Motorsport News Issue 202 - March 30-April 12, 2001

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WIN A TRIP TO THE CANBERRA GMC400 V8 SUPERCAR ROUND. As part of the Ford Racing Pick 6 on-line tipping competition, you could be on your way to the GMC400 V8 SuperGar Round in' Canterra with retuirn aiirfares for two plus accommodation. To enter all you need to do is visit:

www.fordracing.forcl.com.au and: enter your details. Entries close 5 April 2001. See website for Conditions of Entry.

Permit no. NSW TC 01/2545 ACT TPOI/tOlO NT Ot/5476 T 01/1025 FCL 3217

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notorsmn Issue 202 30 March - 12 April 2001

INSIDE

News and Opinion

4 7

27 28 82 99

Less wing, more passing V8 drivers want better racing The Rat and Junior DJR's aces pair for enduros First look: Toyota's FI car And Salo, er... christened it Motor Mouth Brighty on life in red Box Seat An outbreak of foot and mouth Talk Converter Jackals? Who? Us? Tander for Jaguar FI? No. But it /s April 1 on Sunday

Features 30 32 33

I* FERRARI: Just Coo good?

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Defending Champ's famttess PI operfer

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frf our man at Ferrari >: Xonru V3s - Oran park

I Drag Nationals

An Aussie at Maranello It's a long way from Bendigo Murf's 95 day haul He's never actually been away Aussies to the fore Enduro drivers at a premium

Race Coverage 34 Skaife wins from Lowndes A promoter's dream comes true at Phillip Island SCS opener 42 Phillip Island Supports Kelly, Will i and Will 2 44 Six of the best Schu just keeps on winning 52 Truckle wins the Konica But Wills still leads the points 62 Peugeot 1-2 in Spain Was Citroen robbed?

Regular Departments 20 56 62 66 68 70 76

Motorcycles Drag Racing Rallying Speedway NASCAR Histories Marketplace

Photos: Cover: John Morris/Mpix and Sutton-lmages. Contents: Lynley Reid, Sutton-lmages, and Dirk Klynsmith.

3

Supepcap wing i Ingall, Seton lead call fan bener l

by PHIL BRANAGAN

A NUMBER of drivers in the Shell Championship Series have suggested that a reduction in downforce could encourage better racing in the V8 Supercar category.

Glenn Seton and Russell Ingall have led the calls, suggesting that the racing has become too processional. The comments come after a weekend of racing at Phillip Island where there was little overtaking inside the top 10 positions in both 28 lap races.

“The cars have too much downforce,” says Seton. “I was running behind a car on the way down to Honda(corner)and I lost all my front downforce, which meant that I was understeering into the slow corner.

“I had to be a car’s length back to be able to have any front downforce and, when you are that far back, it’s hard to get past anyone.”

Ingall has been emphatic about needing changes.

“Absolutely, get rid of it,” he said.

“It has to be about driving. That is what it is about. No-one wants to see only one or two teams dominating, like it is in Formula One. If you have more resources, good for you, but it is not good for the spectators or the sport.

“We went to Eastern Creek for a corporate day, and the four of us drivers got in the four cars there not aU Holdens - and had a series of lap dashes, and then it turned into a full-on race.

“It was the best racing I have had in years. We were all getting out of the cars and saying,‘THAT is what it should be like’, with the attitude of the cars, and smoke coming off the tyres and brakes.

“The cars should be loose, not delicate and fine. You can’t go too loose, and you can’t throw the wings away altogether, but something should be done.

“If it’s hard to feel the limit of the cars, there’s proper racing.

Thumbs up. Let’s make it Super Supercars.”

Holden Racing Team’s Mark Skaife was more cautious, emphasising that the discussions 4

regarding downforce have been part of TEGA’s ongoing technical evolution for some time.

“We should be looking at the way we change the aerodynamic efficiency of the cars,” he said.

“And TEGA has done that, and is continuing to do so.

“But I don’t want to see drivers call for changes to the regulations now. It’s too early to talk about it.

It’s not new news. We have been commenting on how it is an ongoing matter for discussion.”

Seton has likened the situation to that experienced by the British Touring Car Championship, which allowed rear wings and front splitters to be fitted to all cars in 1995.

