Motorsport News Issue 188 - September 15-28, 2000

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INSIDE: INGALL ■ COURTNEY ■ CRITCHLEY WINS

Why Pynopack?

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Preciseness of engine results - no inertia to mask engine faults

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Repeatability - accurate back to back runs within 0.3% Portability - on and off site Stress free - 2 to 30 second runs for all results of power, torque, gases and data acquisition Minimal noise level - no tyre interface

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/anced apparatus that applies a variable but precise hydraulic The Dynopack dynamometer is a^ichnologically load via a fixed coupling to the driven wheels of a motor vehicle to simulate road conditions in the workshop.

The Dynopack's unique hydraulic operation allows is to quickly and accurately measure engine and drive line performance with sensitivity capable of measuring the headlight being turned on.

The Dynopack series is attached directly to the wheel hubs, thereby eliminating all the disadvantages of tyre distortion including noise, torque steer, loss of traction, tyre heat and variations in tyre design and wear. Direct coupling eliminates the need to estimate torque and enable s the dynamometer to make very sensitive readings over a very wide range of engine speeds. The elimination of the tyre roller interface means that the results are more precise and are reparable.

The effect of this increased precision is hard to gauge as the Dynopack series continues to break new ground as a diagnostic tool in the automotive industry.

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The Dynopack dynamometer is completely mobile (controller and absorption units are all wheeled) and apart from single phase power, connecting a standard 'garden hose' for cooling purposes and an exhaust muffler for internal installations, there are virtually no installation costs. As well, the Dynopack is completely portable and can be transported to various locations, unlike every other dynamometer, which are expensive to install since they require 'fixed in-ground' installations. 3 phase power connection, cooling ducts, dedicated (not reusable) floor space, and often large water storage facilities. Thy Dynopack can be wheeled away (against a wall) whilst not in use. and has nominal running costs (power consumption is that of a standard PC, and the water usage is restricted to the very small dynamometer 'run times').

Dynopack dynamometers are available in 2 S 4 wheel drive

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motorsport

news

Issue 188 15-28 September 2000

INSIDE

News and Opinion

4 7 8

27 28 82

The saga continues ...

Lowndes to shop at Kmart?

CAMS/AVESCO peace Parties find a compromise Tragedy at Monza Marshall dies in turn one shunt Motor Mouth James Courtney The Box Seat Positives and negatives Talk Converter Readers' opinion

Features 30 34 36 76

The boy in blue Webber + Benetton + Estoril Off to the Brickyard FI designers relive Indy memories All grown up Paul Tracy wants five more years Takin' it to the MAX Karting kid Michael Caruso

Race Coverage

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Champ Cars 1-2 the go at Laguna & Vancouver ALMS Sportscars Audi again...

Queensland 500 HRT makes the right call Italian F1 As Michael gently weeps US Nationals Drag racing's 'BiG go'

Regular Departments 24 57 60 64 66 70 72 77

Motorcycles Rallying Drag Racing NASCAR Speedway Histories National Scene Marketplace

Photos; Cover: DirX Klynsmilh and Suttondmagos. Contents: Sutton-lmages. Marshall Cass. Dave Ostaszewski, CART media.

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Lowndes

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Holden Racing Team

by PHIL BRANAGAN and GERALD McDORNAN

Webber flies in Benetton

Aussie close to Rail at Estoril

by CHRIS LAMBDEN in LISBON, PORTUGAL

MARK Webber has drawn genuine praise from Benetton team engineers after the first day of his three-day Estoril test.

Webber completed more than a GP distance on Monday, the day only interrupted by a major engine blow-up while flat out on pit straight, the car finally coming to a halt just a metre from the pit wall.

"I knew the engine was gone - I just wanted to save the car," quipped Webber.

Sharing the circuit with the Williams-BMW of Ralf Schumacher, Webber ended day one just four-tenths of a second off the German's best time and without the three off-track excursions suffered by the 4

experienced Williams pilot.

"Mark's done pretty good today. His feedback's good and we've made progress with the set-up of the car," reported Benetton test team chief Tim Wright (see our exclusive, on the spot report, page 30).

Having utilised a pair of young F3 drivers as test pilots in 2000, with disappointing results, the team - which will become a fullon Renault team in 2002 needs a more experienced test driver. A good test is expected to put Webber in the frame.

That role, plus a rumoured contract with top-flight F3000 team Super Nova for 2001, would put the Queanbeyan youngster at the head of the queue for an FI race drive.

The second and third days of the test were taking place as Motorsport News closed for press.

CRAIG Lowndes appears to be getting closer to making a decision which may see him join Kmart Racing.

Despite no comment being made about the future ofthe three-time Shell Series Champion over the weekend ofthe Queensland 500, Lowndes is said to be close to settling a multi-year deal to join the Melbourne-based team owned by Garry Dumbrell.

Lowndes and the Holden Racing Team maintained a strict‘no comment’policy at Queensland Raceway, both sides imderstandably saying that the racing took priority over any speculation on the future of team and driver.

“Last weekend had to be got out ofthe way,” Lowndes said on Tuesday.

“It doesn’t worry me at all. We’ll decide what we want to do and go from there.”

While there was no firm news to emerge at QR,a number ofitems have come more closely into focus during the last week. Despite the Queensland 500 winner himself making no announcements,sources close to Lowndes and Holden have told Motorsport News that it has already been decided he will definitely not be doing two things next season; that he will not drive for Ford,and he will not be driving forHRT. And he will not be driving for Larry Perkins, who confirmed to MN last Saturday that he will not be in a position to have Lowndes in his Castrol team.

One matter to be resolved, apparently,is Lowndes’s long-term management agreement with'TWR, which expires in 2007.'The agreement is subject to confidentially and neither side would comment on it, but accomodations may have to be made, wherever Lowndes goes.

While no-one has spoken about how much money may be involved to secure Lowndes,one ofthe main attractions with the Kmart team, apai-t from the renewed competitiveness oftheir Commodores,is the potential merchandising opportunities.

Celebrating, not w/aving: HRT, Skaife and Lowndes had plenty to celebrate after winning the Queensland 500 last weekend.

(Photo by Dirit Klynsmith)

Kmart, which is owned by Australia’s biggest retail group.

Coles Myer,is believed to have committed to a five-year deal with the team.

The commitment is said to include an extensive marketing plan for the term ofthe contract, which would also enable both parties to capitalise on their association with a merchandising strategy through Kmart’s 162 retail outlets. The merchandising arrangement,if Lowndes was able to negotiate a percentage of sales with Kmart and Dumbrell,could prove to be extremely lucrative.

If Lowndes was to be confirmed with the Kmart team,Dumbrell is then faced with a dilemma himselfwho would Lowndes replace witliin the team?

Both current drivers, Steven Richards and Greg Murphy, have contracts with Gibson Motorsport, although speculation suggests that moioriiion ntwt

Kmart eraser

and Ford may be out of picture ... so is Prancing Horse and Noske

"liust want to make sure do the right thing by Natalie and myself.

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-Lowndes on his future Murphy’s tenure at the team could rest in the balance.

Tve got a contract, but it’s only a piece of paper,” Murphy said after the Q500.

Dumbrell confirmed Morphy’s contract, but added that “the next few months would be interesting.”

“It’s a very complicated issue and we already have contracts in place,” DumbreU said on Sunday.

The other Lowndes rumours circulating in Queensland over the weekend concerned Ford teams.

Unsubstantiated media reports during the week had Lowndes already signed with Dick Johnson Racing, amid reports that the team would run a third Shell Helix car for him next season.

There are also stories that Stone Brother Racing was close to a Lowndes signature, but team co owner Ross Stone would not comment last weekend.

As reported in the last issue of MN,Stone is discussing a IS sapiembor 2000

sponsorship agreement with food giant Nestle, with the first evidence ofthe deal appearing last week when the LonghurstTBesnard Falcon ran signage for IVlaxi-bon’, an ice cream made by Nestle brand, Peters.

Ibgether wdth current major sponsors Caltex Havoline and Hrtek,increased funding would allow SBR to run three cars in the future, and Lowndes’signature would be a great lure for the companies involved.

Lowndes says that he want a long-term deal wherever he ends up and suggested that he would seek up to five years’tenure with whichever team he represents.

But he also says that, with his long Holden pedigree, he holds some apprehensions about the possibility of racing with Ford; “I do, but Peter Brock did it and he didn’t lose his fan base. It’s more of a personality thing.

“Ijust want to make sure I do the right thing by Natalie and myself” Bottom line? Lowndes, whose contract with HRT expires on December 31,is in no hurry for the matter to be finalised. Meanwhile, we wait, and continue to speculate.

AS the Craig Lowndes/Kmart Racing scenario looks more and more likely. Prancing Horse Racing principal Mark Coffey has moved to distance his team from rumours that had the Nations Cup team setting up a Holden-based V8 'Superteam' in 2001 for the HRT driver and Mark Noske.

The rumours surfaced recently, following the placement of advertisements in the specialist press seeking experienced staff for a team expansion.

"Running in the V8 Supercar series is in the long-term picture for Prancing Horse, but not with Craig Lowndes, and not in 2001," Coffey confirmed on Tuesday.

"We’ve heard all the rumours and we’ve spoken with Craig, but the discussions have purely been to do with the Panoz association at the Adelaide ALMS race and possible future races."

Coffey also denied a rumour circulating in Queensland last weekend that the team had purchased an AD Falcon from Glenn Seton’s FTR team.

On their goal to be in V8s, Coffey said Prancing Horse would most likely make a move in 2002, although it wouldn't be at the expense of their Ferrari 360 Nations Cup campaign.

"Sure, we are putting out feelers to find the right staff to build a competitive team, but that takes time, and any V8 campaign wouldn’t be to the detriment of Nations Cup. We also want to be competitive straight away and that would also take at least 12 months of planning and development...

"We plan on running four Ferrari 360s in the series next year, if PROCAR allows us an extra franchise, as well as running three, maybe four ALMS races with Mark [Noske] and Panoz, so we already have enough on our plate for next year."

- GERALD McDORNAN

NEWS Look out for TOCA in the Future Rumour of the week: Look for TOCA Australia to take a role in the management of Future Tourers in 2001. Reports suggest that TOCA CEO Kelvin O’Reilly (who wouldn’t comment on the idea) will dovetail the V8s and Super Touring/Super Production from next season.

■ The Young Guns race on the Gold Coast in October will feature Christian Jones as its 10th competitor. AJ’s lad, who has had several outings in Tom Warwick’s Nations Cup Ferrari this season, will take to the Surfers streets in a Honda Integra Type R. ■ Speaking of the Young Guns, the race, we hear, will be sponsored by Kmart.

■ No joy for Alex Davison In the latest round of the Porsche Carrera Cup at the Lauritzring.

The Aussie was out of the race after a first lap collision with local Daniel Bauer. Veteran Roland Asch won the wet event, while the next round Is at Le Mans on September 17.

■ UNITEDbet.com, a WAbased internet gambling service, has posted odds on the World Drivers Championship. Mika Hakkinen is a short-placed favourite at $1.35 (fora$1 bet), with Michael Schumacher on $1.90 and David Coulthard on a value-packed $13. Rubens Barrichello has the next line to himself on $201. In the FedEx Champ Car series Michael Andretti ($2.50) and Paul Tracy ($3) lead the way.

■ We are saddened to report the passing of Daine Hartley in Auckland last Saturday. The kiwi television guru was a familiar sight at BOC Gases rounds, hard at work on the series’ mini-cams. Hartley, who was 38, died after a short but stubborn fight with cancer.

Motorsport News passes on our sincerest condolences.

■ Wayne Gretzky was at the Vancouver CART round. The retired ice hockey great was on hand along with almost 70,000 other Canadians to hand out the trophies at the podium ceremony, top gong going to winner (and countryman) Paul Tracy.

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No more PRC THE Performance Review Committee is dead.

The old system of adjusting parity between V8 Supercar racing Fords and Holden will not be officially disbanded until the end of the year but, with a PRC ruling on the VT Commodore’s front splitter already in place for Bathurst, and only one other race in the interim (at Sandown on October 8)the committee has sat for the last time.

The role of ensuring that the marques are as equal as practicable will be taken by TEGA and adjusted through its Project Blueprint program, which is providing the makes with a number of common componentry, starting with Ford’s new TEGA splitter, which was introduced at Calder last month.

New judicial system ALONG with the other changes, V8 Supercar racing will feature a modified judicial system next season.

As part of the settlement between CAMS and AVESCO. both parties will now be represented on the panel of Stewards for each SCS and Konica Lites round, with CAMS having two and AVESCO one representatives respectively.

The new system will seek to do away with potential interference in the judicial process from the legal community.

"It will be a two step system which avoids undue legalisation and automatic appeals to courts," CAMS CEO Peter Hansen said in Brisbane last weekend.

"We have been concerned that the current system has focused on the loopholes, rather than the issues which are happening on the track."

The new system will place more onus on drivers and team personnel to know not only the rules of the sport, but the intent of the rules. CAMS is expecting input from the team in designing the new system which will have elements applied to other areas of the sport.

The positions of Race Director and Driving Standards Observer, currently filled by CAMS’s Tim Schenken and AVESCO’s Colin Bond, are expected to remain in situ.

-PHDbBRANAGAN 6

AVESCO/CAMS settlement assures THE legal dispute between CAMS and AVESCO has been settled without returning to court.

The two parties have agreed on the future direction of'V8 Supercar racing, with CAMS selling the 10 percent shareholding it has in the category through the Australian Motorsport Commission.

As part of the settlement the amount involved will remain confidential but there have been suggestions that CAMS will receive an up-front payment of $2m and a category management fee of $450,000 over the next six years.

Sources have told Motorsport News that the AMSC’s share of AVESCO earnings for 2000 was expected to be around $1.5m.

CAMS sued AVESCO in the Victorian Supreme Court over alleged infringements regarding the stewardship of the category.

The first application was set aside for legal reasons,leaving CAMS to pay AVESCO’s costs.

The settlement means that CAMS will maintain a role in the future of the category. Some senior figures in the sport were of the opinion that, should CAMS lose the legal battle, it would play no further part in, or gain any income

Allies: CEOs Wayne Cattach (AVESCO)and Peter Hansen (CAMS).

(Photo by Dirk Kiynsmith)

from the biggest revenue-raiser in the sport.

Due to the confidential nature of the agi'eement there is no

information about the tenure of both parties, but CAMS CEO Peter Hansen affirmed,“We are in this for the long haul.”

The men in the middle have their say

CAMS Chief Executive Peter Hansen "This is not going to change V8 Supercar Racing.

'The dispute was never about the racing, or the way that the racing side of the category works. It was about the commercial nature of the sport, really, “When a venture starts, it starts at one level and there is no doubt that the goalposts have moved significantly. It has moved to a new level. With that, new level agreements and directions will obviously have to reflect that level.

“In the sports and entertainment world, agreements are put to that test. We have been busy and haven’t had the agreements to reflect accurately what we are doing’ We have agreements put in line with what the category is doing now and wiil reflect more accurately what the category will be doing in the future.

“AVESCO has the commerciai rights to V8 Supercar racing. CAMS’s role will certainly remain as it is.

And, on the confidentiality of the agreement?

We must respect that AVESCO is a commercial entity and they will need to play some cards close to their chest. But it is fair to mention that CAMS will get a significant windfall which will indeed benefit CAMS members."

AVESCO Chief Executive Wayne Cattach “It (the settlement) means that we don’t have to go through long and drawn-out litigation, which was going to be costly. I'm pleased to see it behind us.

“It also means that we have taken control (of the V8 Supercar category) in a manner which is understood by both ourselves and CAMS. “Category management will now be category management. We will look to CAMS in manners of safety and safety policy, and they will continue to be the custodians of the judicial system. We want to see a focus more on natural justice and we will try and eliminate the opportunities for appellants to go through the courts.

“Ownership is now beyond dispute. That is a right that we have earned. We have a substantial infrastructure in management and staff and the roie of the ASN will have to be reviewed in light of its 37,000 members. It(CAMS)can continue to develop and to establish itself as a centre of excellence, and to export those skills overseas.

"But I don't know whether CAMS can afford its present infrastructure, with separate state offices and so on. If will have to cut its cloth accordingly. molortport niws

NEWS

time V8 future

November 2001 for New Zealand THE New Zealand round of the 2001 Shell Championship Series will not happen in February.

The earlier than anticipated start to the Formula One season at Albert Park has meant that the original February 28 date is now untenable, because the 32 cars which would race at Pukekohe would not be able to return to Melbourne until Wednesday, March 7.

AVESCO Chairman Tony Cochrane confirmed at Queensland Raceway last week that two dates are under consideration for the race one in September, one in November. The November date seems the most likely, with November 11 likely.

That would be the penultimate round of the series, with a likely final at Sandown on either November 25 or December 2.

There had been reports from New Zealand that there were problems with track licencing at Pukekohe, but these were set aside when FIA track inspector Brian Shead inspected the track last month. An improvement program is currently being undertaken, with completion in time for the NZGP on December 8.

Cochrane also said that, because of clashing football finals for both the AFL and NRL, the 2001 Bathurst event would not take place on the traditional October long weekend.

“We would go up against the NRL, but not both the NRL and AFL,” he said.

The Bathurst race is likely to be held on October 7.

AVESCO expects to announce its 2001 program at Sandown on Saturday, October 7.

Asia, Middle East?

But please extinguish all

cigarettes as you board

Putting the ‘hell’ In ‘Shell’: Cochrane has big plans, and big numbers in mind.

(Photo by Dirk KfynsmHh) IS Sapiambtr 2000

COCHRANE has also confirmed that AVESCO was looking at another three overseas events to he added after 2001.

He said that he had had discussions with two promoters in south-east Asia and one in the Middle East, as well as ongoing talks for an event in South Africa.

Cochrane confirmed that AVESCO’s preferred option was to have street course events in Asia/Middle East as opposed to a race at a permanent facility in SA,likely to be Capetown’s Killarney track.

Thirty two cars would be airlifted to the events, requiring two Boeing 747-lOOs to handle the cars and spares. Apart from that, it is hkely that two other jumbos would be needed to transport personnel, with AVESCO’s personnel manifest currently showing 647 people, excluding media.

“It’s a big undertaking,” said Cochrane.

“For a four-year progi-am on a street circuit, the commitment is in the order of US$70m (approx. $110m).”

One sponsorship option which may not be likely for the events or competitors is cigarette companies.

International events may not be subject to Australia’s no-tobacco sponsorship but AVESCO CEO Wayne Cattach said that they would “try to persuade” competitors not to engage tobacco sponsors for off-shore events. ’The races themselves, however, may be subject to other arrangements with local tobacco concerns.

n Greg Moore’s number 99 was formerly retired at Vancouver. The ceremony was attended by the family of the Canadian, who was killed in the final race of the 1999 season at Fontana. n Speaking of Moore, one of his helmets was auctioned for C$57,000($67,800) on the Thursday night before the Vancouver event. The winning bidder was Canadian actor Richard Dean Anderson, star of TV’s /WcGyver and Stargate SG1. The money will go to the Greg Moore Foundation. n Kenny Roberts Sr’s Modenas 500s racers ran on Michelins at Estoril. The threecylinder bikes started the season on Duniops, as did the Apriiia 500 V-twin, which made the switch four months ago. n Motorcycling Australia has announced that Kevin McDonald is its official of the year.

McDonald, who has reached the level of FIM Steward and Clerk of Course, has been involved in the sport for 32 years. n Chris Vermeulen will finish his Supersports season with the crack Castrol Honda team. The Aussie teenager has aiso been touted as a chance with the Honda World Superbike team next season, with rumours circulating that Aaron Slight may hang up the leathers and seek a future on four wheels. n Trust it to be from America: The Portland ALMS race on the weekend was titled the Rose City Grand Prix to you and I. But if you wanted to get the official title right, you had to call it the ‘Decisionpoint Applications Rose City Grand Prix presented by The Oregonian’. Geez... n CART and the IRL back together! Well sort of. The Indy Lights championship (owned by CART), will support the IRL series at Kansas City and Chicagoland in 2001, it was reported this week. n Marcos Ambrose’s run in British Formula 3 continues to prove difficult, the Tasmanian finishing ninth in the latest round of the series at Snetterton. It was a pretty good effort considering that he’d started from a lowly 15th. His next race will be at Spa this weekend, where he finished second in Formula Fords last year.

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Three times lucky; Fisichella has been lucky not to have been seriously hurt on three occasions this year.

(Photo by Suiton-Images)

Fisi's third whopper

GIANCARLO Fisichella is not having a good time at the moment. Fie had a big accident in the race day warm-up at Spa when he rolled his car at Stavelot Corner and last week had another large accident while testing at Monza.

On this occasion, the Roman driver went off at the Ascari chicane after what he reported to be a brake failure at around 185mph.

This caused the car to go out

of control, but fortunately it turned before hitting the barriers backwards. It then spun to a halt.

The Italian was shaken, but was able to walk away after the crash, although he suffered serious bruising to his knees, ankles and elbows from hitting the inside of the cockpit. Fisichella damaged his elbows in the Spa accident.

The car was too badly damaged for testing to continue.

Fisichella flew home to Rome,

where he was examined by doctors on Friday and it was concluded that the ankle injuries were the worst, but they wouldn't impede him at the Italian GP. It is Fisichella's third big accident of the year. Fie walked out of another big crash at the Valencia track in May when he ran into the back of Trulli and flipped his car.

- JOE SAWARD

Burti

Jaguar

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)AGUAR Patience pays off: Luciano Burti’s loyalty to Jaguar Racing has paid off, the Brazilian signing for 2001.

8

JAGUAR Racing has announced that it has signed Brazilian Luciano Burti for 2001.

The 25-year-old from Sao Paulo will partner Ulsterman Eddie Irvine. The team is believed to also have a number of options on Burti for the future.

Burti has been testing for Jaguar this year and made his FI debut in Austria, standing in for an ill-stricken Eddie Irvine.

Burti will replace Johnny Herbert, who is quitting FI to race in the CART series in the

us.

Jaguar had talks with Jean Alesi and tested Dario Franchitti before deciding to settle for Burti.

The team has yet to announce who will replace Burti as the team’s test driver, but South African Tomas Scheckter is believed to be the man most likely to get the job.

Despite his disappointing performances this year, it seems that Jaguar is going to stick with Eddie Irvine in 2001. The Ulsterman has a three-year contract with the te£un, but our sources say that the management at Ford has not been very impressed to date and may consider replacing him if things do not improve next year.

The big problem for the team is that until its new factory is completed it is going to be very hard to attract the top level drivers and Irvine may be seen as the best compromise for the time being.

-JOESAWARD ffloiDispon naws

NEWS

GP death tragedy

'd be in danger after fire marshai kiiied after first iap crash ^> -

sentences are often suspended because there was no intention to

kiU.

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by JOE SAWARD THE future of Formula 1 in Italy has again been thrown into doubt after the death of a fire marshal during the Italian Grand Prix.

Paolo Ghislimberti, a 33-yearold Italian from Trento, died after being hit by a flying wheel during an accident on the first lap of the event at Monza.

The accident happened at the Roggia chicane when the Jordans of Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jamo Tnilli tangled with Rubens Barrichello’s Ferrari.

Behind them, Joluuiy Herbert, Ricardo Zonta and Pedro de la Rosa were involved in a collision while trying to avoid the wreckage.

De la Rosa’s Arrows was launched into a violent series of somersaults after running over the back of Herbert’s Jaguar.

After the crash, an irate Barrichello said that Frentzen was “totally responsible for what happened and should be suspended for at least 10 races.”

Barrichello said that he had been overtaking Jamo Tmlli’s Jordan when the accident occurred and had been braking as late as he could. It is completely unbelievable that he should think I was braking early. I am very 15 Samamber 2080

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Last rites:The tragic death of a fire marshali and a track invasion couid jeopardise any future italian GP. (Photo by Sutton-lmages)

lucky to be alive.”

The accident could possibly result in further legal battles in the Italian courts. Soon after the race ended,Italian investigating magistrate Dr Salvatore Bellomo arrived at Monza and began his investigation.

The five cars involved were impounded and Bellomo interviewed some of those involved.

Aiticle 589 ofthe Italian penal code, which covers culpable homicide, allows for a maximum prison sentence offive years for anyone convicted, although the

Bellomo’s investigation may take weeks or months, as was the case after the death of A}Tton Senna at Imola in May 1994. The investigating magistrate on that occasion took until December 1995 to deliver his report to the Italian judiciary. It recommended that Frank Williams, Patrick Head,Adrian Newey plus various circuit officials should face charges. None of them were found guilty.

Such investigations are not new for Monza. In 1981, Riccardo Patrese and Gianni Restelli, the starter of the Italian GP, were charged with manslaughter in relation to the death of Ronnie Peterson in 1978. Both were later cleared.

As a result of the Senna accident, the FIA asked that dangerous sports be excluded from criminal law after the Association of European National Olympic Committees held a symposium in Rome to discuss the problem.

It was agreed that the law needed to be changed and a request was made to the government to exclude dangerous sports from criminal law, but nothing happened.

If charges are brought, it is likely that FI teams will refuse to race in Italy because of the legal risks involved.

At the same time, there is pressure from some teams to take action at Monza because of a track invasion on the slow down lap as Ferrari fans celebrated Michael Schumacher’s victory.

The Italian GP’s future may just be starting to look very grim...

Rally spectatofs killed in Sweden TWO spectators have been killed in a rally in Sweden.

Mattias Tyrbjorn's Opel Astra skidded off the road during a special stage during the Rally Sandviken national rally eyent at Berga. The crash occurred in a right-hand turn about 200m after the start of the stage.

Tyrbjorn and navigator Henrik Lundh were transported to a nearby hospital but were not seriously injured in the crash.

Spectator deaths and injuries have unfortunately become too common an occurance in European Rallying, with many authorities beginning to question the competence of the planning by rally organisers. Continual problems are sadly bringing government authorities more in contact with the sport, their input now hindering, on the other hand, rallying's commerical progress.

n Alain Prost says that he should be able to announce an engine deal at the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis. We believe that Alain has concluded a deal to run Ferrari engines but is still trying to put together a deal to pay for them. In Italy the rumours were that Prost is pitching both Telefonica and Parmalat for sponsorship and will then sign Pedro Diniz to be Jean Alesi's partner next year. n Martin Brundle will be named this week as the new chairman of the British Racing Drivers Club. He replaces Ken Tyrrell. Brundle has ' been one of the leading lights in the restructuring of the BRDC in recent months and he has been leading the talks about the British GP with Bernie Ecclestone. n An inquest last week heard details about the plane crash in May which killed the two pilots of the Learjet in which Coulthard and his girlfriend Heidi Wichlinski and personal trainer Andy Matthews were travelling. David Saunders, 46, and his first officer Dan Worley, 33, were killed in the crash. Coulthard prepared a statement for the court which revealed that the plane suffered engine problems. A verdict of accidental death was recorded by the Warwickshire coroner. The French authorities are conducting their own inquiry. n The Renault car company, which will take over the Benetton team in 2002, has already begun to place members of its staff into the Benetton hierarchy at Enstone. In recent days the team has taken on a new head of communications and a new financial director. The head of communications is Frenchman is Jean-Francois Corbeil and the team's new financial director is Laurence Ecklet. n Former Prost Grand Prix technical director Alan Jenkins, who has been out of work in FI since May when he was fired by Prost, was in the paddock at Monza.

Jenkins reported that he has no immediate plans in Formula 1 but is now considering his options for the future, which could include a lole in motorcycle racing or in the United States of America. Jenkins has also been linked as a possible technical head of the Ford Motor Company's sportscar racing programme. n We hear that Honda chassis engineers have recently finished building two BAR monocoques and that these will be tested shortly.

They will be no different from the cars currently being used but have been built entirely by Japanese engineers. Honda is keen to use its relationship with BAR to train its engineers in FI chassis technology and the two chassis are a major step forward.

9

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'home of

[motorsport^ I* shell championship Series

4

V8 Supercars* .Sandown

Oct 8

.Rd 12

Oct 15 ... .Gold Coast ...(Non championship)

Brit GP dilemma

Dramas for Brands iatch 2002 race

by JOE SAWARD

Nov 19 ...FAl 1000-Bathurst ....Rd 13

World Superbike Championship* ●Rd 14

Oct 15 ... .Italy

FIA Formula One World Championship Sep 24 . . .USA Oct 8 .Japan . .

Oct 22

Malaysia

.Rd 15 .Rd16 .Rd17

FIA World Rally Championship* .Rd 11 Oct 1 . . . .France . . . .

Oct 15 . . . .Italy Nov 12 . . .Australia . . .

● Rd 12

Nov 26 . . .Great Britian

.Rd 14

.Rd13

NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series Sep 17 . . .Reading . .

.Rd 19

Sep 24 . . .Dover ●Martinsville Octi

.Rd 20 .Rd 21

.Memphis . .

Oct 22 . . . .Dallas

.Rd22

octs

.Rd23

FedEx CART Championship Series* Sep 17 . . .Gateway Octi .Houston

.Rd 17

Oct 15 . . . .Australia

.Rd19

Oct 29

.Rd20

California

.Rd 18

Australian Rally Championship* .Rd6 Oct 8 . . . .Tasmania . . .

Nov 12 . . .Rally Australia

.Rd7

500cc World Grand Prix Motorcycle Championship* .Rd 13 Sep 17 . . .Valencia . . . .Rio . . . .

.Rd14

Oct 15 . . . .Pacific . .

.Rd15

Oct 29

.Rd16

Oct 7

Australia

American Le Mans Series* .Rd9

Sep 30 . . .Road Atlanta , Laguna Seca

.Rd IO

Oct 29 Las Vegas . .

Dec 31 . . .Adelaide . . .

.Rd 12

Oct IS

.Rd 11

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motorsport] AH 0V9nl dalos ki this cetendar ware corrael at the tuna ol pdnNn0. Please conatA any hdrvidMl tracks and'ai associauons for date changes.

Sortos or events tol«cA»t on Network Ten are marked with on oslertx, Cheek your local guiUoK for tcroonlng dotaili.

THE likelihood of Brands Hatch securing the British GP faded dramatically last week when Britain’s Department of the Environment,Transport and the Regions announced that it is to hold a public inquiry to decide whether a planning permit to upgrade the facility should be granted.

Circuit owners American entertainment company Interpublic have a contract to run the British GP in 2002, but a public inquiry could take a year or more, cetainly ruling out the race for that year.

Planning Minister Nick Raynsford said that the government was concerned about developments taking place in the Green Belt area and the possible impact of the Brands Hatch development on the nearby Kent Downs, which is classified by the government as an area of outstanding natural beauty.

There are also questions over the problems which would be caused by trying to get people into and out of the circuit with the existing roads.

“Brands Hatch is a non-event now,” said FI boss Bernie Ecclestone.

The announcement leaves Interpublic with the choice oftrying to do a deal with another circuiteither Bonington Park or Silverstone.

“Silverstone just needs to spend some money,” said Ecclestone. “It is like an old house. It’s not a case of a repaint job any more. It needs pulling down and rebuilding.”

There are changes happening at Silverstone at the moment. Work is due to start soon on the longawaited Silverstone village by pass, which will greatly reduce traffic problems at the circuit.

The BRDC is also planning a new phase ofinvestment which, we hear, will include the constniction of a vast new Formula 1 pit complex on the inside of what is currently Hangar Straight. These would be used only for FI teams and wordd be available for them during their reguleir tests at Silverstone. The existing pits would remain where they are and would be used for all other races.

With better road access and more investment in infi'astructure, Silverstone would be able to increase the number ofspectators(which has been capped at 90,000 in recent years)and increase the income. New

It could be a squeeze; Will Brands Hatch replace the dilapidated Silverstone in 2002, or will Donington hold the British GP? (Photo by sutton-imagBs) grandstands would cope with the additional influx of spectators.

But while the BRDC is quietly working towards doing a deal with Ecclestone, we continue to hear very strong rumours suggesting a deal has been done between Interpublic and SFX for tbe race to move to Donington Park and that plans are being drawn up for the Leicestershire circuit.

This will involve a considerable amount of upgrading, but this is not a problem as the track lies close to the East Midlands Airport, which will also help to provide car parking space for the circuit.

“Fve seen the Donington plans and heard what they want to do,” said Ecclestone. ‘Tf they do what they say, it would be fantastic for us.”

noiarioort news

NEWS

Vee-Ex Vee-Eight

Team of Champions: Holden’s leading drivers, Murphy, Ingall, Bargwanna, Lowndes, Tender, Skaife, Richards and Perkins all got behind the launch of the new VX Commodore, HOLDEN will homologate the recently released VX Commodore for the 2001 Shell V8 Supercar Series.

“We intend to submit approval documentation for this new model over the coming months,” Holden Motorsport Manager John Stevenson said on ’Tuesday.

“We can only hope the VX is

1

(1^

as successful on the racetrack as the VT has been over the past couple of years.”

While Holden has promoted the fact that the VX has undergone both mechanical and cosmetic changes, the SS version’s Gen III Chev V8 on the receiving end of even more power, the racing version’s changes are all expected to be

JORDAN Grand Prix has begun to rebuild its engineering team with the recruitment of David Brown for next season.

Brown started out in Formula 1 in the early 1980s as a draftsman in the Williams drawing office. In 1987 he became Nigel Mansell’s race engineer and he worked with Mansell until Nigel moved to Ferrari at the end of 1988. Brown then worked with Thierry Boutsen until Mansell returned to Williams.

In 1992, the two worked together again and Mansell won the World Championship.

In 1993 Brown engineered Alain Prost to another World title and Brown was hoping for a third title in 1994 as Ayrton Senna’s race engineer.

IS Saptamber 7000

cosmetic, AVESCO’s Project Blueprint having been implemented to achieve total mechanical parity between the Commodore and Falcon.

The VX V8 Supercar, based on the SS, will debut in the likely 2001 season opener at the Qantas Australian FI Grand Prix in Melbourne in March.

- GERALD McDORNAN

After the Brazilian was killed at Imola, Brown engineered Damon Hill and only missed the championship that year when Michael Schumacher drove into Hill after the German had crashed into a wall at Adelaide.

Brown continued his relationship with Hill in 1995, but it was a frustrating season and when he received an offer to work with David Coulthard at McLaren for 1996, he decided to move on.

Brown stayed with Coulthard for just a single season before being put in charge of McLaren’s Young Driver program and, in 1998, he was appointed managing director of the McLarenowned West Competition Formula 3000 team.

The team narrowly

missed the 1998 F3000 title with Nick Heidfeld, but won the title in dominant form in 1999.

When West withdrew its support, the team found funding from mySAP.com, but this year was very disappointing and the team is not expected to continue.

Brown will now move to Jordan where he will be chief engineer.

The team has also signed a deal with Arrows chief designer Egbahl Hamidy to join them as soon as he is available. Hamidy is under contract until the end of December 2001, but he is unlikely to stay until the end of the deal, although an early departure will mean that he will probably have to pay damages to Arrows.

- JOE SAWARD

n There were suggestions in Monza that Bridgestone could be out of FI within a year. If this is the case, FI could be facing a tyre crisis as Michelin may not be keen to be the sole tyre supplier in FI because it will gain very little publicity if there is not a tyre war. Formula 1 bosses may now try to persuade Goodyear, Michelin's rival in the tyre industry, to return to FI. This will not be easy because the Goodyear FI team of engineers has broken up and many of the experienced tyre designers and engineers have left the company. It is worth remembering that in July, Goodyear had a major restructuring of the top management with Bill Sharp, the man who decided to terminate Goodyear’s FI involvement, being replaced. n We understand that teams are considering a proposal for 2001 for action over a Grand Prix weekend to begin at 10am on all three days.

This will mean a reduction of running on Saturdays by half an hour and a shorter gap between the warm-up and the raace on Sunday morning. The teams nedd unanimous agreement for the new ideas to become official and this is unlikely to be easy to achieve. The team bosses are also understood to have agreed to a three-week gap between races in August, Testing will also be banned in the same period. n We hear that Sauber is planning to test Finnish youngster Kimi Raikkonen shortly. The 20-yearold is currently competing with considerable success in the British Formula Renault championship in his first full year of competition.

Raikkonen has been racing karts since he was eight years old.

Raikkonen is being managed by former racing driver Steven Robertson, the son of David Robertson, Jenson Button’s manager. n Minardi are on course to secure a supply of Supertec engines for next year, according to team chief executive Gabriele Rumi. The Italian team looked to be in trouble for 2001 with current suppliers Ford halting its supply at the end of the current season, but Rumi is confident a deal can be struck with Supertec. The deal has not yet been finalised but it is Minardi’s only choice. Rumi says that as soon as the engine details are sorted out the team will announced sponsors and drivers. We hear that Alain Prost is keep to land the Telefonica deal but that the Spanish telephone company wants one of its drivers in the team.

11

Max Mosley versus Ron Dennis Green/Motorola move could lead to own CART team

Mike and Mario make plans

THE ongoing battle between the FIA President Max Mosley and some of the Formula 1 team owners took a new turn last week, when a letter from Mosley to Sir Frank Williams was leaked to the press.

The letter complained that Williams had signed a letter with McLaren boss Ron Dennis below to the European Commission asking for the Competition Directorate to look at the FIA Court of Appeal. Mosley

. A.

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Sutton-lmages

Making plans: Michael and Mario Andretti may become Champ Car team owners in the near future. {Photo by Ford Racing Media)

/

complained that Williams should have tried to effect change within the sport rather than going to the EU. "The only conclusion I can come to,” wrote Mosley,“is that you had reasons other than a genuine desire to change the FIA Court of Appeal. The only obvious motive would be a wish to disrupt our negotiations with the EU Commission.”

