of Crocker, but it was Crocker’s win the previous day combined with third place in heat two that would give him overall victory from the round.

Ordynski’s second on both days meant he was second overall for the round.

Evans clinched F2 and salvaged his class title hopes, heading to Tasmania in three weeks time.

Crocker was followed home by Long in the Lancer, the Evans VW in fifth and then Spencer Lowndes and Reid - Steve Winwood claimed the Aussie Car class in his Falcon Forte V8 in both heats.

Bates was keen to give credit to Crocker for the overall victory, but was also glad that he could go to Tasmania with a chance at the title - the Bates effort was all the more cred itable, given the fact that the team truck had been broken into late on Saturday night and most of the team spanners stolen.

With both Bates and Bourne with three titles each, the final round is set to he a cracker with the winner set to claim a fourth Australian title in Hobart.

1999 Rally of Melbourne Overall Results 1. Cody Crocber/Greg Foletta Subaru Impreza WEX 2. Ed Ordynski/Iain Stewart Mitsubishi Lancer EvoV =3. Stewart Reid/Michelle Murphy Mitsubishi Lancer EvoV =3. Neal Bates/Cored Taylor Toyota Corolla WRC 5. Simon Fvan&'Sue Evans VW Golf Kit Car

27 August 1999

Who could ever predict motorsport?

Last Saturday morn ing, Coral and I rolled the car cn the second special j,tige of I he Rally of Melbourne. We were left standing in a freezinn r'old forest next to a roller^ ...j . >''llc. while the oppositior /.as miles away, seemingly en route to an easy Championship win.

We really believed we had thrown our chances for the Championship out the window 24 hours later, the opposition were equipped w-tn j nice dry had scored zero points, following workshop and plenfv of pizza and a crash which had resulted in irre- coffee and se' at'-out making the oytside o'esentable - they trievable damage to their car.

Meanwhile, we had been able changed caps and became panel to rebuild our car, rejoin the rally, beaters and glass fitters All credit to the team - the car win the second heat on Sunday and come away from The Rally of was completed and booked into Melbourne with the lead in the the overnight pare ferrr.e with a few minutes tc soare before the Australian Rally Championship!

What a difference a day midnight deadline makes....

It might have i x. -len a little secondhand, but it 'V is a r;,erfect arlier on Saturday morning, running order - and tl'Hr b.y.c feii before the rally start, we dis- we owed them a win! covered our main service truck 'hile we didn't have Possum had been broken into overnight breathing down our necks and all the tools, including the fuel on Sunday, we did naec to keep a pump had been stolen.

It was only lucky that Pete and reasonable pace ilbeit without Geoff had left their own tools in the need to tar,e any risks.

The “Ccm.Tiunuai “ooi Roll' the second service vehicle and we set off into the penultimate was in full .swing at the se-vics round of the super series with one points and the boys now had a “Communal Tool Roll." chart written and stuck to the door of the service truck.

Down one side, it listed all the The of theonce car began at available tools. Across the top, it the rebuild crash site, the field cleared the stage. The boys were listed their names. Each box had able to bring the service vehicles a tick against who could use in and we set up our own service w'hich tool, when and for how area on the side of the road and long. They could have a ratchet then it was a case of “has any- for 20seconds and a socket for 10 one got THE’ 17mm?” seconds... but not at the same To some, the decision to repair time! the car mechanically in the forest Refueling was a case of sitting may seem a strange decision, but the petrol drum on the roof and rally technicians are used to using a jiggle syphon hose down achieving the impossible in to the fuel tank - and this is a aaverse conditions and this would very slow procedure, let me then give me the opportunity to assure you. drive the car back into Melbourne But their spirits were high and and feel what the car would be winning the hear and tak.mg the like prior to facing the Sunday lead in the Championship rrade everything seem worthwhile. stages.

It was approaching dark in the Sunday was a really enjov'able drizzling rain by the time the car day. was started for the first time a.nd you can imagine my concern at "T"he Saxon Safari Tasmania is the look of horror on Peter's face 1 the final round of the Super when we found we had no Series in September. It is the hydraulic pressure for any sys- Championship decider and we terns. need to win both heats. I’m look But this was quickly rectified ing forward to the challenge! with a system bleed - the main r Meantime, I have some testing hydraulic pump had an air pocket with Glenn Seton shortly and then caused by the car being upside a run in Ray Lintott s Viper at Oran Park. Then it's stmight to i down for so long.

Once our roadside workshop Tassie and straight from lassie to I was all packed up, I hopped in the the Queensland 500. car. From the inside and driveabilIt’s going to be a n £■● ,J ity, it felt really good. You wouldn't weeks - but wno’s complaining? know that a few hours before it Not me! had been in a 140kmh rollover Cheers, but from the outside it looked like shit.

Back in Melbourne, the boys

mmmm E Legend sidelined: Front runner Peter Brock succumbed to gearbox woes on day three of the '99 Safari, held a Imin 40sec lead in the autos tyre impeding their performance.

Adelaide’s Flying Doctors, Bill ahead of Hederic, with Brock well Monkhouse and Andrew Booker, behind in third.

The third leg would be a severe got off to a confident start in their 2.0L three-door Suzuki 'Vitara, the test for the cars, as the leg headed pair making up seven places in the down the old Ghan railway on first day of competition. roads used by the Finke race, Day two saw some tough running before crossing to the west of the through the desert country to the Stuart Highway and heading for east of Alice and then south the overnight halt at Uluru. through the sandhills on the edge of Garland had problems on the the Simpson Desert. opening stage and suffered a punc ture, dropping behind Hederics for Tough act; KTM's the first time.

Andy Caldecott Brock’s Jackaroo grabs some air. became stuck in third gear and strug gled to get to the refuel point - finally, the racing legend pulled out when the car overheated and the engine cried n enough.

“It is a pity. I was having fun and enjoying myself, but that looks like that it really is a great event and I would love to do it again,” said Brock.

At the end of the leg, Haydon was in trouble on his KTM, the engine smoking and he struggled to the finish losing more than an hour his crew changed the Brock was on a charge on the engine at Uluru; but the defending opening stage, but suffered a punc champ was now out of contention. ture - he then got caught in dust Team-mate Caldecott was in the and fired off the road to be studr on lead by around one minute from a boulder, costing him more time local Alice rider Greenfield on his and dropping him well behind Honda, the cagey local pacing him Hederic’s Nissan. self with the knowledge that Garland’s run was having prob Caldecott’s bike lems as well, the Jackaroo getting was also having stuck in two wheel drive for the sec engine problems. ond and longer stage, costing him Motorsport dearly.

News will have a “I took six minutes off Hederics full report in the on the opener and lost it all back in next issue cover the second stage, but there is still a ing the leg north long way to go,” said Garland, through the Hederics was equally keen to desert country to deflect the pressure, saying he was Tennant Creek, pacing himself and driving to a Kalkaringee and plan.

Katherine, before “I am not going to be led into an the finish in early battle when there is still so Darwin on day far to go. I didn’t do it when I ran eight. bikes on the Safari and I am not going to do it now,” the six-time Gremlins: bike winner said.

Former Safari The bike battle settled down to a winner Ian three-way fight, Haydon taking the Swan's first day lead on leg two ahead of Caldecott, out was less than with Greenfield about a minute happy, mechani behind in third. cal problems At the end of the leg, Garland spoiling day one.

JON Hederics’ Nissan Patrol was leading the Australian Safari at the end of an eventful third leg on Monday, grabbing the advantage back from Holden Jackaroo driver Bruce Garland in a tough run from Alice Springs to Ayers Rock.

The third leg of the event also saw the demise of Peter Brock, who had started the day in third place only to lose most gears on the opening 118km stage on roads which normally host the Finke Desert Race.

Brock was eventu ally forced out later in the stage, when the Jackaroo cried enough mid-way through the day A total of 69 entrants, 43 bikes and 26 cars, started the Safari when it was flagged away from the Alice on Saturday on the way to two open ing stages around the red centre.