“The British series showed what happens. The racing used to be great but, as soon as they put the bigger splitters on them, it was terrible.”

Seton, who also raced SOOkmh Ford Sierra Group A cars which had almost no downforce, says that he is not in favom’ of abandoning wings completely, but limiting their effect.

“The only places you really need to make the cars stable for safety sake is Bathurst, and here (Phillip

Pack Attack: The racing in V8 Supercar racing has been close - very close - but a number of leading V8 Supercar drivers are concerned about it following the same slot-car route as the British series.

(Photos by Marshall Cass, Slipstream and Lynley Reid)

Island). That’s understandable.’

Another V8 Supercar driver, who preferred not to be identified, added another two reasons for making changes.

‘The first one is cost,” he said.

“Having smaller wings mounted higher up at the front will reduce

"The cars should be loose, not delicate and fineit - Russell Ingall molorsporl news

NEWS

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The what Kid? i AUSfHINSURE

18 racing Not any more: There will he a new- sponsor at Bathurst in October iPhnio h

Bye bye FAI ... but they were going to go, anyway

LOOK for a new naming "We have already been rights sponsor at Bathurst approached by a number of this year. companies regarding HIH,the parent company of sponsoring the event and FAI Insurance, which has believe there will be a high backed the V8 enduro since level of interest," he said.

1998,fell into financial "The property (ie, race) difficulty earlier this month, offers enormous potential for leaving a provisional a sponsor, with 15 hours of liquidator, KPMG,to handle live national TV coverage."

Jones confirmed that there the insurance company's business. had already been a number of interested companies and But the firm's three-year deal to back the event had would say only that they were run out, and IMG, which discussing "a conducts the seven figure sum"for the event, had naming already been advised in rights deal. n "We hope January that they would - IMG'S Geoff Jones on FAI sooner, rather than not be later, to be continuing. able to announce a new IMG's Geoff Jones said that sponsor for the race." the company and FAI parted "on the best of terms".

Policy holders will have FAI's obligations met by the "They were an excellent international insurance giant, sponsor," he said."They Allianz which also has a believed in the race at motor racing link through its Bathurst and they were sponsorship of the generous in their support."

BMW.Williams Formula One AVESCO issued a media team. release last week,stating A KPMG spokesman said that the naming rights deal last week that claims from for the race was "up for policy holders may be waiting grabs".

Mai Peter, the Director of for up to nine months, and then that some payments Sales and Marketing for IMG would not be made in full. said that interest in the event - PHIL BRANAGAN was very high.

"They believed in the pace at Bathurst and they were generous in their support

the amount of stuff which gets smashed every time you go off the track.

“Also, it is getting harder to overtake even in a straight line.

When you are right behind another car, you lose almost all your air pressure into the intake system through the front. Maybe we should have air intakes at the base of the windscreen, like they have in NASCAR. It could be worth looking at.”

One thing that should be pointed out is that the Phillip Island track probably accentuated the factors the drivers are raising.

But with a WS Superstars’ set for Channel 10 this Sunday, more discussion seems certain.

30 March 2001

DESPITE hints that Craig Lowndes' Gibson Motorsport Falcon would appear at Phillip Island with some sponsor signage, Adelaide now seems the likely launch point for the team's commercial backers.

The team has been in discussion with a number of obvious and lessobvious companies - including Kraft Foods (owned by Philip Morris), whose major recognisable brand in Australia is Vegemite...

According to team boss Fred Gibson, the team is in no desperate hurry to finalise deals, the team's early spectacular success simply attracting additional commercial inquiries.

■ Tony Longhurst for HRT? That's the latest pit lane rumour.

Flaving finalised his split with Stone Bros, the former Bathurst winner is an obvious candidate for serious teams wanting an experienced co pilot later in the year.

In the interim, Tony is expected to continue making occasional appearances in Rod Nash's Commodore.

■ Photographers are not usually noted for their physical fitness, but one Island camera jockey could probably leave the assembled telephoto tyros in her dust. Kathy Watt appeared at her first SCC round, the Olympic gold medal cyclist having considerable experience in photography before trying to focus on things moving at 270kmh.