Williams refused to comment on the letter.

Mosley made a number of disparaging remarks about Dennis in the letter, but the McLaren boss also refused to make any comment. Mosley’s antagonistic approach is unhkely to achieve much in the long term, as the FI teams remain convinced that reform is needed at the FIA. The team bosses have no power to make things change and so there is a high level offrustration.

However, we do hear that the FIA may be looking at ways in which it can improve the relations with the teams and improve its image.

According to most sources, the best way to achieve that would be to keep Mosley and Dennis apart.

-JOESAWARD 12

IVUCHAEL Andretti is expected to announce shortly that he is moving to a new CART team next year, probably in league with his father, Mario Andretti,the 1978 Formula 1 World Champion.

The new team is expected to be linked in some way with Team Kool Green, although we expect that this will only be an arrangement whereby Andretti’s team is operated out of the Team Kool Green premises in Indianapolis.

This is an obvious step towards the Andrettis running a team of their own in CART in 2002. Green cannot easily be involved beyond that, as the CART franchise system allows for only two cars per owner.

Having said that, there is nothing to stop Green becoming a shareholder in an Andretti operation, as fellow team owner Bruce McCaw is a minority shareholder in Mo Nurm Racing in addition to ovming PacWest Racing.

This means that the Andretti team could get the benefit of Team Green engineering and preparation skills, which would be a big help for any new team.

Running his own team, Michael Andretti could also compete in the Indianapolis 500, a race which he has yet to win and which he cannot win at the moment

with Newman Haas as the team has shown no interest in contesting the race, which is run by the Indy Racing League.

After one year of operation, a team competing in CART is eligible to a franchise which provides travel money and a share of other race-related income such as TV money.

It is worth noting that Adrian Fernandez is also expected to announce the formation of his own team shortly. This will open up two drives in CART: one with Newman Haas and the other with Patrick Racing. The Newman Haas drive is expected to go to Cristiano de Matta, who is currently under contract to Cal Wells’s PPI Motorsports but is trying to negotiate a buyout. The Patrick Racing drive will probably go to Johnny Herbert.

It remains to be seen who will drive the other CART seats, but Bruno Junqueira is expected to sign for Chip Ganassi this week and Formula 3000 frontrunner Nicolas Minassicm is also tipped as possible CART new boy.

It is also possible that Alexander Wurz may look to the United States, as there does not appear to be a drive open for him in El at the moment.

-JOESAWARD

Allan McNish quits sportscars

AMERICAN Le Mans Series front-runner Allan McNish looks certain to put his sportscar career on hold, after signing up for Toyota's fledgling Grand Prix squad for the next two years.

A full-time testing role with the Japanese car maker as it gears up for its Formula 1 entry in 2002 makes a season-long ride in sportscars next year “extremely unlikely,” according to the 30-yearold right.

“This year, the ALMS and Audi are my priority and my testing with 'Ibyota (in a modified GT-One

spoi-tscarj fits in around that,” explained McNish.

“Next year, everything switches around and Tbyota is my major programme. I want to concentrate on the FI testing, so it is unlikely that I could do a major progi'amme of racing in 2001.”

The Scot has not imled out going back to Le Mans and possibly other enduros. such as the Sebring 12 Hours and the Petit Le Mans 1000-mile race. Any such deal would almost certainly be with Audi, which is expect^ to confirm its continuation in sportscar racing shortly.

“I haven’t sat down and discussed it, but I like racing,” said McNish.“Audi hasn't committed to going to Le Mans next year, and until that happens it’s a case of waiting and seeing.”

Audi motorsport boss Wolfgang Ullrich said he would like to retain McNish's services should the sportscai- programme continue.

“Allan knows we would like to have him in the team,” said Ulhich. “But when he joined us for next year, he made it clear from the beginning that it may not be for the long-term.”

-GARY WATKINS

moiortport aewt

NEWS n The Italian Grand Prix was significant in that it marked the final race for the last of the old style Formula 1 motorhomers who live in team buses, drive them from race to race and act as hospitalty personnel. Nowadays the big FI motorhomes require rigging crews to be flown out days in advances and there is a separate hospitalty crew which flies out to each race.

The last of the old style motorhomers is Dave Addison who has been worked in FI for the last 14 years, most recently with Jordan Grand Prix.

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Heading south: The Super Tourers will race at Wakefield Park in a replacement event for the Winton round.

(Photo by Marshall Cass)

n Former Fiat boss Gianni Agnelli - who remains a major shareholder in Ferrari -visited the Monza testing last week and remarked that he feels that Mika Fiakkinen has 60 percent chance of winning the World Championship and that Michael Schumacher has only a 40 percent chance.

Super Tourers for Wakefield

■ The decision by BMW to get rid of the troublesome Rover Group is paying dividends - literally. The Munich company's share price has risen dramatically since the deal to get rid of Rover was announced and the company is now valued at around US$22bn. Its much bigger rival Volkswagen currently has a market valuation of only US$16bn and so there has been speculation that BMW may now start talks to merger with Volkswagen as it is now in a position of strength.

Eighteen months ago VW was valued at USS22bn and BMW at US$16bn.

TOCA Australia has announced a replacement event for the cancelled Winton round of the BOC Gases Super Touring Championship.

Wakefield Park will host the next round of the series on October 29, the first time that the circuit has conducted a

■ Thomas Flaffa's EM.TV company - which owns half of Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One group of companies - has announced first half profits for 2000 of just over US$50m, twice the figure achieved in the first half of 1999. The company's sales have tripled in the same period thanks to the acquisition of the Jim Flenson Company, which owns The Muppets. According to German financial sources the company is considering divesting itself af the Formula 1 shares.

Goulbupn track gets first BOG Gases round to replace cancelled Winton race

r Toyota F1

national Super Touring event.

Kelvin O'Reilly, Chief Executive of championship organisers TOCA Australia, said the move to Wakefield Park had been confirmed after negotiations with Garry Holt, the Managing Director of the consortium which purchased the circuit in June this year.

O'Reilly said securing Wakefield Park as a championship venue would ensure the series remained at eight rounds, each with two hours of television coverage on the Seven Network.

"Going to Wakefield Park is a positive move for the championship and it takes top class motorsport to a new area," said O'Reilly. 'Everyone is showing a great deal of enthusiasm, and this is also a new challenge for our drivers and teams because it's the first time the championship has been there."

Holt said the new owners had spent $500,000 in the past three months on

improvements at the circuit, and a further $150,000 would be outlaid before the Super Touring round to upgrade the pit-lane facilities.

"Getting the Super Tourers is the first step in our long term plans to develop the circuit so we can hold national championship events on a regular basis," said Holt.

'The television coverage from this race meeting will provide the exposure we need to lift the profile of Wakefield Park.

"In the past few months we have done a lot of work widening the track, changing a couple of the comers, improving the safety features, and upgrading the kerbs and ripple strips. Up until now Wakefield Park has had mostly club and historic racing, but we are planning to move up to the next level."

Support classes for the Wakefield Park round will include the V8 Future Tourers, Commodore Cup, and the Logical Mirage one-make series.

■ Sir Frank Williams says there is no rush to make any decisions about drivers for 2001. Fie admitted that he has been very impressed by Jenson Button but says that there are "certain other factors involved in the decision".

We believe that one of these is whether or not Chip Ganassi agrees to keep Juan-Pablo Montoya for another season. If this is the case the Colombian can expect a very large financial deal from Toyota, which is developing its CART challenge with Target Chip Ganassi Racing.

13

New CAMS CAMS will return to its former title, the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport, as part of a corporate reorganisation.

CAMS Chief Executive Peter Hansen right outlined the thinking, the “new CAMS,is a far more aggressive organisation, as witnessed by the sometimes radical changes to the status quo in many quarters this past year.

“The new signature is also far more dynamic and, when it is progressively revealed on stationery, flags and clothing it will immediately explain what CAMS represents.

“Also to be introduced soon are some very exciting concepts, including ultra competitive personal insurance, that will add value to being a part of motor sport. A state of the art web site, that provides up to the minute results and information that members and motor sport enthusiasts will want to know, will be launched as part of the

total overhaul of CAMS’s IT infrastructure.”

Hansen added,“Large scale improvements to the sporting side are also occurring. We will reduce permit fees for certain amateur events, which will make entry fees cheaper and competition more affordable.

“It is important to emphasise that CAMS strongly supports change and progress and that we have been planning our new activities for some time. This will include more aggressive marketing of circuit events and lifting the profile of the Australian Rally Championship.”

Tomas Mezera looks forward to 2001 THINGS are looking up for Tomas Mezera, with a new sponsorship package and a new car on the way for 2001.

The former HRT driver will continue with long-time backer Densitron, but new support will come from Frontline Technologies, an American-based company which is involved with aquaculture in Australia.

Mezera will continue with his Holden Commodore VT, which will be replaced with a new VX model after a few races.

Mezera didn't get to drive at the Queensland 500 last week, after co-driver Brad Jones suffered an engine failure early in the race.

-..'4’,

Great Scott: While Jason Bright struggled at Vancouver and Laguna, Scott Dixoi JASON Bright’s tough time in the Indy Lights championship has continued at Vancouver and Laguna Seca.

The Dorricott driver struggled last weekend at Laguna, he and the team equally perplexed about the lack of speed and consistency in the car.

"We struggled all weekend,” said Bright. <«'We just couldn’t dial out the understeer,so we made some pretty drastic changes for the warm-up and so we had a pretty nervous car for the race.

‘We don’t know where we

MANNIE FOLD: THE ULTIMATE TRACKSIDE FAN-BOY Ifnw A

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went wrong.It had us stuffed all weekend.”

Bright started in a lowly ninth, and dropped back as far as 15th after being crashed into at the first comer.The Queenslander fought back to progress as far as eighth by the time the race ended, but Scott Dixon’s victory has made the Kiwi all but vuibeatable in the series.

“I’m still sixth in the title and second place is only 15 points away,” said Bright.

“The crash in Chicago probably caused us more trouble at Laguna than it did at Mid-Ohio, considering the

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took two wins. (Photo by Sutton-lmages) amount of testing I missed after the crash.

“We’re a little hit behind the eight hall, hut we want to get hack up to second in the championship. A few of those other rookies have got past for the rookie award.”

Vancouver a week earlier was even worse, Bright getting wiped out at the first comer.

“A bunch of car problems didn’t allow us to show what we could do in qualifying and getting belted in the race didn’t allow us to show what we could do in the race!” he said.

“With what happened at Vancouver and missing the race at Chicago, I can’t afford any more DNFs.” Dixon now leads the title on 134 points from Bright’s team mate Townsend Bell on 92.

Bright has 77 points with three rounds to go.

MEANWHILE, Bright has confirmed that he is close to announcing his plans for the Honda Indy 300 in October.

“There’U be an announcement reasonably soon,” he told us on Tuesday.

“It’s with a team that’s been going reasonably well of late.

It’s pretty much done; some things need to be tidied up at this end (Australia).”

-AARON NOONAN IS SiBtsnbar 2000

ELL, the Queensland 500 has been run and won, but unfortunately not by us again. Mind you, it could very well have gone our way. One very encouraging thing was the pace we had onboard the Castrol Commodore, especially in qualifying.

After being fastest in the standard qualifying session, I have to admit I was a bit disappointed just missing out on pole in the Top 10 Shootout.

This was a brand new car having its first run, so to be this competitive straight out the box is a credit to the guys at Perkins Engineering.

All we needed was a pace car towards the end of the race and the result could have been quite different. Anyway, it didn't, but going into the big one in November, it definitely fills us with confidence.

I think many teams were very surprised at the pace that the race was run at. It was about the same sort of times that we were running at the sprint race, except each stint was three times as long and the temperature was much higher.

NEWS

W

hen I was asked to do this column, I swore I wasn't going to talk about the one thing that has dominated the headlines for the last couple of weeks, that is 'where is Lowndes driving in 2001 ?'

I have finally worked it out.

In my opinion, we have all been conned. I reckon this has been one of the most elaborate PR scams that has ever been concocted.

Just have a good think about it.

Look at all the press coverage that has been received because of how long it has been stretched out for, the total secrecy - which in motorsport is an absolute rarity - and the abundance of so-called teams that have made offers, most of which have been rumours. This could probably be the best public relations exercise of all time.

And what will prove I am right is if Lowndes stays with HRT And let's face it, at the end of the day, why wouldn't he!

At

Enforced Views ■tn

Rnssell ligall

Next round is Sandown and the last of the sprint races for the year. I am back to my trusty # 8 car and definitely going to go all out for a win. It should be an interesting meeting, with the championship possibly being decided.

Cheers for now...

The REAL story: While everyone else is wondering about Craig Lowndes’s future, we reckon the BIG story is where The Enforcer will drive next season ... (relax Larry, it’s a simulator. Larry? Larry?)

t goes to show the rapid rate that the current V8 Supercars are being developed, and they just seem to be getting quicker at each race. One thing that did surprise me was the amount of mechanical failures that quite a few teams had. I am sure this is due to how close to the limit these cars are being pushed in an endurance race.

When you are running as hard as a sprint race for threeand-half hours, something has to give. I think you will find at Bathurst this year there will be quite a few cars sitting on the side of the track before race end.

Certainly the blue oval brigade can't grumble too much with the pace that Longhurst and Radisich showed, and if not for, shall I say, 'interesting mistakes', could well have won. Saying that, after looking at the tape, I think Radisich was hard done by. From what I saw, it didn't look like he jumped the start.

As for the race in total, it wasn't bad, but a tad monotonous. That unfortunately is due partly to the design of the track. Let's hope they can add a few more left hand corners so we don't get so dizzy.

IS

by GARY WATKINS AUDI’S expected return to the American Le Mans Series next year may not necessarily be with the crack Joest team.

The German squad, which has masterminded Audi’s ultrasuccessful campaigns at the Le Mans 24 Hour and in the ALMS this year, has yet to ink its deal to continue next year. That’s no surprise given that Audi of America has yet to sign off its continued assault in the series next season. What is surprising, though, is that bosses from the German marque’s North American arm have been sounding out USbased teams about running its R8 prototypes in 2001.

There could be a number of reasons for this. Either Audi is be considering dropping Joest, known to be very expensive, or because it wants a second, semi-works squad as well. That would be in line with the wishes of series boss Don Panoz, who is keen that manufacturers also supply customer teams in the future.

Joest is known to be keen to continue with Audi in the full series next year and is known to have recently taken new premises in Atlanta with that in mind.

Audi ofAmerica boss Len Hunt explained that continuing with its existing team is a possibility. “But there are also all Idnds of permutations available,” he said.

Joest yncertain about ALMS/Audi campaign

Night vision: Crack German squad Joest are uncertain as to whether they will run Audis in the ALMS next year.

(Photo by Sutton-lmages)

SALEEN’S radical new C7-R has come under attack from the makers of the cars it has been designed to beat.

Both Chrysler and Chevrolet, the GTS class frontrunners in the American Le Mans Series, have questioned the car’s suitability for the category.

Doug Fehan, manager of Chevrolet’s Corvette C5-R programme, claimed the GTS class contender lay outside the spirit of the rules. “The car has composite panels over a tubular spaceframe, which is something we were told we could not do,” he said.

“The Saleen has the potential to kill the category because it bas raised the bar in terms of technology.”

Hugues de Chaunac, boss of the factory Chrysler Viper team, also raised doubts about the Saleen.

“1 would like to know what the people at Le Mans think about this car,” he said.

But Le Mans rules boss Alain Bertaut gave no hint that the Saleen will face any trouble receiving the all-clear when it undergoes its final inspection in less than two weeks.

“We know that car very well and we think it is very impressive,” he said The new SaJeen now looks increasingly unlikely to make its race debut as scheduled in the Petit Le Mans 1000-mile ALMS race at Road Atlanta later this month.

Callaway returns

AMERICAN muscle car builder Callaway is aiming to return to racing after an absence of four seasons.

Marque boss Reeves Callaway wants to take on Porsche's allconquering 911 GT3-R with his Chevrolet-engined C12 in the GT division of the American Le Mans Series.

"This series now has some real status and the customer car in the class is the Porsche, so we believe there maybe a foothold for us there," he said at the ALMS round in Texas.

Callaway has already won the approval of the Le Mans organisers to push-ahead with running the C12 in the "baby" class rather than taking on Dodge and Chevrolet in GTS category.

"We could look at GTS if someone had the right budget, but I would prefer to race a car near to stock configuration."

Callaway predicts that the first of the 1200kg racers could be ready in time for the beginning of next season,including February's Daytona 24 Hours. molorsport nawt

(

NEWS

Blue oval DETAILS of the gigantic Ford Motor Sport Campus at Silverstone have emerged from documents lodged with the South Northamptonshire Planning Authority.

The 50-acre facility will house Ford’s Formula 1, World Championship Rallying and probably other racing programmes, in addition to Cosworth Racing and the Jaguar windtunnel.

The plans reveal that there will be a total of 11 different buildings on the 50-acre site. This will be surrounded by a moat with the buildings being screened from the vicinity by trees and hedgerows.

The entrance to the facility will be at the current Main Entrance of Silverstone, where there will be a roxmd glass Visitor Centre which will house a Museum and Archive. The other buildings will be inside the moated area and will include an office block (complete with reflecting pool), a leisure centre for the staff and the various workshops and facilities for the different divisions, including a Formula 3 facility.

Cosworth and Jaguar currently employ 660 and 304 people respectively and, according to the application, this will rise to 839 and 380 by 2003.

The facility stretches from the current main entrance down through the fields(which are used a car parks at Grand Prix time)down to the new A43 Silverstone by-pass and around behind Woodcote Comer.

According to the planning application, the decision to build at Silverstone was made after Ford had assessed sites at the new Rockingham racing circuit, in Milton Keynes and at the Rover testing facility at Gaydon.

The building work will be undertaken and funded by Silverstone Operations Ltd, the new company established in June to exploit the facilities at the circuit. The factories will then be leased to Ford on a long-term basis, providing the circuit with a return on its investment.

-JOESAWARD

move

jaguar For Sale; Jaguar Racing is expected to move from this new facility to Silverstone.

(Suttorvtmages)

I.V.S.

Ppo-Am Beetle race for ALMS VOLKSWAGEN'S popular new Beetle will make its Australian racing debut at the Adelaide 'Race of a Thousand Years' when a Pro-Am is held for specially modified cars.

ALMS organisers announced the Pro Am in Adelaide yesterday,the event including a 10-lap race on the

Saturday, with a compulsory amateur-to-professional driver change at mid-point.

Sunday's schedule will include a special 'amateur only'final race.

A

n Former Channel 10 V8 Supercar series commentator Leigh Diffey has just put together a sensational video highlights package of James Courtney’s historic British Formula Ford Championship-winning season.

The tape, which will contain 90 minutes of action from the world's most competitive training ground for future Formula 1 drivers, may also feature vision of Courtney’s end of season F3 testing program, which he is about to undertake for Jaguar.

The tape is expected to be available in Australia in about one month. n Six of the 11 current Formula 1 teams could face a backlash if a proposed worldwide ban on tobacco advertising, initiated by the World Flealth Organisation, comes to fruition. This is a new, and potentially more damaging development for motorsport which is already under threat from a European Union legislation against tobacco involvement that is expected to be in force by 2007. WFIO is fronting a campaign against the tobacco industries and is lobbying for global support to prevent any form of tobacco-related advertising within a period of three years. In addition to Formula 1, which relies heavily on tobacco sponsorship, motorsport in general would lose out if the proposal succeeded. At the top of the Formula 1 tree, in terms of tobacco revenue, is British American Tobacco which pays around $75 million per year to display its Lucky Strike brand on the BAR-Flonda cars.

Marlboro (Philip Morris) and West reportedly pump S65m and $40m respectively to Ferrari and McLaren.

Benetton (Mild Seven), Jordan (Benson & Hedges) and Prost (Gauloises) also have tobacco companies as title sponsors. The other five teams are Arrows (which recently signed a lucrative deal with mobile telecomms company Orange), Jaguar (primarily financed

by Ford Motor Company), Minardi (Spanish telecomms company Telefonica), Sauber (Malaysian oil giant Petronas and energy drinks company Red Bull) and Williams (BMW and Compaq computers).

These teams are leading the way to secure less offensive sponsorship partners. n Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard notched up a remarkable team-mate partnership of 78 Grands Prix, over five seasons, in Belgium.

Hakkinen has been with McLaren since 1993, while Coulthard joined from Williams in 1996. The former record holders were Jean Ales! and Gerhard Berger who were also team mates over five successive seasons, at Ferrari (1994-94-95) and again at Benetton (1996-97)for a total of 77 races.

15 September 2000

11

L

Now for Bathurst WITH the main lead-up enduro event,the Ozemail Queensland 500, out of the way,the stage is now set for a classic at Bathiu-st on November 19.

While there is still one more Shell Championship Series race remaining before the event, the Sandown round on October 8, the main focus of the teams now centres on the FAI 1000.

Normally, there would be a clearcut favourite for the event by now, the events at Queensland Raceway mean that, realistically, there are as many as 10 teams which can contend to win the final race of the season.

Holden Racing Team took home the bacon from QR,but the team undergoes a number of changed before the trip to Moimt Panorama. Most notable will be the arrival of Euro hotshots Yvan Muller and Jason Plato, who will arrive in time to have plenty of testing before the event.

Likewise, Mark Larkham will be looking to give Alain Menu as many laps as possible in the Mitre 10 Falcon, while Jason Bright will be more familiar with the breed, despite not having driven his Shell Helix AU. On the speed he showed at QR, Paul Radisich will be a factor as well, and is bound to be looking forward to being reunited with his former BTCC buddies.

Stone Brothers Racing were forced out ofcontention largely by

their own hands at QR and the arrival in the team of David Besnard and Simon Wills gives Tony Longhurst and Craig Baird a great chance of victory.

Holdens? Never look past Larry Perkins and Russell Ingall in an enduro, the pair’s new mount qualifying fastest last week (before the run-off). Likewise, Garth Tander and Jason Bargwanna are ready to go in the GRM VT, and we haven’t even got to the defending race winners(don’t forget), Steven Richards and Greg Murphy. The Kmart team have turned the comer in the last four races and were fast, despite problems,in Ipswich.

Glenn Seton must feel like he is owed a victory at Mount Panorama, Brad Jones has done everything except win it and John Faulkner led the event in 1999 before Wills crashed.

Wildcards? Perhaps it is cmel to put the Young Lions into this category, especially with such a strong Q500 performance, while Greg Ritter and Tim Leahey, Paul Weel and Greg Crick and Rodney Forbes and John Cleland also showed contending potential.

And we haven’t even got to John Bowe and Jim Richards, race winners both.

AVESCO will release the full entry a month before the race and, while it will confirm who will and who will not be there, we couldn’t resist having an early, sneak peek ...

Dee-fence: Greg Murphy and Steven Richards are heading to Bathurst, (Photo by Marshall Cass) looking for their third \win each at Mt Panorama.

FA1 1000- November 19 Likely Entry List Car No Drivers 1 Holden Racing Team Commodore VT Craig Lowndes/Mark Skaife 2 Yvan Muller/Jason Plato Holden Racing Team Commodore VT 3 Optus/PPG Commodore VS Trevor Ashby/Steve Reed 4 PirtekSBR Falcon AU Craig Baird/Simon Wills FTR Falcon AU 5 Glenn Seton/Neil Crompton 6 FTR Falcon AU Wayne Gardner/Neal Bates Kmart Commodore VT 7 Steven Richards/Greg Murphy Castrol Commodore VT 8 Christian Murchison/Luke Youlden 9 Caltex Havoline Falcon AU Tony Longhurst/David Besnard Mitre 10 Falcon AU 10 Mark Larkham/Alain Menu Castrol Commodore VT 11 Larry Perkins/Russell Ingall Kmart Commodore VT 12 Terry Finnigan/Darren Hossack 14 Rodney Crick/TBA IMS Commodore VT 15 Todd Kelly/Nathan Pretty MyCar Young Lions Commodore VT 16 Dugal McDougall/Andrew Miedecke Pepsi Commodore VT Shell Helix Falcon AU 17 Steven Johnson/Jason Bright Shell Helix Falcon AU 18 Paul Radisich/Cameron McLean Eastern Creek Karts Falcon EL 20 Garry Holt/Garry Willmington 021 Jason Richards/Angus Fogg Team KiwiA/odafone Commodore VT OzEmail Falcon AU 21 Brad Jones/Tomas Mezera Colourscan Falcon AU 22 Brett Peters/Rick Bates 23 Geoff Full/Philip Scifleet Optus/PPG Commodore VS 24 Paul Romano/James Brock# Romano Commodore VS 26 Peter Doulman/John Cotter Gatorade Commodore VT 28 Rodney Forbes/John Cleland Wynn's Commodore VT 29 Paul Morris/Kevin Schwantz Big Kev Commodore VT 30 Craig Harris/Stephen Voight carsales.com.au Falcon AU 31 Steve Eliery/Paul Stokell Super Cheap Auto Falcon AU 34 Garth Tander/Jason Bargwanna Valvoline Cummins Repco Commodore VT 35 Greg RitterTTim Leahey Valvoline Cummins Repco Commodore VT 36 Neil Schembri/Gary Quartly Bettergrow Falcon EL 37 Bill Attard/Roger Hurd The Xerox Shop Commodore VS South Pacific Commodore VS 38 Peter Field/Shane Howison 42 Bill Sieders/Luke Sieders All-Trans Trucks Falcon EL 43 Paul Weel/Greg Crick K&J Thermal Products Falcon AU 44 Mai Rose/TBA Supercar Experience Commodore VS 45 Dean Canto/TBA BMC Software Falcon AU 46 John Faulkner/Adam Macrow Asia Online Commodore VT 50 Mick Donaher/Tyler Mecklem Ultra Tune TDK Commodore VT 54 Cameron McConville/Paul Dumbrell# Repco Commodore VT 55 Rod Nash/TBA Autopro Commodore VT 61 Ross Halliday/Adam Wallis 3M Falcon EL 75 Anthony Tratt/Alan Jones Toll Falcon AU 76 Matthew White/Terry Wyhoon Challenge Commodore VS 77 Richard Mork/TBA V8 Racing Commodore VS 81 Tim Rowse/TBA Rowse Motors Commodore VP 84 Daniel Miller/TBA Air Liquide Commodore VS 87 Rod Salmon/Damien White Oneworld Falcon AU 92 Geoff Kendrick/TBA PM FM Commodore VS 97 Wayne Wakefield/Ryan McLeod Graphic Skills Commodore VS 99 Derek Van Zelm/Christian D'Agostin Nikon/Logical Commodore VT 127 Chris Butler/TBA Riverlea Commodore VS 555 Melinda Price/Dean Lindstrom Ultra Tune TDK Commodore VS 600 John Bowe/Jim Richards CAT Falcon AU # likely co-drivers

Texas ’01 ALMS opener NEXT year's American Le Mans Series will kick off on the new Texas Motor Speedway road coixrse christened by the championship a fortnight ago.

The event in Fort Worth will take place on March 4,two weeks before the Sebring 12 Hours, the season opener for the first two years of the ALMS. Series boss Don Panoz described the race as “a perfect match for 18

om’ series, teams, sponsors and manufacturers”.

The new infield road course, which incorporates the majority of the 1.5-mile oval, got a thumbs up from the ALMS drivers at the weekend.

Sportscar legend and BMW driver Hans Stuck said: “I came here thinking the worst, but for a combined oval and infield track it is great. I’d say it is as least as good as Daytona.” notorsport nam

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Vorsprung durch Champ Car? AUDI may compete in the 2002 FedEx Champ Car series.

Sources in Germany have said that the Ingolstadt manufacturer is close to green-lighting the program before undertaking a year of dyno testing in 2001.

The move would likely mean the end of Audi's ALMS program. The 2000 Le Mans winners are already committed to race next year, but a withdrawal would be consistent with its previous motorsport programs, which has seen Audi arrive, develop, dominate and depart in rallying, TransAm, DTM, and Super Touring.

Reports suggest that Audi currently has a 2.65-iitre version of its turbocharged V8 R8 engine on a testbed and is working on a second version designed for the CART regulations.

The silly season continues...

IT has become increasingly likely that Michael Andretti will drive a third car prepared out of Team Green’s workshop with Motorola backing in 2001.

This also leaves Andretti available to drive in the race that he has always strived to win, the Indy 500, now being run by the rival IRL. The swings and roundabouts around Andretti continue, with rumours doing the rounds at Laguna Seca pointing to Andretti's replacement at Newman-Haas being Cristiano da Matta.

The story goes that Carl Haas has bought da Matta's contract from Cal Wells III, leaving a seat vacant in the Pioneer car.

The likelihood of Andretti moving to Chip Ganassi's team has worn away, Ganassi intending on testing F3000 stars Bruno Junqueira and Nicolas Minassian, as well as Toyota Atlantic championship leader Buddy Rice, in the near future as possible replacements for the Williams-bound Juan Montoya and free agent Jimmy Vasser.

Things are certain to stay the same at Team Kool Green, Barry Green having re-signed Dario Franchitti and Paul Tracy for next season.

Blundell released MARK Blundell has been released from the PacWest team.

The Englishman, who has been with the team since 1996, has been advised of his release, opening the door for Scott Dixon to join the team.

The move is likely to prompt a complete clean out at PacWest llowing their lack of speed in 2000.

20

Doubly as good

(Photo hy SiNton'ImatK^)

by PHIL MORRIS THE current trend in Champ Car racing is for 1-2 finishes and, after Team Kool Green’s win at Vancouver,it was Team Penske’s turn to dominate at Laguna Seca.

Helio Castroneves conserved fuel but still managed to lead all the way(bar two laps when Juan Montoya took the lead during pit stops), to lead home teammate and new championship leader Gil de Ferran and Dario Franchitti.

“The team was saying to conserve fuel, so when they said I was okay to go, I went,” said Castroneves.

“That’s when the lead went up to two seconds. But sometimes the numbers are wrong, so with three laps to go I thought I better be smart and finish the race. So 1 slowed and conserved fuel.”

De Ferran and Franchitti were lucky to continue in the race after their second round of pit stops, the pair nearly colliding in the pit lane.

“I don’t know whether it was Roger’s(Penske)or Gil’s fault, but we have etiquette on the track; we should have some in the pit lane as well,” said Franchitti.

Franchitti made it an all-Honda

Things go better with Brack: Kenny Brack continues to shine for Bobby Rahal’s team. Could he do a Rosberg and win a title by picking up bundles of points rather than bundles of wins?

(Photo by Sutton>lmages)

podium to back up his Vancouver result, while Bryan Herta returned to the series in fourth.

Herta, who was making a oneoff appearance at the wheel of a Reymard/Ford owned by Gerry Forsythe, continued the trend of finishing in the same position as he had started. In fact, the trend spread through the top eight finishers, the Laguna Seca track featuring limited passing opportunities.

Kenny Brack didn’t pass anybody, but then again he really didn’t need to. Although the Swede is yet to win a race, he finished fifth at Laguna and is very much a title contender,just 16 points off the title lead.

Montoya’s challenge selfdestructed on lap 47 when his Lola suffered an air jack failure in the

pits while in a strong position, although he eventually grabbed sixth.

Former title leader Michael Andretti fell victim to a miscalculation by his Newman/Haas team, who opted not to pit their driver during a mid-race yellow flag period. Although it gained Andretti track position, he was forced to later pit imder green, leaving him with no points and handing the series lead to de Ferran.

And Paul Tracy didn’t have any luck either. He dropped from a lowly 13th for a splash and dash fuel stop and began carving his way back through with Oriol Servia, but slithered off the road in the closing stages to record a DNF. Points: de Ferran 132,Andretti 126, Tracy 122, Fernandez 118, Brack 116, Moreno 115, Castroneves 103.

1

CART

Vancouver groover A WEEK earlier in Vancouver, Tracy made himself a national hero by winning in front of 63,677 enthusiastic, cheering Canucks.

Tracy and Franchitti dominated the event, running 1-2 in qualifying and the race and it was only a botched pitstop that decided the event in Tracy’s favour.

At his second pit stop, Franchitti stalled his Honda/Reynard and, by the time his crew had pushstarted him, Tracy was on his way. Team orders dictated that Franchitti was obliged to maintain station in the closing stages.

“I probably had enough to pass Paul, especially on cold tyres, but a Trace the ace: Tracy was a popular winner deal’s a deal and that’s on home soil.

(Photo by SuKon-Imagcs) the way it goes,” said a philosophical Franchitti.

“I have to apologise to Tracy, meanwhile, was thrilled.

Tagliani,” said Fernandez. ”l don’t know if I had the “I went too deep and he went on his line, which he should have outright speed to beat Dario, but we stayed close and, at the pit done, but I just hit him. It was my fault.” stop, Dario had a problem. He had the measure of the field While Tagliani lost a lap, Fernandez continued unscathed today and I don’t know that we’d have been able to beat him.” and, aided by brilliant strategy While the maple leaf flew high from Patrick Racing, finished over Vancouver, the race was third behind the fleeing Green less successful for Tracy’s cars. After qualifying 15th, it was countryman Alex Tagliani. After a great result for the Mexican. he unceremoniously punted off A ‘short fill’ moved Montoya Patrick Carpentier (which also past both Penske cars into third accounted for Mark Blundell,) he but he ran dry two laps short of also tangled with Mo Gugelmin, his final pitstop and DNFd. who got caught up with someone Amazing, Andretti also ran dry. else’s accident.

He had been in conservative But some justice was handed mode all race and was running out when Tag himself was fifth when he stopped. He was classified 12th. served by an apologetic Adrian Fernandez.

- PHIL MORRIS

~4.

It

Looking for a new motor: Current Mercedes-Benz user Mo Nunn will (Photo courtesy of CART) have to look elsewhere for power in season 2001.

Merc says bye-bye

MERCEDES-BENZ will withdraw from the FedEx Championship Series at the end of the season.

The company made the announcement at Lagima Seca last weekend.

“We had to re-evaluate our motorsport concept from 2001 onwards,” said Jurgen Hubbert, the DaimlerChrysler board member responsible for the company’s motorsport activities.

“We have to meet higher targets in Formula One, where eight manufacturers will be competing from 2002 onwards. We are also very keen to further develop the DTM touring car series, especially in Germany.

“The US Grand Prix in Indianapolis provides us with the opportunity to present the top of the Mercedes-Benz Motorsport activities in certainly a very

I i

0

convincing way in America.”

The company tasted success in its first race in the CART series, A1 Unser Jnr taking pole position and victory in the 1994 Indy 500.

Since then the company has won a further 18 races, as well as the 1997 CART Manufacturer’s title, with Penske the most successful team with nine of those 18 vans.

PacWest(four), Forsythe (five), and Hall(one)have also claimed success for the German manufacturer.

The Penske and Forsythe teams abandoned the engines at the end of last season, after they had been rendered uncompetitive by the power of the Ford, the consistency of Honda and the improvement of 'Ibyota.

The PacWest, Bettenhausen and Ai'ciero teams have continued to use the powerplants this season, but have struggled to keep up.

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21

ALMS

Portland trailblazers Brabham and Panoz the best of the rest THE only question worth asking about a round of the American Le Mans Series race of late seems to be,‘how much did the Audis win by?’

This time, the answer was 57 seconds in the two-hour, 45-minute, Rose City Grand Prix of Portland.

Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello bounced back after their disappointment at Texas, but again their race wasn’t without drama.

With Capello behind the wheel, the Audi suffered damage just 10 minutes into the race, having made contact with the GT3 Porsche of Dirk Muller.

Capello suffered body damage and a flat tyre, but was able to pit for repairs and rejoin the race without losing a lap under the ensuring caution period.

Steadily the car worked its way back into contention, McNish taking the lead from Panoz’s Johnny O’Connell.

“When I saw the incident, 1 thought the race was over,” said McNish.“We made a brave strategy by changing (only)the front tyres when I got in. We wanted to see how the rears lasted and gain track position. Yellow flags played to our benefit; it was quite sweet that it worked in our favour today.”

The Audi still continues to crush the opposition, even without changing the rear tyres ...

David Brabham and Jan Magnussen continue to fly the Panoz flag; this time they finished runners-up.

“It would have been nice to go one better, but I really enjoyed the race today,” Brabham said.

“I had a little bit of damage to the front bodywork which caused a small off-track excursion.

That lost us too much time to really have a go at the Audi.”

Series leaders Jorg Muller and JJ Lehto picked up third for BMW,while the Audi of Frank Biela and Emanuele Z2

Pirro was fourth, having gone down a lap when the Safety Car came out while they were pitting under green flag conditions.

The Viper team of Karl Wendlinger and Olivier Beretta avenged their loss at Texas by taking out the GTS division.

However,the Corvette team was absent from Portland, electing to focus on testing for the next round, the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

Bob Wollek and Sascha Maassen grabbed GT honours for Porsche, while Aussie Rohan Skea failed to finish after co-driver Doc Bundy crashed and broke a

rib.

Fighting on: Brabham and Magnussen had to settle for second, the Audis simply too strong at Portland.

(Photo by Sutton-lmages)

Texas

A WEEK earlier at Texas Motor Speedway, the Audi stranglehold on the American Le Mans Series had not loosened.

This time it was Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro’s turn to stand on the top step to take their first victory since the Le Mans 24 Hours in June. It was, however, at the expense of the team car of Rinaldo Capello and Allan McNish, who were forced to pit nine laps from the finish for a splash of fuel after a radio failure.