Garland charged into the lead on the opening stage, power ing his Holden Jackaroo around to gi-ab a 15-second lead over Hederic, with Brock taking third place in the auto section.

In the bike’s, defending Safari Champion Andy Haydon was in the lead after the opening stage, but then lost time in the second com petitive, leaving his KTM team mate, Andy Caldecutt, leading the marathon at the end of the day back in Alice.

Suzuki driver Ian Swan had started the Safari with high hopes, but had mixed fortunes in the first day of competition.

'The Suzuki Grand Vitara devel oped clutch and engine problems before the end of the first 60km competitive, relegating Swan to the back of the field.

“I can only say how disappointed we are in the performance and its effect on our chances for an overall win,” Ian Swan said.

“But we’re not the types to lay down and tonight the crew will be busy overcoming the problems to get us back on the road tomorrow,” he said.

Swan’s daughter Penny and wife Val completed the day without problems to claim leadership in the Formula Four production class, with only a stop to change a fl at

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JUHA Kankkunen and co-dri'ver Juha Repo clinched victory ahead of team-mates Richard Burns and Robert Reid to give Subaru a 1-2 victory in the tenth round of the World RaUy Championship, the Rally Finland,on August 22.

Between them, the Subaru team-mates held the overall lead for almost the entire rally to give Kankkunen his 23rd World Championship rally win.

Third place was taken by Spaniard Carlos Sainz, after a three-day, hard-fought battle over the fast, winding roads of the Finnish countryside, while fourthplaced Finn Marcus Gronholm gave Peugeot its first points in the championship.

The rally was capped off with a final controversial television stage, which made for a thrilling finish, the battle over the awesome jumps of the Ruuhimahi test captivating the huge crowds which had gath ered along the road since early morning.

The retirement of current championship leader Tommi Makinen has meant the series has become even more unpredictable, with Kankkunen now sharing third with Sainz, four points from second-placed Frenchman Didier Auriol and fourteen from Makinen.

Makinen retired his Mitsubishi with trans mission problems, but the car was repairable and he would come back to compete for cham pionship points in the final live TV stage.

Team-mate Fast Freddy Loix was again having a disappointing rally, rolling on SS14 and finishing the second day in 14th.

Colin McRae moved up to fourth position over the final three stages of the second leg, winning fastest on SS15, 16 and 17 - the Ford FoCus driver had struggled on the open ing stages, but then unlocked the key to speed, blitzing the opposition with a string of stimning stage performances.

“The Focus has been working really well on its altered suspension settings and it’s been my own lack of experience on these roads which has cost the odd second here and there,” McRae said - team-mate Tomas Radstrom was fourth at the end of the leg one in the second Focus, but crashed on spe cial stage 14 and shpped to 22nd.

Auriol retired from the rally on SS21 on the third leg, after struggling with an hydraulic problem in the centre diff and elected to go for repairs and make the final TV stage- Radstrom also retired, having sim ilar problems with the Ford and also went straight to service in a bid to make the TV stage count.

Kankkimen won stage 21 and special stage 22, hammering team-mate Bums, who was second on both stages and could not make up enough time to catch the Finn.

McRae saw his championship chase go up

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It was a good result for Peugeot, despite second-nominated driver Francois Delecour bringing home his car in ninth, troubled all day by differential problems, while the third works car of Gfiles Panizzi, after losing 20 minutes on day two with a faulty turbo probe, completed the raUy in 33rd place.

Tapio Laukkanen won Formula 2, securing the win in his Renault Maxi Megane, just over a minute ahead of the Vauxhall Astra Kit Car of Jarmo Kytolehco and team mate Martin Rowe.

Finnish Group N driver Jouho Puhakka took 11th overall and won Group N in a Mitsubishi Lancer, having dominated from the beginning of the event - cur rent Group N leader and the reigning World Champion, Uruguayan Gustavo Trelles Kankkunen Repo pic by Sutton (mages retired.

Results in smoke on the penultimate stage, the 1 Juha Kankkunen/Juha Repo engine reduced to three cyclinders and Subaru Impreza 3:08:54,5 l promptly covering his windscreen in oU. Richard Bums/Robert Reid The Focus limped on into the final stage, 2 Subaru Impreza 3:09:04,2 but stopped only one kilometre fimm the end Carlos Sainz/Luis Moya -“there goes the championship,” said McRae, 3 as he walked to the finish.

Toyota Corolla 3:09:12,5 Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautiainen The final TV stage proved Auriol’s decision 4 to withdraw and regroup was the right one, Peugeot 206 3:10:26,7 5 the Frenchman winning the stage and col Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietilainen Seat Cordoba 3:11:04,6 lecting three championship points.

Toni Gardemeister/Paavo Lukande Makinen was also pleased - after retiring 6 Seat Cordoba 3:12:04,0 earlier, he came second in the TV stage and received two points - Gardemesiter finished World Championship for Drivers in third and scored the final point. pointscore: Makinen 48, Aiuiol 38, Sainz 34, But nothing could be taken away firom the Kankkunen 34, Burns 29, McRae 23, Subara effort, with Kankkimen sealing the Bugalski 20. win ahead of Bums by 9.7 seconds, Sainz 8.3 World Championship for Manufacturers seconds back in third. pointscore: Toyota 85, Subaru 68, Mitsubishi Gronholm was very happy to finish in 61,Ford 35,Seat 16, Skoda 3, Peugeot 3.

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Getting hot in the north

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THE Historic motor racing scene up north is continu ing to go from strength to strength, if the event at the new Queensland Raceway, Ipswich on July 17/18 was anything to go

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Our Queensland spy, Richard Harris is busy restor n ing a very famous Lotus XI ■ -■A (the ex-Charlie Whatmore car m which was previously driven -A by botn Ron Flockhart and Roy Salvadori in 1957), but took time out to report on the ■ CB meeting. / J According to Harris the ^ i new circuit attracted more , than 200 Historic entries including such nostalgic tour ing cars as the ex-Allan i.

Moffat Trans-Am Mustang, ^ the Norm Beechey Chewy And will he hand over to Steven Richards? Jamie Brock g ets to grip with the famous A9X of his father. (Photos by watshati cass) Nova and ‘Pete’ Geoghegan’s Keith began to fade to the point of and the seriously quick Alfa coming up in Queensland are legendary 1965 Ford Thallon, and Giulia Super T1 of Wes the Historic Leybum in August Mustang. All are currently Berryman’s D-type Jaguar catching fire.

As was expected the Ford Anderson kept the spectators and later in the year the second owned by Queensland enthu- (the ex-BUl Pitt car.)

Historic Noosa Hillclimb. siast David Bowden.

Harris sa)rs the new circuit Mustang of Victorian John constantly entertained.

-BRIAN REED Two other important events Other very desirable cars is very hard on brakes, and Mann was the ‘gun’ car of the present included the ex-Lex classes such as Nb and Nc Group N class, although the Davison Cooper Climax now provided spectacular enter- Lotus Cortinas of veteran owned by Queenslander Don tainment as the stoppers Lionel Ayers and John Lyle

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Rag Nutt and Joan Richmond

I DUHIMG the past fortnight Australia i lost two of its great motor racing pioI neers - Reg Nutt and Joan Richmond.

Exactly one month after his 90th birthday Reg Nutt passed away peacefully at a nurs!mg home at Mornington on -August 1.

Perhaps his greatest moment in motor sport ! was in his capacin- as riding mechanic with I Carl Junker when they won the 1931 ! Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island m a I Type 39 Bugatti.

Howe'or. Reg Nutt was also a tuner and di'iver of some considerable note, and he actually drove the Juitker Type 39 Bugatti 'much modified at this stage' in the 1939 ! -AGP at Loijethal. S-A. Of particular signifii cance were hi- performances in the Innes I Special and me Day Special in which he won numerous class trophies, especially in hillclimbs at Rob Roy and Mt. Tan’engovver.