■ The gloves are off in V8 Supercar racing. No names, no pack drill, but one V8 Supercar star was seen in a brand of glove contrary to his team's arrangement with a wellknown supplier. Ooooppsss ...

■ Merchandising will be growing this season, and the battle between the sponsors will be fascinating to watch. With no Lowndes/Gibson material available for a few weeks, Kmart seemed to be the hot brand at round one, the team actually selling out of stock on Saturday, but the Stone team looks like making ground. When Marcos Ambrose took pole - temporarily - in the Shoot Out, the Pirtek marquee was swamped, with more than a grand's worth of stuff moving before the session was over.

B Owen Kelly has tested the Optus/Lansvale team's new VX Commodore at Oran Park. The Melbourne-based Taswegian is committed to the rest of the Konica Series in John Faulkner Racing's VS Flolden.

5

Crennan's complaint IWRA boss digs at eosts^ Lowndes

TWR Australia boss John Crennan has criticised the increasing costs of competing in the Shell Championship Series - and at the same time, fired a shot at former Holden Racing Team driver, Craig Lowndes.

Crennan, whose company runs both HRT and Kmart Racing in the series, said that the change to more longer races in 2001 has seen costs "go through the roof" and said that TWRA would spend up to $400,000 more this season than last.

"We know precisely what It costs us per car per lap to participate in the V8 Supercar series and when the new format was announced last year we knew we had to get cracking with more sponsor income to offset the increasing costs," he was quoted as saying.

However, he then went on to say that the last six months was the most fertile period he could recall in terms of the sport's sponsorship opportunities.

But then, in the same media release, Crennan said he was "surprised” that Craig Lowndes made a public appeal for

sponsorship on the Network 10 telecast of Phillip Island's SCS opener.

"We had a very substantial amount of personal sponsorship money ready for Craig for this season and it is unfortunate to note, that under his new management, nothing appears to be happening to this point," he said.

Lowndes had been in dispute with TWR over his long-term management contract until sitting down with TWR boss Tom Walkinshaw at the Australian Grand Prix and settling the matter amicably.

Crennan's release concluded with the nev\/s that HRT expects to announce "another major sponsor partner" before the next SCS race, the Adelaide 500.

That makes Crennan's comments about increasing costs even harder to understand, unless the release was a veiled attempt to either squeeze more money from existing sponsors, or attract new ones. And, of course, it is unlikely to diminish Lowndes's motivation to beat HRT at Adelaide, and Eastern Creek, and ...

- PHIL BRANAGAN

Bewdy, we can eat: HRTs Mark Skaife and Jeff Grech celebrate winning at PI-and, of course, free tyres for Adelaide.

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Ferry, cross the Tasman: Radisich is bound to be a popular figure when (Photo by Dirk Klynsmith) the SCS circus hit the Shakey Isles in November.

THERE is still no deal in place for the New Zealand round of the Shell Championship Series.

Sources at Phillip Island told Motorsport News that, despite the fact that race promoter IMG has a contract with AVESCO to conduct the event', having already paid its sanctioning fee, IMG had still to sign the deal with Pukekohe Park Raceway for the race.

While it is believed that there is no danger that the November 11 race will not go ahead, there appears to be a sticking point over ‘green-lighting’ the race.

It is believed that, having realised that IMG has little alternative but to stage the event at their track, Pukekohe management, head by Paul Ireland, is determined to make the conditions under which the race will be held as favourable as possible.

There was a long list - up to 30 - of issues that had to be sorted out between Pukekohe and IMG, but most of these appear to have been resolved, according to MN’s sources.

IMG’s Motorsport Manager, Geoff Jones, says that the details will be finalised shortly.

“There’s no question of money, or any other problems,” he said.

“It’s minor things, like catering and signage. That will be sorted soon.”

In the meantime, a number of meetings have been arranged between IMG representatives and prospective sponsors for the race.

Up to 10 companies are said to be considering taking naming rights for the event and, with meetings scheduled to end before mid-April, an announcement could be made within four weeks.

Already, AVESCO, Holden and Ford are planning a pre-event media blitz across the Tasman, which is likely to heavily feature local heroes, Greg Murphy and Paul Radisich.