“I radioed in and I thought that they were considering what I asked,” said Capello. “I then unplugged it and plugged it in again, and I still heard nothing. I knew then that I was in the doodoo.”

“To be honest, our team car was quicker," said Pirro. “We were lucky on pit stops, and today was our day.”

McNish had pushed hard in the R8 prototype in the early stages of the race held on the combined infield/banking layout, drawing out

a lead of more than 30 seconds before the Safety Car made its first appearance when one of the silly cones surrounding the first makeshift chicane was knocked over.

The luck didn’t improve and they were forced to settle for second place. It wasn't a win, but it was points, points that have kept them up the front of the title since the early rounds.

David Brabham and Jan Magnussen were third in the Panoz LMP-1 roadster, one lap down. The duo were never a match for the crushing Audis, which were in a class of their own all evening. It was a pretty uneventful race for the Aussie and the Dane, the only action being a small brush Magnussen had with one of Dick Barbour’s GT3 Porsches.

‘The car would lose traction when we picked up dirt going through the infield,” said Brabham. "It would scrub off after two or three corners.

“All we could do this weekend

■i

I

A' ,-

k

was finish third; we didn’t have anything for the Audis. We accomplished our goal for the race, to finish third.”

The Panoz was two laps ahead of the fourth-placed BMW V12 of JJ Lehto and Jorg Muller, while the team car of American Bill Auberlen and Jean-Marc Gounon followed in fifth.

In the GTS class, the Chevrolet moiorsport naws

BTCC/DTM Rain at the 'Ring i

I

‘Off and running at Oulton ; The field winds its way into turn one with Reid heading Tarquini, Rydell. extreme left, has j-u-s-t bounced off the pit wall.

(PhclO by BofDi

Reiding between the Fords

III

Anthony takes BTCC lead off the Menu

'● i,

Flamin’ hell! Pirro and Biela worked their way through the Texas heat to win.

Corvette finally outdid the Dodge Viper, Ron Fellows and Andy Pilgrim finishing in the top 10 ahead of Olivier Beretta and Karl Wendlinger.

“The Vipers got bit in Texas!” exclaimed Fellows.

15 Sepiembar 2000

ANTHONY Reid has taken over the lead of the British Touring Car Championship from team mate Alain Menu after a victory and a second place at the latest round at Oulton Park.

Reid now holds a nine point lead over Menu(with two ofeach driver’s four dropped scores taken into consideration), with the third Ford of Rickard Rydell back in third.

“It was a crucial victory,” said Reid of his race one success. “This championship is more than just winning races, keeping out of trouble is half the battle. I will be carrying 40kg at Silverstone, so I had to maximise the opportunity.”

While Reid cleared away in the sprint race, Menu and Rydell crashed into one another only moments after the start.’The former continued,the latter retired.

This gave Gabriele Tarquini (Honda)second, which he held to the chequer, ahead ofYvan Muller, James'Thompson, Menu, Vincent Radermecker, Matt Neal,’Ibm Kristensen and Jason Plato.

Tarquini reversed the results in the feature race, disappearing into the distance, even despite a Safety Car period to clear away Kristensen’s crashed Accord (which had a brake disc explode, spearing him off at over 200kmh).

The Italian powered home ahead of Reid, with the Vauxhall duo of Muller and Plato third and fourth. Thompson, Menu, Neal and Rydell rounded out the nine Super Touring cars which

finished.

Provisional Points: Reid 193, Menu 184, RydeU 165, Muller 162,Plato 148, Tarquini 144, Neal 120, Thompson 115, Kristensen 111, Radermecker 65.

litle leader fails in Croft appeal

PRIOR to the Oulton Park round, Anthony Reid had failed in a bid to be re-instated to the results of round 14 at Croft.

The Scot, who had finished third in the race, was later excluded from the results after his Mondeo failed a technical check when information was downloaded from the car’s electronic control unit.

Although the software loaded onto the ECU was legal, there was no ‘random pattern' found. ‘Random pattern’ has to be installed to fill empty spaces in the ECU's memory to prevent illegal software being hidden.

The BTCC race stewards’ decision was upheld after Ford lost the appeal hearing, the manufacturer forfeiting its appeal fee in addition to the 10 points which Reid had earnt for finishing third.

WHEN it rains at the Lausitzring, it reaiiy bioody rains.

The first meeting at the allnew German racetrack, for the DTM2000 cars, was abandoned due to torrential weather. The cars trailed around behind the Mercedes-Benz Safety Car for nine laps before the FIA’s race director Roland Bruynsaraede cried ‘enough’ and headed the cars into pare ferme.

After another 40 minutes, with it still raining cats and dogs, the organisers cancelled the race meeting.

Bruynsaraede had had radio discussions with the series’ safety delegates, Mercedes’ Bernd Schneider and Opel driver Manuel Reuter, while they were on-track before making the decision.

“We decided to start behind the safety car," said Reuter, “but conditions got worse. After two or three laps, we were aquaplaning in four or five places.”

Schneider agreed.

“If the rain stopped and we could have had an hour for things to dry a little, then maybe we’d have raced,” he said.

r.

It waz like zis: Winkelhock relates the conditions to his Opel team.

(Photo by BothwdI PboCogrtphk)

“But there was no way the weather was going to improve.

It’s a pity, but it was the right decision.”

While the cancellation was a major inconvenience to the teams and officials, of greater concern is the fact that the track’s first CART race will be held on September 15 next season - and, with the Rockingham, UK, oval race a week later, a rain date would be a real problem for the promoters.

23

Estoril/Assen

Slidiit

Awav McCoy wins his second 500cc GP of the year, Wests best result ever

GARRY McCoy has used his spectacular sliding style to perfection to record^second 500cc MotoGP win,the Australian taking out the Grande Premio Marlboro de Portugal at Estoril on September 3.

McCoy qualified the Red Bull Gauloises Yamaha on pole for the first ever time in his 500cc career and,having followed Honda’s Sete Gibemau for the first five laps, dominated the race by leading 23 of the 28 laps around the Estoril circuit.

“It certainly makes it easier starting from the front row of the grid”, said a delighted McCoy after his victory.

“It’s the first time I’ve led a SOOcc race at the front for so long and it was a good experience that I hope I can repeat in the last four grands piix. The only problem during the race was with the wind.”

McCoy’s riding style delighted the 40,000 strong crowd watching the first ever MotoGP in Portugal, with the 28-year-old Aussie leading home championship leader Kenny Roberts and Valentino Rossi in the warm but blustery conditions by five seconds.

Gibemau stormed into the lead aboard the Repsol YPF Honda at the start, although the Spaniard was not so lucky soon later, spectacularly crashing in front of Max Biaggijust seven laps fi-om home.

Biaggi escaped to finish fourth on the Marlboro Yamaha, with Frenchman Regis Laconi completing a good day for the Red Bull Yamaha team by finishing fifth - Laconi holding out Alex Criville, Tadayuki Okada and Jurgen vd Goorbergh after a tremendous battle.

Roberts’second aboard the Telefonica Movistar Suzuki, having taken over second behind McCoy on lap 11, enabled the American to increase his championship lead to 46 points over Rossi, riding the 24

Nastro Azzurro Honda.

Points; Roberts 194, Rossi 148, Checa 132, Capirossi 126,Abe 113, Barros 110, McCoy 109, Criville 107, Biaggi 102,Aoki 86

AXO Gresini Honda rider Daijiro Katoh won his first MotoGP outside Japan by securing victory in the 26 lap 250cc race that started spectacularly.

Katoh was battling for the lead with the Shell Advance Honda of Tohru Ukawa and had just passed him on lap four when Ukawa crashed in the uphill chicane.

Shinya Nakano, who was lying fourth, could not avoid the fallen machine and was launched into gravel trap.

Katoh secured a comfortable win over Nakano’s team-mate Olivier Jacque, who increased his lead in

S?

the series to 27 points over Nakano.

Italian teenager Marco Melandri became the youngest ever rider to finish on a 250cc podium after finishing third on the Aprilia.

Australia’s Anthony West equalled his best ever MotoGP finish aboard his Shell Advance Honda NSR,finishing fourth just behind Melandri.

ITALIAN Roberto LocateUi took over the lead in the 125cc World Championship after finishing second in the 24 lap race won by World Champion Emilio Alzamora,riding the 'Ifelefonica Movistar Honda.

Youichi Ui crashed his Derbi when leading.

French Aprilia rider Amaud Vincent was third.

Points; Jacque 221, Nakano 194, Ukawa 185, Katoh 182, Waldmann 108, West 107, Melandri 100, Battaini 77, Matsudo 70,Porto 62

Points; LocateUi 180, Ui 165,Alzamora 151, Giansanti 126, Vincent 118, Ueda 113,Azuma 98, Borsoi 88, Goi 85, Sanna 75

i Edwards/Haga A<

Comeback? Ilondci's (olio Edwards

COLIN Edwards may have emerged from his mid-season slump at Assen, winning his first race in 11 tries, but nemesis Noriyuki Haga was the round winner after claiming second in the first race and winning the second.

Edwards was brilliant in the first race, winning by over nine seconds, but he was unable to repeat the dose in the second dry leg, coming home fifth.

"Our plan to open a gap worked," 2&-year-old Edwards said.

After struggling in the past at the Assen, Haga mastered the conditions better than anyone else did.

"I had a couple of slides but it finally it came together and I got my first podium in the wet,"

Haga said.

"Race two was fantastic, I really can say I enjoyed it.

"I haven't raced in the rain for ages and I don’t like Assen, but the engineers and team have done a great job and the bike was really easy to control," he added.

Only 20 points separate the two with two races left, although Haga still faces an appeal on his ban for testing positive to ephedrine earlier this year.

Troy Bayliss claimed second in qualifying, but had a disastrous weekend, stepping off the Infostrada Ducati in both races.

"In the first race I felt good, but I pushed too hard and the crash was inevitable," Bayliss said.

"In the second, the track got

moiorsporl naws

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to Suzuki SETE Gibemau will join Kenny Roberts aboard the Telefonica MoviStar Suzukis next year,the Spaniard last week announced in the team’s squad for 2001.

Gibemau, who replaces Japan’s Nobuatsu Aoki in the team, rejoins Roberts, the two having previously raced for the same team in the 1993 Spanish Open 250cc series, Gibemau finishing ahead of Roberts.

“I’m pleased to have been chosen by Suzuki and I’m looking forward to working with Kenny again,” Gibemau said.

“With Suzuki, I know I will be one of only two riders with the benefit of direct factory input, rather than one of several riders as with Honda.

“For me,that is an important step towards my ultimate goal of winning the SOOcc title.”

Telefonica MoviStar team manager Garry Taylor said he was looking forward to Gibemau riding for the team.

“We’re delighted to have secured Sete’s services,” he said. “This season has been hard for Sete, but we aim to give him the machine he needs to resume his impressive progress, so that his obvious talent can achieve full potential.”

Gibemau made his SOOcc debut in ’97 aboard one of Honda’s twocylinder bikes, and although his form was impressive, since switching to the more potent fourcylinder machines, Gibemau has failed to figure in many results.

;sen split

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- DARRYL FLACK

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TRIPLE SOOcc Motorcycle World Champion Wayne Rainey was last week inducted into the two-wheel Grand Prix racing’s Hall of Fame.

Rainey, who was paralysed from the waist down when he crashed at Misano in Italy seven years ago, won the 1990, '91 and '92 world titles, and was in contention again in '93 until his unfortunate crash.

The American joins five-time World Champion Mick Doohan, Italian legend Giacomo Agostini, the late Mike Hailwood, Spaniard Angel Nieto and fellow Americans Kenny Roberts Snr and Kevin Schwantz in the MotoGP Hall of Fame.

On your bike: Honda's Sete Gibemau crosses to Suzuki next year.

500 fields expand in 2001

THE 500s look set to be even more competitive next year, with the top three 250 riders making the move up in 2001.

Olivier Jacque and Shinya Nakano, the two who have dominated the 250cc World Championship this season, will both switch with their team. Chesterfield Yamaha Tech 3, making the move up.

And Shell Advance Honda's Tohru Ukawa, partner to Australia's Anthony West aboard the factory Honda 250 NSRs, will also make the move to the bigger machines, with the Japanese rider expected to replace fellow countryman Tadayuki Okada in the factory HRC Repsol squad.

Speculation continues as to whether the SAH team will actually make the move up in class (they ran 500s with Garry McCoy and Juan Borja in 1998), although it has been mooted that West could also sign with a new Erv Kanamoto-led Honda-backed team.

Bayliss signs TROY Bayliss has signed with the Ducati Infostrada factory team for the 2001 World Superhike Championship.

The 31-year-old Australian and the Italian manufacturer signed an agreement on the eve of the Assen round of the SBK series.

Bayliss, the reigning British Superbike Champion, began the season riding for Ducati in the American AMA Superbike Championship and was called in to sub for the injured Carl Fogarty following the four-time SBK champion’s crash at Phillip Island.

In the last seven rounds, Bayliss has scored more points than any other rider.

Fogarty’s future remains clouded, although the Brit will test i for the first time since his accident 2 at Misano at the end of the month.

dirty and there were a few drops of oil. I went a little wide, my foot slipped off the peg and that was it..."

Assen was equally disappointing for Troy Corser after he carded a 4-7 finish after failing to come to terms with changeable conditions. " We never found the perfect set-up for the dry and we never found the perfect set-up for the wet," Corser lamented.

"It was the first time I've ever raced with Dunlop full wets, so I was pretty pleased with fouith in the first race."

Points with two rounds to go: Edwards 317, Hags 297, Corsor 2.79, Chili 214, Yonngawn 199.

■■■

Rainey inducted into Haii of Fame

I’m the man: Bayliss has signed on for 2001 with Ducati.

I Ducati team boss Davide Tardozzi o said that no decision on who is to £ partner Bayliss would be made until Fogarty made up his mind whether he would return to the track.

iCorser to return

to Ducati?

DUCATI's SBK team could quite possibly be the domain of Australian Troys, with Tardozzi saying he would be open to a reconciliation with Troy Corser.

Corser was dumped by the team he won the 1996 World Championship for at the beginning of this season, with the Australian then moving to rival manufacturer Aprilia.

Corser has literally stunned the motorcycle world with his form on the Aprilia, having taken a number of race wins and Superpoles, while also lying third in the points.

"The door is always open to Troy Corser," Tardozzi said last week.

"Anytime he thinks he would like to come and talk with me, I will welcome him with open arms."

Sources within the industry say not only would Ducati's arms need to be open, but so too would their chequebooks with the Australian quite content with the giant-killing Aprilia team.

25

Alonso and Minardi THE Minardi team wouid like to run Spaniard Fernando Alonso next season alongside his fellow countryman Marc Gene, but the decision will be dependent on sponsorship.

At the moment the team's major sponsor Telefonica wants a South American in the team and so Minardi is running Gaston Mazzacane.

The future of Minardi remains in a state of flux as negotiations continue for the purchase of a majority shareholding in the team.

These talks have been going on for months but the pressure for a decision is growing as the team needs to know whether it has a big enough budget to use Supertec V10 engines next year rather than the current Fords.

The team has agreement in principle for such a deal, but now needs to find the money to fund the programme.

Without the French engines, the team is not very attractive to Alonso who will be better off racing in Formula 3000 next year with the Astromega team.

That way he may be picked up by a Formula 1 team higher up the grid than Minardi.

Alonso's manager, former Minardi FI driver Adrian Campos,says that a MinardiSupertec deal would be "perfect" for Alonso. Minardi last week vehemently denied that it is holding any talks with a South African called Riccardo Ferrari, a story which had been reported heavily in the Italian press.

- JOE SAWARD

n the Mountain

ii

THE Olympic Torch Relay made a pilgrimage to Mount Panorama on its way to the Sydney 2000 Games last week.

Craig Lowndes took the flame on a lap of the track before handing over to Peter Brock and Mark Skaife.

Because of sponsorship requirements, Lowndes had to have his Holden Racing Team Commodore VT re-liveried for the occasion, as Holden (not Mobil, Bridgestone et at) is an official supporter of the Games.

r Darren gets his Mann in Italian F3000 -i DARREN Manning made an emphatic debut in the Italian F3000 championship at Enna, running off to an 8s victory.

The British driver, who stepped down to the Italian series to assist Warren Hughes' championship aspirations, won in his Arden Team Russia Lola from Gianluca Calcagni.

Manning took the seat usually occupied by Viktor Maslov, and was shadowing Hughes in second until, Hughes spun out of the lead. He was

able to regain the track and charged through to sixth at the flag.

Worse news for Hughes was that his main title rival, ADM Motorsport’s Ricardo Sperafico, finished fourth, opening up his points gap to Hughes to five.

Aussie Andrej PaVicevic qualified 16th after losing most of the session after a suspension failure.

The final round of the Italian series is at Misano on October 22.

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OPINION

On the road to FI The Boy from Oz Mil Janes Courtney

Everything has changed since I left karting.

The only thing that has stayed the same is the race craft.

Formula Ford is probably one of the most important categories on the way up. Because we don't have any wings on the car, you have to find the grip mechanically. You have to work really hard with the mechanic and the engineers to find the grip.

It was quite hard to get used to driving a car with a lot of suspension and not a lot of grip, changing gears and using a clutch. Now that I'm used to all those things, when I get into an F3 car with more grip, it will be easier going from having less grip to more grip.

By following in the footsteps

If there's a car in front, I look through It. I think that I've got to pass it. I don't think about anything else.

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- James Courtney of guys like Senna, Irvine and Button, it gives me confidence seeing that they've won the championship and gone on to bigger and better things.

I think the biggest step (moving from karts to cars) is behind us. The other ones are smaller steps compared to the ones I've just taken.

IS SaRMmber 2000

“The Formula Ford is incredibly easy to drive compared to the karting I've done. Physically, it's quite easy to drive, so it's mainly mental preparation.

You'll all probably think I'm an idiot, but I do quite a bit of meditating and things like that before I go out and race and the night before testing.

I struggled with concentration last year. Everything seems to go a lot slower than in karts, so I started to think about other things, which wasn't good.

My manager Alan Gow told me that I had to sort it out and I knew it as well, so when I went home, one of my friends who has just finished a sports psychology course helped me out.

Now when I'm racing, if there's a car in front, I look through it. I think that I've got to pass it. I don't think about anything else.

I'm at to doing 3, butlooking you have findFormula quite a bit of money to do it.

I've got a few F3 tests organised to do after the Formula Ford Festival with a few different teams.

We've only just started working on my package for next year. I've got companies in Australia helping me. There's Mossimo the clothing company, the Grand Prix Corporation and Revolution Racegear.

Companies like these are helping me, but we need a lot

more support for the things that we want to do next year.

I've won in every category that I've driven in, so hopefully people will look at that and say 'geez, we've got to get behind this guy.'

In terms of money it can go from close to 400,000 pounds downwards, depending on the quality of the team and what sort of backing they have already.

T

here's one round of the championship left as I write at Silverstone. Everyone says that you're only as good as your last race, so I'm looking to win the last race of the championship and I think I'll drive better than I have all year, knowing that I can risk everything in the last race.

After the final round of the British title at Silverstone, I'm off to Spa the weekend Swi’Ct sih'cr: after for a Coiimicy has one-off race had his fair with the share ol Festival on trophie.s in October 22 2000. and in (SuliPn-lmapcM between I'll be doing lots of testing for the Festival and the 2001 Formula Ford.

I don't think you can put a time limit on the issue of

getting into Formula 1. You have to be in the right place at the right time. It's the thing that I'm striving for and I'll do my best to get there as quick as I can.

I've been asked whether I'd considering 'jumping the pond' and having a run in America in the CART Champ Car series.

My goal is to race FI. A lot of the time you can't just take the straight road to your goal; you have to turn off to the side and take a few different routes to achieve your goal.

Sure, if next year I won the F3 championship, and I had a good offer with a top team in Champ Cars like Chip Ganassi's, or I could drive in say, a Minardi in FI, then I'd take the offer in America.

I think it would be a wiser decision.

A lot of the young up and coming drivers will say that they want to drive in Formula 1, but I say that I want to be a Formula 1 World Champion, which I think just shows that I want it a little bit more and that I'm willing to put everything on the line to achieve that goal.

You've got to push that little bit harder and want it a little bit more.

Accentuating the eliminating the n Y

ou have to feel sorry for Giancarlo Fisichella. Ail he has to do at the moment is go near a racing car and it will immediately park itself in a barrier or turn upside-down and leave 'Fizzy’ crawling from the wreckage.

Each accident adds bruises to his bruises. A few months ago it was Michael Schumacher who could do no right. Every time he went towards the first corner in a race, someone would drive into him (which probably made it more interesting for him, as he is usually trying to drive into others).

They say that when it rains, it pours.

It is a melancholy reality in life that when things go wrong the disasters often happen in sequence. If the washing machine falls apart, you can be quite sure that it will not be long before the toaster catches fire and the cat

pees into the video machine.

When you get into a series of such disasters, all you can really do is laugh about it. In the words of Bing Crosby: “You've got to accentuate the positive. Eliminate the negative. Latch on to the affirmative. Don't mess with Mister In-Between.”

Of course, it is easier sung than done.

On my flight home from Belgian Grand Prix, thethe stewardess was doling out breakfast trays when she contrived to drop a small quantity of water on to the keyboard of my laptop computer as I was battering away, finishing my post-Grand Prix work.

The computer did not fizz, nor flame. It just died.

What can you do? They do not let you take Samurai swords on aeroplanes these days and so

there was no way I could behead the silly girl. I could perhaps have stabbed her with a plastic knife, or bludgeoned her to death with a Sabena croissant, but I controlled myself.

She was very sorry, of course, and her colleagues in the flight crew were very keen to help. They gave me all the right forms to fill out and looked up the name of the local Sabena representative. They even gave me a bottle of champagne to try to cheer me up.

And then I got off the plane and found that the representative had been posted to Malawi and had not been replaced. No-one wanted to know about a blown-up computer. The best thing I could do, I was told, would be to ring head office in Brussels and get lost In the telephone system.

What a shame about your deadlines, they said. But what can

we do? It's lunch time.

It was then that they told me that normally they do not pay more than $400 for any damaged luggage. “Oh,” I said,‘1he computer cost about five times thaf. “Well, you can try,” they said, “and you never know in about six months something may happen”.

And so I went home and cobbled together the articles as best I could, using the desktop computer. A new laptop was organised from the United States.

No problem. This was entrusted to the people of Federal Express, who use their Formula 1 sponsorship of Ferrari as a means of promoting an image of speed, efficiency and high technology.

There was a whole week to spare before I would have to depart for Monza. Everything would be all right.

Dll Fisichella has to do at the moment is go neap a racing car and it will immediately iiarit itself in a liarriep op . ttiPh upside-down and leave Fizzy' crawling from the wreckage ' maiortpati lawa

FORMULA ONE

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But the computer became stuck in customs and, after being detained for four days, the computer was liberated - and then the people from Federal Express lost it.

As the clock ticked towards the hour of my departure for Monza, I was becoming rather agitated.

Talking to people at Federal Express was a worthless exercise, because all they could do was shrug down the telephone. No wonder Ferrari is struggling to be competitive, I said. I expect that all the new parts are FedEx-ed to the race team and so end up in Namibia in the cargo hold of a Sabena jet.

And, as I was ranting and raving down the phone, I was foolishly copying the data from my desktop onto a zip disc to take to Monza so I could load it onto a borrowed computer. Distracted, I pressed the wrong button and wiped out all my work for a fortnight. Waltzing close to the edge of sanity (the scream must have been quite bloodchilling), I shut down the desktop with a hefty blow to the keyboard, I slammed shut the office door and went to find a copy of Thomas the Tank Engine to calm myself by reading it to my son.

After a few moments, he jumped up in a moment of excitement (James the Red Engine had crashed) and he fell over a cushion and kicked me between the legs.

“But I didn't do it on purpose.

Daddy," he cried, as I sucked in air.

And then the dog threw up...

When I had stopped weeping, I began to accentuate the positive (and so on) and I realised that I was off to Monza and that, I have found over the years, cures most things. Monza is a sort of motor racing version of Lourdes and is worth a pilgrimage. It is, I always feel, a little bit like going to the Grand Canyon, because when you stand on the edge of that great big hole in the ground, all of life's little problems - like Sabena and Federal Express - fade into total 18 SapiaHliir 20BO

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Monza is iM the Canyon Ixrt R is sti a treat plaG8 to go I you ara a nnhiB fan. n Is the rathedral of nntor pacing rr and one waits In the Monza park with a sense of poversncs. insignificance and one can get things into perspective.

Monza is not the Grand Canyon, but it is stiil a great place to go if you are a racing fan. It is the cathedral of motor racing and one walks in the Monza park with a sense of reverence.

And to go from Monza to

Indianapolis is also something to look forward to. At the moment, everyone in Grand Prix racing is excited about going to Indy and seeing what the Americans will make of modern Grand Prix racing. Everything has been sold out and you cannot get a hotel room within 50 miies of

Indianapolis (so if you are planning a spontaneous weekend shopping trip, give it a miss). The new road track is impressive and now it is down to whether or not the right chemistry will happen between the Old World and the New World.

One fact which has been forgotten by many is that Monza and Indianapolis are not just evocative names and places.

They are, in fact, the two oldest surviving permanent racing circuits in the world: Indianapolis Motor Speedway was pre-dated only by Brooklands and opened in 1908, while Monza dates from 1922.

And, before anyone writes in to complain, I accept that there were races on the Milwaukee Mile as early as 1903, but the circuit was not really a permanent racing circuit as it was a dirt track which was shared between horse and racing cars into the 1920s. The infield was also used an a football field and was regularly used by the Green Bay Packers. Milwaukee did not really become a permanent racing facility until the track was paved in 1954.

The thing about the two great speedways is that, even if you do not know'the history of a place, you can feel it. There is something supernatural about such places, as though the events that have taken place there have, somehow, gotten into the walls. People often talk about the ghosts of Monza and it is referred to as 'ia pista magica’(the magical race track).

And it is a bit the same in Indianapolis. They have not always been happy places, but there is something special about them which time has left behind.

Is it hopes? Is it dreams? Who can say? But for me, at least, it as magical as the world where Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends inhabit.

So, who cares about the wombats of Sabena and Federal Express? m 29

Bue

Over SOOkms of running, a massive engine biow-up, and just four-tenths off Raif Schumacher's Wiiiiams.

Mark Webber's three-day Benetton test got off to an action-packed start.

CHRIS LAMBDB\I was there.

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That's a hit of Wehher imderstatement.

Estoril; Monday September 11.

Webber's done three runs and, during this one, a practice start as well. Down the start-finish straight, into fifl;h, engine screaming.

BOOM. “That's one of the biggest blow-ups I've ever seen,” offers one of the Benetton boys. ‘“We just sat there waiting for the bang...”

The Renault VIO beliind Webber

has let go in a really big way. He keeps it pretty straight and it's almost stopped before it finally rotates on its own oil, coming to a halt just a metre clear of the pit wall.

The Benetton boys are thrilled that it's just an engine replacement.

They've had a couple of biggies in testing recently. When they take the undertray off the car, there are metal chunks everywhere. Gudgeon pms, rods... moiorsport naws

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Day 1 of the rest of your life

Minutes after stepping out of the Benetton after completing his first full day of serious FI testing, Mark Webber spoke to CHRIS LAMBDEN.

Motorsport News: A big day. First impressions/reactions?

MW: Quite tiring - they are definitely a big step up on what I've been driving before. I said that when I drove the Arrows, but this is serious - I've done a Grand Prix distance today, over 300kms...

I was happy with the way I got into it today. Conditions varied a bit - the track was very dirty and then it got quite hot this afternoon, went up about 12‘degrees.

I've learned a lot, I prepared myself as best I could by imagining what it was going to be like - and it ended up being pretty close to that.

The braking is ... unbelievable. You just can't believe how late you can brake. So much grip in the braking areas...

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MN: Are you extending yourself yet, or are you building up to it, running within limits?

MW: I'm under the limit, for sure. It's the first day, the car's in one piece - the guys are happy. We lost an engine, but that was nothing to do with me.

There was a quick little spin early in the day -1 learnt a little bit very quickly about brake balance ... it caught me out - but we kept It on the track I Apart from a couple of other little moments here and there. I'm happy with the way the day's gone.

You have to give the old giil (rienty of respect, ottreiwise you could have a monster.

I he guys have bo'^n very, very piofi;ssii»nal with me today and it's groat wofking v^ith rlif.-m I tw.'y'rc.i i,(.)nnt.>i»llv

trying to help me in loads of different areas, making suggestions, all of which is really good experience for me.

At the end of the day, this is my first really big go at driving one of these things, so ... it's gone well.

MN: What do you expect over the remaining two days?

MW: For sure I want to keep improving within myself. I can see little areas where I can improve. I want to chip away at getting better in the braking areas, upping the confidence there.

Wednesday is when I get another good go at it. I run tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon, but the track's going to be hotter and Fisi's running in the morning. The tiack should get better eveiy day.

MN:The comparison with Fisichella will be the first meaningful one?

MW: I guess so. I'll be happy right now if I can get to within half a second of Fisi.

Anything better than that and I'd be absolutely stoked - consideiing my experience and the high regard Fisi's held in I rate him. We'll see what he does in the morning, although it'll be a different track to today, so I won't take a great deal of notice.

I'll do my best on Wednesday and hopefully we should end up pretty good, I'm nor going to get blown away in my head with what Fisi's going to do. I'm still hero-to U'aiii a lot irtyself.

MN: Do you fool fundamentally comfortable in the car, both physically

and with the situation?

MW: I felt like I had everything in check.

They did a few things today which were quite demanding on me - like adjusting things while I'm driving. It's not easy to adjust things in a new environment, but I was happy with the way I handled those little hurdles...

MN: For the record, your best today was a 1:23.5. Schumacher managed a low 1:23 in the Williams...

MW: We'll see what the Benetton can do tomorrow, but Ralf's smoking around in 23s in the Williams, on the same compound ... that's okay, but you never know - he may have a slower engine.,, The good thing is that we're reasonably close to Williams. That's okay...

MN:Physically? A GP distance. How are you feeling?

MW: A little bit tired. Neck for sure. The last corner is three Gs for seven seconds, so it's going to knock you around...

That shows up the shortcomings of F3000. With all this restricted testing, we don't do enough mileage and they're not quick enough through fast corners. F3 cars are quicker through fast corners. It's something for them to think about. As the last step before FI, F3000 needs to be a bit fastei.

MN: Overall feeling at the end of day one?

MW;A bit tired, but pretty happy with the day, I fflrVt wait tor the next two. .

WEBBMR-BMNETTON

Webber gets the Wright Stuff Tim Wright is a very experienced FI engineer, having worked with, among others. Senna and Frost during McLaren's golden era in the late 80s. These days he prefers the discipline ofrunning Benetton's test programme, rather than “the compromise" of race meetings. “I also get to spend weekends at home...” Wright was therefore the man in charge of Webber's Benetton test and provided an engineering viewpoint to Mark'sfirstfull day.

Motorsport News: Day one.

What were your expectations for a new driver in the car and how did it pan out?

Tim Wright: It's a little difficult to know what to expect. Mark's run in the car already, but only in straight line testing, but at least he was familiar with the car.

The three factors here are that (a) Mark's never been to the circuit; (b) we haven't been here for three years and (c) the circuit's changed as well. So we don't really have a decent set-up

for the car and we're all learning at the same time.

We do have a bit of a benchmark, because Williams is here and they have been here within the last couple of months.

So whatever times they can do on any particular day are a good benchmark for us.

I think Mark's done pretty good today. He's not making any silly mistakes, taking it quite easily - he's admitted himself that he's quite well within his capabilities, so at the moment

we're quite happy.

His feedback's good and we've made some good progress with the set-up of the car.

All in all, quite a good day.

MN:Presumably Fisichella's run (tomorrow) will provide a clearer picture?

TW; Well yes. The idea of him coming was to put down a benchmark time, but in a way I'd almost rather go with what Williams are doing, because Fisi

hasn't been here for three years either. He's got to learn the circuit again and also evaluate some new tyres for America.

He's got a fairly busy morning, so I'm not going to draw too much by way of conclusions from his times.

MN: Did much of today's work relate to stuff you needed to test, or was it primarily a test of Mark?

TW: Pretty much centred around Mark. We're just trying to set the car up to suit him, to get the best out of him and the car at this circuit.

At this stage of the season, with three races left, we don't have many bits to test. The car is built to its latest spec, just to get some feedback from that as well.

Pushing for a result: The Benetton troops were impressed with Webber's first day in the B200Supertec.

(Photo by Sutton-lmages)

continued from page 31 engine malady, the day goes very well. Webber works his way into the groove without drama. That's primarily what day one is about.

It'll take at least that long for the grip level to build up -the only other team present is Williams, running some engine testing with Half Schumacher, who's jetted across from the Monza podium, at the wheel.

“We were discussing ratios and decided there's no point in changing any until tomorrow. The track's quite dirty and it wouldn't make a lot of difference,” Webber reports.

“Even so, the car is so sensitive,” he adds.“We made one little shock adjustment and, boy, you could feel the difference...”

With a fresh Renault engine and geai’box fitted for the afternoon session, the set-up starts to come together, the times dropping.

IS SepHinbar 2000

It's warmish and therefore a 'slower' track, hut a fresh set of Bridgestones is added to the mix.

Webber goes under 1:24 for the first time. By the end ofthe afternoon there's a 1:23.5 to show for it. Half Schumacher has a 1:23.1 - but the Williams has also been off the road twice and ends the afternoon deep in one of Estoril's sand traps.

Later, back at the hotel, a Williams operative lets it slip that Webber's times have raised eyebrows. F3000 champ Junqueira is due to take over the Williams for the last two days -that will be interesting.

“Ifesting's amazing,” Webber reflects Tou know, you can hear the whole car when you're out there by yourself. Eveiything...”

Two of Benetton's heaviesRacing manager Gordon Message and Chief Engineer/Designer Pat Symonds- are due to fly in for Wednesday,the final day. That'll be a crucial day. So far so good.

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Back n The world - well, Formula One - returns to the USA for the US Grand Prix at Indianapolis later this month. Some ofthe best brains in FI have fond memories of The Brickyard. ADAM COOPER reports: SUTTON-iMAGES took the pics

Adrian Newey (1984-87) “The first time I went there was in 1984, with Truesports and Bobby Rahal. Off he went out of the pitlane. He came round on the first lap and there was no particular reaction because there was an elaborate procedure for warming up, and the car was not going that quickly.

The second lap, he was on it, to use the American phrase! So you'd see this dot coming out of Turn 4, and as it got close you couldn't believe the speed - the first time you've stood so close to a car doing 220mph a few feet away is pretty dramatic!

I think my main memory was of feeling out of my depth, to start with. Learning how to set up a car up for an oval is an art, or at least a different discipline.

Basically all the corners are the same speed. On a road course you could have neutral slow speed and high speed understeer for instance, then the first reaction is to put more front wing on.

On an oval you haven't got those clues, because all the corners are the same speed. If it's understeering does that mean that you haven't got 34

enough front wing, or the front bar is too soft, and then of course you've got crossweights and stagger, and a myriad of things you can play with. You can have a different spring on each corner of the car, all for one speed of corner!

It's quite an interesting area to sort out. Staying there for a month was hard work. It's an interesting psychology. You'd put a new set of tyres on, spend two runs getting the pressures right to get the stagger right. By then you'd got low on fuel, so you'd have to tow the car to Gasoline Alley to refuel it, and before you knew it you'd been running for two hours and you'd felt you'd achieved absolutely nothing!

It was quite a frustrating business. You often saw teams that started out well, but by the end of the month they'd burned themselves out, or lost the plot, while other teams had gradually worked it out. Trying to keep it at a high level, particular for the important points of qualifying and the race, was difficult.

It has a party atmosphere, the whole place. I remember going into what used to be called the Snake Pit, the area inside Turn 1, and that was quite an eye opener. Every sort of sexual favour could probably be bought for about $5 in there! It was an amazing place.

I remember a TV crew went in there and asked some old boy what he thought of the Indy 500. He said, 'This is the greatest event in the history of mankind.' They asked him what he thought of the cars and he said, 'That's the funniest thing: I've been coming here about 10 years and I ain't seen one yeti' Usually you've got your head

I'm looking forward to going back, seeing how the place has changed, and seeing a lot of old friends from CART. That'll be nice.

I think there's quite a lot of interest in America in FI, so I hope we can put on a good show. But I think they've really missed an opportunity with the circuit. The infield is ridiculously slow, and then you've got this very long straight, which should be flat - but if there's any sort of car, or tyre problem, it could be nasty.

And if it's wet, it could be tricky as well. At the last corner, the loads are similar to 130R at Suzuka, but over a much longer period.

1

Every sort of sexual favour could probably be bought for about $5 in therel If

-Adrian Newey on Indy's‘Snake Pit’ down in the pitlane, and you're not particularly aware of what's going on in the grandstands. On race day I remember seeing a quarter of a million people looking down on you. And just at that moment Steve Horne, who was the team manager, tripped over the low wall and fell flat on his face. And literally 250,000 people started cheering and jeering! It was unbelievable.

Certainly between 1984 and '87 the city did tidy itself up a bit, but it was still a bit of a cow town. From the nostalgic side

Malcolm Oastler (1994-95)

didn't actually go there until Reynard's first race in 1994.