Ib fact Reg Nutt was the special Guest of I Honour at the 5th Hi.sioric and Classic Rob iRoy in 1996. His e.xploics in a huge range of I cm-s - he clairted to have driven 46 different I vehicles but onh one of his own - have ' cemented a place for him in otu‘ motor racing I histoiT. \ Then on .August 11. .Australia lost a tiuly U'emarkable woman - 94-year-old Joan ; Richmond. Miss Richmond was born in ; Cooma, NSW in 1905. and during her late i teens was so successful riding race horses I she was actually Itanned from the sport, i She then turned 'ner hand to car racing, (competing in such events as the Mount I Martha and Frank-^ton hillclimbs and at the I racing circuit at Aspendale in her Citroen. ! Again she ue.- successful, to such an ' e-xtent the Rdey in England decided to spon; sor her.

She was chosen to drive one of three works Riley 9s in the 1931 -Monte Carlo Rally nlnng with Jean Robertson and Kathleen Howell.

They completed the gruelling event, but what made t’neir effort truly remarkable was the fact that they drove their car from .-Australia to Europe in order to compete'.

The following year. Joan Richmond teamed with Elsie Wisdom to win the Junior Car Club' 1000-mile race at Brooklands. again in a Riley. Tliis was no powder puff derby but rather a race against al!-comers over 1600knts of the bumpy Brooklands track.

More races at Brooklands followed and for a time she drove the ex-Malcolm Campbell 3litre Ballot. In this car Dunfee lapped at 108mph '173kmh'. a time equalled by Joan Richmond - although she was disappointed she did not better it.

She continued to compete in the Monte Carlo Rally, team.ing one -year with the famous British female diiver Kay Petre. For the 1936 rally, the Trimnph company allot ted one of their cars to the -Australian, and she rewarded them with a second place in the light car section.

Miss Richmond was also attracted to hill climbing. and for some time drove the complex twin-engined 'Fuzzi Special' - a car that had to be dri\-en bare-footed in order to operate the four pedals. Her best time of 44s at SheUsey Walsh was quicker than the car's oumer.

Her motor racing career ended with the outbreak of WW2. and in her latter years ●Joan Richmond lived quietly in Melbourne devoting her time to charity work and ani mal welfare.

The deaths of Reg Xutt and Joan Richmond are great losses to our motor rac ing heritazr

Sporty times: Max Brunninghausen had a solid run in the gorgeous 1968 Chevron B8GT, while Alan Northcotfs ’85 black Panther almost got away from him.

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Briefly ffistoric Supplementaiy regula tions and entry forms are now available for the MaUala Masters to be held at Mallala Motor Sport Park on Septemter 11-12.

Feature events are for the SA Racing Driver ofthe Year (round 6), round 2of the.Tri- Challenge Top Performer,the Peter Wright Memorial (round 4)and the Garrie Cooper Memorial for Sports Cars.

As a special incen tive there will be a free draw fiom amongst entrants for a trip for two to the 1999 New Zealand GP meeting leaving on December 4.

The Mallala Masters is organised by the Austin 7 Club ofSA Inc., and for further details contact the sec retary Tony Morgan on (08)8264 7179. a Important hillclimb dat.es coming up in Victoria include the September 5 meeting at Arthur’s Seat, and on October 10 the action vriU be at Mt. Tarrengower, Maldon in central Victoria. The Australian champi onships will be staged at Morwell on October 29-31.

■ In NSW, competi tors including Ian Cummins are busy get ting their cars ready for the Eastern Creek Historic meeting on September 17-19.

Cummins has acquired the ex-John Caffin Buckle sports car and has the job ahead get ting a few things sort ed out and generally making more room inside for the new (and larger!) driver.

As Cummins was heard to say, “I’m tiying to de-Caffinate it!”

-BRIAN REED

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Needs engine. Ph: Tony 0419 155 635. lei Ford Falcon XA-GT. 95% restored. No expense spared.

Absolutely rust-free, lots of spares. Unreg, but driveable.

Must sell. $8,000.neg. Ph: 02 4655 8030. 161 Capri 2lt S/Sedan, 90%, excellent start for someone at club level. $offers. Ph 02 5977 5571 i6i

strengthened shell, fibre^lass/steel panels, cage, Bilsteins, 4 spots, pedal box, dry sump, quick rack, strong LSD, more. $8,000. Ph: 07 5529 7146. i6i Honda Civic 19811, rally/olub race car. 1335cc, Class R1, 12 months rego, 20 rally & circuit wheels & tyres. Safe reliable fun motorsport, class placings last 3 events. $4,400, Ph: Stephen 07 3262 7833(BH). -ei

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AUSCAR. Top hp, T10, Harrop brakes, immaculate presentation. Currently being prepared for Bathursf. Price will vary on stage of preparation. Many spares. Ph: 03 9309 1487. 1C’ 1982 Gemini. Comes with 2 x 5sp g/boxes, 3 sets mags, racing dials and pads, stripped interior, fuel cut-off. Engine timing needs work. Complete oar in g/c. $500. Ph: 03 5996 5609 .6.

Cortina GT MK1 complete rebuid for 1999 Australian Grand Prix support. Only two race meetings since. Car has proven reliability and quick in the right hands. $12,500. Ph Jeremy Mantello 03 9329 6822 bh or 0418 545 185 ah 161

1982 Fiat 131 race ears (2), New race engine, huge hp. Ital Motors engine builder 4 wheel discs, race rims, tyres. Double seam welded elc Spare car & heaps of spares, with race trailer as new Also 2 x 124co Fiats with spares, also great race project cars. $45,000 the lot.

Ph/fax: 03 5332 6977(BH),03 5336 1221 (AH), -.eo

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LC Torana Sports Sedan. 202, triple Webers, CR box, Detroit locker, Stratos seat, some spare wheeL. tyres, plus reg tandem trailer. Must sell. Complete. $6 OOOonc Ph: Anthony 02 4952 5078. m Batsun 1600 Club Car. Fully modified 1. senes 2 litre motor, 260Z gearbox, 3.9LSD, roll cage clean body. $5,000ono. Ph: 07 3801 2367 after 5.30pm weekdays. i» Escort Lotus twin cam 1972, road car hot orange.

Very good original copdition Original 7c wheels + grill. $12 OOOono. Ph: 02 4730 3542 0413 362 280. ,6o r.

.

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I i

Porsche Cup Car - B Class: 1974 style update Australian compliance Coupe. 3.2 It, 153kv/ power, Haltech system, 3 sets wheels, flared guards, alloy tank. Ready to go now.

Would suit buyer interested in competing in 1999 for Porsche Cup, Bathurst or Indy. Complete race records avalable. Great assistance package provided. For further information, please contact (02)9418-3711 BH Under 2 Litre Sports Sedan; Ford Escort, immaculate, ready to race, 3rd Australian Under 2L S/S (Lakeside June 99) & 2nd Aus Tyretec round (Lakeside June 99). $11,000. Ph: Brad Seagrove 02 6680 9133 (BH), 02 6687 5131 (AH). 161 AUSCAR Sportsman, XF Falcon, one season old, fresh engine + paint. Never bent, needs minor work. $6,500ono.

Ph: 03 9873 3-162. lei

Ford Mustang. Ex Dick Johson Palmer Tube green Group A touring oar. Fresh Ford Motorsport dry sump DJR 351. 5 speed getrag gearbox, on board air jacks, dry break fuel system, Harrop 9” floater. Race ready, excellent cond. $28,500. Ph: 08 9405 1113. leo S RCS- W

Australian Porsche Cup winner; Current leads’ of 1999 Porsche Cup.Consistent winner, 7 line honours 3 seconds from 10 starts. Professionally built In Jan 1998 to highest of standards. Absolutely immaculate. 3.6 It turbo, 6 speed box, Motec, 3 sets 18" Simmons wheels. Available to purchaser for Bathurst and Indy 1999. Complete history and assistance available. This car will be very competitive into the new Millennium. For further information, please con tact (02)9418-3711 BH

AUJMV

Ford Falcon EF AUSCAR for sale or lease. John Sidney 420 bhp engine inc alloy heads, Harrop equipped, blue printed. Super T10 gearbox. Many quality parts, competitive road course record. Ph 03 9654 0707 or 0414 237 81 f lei

lomsiBnm! i

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TO ORDER Ph;

02 6291 3892 FIViASH

■'

^

* FULLY ADJUSTABLE STAND

ALUMINIUM PRODUCTS

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Escort Sports Sedan; ex Bob Holden with Group C log book, brand new 2 Itr engine, all the best gear, race win ner. $11,000. Ph: Trevor 03 9763 7898, 0413 128 287. 161 Torana L34, red H2 engine. Needs full restoration, some new parts, A9X diff, oar in pieces. $8,000. Ph: 02 9632 0202,0418 293 330. .6.