Jones said that he is certain that the event will be a “great success”, and even MN’s ‘neutral’ New Zealand source told us: “Don’t worry, book your airfares. The event will go ahead as planned, and it will be a success.”

- PHIL BRANAGAN motorsport news

B full lead

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NEWS

Junior and The Rat ONE race into the Shell Championship Series, the major teams are already starting to plan their endurance strategies.

With drivers at a premium (see feature, page 33) a number of changes are already in the pipeline, with Shell Helix Racing expected to announce that Paul Radisich and Steven Johnson will share a car for the Queensland 500 and Bathurst classic.

The two full-time Dick Johnson Racing drivers have not driven together before, while it will leave a 'guest' pairing in the second car, one driver in contention being Greg Ritter.

At Holden Racing Team, team manager Jeff Grech has confirmed that he is well on the way to settling on a driver line-up.

Mark Skaife and Jason Bright are likely to be the lead drivers

in #1 and #2, unless one of them is mathematically out of contention to win the Shell Championship Series which seems unlikely, with the Pukekohe and Sandown rounds both following Bathurst.

Grech is believed to be looking closely at Nathan Pretty, who drove for both HRT and Holden Young Lions last year.

"We're working on it at the moment, but we'll be fairly well covered, " he said.

“Pretty, or someone like him, is an option. In Nathan's case, there is an arrangement in place if we decide that we want him."

At TWR Australia's other team, Kmart Racing, Rick Kelly looks a likely choice, having already tested a Commodore earlier in the season. A partnership with his brother Todd appears the most probable option.

- PHIL BRANAGAN

SuperCheap Geoff STEVE Ellery will be joined by former Le Mans and Bathurst 1000 winner Geoff Brabham for the Queensland 500 and the currently-sponsorless Bathurst race in October.

Ellery had spoken to his 2000 co-driver Paul Stokell about

returning to the team, though the team wanted someone who could be fully focused on the races and Stokell's Lamborghini Nations Cup commitments clash with that, “We sort of decided on Paul and we wanted to give him a chance but when we couldn’t come to an

Coming through: Look for Geoff Brabham in Ellery’s #31 .(Photo by oirkKiynsmiih) 30 March 2001

agreement, we signed Geoff up,” said Ellery at Phillip Island.

Brabham tested for the team at Queensland Racedway last Monday.

“It’s a gi’eat opportunity for me,” said Brabham.

“Sometime's, when you come in just for the long races you don’t have the opportunity for a lot of track time prior to the event and then it’s a tough call to go to a specialist circuit like Bathurst and be as quick as your team-mate.

“I’ve already been testing with the team and believe the combination holds a lot of promise.

Ellery sees the signing of Brabham as a coup.

“He lives five minutes from the workshop so there's a lot going for him,” said Ellery.

The Supercheap team will have a new AU Falcon XR8 ready for mid-season to debut to succeed its current car which was built new for last season. Ellery said he expects to debut it at the GMC 400 in Canberra.

-AARON NOONAN

n Been busting to bang doors with Skaife, Lowndes and Ingall on your Playstation? It's looking more likely with an announcement that AVESCO has signed a minimum three-year deal with games producer Codemasters for the rights to feature the V8 category in future motor sport games. Codemasters produced the smash-hit TOCA Touring Cars and TOCA Touring Cars 2. Everybody in the Motorsport News office is in line and ready .,. n Oops: Network 10 viewers and fans trackside will have seen Jason Bright's identity crisis on the podium on the weekend. The new Holden hotshoe said it's "great for the Ford fans to have a win straight up and hopefully we can keep it that way," ..

B Lakeside Raceway will receive a proposed $248,000 dollar-for-dollar grant from the Queensland state government if it can raise $250,000 to give the 40-year-old circuit a makeover. Circuit memberships are on offer and will go some way in raising the money for the first stage of the program. A new infield access tunnel, extra run-off area and a pit/paddock revamp are all in the pipeline. li Nick Agland debuted a new naming nght backer on his Formula Ford on the weekend. Bosch Batteries has signed on with the 23year old Spectrum driver for the FF title chase with Castrol also adorning its flanks, the oil company involved in a business partnership program with the Bosch Service Dealer network.