Our car was quite good at the Speedway. Michael Andretti ran very competitively for the first bit of the race, and Jacques (Villeneuve) came through and finished second. It was his rookie year and our rookie year, so it was a stunning result. And then he won it the following year. motortport news

FI INSIGHT

the good or

>

We'll be going through there with a sensible wing on - we'll probably run more wing than Hockenheim - and approaching it from a slow corner. There will be quite a lot of load on the car, but between the banking and the wing you'll have masses of grip. These cars now are just about as strong as an Indycar, and they've got good headrest protection.

The sidepod isn't as long but we've got side impact structures, so 1 don't really anticipate a problem if somebody hits the wall.

The Month of May was different. The fact that you were there for quite a long while made race day a very interesting experience. After three weeks you finally got to push the car out of the garage and put it on the grid. Then after a few minutes you look around you and think what the hell's going on here - there's 500,000 people looking at usi It's amazing.

The city's OK, although I suppose for people who like cars it's got a little bit more sparkle than most Midwest towns. I didn't really have a chance to look around until we started the FI project in May 1998, and we were using the Reynard wind tunnel there. We had time to go out at night, which you never have when you are racing.

We've done simulations, and the new track looks like being a little bit similar to Canada, with maybe a little less downforce.

As for Turn 1, you have to remember that an Indycar is trimmed right out with very little wing on it and it goes through there fiat, and attacks the corner at 240mph.

IS Sepiembir 2000

u

But when I was there, there was definitely still a good or boy culture - crew cut and an oily rag in the back pocket!

If

- John Barnard

big a problem, although I think it will be dangerous. It's not going to be a place to hit the wall.

Set-up is a compromise, and I think you might end up running two set-ups; higher downforce to get the infield right for a lap time in qualifying, but in the race you'll have to run low downforce or you'll get overtaken. It's going be tricky.

It really depends how the tyres perform as far as low speed grip is concerned.

Bridgestone have been talking about running a harder tyre with higher pressures. We've looked at all the stresses on components, and we should be OK on that.

Gary Anderson (198S86) first went there with Galles in 1985. We went testing in February, and it snowed. I got in the rental car - and old Oldsmobile or something - and headed down to Turn 1 at 120mph. It was quite exciting I In my second year then I engineered Geoff Brabham, Pancho Carter and Roberto Moreno. Pancho was an oval expert, a good driver and a hard taskmaster. But trying to run three cars at Indy is not an easy task, especially when you're there for a month. It can definitely do your head in. But it was an experience.

Race day was absolutely fantastic, and the crowds were unbelievable. There's nothing else like it. We've done quite a bit of simulation of the new track. The last corner is not too

John Barnard (1976-79)

“The first time I went to Indy I was working for the Vel's Parnelli Jones team. It was an amazing spectacle. Even in those days they used to talk about 250,000 people or the first weekend on qualifying.

You were in this goldfish

bowl, and you were scrutinised everywhere. It used to last a month, and you ran each day, maybe trying a softer rear roll bar or something. That got a bit tedious after a while!

Every day there was a report in the newspaper, so if you managed the quickest lap that day you were emblazoned over the headlines. But you were actually trying to develop the car.

I can remember flying back to our base in California to make some new bits and pieces, and coming back to try again. We were the first team to run the turbo Cosworth, which we developed ourselves. It really was a thing where you got involved, and you played an active part in the race, trying to catch the yellows and doing your fuel strategies and so on.

But when I was there, there was definitely still a good ol' boy culture - crew cut and an oily rag in the back pocketl It took quite a long time for this English engineer to overcome those guys, but when you did, they really get behind you.

There was always some sort of practical joke going on, and it was a good laugh.

The last time I participated was in '79 with the Chaparral, which I'd just built. It literally hit the road about six weeks before Indy, and we stuck it on the front row. Al Unser led half the race until it was sidelined with a gearbox problem. If we could have won it first time round that would have been something else; it did win the next year, but I wasn't there.

Where the track is was pretty downmarket in those days, and there was nothing special about the place, although there were lots of bars to go to.

I don't know how FI will react there. They'll probably do the usual thing and pull the covers round themselves, and have three layers of barbed wire fencing before you can touch anybodyl It'll be a very unusual setting, quite different to the European circuits.

35

Iracy stays Motorsport News: It has been quite a turnaround from you looking back from the end of 1998,1999 where you had a bit of a rough season, a rough start to 1999. Now you are battling for the Championship.

What has been the big difference for you?

Paul Tracy: Well, I think just getting to know my team better.

Getting to understand the car better. Those have been the key things really, I think, I really know the car well now and sometimes we get it right and sometimes we get it wrong, but those days, when the car is just average, when you can get a good finish and get a Top-5 finish, that it is going to be important.

MN: Is there any kind of resentment on your part that Jacques Villeneuve, who is struggling in Europe, still gets a lot of attention with the Canadian media?

PT: No. Not at all. I mean, he has been a CART Champion, a Formula 1 Champion, and I don't really think about it that way who gets the most media attention really isn't all that important to me.

What is important to me is just doing the best I can and doing a good job for my sponsors and my team and make sure that they are happy.

MN: You got help from your team-mate in Vancouver. Does that say something special about team racing and things that fans might not know about racing?

PT: I think that a team has got to work together and I think that is what our biggest strength is at Team KOOL Green is that Dario and I really work together and we work hard and concentrate on being fair with each other and, yeah, we have had accidents together, but that hasn't caused any self destruction within the team. I mean, accidents-happen and we are still united and we are a strong team.

MN: Is that something that you can look back on,the change in yourself in your outlook to racing over your 36

career from the early days and to now?

PT: Well, I mean, I don't think it has really changed for me because I have been in situations where if anybody wants my setup - I have been with a lot of high-profiled team-mates -1 have been - when I started I was teammates with Rick Meats and Emerson Fittipaldi and Al Unset, Jr. and Michael Andretti and for me, I mean, my setup book is always an open book. If you want to use my setup, go ahead.

I don't have anything to hold back and sometimes it hasn't gone the other way for me, but with Dario, his book is opened and that - we have a really strong mutual kind of a bond with each other that we are honest with each other and sometimes it is not that way.

MN: It is still hard to ignore that the Championship is out there?

PT: That is definitely out there, but I think if you focus on that, I think that we found on to your team, that if we try to focus on that, then it doesn't seem to - it kind of breaks our concentration.

So what we are going to focus on is just the race car and having good races and where we end up at the end is where we are going to end up.

MN: You said over the summer you guys kind of changed it from concentrating on the Championship to concentrating on race-by-race.

How did you all do that?

PT: Really, myself and my engineer Tony (Cicale) talked about it first; then we were just through the middle part of the season when we were leading the Championship, we were thinking, okay, we have got to finish in the Top-5.

That is all we have got to do every week. Just concentrating too much on just trying to - on just points alone and not just, you know, having good races and going out there to race. That is what we have been doing.

We decided that we are going to do - we are going to go out there and race and race as hard as we can and go as fast as we can and wherever we end up at

the end of the year is what is going to happen. That is what we are focusing on.

MN: Talk a little bit about how special it was to go into Vancouver and remembering Greg's(Moore) spirit there - if you want to use that word - in winning that race knowing that he was probably up there looking down and liking the Canadian flag in the middle position of the podium...

PT: It was just a great day. Not only - not only was it a great day, but it was a great week and I think, you know, the atmosphere at the race was just so fantastic, it was more of a celebration of Greg's life and I think the whole weekend with Dario qualifying on the pole and me being able to win and all of his friends doing well in the race, 1 think it just gave everybody some closure and put everybody in a different frame of mind.

MN: You have not qualified very well up until the last little while. Improvement has been remarkable. Has it been something mentally you and Tony and Barry (Green) have done to improve that or is it something you have done on the car?

PT; We have struggled with the car quite a lot.

The team, as a whole, has struggled quite a lot with the car.

Really focusing on all the bad parts of the car and things that we haven't been able to fix, we have just decided, well, the car is not, you know, you see a lot of guys sliding and slipping around and really having to man-handle the cars a lot, and we have just come to the realisation that we are not going to be able to get the car to handle like the 1999 car and we just have to deal with the problems.

'

, : .

;

contract with Team KOOL Green?

PT: Well, I am not, you know, for me, 1 had really - my only other option was the Players deal and they made me an offer and that was kind of my baseline for what I wanted and I went back to Barry and I said, 'hey, this is what it is going to take' and he said, 'no problem'.

So I signed with the team. I wanted to stay with Team KOOL Green because I feel we have the best team. I have the best crew guys in the pit lane and the people I am working with I really enjoy working with. I am set now: happy with my situation, and I think it has shown in my performances.

MN:Does that factor into the fact that, over the last couple of years you have been improving and improving and now you are in a position where you have got the shot at the Championship?

MN:This year there seems to be a potential of a lot of high profiled seats, you opening up, and a lot of high-profiled drivers such as yourself that have the potential of switching teams. Is that what sort of enticed you,so to speak,to sign a long-term noiorsBon newt

INTERVIEW \O

) rj PT: 1 think so. I just really like working with the people that I am working with and I think that, you know, the atmosphere that I have is conducive for me to do well.

This was the best case scenario with for me was to stay with the team I was with, and I - we were all able to put it together.

MN; Looking ahead we have drivers like Fernandez talking about doing a team. I am wondering what Paul Tracy's goals are, in say, 15 years, where do you see yourself?

PT: Well, I don't see myself racing in 15 years, that is for sure. 1 don't have any motivation to own a team or anything like that. I can see his side of it.

He has always brought the sponsorship and brought the money and funded the whole team and really there is a profit margin involved when a team owner says: I need X amount

\ \

of money to run you for the year, you know, there is - X amount is profit built into the budget. So I think he is looking at it long-term that he has been paying somebody else to do a job.

I think he feels that he can put his own program together, maybe run it a little with it more cost effective than what it's cost him and I think he is talking about maybe doing a second car as well. He is looking at it his own long-term security.

MN: Where do you see yourself?

PT: I just want to drive. I am at my best when I don't have to think about anything else but just driving. I don't want the headaches of trying to - I have a go-kart team and that is enough headache as it is.

Trying to do - to be owner of an IndyCar team or any other type of team would be too much to concentrate on driving. n

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IS Sepiemtaer 2000

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After a tough couple of seasons Paul Tracy is poised to chalienge for the 2000 FedEx Champ Car crown - and he has a five year deal with Aussie Team Kooi Green boss Barry Green. The big Canadian speaks about the past, the future, Oario - and Jacques

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The AN AME 38

One Won: Lowndes was unstoppable at The Paperclip, riding a brilliant pit cail and a double stint to the welcoming arms of his pit crew.

(Photos by Dirk Klynsmith)

ffloiortpon news

SHIU CHAMPIONSHIP SEBIIS Report by PHIL BRANAGAN and GERALD McDORNAN , i^'>

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Shell Championship Series Round 11 8-10 September 2000

T

HEY came back to Queensland Raceway, they saw the opposition and they conquered them.

Holden Racing Team’s Big Red Machine was beatable at the OzEmail Queensland 500 but great driving,impeccable strategy and a lot of other team’s shooting themselves in the too department paved the way for Mark Skaife and Craig Lowndes to take the win.

The dynamic duo was aided by a great strategy; Lowndes running a double stint to the flag, boosted by a yellow-flag pad change which vaulted them into the pound seats. Once the caU was made the only thing which could stop them was a stalled engine;Lowndes was never going to do that and took a strong win.

It should have been a 1-2.

After a long and smart opening stint from HRT rookie Nathan Pretty, Todd Kelly was on course for second before a stone went through his radiator,terminating his engine. That allowed Steven Richards and Greg Murphy to take third, the defending Bathurst champions again proving their worth with the Kmart Commodore diudng a long distance event.

Ford had the race get away from them from the start.Paul Radisich wasjudged,somewhat harshly in the opinion of many, to havejumped the start.After a penalty he sxu-ged from 37th to the lead, but co-driver Cameron McLean was in tbe wrong place at the wrong time and they were never going to heat Lowndes.In the other Shell car Dick Johnson’s return was brief,engine problems baiting tbe legend before half way,sadly, as Dick and son, Steven, had run strongly in the famous #17.

Worse awaited the two Stone Brothers cars. Tony Longhurst led the race and Craig Baird was looking solid, but both cars had to make an extra stop when co-drivers David Besnard and Simon Wills failed to complete the required number of laps in the car - each driver having to run a minimum of 54 laps.

Last year,Perkins and Ingall won the Q5 because of superior strategy and lost opportunities by the other teams. History repeated itself in Brisbane,but this time it was colorued red.

Defining moment: Besnard hands over to Longhurst - five laps short of (Photo by Marshall Cass) his minimum required driving stint.

Qualifying the football

September 2000:and the Olympic finals are over Games are still one weekend from starting its star-spangled is-thatguy-on-drugs two week sporting extravaganza. It must be time for the Ozemail 500.

The late signing of the naming rights sponsor meant that any dot.com was not going to be the main talking point leading up to the race. Dick Johnson was back in the saddle for one more race and all was right with the world.

Actually, that was not quite right. Like it or not, Mr Lowndes was the main talking point leading up to the race. Various reports had the ‘Kid’ signing with DJR, Kmart, Stones, Larry and ‘X’, a mystery team in Melbourne with dray-loads of moola. The only gig Craig wasn’t connected to in the week before the race was the one where he was going to replace David Duchovny on The X files. Motorsport News’s office phone had been running hot for a week. Message; we don’t know - we will let you know when we do.

HRT was saying mum. The official line was that Craig had signed nothing (save for a few thousand autographs). There was a race to win and Craig was, as

usual, going to play a role in deciding The Whole Damn Thing.

Three championships or not, there was enough to worry about.

Most of those worrying things had ‘Ford’ written in blue on them.

The Project Blueprint splitter was expected to have an even greater effect on the blue ovals at The Paperclip than it had at Calder, and several Ford teams headed to their home track expecting to win, win, win.

One of them was the Stones. The two Fords had some small but significant additions for the Q5; Peters Maxi Bon ice creams festooned the guards of Tony Longhurst’s Caltex Havoline AU (a sign of bigger and more lucrative things to come from food giant Nestld, surely) and Besnard, D, was on board.

The V8 Lites nightmare carried a 66 percent winning record to his SCS debut and there was a lot of eyes on the man one team manager described as “the best Australian Formula Ford driver of the 90s" (though Russell Ingall might dispute that point). He did little to avert attention dming Friday practice; he was second in one session and first in the other. continued next page 39

QUEENSLAND 500 continued from previous page Tander fought back in the first Saturday session, leading from Ingall, Bowe, Richards, Lowndes and Kelly, pushing the Caltex car back to 10th, but there were still plenty of people seeing green when the ‘proper’session started.

So,the clocks started and the horseshit stopped. Richards Jr started the ball rolling with a ImlO.SSs, zonking The Rat and The Enforcer by a hundredth. The Rusty went faster, bagging a 10.45, only for Radisich to return with a 10.41.

Then Ingall reached deep into that place race drivers rarely talk to us plebs about and recorded a 10.18s. Bang. He was on provisional pole by a whopping 0.2s.

“We’re just working away at it,” he masterly understated later.

“This is a really good car. Things like ... the steering is really good, but you would expect that in a new car.

He also reported that he would have come in for new rubber earlier “but the boys were eating ice creams.” Maxi Bons, Russell?

Tander was second. That was good. Bargwanna was about a tenth slower. That was brilliant news. The long and the short and the tall who, let’s face it, lost the 1999 Q5 in the pits, were in sparkling form. Tander would run in the Top 10, defending a 100 percent (two from two) record.

Radisich was third. The Shell team had several diversions for the weekend, not the least of which was Dick’s one-off return to the track, but Paul put them out of his mind when the time came and was only three hundredths behind Tander.

Johnson & Johnson were less lucky. Steven was going to qualify the #17 car (with a ‘retro’ blue, Bryan Byit Ford rooD and was starting a quick lap when the flag flew (50s early, according to the team), forcing him to abandon what was hopefully a quick lap. He was 11th; Dick, as usual, took it in his stride.

Bowe was fourth. The stilloverweight CAT Falcon was handling superbly, on a track where JB had been on pole position before (in the very first SCS race last season) and Bowe was happy, if less than optimistic about his chances of taking pole.

The Kmart car was next, but it was not Richo who set the time.

After a new set of rubber and a driver change, it was Murphy who was in the car and the two drivers were separated by very little. Murf would drive the car in the serious going.

Larkham followed. The team faced a different racetrack from 40

hi

■*

Start of a long day: Tander made the early running from Ingall, Radisich, Besnard, Lowndes, Larkham and Murphy. The Rat was soon to pit for a penalty, which set up a stunning charge through the field.

Skywriting.com: Even in the wild blue yonder, e-mail makes the world go around ... (Photos by Marshall cass and oiixKiynsmitti) what they normally tested on, with the wind dumping a lot of dirt on the surface; but the they made a grown-up decision about not chasing a time session by session and waited for the track to head in their direction, which it did.

Then came the Havoline car.

There had been a pre-session deal between the two drivers; both would have two sets of fresh rubber and the quicker driver would head into the shoot-out.

Longhurst did his part with a 10.89 before the youngster beat that by 0.2s. Ever a man of his word, Tony prepared to cheer his co-driver in the Top 10.

Lowndes was eighth. Not often you get to write that, so we’ll do it again - Lowndes was eighth. The team was absolutely unconcerned; they had a cunning plan...

They were not playing qualifying. Lowndes and Skaife, who was suffering from the flu, were running race set-ups to finetune the car for the race. The reds had had their turn in the Queensland sun by dominating qualifying for the July sprint race and that was enough for them.

With all the speculation about Lowndes’s future, there was a race to think about.

Ditto for the other car. Nathan needed wheel time and the Toddler was relatively cruising in the 11 deads. He was 14th.

If HRT in eighth was a bit of a shock, ninth was a surprise as well. It was the Weel Falcon, but it was not with Paul driving. Greg

VOLVU

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500 Helix car out ofthe nm-off.

Baird and Wills were next, running as much as they could in the Pirtek car, while Ellery followed after threatening during Friday practice.

Morris was an encouraging 15th, feeling optimistic despite an unscheduled engine change(when a pulley came off) and understeer through only the first two corners.

Schwantz was also impressive, running about a half second behind the Dude.

Cleland was going well in 16th, having sat in the 10 for much of the session and feeling he had left 0.3s on the track during his hot lap.

John Faulkner played out one of the more unusual qualifying days.

After getting stranded on the way to the track in traffic, he didn’t get into the pits until 10:10am, missing the opening session. Adam Macrow had a gearbox problem (which necessitated a change)and then he busted a valve spring when he missed a gear. He was 19th.

Check out the specials: Richards and Murphy proved the endurance round worth with a soiid third, despite {Photo by Dirk Klynsmtth) early race contact giving the Kmart duo steering problems for much of the race. continued from page 40

POS DRIViR CAR 1 Castrol Commodore VT Larry Perkins/fiusse// Ingall 2 Valvoline Commodore VT Garth TandeiPasan Bargwanna 3 Paul HadisichlCamemn McLean Shell Helix Falcon AU 4 John BoweP'm Richards CAT Falcon AU 5 Kmart Commodore VT Steven Richards/tfreg Murphy 6 Mark LarkhamIGaoh Brabham Mitre 10 Falcon AU 7 Caltex Hauoline Falcon AU Tony Longhurst/Dawd Besnard 8 HRT Commodore VT Craig Lowndas/Mark Skaife 9 K&J Thermal Falcon AU Paul'Mee\l6reg Crick 10 Glenn Se(on/Neil Crompton FTR Falcon AU 11 Shell Helix Falcon AU Steven JohnsonlOkk Johnson 12 Craig BairdlS'mot] Wills Pirtek Falcon AU 13 Steve EllerylPau\ Stokell Super Cheap Falcon AU 14 HRT Commodore VT Todd KellyINathan Pretty 15 Paul Morris/Kem Schwantz Big Kev Commodore VT 16 Rodney Forbes/John Cleland Wynn's Commodore VT 17 FTR Falcon AU Neal BatesIDean Canto 18 Greg FlitterfTm Leahey Valvoline Commodore VT 19 John FaulknedMam Macrow Asia Online Commodore VT 20 Matthew Wh/te/Terry Wyhoon Challenge Commodore VS 21 Ultra Tune TDK Commodore VT Mick DoneherfTyler Mecklem 22 Bred Jones/Tomas Mezera OzEmail Falcon AU 23 Dugal McDougalUMrevi Miedecke Pepsi Commodore VT 24 Terry Finnigan/Darren Hossack Kmart Commodore VT 25 Rod Hash/Cameron McConville Autopro Commodore VT 26 Peter DoulmanPohn Cotter Gatorade Commodore VT 27 Christian Murchison/tuke Youlden Castrol Commodore VT 26 Paul flomano/Jamie Brock Romano Commodore VS 29 Brett Petersinck Bates Colourscan Falcon AU 30 Bod Sa/mort/Damien White Oneworld Falcon AU 31 Toll Falcon AU Anthony TrattIA\an Jones 32 Trevor AshbylSteve Rend Optus/PPG Commodore VS 33 Derek Van Zelm/Chn'slran D'AgostJn Logical Commodore VT 34 Geoff Full/Phr//(p Scilleet Optus/PPG Commodore VS 35 Chiko Commodore VS Wayne WekefieldIByan McLeod 36 Boss HallidaylMam Wallis 3M Falcon EL 37 Garry Holt/flarry Willmington Eastern Creek Karts Falcon EL 38 Daniel MillarlAnthony Robson Saabwreck Commodore VT Drivers named in Italics set qualifying time

# SCS Rounil 11 42

ueenslan I

TIME 1:10.1840 1:10.3875 1:10.4112 1:10.5860 1:10.5863 1:10.6122 1:10.6197 1:10.7211 1:10.7446 1:10.8122 1:10.8254 1:10.8794 1:10.9834 1:11.0183 1:11.0577 1:11.0865 1:11.2937 1:11.3220 1:11.5987 1:11.6264 1:11.6512 1:11.7693 1:11.7717 1:11.8302 1:11.9293 1:12.0604 1:12.0691 1:12.3694 1:12.3920 1:12.6461 1:12.7240 1:12.7597 1:12.8485 1:12.9313 1:13.0298 1:13.1327 1:13.3724 1:13.7595 I

Crick was right on the money, hauling the car around in lmlO.7446, which was only slightly quicker than the car’s regular driver was.

“Paul’s slightly quicker than me in some corners,” the Tasmanian reported,“and I’m quicker in other parts. If we get to put the best parts of the lap together, we should be close.”

Better still (or worse, depending on your viewpoint) Crick had lost 0.2s on his fast lap with a brake problem.

Just making the Ibp 10surprisingly - was Seton. The FTR car languished in 14th/15th for most ofthe session, with the team clearly struggling to find a good set up to suit the track. But, with a couple of minutes left in the session, Glenn hauled the car into the tens with a 10.8122, bumping the Shell

The new Castrol duo, Christian Murchison and Luke Youlden, were 27th, having lost a lot of track time with an engine problem. Perkins was pleased, though; he wasn’t expecting miracles on Day One. “I want to see how they go in two races before I make any judgements,” he said.

Race(161 laps)

TT'ive hundred kays around Q1R is a fairly daunting task, especially considering the nature of the layout, and the conditions the day brought the competitors.

Tactics, naturally, were always going to be the key to the race; which drivers started first in their cars, what the pace would be, when the cars would pit and at what times would the driver changes take place. Throw in the possibilities of pace cars and it all made for some intriguing scenarios that, as the day unfolded, would be revealed.

Most believed the first round of stops would take place at around lap 55, which would enable a team to nicely run a two-stop strategy for the entire race. It would also

Toil T O StiooTout Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Driver Garth Tander Russell Ingall David Besnard Paul Radisich Craig Lowndes John Bowe Mark Larkham Greg Murphy Glenn Seton Greg Crick

Shootout Time 1:10.3858 1:10.4503 1:10.5292 1:10.6578 1:10.7237 1:10.8209 1:10.8225 1:11.1283 1:11.7440 1:11.8959

Dual 2 1 7 3 4 6 5 10 9

molorsRort dbms

(

^SHiU CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

The WinningEdgsis...

New dynamic range of quality motorsport product now available... l Oftraad l Karting l Circuit l Rally Full grid: Queensland turned on the weather for the 500, while the V8 (Photo by Marshall Cass) Supercar circus produced an 'intriguing' race. give the first driver the minimum amount oflaps required by the rules...

The pace was set to be flat-out all day long, with all drivers expecting the race to be nothing short of a very long sprint race. In fact, by the fifth lap nearly all of the leading cars were well into the Imlls, quite surprising considering the temperature and fuel loads all were canying.

About the only surprise in the opening laps, in fact at the end of the first lap, was the stop-go penalty issued to Radisich for jumping the start in the #18 Shell Helix Falcon. The 'Rat’ headed to the pits on the second lap to serve his time, before emerging way back in 37th - second last. His drive here on in needed to be nothing short of stunning, and it was...

“I have great starts, I don’t jump them,” was just about all Radisich offered after the race about the stop-go, He wouldn’t concede the stop-go would ultimately cost he and McLean the race, but the ‘Rat’ still wasn’t pleased.

“I think I got had” probably summed up his feelings best, and not too many disagreed.

With the series at such a professional level now days, it wasn’t surprising to see all of the lead cars quickly settle into a rhythm, despite the frantic pace.

Sadly,for those watching, though, a ‘rhythm’ meant little, if any passing and, except for a momentary position swap between Ingall and Longhurst for second, literally none was seen in the early stages.

Finally, on the 20th lap of the ‘Paper clip 500’, Longhurst moved past Ingall and into second permanently. Some excitement arose. And, not long after, Finnigan beached the second Kmart car at the first turn. Now it IS SeDiembsf 2000

was getting fun...

Lap 24 brought the Safety Car out for the first time and with it came the first opportunity for one and all to pit. That said, lap 24 seemed a little too early for most and it looked as though Matthew White, runner-up in the Konica Lites series, would the only one to take a chance at topping up the tanks. White’s decision, aided by his and co-driver Terry Wyhoon’s superspeedway experience, proved to be one that benefitted the team greatly in the later stages of the race.

For everyone else, their strategies wouldn’t be disclosed just yet...

Another factor was beginning to be thrown up ... the heat. The temperature was beginning to come into some equations, with the on-track temperature rising to the mid-30s, in-car temps rising to nearly 60 degrees...

Almost a quarter of the way through the race, Longhurst took the lead in the Caltex Havoline Falcon, while Brad Jones’s Ozemail Falcon ended its miserable weekend with a blown engine - the second for the Alburybased Jones Brothers team that weekend.

When the ‘pit window’finally opened to reveal more of each team’s strategies, the first‘name’ cars that appeared in pit lane didn’t actually leave again...

Rally ace Neal Bates was the first in the pits on lap 49 in the second FTR car, the #6 Falcon splitting a heater exchange and reemerging, while Mark Larkham’s strong run also ended when one of the unbreakable Holinger gearboxes broke.

Larkham was hot off his first ever Shell Series race win at Calder last month, but his ‘home’ race wasn’t to be. Neither would it continued next page

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QUEENSLAND 500 continued from previous page

4

I t We’ll play them this way... Skaife, Lowndes and HRT had all the (Photo by Dirk Klynsmilh) scenarios worked out well and truly beforehand.

The Master Racers TWO years ago, at the FAI 1000 at Bathurst, the Top 10 qualifying pairings were asked at the press conference who would be starting the race.

Mark Skaife, the nnaster of the one-lap shoot-out, was succinct in his answer; "Craig will be," he smiled, "for obvious reasons."

Skaife was realistic enough to know his strength was qualifying and Lowndes's was starting, after a season when Mark had made dunger start after dunger start.

So, how come two years later, at the Ozemail Queensland 500, the roles were reversed? n Because the team was never shooting at pole position and, partially, because Skaife was under the weather with the flu.

The plan was hatched on Thursday night. Lowndes was a better bet to run a second stint, which would potentially be more valuable at the end of the race than at the start. Together with that, the two drivers, engineers Robbie Starr and Shigeru Kageyama and team manager Jeff Grech worked out a number of scenarios for the race. On Sunday, as the race progressed, the ones which were no longer in play were crossed off.

So when the Safety Car sign appeared on lap 106, everyone knew what to do. All they had to do was not screw up and allow everyone else to. That's what happened and the rest is history.

- PHIL BRANAGAN

be for co-driver Geoff Brabham, joining Bates’ partner Dean Canto on the ‘didn’t get a steer’ list...

Bowe was next in, handing over to Jim Richards on the 52nd lap, the veteran duo appearing to have no problems whatsoever.

Tander handed over to Bargwanna on lap 56, the Valvoline/Cummins team having dramas with the fuel overflow, the vision bringing back memories of Bowe’s ’99 pit fire.

Baird was next in, handing the Pirtek car over to Simon Wills, the Stone Brothers camp changing pads and, perhaps, setting the tone for the Caltex car’s stop...

Leader Longhurst pitted on the 58th lap to hand over to Besnard, while Richards did the same one

lap later, albeit after a spin on the previous lap. Like the Pirtek car, both changed brake pads.

Ingall and Perkins made the change on lap 60, the Castrol team’s stop a shocker after a problem changing pads.

It was interesting to watch how far HRT was pushing the boundaries with both cars and watch what they actually did.

Skaife came in and handed over to Lowndes on the 62nd lap, the team electing to skip the brake pad change while nmning under green, while Pretty continued to circulate in the #2 car.

Radisich, who had driven an amazing race to this point, also came in and handed over to McLean,the Shell team also not changing the pads.

Queensland Raceway’s Ozemail

WT

Almost there: Weel and Crick had a great weekend for the most part, qualifying in the top 10 and running strong early. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, they lost a lap and later an engine to dnf.

(Photo by Marshall Cass)

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^SHEH CHAMPIONSHIP SiBIIS ‘paperclip’500 was beginning to take shape, while Pretty was now actually in the lead...

McLean passed Pretty for the lead, the second HRT car not long after heading to the pits, as did Dick Johnson with a dead Falcon the driver and the engine both now retired.

The interest was climbing and, as those cars headed in, the Safety Car headed out- the Romano/Brock and Youlden/Murchison cars were beached at turn one. McLean used the Safety Car period to perfection, heading back in for the pad change.

The Shell team’s plan was now to hold out for as long possible, hoping for a very late Safety Car period to pit for a driver change and fuel...

The strategies of every team were now becoming obvious, although some would be very telling towards the end. Many appeared to be running to standard formats, although thinking outside the square, and looking for any possibility would win this race.

The race was settled imtil around lap 104 when a little activity started to creep into pit lane. All hell broke lose just a lap later when the Safety Car was called; Tyler Mecklam had beached the Mick Donaher/TDK VT. Simply put, this was where the race was won and lost...

Leader Bargwanna stayed out on track in the GRM VT, while Lowndes pitted the #1 HRT Commodore for pads - the three time champion significantly staying in the car. Kelly also came on the same lap, and it was obvious now that HRT were looking to run to the finish, and to finish 1-2.

The significance of HRT’s decision to keep Lowndes in the lead car, and having had Pretty run a long stint first up in the #2 car was coming to light. Skaife had completed enough laps to satisfy

V,

■r.

One for the road: Dick Johnson returned to the Shell Helix team for a special one-off appearance in the #17 AU. With the sinuses fixed, Dick said he enjoyed the drive which sadly came to an end early after the engine died. In a tribute to the ‘glory’ days, the #17 wore the colours and logos that helped make Dick Johnson famous.

(Photos by DItk KlynsmilhWIarshall Casa)

the minimum required (54), as too had Pretty. Both Lowndes and Kelly were now capable of running to the finish.

On the other hand, Bargs was

three laps short of the minimum and couldn’t pit unless he was to run to continued next page

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QUEENSLAND 500

-r y4‘

n He talkes, he rides, he changes tyres. Star of the Channel 10 versus CAT Racing pitstop competetion was Barry Sheene. He double world 500c champion was very swift changing a front wheel on the #600 AU, prompting John Bowe to say that he would have the Pom on his pit crew any time.

"nriir'.

V f* .

■r'

t

■ Tomas Mezera was hobbling around the Ozemail Racing pits. The former HRT driver was suffering from a ruptured achilled rendon, which happened when Tomas was playing tennis six weeks before the race. He had a cast off a week before the event and was wearing an ankle brace.

■ Dean Canto will have a Falcon AU at Bathurst. Team Manager Terry Steer has secured the current Paul Weel Ford after looking at an FTR car. Weel will run two cars at Sandown next month, with co-driver Greg Crick having a sprint race, and the two will share a new car at Bathurst.

Vh Heat haze: Tander and Bargwanna again had to settle for second in the Q500 - this time coming in 36s in arrears.

Put a sock in it: Larkham already knows that when Barry Sheene Interviews you while the race is running, your day is definitely done.

■ i

,

---Si

(Photos by Dirk Kiynsmtth and Marshall Cass)

■ Spellcheck: Shell Helix's new enduro driver has picked up a consonant. According to his racesuit, Cameron McClean is the new man in yellow and red. McLean, lads ...

‘

_m

■ Looks can be deceptive. HRT was running the Young Lions car in the Q500, with Kelly's regular mount being re-liveried in the team's red colours.

■ Bap Romano, looking to get son Paul's V8 career back on track, brought in some influential and experienced people to help the team at Bathurst - veteran mechanical man Terry Little, shocker guru Steve Cramer and NASCAR chassis ace Tommy Smith.

Apparently all three were more than impressed with young Romano and, in the interests of staying with the team for Bathurst, Little has advised Bap to either get his son a new car, or find a good ride for the event.

"Paul is a great driver, the car is definitely holding him back," Little said.

"We've changed everything, but the car just doesn't do anything different. I've got no doubts that if Paul was in a good car, he'd surprise a lot of people."

■ The 'I went to the Queensland 500 but did not get a drive' club included '93 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantt, '93 Le Mans 24hr winner Geoff Brabham, '88 Bathurst 1000 winner Tomas Mezera, current V8 Lites Champion Dean Canto, veteran Andrew Miedecke and former gun karter Damien White.

- PHIL BRANAGAN/ GERALD McDORNAN 46

^2 continued from previous page the finish. The plan was Tander, and now ever5dhing hung on another Safety Car appearance.

The same too applied at the Murphy/Richards and Perkins/Ingall camps, along with everyone else in the top 10.

Down at the Stone Brothers’ pit, the calculations weren’t quite right, though, and Besnard came in and handed the Caltex back over to Longhurst. Besnard, who had stunned with a top three qualifying run the day before, hadn’t completed enough laps and the team had screwed up. It would cost them the race. The changeover happened five laps too early...

If that wasn’t enough, when the Safety Car disappeared at the beginning of lap 108, Wills handed the #4 Pirtek car back to Baird and the same mistake had been made. Wills was three laps short of the minimum...

Bargs headed in on lap 113,

handing over to Tander, while Murphy continued out in front of the pack - the pack in front of Lowndes and Tbddler having not yet pitted for the second time.

Ingall jumped back in the Castrol car on lap 115 and headed to the finish, while Murphy handed back to Richards shortly after.

The damage had been done and HRT knew it. In fact, on lap 120 Lowndes was told via radio that, if the cars finished, he would win and Kelly would be second...

The reality of the first screw-up in the Stone Brothers pit dawned on lap 135 and the team immediately brought in the Caltex car and replaced Longhurst with Besnard.

Third to eighth, a chance of winning shot down in flames and the faces of Ford’s representatives at the track told the story. You should have then seen them when the Pirtek car had to come back in less than 10 laps from home for the same reason...

“We screwed up, simple as that,”

..

».>

Ross Stone later put it. He was just as annoyed as anyone else.

Disaster did strike the HRT camp just 19 laps from home when the engine cooked on Kelly’s #2. It appeared a stone had pierced the radiator and, with the temperature rising, Kelly tried to hang on as long as he could. Sadly, it failed too early...

“We’re disappointed - the team did a terrific job - but that’s the way it goes,” a quickly maturing Toddler said. “We would have done it easy if we didn’t have any problems, but we did. It can happen to anyone and, unfortunately, it happened to us.”

While they didn’t finish, team boss Grech was more than happy with the efforts of his two young chargers.

“They both did an incredible job and it’s a shame for both Todd and Nathan that they didn’t finish,” he said. “I’m sure they’ll be stronger for the experience and they should be a good pairing to watch at Bathurst. We couldn’t have been moiarspon news

I

SHELL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES more pleased with them here.”

Bowe inherited second with the CAT car, the Bowe/Jim Richards veteran duo quietly going about their business all day, although Tander took over second place shortly after, Bowe struggling with back problems(from a new seat fitted before the meeting)and tyres going off.

Richards and Ingall passed Bowe shortly after to allow a Holden whitewash of the event, four of the General’s product leading home four Falcons in the top eight.

With the chequered flag in sight, Lowndes opened the radio microphone in the car

Valvoline/Cummins team didn’t go one better.

“Obviously HRT did a better job today and we came up 36 seconds short... last year we were 16 seconds short,” he said.

“Circumstances didn’t let us have this one, but championship-wise we’re still not out of it and Bargs and I are looking fairly good for Bathurst where there are more points on offer,” Tander added.

Contact with the Ellery/Stokell car early in the race meant Richards and Murphy had to battle steering problems for over 100 laps...

rn

Things could only get better: They did for Ellery and Stokell, who fought back from this lap two incident to finish a strong 13th.

(Pholo by Dirtt Klynsmilh|

to “let the boys ride home with me.”

“Geez, this is a good feeling,” he told the team as he crossed the line.

When you win like that, it couldn’t be anything but a great feeling.

Skaife agreed later.

“It was a tremendous effort by everyone involved today and the result reflects that,” Skaife said later.

“Everyone worked hard, the calls were made right and things all went our way. We had a great package ... seeing Craig run an 11.6 on the second last lap shows that.