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* FOLDS FOR STORAGE

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Historic Sports Racing Car - Group R, full restoration, Hewland gearbox,,flfin rack, Kaditcha body, rotary pow ered. Offers around $30,000. Ph: 03 9682 2466. lei

Terry Wylioon Racing 1998 Aussie built Ford Thunderbird NASCAR. Complete, ready to race. Fresh engine. Race winning vehicle, tuition available. Ph for full details and spares 018 555 521, 03 5658 1177. 03 5655 2591. 161 Escort Mklll rolling less engine, box. 5 link, turrets,

CAPRI COMPONENTS V6-RS3100, yK11&iK1111600 DATSUN 240,260,280ZX & 300ZX Tuning-repairs mods-spare parts LAWRIE

STAND ONLY

PROVISIONAL PATENT

Torana, genuine L34, COME Racing 308, T10 gearbox, Centreforce clutch, approx 4,000kms on motor. Barbados green, 7 & 8" wheels, 12 months rego. $14,500. Genuine enquiries only. Ph: 02 9534 3871. 160

NELSON

●’

contirmed oyer page

McCALL COMMUNICATIOxNS RACING RADIOS <

m

(03) 9308 7494 (03) 9308-7496 I 78 HUME HIGHWAY SOMERTON 3062 -● ● ●

Rally Lantra, J1, Group A. rhd (Ihd spares) E>- Hemdge.

Rally Aust/Rally Canberra eligible RA seats. FiA 6pt har nesses, firebomb, chrome moly cage, fresh engine. LSD. Details on www.rally.com.au, or Ph: Dusty 0414 575 925 i«o

t ●

STEPHEN McCALL Mobile; 0418 367 618 716 Plenty Rd Reservoir 3073 PO Box loss Ivanhoe 3079

Tel: 03 9471 3333 Fax: 03 9471 1010

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48 27August 1999 NASCAR: Pontiac Grand Prix, new body, 18 degree Chev engine, fast and consistent car complete with pit equip ment, flat track set-up, Jerico gearbox, Alcon brakes etc. $40,000. Ph: 0417 014 383. ibo Ford Escort Mkl, 2lt ohc with twin 45 Webers.

Complete with Dorian timer & charger. Ready to race in Club Cars. Well presented. Must sell. $10,500ono. Ph: 02 9838 9703. teo

I AUSCAR/Bathurst AUSCAR Commodore. New engine, reco diff + g/box. Just rebuilt suspension. Spares include new VR/VS shell, barred and paneeled, never used; pit equiipment and suspension, new floater diff. Must sell due to business, will consider trade. $18,500. Ph: John 03 9742 3234(BH). ibo Subaru WRX,94 STi 4 dr, build no 27/100. Qld Rally rego 5-00. 60,000km road oar, never rallied, air con + electric windows, silver. $22,000. Ph: 0418 731 115 Brisbane, ibo V8 Supercar: ex HRT VS Commodore, Holden engine, ready to race, spare engine, spares package. $80,000. Ph: Simon 0418 449 139. ibo Porsche RSCS 1995. Pristine condition. Ph: 0411 327 327. 160

Super Sedan chassis, Pontiac body, Newcastle 51, four meetings old, never been damaged, rear sliders, engine mounts, $4,000 or with upper and lower arms front struts and spindles, $5,000. Ph: 02 4572 5949. ibi 95 Pontiac ex American truck spares (Allan Butcher) Mandrel bent Rayburn chassis, magnesium diff, alloy radia tor, bert box, wied wheels less m:3tor. $12,000. Bargain. No where to race. Ph 07 4772 2511 iai V8 Modified Rod. Roller, torsion bai suspension, Dina diff, auto box, less motor, spare diff, front end, tyres and rims. $2,500. Ph: 02 6571 1897. ibi Commodore VT Super Sedan, fibreglass body, includes bonnet, front guards, roof, rear quarters & boot lid. $975. Ph:03 6424 4544(BH), 0412 092 020. 161 Super Sedan 95 Pontiac. Quick change wide five all round. New and used tyre coil overs, power steering less motor and gearbox. $10,000. Ph 02 4572 7018 lei Litnited Sportsman 10 meetings old, top hp engine, methanol, sprint car suspension, Volvo diff, finished 4 at 98-99 SA state titles. Heaps of spares. Ready to race. $5000. Ph 08 8739 6323 ibi

Drive Available - Formula Ford DTE Oran Park in exJason Bright Van Diemen RF95, championship-winning car and team. Ph: 07 5446 7611. lei Kart engine RESA fully rebuilt top and bottom inludes carbie and header. Fast urgent sale. $950 Ph Peter 0^ 4774 5980 ah or 07 4725 7688 bh ibi Kart - Clubman race set-up, Monaco GP2 chassis. 2 blue printed THurst Clubman engines, driving suit, fully enci trailer + all spares. Must sell, $4,500ono. Ph: 02 9637 7265. no Formula Vee Nimbus, chassis 501. Ideal beginners car.

Koni adjustable shocks, 3” harness, ^eg trailer, with tyre car rier. $3,800ono. Ph:02 9451 5357,0407 229 778. i«c Superkart: 250cc National. Yamaha YZ 92 modei numerous spares, end trailer, ready to race, all in excellent cond. $8,500 the lot. Ph: 02 9691 1301. m

Ford Cosworth 94v V6 motor (InJ). Direct bolt into V6 Capri. + 5spd gearbox to suit. Would make great conver sion Escort/Race/Club Car. $3,900. Ph: Geoff 07 3252 4397 (BH),07 3857 2761 (AH),0409 275 149.

Wanted: HQ race engine Fan to fly wheel. Ph 02 4268 3119 IBI

Formula Libre Cooper Honda. 1998 NSW Hillclimb ch/ship‘class winner. Bulletproof CBR 1000 engine. Near new Avops, quick & reliable. With fully end trailer and some spares. Bargain, $6,500 the lot. Ph: 0410 544 629. leo

Ford Cosworth BDM 1600cc, dry sumped, Lucas fuel inj. Excellent cond, out will be rebuilt. $30,000 firm. Ph: 08 8376 0460. « Formula Holden engine, completely rebuilt no kms, comes complete with fitting kit, starter motor, olutch/flywheel assy, engine wiring loom, and exhaust. PDA. Ph: Jeff or Mark 03 9791 4633(BH),03 9570 3683(AH),

Prog Racing

Parts

Drag''Racing""5arr'R^ 2000''Escod’'S1, 2 speed auto.

9.6/quarter mile. $20,000. Ph: Simon 0418 449 139. ibo

Triumph TR8 5.0lt V8 Marque Sports Car. Red, front run ning car, successfully raced by Mike Pattern. Immac cond.

Comes with custom built fully end trailer. $37,000. Ph: 0412 084 062. 160

AUSCAR Sportsman Commodore. Championship winning engine, very competitive, always finished in top ten. Car comes with full range of spares. $10,500. Ph: 0417 014 383. IBO

Falcon XW GT, fully restored. $15,000 Ph: Simon 0418 449 139. 160

Speedway Junior Sedan, Toyota Corolla, ready to race, everything except harnesses, sponsor included. $1,500 complete. Ph: 08 8280 6048. ibi

Mitsubishi Sigma Sedan, 2.6lt, 5 speed, high tech components, good performance in 2 divisions. All parts to go with this ready to race top car. $5,000ono. Test drive.

Ph: 02 6963 6367. m Modified Production Falcon XF, methanol engine, top hp, Bilstein coilover. Power head, quicksteer, 11 wheels & tyres, alloy seat. Very comp car. Make top Production sedan. Ph: 03 5382 6967, 015 861 590. ibo Beast wide body Gaerte Speedcar, 1998, USA 62. Very fast, as new cond. KSE, Willwood, Winters, Carrera. Sanders, FBI , Gil l iam splined wheels, spares. Winters diff complete, swaged rods, nerf bars, engine parts, vgc. Sell complete or sep. Ph: 07 5546 8732. 160 Super Sedan, factory Rayburn Mandrel, bent rails, com plete roller, new Quicksteer, Wide 5 hubs, gun drilled axle, aluminium radiator, Willwoood brakes, new rack, fuel cell.

Ready to race less engine. $12,500ono. Ph: 02 9724 0806, 0419 692 677. leo

Open Wheelers

Modified Production VN Commodore V6, Walker race engine, 5 speed,9 inch diff, 12 meetings old, best of every thing. Must sell for business opportunity, with spare engine etc. $10,000ono. Ph:02 6297 9763. isi Super Sedan: Chev Monte Carlo, quick change diff, 8 5X5 wheels and tyres, ready to race, less engine & gear box. $4,500ono. Ph:02 6963 5563. ibi Speedcar: Gardner hibar, very quick Nissan FJ30 engine, dry sumped, power steering, heaps of spares. Will run with the best. Comes with end trailer, plus XF Falcon tow vehicle. Priced for urgent sale. $23,000 the lot. Ph: 07 3822 5852,0411 479 821. ibi V8 Dirt Modified, SA5, 351 Cleveland, quick change diff, spares negotiable, ready to race. $10,990. Ph: 08 8556 1203. .01

Super Sedan: Vs Club Sport, Rayburn chassis, fibreglass body, aluminium work. $3,500. Ph: 0416 048 962, 07 5494

(AH). 160

Engines Toyota 4AGZE, supercharged 1600, twin cam 16 valve.

Complete with all fittings, wiring, computer, the lot. Very rare so complete, $1,500. Can arrange transport. Ph: 0419 388 075,03 9889 1149(AH), lei Cosworth BDP S3 ex Qld Champion Speedway, 290bhp. factory dyno sheets, mechanical injection com plete. Extractors, suit Sedan and Speedcar. $7,000. Ph: 07 5529 7146. is.

Elfin 600E F2. Historic Group Q, log book c/n 7126.

1600 Ford twin cam, Hewiand Mk9. Immaculate. The best 600 available. Complete with spares, jigs, moulds and fully end tandem trailer. $45,000ono. Ph: Ivan Clenc.e 03 9726 7166(BH),03 9762 1732(AH), ibi Formula Ford Van Diemen RF95 (ex Todd Kelly 1997) New Speed Tech engine, top car, immaculate cond Ratios and spares inc. $30,000ono. Must sell. Ph: Mike 0411 622

Hewiand FGB Trans axle (new) suit Sports Sedan.open wheeler/hill climb etc. To 400hp. Very light (46kg) complete. $10,000. Ph: Geoff 07 3252 4397(BH).07 3857 2761 (AH),0409 275 149. .ai Astratech data logger. Top of the range, Windows 95 or 3.11 discs. Spare sensors and pyro probe for turbo.

Replacement cost $6,000, will sell for $3,000. Ph: 02 9693 5088,0417 236 914. ibi Commodore VN body shell, cut ready to suit tubs S suspension pick-ups Can be upgraded to VS. Suit Supercar. NMA or Sports Sedan $1,500. Ph: 03 5988 6266. IBI Datsun/Nissan parts: 1600 240/260Z. 200SX etc.

Engine parts, diffs, CWPs etc parts too numerous to men tion. All new, some s/h parts. Ph: Geoff 03 5021 4400 fax 03 5023 0527 for list, ibi

999. 161

Brabham, 1964 BT16 F2. 998cc Cosworth SCA, Hewiand Mk7 6 speed, FIA papers. Green/silver. Perfect race-ready condition. $75,000. Ph: 00 11 649 412 8500. 161 Swift SC93F. Christian Jory offers for sale ready to race, heaps of spares, top finishes Nat & State series. All set-up data, Lamer engine. $20,000. Ph: Tony Jory 03 6326 5555, 0418 130 133. 161

Tony Kart - late 97 Exagone, fully adjustable rolling chassis, all rear hubs, spare front wheel, EGTG, tacho, nose cone, new brake pads. Club Champion in Clubman Heavy. $2,900. Ph: 03 5241 1912. 161 Kart: PCR Firefox 32mm chassis, 40mmm axle, complete with Baron tuned and blueprinted KT100S motor/carby. Ready to race with some spares and fully end al trailer. $3,300 the lot. Ph:03 5762 2518(BH),03 5762 5763(AH). 161

8962(AH). .61

Speedcar: Stealth Pontiac 97. Well maintained & con structed, only 10 races since new. Weld Star wheels, QCS rear end, MPD spindles & drive line, Giow Autometer gauges, Digatron tach ARS adj Carrera shocks. Hollow bolt kit. Alum 166ci Pontiac. POA. Ph: 02 9875 1041. ibi

Slingshot Dragster, 141 in wheelbase. Mustang alloy head 232-V6, Dominator, Manual shift C-10. Galaxy diff, fronts new, rears 50%, parachute, spare engine, trailer.

Easy to drive and maintain. $5,700. Ph: Steve 02 6766 5977

Lotus 20 FJ. Fuli restoration, top hp Ian Tate motor, suit investor or beginner in Historic Racing. Full preparation & maintenance if necessary. $50,000. Ph: George Makin 03 9545 1656,0419 356 819. IBO

;

Renault 25 turbo V6 motor, factory, similar to Alpine.

Suit off-road racing or kit car. $1,600. Trans axle to suit, $980. Ph: Geoff 07 3252 4397 (BH), 07 3857 2761 (AH), 0409 275 149. ibi Yamaha FZR lOOOcc EXUP motor and gearbox only.

42,000kms, excellent cond. Yoshimura exhaust system. Ph; Graeme 07 5537 3054. ibi Ex McCubbin Racing 360 Chev. Built & maintained

by John Sidney, Brodix dash 10 heads, Hilborn injection, new injector hoses, KSE fuel pump, KSE cover & water pump, JE pistons. This is a reliable competitive engine pro ducing 620hp (sheets avail). Priced to sell at $13,500. Ph: 03 5335 5196 (BH), 03 5332 1320 (AH). 161 Formula Ford race engine: new for 1995 champi onship, not used since Bathurst last year. $4,000. Ph. 07 5575 5001,0414 744 700. ibi Toyota G4A-E10 dohc 20 valve motor. Quad throttle bodies & ram tubes, lightened flywheel, custom-fabricated four into one header, extensive headwork, motor just rebuilt, receipts available in excess of $4,000 inc new pistons, rings, larger exhaust valves, compression 11:1, just run in, hear running. $3,850. Ph: Dennis 03 5968 8777. 161

0 Category: □ Sedons □ Open wheelers □ Speedway □ Drag □ Parts □ Engines □ Trailers □ Wanted □ Photographs □ Other

Ford 5 spd gearbox, ex Sierra, suit Escort Almost direct bolt in (to replace 4 spd). Also fit Capri, Cortina. $490. Ph: Geoff 07 3252 4397 (BH), 07 3857 2761 (AH), 0409 275 149. ib.

Hoosier racing slicks, all new & undeB cost. 22x10x13 R43, $245 ea: 22x10x16 R33/R50, 4275 ea. 23.5x11.5x6 R43/R50, $285 ea; 25x13x16 R43, $305 ea °h: 08 8332 0800, 16.

Commodore Cup shell with cage, 90% complete.