“This race is also all about thinking on your feet.”

While pleased with their second, Bargwanna was disappointed that the IS Saptemher 2000

“The sweetest third place I’ve had in my career - we had to persevere with frontend problems after I was turned around by the Supercheap car - so I’m pleased with this result,” Richards said.

Murphy, who has had a tough time this season, agreed.

“The car was 5-lOkms down in speed through the first two turns, so we had to drive hard, but it was a great car aside from that,” he said.

“This is the best we’ve run in a long time and we’re starting to turn things around, so I’m happy.”

Ingall and Perkins were content with fourth, although their high levels of expectations were not

reached. Still, a solid result for LP’s new car and Bathurst looms...

For the Ford camp,the 500 showed that at least the package is right for Bathurst.

Most of their main cars came home on the lead lap and it was only some bad decisions that cost any chance in the race.

Skaife had an offering for them all afterwards...

“There’s been plenty of Falcons that have been fast all weekend here, but they’ve managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory,” he said.

“We talk about parity all year, but this weekend is a team battle and the top four cars are Holdens and I think it’s a great example of how professional the top Holden teams are.

“The situation with Tony [Longhurst] was a farce and I feel sorry for him because he drove very well - a great job in the race - but what’s happened is not how you win.”

Bowe and Jim Richards led the Ford marque home in fifth, while Radisich, perhaps, provided the drive of the race to bring his and McLean’s Shell Helix car home sixth,just edging Seton and Crompton by fivethousandths of a second.

Radisich had come from 37th on the second lap to be back in the top 10 by lap 37, before taking the car further up the front to later allow McLean to lead the race amidst the fury of pitstops. It was a herculean effort that, perhaps, really shouldn’t have been needed.

“I had to push hard in the race, but I didn’t want to do that as it stresses the car ... it was just all unnecessary,” he said. “It didn’t cost us the race, it was the last stop under green that did, but we didn’t need it.”

Seton and Crompton were quiet all weekend. The lead FTR team had a solid result, but like all of the blue oval boys, perhaps hoped for better.

Longhurst and Besnard rallied to finish eighth. After their efforts all weekend, it really wasn’t good enough, or what was expected. They have an incredible opportunity to reverse the fortunes at Bathurst.

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OUEEHSIAND 500

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Wyhoon & Woo-hoo!

MATTHEW White and Terry Wyhoon's results in the Queensland 500 show that, despite the lack of multi-million dollar budgets, dozens of full time staff, on-site caterers and huge, shiny transporters, the 'good guys in white hats' can still succeed in the tough, professional V8 Supercar world...

White and Wyhoon are no strangers to racing, both having earned AUSCAR championships in the glory days of the former Thunderdome category - days when 40 car fields were the norm. But, with the Thunderdome now having seen better days, in this year the two have had to look elsewhere for their favourite past time. They both chose V8 Supercars or, more exactly, V8 kites...

As a matter of survival, the two were smart enough to have planned ahead - both having little in the way of financial backing - teaming together to cut costs while campaigning their two VS Commodores.

For the kites campaign, it all seemed to work well with White finishing second in the series, while Wyhoon, who has a strong dirt-track background, found speed with every outing.

When it came to Queensland -White having earned a spot in the field thanks to his kites result - the two pooled again their resources and turned their energies towards's White's newer car for their crack at the 'big time.' Again the formula worked a treat.

Running against some strong level one competition, the two surprised, qualifying 20th -

even ahead of far more experienced professional teams - then running all day to finish an incredible 11th. In the old days, they would have won the privateer's category.

Both were ecstatic, not only for themselves, but their hard working crew, who don't enjoy the spoils of the Pro teams.

"This makes it all worth it," White said later. "We've achieved this with the bare bones - we've prepared the car 100 percent like it needed it, but we haven't had the luxuries - and it's something all of us can be extremely proud of."

The two used their Thunderdome experiences to great effect, pitting early under caution and then running deep into the race before pitting again. White handing over to Wyhoon for a long stint to bring the car home.

"We really didn't have a strategy, in fact we thought I should just run around until the car felt like it would run out of fuel!" White said.

There seemed to be only one blot on the copybook at the end of the weekend, and that was Wyhoon's spectacular attack on the turn five apex during Friday's practice - the moment providing the two with a laugh after the race.

"I radioed Matthew and asked him if he'd seen that lap I did and he said 'No' and I thought 'Shit, that's lucky'," Wyhoon laughed on Sunday night.

"You should have seen his face after the race when I showed him the photo, though..."

- GERALD McDORNAN

> l

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That iras' Imckv: Matllww White didn > lu liially .m-c Terry Wvhoou do thin mint in UlS Onnrnoihiri'...

Mirtn 48

continued from previous page steadily all day long in the second of the Valvoline/Cummins cars to come home a solid ninth, the little experience the two have in V8s (Ritter did drive for the team in last year’s enduros and then performed admirably) belying their results.

Baird and Wills recovered from their disaster to finish 10th, the final result sadly looking bad for a team which had performed pretty good all weekend. Like Ross Stone said,‘the team just screwed up.’

The days of the privateers are long gone, but the new Konica V8 Lites series was designed to produce drivers and teams who can make the progression through to the ‘big league.’

While the Lites Champion, Canto, was drafted in the FTR camp for the weekend,only four Lites cars made the decision to enter one ofjust the three Shell races open to them during the year(Adelaide and Bathurst the other two).

White and Wyhoon were by far and away the most impressive of the bunch, the extremely lowbudget duo, who received a helping hand from Challenge Recruitment on the Tuesday prior to the race, qualifying in a solid 20th before bringing home their ageing VS in an extremely respectable 11th.

‘We’re thrilled, it was just a great effort by everyone within the team,” said Wyhoon after the race.

“We took the opportunity to top up the car early and Matthew ran for as long as he could before I took over and it worked.”

John Faulkner and Adam Macrow, having already had a weekend prior to race day with the Asia Online car that they’d rather forget, had fairly much the same luck during the race. An electrical problem hindered their efforts all day, with Faulkner conceding that it took ‘11/lOths’to keep the car on

the pace. A 12th place finish was a good reward for their efforts.

Ellery and Stokell appeared to have a terrible day, especially early, the Supercheap Falcon seemingly involved in every incident. First up was the spin on lap two, the contact with Morris ultimately putting the Big Kev VT out before it had even started, and afterwards was a touch with Steven Richards.

But the team dug down deep and raced hard for the remainder of the day, finishing 13th.

Forbes and Cleland brought home the Wynn’s Racing Commodore in 14th, the local and the Scot having a two-lap advantage over the 15th place finishers, Cameron McConville and Rod Nash.

Dick Johnson’s one-off return to V8s created a fair amount of interest, especially locally, but it didn’t turn out to be the success DJ had hoped for.

Both Dick and son Steven had looked fairly strong, running around the edges of the top 10, but a $5 part, thought to be a rotor button, failed and the car died on lap 67.

Dugal McDougall also had run up towards the top 10 early, having qualified 16th, but a trip to the pits when the Safety Car first appeared signalled the end of the Pepsi team’s day, engine problems the cause.

“We’re only running on six or seven cylinders so, unfortunately, we’re out,” a disappointed McDougall said.

“We got on top of the car yesterday and it’s a pity Andrew [Miedecke] didn’t get a drive, but that’s the way racing goes.”

Last year, Perkins and Ingall didn’t have the fastest car on the track -in fact, they were 13th quickest- but the cunning duo managed to out-manoeuvre their opposition. This year HRT managed to follow the same pattern... matortpon naws

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OhhiII Oina)Hind 500 Rica -161 lint Pos Drivers O-llme/Laps F-lan 3:25:34.3893 1:11.6170 1 Lowndes/Skaife 2 Tander/Bargwanna 3:26:10.8350 1:11.6903 3 Richards/Murphy 3:26:11.9692 1:11.8152 3:26:12.4205 1:11.7630 4 Perkins/Ingall 3:26:19.4967 1:12.1058 5 Bowe/Richards 6 Radisich/McLean 3:26:20.0032 1:11.4582 3:26:20.0081 1:11.4455 7 Seton/Crompton 8 Longhurst/Besnard 3:26:38.5235 1:11.6085 160 laps 1:12.3543 9 Ritter/Leahey 10 Baird/Wills 160 laps 1:11.8156 160 laps 1:12.9279 11 WhiteAWyhoon 12 Faulkner/Macrow 160 laps 1:12.2139 160 laps 1:11.9361 13 Ellery/Stokell 14 Forbes/Cleland 159 laps 1:12.4979 15 Nash/McConville 157 laps 1:12.6470 16* Full/Scifleet 157 laps 1:13.5233 17 Doulman/Cotter 157 laps 1:12.8423 18 Peters/Bates 156 laps 1:118596 154 laps 1:14.6770 19 Holt/Willmington 20 Miller/Robson 153 laps 1:14.1485 21 Romano/Brock 153 laps 1:13.0166 144 laps 1:14.1764 22 Van Zelm/D'Agostin 23 Wakefield/McLeod 135 laps 1:14.1185 24 Donaher/Mecklam 130 laps 1:12.9379 dnf Weel/Crick 150 laps 1:12.3181 142 laps 1:12.3393 dnf Kelly/Pretty dnf Tratt/Jonos 115 laps 1:12.6912

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If it’s Wynn’s, it works: Two-time BTCC winner John

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Cleland joined with Forbes in the Wynn’s car, the duo leading home a pack of cars for 14fh.

77 lops 1:12.8161

dnf Murchison/Youldan 68 laps 1:126845 dnf Johnson/Johnson 67 laps l:l2 p.32B dnf Larkham/Brabham 49 laps 1:11.6966 dnf Bates/Canto 49 laps 1:12.5235 44 laps 1:13.3993 dnf Ashby/Reed ntr dnf Halliday/Wallis 40 laps dnf Jones/Mezera 35 laps 1:12.5879 dnf McDougall/Miedecke 28 laps 1:12.7016 dnf Morris/Schwantz 12 laps 1:12.9085 dnf SalmonAIVhite 1 lap 1:27.9939 * - Full/Scifleet given 1 minute penalty for not meeting driving time criteria.

If I could be like Mark: Pretty enjoyed a drink after his strong drive to the front in the HRT #2 car.

(Photo by Marshal! Cass)

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49

Italian GP

Day, Black Day

Michael Schumacher beat Mika Hakkinen fair and square at Monza on a day when a marshal’s death cast a pall over Grand Prix racing.

50

Advantage, red corner: Michael Schumacher was unstoppable at Monza, taking back the advantage in the Championship.(Photo by Sutton-lmages) Report by JOE SAWARD MICHAEL Schumacher scored a memorable victory for Ferrari at Monza,beating World Championship rival Mika Hakkinen in a straight fight.

It was Michael’s 41st victory, which makes him equal to the late great Ayrton Senna in terms of Grand Prix victories.

When he was reminded of this Michael broke down suid cried.

It was very strange.

It was a sad day for the sport as well, because a huge first lap accident resulted in the death of a trackside fire marshal.And that will mean trouble for FI in Italy in the months ahead.

The German won the race ahead of Hakkinen,the Ferrari appearing to have too much speed for the McLarenMercedes. Hakkinen’s team mate David Coulthard had his hopes of winning the race - and maybe the championship disappear with a nearly accident.

There was a lot of carnage and not many finishers.An odd day.

Qualifying

The geese are flying north to the Arctic, the kids are back at school and now that the summer holidays are over the French are out on strike again.

It is harvest time and the Formula 1 team owners have parked their yachts in lb5ftown, Sardinia and are back to the business of not agreeing with one another. Formula 1 may think it lives a jetset existence, biit the truth is that we are just like medieval peasants with paddock passes. Life comes in cycles.

And so, as happens every second weekend in September, at the Autodromo Nazionale at Monza, the girls and the food are still gorgeous and the waiters in the local pizzeria remain as indolent as ever.

Like the summer evenings, the Ferrari lap times are miraculously getting shorter. The team has somehow gained a magical half a second (as they do every year on the run up to Monza)and the World Championship, which looked like being a foregone conclusion for McLaren,is suddenly on again.

Everything is set up for a grandstand finish. molortporl news

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This is what Grand Prix racing is all about.

This year there was a bit of grumbhng about the reprofiled first chicane, but racing drivers complain about anything new and say that it could be dangerous. They soon get used to it. The intention of redesigning the chicane was to ensure that when the drivers arrive at 340kmh,ifthey have a problem they will not go into a barrier. They may end up going across the r new chicane and hitting another car, but in general this is better than hitting a solid object and as Monza caimot cut down any more trees, this was the best compromise.

Finnished? Mika Hakkinen could not match the pace of the red cars on a day when the Titosi below had plenty to celebrate. Mind you, Hakkinen has his followers too, making a statement of their support for their man bottom. Lucky they didn’t end it will a full stop ... (Photos by RacsAccess and Sutton-lmages)

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Italian GP POS 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

DRIVER Michael Schumacher Rubens Barrichello Mika Hakkinen Jacques Villeneuve David Coulthard JarnoTrulli Ralf Schumacher Heinz-Harald Frentzen Giancarlo Fisichella Pedro de la Rosa Jos Verstappen Jenson Button Alexander Wurz Eddie Irvine Mika Salo Pedro Diniz Ricardo Zonta Johnny Herbert Jean Alesi Nick Heidfeld Marc Gone Gaston Mazzacane

fQualifying^ CAR Marlboro Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro Scuderia Ferrari West McLaren/Mercedes Lucky Strike BAR/Honda West McLaren/Mercedes B&H Jordan/Mugen-Honda Compaq Williams/BMW B&H Jordan/Mugen-Honda Mild Seven Benetton/Supertec Orange Arrows/Supertec Orange Arrows/Supertec Compaq Williams/BMW Mild Seven Benetton/Supertec Jaguar/Cosworth Red Bull Sauber/Petronas Red Bull Sauber/Petronas Lucky Strike BAR/Honda Jaguar Cosworth Gauloises Prost/Peugeot Gauloises Prost/Peugeot Telefonica Mmatdi/Ford Telefonica Minardi/Ford

TIME 1:23.770 1:23.797 1:23.967 1:24.238 1:24.290 1:24.477 1:24 516 1:24.786 1:24.789 1:24.814 1:24.820 1:24.907 1:25.150 1:25.251 1:25.322 1:25.324 1:25.337 1:25.388 1:25.558 1:25.625 1:26.336 1:27.360

P'.

Roundl4 Italian GP/Monza continued from page 51

shot. Hakkinen tried his best, but he was two-tenths slower than

Once the whingeing about the first chicane was out of the way, it was time for action and soon the two Ferraris were first and second

Schumacher and third on the grid.

“I wasn’t completely happy with the handling ofthe car,” he reported,“and we experienced a few technical problems, which disturbed our concentration.”

Schumacher was, of course, delighted.

“It’s good to be back on the right road,” said Michael.“The car felt quick.”

Barrichello was also very pleased to be competitive again after a couple of disappointing races.

“I think I could gone a bit quicker,” he said “but at the end I had some problems with traffic, but I am happy with my car.”

And so, while all was rosy in the Ferrari garden, things were not quite as jolly at McLaren.

Hakkinen’s third was a

with the McLarens trying to catch up. The red cars were fastest in every session and when it came to qualifying (after the two WilliamsBMWs had had a brief moment of glory)it was a straight fight between McLaren and Ferrari.

David Coulthard set the ball rolling, but almost immediately he was beaten by Michael Schumacher - and by a good four-tenths of a second. Pole did not then change imtil Michael knocked himself off the top with a lap which shaved another two-tenths from his time.

The only disturbance after that was when Rubens Barrichello grabbed the number one slot for a few short minutes before Michael put the question beyond doubt by a tenth.

In the final moments of the session, the two McLarens had another try. Coulthard was held up

by Heinz-Harald Frentzen (the two had a similar incident at Spa one may recall) and so his bolt was

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51

Happy Anniversary: Honda was in fine fettle in its 200th GP start.

Jacques Villeneuve qualified fourth but Ricardo Zonta got first crack at (Photos by RaceAccess and Sutlon-lmages) the cake below by scoring a point for sixth.

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disappointment, but the fact that Coulthard was fifth was verging on a disaster.

“They are not ideal grid positions,” Ron Dennis said,“but we should be competitive in the race.”

“We have won from this grid position before,” commented

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FORMULA f

Monza is a track where engine power is a useful thing to have and the new Honda engine clearly has a hit of grunt.

Mercedes-Benz’s Norbert Haug.

The race looked likely to be settled by the abiUty of the cars to survive on their tyres. The McLarens have been better on tyre wear all year, but with Barrichello alongside him Schumacher had the opportunity to get away while Barrichello kept the McLarens bottled up behind him. But that would depend on the start.

The interloper in among the big four on this occasion was Jacques Villeneuve in the BAR-Honda.

Monza is a track where engine power is a useful thing to have and the new Honda engine clearly has a bit of grunt.

“This is what should have been happening for most ofthe season,” said Villeneuve.“We haven’t been competitive enough this year.”

Things were not so good for Ricardo Zonta, who found himself 17th on the grid because of a gearbox problem which stopped him out on the race track. He switched to the spare car which was set up for Villeneuve and had to drive without being able to feel the pedals as he likes.

“I attacked as much as I could,” he said.

The first of the Jordans(Jamo Trulli) was sixth on the grid and Frentzen was in eighth place. This was not a bad job in the circumstances as Trulli had a mysterious problem that had to be found by his mechanics(it turned out to be an hydraulic pump glitch) and Frentzen made life difficult for himself by crashing in the Parabolica. Frentzen complained about traffic, which was a bit rich given that he blocked Coulthard in a fairly unsubtle fashion.

Between the two yellow cars was

Ralf Schumacher’s Williams-BMW. The German was locking his brakes at every available corner and one could not help but wonder how this wiU leave him in the race. Jenson Button was much smoother and neater than his team-mate, but he was only 12th on the grid and very disappointed.

Ninth on the grid was Giancarlo Fisichella. This was a good effort, given that Giancarlo’s confidence has been somewhat shaken in recent weeks by large accidents in his Benetton.

“My target was to be eighth,” said Fisichella,“so we lostjust one position.”

Alas,Alex Wurz’s run of miserable results continued with 13th place on the grid.

“I am very upset,” he said.

“Maybe more than I have ever been in my Formula 1 career.”

He had a fuel system problem in the morning and so had to run the spare car in qualifying and it did not behave as Alexander would have Uked it to do.

Tenth and 11th on the grid were the two Arrows of Pedro de la Rosa and Jos Verstappen, much more competitive after the mysterious lack of performance in Belgium recently. This was a commendable effort, given that Jos had troubles with his car and had to take the spare car and then switch back to his race car. The two were separated by a smidgen.

The cars were fastest of all through the speed traps, which would seem to suggest that the aerodynamic efficiency ofthe car is very good. Small wonder that Arrows aerodynamicist Egbahl Hamidy has signed a deal to join Jordan GP when he is available to do so.

Down in 14th place was Eddie Irvine in the Jaguar and his team mate,Johnny Herbert, was 18th, a tenth of a second slower. The car is not that good, as the speed trap figm-es showed, but this was still a disappointing performance. Eddie can console himself that he is the best-paid driver in tbe midfield, but Herbert has httle consolation.

Sauber had another dull qualifying, given that the cars are powered along by Ferrari VIO engines with Mika Salo just beating Pedro Diniz. Yawn.

The story of Prost was as it has been in recent races. Barely worthy ofink. Jean Alesi was 19th and Nick Heidfeld was 20th.

And the Minaudis were at the back as always. It would be front page news ifthey were not.

Race(53 laps)

At the start, everyone got away without trouble except Jean Alesi, who was left sitting on the grid. On the run down to the first comer, Villeneuve was the fastest, but he was bottled up behind Barrichello.

Hakkinen had more momentum and was trying to find a way to pass Michael Schumacher. Michael moved right to block the challenge.

He then moved to the left.

This was clearly two different manoeuvres, which is not supposed to be adlowed but, as Michael was moving to take his line into the comer, one must suppose that this was not a problem.

“I was behind Michael and thinking about overtaking him on the inside,” said Mika later.“He moved to the inside, so I moved back, outside the normal line. He moved too, but... Anyway,that’s the way it went. I ended up second at the first comer.”

There had been much talk over the days leading up to the race that the first chicane would be a place for an accident to happen. As it happens, this turned out to be the case, but it was not a serious crash.

Irvine and Salo tangled and together biunped into Diniz. He went into a polystyrene block and damaged the nose of his car, while Salo suffered a left rear puncture and Irvine a broken front suspension. The two Saubers would later pit and rejoin, but Irvine was out.

At the second chicane, there was a very serious accident.

Schumacher,Hakkinen and Coulthard arrived in the comer without drama, but behind them Trulli and Barrichello were side-byside and Frentzen was behind them,looking for a way around both ofthem.

Everyone braked very late, but

DC In bother: David Coulthard failed to finish in what even he described as a viatl race in the championship. {Photoby SuttonOmages)

IS Sepiember 2000

continued on page 54 S3

Italian OP continued from page 53 Frentzen could not stop in time and at high speed smashed into the back of Barrichello and Trulli.

“I was trying to overtake Barrichello,” said Heinz-Harald later. “He changed line and braked unexpectedly early.”

The three cars, showering wheels everywhere, smashed into Coulthard as he turned into the comer. David was just plain unlucky. The accident effectively ended liis World Championship hopes.

Barrichello was upset and angry with Frentzen. Trulli was livid.

Jacques Villeneuve and Rah Schumacher were able to get through the carnage. “ I just saw a lot of dust and car parts flying around,” Ralf reported.

“Jacques and I managed somehow to get around it, but it looked really terrible.”

Behind them,Fisichella, Button and Wurz all scrambled through the wreckage, but Herbert and Zonta arrived side-by-side as they braked heavily.

“I could see a wheel about 100ft up in the air,” reported Herbert later.

Behind them, de la Rosa arrived at high speed and ran into the back ofthe Jaguar.

“I just couldn’t slow down my car enough,” he explained. “I was launched into the air emd then just barrel-rolled until the car stopped. I wouldn’t say I was unlucky because I am lucky to be here.”

The Arrows ended its journey upside-down in the sand trap with de la Rosa underneath. He burrowed his way out and was imhurt apart from a few bruises.

Johnny drove the car back to the pits on three wheels to retire. Zonta too was involved and suffered a puncture.

What was not immediately obvious among aU the carnage was that Trulli’s left rear tyre had been tom from his car with such violence

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Timing is everything: If there is ever a track on which you want straightline speed, it’s Monza. The ArrowsSupertecs were the fastest things in the place, Jos Verstappen rattling the speedgun at 357kmh - in the race.

The Dead, Tow it Society: Jenson Button below right learned another lesson in Italy, running off the track and bending the BMW.Williams while behind the Safety Car. (Photos by Sutton-lmages)

that it was hurled to the outside of the track at head-height.

Eyewitnesses report that it hit Paolo Gislimberti, a fire marshal.

The details of the accident will, no doubt, be fully established by official investigators and there will be decisions about who is to blame and whether or not any legal action should be taken given Italy’s peculiar legislation. Formula 1 has lived through all this once in recent years after Imola 1994 and there is no doubt that the consequences of the accident will probably be in the news for many months to come.

It was obvious that, with the medical cars and marshals at the scene, there was going to be a long period behind the Safety Car and so those who had to pit for repairs did not lose too much ground as they were able to catch up to the queue of cars after their stops. Salo’s car was handling so badly after his stop that he stopped again and had a

new engine cover and sidepods fitted and was still able to rejoin at the back of the 14-car queue.

The field was further reduced just before the race restarted at the start of lap 12 when there was nearly another major accident on the back straight. Having sat behind the Safety Car for so long, the tyres and brices had lost all

their temperature. Michael Schumacher decided that he needed to warm things up before the restart.

“After the Safety Car switches off the lights, the leader dictates the gap of the Safety Car,” he said. “I was accelerating/braking, accelerating/braking, to warm up my brakes. I think I made a

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4

FOKMULA I

Rubens Barrichello on Monza's accident Rubens Barrichello was one of four drivers caught up in the initial collision at the second corner of the Italian GR Having qualified second, the Brazilian got away poorly after braking to stop his car creeping, and then suffering from excessive wheeispin.

Mika Hakkinen, David Coulthard and Jarno Trulli all got ahead of him. Rubens was in the process of re-passing the Italian whon he was struck from behind by the second Jordan of Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

mistake the way I did it, because when I started braking again all the cars behind started braking, but probably saw it a little bit too late.

“I’m sorry for whoever suffered from that. I thought that everybody knew what I was going to do.”

Clearly they did not. Hakkinen braked. Villeneuve braked. Ralf Schumacher and Fisichella swerved to the right to avoid hitting the BAR and Button had nowhere to go but off on the left.

He hit the barriers. He rejoined, but at the Parabolica the car did not turn and off he went.

Button was furious afterwards and blamed the leader for his accident.

“I had nowhere to go,” he said.

“Everyone was spread across the circuit and I finished up on the grass trying to avoid Villeneuve’s car. I am very lucky that I did not get hurt. I don’t know what he was doing.”

So it was down to the lucky 13 survivors.

Michael Schumacher tried to build up an advantage. He could continued on page 56

that just came and took a bit of my helmet off. Frentzen was really out of order today.

MIM: Were there wheels flying around when you were spinning?

RB: I couldn't really see from where I was, because the gravel trap put so much smoke up. I put my neck down and waited for something to happen. After Spa '98 I took a bit of experience not to relax too early.

MN: What happened from where you were sitting?

RB: For me it’s quite clear. I was behind Trulli, and I outbraked Trulli at the Turn number four. So basically I came to the left, I chose the left line, and I outbraked him and was running alongside him.

And then I felt a big, Sulton-lmages big bang on my back.

So I was so surprised, because I MN: Did you talk to the other braked so late to outbrake Trulli, drivers? that how could someone hit me RB: I talked to DC, because DC from behind? initially was mad at Trulli. But I Basically he touched me so thought it's not Trulli, it's hard that he couldn't stop and he Frentzen. I mean Frentzen got took Trulli and Trulli eventually involved with a lot of people took DC. I'm mad about someone these last couple of races. He's saying Trulli was the cause of it so under pressure from Trulli, because Frentzen was and I think he's behaving like completely, completely out of when he was 15. order. He saw that he had no gap In qualifying he got in front of to go and he was trying to force a me already, and that was really gap or something, because he hit upsetting. And now the guy just me so hard, so hard. says that I braked early. He could And I'm even more mad that say that Trulli braked early people are saying that he said I because he was going to run braked early. Because I outbraked behind Coulthard, but I just Trulli. How come I braked early? I outbraked Trulli. How come? was lucky that I stayed in the car, because I could have got out, and MN: Did you realise that basically what would have somebody had been hurt? happened was that de la Rosa's RB: I saw the guy beside the car could have cut my body in track, that someone was two. I was inside my car just waiting for the sand to calm down, pumping his body to revive him. and basically I felt a big bang on But they didn't let me go there, my head. It was de la Rosa's car was lucky that I didn't see him.

My heart goes with him. We could be blamed to be crazy to be racing ourselves, but someone completely out of the picture to get hurt is really annoying.

MIM: Were you surprised that the race was not stopped?

RB: In a way I was surprised, because there were a lot of pieces on the track, there were a lot of cars, and I think the marshal needed attention a little bit earlier. So I was surprised, yes.

I would say wo need to review the situation, because lately you could say that Austria or Hockenheim they took out the cars quite soon, but not here. I think here it took a long time.

It's not because I'm out of the race, but it was so clear that there was something big going on that they had to stop the race.

MN: What did the stewards say about who was to blame?

RB: They said it was under discussion and they were studying the things.

What has annoyed me is that Frentzen blamed me for braking early. That's ridiculous, that's really something that is out of mind. I'm upset about Frentzen's comments. This is not a sportsman. This is something that... I mean today it was serious. Today it was really serious.

MN: Any thoughts on Michael's victory?

RB: Today we had a really good racing car. Of course McLaren thought that it was a bluff from qualifying. Having'just talked to Michael, he said the car felt really, really nice. It was just nice to be able to have that sort of race. Today, I think we could have done a 1-2.

-ADAM COOPER

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Italian GP continued from page 55

GRAN PREMIO CAMPARI

What they said

Highlights of the post-race conference Michael Schumacher: I have no vocabulary to express my feelings, except that I am happy and exhausted. 41 wins means a lot to me, but there are times when I cannot answer all your questions.

This was a very emotional win, even more so than in 1998. Here we are in Italy and after some difficult races we are back on the right road, as we proved all weekend. I am still not in front in the championship, but this win is a big relief. There are 500 people working with us and all of them are part of this victory.

My start was just all right, as my revs dropped a little. The Safety Car did not have much effect, except that the tyre pressures were low. As the Safety Car was about to pull in, I started accelerating and braking to warm up my brakes.

Some drivers at the back might have been caught out by this and 1 apologise if I caused them a problem. The car was well balanced and worked perfectly all race. At the end, I backed off to be careful with the engine.

I am very sad to hear about the death of a track official.

Under these circumstances, what happened in the race has only a secondary importance.

Mika Hakkinen: I made an OK start and managed to get by Barrichello and then I was lucky not to be affected by the accident at the second chicane.

Initially I wasn't happy with the balance of the car, but we made a few adjustments during the pit stop which improved matters.

SB

However, despite a great pit stop from the team and the fact that I could go much quicker, I was unable to catch Michael.

Also, as was the case in the last race, I lost too much time lapping the Minardis. Ail in all, it would have been nice to win, but I scored some important points.

Half Schumacher: My joy would be great, but it's shaded by the fact that somebody who was working to protect our lives has been accidentally involved.

We were lucky at the start by not being caught up in the accident, I am glad to know that none of the drivers involved was hurt. Overall, we proved again that we are the third team in the championship, which is our target this season.

The car has been good all over the weekend. I am also happy about my brother being first. During the race, the team told me over the radio that Zonta and Verstappen who were quicker at the start were light with littie fuel - so I wasn't worrying too much about them.

Jos Verstappen: I had a very, very bad start, the same as Pedro and maybe that was good for me, as I avoided all the accidents. I was alongside Pedro at the second chicane, but managed to miss ali the debris.

After that the car was briliiant, the top speed that we had meant that I could pass people. The brakes were good.

I was pushing the whoie race because I knew that I had to make up time from the bad start.

I am still very pleased, though.

only chip a tenth here and a tenth there, but he was still able to build a gap of nine seconds over Hakkinen by lap 30. Mika explained that he was not happy with the handling of his car.

Michael stopped for fuel and tyres on lap 39 and for a few short laps Hakkinen led the race, but when he stopped he had not done enough to get the lead. During the pit stop, McLaren made some very rapid changes to the car and when he rejoined it was much better. But it was not enough.

“The gap to Michael was too much,” Hakkinen admitted. “It was impossible to catch him.”

Mika did a good job but it was clear that Schumacher had the win in his pocket.

After the race he was delighted.

On the podium he was dancing about as so often he does. It was the usual Schumacher behaviour.

“I am just happy,” he said.

And then it was pointed out that with the win Schumacher had equalled Ayrton Senna’s record of victories and a most extraordinary thing happened. He broke down and wept uncontrollably. And it was not from joy. It was such that even Hakkinen felt the need to console him.

Whatever it was that upset Michael at his moment of victory is really no-one’s business but his own. It was just strange for a man who has never shown a trace of such emotion in the past.

Behind Michael and Mika, third place went to Half Schumacher.

Fourth after the first lap, he moved to third when Villeneuve retired on lap 15. He was then pushed back to fifth by the charging Verstappen and Zonta, having been told by his pit that both men were running on light tanks. Zonta was, but Verstappen was on a one-stop strategy. Fortunately for Half, the Arrows stopped early and so those who pitted later were able to win back lost time. Half was third when he pitted and third when he rejoined. Verstappen ended up fourth.

That position would probably have gone to Fisichella had he not run into clutch trouble at his pit stop, when he was i-unning in fourth place. The car- stalled and eventually had to be push-started. By the time that had been done Fisichella was down in 11th position.

Wm-z salvaged some of Benetton’s pride with a fifth place finish, his best result for a long time.

Zonta’s idea of running a fast two-stop race was ruined by the accident, which caused him to pit.

Fortunately, he did not lose too much time because ofthe Safety

RESUITSItalian GP. September 10 2000, 53 laps/306.764km

Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF

Race Time Driver Ih27m31.638s M. Schumacher Ih27m35.448s Hakkinen Ih28m24.070s R. Schumacher Ih28m3l.576s Verstappen lh28m39,OMs Wurz Ih28m40.331s Zonta Salo 52 laps Diniz 52 laps Gene 52 laps Mazzacane 52 laps Fisichella 52 laps Alesi 51 laps Heidfeld 15 laps (spin) Villeneuve 14 laps (electrics) Button 10 laps(accident) Herbert 1 lap (collision) Coulthard Olapslcollision) Trulli 0 laps (collision) Barrichello 0 laps (collision) Frentzen 0 laps (collision) do la Rosa QIaps (collision) Irvine 0 laps (collision)

FASTEST UtP Hakkinon,lap 30, lm25.595s I243.645kmh| DRIVERS POINTS Hakkinen 80, M.Schumacher 78, Coulthard 61, Barricheilo 49, R.Schumacher 24.

Fisichella 18, Villeneuve 11, Button 10, Frentzen 7, Trulli, Salo 6, Verstappen 5, Irvine 3, Wurz,Zonta, do la Rosa 2.

CONSTRUCTORS POINTS McLaren-Merecedes 131, Ferrari 127, Williams-BMW 34, Benotton-Supertec 20, Jordan-Mugen-Honda, BAR-Honda 13, Arrows-Supertec 7, Sauber-Petronas 6, Jaguar-Cosworth 3.

Car, although this did not really help his cause, as he needed to be lapping quickly in the early laps.

After the Safety Car, he drove from 13th place to third. When he pitted on lap 23, he dropped back to 11th and then started to climb again before getting stuck behind Wm'z. As a result, his second stop was made earlier than planned and so he ended sixth.

The two Saubers finished seventh and eighth, which, given the fact that both Salo and Diniz had been in the pits, was a pretty good effort.

The Minardis were ninth and 10th, which team boss Gabriele Rumi described as being a “respectable” performance.

Alesi was the last runner still going back in 12th, two laps down.

His race had been compromised at the start when his car failed to fire up. Heidfeld did slightly better. He was running ninth when his engine failed after 15 laps.

We will have to see what happens as a result of the accident, but let us hope that the sport will learn from its mistakes in the months ahead. molorspori ntws

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SEIAT will puU out of the World Rally Championship at the end of the season.

After failing to score a point in the first nine events of the 2000 series, the Spanish team will end its campaign after the Rally of Great Britain in November.

The company has denied that the decision to withdraw from world rallying has anything to do vdth a lacklustre two seasons rallying its Cordoba World Rally Car. Previously, SEAT won the 2.0-litre World Championship three years in succession between 1996 and 1998.

But, while its WRC assault wiU end,SEAT will remain in European national rallying. The company's cars currently lead the Austrian and German championships.

Former world champion Didier Auriol now seems likely to move to Peugeot and join forces with championship leader Marcus Gronhohn next season. seat’s other driver, Toni Gardemeister,faces a less certain future. With Subaru having named its 2001 line-up (see separate story) and Ford retaining Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz, he may get a drive in a third Ford Focus or a drive with Mitsubishi.

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Where to now: Didier Auriol faces a Peugeot future after SEAT’S decision to end its WRC program.

(Photo by Sutton-lmages)

Ford/Pirelli deal Prodrive 2005

C'httiif’inq rubber: McRae and t o will wear Pirellis next season

FORD’S Focus World Rally contender will race on Pirelli tyres next season.

The team will end its involvement with Michelin after the season-ending Rally of Great Britain.

The team signed a multi-year deal in Italy last week.

"We're very much looking forward to iinking up with Pirelli," said M-Sport boss Malcolm Wilson.

"It has a highly successful career in motorsport, particularly in World Championship rallying.

Both of our drivers have considerable experience of working with Pirelli's engineers and it's a relationship that we see working very well."

Observers have noted during the 2000 season that Michelin had been at a disadvantage to Subaru's Pirellis on several events.

Both of Ford's drivers, Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz, have extensive experience with Pirelli. Both drivers won their world titles on Italian rubber, Sainz in 1990 and '92 and McRae in 1995.

Michelin is expected to continue with its Mitsubishi and Peugeot WRC programs.

... and Subaru grabs Solberg, Martin SUBARU has named a three driver squad for its WRC program in 2001.

World Championship candidate Richard Burns will he joined in Prodrive blue hy coming men Fetter Solherg and Markko Martin.

Solberg has di-iven a third Ford Focus in selected WRC events this season, while Estonian Martin has had a limited program in an exTTE Toyota Corolla WRC. At the same time,Subaru has announced a five-year deal to continue with Prodrive in, presumably, the newly-released Impreza WRX. “The last year has been a very useful learning process for me,” said Solberg.“Pve had a good time at Ford and I’m grateful for their assistance, but I think Fm ready now to take on a more significant role in a team.”

Martin has competed in 15 world rally events since his dehut in 1997, Bnishing in the top 10 on eight of them.

“Fm delighted to have the

Subaru-bound; Petter Solberg opportunity to develop my career with the help of Subaru,” said Martin.

The team will retain Juha Kankkunen,but the four-time world champion’s role next year is unclear. He is likely to run a limited program on gravel, leaving Prodrive with the prospect of running four cars in certain events.

51

by JON THOMSON CARLOS Sainz has won the Cyprus Rally to record his first WRC rally win since New Zealand 1998 when he was driving for Toyota.

After a string of top placings as he got to know the Focus, the Spaniard dominated the time sheets on the first day to build a lead he was able to defend to the finish.

His victory takes his tally to 23 WRC rally wins, equal with Juha Kankkimen.

Colin McRae claimed second place to move ahead of Richard Bums in the Championship race and to within two points of leader Marcus Gronhohn.

The gap between Sainz and McRae was such that, going into the final leg the team was not obliged to impose any team orders in a bid to preserve the Ford 1-2.

The result is the blue oval’s second clean sweep this year, taking them 15 points clear ofSubam in the Makes title race, with Peugeot six points behind in third.

For most of the teams the Cypms Rally was an unknown quantity, despite the fact that it has long held European C20 Championship status. The heat, dust and rough roads all conspired to claim a high attrition rate, with only 28 cars making the finish.

From the start, both Sainz and McRae fought to keep Bums and Gronholm at bay over the fast opening set offour stages.

Bums was slowed, and lost SB

second place, on stage four when the throttle pedal link to the ‘fly-by wire’sender unscrewed, preventing him getting fiill throttle.

It was Gronhohn’s turn to strike trouble, with alternator and centre diff problems on stage five. The Finn was also suffering the effects of the heat and pulled out on the next stage.

Didier Auriol's Seat was stmggling, as was the little Frenchman, who arrived at the finish in a state of near-collapse, having grappled the car through much of the test without power steering. Auriol's team-mate Toni Gardemeister lost 40s when his engine stopped on the stage. He complained about the transmission too:“The diffs have gone completely crazy again,” he said.

The new Skoda Octavia had the worst baptism possible, with Annin Schwarz(the only works driver with recent experience in the event) rolhng in spectacular style on the second stage, while Spanish team mate Luis Climent holed the sump on a rock and retired.

But it was Sainz who had taken the Focus by the scruff ofthe neck, proving consistently quicker than the other works cars on aU but two of opening legs stages.

For much of the day Burns was closest to the flying Spaniard, but he was shaded by Delecour’s Peugeot over the closing stages of the leg.

Bums had a spin on stage eight and lost some time with the Pirelli KG tyres, which also cost his team-mate, Kankkunen,time early in the leg.

McRae was complaining of overheating on the closing stages with his focus clearly on the championship and a safe finish now that Gronholm was out of the picture.

Makinen and Mitsubishi were again having a hard time. After setting some good times early the Finn lost drive to the front wheels of his car, while team mate Freddy Loix had the throttle jam and rolled down a hill, but was still in the rally Eifter landing in soft sand.

As day two started, Sainz burst out of the blocks and maintained his pace at the head of the pack.

Two of the three opening stages were used on day one, making Sainz’s task easier as he didn’t have to sweep the roads clean as first car on the stages.

Bums managed to get ahead of Delecour in the opening stages, as the Subam driver took advantage ofsome problems for the Peugeot pilot, who had a puncture in the fourth stage of the day.

“Carlos is still doing good times, considering he's first on the road,” said Bums.“We're being kept on our toes because the starts and controls are in different places to yesterday(when the stages were run for the first time).”

McRae was also chasing down Delecour, but was not entirely happy stragghng with the rough Cypriot mountain tracks as he pounded the Focus through the stages.

But the canny Scot waited until the longest stage ofthe leg to mount a major attack, blitzing the field to be 42 seconds faster than

Sainz and moving past a troubled Richard Bums into second giving Ford a 1-2.

Bums had been on McRae's pace at the split time in the stage, but a front stmt broke close to the top mount, punching holes through the inner wheel arch. He lost even more time with a spin; in all he lost 57 seconds to McRae as he stmggled to the finish.

Delecour was also slow, only a few seconds up on Bums,losing the brakes on the surviving Peugeot as the Fords raced clear.

Makinen was stOl having problems, the Finn having a lucky escape when the output shaft from the Mitsubishi’s gearbox broke, while on the day’s sixth stage Gardemeister was eliminated when he went off 17 kms into stage.

The closing three stages underlined the dominance of Sainz and McRae,the cars and drivers proving a match for the rough conditions, while the opposition suffered.

Bums lost drive to the rear wheels with a broken propshaft on tbe last stage and dropped a minute to trail Delecom’ by 45 seconds On the final day, Sainz and McRae maintained their pace and positions over the opening three stages.

Burns lost almost 50 seconds when the Impreza developed a misfire. The Subam team was able to restore the car to full health before the next stage which Burns won,as he did the third, but his chances of closing on Delecour, let alone McRae, were severely damaged. moiorsgort nows

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1'Photo by Ford ftadnq

Back in Focus: Sainz above won, while Burns below left had a tough weekend. nsg] l nd6/uri

3 Delocour/Grataloup 4 Burns/Reid 5 Makinon/Mannisonmaki 6 Martin/Park

Peugeot Subaru Mitsubishi

5:27:357 5:28:09.0 5:29:03.1

Toyota

5:29:50.3

; <51

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iT:

Drivers points: Gronholm 44, McRae 42, Burns 41, Sainz 37, Makinen 28, Kankkunen 18.

Manufacturers points: Ford 79, Subaru 64, Peugeot 58, Mitsubishi 35, Skoda 8, SEAT 7. Hyundai 5.

WRC Round 10 Rally of Cyprus Photo by Sutton-lmages

Sainz had a nervous time over the first three stages ofthe day with a couple of minor problems causing him worries.

“It was very slippery, and the road cleaned a lot, but it was all OK I had a very small problem with the engine cut for the gearchange. After the first stage I thought I can't slow down, but I can drive a bit more carefully to save the tyres,” said the Spaniard.

Bums continued to have a ts SipiBiibar 2000

friistrating morning.“The ECU packed in and every time I came off the throttle and put my foot back on it, it didn't respond for up to a second,” he said.

“I tried to keep my foot down but you have to lift sometimes. This rally doesn't like me. Before the stage my cool-suit failed and then I found a nail in one ofthe tyres.”

Markko Martin was under pressure from Makinen as he tried to defend his narrow 15s

advantage, with the Mitsubishi driver on a charge.

The final three stages produced no major drama as Sainz cruised home to claim his first victory in two years ahead of McRae. Delecour had to shoulder the French team's fortunes over the final two legs and his drive picked up four points for the French manufacturer.

Martin further reinforced his growing reputation, despite being caught by a flying Makinen on the final three stages, the Mitsubishi driver claiming fifth place ahead of the Estonian Toyota driver. Kankkunen took seventh in the second Subaru after another frustrating event.

Nothing could be taken away from Sainz, however, who drove a faultless rally to claim the win.

“I'm very happy to do this after quite a lot of seconds and thirds,” said the beaming Spaniard.

“I think it's come at the correct moment - the important thing is to win, and this one puts us in a better position to fight for the Championship. It's been a matter of confidence in the car, and here I've had a good feeling with it from the beginning.”

The Championship now moves to Corsica and then San Remo for a pair of tarmac rallies before the title hits gravel for the final events in Australia and the UK.

A strike by French fishermen forced the organisers to re schedule the recce for the Cyprus Rally, after a specially chartered ferry was blockaded at Marseilles.

The boat, which the Cypriots had laid on at the works teams' request, was reieased when the French government caved in to the strikers' demands, but it set off over 24 hours late and didn't reach Cyprus until four hours after the recce was due to begin.

Practice finally began late on Monday afternoon .

The boat also carried all the works rally cars, service vehicles, tyres and spares, but works teams maintained that the disruption was only a minor one.

Both Ford and Subaru completed last-minute tests, having shipped cars and equipment separately.

Francois Delecour was very lucky to remain in the rally at the end of leg two when his Peugeot ran low on fuel.

Luckily, he was at the top of a very big hill and service was at the bottom.

"We had just two litres of fuel for the 20km from the last stage to the service," he said.

"At the top of the Col (stage) I cut the engine and coasted all the way down." Fie was pushed out of service and into the refuelling area by his mechanics.

- JON THOMSON 58

Q.

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in the final of the annual Big Bud Funny Car Shootout the previous day by John Force.

“Winning today is better, this being the biggest event in drag racing.

“This is the one year anniversary with Toliver and the WWF,and with this team we expect to win every race. The Nationals means the most, though...”

Epler qualified 10th (5.04/298) before taking wins over a tyre You’re in the Army now: Tony Schumacher jumped back into the Top smoking Scotty Cannon, Force and Fuel points lead with a strong win in his now Army-sponsored mount.

Ron Capps with laps of 5.00/304, Turn back the clock: Andrew Cowin’s US Nats wasn’t as successful as 4.98/295 and 4.92/305. last year, his 4.78 just falling short of the 4.77 16-car field bump.

Bazemore was out of the show until the final qualifying session, just squeezing into 16th on the last qualifying pass.

Of note in the Funny Car 25S ivw ■%. - \ bracket was the performance of >r -21 Australian Helen Hofmann’s Tommy Johnson-driven Pontiac ■ .

Firebird, which qualified on the pole with a great 4.96sec lap.

A V

Andrew Cowin's US Nationals wasn't quite as good as last year’s, although Tony Schumacher’s was better, the ‘Sarge’going all the way DAVE OSTASZEWSKI reports on drag racing’s annual ‘Big Go’...

AUS'TRALIAN Andrew Cowin’s dream of back-to-back US Nationals Top Fuel final rounds stumbled at the qualifying hurdle with the 20year-old Sydneysider failing to qualify at this year’s event.

Fresh off a strong semi-final finish at Brainerd just two weeks prior. Cowin failed to crack the tough Indy show, his 4.78sec/303mph best in the K&N Filters/Auto Meter fueller just short of the 4.77 bump.

The fresh-faced Aussie was in the show heading into the final session, laps of 4.84/273, 4.87/296, 4.78/303 and 4.82/302 having secured a potential berth. But, having been bumped by Rhonda Hartman just moments before his final nm. Cowin couldn’t make his way back in when a last ditch 4.80/301 fell short.

“We’re disappointed at not making the field, especially after making the final last year and with Brainerd being so good, but that’s what’s special about this place ... about Indy,” Cowin said.

Fuel

Schumacher had a dream Indy, the defending Winston Champion securing his first US Nationals Tbp Fuel title on the same weekend as he imveiled his new sponsor, the US Army.

Prom his fourth qualifying spot (4.66/314), Schumacher rattled off 4,67/309, 4.60/316 and 4.61/314 passes in his ‘Sarge Schuey’ARMY fueller to trailer Doug Herbert, 80

Pro Stock

Larry Dixon and Kenny Bernstein, before downing a red lighting and upset-minded Gary Clapshaw in the final. “'This is just unbelievable,” Schumacher said later - his Army sponsorship, and the subsequent hiring of Melanie 'Troxel and another crew to run a second, Exide-backed car having come together in the preceding three weeks.

“This was an intense win. We put this deal together in three weeks ... assembled a team, bought a transporter and hired a whole crew, and to turn around and win is flat-out unbelievable.”

The win also gave Schumacher the lead in the Winston points “Last year we left here with the points lead and there were 10 guys that could have won it. There’s a long way to go but we’re running

strong and I think we have the best team out here.”

Clapshaw took Cowin’s place from the previous year, as Schumacher had himself done a few seasons ago, making the final round after downing Cory McClenathan, Joe Amato and Troxel, besting with a 4.68/312.

Funny Car

IN Funny Car, Jim Epler went one better than last year by defeating Whit Bazemore for the biggest win of his career.

Epler, the first Funny Car driver to exceed 300raph, drove his WWFbacked Camaro to a 5.01/285 win when Bazemore lost traction in his Kendall Oil Camaro and slowed to a 5.96/197.

“Fve always dreamed of winning Indy,” said Epler, who was beaten

JEG Coughlin came from the 16th qualifying spot to claim his seventh Pro Stock win of the year, Coughlin stopping two-time 2000 winner Ron Krisher in the final round with a 6.96/196 to 6.92/197 holeshot victory.

“It just doesn’t get any better than this - the US Nationals at Indy Raceway Park,” Coughlin said.

“I’ve won a few races, but I can tell you that nothing is sweeter than this.”

Coughlin and the Jog’s team had struggled in the muggy and hot conditions during qualifying, just making the show with a 7.02/195.

But, with temperatures considerably cooler on Memorial Day Monday, the Jeg’s Oldsmobile picked up its performance levels Coughlin ousting surprise low qualifier Mark Osborne in round one. He then defeated Allen Johnson and Mark Pawuk in the following rounds. iDoiertport Hews

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DRAG RACING Two to one: Jim Epier went one better than last year in Funny Car with the WWF Camaro Z28.

On a roll: Antron Brown is on a roll in Pro Bike, Brown taking the otout tionals I the uzuki.

Ostaszewski)

Pro Stock Bike ANTRON Brown ‘doubled-up’on Monday to take Pro Stock Motorcycle honours - having won the Pro Bike Dash on Saturday defeating John Smith, who was filling in for the cancer-stricken Dave Schultz.

Brown, the hottest rider on the tour of late, used a 7.26/181 to defeat Smith’s 7.35/181 - Brown’s team taking home a cool US$35,000 for the weekend.

“It’s hard to take all of this in right now. This is the highlight of my career. My hat’s off to everyone on my awesome, awesome team,” Brown said.

Pro Stock Truck

BOB Panella took his fourth Pro Stock 'Truck win of the season, defeating John Coughlin in the final round, 7.53/176 to 7.62/176.

Panella’s win, his second at Indy, stretched his points lead over arch-rival Randy Daniels, the five time 2000 winner falling in the second round of eliminations.

Panella set low ET for the event, Daniels top speed.

Schumacher calls for back-up troops m n

us NATIONALS Top Fuel winner, Tony Schumacher's expansion of his NFIRA team will continue in 2001, with confirmation that he and o his father, Don, will also run a nitro Funny Car next year.

As predicted, Schumacher unveiled a new sponsor at the Nationals, | s the US Army, while his previous sponsor, Exide Batteries, were 'relegated' to a second car, driven by Melanie Troxel.

The Schumachers are intent on making an impression with their expanded team, hiring current Joe Amato crew chief Jimmy Prock and former Etchells crew chiefs Tim Richards and his wife, Kim. The Richardses arrived at Indy in street clothes, but were quickly drafted by Don Schumacher to take over the tuning of the Troxeldriven fueller, although the position was temporary, as Prock had already been announced earlier as crew chief on that car next year.

No driver or sponsor has yet been announced for the Funny Car. Five-time NHRA Champion Amato was aware of Prock's imminent departure, but has yet to secure the services of a replacement.

'Tm talking to some people now, but if you've got anyone in mind, let me know," he told Motorsport News.

- JOIM ASHER Surge: Army’s Tony Schumacher

w

VALE: BRIAN BALL VETERAN drag racing chassis builder Brian Ball passed away on August 15 following a long illness.

Ball, who had a long association with Ian Splatt, built cars for many of drag racing's stars, including Kevin Flaherty and Dave Missingham.

Ball is survived by his teenage son. Shannon. n Todd Baton, who recently lost his ride in the Nitro Fish Funny Car after the team was parked and sold to Whit Bazemore, fronted at Englishtwon with a new Camarobodied flopper.

Baton and his father have put together the operation, which posted a 5.01/302 best in the time trials before advancing to the second round where Del Worsham defeated Baton.

The Baton family, who won the US Nationals in Top Alcohol Funny Car a few seasons ago, will campaign the car full time next year. n Jim Bailey, who drives a second Snap-on Tools Top Fueller for Doug Herbert, ran double duty last weekend. Bailey had qualified for the NHRA Englishtown race and made an appearance there, losing in the first round, before loading up and heading to the IHRA event at Epping, New Hampshire the next day. Bailey qualified third there and went to the semi-finals before losing. n The NHRA were reported to have told the Alan Hartley Top Fuel team prior to Indy that, after three lengthy oildowns in Brainerd, the team should test extensively before making another national event appearance in an effort to solve their mechanical woes. The team was on hand at Indy, but never made a run... n Indy's quartermile track will be repaved, at least for the first half of the track, in time for next year's US Nationals.

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j 61

Cruz to win Pedregon takes E-town re-run

by DAVID OSTASZEWSKI CRUZ Pedregon won his 22nd career national event last Saturday after downing long time rival John Force in the final round of the Mateo Tools Spring Supemationals at Englishtown, New Jersey.

In the same final round match-up of one year ago, Pedregon used a stellar .422 reaction time in his Teller Quick Pontiac to leave on the Castrol Mustang,Force quickly losing traction in the other lane.

Just past half-track, though, Pedregon lost a clutch and a resurgent Force pedalled three times in a valiant effort to catch him,but the legendary Funny Car pilot had to settle for runner-up status as Pedregon claimed his first win since Houston in 1998,the Cruzer posting a victorious 6.54/124 to Force’s fast-closing 7.01/217.

Pedregon,the 1992 Funny Car World Champion,remains the only driver other than Force to win a championship

since 1989, when Bruce Larson took the title.

Pedregon, who looked like a probable finalist last week in Indy until a burst panel blew while leading at 1100 feet in a semi-final with Whit Bazemore,ran strong in every round - the Garry ‘Skippy’ Kennedy-tuned piece qualified last May in fifth spot at 5.05/295 before the Englishtown meeting was rained-out and returned to that strong form with 5.01/297, 5.02/308 and 4.98/309 wins over Terry Haddock, Cristen Powell and Ron Capps at last weekend’s rescheduled event.

Force made another move toward his tenth points title with his runner-up effort and his round two bouncing of season-long nemesis Jerry Toliver - Force now enjoys a 222 point cushion with six more events left on the schedule.

Joining Pedregon with victories were Doug KaUtta in Top Fuel,Jeg Coughlin Jr in Pro Stock and AngeUe Seeling in Pro Stock Motorcycle.

Gwynn' DARRELL Gwynn and Mike Dunn have hit a home run by signing the legendary baseball team,the New York Yankees,to a five-year sponsorship agreement.

Gwynn and Dunn announced the deal at last week's US Nationals -the fact the team had signed a sponsor being well known, the identity of the sponsor, though, a well kept secret until the announcment at Indy.

The return to the track, which will begin later this season before mounting a full campaign at the NHRA title in 2001, comes after losing Mopar prior to the beginning of this season.

At the same time, Gwynn also announced a switch in allegiances to manufacturers, the team moving from Dodge to Ponitac-GMC. Ken Veney will resume his duties as crew chief for the team.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

t

Critchley wins Canadian Pro Mod titie

Aussie ’slammer driver ties points with final event victory, wins championship

TROY Critchley has won the Candian Drag Racing Series Pro Modified title,the Australian securing the championship at the final round held at Cayuga International Raceway Park, Cayuga,Ontario on September 3.

Despite winning the final, Critchley only equalled the points total of his closest rival, Casey Jansen, after a first round loss in a separate eliminator the previous day and the two have had to share the championship.

"1 had a bit of a poor reaction time

the previous day and got beat,so to come back the next day and win,as well as set low ET ofehminations was good," Critchley said.

"This season has been extremely tough, with the IHRA continuallychanging the goal posts on us, so to come away with a title is at least some recognition of our efforts."

The tie in points came despite the fact that Critchley and team owner Johnny Rocca missed one of the five series events with the Prolong-backed ‘Ironhorse’’49 Mercury, the event clashing with

S.O.S. RACEPARTS Supplie'S ol quality race parts

n Weld Wheels n Eagle chassis n Pro Shocks n All titanium parts Ua'o'ae' ava iabie - aii c'eait cams acceaied Ph; 02 4332 8755 Fax; 02 4385 8395 Mobile; 0411 470 712 2: Sj"c;

62

P'i.

B.'. MSV.' r.-f'

an IHRA national event at Michigan the same weekend.

"We’re not quite sure why we went to Michigan as we didn’t qualify and, with the rules constantly changing, we could have come here and really secured the title," Critchley said.

"Still, when we do do well[on the IHRA.tour], then it’s all the more satisfying. We’ve been hit from all sides with the changes, but we’re good enough to rebound and give them some more excuses..."

i Champ: Aussie Troy Critchley.

2000 WINSTON DRAG RAQNG SERIES CHAWPtONSHIP POINTS AT SEPTHWBER 9 Winston Top Fuel I Tony Schumacher 2 Gary Scelii 3 Larry Dtxon 4 Kenny Bernstein 5 Doug Kalitta 6 Joe Amato 7 Cory McClenathan 8 BobVandergrlfT 9 Doug Herbert 10 Don Lampus

1364 1333 1262 1067 I06S 1058 847 716 691 665

Winston Funny Car

Winston Pro Stock

I John Force 2 Jerry Toliver 3 Ron Capps 4 Tony Pedregon 5 Jim Epier 6 Whit Bazemore

I Jeg Coughlin 2 Ron Krisher

7 Scotty Cannon 8 Dean Skuza 9 Del Worsham 10 Bruce Sarver

1435 121 3 1086 1040 101 5 610 797 797 788 673

3 Kurt Johnson 4 Warren Johnson 5 Troy Coughlin 6 Mark Pawuk 7 Richie Stevens 8 Jim Yates 9Tom Martino 10 Bruce Alien

15 19 11 38 17 1016 894 893 835 784 694 653

nioiorsiion news

DRAG RACING

s home run Critchley STOP PRESS:

wins big

Artist’s impression: Ace US artist John Pugh’s impression of what the Darrell Gwynn/ Mike Dunn Yankeesfueller will look like in 2001.

DiFilippos continue INCUMBENT Australian Top Fuel Champions,Darren and Charlie DiFilippo have reaffirmed their family team’s commitment to racing.

Team owner and family patriarch, Charlie said that, contrary to rumours, the DiFilippo team would definitely continue to race next season.

“There have been reports that we wouldn’t continue after we secured the championship at the Winternationals re-run next month, but that is simply not the case,” DiFilippo said.

“It’s not our intention to retire from the sport that we are so committed'to, and we will remain committed as long as there are funds available - be they our own or sponsor dollars.”

DiFilippo said the team were currently revising their equipment stocks and, as they have done IS Ispitnikar 2000

every year they have run Top Fuel, would be upgrading technology equipment as it became available.

“Every year we sell off unwanted parts and equipment, replacing it with parts that enable us to reach our objective of being the best team in Top Fuel. It’s nothing new - we’re in this to be competitive over the long haul.”

To secure the Australian title, son Darren, who has already qualified for the Winternationals, just needs to present the team’s car for competition at Willowbank next month.

‘We had considered not going[back for the Wintemats re-run], but I won’t give anyone a chance oftaking that title off us,” DiFilippo said.

“Like every event we go to, we have the intentions of going up there to lap the car consistently and winning and bringing home the championship.”

Continuing; Darren DiFilippo (Photo by Marshan Caaa)

TROY Critchley became the first Australia to win a professional title at a major NHRA or IHRA national event in the United States on Sunday, with the Queenslander taking out the Pro Modified class at the IHRA Northern Nationals in New Hampshire.

Critchley, driving for Johnny Rocca, dominated the class, using a recent rule change and a new developmental supercharger to great effect, qualifying first before advancing to the final round where he defeated Mitch Stott - 6.30/224 to 6.33/224.

With a new 'Superman' Kobelco blower strapped on the engine, and with 751b of ballast removed (thanks to the recent rule revision), Critchley racked up consecutive passes of 6.28/217, 6.28/222, 6.27/222, 6.24/225 and 6.29/222 to decimate the field on the way to the final.

"This is just brilliant, I can't tell you how happy I am," Critchley told Motorsport News on Monday.

"The IHRA don't know whether they're confused or disgusted ... we had our hot rod running so, so good," he laughed.

"Johnny, myself and the team have worked so hard, but they kept changing the rules. We've worked around them and now come up with a combination that's going to be tough to beat. We deserve the win and I reckon we're going to get a few more before I'm finished here."

Critchley, whose first major win came at the ANDRA Winternationals at Willowbank in Queensland five years ago while driving for Victor Bray, and the team will try to back up the win with next week when the IHRA tour moves to Rockingham Dragway for the IHRA CARQUEST Autumn Nationals.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI 63

Rhhmmnd

Gordon not quite kosher?

JEFF Gordon claimed victory at Saturday night’s Winston Cup race on the three-quarter mile Richmond oval, but the post-race celebrations were abruptly and controversially cut short after the seizure by NASCAR officials of a suspect inlet manifold on the winning Hendrick Motorsports Chevy.

“We have discovered an issue with the intake manifold on the #24 car,” reported NASCAR. “Having found this, we want to take the part back with us and have a look at it. In order to be fair to everyone, it’s best we take time to study it and that we don’t say anything else.”

Gordon only led 15 of the 400 laps, but headed the most important-“It doesn’t matter which laps you lead,” remarked Gordon.“Leading them at the end is alright with me.”

Gordon took the lead on the first lap of the final restart from pole sitter Jeff Burton, a dominant force in the race.

Burton, Gordon and another strong car in Steve Park’s Dale Earnhardt-owned Chevy chose not to pit for fresh tyres during that caution, but Earnhardt elected to take on new rubber.

Had Park not held his car owner up with some close racing in the waning laps, Earnhardt could have clinched the extra million bucks on tap from Winston for which he was eligible.

With bad luck in the Dale Jarrett camp,Earnhardt closed in on pointscore leader Bobby Labonte, who further padded his advantage by 47 points despite a lacklustre 15th placing after a broken fitting on the power steering pump dropped him one lap off the pace.

Jarrett cut a tyre on a brake line and kissed the wall enough to cause front suspension damage that dropped him 18 laps to finish 31st.

Rusty Wallace, so strong of late, led laps, but his Penske engine dropped a cylinder and he faded to

Bobby rains

BIZARRE is the only way to describe the 41st Southern 500 at Darlington on September 3, the classic race running for nearly six-and-ahalf hours and still being called 39 laps short of its scheduled distance.

Bobby Labonte strengthened his Winston Cup points lead with a surprising win in the Joe Gibbsowned Interstate Batteries entry, his crew giving their driver the lead when it mattered, "The fifth placed car won today," said Labonte. "I owe this one entirely to my crew," The green #18 entered the pits in fifth, with Ward Burton's CAT Pontiac the clear leader, but the rains returned to the track shortly after and, with Labonte now out front, officials called the race.

For the final stop. Burton entered the pits first, but he left in sixth...

Labonte did it hard too, starting in 37th after needing to use a provisional after not qualifying following a practice crash - NASCAR's newlymandated kill switches having no effect after the throttle stuck wide open, "There are two of them in there, but I didn't have time to 84

hit either one of them," Labonte said.

Pole sitter Jeremy Mayfield looked the man to beat, leading 104 of the first 118 laps, but after a two-hour rain delay, contact with Dave Marcis ruled him out.

"1 should have known better, I should have waited," Mayfield said of the incident.

"I came up on Marcis and I was clearly faster than he was.

I got into him and then got into the wall... he cut me no slack."

Veteran Jimmy Spencer also ran strong, but was crashed out...

"I don't know what that stupid ass Brett Bodine was thinking, he just plain took out a contender," Spencer said. "I'll remember this. What goes around come around."

Ward Burton's race was not only disappointing at the finish, as early contact with Johnny Benson had the former's extensively damaged car angrily hounding then race leader Burton late in the race, Benson continuing until NASCAR waved the finger and retired Benson to the garage!

a 34th finish.

The final caution that inevitably helped Gordon to victory was caused by his old crew chief Ray Evemham’s rookie driver, Casey Attwood - making his Winston Cup debut in preparation for next year’s Dodge assault, Attwood

shredded a tyre to air the final yellow and finish a creditable 19th.

Final result: J Gordon (Chevy)99.870 mph,Earnhardt(Chevy), Martin (Ford),Park (Chevy), J Burton (Ford), Stewart(Pontiac), Benson (Pontiae), W Burton (Pontiac), Rudd (Ford), Nadeau (Chevy).

Sponsor shulflos ■i

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Before colour: The Wood Brothers have been sponsored by Citgo for so long that they date back to times of black and white photos...

THE sponsor shuffles are starting to gain momentiun, with the veteran Wood Brothers team expected to next week announce that Ford Quality Care will replace their long-time supporters, CITGO, on the famous #21 Ford Taurus.

Ford Quality Care is jumping camp from the Dale Jarrett-led Robert Yates Racing team, with worldwide transport conglomerate UPS taking over as major backer of the #88 next season.

CITGO won’t be leaving the sport, the US oil/convenience store company apparently taking over as major backer of Jack Roush’s Jeff Burton-driven #99.

'The current backer of the #99, troubled battery manufacturer Exide last week notified Roush and Burton that they would take a backseat role in 2(XI1.

- MARTIN D CLARK

Soft walls

Results; B Labonte (Pontiac) 108.275 mph, J Burton (Ford), Earnhardt (Chevy), J Gordon (Chevy), Jarrett (Ford), W Burton (Pontiac), Lepage (Ford), Rudd (Ford), Stewart (Pontiac), Park (Chevy).

moiorspori news

NASCAR

Houston, wo have lift-off

by MARTIN D CLARK NASCAR Truck Series regular Andy Houston has been hired to drive a second Cal Wells/PPI Motorsports Ford Taurus in 2001, partnering Scott Pruett.

Houston, 29, will drive a McDonalds-backed Taurus and will run for the ‘Rookie of the Year’title. Prior to that, Houston will run the Charlotte, Rockingham, Phoenix and Homestead races this year.

Currently running third in the truck points, Houston ran an impressive Michigan race in his Winston Cup debut m August, reaching the top five in a trial run for the team, before his engine expired while running 13th.

“This is something I’ve wanted to do my whole life and really I couldn’t ask for a better opportunity,” said Houston, who had also spoken with Travis Carter about the ride to replace Darrell Waltrip.

Houston is the son of now-retired Busch veteran Tommy Houston.

tofli insi McDciaU im Fries with that? PPI’s new guy, Andy Houston. (Ford)

Goodyear denies liner problem

Bristol tyres pass extensive testing after concerns raised

GOODYEAR has denied its inner-tyre liners were the cause of problems at the recent Bristol race, the tyrecompany issuing a statement at Darlington last weekend following extensive testing.

It read; "Comprehensive testing confirms our belief that there is no statistical correlation between inner liner size and outer tyre inflation build up.

"After sorting through several

thousand inner liners to collect the smallest and largest samples, the liners underwent a number of dynamic tests in the lab, using varying combinations of inner liner sizes.

"Continuous long runs at racing speeds on the dynamometer allowed them to monitor the inner liner and outer tyre pressure build up.

"That input further validated similar results from theoretical calculations in a design experiment."

The inner liner is used on tracks of one mile and larger to act as a 'spare' should the outer-tyre blow, helping the driver maintain control of the car.

On another tyre note, Goodyear took a new harder compound to the very abrasive Darlington track and, although teams experienced difficulties in set up, the move was viewed as positive with no tyre-related problems.

- MARTIN D CLARK

Charlotte tests CHARLOTTE Motor Speedway has carried out its first test on a possible soft wall on August 29, but not in the way many had anticipated - a Cadillac being dropped by crane from a height of 100ft to simulate a 60 mph crash!

A Georgia-based company designed the bed of polystyrene covered in a polythene shell, which held up without splitting under the impact- the wall holding up despite the Cadillac weighting some 15001b heavier than a Winston Cup car.

Several ofthe leading diivers have continued to air their views on the soft walls,three-time Winston Cup Champion Jeff Gordon,reigning Champion Dale Jarrett and Rusty Wallace among the fi'ay.

“I would be very disappointed, very disappointed to go to New Hampshire and not find some changes,” remarked Jarrett.

“They’ve had plenty of time to put something up there and, if there’s not

something up there when we show. I’m going to be very disappointed.”

Wallace lamented Jarrett’s thoughts;“I think almost every driver in this garage area would be appalled if we go back to New Hampshire and those walls aren’t lined with that foam,just like all the drivers are wanting.”

Gordon believes the track and NASCAR would receive a huge backlash if no changes were made in time for next weekend’s race.

“If they don’t do something to that race track, whether it works or not, they’re going to get a lot of backlash,” Gordon said.

Roush Racing are in the latter stages of developing a device that will cut an engine’s power automatically should sensors in the inlet manifold and on the front brakes sense the throttle is fully open and the brakes are being applied with force.

- MARTIN D CLARK

Wallace skips Square-D’s KENNY Wallace has announced that he will leave Andy Petree's Square D-backed Chevrolet team at the end of the season, the 37-yearold having secured the seat with Eel River Racing for 2001.

'Tm 37 years old and I feel a certain urgency to do more with the time I have left as a Winston Cup driver," said Wallace, who will partner crew chief Barry Dodson.

Wallace had an additional year in his contract with Petree and his long time sponsor. Square D, still to run the two releasing Wallace for his new ride.

For what it's worth, Wallace signed a three-year deal with Eel River, who may switch from Pontiac to either Chev, Dodge or Ford in 2001. n NASCAR has officially approved the body templates for the new Dodge Intrepid. The 10 teams committed to the Dodge program are now able to begin construction of their cars, which will debut at Daytona next February. n NASCAR is considering some aerodynamic 'tweaks' for all cars in an effort to decrease the aeromatching which currently causes problems at the restrictor-plate super speedways. Having performed extensive wind tunnel and track testing over the past month, NASCAR is looking to make the changes in readiness for the October 15 Talladega race. n In other rumblings the governing body is expected to announce some form of changes in either race weekend schedules or teams testing allowances, or possibly even both, for 2001. n The mysterious purchaser of Cale Yarborough Motorsports, Chip MacPherson, has announced his MacPherson Motorsports operation will attempt to qualify for the final Winston Cup race of the year in Atlanta in November.

MacPherson, a successful commercial builder who purchased CYM in its entirety, has hired veteran crew chief Vic Kangas to run the show, with Jeff Fuller behind the wheel. n Bill Elliott missed his second event in a row, this time Darlington, following an at home accident in which he broke his knee cap. David Green subbed for the veteran, Stacy Compton, who missed Bristol, attempted to qualify for Darlington with a broken collarbone.

He was the only driver to miss the field...

- MARTIN D CLARK 65

Solo Speedway briefs AUSTRALIA will be defending Speedway’s World Team Cup at Coventry in England this weekend when they meet Great Britain, Sweden and USA, Jason Crump, Ryan Sullivan, Leigh Adams, Jason Lyons and Todd Wiltshire are expected to be the five riders on duty for Australia.

USA will include three former world champions in Greg Hancock, Billy Hamill and Sam Ermolenko in their line-up and current Grand Prix leader Mark Loram will head the Great Britain challenge alongside Chris Louis, Martin Dugard, Joe Screen and Scott Nicholls.

World Champion Tony Rickardsson heads the Swedish Challenge. n Leigh Adams may miss out on the British League title with Kings Lynn but he is set to lead his Swedish Club Marsarna to victory in the Swedish Elite League, They've lost just twice all season and Adams scored a maximum 15 points in their latest win over fourth-placed Kaparna in front of a 5000-strong crowd.

The busy Adams also rides in Poland for Leszno, where he led his team to victory against Czestochowa, for which World Championship leader Mark Loram rides. Adams defeated Loram in the final race to clinch victory. n Adelaide rider Shane Parker has been controversially dropped by British League title contenders Kings Lynn. Parker, one of five Aussies to start the season with Kings Lynn, has been replaced by Swedish rider Peter Nahlin from Belle Vue. Ironically, Parker has since moved to Belle Vue to take the place of Nahlin. n Worldwide betting has now been officially introduced into speedway. The FIM have signed a deal with Italian company SISAL giving them exclusive rights to all FIM World Championship events.

FIM President Francesco Zerbi said, "1 believe this is an extremely positive agreement for the FIM that will contribute to a better promotion and diffusion of the sport." n Kevin Doolan, the emerging Aussie star released by Belle Vue, is joining British Premier League club Glasgow. Doolan suffered an amaiilng escape from serious injury in a car crash when returning to England from the World Under-21 semFfinal.

Doolan and fellow Aussie Travis McGowan were sleeping in the back of their van when the crash occurred at 135 kmh. Both suffered minor cuts and bruises.

-TONY MILLARD 86

Crump clos<

by TONY MILLARD JASON Crump has a mathematical chance of winning Speedway’s World Championship after finishing runner-up in the Danish Grand Prix in Vojens on September 2.

The Gold Coast rider enjoyed a tremendous meeting, winning both his qualifying heats in the main event to make the semi-finals.

In the first of these he made sure of qualifying for the final with a second place behind wildcard rider Nicki Pedersen and then he followed home American Greg Hancock to earn his place on the rostrum as runner-up.

Crump lies 16 points behind the championship leader Mark Loram and could take the crown if he wins the final GP at Bydgoscz in Poland and Loram were to miss out on a semi-final place there.

Loram could almost have made the title his had he won this round but he was eliminated in the second semi-final, as the rain started to fall on Vojens.

The likely champion refused to let that setback upset his concentration and he immediately hit back by winning the consolation final.

Loram, on 88 points, now has a 12 point lead over second-placed

Tony Rickardsson, but there is still plenty to race for in the final round, the Grand Prix of Europe on September 23.

“I can only give it my best shot,” said Loram. “I am delighted to be in the lead, and by a bigger margin than I was before tonight, but I won’t take anything for granted.”

Rickardsson, who has 76 points, now has Crump and American Billy Hamill breathing down his neck and any one of those four

riders could still win the World title.

Hancock,the World Champion in 1997, was oveijoyed to be back in the winner’s enclosure.

“I have had a tough time in the CPs this year,” said Hancock,“but we have changed a few things and they certainly paid off tonight.

“Now I want to finish the season on a high and look forward to 2001.”