Springs & shocks, front & rear spoilers, front S rear brake rotors, front brake calipers, K-mac bearing plates, manifotd/carby + many more spares. Ph. Warren 07 5541 1633 (BH). 161 Wheels: 2x13x8.5, 2x13x7, 2x13x5,5. All to fit Datsun, Toyota, Mitsubishi, $450. Also slicks, ali 13". 8 to 10’ wide, Avon, Dunlop, new to half worn, 10 off. $5C ea, will sepa rate. Ph; 0418 207 130 NSW. ibi Ford 351ci 4 bolt block $1,200; 4MAB Cf'-; .$400; Canllo con rods $1,200 set, Accell race dist $380; roller rockers $300; alloy bell housing $280: efi xjmplete 302W $1,200.

Ph:02 4782 1145. ib.

Clutch, Quater -i^aster. 7 inch triple disc, made in US, suit T10 fine spline witr- 7.5 steel flywheel. Suit Chev or Holden V8. As new $700. Ph:07 3803 3747 .«● BRM twin cam, Mkl Cortina. 2 dooi body. vgc. full Lotus running gear, Lotus gearbox. Webers, Dunlop mags, much more. Ph/fax: 02 6862 4100. lei

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NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS Hease use the form provided and print dearty. Please note we are unaWe to return photographs: used in classified ads. Ads will ^>pear as soon as possible after receipt. FREE aassifieds are for the sate of private 90ods and i^ides <yily, not business advertising. Oassifieds close last maii Thursday prior to on sale date. Photos marked "proof* notbe jed.

1

27August 1999 Pro shocks 4 off 7800, 2 off 7600, $60 each. Coil springs 2 off 5001b x1 rx 2.5'ID, 2 off 250lbx11 ■x2.5‘, 2 off 300lbx9''x2.25', $40 each. Simmons wheels, 4 off, 15’x10.5’ no centres, $500.

Ph: 0413 992 355 (BH), 02 4580 8229 (AH). IGt Mufflers. Stainless steel, 2.25 bore, straight through, fibreglass packed. Oval shape. 400 long x 200 wide. $50 each. Ph: 03 5964 3073. m Various: Wilwood vented brake rotors (x2), .75 x 10.5 6 on 5.5. Brand new $150. Sparco Pro 2000 fibreglass race seat, FIA spec, black nylon, EC c/w side mount ing brackets, $600. Volvo brake conversion kit, suits Mazda RX2, RX3 & RX4, inci Volvo 4 pot calipers, 10.5" vented rotors, Mazda hubs, mounting brackets, pads, $450. Ph: 03 9435 5407. ici Peterson four stage dry sump, includes 15 metres of Aeroquip lines and fittings. Like brand new. $2,600ono. Ph: 03 5037 6902. .oi Winter quick change diff, new crown wheel & pinion and all bearings, gears, axles and steel diff tubes. 3' offset.

Like new. $2,500. Ph: 0416 048 962, 07 5494 8962. lei Cariilo rods 6", one race old, resized, set of 8 complete with rod bolts. Small block Chev journal size. PC $1800. Ph 0414 563 793 bh or 03 9836 6071 ah 161 3 BBS 19 inch Snake Tongue touring car rims, centrelock nut style, with Michelin slicks. Worth $6,000 sell for $1,000ono. Ph: 02 6655 5715, 0409 125 965. <w Velo Racing seat, black with yellow insert, brand new, GP90 model with rails. $600ono. Ph: 0419 253 675. leo Haltech E6S-8 sequential engine management system.

Full wiring loom, ignition ignition module, all sensors & trim.

8 X Ford Motorsport 2416 injectors & intank pump, as new, $1800ono. Ph: 07 3849 2866, 0413 128 876. .eo Brand new VW 2-litre heads, 48x38 titanium stainless valves, Chev double springs. Suit motor with 105mm pistons and 105 barrens to suit. $1,000. Plus other VW Performance Goodies. Ph: 02 6655 57.15, 0409 125 965. im Sparco race seat, mint condition, top model. Set up on rails to suit Toyota Corolla. RTA approved. $250ono. / Ph: 02 6251 7377^0414 873 177. ico Weber carbs, 2 x 48mm DCOE, competition use only.

Ex BDA/4AGE. Recent rebuild. VGC. $1350ono. Ph: 08 9341 2860. 160

Fully encl race car trailer/amiex. 18' aluminium clad tandem trailer. New heavy duty springs, new axles, new elec brakes. Also mag wheels, new tyres, new 12v Warne elec winch, 240v lights/power, bench, large internal tool box, 2 side access doors, rear loading ramp. 18' x 12' fully encl annex with windows, removable front/back/side & 3 161 matching trailer skirts. POA. Ph: Tony 0418 830 465.

arai

fg'gaiasp@f'teff's/Tg'Siiieffs

Truck & Trailer: Truck - 1987 Mitsubishi FK415, 115,000kms, air con, air suspension rear axle. Trailer - 28' floor, hydraulic front lift, cabinets & shelves, 28' awning, spares. Ph: Stan 02 4353 2454. 161 33ft tri axle trailer, 8ft wide, 7ft hig. Elec brakes, living & workshop area. Will carry 2 F/Fords or Sedans. Plus 84 F100 LWB 4X4, 351, on gas & fuel. Complete $30,000 will separate. Ph: Tony Jory 03 6326 5555, 0418 130 133. 161 Fully encl trailers (2): 1x18' tri-axle, 1x14' dual axle. Both wired for 240v lights/power points; al checker tail gate: side wall and front panel opens out; access side door; rib panel cladding: as new, priced for quick sale. 18' - $7,750ono, 14' $5.750ono. Ph: 03 5392 2424,018 108 121. 161

er). tei

Isuzu 85 FBR/FSR dual cab update, 6 speed, turbo with genuine 160,000kms. 22' custom built pan, suit Super Sedan, Sprintcar, Drag car etc. First to see will buy. $45,000. Ph; 02 6280 6581, 0417 511 296. 161 Fully encl trailer - 6 mt long inside, 8ft wide, elec brakes, opening back door, small side door. Ph: 02 6362 5804 after 6pm. 161

Klippan Safety Products.

Klippan is a division of Autoliv an internationally renowned automotive re straint manufacturer.

Autoliv are original equip ment suppliers of seat belts to Ford, Holden, Toyota and Mitsubishi, while Klippan is best known for i^s extensive range of child restraint sys tems for the retail market.

Kenworth & 40' Pantech. Truck carries 10 people in lounge room comfort legally. Trailer carries two sedans with workshop and sleeps five in comfort. Ph 07 5543 1698 161 Isuzu 85 FBR/FSR dual cab update, 6 speed, turbo with a genuine 160,000 klicks. 22' custome built pan suit super sedan, .sprintcar, drag oar etc. Simply too much to list. First to see will buy at $45,000. Ph 02 6280 6581 or 0417 511

296 161

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TK Bedford transporter, 454, three speed, auto, rego, two 200ltr fuel tanks, 60ltr water tank, fresh paint job, full length awning, flood lighting, lounge/sleeping area, winch, power points. $16,500ono. Ph: 02 4655 2422. leo 26 foot race car box trailer. Brand new, made to suit V8 Supercar, $11,000. Ph: Simon 0418 449 139. 160

Wfunted Nota: photos, articles on Nota cars and specials. All types, any year. Know of a Nota for sale? Please contact 03 5781 1779. ,61 Weight balancing scales to suit Commodore. Must be excellent cond. Ph: 02 4942 6233 (BH), 02 4946 9554 (AH). J61 BMW M3 2.3/2.S 4 cyl motor parts - heads, cam boxes, especially blocks h- cranks. Ph: Geoff 07 3252 4397 (BH), 07 3857 2761 (AH), 0409 275 149. 161 Holden \/i-VT race motor complete or in parts or damaged, Perkins slide or HRT injection preferred. Also 5 stud 17' Perkins wheels. Ph: Andrew 0407 829 938, 03 9725 6492. lei Ford 1600 BDA, BDD - anything considered but prefer complete. Ph: Geoff Wiseman 02 6646 2321 (BH), 02 6646 8100 (AH). 16, RX-7 Club Car or road car. Ph: 0417 219 804. i6, Bathurst books: need to finish my collection. 1982/83 Jqmes Hardie 1000, The Great Race 9 & 10, in reasonable cond. Ph: 02 6931 6980 after 5.30pm. ,61 The Book "The British Grand Prix 1926-1976" by Doug Nye, in good condition with a dust jacket. Ph Scett 03 5025 7293 ,61

Holden 6 cyl parts, Yella Terra 12 port alloy head, Yella Terra shaft, mounted roller rocker, 4 barrell 12 port mani fold and mantle bent extractors. Ph 02 6255 4593 or 0408 447 675 161 Motorsport books: The Great Race, Bathurst and other books on tin-top racing in Australia. Ph: Roscoe 08 8388 4020 or PO Box 777, Balhannah, SA 5242. 160

Phetograaphs

Motorsport enlargement prints: V8s, Doohan, FI, fully framed. For full lost write to 24/2 Bellbrook Ave, Hornsby, NSW 2077. 161

Other

Chevrolet Dually 5th wheel tow unit. Chev 454 pet/gas, a/c, Alcoa wheels, 3001 gas Silverado interior, trailer as new. Sleeps 6, a/c, TV, stereo, fridge, sink, length 42ft. $85,000 ono. Ph 08 9304 1551 157 Economy transporter: 1974 Nissan C80 diesel truck.