Third-placed Stefan Danno from Sweden also had his best Grand

Americana: 1997 World Champion Greg Hancock led home Crump to (Pholo by Miko PaWck) take a morale boosting GP win. nolortpan rpins

SPEEDWAY

Bell relocates to QLD

ason IRUMF Prix result, which has boosted his chances of avoiding the GP Challenge in Abensberg, Germany, on October 8.

The top 10 riders from this year’s series automatically qualify for 2001 and Danno is now in 11th position.

For Leigh Adams it was a night of consolidation in the standings.

He trailed in last in his opening ride but a second place in heat 16 took him to heat 19 which he won, but third place in his semi-final left him in the Consolation Final and third place there meant an overall seventh on the night.

Ryan Sullivan missed out on the semis when he came third in heat 19, a race in which Rickardsson was controversially excluded.

He now lies joint sixth in the standings.

Sydney’s Todd Wiltshire went into the meeting in seventh place, but third place in heat 19 earned him just eight points and has dropped him to ninth in the title chase.

The top 10 riders automatically qualify for next year’s Grand Prix and all four Aussies are in that bracket going into the final meeting.

Points: Loram 88, Rickardsson 76, Crump 72, Hamill 70, Adams SO, Hancock,Sullivan, Louis 58, Wiltshire 61,GoUob49.

IS Ssmamber 2900

VICTORIAN Sprintcar pilot Stephen Bell is relocating to Queensland for the 2000/2001 season to join forces with Bill Mann in an assault on r ** the Titan Garages Queensland Sprintcar Summer Shootout and other blue ribbon events around the country.

Bell, a multiple Victorian Formula 500 Champion, has been picked by Mann to spearhead the team, and will also take an active role in the day-to-day maintenance and administration of the racing operation in addition to his duties behind the wheel.

Mann has taken Switching seats: Stephen Bell will take over the Maxim steered by Garry Brazier (Pholo by Tony Loxfcy) during last season. delivery of the entire Barry Lawrence racing Mount Gambler and the Gough According to Mann, Bell was stable, including the 1999 Maxim and Gilmour CAT 50,000 at simply “the best candidate” and that was campaigned with great Parramatta are also on the was therefore offered the drive. success by Australian champion Bell will have two identical #6 agenda in preparation for the Garry Brazier last season.

Maxim racecars and a spare Lawrence still owns the Australian Sprintcar racecars and the team Championship in Brisbane. engine at his disposal.

As is the case with all Bill In addition to the QSSS series, transporter but will no longer the team will also contest the two Mann enterprises, extensive have to worry about the time and Brisbane rounds of the World sponsorship has been secured expense associated with running Series Championship, the with Speedflow, Energy Release, a first class Sprintcar team. While second of which doubles as the House of Auto Styling and relinquishing control of the team, Performance Wholesale Lawrence will remain involved as two-night Australian Open.

Warmambool’s Grand Annual crew chief for the talented, but supporting the operation.

- CHRIS METCALF inexperienced, Bell.

Classic, the King’s Challenge at

Compact titles for 'Marsh

by BRETT SWANSON BACCHUS Marsh Speedway is to be the venue for the 2000/2001 Australian Compact Speedcar Championship, with an expected field of 50 plus cars anticipated to contest the title.

The title has been set down for 13 January 2001, and the compact size of the machines and the wide nature of the speedway should provide enthralling racing for everyone in attendance. /y

One of the good things about the smaller cars is that even on narrow tracks they provide sensational side-by-side racing through the turns that the bigger cars like Sprintcars can't always do," said new promoter of the renamed circuit. Butch Morley.

"I'm really glad that we were able to secure

an Australian Championship as well as Victorian Championships for the Midgets, Hot Rods and 360ci Sprintcars in our first attempt at promoting speedway.

"With the width of our track I wouldn't be surprised to see them running three,four, or even five cars wide through the turns and that will make for a fantastic spectacle.

"The Compact crown will certainly be one of the jewels in our crown and, after the financial debacle that occurred last season here with the previous promoter and the Australian Midget Championship, I will be going all out to allay everyone's concerns and will have certain financial guarantees in place before any racers turn a wheel in any // division.

A camping permit has also been obtained for the meeting for any interstate competitors or fans who'd like to stay close to the action.

61

Revamped speedway ready

by CHRIS METCALF THE 2000/2001 season of competition at the revamped Brisbane International Speedway will have more than 40 nights of racing scheduled between October and June, featuring all race divisions.

Former Rockhampton and Lismore promoter Larry Nelson has joined with Sprintcar ace John Kelly to take over the promotional duties at the Archerfield complex.

Nelson has confirmed that the pit gate entry fee for NASR license holders will be lowered to a maximum of $20, a significant reduction that should result in larger fields in all race divisions.

General admission prices for the spectator will also be lower despite the impact of the GST. There have already been some improvements to the complex and one of several new innovations is the creation of a VIP grandstand in turn four.

The first season for the new management officially starts on October 7 with the opening round of the Titan Garages Queensland Sprintcar Summer Shootout, along with Super Sedans, Compact Speedcars and AMCA Nationals.

The Sprintcar brigade will feature prominently in the schedule, with 15 appearances throughout the season, culminating in the running of the

C’mon guys, let me in, I want to race: Cameron Gessner was a winner in the QSSS at the circuit formerly known as Archerfield last season.

2000/2001 is shaping up to be big for the circuit.

(Photo by Tony LoxJey)

2001 Australian Sprintcar Championship over three nights on February 8/9/10.

The circuit will host 10 rounds of the Summer Shootout Series and two rounds of the World Series Championship, including the rich Australian Open over two nights on January 12/13.

The Queensland Sprintcar Championship and the Australian AMCA Nationals Championship will be decided in a double-header program on May 4/5, while Super Sedans will also be seen regularly throughout the season, with 12 roimds of the QVR Super Series to be contested, including the $5000to-win International Firecracker over two nights on January 5/6.

Speedway traditionalists will no doubt be delighted to see the return of motorcycle speedway to the Archerfield complex, when Ivan Mauger brings his Golden Helmet Solo Series into town on December 9, while Dirt Modifieds \vill make six appearances and the Speedcar fraternity are slated for seven outings, one of which will be an international fixture at Easter.

AMCA Nationals, Limited Sprintcars, Compact Speedcars, Litre Sprintcars, Microsprints and Modified Productions(who will contest the Grand Final of their statewide Withcott Seedlings Challenge Series on May 19) also feature prominently on the schedule.

Kendrick back with Green and Farrell GEOFF Kendrick is returning to Sprintcar racing in Western Australia with a two car operation after a two year hibernation.

Kendrick has been a driving force behind a Sprintcar Entrants Group(SEG), modelled along the lines of TEGA,the team’s group of V8 Supercar racing, along with John Farrell,father of Ryan, who will drive one of Kendrick’s cars this season.

“The sport of Sprintcar racing has limitless potential,” says Kendrick.“It just needs a change in direction and a generous lashing of professionalism. I think we have come up with a formula that will guarantee some exciting new direction.

“Kendrick Racing’s new Super Team comprises two of the hottest young talents in Sprintcar racing.”

South Australian Trevor Green will cross the Nullarbor to join with Farrell Jr (the current WA champion)in a two car team which will debut at the Bunbury and City Regional Raceway on October 21.

“This is a lethal cocktail of racing talent we’ve assembled this year,” says Kendrick.

“I’ve got two of the hottest prospects in the country running for us and the rest of the state better batten down the hatches because we’re going to wreak havoc this year.”

68

●1 aj,.-'

Batten down the hatches! Kendrick is warning his rivals, with both (Photo by Dfott Siwinsoo) Farrell, above, and Green driving for him. moiortport nawt

SPEEDWAY

ocket pockets S:

The champ; Mini Sprints series champion Trevor Jury accepts the (Photo by 0 G Photos) applause.

FROM a distance, these smaller versions of open wheel racing’s ultimate adrenalin rush look just like Sprintcars and, at a fraction of the cost, give the drivers the same thrill on a budget.

The Melbourne Mini Sprinter Club has a long and illustrious history and the popularity of the class is growing, with the club returning to both Warmambool’s famed Premier Speedway and Avalon last season after an absence of many years in the case ofWarrnambool.

If the thought of going Sprintcar racing really excites you, but the money required turns you off, then Mini Sprints are a viable alternative.

Many of the faster Mini Sprints would make the B-Main of an open Sprintcar show and no doubt, on occasion, could give some of the winged warriors a real run for their money.

In fact, the Mini Sprint lap record at Rosedale is only marginally slower than dual Australian Super Sedan Champion Peter Logue’s track record for the big sedan division.

So what exactly is a Mini Sprint?

While they look a lot like a Sprintcar, under the bonnet lies an engine of only 1200cc. It must be a production engine with only two

valves per cylinder. Nissan, Toyota, Honda and some motorcycle engines are the current choice.

No fuel injection is allowed and, like the big Chev powered monsters, they run on methanol pumped mainly through a pair of Weber or Dellorto carburettors.

Most modern-day chassis are either built by Greg Foster at D&F Racing Products or by Tony Moule.

Differentials are locked and chain drive is permitted.

However, unlike a Sprintcar, Mini Sprints are self-starting and have a gearbox with a reverse gear, though they race using only second gear.

Wings can be up to 1200mm by 1200mm, while the price for a Mini Sprint ranges from $3000 to $13,000 depending on how serious you want to get.

Last season the club ran its own Super Series at tracks such as Bacchus Marsh, Nyora, Warmambool, Bendigo, Avalon and Rosedale.

Trevor Jury emerged the victor at series’ end, defeating Kevin Bailey, Brett Milbum, Mick Evans and Craig Wicks.

Wicks however took out the prestigious Victorian Championship held at Horsham when he headed Milburn and Jury across the line.

In a further progressive step, it seems extremely likely that the

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IS Semtnbtr 2000

I

They look like Sprintcars but don't cost anywhere near as much.

BRETT SWANSON takes a look at the affordable Mini Sprints.

Melbourne club will cross Bass Strait for the first time at the invitation ofthe Tasmanian Mini Sprint Club and the Cascade Apple Isle International Raceway(Latrobe Speedway)on February 2/3.

Some of the Tasmanians may compete at Rosedale over the January long weekend.

While the two clubs will compete together, there are some slight differences in the specifications of

the cars. The Tassie cars run up to ISOOcc engines but with no gearbox. Everything else about them appears to be identical.

Mini Sprints also compete in New Zealand and are basically the same as the Victorian cars.

So, while they may be small in size. Mini Sprints offer a great way of getting involved in speedway without breaking the bank.

Making his own pubiicity: The club's Publicity Officer, Peter Heppell, in action at Rosedale.

(Photo by D S Photos)

2000 WORLD OF OUTLAWS SERIES POINTS SCORE Point Standings to 9, September, 2000 I. Steve Kinser 2. Mark Kinser 3. Sammy Swindell . .

4. Danny Lasoski....

S. Stevie Smith 6. Joey Saldana 7. Dale Blanoy 8.Andy Hiilcnburg. . .

9. Johnny Herrera 10. Jac Haudcnschild

8063 7021 7819 7746 7683 7476 7395 7351 7224 7190

i I. Donny $chat2 12. Tim Shaffer 13.Daryn Pittman 14. Danny Wood 15. Grog Hodnett 16. Brooke Tatneli 17. Dean Jacobs 18. Brian Paulus 19. Paul McMahan 20. Lance Blevins

Watsonville 10, September,2000 7073 6896 6691 6668 6330 5444 5287 5236 3019 3693

I.Joey Saldana 2. Ronnie Day 3. Donny Schatz 4. Jac Haudcnschild 5. Brent Kacdlng 6. Danny LasoskI 7. Steve Kent 8. Stevie Smith 9. Mark Kinser 10. Johnny Herrera

11. Brin Paulus 12. Danny Wood 13.Andy Hiilcnburg 14. Dale Blancy IS. Dean Jacobs l6.Tlm Shaffer 17. Sammy Swindell 18. Randy Hannagan 19. Steve Kinser 20. Peter Murphy

69

L.

Rob Roy

returns

by BRIAN REED

FOR the first time in almost 40 years,\fictorian championship hillclimhing returned to one of Australia's most historic venues,Rob Roy ,on Sunday August 20.

During the intervening years, Rob Roy has hosted regular club meetings at such a competent level that the Victorian Hillclimb Panel saw fit to grant Round 6 of the 2000 championship to the picturesque location.

As usual, the organisation by the MG Car Club of Victoria was spot on, with the meeting running strictly to time and the almost 80 entrants getting their full quota of practice and timed runs.

The one exception was the current championship points leader Rod Moody, who claimed Fastest Time of Day on his only run for the weekend. Rod woke to find himself rather ill on the Saturday and was unable to attend practice. He didn't arrive at Rob Roy until around 2 o'clock next day,just in time for the last run, and was given permission to compete.

In spite of not having seen the hiU before. Moody took his Cheetah Mb'? to the top in an impressive time of 22.62s to snare FTD and the 1301-2000cc Formula Libre class. With further practice, it is likely Moody’s Melbourne built Cheetah could have seriously challenged the outright record at Rob Roy. Another competitor who hasn't seen much of the hill, at least for the past 40 years, was 80-year-old Maurice Monk(who featured in the previous issue of MN). The veteran driver and motor sport administrator contested the Formula Libre(up to 1300cc class) and drove a supercharged Delta Mk4 up the hill in the creditable time of 32.08s.

Meanwhile, son David took the honours in the Historic category for Groups M,O and Q with an impressive first run of 26.24s in his Singleton Chev. He won from Geelong's Roy Williams, who was 10

having his first outing in the exDavid Douhtfire Allget Mk3 sports car and, while Roy has the rotaiypowered car looking resplendent in its new colour scheme, the Mazda lOA engine was off song due to too much oil being added to the fuel to lubricate the rotors.

Since Rob Roy, the fuel has been drained and the engine(which is reputedly producing around 220bhp)should be running cleaner at its next outing.

It was disappointing that no entries were received for the Historic Groups J & K Making up for it were the Group N touring cars and there was plenty of spirited competition amongst the ten tintops. Eventually it was the Ford Mustang of Derek McLaughlan that won the day with a best run of 25.20s,just 0.2s ahead of the flying Mini Cooper S of Lindsay Siebler.

Bill Cutler's BMW 2002ti finished third with his final run of 25.82s. With John Pitman experiencing problems in his MG TC Mono, it was left to Mark Dymond to continue his good form from the previous meeting and dominate Group Lb in the Penrite Oils Cooper Mk5. Dymond's best time of 25.42s was registered on his final run.

And speaking of good form, Jim Irvine continued his winning run in his very quick Datsun 240Z to win the Historic Group S class with a best time of 26.26s. Another impressive performance was that of Tony Molina, whose 1948 MG TC finished only one second behind the replica Brabham of Barry Cureton in the Formula Libre (1301-2000cc) class. Tony's 80-year old father, motor sports evergreen elder statesman Lou Molina finished a further three seconds behind in his MG TC. Another feature to impress the spectators at Rob Roy was the big screen in front of the timing box that immediately flashed up the times of the competitors. This is an innovation that could well be adopted by other hillclimb venues around Australia. Rob Roy, you did hillclimbing proud!

The Maestro

1^*-^ ...

E of the most anuislhj^' and uuiniurtfbt# lui|i{t^iiiiigH of past ellnrhs to Adelaide's famous Eagle on Ihc' Hill occurred in 1086 vehen Juan Mnnuel Fangio was a guest of the Australian Grand Prix.

It was the year of the diHijitrous fires tlirougli the Arliilaide Hillsi and as part ol the clpiiii-up II new lookout tower bad lici a erected nn(f*HM

to 111' unveiled by the thon MliifS'fer for HAirism.

Tlie eeri ninny coincided with The t'liinli to liui F.nglo itnd it was agruod tliut John RiMnden .s (lolira would lead Fangio in the Mercedes-Benz 300SLR and another Mpecial gue.it, Stirling Mos.s driving it Jaguar C-T^ pe and arrive at the appropriate moment for the unveiliu|t, All dlgoilBi ie') Were in

Jordan turns 10

moiortpon nm

HISTORICS

takes on the

nviyor Irt fut» if^*il|Bticom<m hoiiu; lime to explriin in. politicians, ministers of 'ih English unci with appropriate religion and other special guesls gofituro.s that he wasn t booking plus the hand a« lh»» Cerhra mid The -Muefilro foi epoediiig, hut the- C-'Pype drove in. Hu^iwer, only trying to turn him around and bring him back for the Fimgio tiiisHed Iheexit mid sped off intu the diBtnnce! ceremony.

A dectsioii we made to rend u By the time Fangio arrived police purMil car alter the flw# back at the carpiirk behind the times world champion - a cha.se police car the proceeding.^ were that only ended nl the tmtloin of well underway and, while a minister of religion wn»i reading the hill, lunl It took the pTrtllng

from the, good hook, PaAflio wtm hlipping the throttle of thc!

300SLR before .switching off.

Anyone who had the good fortune to he in the presence of Fangio would remember it as a remiirkable experience, such was the charisma of the man. On this occasion, however, The Mae.stro' brought the show to its knees!

- BRIAN REED

JORDAN Grand Prix celebrated its 10th anniversary at Donington iast week.

John Watson demonstrated IS Sememtier 2000

the superb B191-Ford left, sharing the car with former GP driver Andrea de Cesaris who, reportedly, kept the car on the track...

One of the enduring reminders of the great days of the AGP in Adelaide is 'The Climb to the Eagle,' an annual run that attracts some 250 desirable cars.

This year, the event will be held on Friday, November 10 and will leave from Adelaide's famous street circuit and proceed to the hotel at the summit behind a police escort.

Following morning tea and a guest speaker (someone who has been associated with the marvellous AGP carnivals in Adelaide), the gathering will then proceed through the Adelaide Flills to another of South Australia's famous Grand Prix circuits of old - Victor Flarbor.

It was in 1936 that Les Murphy notched up his second consecutive AGP in his trusty MG P-Type over the hot and dusty 240-mile journey. It was also a memorable occasion for South Australia, as it marked the first time the AGP had been held outside Victoria, and the meeting coincided with SA's centenary celebrations.

This year's participants in 'The Climb to the Eagle' will drive laps of the old circuit, before enjoying lunch at the beautiful seaside location. No doubt MG fans will be out in force to re-live the moment!

For further information contact John Blanden on (08)8370 2000,(mob. 0418 840 420). n Since the Heysen Tunnel has come into being, making road access to Adelaide much simpler (although not necessarily more enjoyable for motoring enthusiasts), the old Mt. Barker Road up to the 'Eagle on the Hill' Hotel has lapsed into virtual disuse. That is until now.

Organisers of the 2000 Classic Adelaide Rally from October 2629 have incorporated a fourkilometre special stage into this year's event from the Devil's Elbow to the Eagle on the Hill one of 11 special stages to be contested on Saturday 28.

Meanwhile, Ferrari collector from England, Paul Vestey plans to bring out yet another rare 'red' car, this time his 1959 Ferrari 250 California Spyder Competizione, originally raced by the Venicebased team, Scuderia Serenissima. The Ferrari finished first in the GT class in the 1960 Sebring 12-hour race.

Vestey, who has competed in every Classic Adelaide, will again have motoring journalist and Grand Prix historian Doug Nye as his trusty co-driver.

- BRIAN REED 71

*V*.

mmona Somebody beat him! i, \

scene

etftedby

1

Aaron Noonan

MITSUBISHI MIRAGE SERIES

by MARK JONES

WARREN Luff has made the Logical Mitsubishi Mirage Series his own, with another two untroubled wins at Queensland Raceway,support ing the OzEmail Queensland 500.

Luff was 0.4s clear in qualifying and won the two races at a canter.

Race one, though, was significantly delayed after a first turn accident saw Mark Eddy hospitalised with a fractured skull and a broken hand.

In race one, neither of the front row got groat starts,leaving the field well bunched. Just behind the

leaders, a group went into turn one four abreast and, after some nudging,the outmost car of Mark Eddy speared across the front of the field, spiiming Jinadasa as he went before hitting the concrete hard.

Nesbitt too, was into the sand, while medics and marshals carefully extracted Eddy from the wreckage before being transferred

to Ipswich Hospital.

From the restart, Luff quickly built a gap and bolted. Nesbitt quickly sorted through the field and took off after Luff, while Gary Young then led a fierce group for “best of the rest’ honours.

Evans made a dive at Young into turn three, but overcooked it, allowing McGill to close up. McGill took third and lost it at turn four, but made the move stick a lap later. Luff won from Nesbitt and a group headed by McGill,Young, Francois Jouy and Evans.

The second race was a more even start, with Luff again quickly taking hold.

Evans and Nesbitt pulled away, leaving a close three car battle for fourth and from there the cars ran down the remaining laps. Luff again slaughtering the field to win by five seconds from Evans and

PGJBIim l

n

PENRiji

Follow Luff on the yellow brick road: The Mirage Series continues to be a Warren Luff domination.

(Photo by Dirk Kfyni

Nesbitt.

Young won the battle for fourth from Jouy and rally star Ed Ordynski. Jan Jinadasa was next, ahead of Michael Brock.

Luff now has an insurmountable

lead in the championship. With Gavin Harvey missing the meeting, Evans is now equally secure in second, with Nesbitt moving past Harvey for third.

Mirage Cup Points Warren Luff 192, Dean Evans 131, Barry Nesbitt 86, Gavin Harvey 84, Mark Eddy & Gary Young 65,

It'S time to celebrate

30 years of sports sedans We want you! Come meet, mix and mingle with old friends Features old cars, new cars, old films, old friends, older and bigger stories

n

Where?

Sandown International Motor Raceway Function Room.

When?

Thursday 5th October 2000 6pm 9pm. Finger Food and Refreshments.

Tickets:

$30.00 per head

Contact: Nicole Parsons Sandown <03)9853 7266 Box 123 Kew Vic 310 f A Very Big Week at Sandown 7/8 October!

V8 Supercars and National Sports Sedan Championship sponsored by Air Liquide, Gas & Services.

nolorsDort nBws

NATIONAL

Island magic VICTORIAN MOTOR RACING CHAMPIONSHIP

%

Callbra crush: Tony Hubbard’s Holden Callbra cleaned house in the Sports Sedans.

[Photo by Chris CartoO

THE fifth round of the Victorian Motor Racing Championships were held at Phillip Island on the September 2/3 weekend, with the on-track action coming thick and fast.

Formula Ford driver Richard Chamberlain was lucky to survive a frightening crash on the Gardner Straight, his Spectnun chassis destroyed after an incident at the end of the straight, one of the fastest comers in Australia.

Chamberlain was cut from the wreckage and helicoptered to hospital. Concussed, he was discharged from hospital on the Sunday night.

While Chamberlain ended up with a battered car and body. Will Davison continued his domination of the Victorian Formula Ford series with another win, this time heading home Glen Hastings(Van Diemen RF94)by some 10 seconds in the pointscore race. Mark Ceveri and Mark West were next home.

The Club Cars pointscore race was another domination, Scott Doughty(Mazda RX7)victorious also by 10 seconds over Phil Morriss(Datsun 1600). The carnage wasn’t limited to the Formula Fords either, with Carl Schembri’s Honda CRX biting the wall as well.

A strong field of Commodore Cup cars were on hand. Neville Haley IS SsRiamliar 2000

Ford comes on board for Portland Kart GP FORD Racing has become the sponsor of the annual Portland Kart Grand Prix.

In addition to the instigation this year of the new national Ford MAX Challenge karting series, Ford has put its support behind the street race in Portland.

Diving into the pool of taient: Ford Racing also backs the Max Challenge karting .series, in addition to its backing of the Portland GP.

Anyone got Mike Borland’s number? Richard Chamberlain will need a new Spectrum after his ’Island crash. These are the leftovers ...

(Photo by James Smith)

grabbed the pointscore race win with David ‘Skippy Parsons in second, ahead of Craig Domaschenz in the APS Racing car, while Hart Mason’s winning ways in Formula Vee continued, the Jacer driver 8s clear of Andy Nethercote (Sabre)and Daniel Reinhardt(Sabre 01).

There’s nothing quite like a V8 on an open and flowing track like Phillip Island and Michael Miceli’s Mustang was in a class of its own in the Group N races all weekend.

In the pointscore race the Ford crossed the line some 50 seconds clear of Graham Slater’s Torana.

The battle of the HQs continued, Graham Thomson a clear victor over Glen McDonald, Andrew Nowland and Mark

Wicks, while Mort Fitzgerald’s MGB V8 was too strong for the Python of Christian D’Agostin and the Robnell of Lyndon Punshon in Marque Sports. Fitzgerald was also a winner in the MG pointscore race, outpointing Paul Trevethan by 2s.

Tony Hubbard clobbered them in the Sports Sedans pointscore race, the mightly Holden Calibra V8 too good for Stephen Vines’ Cortina and the Mazda RX4 of Richard Catchlove.

In the baby Sports Sedans, the under 2-litres, it was an Escort 1-2, with Trevor McGuinness’RS outpointing Luke McPherson’s Mkll by the narrowest of margins, just 0.15s.

-AARON NOONAN

The event will be run next year on the weekend of February 10/11.

“Ford Racing’s financial investment in the Portland Grand Prix is triggered by the raft of opportunities karting creates for young drivers," said Ford Racing General Manager, Howard Marsden.

“Quite simply. Ford is committed to identifying talented young Australian drivers and assisting them to move up the racing ladder and further their careers."

The Portland race is entering its fourth year as a major Australian karting event.

Mike Noske, President of the Portland District Karting Club, predicts even bigger crowds and media exposure for the newly-sponsored 2001 event.

“Something like 18,000 fans watched this year’s event and we expect that Ford Racing’s involvement can only lift our profile and attract greater interest.”

-AARON NOONAN 78

An HQ day out at Sandown THE HQ Racing Association of Victoria will hold a display day at Sandown this Sunday, September

SALOON CARS/HQS

Not the Kingswood! The HQ fraternity will be out in force at Sandown.

(Phofo by Chris Caner) HQ racing has been one of the success stories of national, state and club level motorsport, and the Association will have drivers and crews available for the public to chat to about the cars and the category.

Rides are available for patrons as well as drives, providing a licence is purchased at a small cost.

There will be a BBQ as well asentertainment for kids, with the day starting at 9am and ending at 4pm.

For further information contact David Page on 0418 378 198.

Reading wins the Thomas Horey Trophy THE third annual Thomas Horey Trophy Event for midgets, held by the Gold Coast Kart Club, has been won by Brent Reading.

The event, held this year on August 27, is held in memory of former club member Thomas Horey, who passed away at the age of eight after a spirited fight against cancer.

Horey began karting after he was diagnosed with cancer and became a good mate of V8 Supercar driver Paul Romano, winning the 1997 Gold Coast Kart Club midget title.

With 18 midgets entering the event, 1999 winner Victor Zavadil was keen to become the first repeat winner, although it was Reading who took the victory in the 15 lap final with a handy lead.

Chaz Mostert was second ahead of Zavadil, Stuart-Ross French and Nicholas Foster, while an encouragement award went to Ethan Bentley and the first'C class licence holder over the line was Bjorn Sparavec.

The Gold Coast Kart Club donated all midget entry fees to the 'Friends of Thomas Horey' Neuroblastoma Research, and the Royal Children's Hospital in Brisbane.

T4

A HEINRICH manoeuvre was performed on the Saloon Car/HQ Holden support races at Mallala for the Konica V8 Lites round, but instead of resurrecting life, it snuffed it out!

Bruce Heinrich’s EA Falcon Saloon car squeezed the wind out of the competition in every session and only some dogged competition behind was able to breathe some life into the events.

David Lines showed he was the still the dominant force of HQs with an effort four seconds slower than Heinrich’s Falcon in qualifying.

Only six Saloon cars participated in the four race event, with a three/three split between Commodores and Falcons.

Matt Close was second in the first race on Saturday and again in race two, but could not repeat the

performance for races three and four.

Julian Newton took second from Peter Holmes’ Commodore in both those races, Newton’s efforts were all the more inspiring as he recovered from a flat-lining 20th in the first race and looked as if the life support could be turned off!

Lines scored an impressive fourth in the first race in his HQ, but thereafter played second fiddle to the Saloon Cars.

Joining Lines up front in that class were Phil Collier and Neil Corey, with Steve Laybourn keeping that trio honest.

- DIRK KLYNSMITH

Mano

irii-rfiMiiiliTii iiiiliilin'iItff .1

Too ca.sy: Bruce Heinrich flew the Ford flag high at Mallala, cleaning up in the Saloon cars.

(Photo by Diik Klynsmiih)

Character building

V

THE dedicated students from Wodonga TAPE had a character-building weekend at the Phillip Island VMRC. Brian Searles had an assisted off on Saturday but, after a big effort, the students had the Westfield-Toyota back on the track for Sunday's Marque Sportscar events. The car, which was built around a SEi kit supplied

by Westfield’s Russell Butler, made its next appearance at the Winton 6-Hour, Report next issue.

(Photo by Jnracs Smith)

notortport nows

NATIONAL

euvre

T

‘■07T

775>;'

■ i.w'

Dominant display: Michael Caruso squashed them for the second time in a row in the Ford MAX Challenge.

A Formula Ford ride looks alright for 2001 ...

Caruso claws back FORD MAX CHALLENGE

Bathurst rally to Sandy

FORMER champion Miles Sandy has made a run for the NSW Rally Championship crown after another convincing victory, this time at Bathurst.

Sandy and co-driver Rachel Braty drove their Subaru Impreza WRX to a comfortable victory ahead of the Mitsubishi Lancer of Shawn Urquhart.

Regular Australian Championship competitor David Hills took third place in his Lancer, with Chris Judson fourth in a Subaru.

The event was held in wet and slippery conditions, which forced the cancellation of some stages, but this didn’t stop Bathm-st rally veteran Rod Jones from finishing in a creditable seventh place in his ageing Datsun 1600.

The final round of the NSW Rally Championship will be held in the nation’s capital on October 14.

- PETER WHI'TTEN 16

2888

MICHAEL Caruso has emerged as the man to beat in the Ford MAX Challenge after his second victory in two rounds at round four of the series at Raleigh, New South Wales.

His efforts have moved him to the top of the pointscore with one round left.

The only driver who looked capable of mixing it with Caruso was William Yarwood, who suffered from air intake

problems as he lined up on the outside of the front row in the final and ended up 20th.

The field had been reduced due to injuries and other commitments. Adam Proctor, Kate Friend and Travis Murphy were joined on the sidelines by Jamie Whincup, who re-iiyured his ribs in practice. Doc Pearson substituted for the weekend.

Caruso jumped to the lead in the final after Yarwood’s

77’

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.

'l

No, not the Crowded House drummer: Mark Hester is one of the lesser known names starting to show their talent. He was third at Raleigh.

problems and never even looked like being caught, lyson Pearce, Mark Hester, Matt Wall and Neil McFadyen were all chasing the disappearing Caruso, but were unable to make an impact and slowed one another down.

Mark Winterbottom had fought his way through from behind this group to progress to fourth behind Hester. Hester in turn was pressing Pearce for second, but to no avail and the positions remained the same.

Caruso was an easy winner, followed by Pearce, Hester, Winterbottom, Wall, Craig Clements, NeU McFadyen, Gavin Walker, Jason Varley and Darren McDonald.

Caruso now leads the series by four points over McFadyen, with Yarwood third.

All drivers have to drop their worst score, although that still sees Caruso in the lead, although by a slightly reduced margin.

The final round of the series will be held at Geelong on September 23/24.

Points: Caruso 308, McFadyen 304, Yarwood 291, Winterbottom 277, Wall 273, Walker 268, Pearce 266.

75

NATIONAL Karting Briefs DAVIDE For§ has won his second World Title in Formula Super A in the World Karting Championship in Portugal ahead of Franck Perera and Massimiliano Orsini, all driving Tony Kart chassis with Vortex engines and Bridgestone tyres.

Troy Hunt was best of the Australians in eighth, with Ryan Briscoe 19th and Ben Horstman a non-finisher. Full report next issue. n The World Karting Championship will increase to six rounds in 2002, with a race in Brazil being tipped as the likely addition.

The inaugural series in 2001 will be over five rounds. n APS Series regulars Jason Hryniuk and Barclay Holden are said to be heading to Japan to contest the World Cup on November 26.

Having traditionally been held at Suzuka, this year's big event will take place at the Twin-Ring Motegi circuit. n Bridgestone, Dunlop and Vega are set to have a rival at the fourth and final round of the APS Racing series at Geelong. MG tyres are set to make their Australian CIK debut, subject to successful testing in the coming weeks.

Of Brazilian origin, MG-Pneus are imported by Remo Racing which, as yet, has not indicated the drivers who will use the rubber. n A fire at Belgium's Mariembourg circuit has destroyed the facility's main building and a fleet of brand new hire karts. Track management said the inferno will not prevent the World Formula C Championship from going ahead on September 24. n The City of Adelaide Title at Bolivar Raceway has been awarded to WA's Daniel Elliott (Tony Kart).

David Ciarke(Omega) actually crossed the line first in the final of the Senior Pro Clubman class, but was found to be under weight at the conclusion of the race.

Another West Australian, Kip Foster, qualified fastest and went on to ciaim second from local drivers Reif Corbett and Scott Ferguson.

Taz Douglas (Azzurro) snatched victory in Junior Pro Clubman by executing a tight last corner move on pre-final winner Steven Scoble, with Justin Garnett taking third. Shane Wright beat Steve Kwiatkowski to the line in senior Pro National.

- MARK WICKS IB

Moving and a grooving THE last two and a half years have seen nothing but success for 17-year-old NSW driver Michael Caruso. But, as MARK WICKS found out, the Tony Kart driver is not only trying to consolidate the remainder of 2000, he’s looking beyond karting for his future... ’1

Motorsport News: Firstly, you needed the win at Eastern Creek's APS round to keep your title chances alive. What was going through your mind as the engine quit while you were leading the final?

Michael Caruso: Not much, really. I knew I went into the round with a big points deficit (to Neil McFadyen), so I could only try and win. There wasn't much I could do about it. After not finishing the pre-final at Ipswich, it sort of ruined my series.

»

MN: What about the final APS round at Geelong?

MC: We're going to try and win it. Not winning a round of the APS series wouid be pretty bad considering we've been fast all year.

The usual position: Caruso has proved quick in the Ford MAX Challenge, but hasn’t had the luck in the APS series.

MN: Geelong is the scene for the finals of the APS series and the MAX Challenge. What has your history been like there?

MC: My history hasn't been that good there really! I didn't do well at the Nationals (1998). I like the circuit though. It's flat, good in the dry and the wet- and it'll most likely rain down there...

MN: You won the Raleigh MAX Challenge final by over 11 seconds, a winning margin unheard of.

MC: I didn't expect to win by that much! We had a good setup Friday morning and it was just fast all weekend. We had no problems at all.

MN: What is in store for Michael Caruso - where do you want to be next year?

MC: Next year I'd like to race here in Formula Ford or race (karts) in

r

(Helmet Photo by Sean Henshelwood)

options at the end of the year.

I've just had a Formula Ford test with Anglo Motorsport in their Van Diemen at Wakefield Park. We did around 120 laps but it rained so only 10 or 20 laps were in the dry.

It was the first time I've ever driven a race car, but I think it still went well. It was a lot different from a kart with a lot more weight to pull up.

Europe. I'd love to go to Europe.

MN: That's what you'd like to do, but what are the chances of that happening?

MC: We're always looking to do something better, but I don't know, we haven't had much time to look around so we'll look at our

MN: If you take the Formula Ford route, would you go to the State or National series?

MC: I think the State Formula Ford Championship is a waste of time for the amount of money you spend.

You might as well spend the money and race with all the best teams and the best drivers (in the National series). moiorspon news

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Marketplace

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*Motorsport News Classifieds are FREE for private sales. Classifieds from motor sport traders are accepted (marked with a ●) and must be prepaid at the following per issue rates: $5 per 10 words (min SIO per ad), photo $10. Further enquiries to our advertising department on 03 9527 7744.

Classifieds can be mailed, faxed or emailed. Classifieds are not accepted over the telepho ne.

Forward to Motorsport News Free Classifieds, PO BOX 1010 North Caulfield 3161. Fax: 03 9527 7766.

Email: msnews@ozemail.com.au. Make sure to list your category.

vs V8 Supercar, ready to race, Holden engine, 5 speed box, complete with spares inci approx 80 tyres, components and more. Suit V8 Lites or front running Sports Sedan. $70,000. Ph Trevor 07 5495 6920. m

Mitsubishi FTO, '95, V6, Sports Tiptronic, alloys, spoiler, side skirts, elec sunroof, dimate, fully optioned, PC, $21,995. Ph Shannon 07 3399 5394. m Holden A9X Torana sedan, very rare, ultra blue/chamois A9X on offer. Vehicle still in new condition, never registered & has only done 200kms. In storage for 23yrs, in original condition, would suit very astute investor or collertor of rare motor vehicles. $65,000. Ph 0411 354 941. .sv

Gemini Series Coupe, fresh top HP engine, excel lent steel cage, new Sparco seat & pedals, many other new components, comes with 1996 model tandem axle trailer. $6200. Ph 07 3372 3609. m

Porsche 91 IE, '72, 2.4, 5 speed, factory sunroof, RHD, Hamilton verification, updated to SC spec. 7s and 8s, have parts to convert back, many receipts, excellent cond. $29,000 neg. Ph 03 9329 7222 or 0418 539 077

1970 XW GT, Brambles red, 351C, 4V, 4 speed, 9" LSD, ground up resto, 17 awards from 7 shows You won't find better. $28,000. Ph 0408 349 754. 189

MG Midget Sportscar 1973, rare round wheel arch, in excellent condition. RWC. $9800. Ph 03 5436 1223. $89

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* RX7 Sports Sedan, built by fattory Mazda Motorsport for Le Mans. Completely rebuilt, new 3 rotor turbo, fuel injected nrotor, close ratio 5 speed, 20 sets of interchangeable ratios, 12 sets of BBS 16x10, 16x12 3 piece rims. Twin package $50,000. Will sepa rate, roller $ 15,000,3 rotor complete dry sump system to computer $18,000, PBS box $10,000, AP callipers $6000, Rims X 8 $4000. Ph Robert 0418 974 351.