Purpose built angled tray back with tyre racks, storage cupboards, aluminium ramps, towbar for trailer (2nd car).

Recently overhauled brakes, wheel bearings, diesel pump and injectors, new diff gears, tyres, radiator, alternator, bat teries. $4,900ono. Ph: 07 3851 1378, 0418 736 619, 0418 883 898. ,6,

John Bowe goes racing in

made safety harness from

IS

Isuzu race car transporter, 230hp, turbo, 6 spd, elec tric tail lift, nose cone, belly wheels, 240v power, reg. $25,000ono. Ph: 03 5275 2567. .ei Racing Car Trailer: open with front and side protection.

Single axle with built-in ramps. Significant history - used to transport historic Elfin Formula Ford. Could be used for F/Ford, FA/ee or similar small racing car. Hydraulic brakes, spare wheel, winch. Tidy unit. Vic reg to 10/99. No further use. priced to sell $990. Ph: John Benson 03 9593 7772 (BH), 0418 130 600. lei Nissan Urvan, 2L, 5 speed, Feb 2000 rego, alloy bull bar, 9 seater. Very reliable. Any reasonable offer accepted.

Ph: 02 6853 8118. i6i

When V8 Supercar star

knows he is in good hands with a new Australian

Ford JE flat top pistons, 1.30 pin height, $500; JE 14.5:1 dome 1.25 pin height, new, $700; titanium inlets, $750; titanium exhaust, $800; 302w pushrods $150; Harrop 31 spline spool, $300. Ph; 07 3878 2740, 0412 202 733. .so

Superkart Gladiator lay down, full house Y280,6 speed, water cooled, fresh motor and-box, spares, wets, CAMS log book. $3000 180 kg lockable trailer $1000. Ph 07 55781993 1G1

Bowe Secured By Klippan

his Cat Racing Falcon, he

F/Ford semi-enclosed trailer, tyre post, metal floor, electric brakes. $1,995ono. Ph; 0412 351 451 (Shift work

Bell Sport 2 helmet. Full face, white, size large. As new . cond. $300. Ph; Laurie Davidson 0418 560 915. le, Shirts, 2 only Marlboro Penske, 2 Valvoline Walker, large & medium. Fully embroidered, front back & sleeves. VGC suit enthusiast. $100 each. Ph; 07 5443 1587. 151 Ayrton Senna - free-standing arcade game, fully coin operated, in excellent cond. Features Senna in Adelaide GP. A must for Senna collectors. Very rare. $2,000. Ph: 02 6291 9930. ,6, T2 Thrustmaster, steering wheel & pedals with gear stick for computer games. Still in box. Works with most dri ving games - GP2, Rally TOCA2. $140ono. Ph: 02 4655 6266. ,6, Number plates 18WRX Tropical Old plates. Black and yellow. Ph 07 55 783 644 161 For sale rare Adelaide FI, Gold Coast Indy posters and promo material too numerous to list. Also some mid 70's FI posters. Ph Anthony 07 5479 1049 161 Complete workshop clearance (Haydan Service Centre) sale. New hoist, new Vane 9000 & onboard computer, ramps 3ft high x 25tt long. Host of other equipment. Genuine enquiries; 03 5332 6977 (BH), 03 5336 1221 (AH). ,eo

49

Another feature of the

Klippan 2001 Racing Harness is the great comfort it offers drivers. This is achieved by using top qualify materials and innovative

design ●’f

The belts adjust easily and actually are more com fortable than other products I have used in the past" Bowe said.

"I used to fi nish the day with quite sore shoulders from where the belts strap down, but this has been elim inated with the Klippan 2001 Racing Harness"

As part of Klippan's launch into the Australian

motorsport Market, Bowe will select a number of high profile competitors who will recieve complimentary har nesses if they are involved in a major accident.

"In a high speed impact, the belts can stretch and place strain on the fittings.

You should always look to replace youi' belts after a big crash. ' said Bowe.

The Klippan 2001 harnesse will be available in stores nationally.

The Klippan 2001 Racing Harness has been developed to exceed international stan dards and carries full FIA accreditation.

John Bowe has been using the new harness throughout the 1999 V8 Supercar Shell Championship series.

"After 25 years in motor sport, I know full well the importance of good quality safety equipment" Bowe said.

"I have had to test racing hamessess to their limit on a number of occasions through out my career and I certainly encourage aU racers to check their safety equipment thor oughly."

The Klippan 2001 Racing Harness is available with three and two inch wide belt webbing as well as a variety of latches and fittings for any race car. Presently available with a rotating centre buckle, speedway racers will be able to utilise the oval-track style push-down latch later this year.

BELT UP! V8 Supercar star, John Bowe with the new Klippan 2001 Racing Harness.

fathers Day is Here!

FATHERS Day is just

around the corner, and if you are like most of us you are looking for the alter native to the standard socks and boxer shorts.

Why not get dad (or drop a few hints to your kids to get you), a model of your favourite racer. Exclusive Models have a complete range of models to suit most motorsport fans.

You could choose from V8 Supercars, Rally, Super Tourers and many more.

There are many different sizes and prices to suit most budgets.

Exclusive models also have a mail order service which can deliver the models to your door. For more details contact Exclusive models on 02 9746 3104.

If dad is more of a handson type then an advanced driving course is a great gift; idea.

DriveskiU offer a range of courses to suit different dri ver skiUs. The courses teach drivers to improve their dri ving skills in their own car.

The course is a lot of fun and any driver will come away a safer driver. Contact DriveskiU on 9841 6411.

If you are looking for some thing a bit more adventurous then Trackskill may have the

answer. Trackskill offers a

full day course in their race prepared V8 Commodore.

Training is provided from professional race drivers and race suits and helmets are provided.

TrackskiU can be contact ed on 1800 647 712.

If you are after the drive of a lifetime without all the training, Fastrack Racing can you for a blast around the famous 'Thunderdome’ at Calder Park Melbourne. For detaUs caU 03 9217 8950.

For the father who needs to update his image, the options for motorsport mer chandise will have some thing to suit everyone. The Ford fans should head straight to FTR Racing show room at 371 Clarendon St South Melbourne or call 03 9690 3888. Holden fans are catered for at Garry & Warren Smith, 1575 Princes

Doohan Ok! Some of the new Mick Doohan Caps now available. an extensive range of Formula One merchandise.

You will find them at 116 Elizabeth St Melbourne or caU 03 9564 5448.

Of course, the ultimate Fathers Day gift is a Motorsport News subscrip tion! Phone our subs depart ment (03 9527 7744) and you’re in business. Just $110 for a year’s supply of the best read in motor sport...

Highway Oakleigh or Ph. 03 9568 5309.

The FI shop has just released a great new range of Mick Doohan merchandise.

The FI Shop also carries

V8 Supercar, m akes a great fathers day gift.

1:43 scale of course!

50 21 August 1999 ^(the fans)is to actually ask them.