E

1

Mil Sierra Cosworth, rare 1988 4 door Sapphire model. Unmodified and in mint condition inside & out. Full factory options including air-con, $28,000 ono. May consider trade or part-trade for interest ing 3J, Marque Sports or Group C car (no rotaries).

Ph 07 3814 3762. rm

IS Sapienber 2000

, f*.I

V6 Capri Club Car, high^ developed, spare engine, panels and wheels. Konis, Detroit locker, big brakes. $9500. Ph John 03 9801 9907 or Neil 0418 517 257. i» HQ Holden race car, no expense spared on this competitive race car incI top HP 'Swift' motor, ready to race, nothing to spend. $5800 ono. Ph 0417 399 162 or 07 3824 2818 ah. m

?

Nissan Bluebird PRC rally car, Z18 turbo, inde pendent rear suspension, Z box, Z diff, Bilstein adjustable suspension, 4 wheel disc brakes, new paint cage, exhaust, windscreen, log book, homologation papers. $7200 ono. Ph 03 9337 2993. 189

Datsun 1600 Sports Sedan, extended port 12A notary, 48IDA Weber, extractors, body in mint condi tion, disc brake rear end, new shocks, locked diff, adjustable camber/castor, plus lots more, indudes spares. $7500. Ph 03 5968 1656 or 0410 510 558. iss

U Torana Sports Sedan, Leyland V8 engine, Borg Warner drivetrain, 4 wheel disc brakes, 16" wheels, spares include panels, engine, gearbox, diff, $11,500. Trailer to suit $1500. Ph 02 4951 4297 or 0417 405 590. is9

&

1962 Lotus 23, fabulous history, FIA papers, absolute mint condition. View on my web site at www.victoriainn.com.au/lotus or call 02 9817 5654 anytime. Consider real offers around $100,000. i89

Falcon XY, ex-show sedan, 351C (worked), C4, 9" LSD, power steering, new exhaust, weld wheels, 2 1/2 tonne capacity towbar, a complete head turner, RWC & rego. $7500 ono. Ph Gerard 0419 554 019 or 03 9857 4570

HQ racer, top 10 QLD, fast, consistent, heaps of spares, new diff, suspension, motor. Must sell, $4900. Ph 07 5520 4855 or 07 5593 6368. 189 RX7 Series II, 208 triple rotor, fuel injected, built and raced by Ric Shaw. Immaculate presentation, recond gearbox, Simmons and mounted wets also. $25,000 obo. Ph 0418 951 072. rr» J

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HG Monaro Group Nc, high HR 350 Chev (dyno sheets available), body sandblasted, seam welded steel roll cage, Tilton pedal box, Tilton triple plate dutch.

Autometer gauges, built by Raven Motorsport. No expense spared, best prepped touring car at PI Histories.

Ph Jeremy 0418 545 185 or 03 9425 9443. IB

Austin Healey Sprite MkllA, race car, CAMS log book Sb. Very well sorted package. Race ready and entered for QLD Histories. Must sell urgently as owner updating to new class. All assistance avail able if required. $12,500. Ph 02 9833 2400 bh or 02 4736 7146 ah. ™

%

Gemini PRC rally car, new 1998cc engine, 4x Cibi lights in light pod, custom built suspension, fully weld ed chrome moly cage, ready to race, too much to list, 12 month rego. $7200 ono. Ph 02 4332 9844. res

I

I-

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LH Torana Sports Sedan, V8 Holden, Ford 4 spd, adjustable Konis, great paint, 15x10 wheels/slicks, fibreglass bonnet & bumpers, perspex windows, steel cage, HQ brakes, ideal 1st car or hiliclimber. $5500 ono. Ph 0419 441 164

Escort Mk II Club Car, unfinished project, log book, vented discs, alloy sump and bell housing.

Big valves, spare blocks, heads, cams etc. Fuel cell, race seat, roll cage. $5200 ono. Ph 0417 369 996 or 03 9705 2791. ise

Lotus Cortina, Grp N historic log book, alloy pan els, housings. Steel motor, Carillos etc. Quaife SCCR 4.4, 4.7, 5,1, 5.3 LSD, genuine Minilites, immac cond, huge parts inventory, neg $38,000. Ph 03 9329 7222 or 0418 539 027. iss Commodore VL, rebuilt high performance 308, Aussie 4 speed, 9" locker diff. Simmons wheels.

Professionally prepared shell & cage. Excellent con dition, suit Sports Sedan or Club Car. $10,500 ono. Ph 02 4946 9554. is,

VNClub Car, fresh 5 It, EFi, steel cage, T-5, 3.9 locked diff, VT brakes, log book, heaps of potential. $13,700 ono. Ph 0417 061 990 or 02 9624 8640. is8

Torana U 2 door, turbo 186, T04 Garrett turbo, adjustable boost, 350hp Celica steel case g/box, LSD, 14x7 mags, Yoko AD32R tyres. Lots of spares also available. $12,000 ono. Ph 02 9896 3066 or 0418 293 290. iss

HQ Holden, race winner, 2nd at last start, BRE engine, Autotrac exhaust Salisbury diff, 2 pak paint Oran Park 54.2s, Bathurst 3:00, plenty of spares, assistance to new owners. $5500 ono. Ph 0419 441 164. 188

Torana Hatchback, genuine Bathurst roll cage, mid-mounted engine, full sets of wets/slicks and rims, flare kit. Log book. 320ci engine, 265 Chrysler Hemi rods, 350 Chev pistons, original Torana front suspension, weighs approx 1200kgs.

Trailer tandem axle, reg 27/8/00. $9000 for car or $ 12,000 for car & trailer. Ph Nick 02 6331 2484 ah or 02 6336 1612 bh or 0419 252 685. res Ford Escort 1980 2 door, 2 litre Pinto, turbo, big valve head, turbo cam blow off valve. Falcon LSD, 15 inch wheels, NSW rego, Oran Park in 51s. Club Car specs. $3500 ono. Ph 02 4973 1605. raa

Open Wheelers

Dodge Viper GTSACR, Nations Cup 1996, fresh motor, Simmons wheels, Harrop brakes, Motec dash, Proftex shocks, spares and original equipment Race at Indy and Bathurst. $185,000. Ph Mike 0418 223 914, IB Super Tourer, Tom's factory car. In the right hands, this car would be very competitive. All spares included, 2 motors etc. Will consider trade/lease or payment program. $65,000, all offers considered. Ph 0418 644 217. l»

Formula 3 Reynard 903, state Series winner, 2 engines, spares include wings, wheels, ratios etc.

Excellent condition. $38,000. Ph 02 9743 5357. ik 19

Formula Vee Nimbus, new body, brakes, bat tery, Phillip Island gearbox and more. Fairly fresh engine. Lots of spares including gearbox and pan els. Complete with trailer, $5800. Ph 08 8271 0032 or 0412 046 508. .»a

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J

Midget/Rookie European HS 60 kart brand new 900 HH chassis, 30mm adjustable rear axle, front caster/camber adjusters with adjustable height, excellent looker and fast performer. $2250.

Ph Viktor 07 5533 1231. ra

Superkart BOcc Honda CR, Stockman chassis, engine by Tony Sims, kart has good history, 2 sets dry, 1 set wets, tyres and rims, kart will be at Oran Park 8th October. Get into superkarting with the best equipment. Ph 0408 667 729. .89 Fomiula FonJ RF86 Van Diemen,well maintained,fresh

Drive available. Indy Gold Coast, competitive Formula Ford, ex-Jason Bright RF95, test days available, all assistance. Ph Greg 07 5446 7611 or 0411 052 944. isa 1976 Cheetah Mk VI, the only F2 version of the highly successful F3 Cheetahs. The only Cheetah eli gible for Historic Grp Q to run a twin cam Ford engine, a FT 200 trans-axle and wide wheels(12 inch & 14 inch)as in the 76 F2 formula. Recently had a no expense spared restoration. Lightweight fully secured enclosed trailer is included. $45,000. Ph Bmce Kennedy 02 9436 3021 bh or 02 9440 0950 ah. .89 Brabham BT16 1965, F2, chassis number F2.12.65.

Lucas downdraft Ford, very original. A$43,000. Ph Ken Smith 64 9 2748646 or fax 64 9 2748642..b Spectrum 06B, complete with top HP Lamer engine. Best 06 on the market. Full factory history.

Parts and ratios included. $30,000. MoTec available.

Ph 0417 000 099. m

engine,full set ratios, spates,fully enclosed trailer. $13,500.

Must sell. Ph 0407 432 378 or 03 5250 5158. .89

Race-winning Spectrum 07, Speedtech engine, MoTec, spares package, with assistance given to new owner. $37,000. Trailer also available. Ph Owen Kelly 0419 896 382. .98 250CC International Superkart 1995 Zip Eagle chassis, 256 Rotax motor, /tprillia Internals, Deltorto carb, motor rebuilt recently by /klan Utten. $10,500 ono, various spares also for sale. Ph 08 8296 5511 or 0412 005 866. .89

22 Formula Vee. built new for 1999 National Championships. Latest style aerodynamic bodywork.

Tig welded and powdercoated frame. Licensed trailer and some spares. $8500. Ph 08 9277 6473. WA. ta

Formula Vee Spectre, brand new chassis, never turned a .wheel,fresh engine and spare. Bilstein shocks, many spares, forced sale, must sell. $2800 ono. Ph 0413 547 999 or e-mail daradng@one.neLau..89 Elva DKW Formula Junior, 1959, front engine.

Stored for over 35 years, chassis plate number 100/74. Vey rare car. A$25,000. Ph Ken Smith 64 9 2748646 or fax 649 2748642. .as Halt RT4 1982, chassis number 292 FT200.

Complete minus engine, all original condition.

A$20,000. Ph Ken Smith 64 9 2748646 or fax 64 9 2748642. .89

Parts Repco F5000 parts and engines, F2/F3 parts and engines, FHolden parts and engines. Elfin wheel and upright patterns. Clearance sale, used/new radng parts. Ph Rodger for info 08 8277 0979 bh or 08 8278 5146 ah. ,89 Tyres & rims, Dunlop wets to suit 5ports Sedan.

2-280/625-15, 2-290/680-15, 90% tread. $800.

Ph 02 4736 7826. .89 Group A tyres, Dunlop sfido new to suit VI, 129O625R172-29O650R17. $1000.Ph0247367826.,99 Hydraulic clutch bell housing, complete to fit a Holinger gearbox, suit Group A Commodore or Sports Sedan. $1600. Ph 02 4736 7826. ,S9 Brake calipers,four spot to suit early Mustang Appendix J, in top condition. $800. Ph 02 4736 7826. .89 Chev titanium inlet, 2.08 exhaust valves 1.60, $1100 set, Yates titanium valves 2.10 and 1.60, $1100 set, Holley HP 950 Methanol carb, moreso bowl extensions and jet tuning pack as new, $1000. Ph 0419 655 701..89 Escort Twin Cam, gearbox, complete. Good con dition. $700. Ph 03 9763 9160. .89

J

Formula Libre chassis, to suit autoaoss, sprint/hiildimb $600. Ph 03 5664 4219. Could be converted to open dass Odyssey. .b9

1974 Cheetah Mk5, original AF3 Motor Improvements factory car (ex-Brian Sampson), Holinger 5 speed gearbox, faaoty lightweight wheels. Last raced as AF2. Only requires a 1300cc Toyota Corolla engine for Historic Group Q comliance. $20,000. Ph John Muddle 02 9634 1853 or Neil Stephens Turbos Motors 02 9759 8870. m Reynard 90D, rolling chassis, incomplete $18,000.

Rail RT23,'91 model, complete rolling chassis, plus many spares. $25,000. Ph 0417 375 774. isa Formula Ford, Swift'94 model, update '96. PI dash, spares package. $21,000. Ph 0417 375 774. iss

Serck oil thermostat, with push-on fittings.

Unused, suit club racer etc who does not want to over-cool oil. $50. Ph 07 3814 3762. 199 Complete Formula Vee package, LE/100 Formula Vee, competitive Qld Div 1 Championship winning car, excellent condition total rebuild since 1998, raced 1 meeting since, many spares Inc complete long box. $8500. Also CF Bedford Transporter, cus tom built for above car. Tailgate loader, 202 Holden, Supra 5 speed, $6000, Total package $14,000 complete. Ph Ben Pledger 0408 269 347. .88 Formula Vee 1979 Lepton, fully enclosed trailer, good engine. Lots of spares induding wheels, exhausts etc. $6500. Ph 08 8271 0032 or 0419 809 930. .88

Formula Libre, 12A rotary twin distributor engine, needs apex seals. \A/V F&Rends, easy return to Vee. Spares include complete engine (dismantled). Ideal hillclimb or dub car. $2500. Ph 03 9799 0053. .88

Chev block,4 bolt, OlOstd bore 350, $550.2 bolt010 std bore 350 with sonic test $450,1 set Carilb tods 6" with Carr bcte, $1500. 1 set Iron eagle 2 heads, new in box, $1300. Recall tacho $275, Vertex Magneto with ss leads, suit small block, $800. Ph 08 8556 1203. .89 Mazda rotary racing plugs. Champion N80 and N555Q,equivalent to NGK B10 EGV and B9 EGV. 50 plugs cost $750, sell for $250. Ph 08 8357 2319. .89 18 R Toyota, billet crank, TRD rods, dry sump, exPeter Williamson Group C.Z Back Anglia, one piece fibreglass front & boot lid, passenger door. Taillights & headlights. Ph Richard 0404 470 840. .99 Chev S/B, 5.7 Childs & Albert alloy rods, U brand new $850. Ph 0409 895 934. u9 Chev S/B air flow research, 23 degree alloy heads, brand new, 590hp (flow report), comp with valves & springs. $3200. Ph 0409 895 934. .99 Chev S/B, cola crank, 5/8 just crack tested & reground. $1500, Ph 0409 895 934. .99 Ford single tail gearbox,suit Holden V8,complete with all adapters & mounts, $450 ono. Ph 0419 947 971. .99

Ford 9" diff, suit Torana 3.5 LSD steel hat, 31 spline billet axles. HZ discs & master cylinder, 3000kms old, comes with tailshaft and handbrake cables. $2000 ono. Ph 0419 947 971. 189 Chev SB rods,6" H beam. Scat 4340 with ARP 8740 rod bolts new $850. SCP4 stage dry sump pump with manifold and pulley, used, $1350. ia9 HQ racing spares, heaps of guards, doors, bon nets etc. Sealed gearbox, racing radiator, must go.

Ph Greg King 0419 013 594. iss

Clubman One Piece, nose/engine/scuttle unit, suit low cost etc (fibreglass). $600. Ph 03 5282 1843. ,8a Chev small block, Hilborn fuel injection, no pump or bellmouths. Ph 03 9467 4044 or 0418 332 544. .as Ford Cleveland, 3.310" stroke, nitrided crank shaft, 5.950" Ridgecrest alloy rods, 4" std Glidden design Venolia Pistons, internally balanced set up, as new. $1950. Ph 03 5472 4116 or fax 03 5470 6966. .88 Irving alloy head, suit 6 cyl Holden complete with manifolds 8r48mm Dellortos. Ph 0411 707 075. ,88 Lotus Twin Cam head, recoed, new valves etc, complete, $3500. Quaife L5Dnew $1000, BDA steel rods $800, early Lotus cam cover $500, forged pistons 83.5 $500. Ph 03 9329 7222 or 0418 539 027. .88

eifO RACING FUEL & LUBRICANTS

l ELF racing brake fluid, dot 5.1 + full range of synthetic race lubricants, 2 stroke, 4 stroke and octane booster. Ph BMR 03 9793 5555. s Falcon XM/P hardtop parts, chrome work, mouldings etc, XP Future bucket seats (VGC) $275 ono. XM/P sedan. Future, vent window frame chrome, $100 set. Plus much more. Ph Martin 03 9852 4520. .88 HQ Holden surplus race parts, 8 nose coses, 8 boots, 23 front guards, 54 doors, $10 each. 5 front clips $35 each or lot $500. Ph Dave 02 6765 4277 or 0419 441 164. .88 Weber, 40mm DCOE carbies. Ph 07 33251150 or e-mail:eldridge@zip.com.au. .b8 l Air jacks, new/used, large range, most appli cations, quick release handles available, top quali ty. C.C.I. Ph 0418 925 767. l Clutches, 7.25, 5.5, 5.0 single, twin, triple plate, sintered or carbon, AP-Tilton-QM, new/used. 5pare covers, rings, plates also avail able. C.C.I. Ph 0418.925 767. l Brake calipers, discs, pads. Mega range, new/used, exc condition - AP, Alcon, Brembo, Outlaw, Willwood. Overnight delivery. C.C.I. Ph 0418 925 767.

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NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS Please use the form provided and print dearly. Please note we are unable to return photographs used In classified ads. Ads will appear as soon as possible after receipt. ’FREE Classifieds are for the sale of private goods and vehicles only, not business advertising (Trade advertisers see Classifieds header for rates). Photos marked 'proof will not be used.

moiortDon news

Marlietplace l Pedals, brake/clutch, floor mount/hanging, new/sued. Also available, bias valves, bias cables, master cylinder, reservoirs etc. CCI Ph 0418 925 767. l Hewland, DGB, 5 speed transaxle, top condi tion, new 9:31 CWP, ratio choices and spares available, $14K ratios, over 300 in stock to suit DGB, GFGB, TPT, FT200. C.C.I. Ph 0418 925 767. l Oil coolers - heat exchangers, Earls, Setrab, Serck, 6-70 row, new/used, also used water to oil heat exchangers, over 100 in stock. C.C.I. Ph 0418 925 767. l Racecar pails, brake parts, chassis stands, diff oil pumps, exhaust collectors, fuel cell acces sories, oil filters, quickiift jacks, ratio boxes, radi ator caps, springs, spoilers, wings etc. CCI Ph 0418 925 767. l Uprights, fabricated/cast, fronts/rears, various sizes, new/used, also CVs, driveshafts, wishbones, rockers, pushrods, all top quality, exc condition. CCI Ph 0418 925 767. l Radiators, aluminium, new/used, single/dual pass, top quality, large range, various sizes, suit all applications, from $300. CCI Ph 0418 925 767.

Drag

V8 Dirt Modified, SA 5, 351 Cleveland, approx 450hp, Halibrand diff, current rego. With many spares, complete front end, set of tyre and rims, bars, hubs etc. $6950. Ph 08 8556 1203. isv Super Sedan Pontiac Firebird, reco 350 Chev, new Brodix heads. Winter q/c diff, too much to list, plenty of spares etc. On custom built trailer. $10,500. Ph 03 5884 3681. iM 1934 Ford Hot Rod, fibreglass body, 305 Chev, powerglide auto, Ford diff, disc brakes, 5 point harness, new tyres & some spares, also comes with trailer with tyre rack. $4000. Ph 0409 212 590. iib IROC Camaro Super Sedan, Rayburn chassis, fresh 350, Brownfield 220 heads on methanol, plenty spares, Halibrand quickchange, complete car. $14,500. Ph 0417 015 849. isa Chasie Pontiac body, top & bottom arms, rack and pinion. Front coil overs with springs. Rear leaf springs with 2" lowering blocks with u bolts & pedals & cylinders. $2500 ono. Reco alum heads, new valves, guides, Colletts and retainers, ready to bolt on. $2500 ono. Ph 0403 301 849. 188

Transporters/Trallers XE Falcon, 460 engine, C-6 auto, 3500 stall, 9 inch 4.56 gears. Three quarter chassis, 15x14 and 15x6 Superlites 2, drag or show car, forced sale, $16,000 obo. Ph 02 4959 3257. las

J-J

JOiin

1988 Camaro, complete less engine, has Lenco 4 spd, struts, US Pro diff, M.W Autometer, Koni, chute, cell, Lexan glass, BB Headers, tube chassis.

1080kg W/BB welds. $AUS20,000 obo. Ph 0011 64 4 938 5426. m

Nissan EXA Coupe, full chassis, f/c cage, 9" diff, chrome moly 4link, powder coated black chassis, Koni struts, Koni shocks, Harwood fuel cell, MSD 6AL, with 2 step, nitrous oxide etc. Full wiring harness, chute. Centrelines polished Goodyear slicks & front runners. Commodore brakes. Sell as roller. $10,000.

Ph John 08 8349 4988 or 0418 899 409. is

Speetfwaw AA

//

Super Sedan Commodore, Dave Best chassis.

Winters quickchange diff, 4 aluminium bead lock rims, ready to race, less engine and gearbox. $7500. Ph03 5176 1352. i>9 Stealth Pontiac Speedcar, with all the grxxJs. Nothing to spend, USA gear throughout, plus spares, low mileage, will separate. Roiling chassis and engine. Looking for average driver to make a winner. $36-39,000. Ph 02 9875 1041 bh i»

fi m., Enclosed trailer, to suit FFord/FHolden etc. Living quarters in front, tilts for easy loading, cupboard, sink, fridge. $5000. Ph Keith 0408 066 106, I Tandem car trailer, tyre rack, mags, tool & parts boxes, regd, tows well, good condition. Ph 02 6685 7890 bh or 02 6684 7495 ah.. rs9 36ft Gooseneck trailer, suit any size car, wheel racks, fuel tank, air tank, work bench, sleeps 6, air con, cupboards, only 18 months old, very little work.

Ph 07 4958 1323. m

28' Gooseneck, with V8 dyna twin cab, fully lined trailer. 300 litre gas tank, llOkm/h +. $25,000, will separate. Ph 03 5940 2034 bh. ibs Nissan Turbo, 205,000kms, new tyres, air con, 2 owners, ex-Gibson. 7.1m Pantec, tail lift, bellylockers, side roller door, steps, 10x4 annex, floor ing. $40,000. Ph 02 9681 1829. isa Trailer, 6.4m x 2.5m x 2m tandem axle, electric brakes, 2 side access doors, rear door, car ramps, display door. Insulated roof, 12V/240V power, 3 windows(with screens), professionally built, never used. $11,900 ono. Ph 02 4464 3565. ib Trailer, 18L x 6W x 6H. Electric brakes, fully endosed annex. Workbenches, winch, alum ramps, will suit 2 Formula Fords or similar. $5500. Ph 0414 469 250. iss 33ft tri-axle trailer, 8ft wide, 7ft high, electric brakes, living & workshop area, will carry 2 FFords or sedan. *4 FI 99, LWB 4x4, 351 on gas and fuel, complete $20,000, will sep. Ph Tony Jory 03 6326 5555 or 0418 130 133. iM

Ford FIDO, ex-ambulance V8 auto, petrol/LPG, bull bar, tow bar, driving lights, CD player, re sprayed, rally seats, rear bench seat, CB, wide wheels, 5 months Vic rego. $8000. Ph 02 9639 3896 or 0418 639 207. ibs

Rayburn chassis with body, fuel tank and ped als. A1 condition. $2500 ono. Also 2xwlde five rini? with bead locks $300 each. 2x window nets $25 each. Lower control arms with ball joints $100 ea. Assoned shocks with kit & springs from $80.

2x Ultra shield seats 17" and 15" with upholstery $150 ea. 1 Sharreen pump & power head $700.

Chevy 406 built by Ivan Walker. $6800 ono.

Aluminium radiator with thermo $250. Ph Jason 0418 861 224 or Mark 02 9790 7578. m

15 tHtiakirZOOO

Wanted

Mitsubishi Sigma sedan, car has many wins, comes with 14x7 trailer, race suit, all spares to go for moving sale, can run various divisions, must sell. Best offer. Ph 02 6963 6367. i»

Under 2lt Improved Production car, wanted to buy, must be rear wheel drive, reliable & very competitive, prefer NSW-based car, but not essen tial. All carVpackages considered. Ph Grant 02 4368 1562. rss

42ft transporter, 2 cars, hydraulic tail lift, fridge, microwave &TV, annex, racks and belly lockers, 5kva generator. 1986 Scania 92M single drive prime mover, recent engine rebuild. Very good. $80,000. Ph Mike 0418 223 914 i88

Engines Yamaha KT100J, go kart engine, brand new, still in box. Series 2000. $800. ras Chev race engine, new 4340 crank, new Eagle rods, JE pistons, splayed billet caps, dash II Brodix heads, methanol carby full roller extractors, never raced, brand new. $15,000. Ph 08 9452 2808. rs9 Go kart engine KT1001.$800 ono.Ph 0246283706.

Ford 351 Cleveland, high performance 450-t-hp, roller rockers, ported heads, less carby only. $3750 ono. Ph08 8556 1203. 189 Chev 366 Super Sedan engine, 600hp, ex-Blair Granger Bris #5, built by Jack Bros, all parts 2 seasons old, track I heads, Ross pistons, l/A rods, BRC aank, C&S aerosol carb, good torque, (dyno) complete engine. $15,000. Ph 0409 895 934. m 350 Chev 010 4 bolt fully balanced, carillo rods, roller cam/rockers, rev kit, magneto, bowtie heads, methanol carby, starter etc, spare block and other parts, rebuilt by Jack Bros. $9900 ono. Ph 02 6685 7890 bh or 02 6684 7495 ah. rs9 Chev engine parts, 3-5/8" Cola crankshaft $1200. rev kit $100, 4 bolt block $300, Romax balancer $180, Crane 260 roller cam $250, tall boy followers $250, Ph 0417 015 849, laa Ford 302 W, genuine Mustang motor + 3 speed toploader, currently in '67 Mustang, comes with full exhaust to suit Mustang/Falcon, motor has new 600CFM Holley, Hipo air cleaner & power steering pump,$2250 the lot. Ph Gerard 0419 554 019 or 03 9852 4520. isa Toyota G4A-E10 DOHC 20 valve motor. Quad throttle bodies and ram tubes, lightened flywheel, custom fabricated four into one header, extensive headwork, motor just rebuilt, receipts available in excess $4000, inc new pistons, rings, larger exhuast valves, compression 11:1, just run in, hear running. $2850. Ph Dennis 03 5968 8777. tae Ford 429/460 TFS A460 heads and Intake, 429 block (thick webbing),4 bolt main caps, CJ rods, cost $6500, sell $4200 the lot. Ph Gerard 0419 554 019 or 03 9852 4520. raa Brownfield 235 alloy heads, 2 7/16 inch Hilborn injection, K&N air filters, Jessel rockers, Isky tool springs. Crane roller cam lifters, rev kit, pushrods, alloy rxxker covets. GC. $7500 ono. Ph 0412 738 604 or 07 3800 9982 ah. las Ford SOHC 2L, GPI, alloy sump, German block & BV head, tuftrided crank & rods, 520X cam, Vernier wheel, electronic ignition, Mahle pistons etc. $2200. Ph 03 9546 8342 or 0417 239 641. im

Photographs

Mawer racing wheels, or similar, 13" x 15" diameter, any width to suit LI Torana, also fibreglass panels to suit U Torana Sports Sedan. Ph 0417 378 578. isv Whereabouts of, Peter Williamson's Group A Supra last raced at Bathurst, crashed on Conrod Straight in '86. Ph 03 9870 4296. tss Nissan/Datsun R180 4.375/4.4, diff complete, locked or LSD, or ring gear & pinion set only.

Tooth count 35/8. Nissan P/N 38100-V3506 or 38I00-E4105. Ph Anthony 03 5021 3940 bh or 03 5023 0970 ah. m Toyota 3-SGE, competition motor, gearbox, dry sump, exhaust. Ph Dennis 03 5968 8777. las Mechanic, looking for role with race team, all levels of competition considered. Melbourne resi dent. Ph 0414 788 417. 188 Twin plate clutch, 5" or 5 1/2". Coils 2 1/2" ID X 350-450 pounds/inch. Ph Terry 07 3814 3762 or e-mail esp@hypermax.net.au. i8s

Other

Dorian timing transponder, includes charger and mounting box to suit sedan. Perfect working order. $280. Ph 0417 399 162 or 07 3824 2818 ah. ign Helmet Simpson Super Bandit 8, brand new, white, amber visor, size 7 1/2. $400. Ph 0412 618 700. las

JS.

L 1'

Portrait of Peter Brock, by Philip Farley. Umited edi tion print comes with certificate of authentrcrty signed

by Peter Brock, only 950 copies world wide 122^50, a must for the collector, reluctant sale $1200. Ph 07 4128 4689, email asenna@bigpond.com rrrs Bacchus Marsh based racing team, require crew personnel for Future Touring class (Ford team), must be competent and self reliable, experience would be an advantage. Must be willing to make interstate trips. For more info or enquiries, fax 03 5367 1945 or email - marshracing@hotkey.net.au. r« Exhaust tube bender, 3 phase binnie, computer controlled, as new condition. $10,500. Can inspect in Castlemaine, Vic. Ph 03 5472 4116 or fax 03 5470 6966, email - farrell@iaccess.com.au. taa Bolts & fasteners, huge range, GR-8, GR-5, 8.8, NWtecI, rivets, unbrako washers, comes in 20x8 ship ping container that is shelved and has carpet and lighting. Must see, must sell. $9000 ono. Can inspect in Castlemaine, Vic. Ph 03 5472 4116 or fax 03 5470 6966, e-mail: farreli@iaccess.com.au m

Photographs for sale, from Mallala V8 Lites of most V8s, also some photos of support categories.

Ph David Batchelor 08 8634 5310. 189

1^

Car trailer, 4.7m x 2m, chcckplate floor, enclosed front, light truck tyres, 20001b electric winch, 10 months rego, pull out ramps, hydraulic tilt top. $3900. Ph Scott 02 6331 4296 or 02 6332 4936. in

Ford Escort Mk2, Club Car /sports sedan, rolling chassis preferred, must have approved cage, straight, etc. Ph Andrew 0414 287 790. Will con sider shipping from interstate if necessary, les Toyota Supra close ratio gearbox, prefer TRD option kit with .880 overdrive. Ph 03 9870 4296. iss Targa Tasmania 2000, lease Melbourne or Tasmanian-based car by mature, experienced driv er. 5 Targa class wins. Gold Targa trophy. Ph Peter 0418 184 456. 189

Driving gloves, nomex/suede padded knuckles. $135 inc post(np $165). Driving suits made to meas ure $595, suede boots $150, also socks, balaclavas.

All FIA approved. Ph 02 9726 7331. in MOMO steering wheel, 250 mm, suitable for openwheeler, etc. in new condition. $230 ono. Ph 07 3263 6919. rn 2 race suits, 1 RPM Tranzam and 1 RPM Mondial, both size M, black and white. $750 & $575. Brand new. 1 Bell M3 helmet, brand new, white, still in box, never worn $1100. Race boots, red, worn once, size 9-10. $100. Ph 0419 242 025. in Bell Sport2 Helmet,size large. White with dear and dark sisors. Excellent condition. $350. Ph 07 32636919. IB

Photographs for sale, from QLD 500 10/9/00. V8 Supercars and support categories. Also OLD sprint round V8s. Ph Chris or Lynne 07 5483 8360. Some signed by drivers, authorised. 109

Large range of motoring magazines, full set Sports Car World, Radng Car News and many thou sands of others, also motoring books. Ph 08 9279 7003 or fax 03 9377 3939. IBB

81

OPINION

motorsport IDITORIAl STAFF Editor: Phil Branagan Assistant Editor: Gerald McDornan Staff Journalist: Aaron Noonan PRODUCTION Adv & Graphics Co-ordinator: Viv Brumby ADVERTISING Advertising Manager: Brendon Sheridan ADMINISTRATION Managing Director: Chris Lambden CONTACTS 89 Orrong Crescent North Caulfield Vic 3161 (PO Box 1010 North Caulfield Vic3161) Ph: 03 9527 7744 Fax: 03 9527 7766 Email: msnews@ozemail.com.au CONTRIIUTORS General: Grant Nicholas, Darryl Flack, Tony Glynn, Mark Jones, Jon Tnomson FI: Joe Saward, Adam Cooper Europe: Quentin Spurring, Gary Watkins US: Phil Morris Speedway: Brett Swanson, Julie Pearce, Geoff Rounds, Wade Aunger, Tony Millard (UK) Rally: Peter Whitten, Jon Thomson Histories: Brian Reed Drag Racing: Greg Ward, Jon Asher (USA), Dave Ostaszewski (USA), Nick Nicholas, Steven White, Ken Ferguson Super Speedway: Martin Clark (USA) National: Mark Wicks, Sean Henshelwood, Graeme Burns, John Morris, Michael Shaw Photographers: Sutton Motorsport Images, Dirk Klynsmith, Bothwell Photographic, Marshall Cass, Nigel Snowdon & Diana Burnett,Tony Glynn, AFl Images, Neil Hammond, Slipstream Photographic, ThunderPics, Phil Williams, Allsport, John Morris/Mpix, Frank Midgley, John Bosher, Lynley Reid, Mike Patrick (UK), Daniel Wilkins, Wayne Nugent, Peter French, Chris Carter Artist: Bernic Walsh Cartoonist: Allan Schofield Motorsport News is published by Australasian Motorsport News - ABN 55 125 120 702 Publisher: C Lambden Printed by: PMP Print 37-49 Browns Road 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 does not accept responsibility for damage or loss of material submitted.

Opinions expressed in Motorsport News are not necessarily those of Australasian Motorsport News or its staff.

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He’d hate to be picky ...

Congratulations on a great magazine and the exciting new format. The layout and style sure beats the increasingly tabloid editorial style and arrogance of your opposition.

I hate to be picky, but the photo on page 84 accompanying the story of the 2000 Monterey Historic meeting in issue 187 raised my interest.

You claim it is a Ferrari Daytona painted to look like an American classic, but it is an American Classic. It is the

simply a class act and have the best all-roimd package.

What is needed to even the

Talk convertor

Ford Cobra Daytona of 1964/65 built by Carroll Shelby and designed by a Pete Brock (no relation to the Aussie Brock).

These 289 c.i. V8 Cobras were the Coupe (aerodynamic) versions of the Legendary AC/Ford/Shelby Cobras built to contest the FLA GT championship in 1964/65, finally beating the Ferraris in 1965.

Sorry to be a pedant, but great magazine anyway.

Andrew Rowe Brunswick, Vic

I’m being a little picky too!

I think your Monterey correspondent(MN #187, pg 84) may have had a little too much of that Californian wine!

Car 98 in the bottom photo is for sure a Dayrtona Cobra and not ‘Ferrari’s fabulous Daytona.’

Thanks for a terrific magazine.

The new format makes it easier to keep back issues; Joe Saward is always interesting; the photos are always well chosen (and decently sized) and best of all is the broad band of overseas sport reports.

congratulate Channel 10 for giving us our fix of racing, rather than bagging them.

Save that for Channel 7 and the way they let racing fans suffer for so long.

Now for my second gripe.

I really have to laugh every time I hear or read comments from Holden supporters about how Fords need the Holden front undertray to be able to mix it with them.

Have you forgotten 1995, when Ford had to have their undertrays trimmed down so the Holden brigade would be happy?

And what about the fact that the Holdens run a Ford 9” diff centre? What’s that, they want to run the same front suspension as Fords?

Who’s kidding who. All Ford has got back is what they lost in ’95, a decent undertray! The racing has been good, but at least it now has a chance of getting back to a two make contest.

One last word on the parity issue. I think that the problem is more than just a Ford problem, it’s a HRT problem in that they are

field up is a handicap system similar to NASCAE, so that we have a variety of winners during the course of the season, rather than one team winning a majority of the time with a few different winners now and then.

I feel better now; love the new format, keep up the good work.

Warren Taylor Via E-mail katana@sunshine.net.au

HRT too good If Sunday’s race at Queensland won’t shut up the whingers and moaners, then they’re never going to shut up.

While HRT did win ‘again,’ they did so not because they had a bigger undertray or anything like that, but because they have the best brains.

Their move in bringing Lowndes into the pits as the Safety Car came out was simply the right one.

Bargs should have stayed in the car and then hoped for another SC period if he couldn’t go to the finish and had to hand over to Tander.

But weren’t those Fords fast?

As long as they don’t jump the start(Radisich), stuff up their strategy (both SBR cars), blow up (Jones), leak fuel (Johnson), or spin on lap one (Ellery), then they’re a certainty to win at Bathurst...

Harry Macklin Perth, WA

Jackson Ford Bexley, NSW

Give me Ten any day I’d like to respond to all the readers who have felt the need to write in to Talk Converter to gripe about Channel lO’s TV coverage of the V8s.

What makes you guys happy?

Do you want to return to the days of Channel 7 showing a highlights package every couple of weekends, or do you prefer what Channel 10 has been doing?

'That is, giving motor sport viewers the biggest range of motor sport viewing seen on television in recent history.

So what if Bazza gives you the shits because you think he knows jackshit. I think I can handle listening to Bazza if it means I get to watch all the racing that Channel 10 puts on each week.

Come on people, let’s

We got it right this time: So maybe we didn’t ran a photo of a Ferrari when we thought we did in Issue 187. We reckon that this shot from the International Sports Racing Championship at Donington makes up for the lack of Forza, though!

(Photo by SuRoD-tmitM)

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