Parity and V8 Supercars V

NEWS

Editorial Editor Phil Branagan TecSunSea! Editor Tony Glynn Assistant Editor Gerald McDornan Graptsics Co-ordinator Viv Brumby

Advertising AdwertSsamig Manager Brendon Sheridan

Administration Managing Bireetor Chris Lambden

Contacts 89 Orrong Crescent Caulfield North VIC 3161 (PO Box 1010 North Caulfield 3161) Phone; 03 9527 7744 Fax. 03 9527 7766 Email: msnews®ozemail.com.au

General; Mike Kable, Jon Thomson, Brian Reed, Grant Nicholas, Darryl Flack, Aaron Noonan FI: Joe Saward, Adam Cooper Europe; Quentin Spurring US: Phil Morris NZ;John Hawkins Speedway: Brett Swanson, Dennis Newlyn, Sue Hobson, Geoff Rounds, Tony Millard (UK), Rally: Peter Whitten, Jon Thomson Drag Racing: Greg Ward, Jon Asher (USA), Dave Ostaszewski (USA), Nick Nicholas, Steven White, Ken Ferguson, Scott Jug Super Speedway: Martin Clark (USA) Karts: Sean Henshelwood, Graeme Burns, Allah Roark, Frank Viola, John Morris Photographers: Sutton Motorsport Images, Dirk Klynsmith, Bothwell Photographic, Neil Hammond, Nigel Snowdon & Diana Burnett, Tony Glynn, Thunder-Pics, Marshall Cass, Mike Harding, John Morris/Mpix, Frank Midgley, John Bosher, Phil Williams, Mike Patrick (UK), Tony Loxley, Daniel Wilkins, Wayne Nugent, Peter French Artist: Bernie Walsh Cartoonist: Allan Schofield

Scott Gregory Williamstown, VIC

Grid rethir?k Dear Sir, A fairer format for the V8 Supercar rounds would be to have Heat One grid positions based, as they are now, on Saturday qualify ing; Race Two grid positions based on lap times during Race One; Race

i ●

Publisher: C Lambden

The staff of Motorsport News does not necessarily agree with opinions exp

Three grid positions based on lap times during Race Two. This would spice up the grids and give further oppori unities to frontrunning drivers who are knocked out during an earlier heat- eg. Murphy and Radisich at Symmons Plains.

3161, rosdett..

Skippy mighty impressive

Fortunately, I am able to get an accurate coverage of the Super Touring rounds by rending my Motorsport News, Craig Morpn Erskineville, NSW

4

I

jLjlI

n

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J

Dear Sir, After spending all weekend out at Symmons Plains, I was most impressed with the Chaljenge Recruitment team and, h particu lar, Skippy Parsons.

He was one of the quickest cars on the track in race three, putting in one of the best driving(and brav ery) displays I’ve ever seen.

The car was clearly a bit slower in a straight hne (using the Holden engine), but it didn’t stop him from easily passing level one cars!

I hope the Challenge Recruitment team continues to run two cars for the rest of the season, as they are weU-presented, spectacular and do thefr sponsors proud.

Anyone at the track who noticed would agree - they should be con gratulated.

PS; John Bowe, was right, “Skippy” is way underrated.

Anything but that?

No passing? Okay, he started from the back, but John Bowe passed 19 cars in one race at Winton... Reader Matthews wants TEGA to get Photo: Dirk Klynsmith rid of its wings.

What a pathetic job Channel 7 are doing covering the 2 litre Super Tourers on Saturdays at midday with “Start Your Engines.”

Alan Moffat and Mike Raymond are both boring and out of touch with today’s commentators. ’ They are just plain annoying, especially the way Moffat mispro nounces names and cars - eg. he calls an Audi an “Orrdi” and a Falcon a “Forkin.”

The 2 litre Super Tourers will never win over the V8s with specta tors and TV viewers, but a Bathurst 1000 in October with a full field of the very fast and spec tacular Sports Sedans just might!

1

y

Fans want passing Deal- Sir, The V8 tourers do not provide the best racing.

There is very little passing amongst the front runners, even though they are close.

I believe we should remove some of the wings and air dams and, maybe, we could see a little action.

Surely the formula is for the fans, in spite of what Mr Cochrane might say.

Maybe TEGA could put out a survey m your paper.

The best way a business, like TEGA, can service its customers

AilW'fyTil&'Sp

Dear Sir, Can you imagine the behind-thescenes anguish at Ferrari now that Eddie Irvine appears to have made it clear that he’s leaving for Jaguar, nee Stewart, at the end of the year?

20 years since the italians had an FI champion and if Irvine is able to pull it off, he'll take the number one with him to another team.

My guess is that this more than anything is what has resulted in Schumacher’s sudden return to the cockpit, the testing, and the possible early race return, After all, in his absence, McLaren has gained little advantage and the possibility for Schumacher to bridge the points gap isn’t an outrageous one.

Michael D Patterson Foster, NSW

jtWtA'JtW/

fACw(SG?aJiT'?,

Printed by: Wilke Color 37-49 Browns Rd Clayton 3168 Distributed by:NDD Ltd Material published by MOTORSPORT NEWS is copyright and may not be reproduced in full or in part without the written permission of the publisher. Freelance contributions are welcome, and while all care will be taken, Australasian Motorsport News Pty Ltd does not accept responsibility for damage or loss of material submitted.

Opinions expressed in Motorsport News are not necessarily those of Australasian Motorsport News Ply Ltd or its staff. ●Recommended and maximum price only.

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He might also realise he does not own V8s completely and allow the ‘other’ new V8 training class to gro*

B, Thompson Launceston, TAS

Dear Sir, I have a theory about Craig Lowndes’ spectacularly quick return to racing: The whole injury thing was a cunning plan hatched by the series PR gurus at AVESCO on the evening of Craig’s crash to ensure public interest in the series remained high.

After all, we’re constantly being told it’s Entertainment not sport any more...

i »●

Motorsport News is published by Australasian Motorsport News Pw Lid ACN No 060 ]79 928

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1/

Chris Bond / Email <raeing_carl7@yahoo.com>

Contributors

(I year - 26 issues) Australia

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CompuServe: 100237,1165

I

Dear Sir, Parity in V8 Supercars? You have to be joking!

I can’t believe that anyone could argue against a parity adjustment based on the statistics below.

After Symmons Plains and including the AGP the stats are;Qualifying : Commodore - 4, Falcon -6.

Fastest Laps; Commodore - 18, Falcon -11.

Race Wins: Commodore - 26, Falcon - 2.

The wins should probably be 27-1 considering that Bowe passed Tander under a yellow flag in Queensland.

There are more Commodores on the track, but only the pro»teams have a chance of winning and there are just as many pro Ford teams.

The Falcons can be quick over a single lap on fresh tyres, but the results show that in race trim the Commodores are much better.

Sure, the Falcons are only two or three tenths off the pace in race trim, but that is all it takes to be a consistent loser!

ki0<

$1 10 AS 170 AS 180 AS 190 AS 200 . AS2I0

Bankcard, VISA. Mastercard, Amex accepted

ADVERTISING WORKS. IT’S THAT SIMPLE!

Call Brendon Sheridan on

03 9527 7744

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Wl99iUE Spectator Jacket 3M Embroidered

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Riders List t-shirt Also available in white S-XXL $25.00

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Sea $2500 Caps $25 00 Beanie $ 12.00

Black Polo embroidered

printed

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MAIL ORDER FORM

Name Ad(jress p/co(de Phone Please supply

Uoohan Repsolrace replica t-shirt $45.00.

(Also available long sleeve. $49.95)

□ Chq/Money order □ Visa □ B/card □ M/card □ Amex □ Diners

Mobile

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Fax, phone or mail credit card orders.

Post to; The Victoiian FI I SiMcial Event Shop !

TIC EliMbeMi St Meibounie 3000 Of phone Of tax yoor onierte: Ph03 96S4 5408or 03'96S4 8734 Fax 03 SOM 8233

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Jason “Mad Dog” Bargwanna V8 Supercar

Face your fears. Live your dreams.

5