Could he be in a V8 Castrol car later in the year? Remember how impressed Larry was with his testing last year? n Drink up: Brad Jones didn't just debut a new car at Phillip Island but also a new backer. Pepsi has joined BJR and we hear there's a few new sports drinks coming out shortly from the Pepsi group that might have Brad fronting up the publicity. So, instead of 'I wanna be like Mike', perhaps 'I wanna be like Brad?' The team also has a new PR man in Dale Brittain, formerly of JFR. fl Robert Jones has been busy with some testing of Tomas Mezera's Densitron VT. The former Formula Fordster, who finished on the podium at the AGP, is the team's test driver and recently turned some laps at Calder with his eyes on getting a car to run.in the Konica Series. n Yokohama's new Formula Holden tyre made its debut at Phillip Island. Christian Murchison, who drove last year in the categon/ on Dunlops reported that the new front tyre is an inch taller with a hell of a lot of flex. "It feels like driving a giant basketball!" he quipped.

7

Toyota bre

by NICK CARTON

Heat: With de la Rosa waiting, will Rahal dump Burti?

(Photo by Sutton-lmages)

Jaguar pressures Burti, not Irvine JAGUAR Racing’s continued mentaljuggling of its driver line-up has seen the pressure visibly increase on Luciano Burti and ease off a little on Eddie Irvine.

Irvine was this week lauded by Jaguar’s technical director Steve Nichols, who said: “I don’t think, after Schumacher, that there are a lot of guys around who are better than Eddie in terms of ability to contribute to the team and to develop the car and do all the sort of things you need in a diiver.”

Nichols comments came after team boss Bobby Rahal chastened Irvine after he continually and publicly criticised Jaguar Racing and the R2 chassis. Rahal believes in the power of positive thinking instead of having his lead diiver highlight Jaguar’s problems, but Nichols believes that Irvine is doing his best to serve the team.

"He criticises a lot,” said the American.“But that is because we need it and it is not to be negative but to point out things that need to improve. He knows what the score is, you know, what is good and bad, where we need to be. He has been in a Ferrari and they are a very good team and he can tell us the way it is there and the way it should be here.”

Meanwhile, Irvine has come in for stinging criticism from his fellow countryman and former Grand Prix winner John Watson for his attitude. Having missed out on the 1999 world championship with Fen-ari by just points, “Wattie believes that the 36-year-old Irishman is now more interested in Ford’s dollars than in getting himself into a championship challenging situation.

“If you want to be ultra-cynical about it, he’s into cash and collect,” said the former McLaren man.

8

By contrast, Irvine’s team-mate Burti goes into his home Grand Piix under increased pressure as he is believed to have been ordered to get to grips with life as a Grand Prix driver or be dropped - perhaps even before the beginning of FI’s ‘Eui’opean season’. Burti has made a muted start to life as a race driver despite the tremendous amount of experience he has built up in his testing role with both Jaguar and Stewart.

Burti was given the benefit of the doubt after an unspectacularsubstitution for Irvine in Austria last season because his call-up was at such short notice. He has struggled to get within a second of Irvine so far in 2001, however, and Jaguar cannot afford for sentiment to get in the way in a desperate struggle for points.

Currently Formula 1 has di-vided itself into four di-visions on performance alone. Fen-ari is on its own at the top as Minardi is, equally, alone at the bottom.

Currently Jordan, Williams and McLaren are jostling for the runners-up spot and this leaves Jaguar, BAR,Sauber, Prost, Arrows and Benetton all squabbling over the remaining points dropped by the fastest teams.

Burti was damned by faint praise in Australia after his qualifying accident when he was denied access to the spare car because the team ‘didn’t want to over-burden him’, and Rahal wouldn’t commit himself in Malaysia.

“I have stressed to Luciano our faith in him,” he said. “He is our driver, and until he isn’t, there is not much point in conjecture.

Perhaps he will decide after a while that he doesn’t like this.”

-JOE SAWARD

THE long-awaited first appearance of Toyota's Formula 1 test car came about at the Paul Ricard circuit in France, and although the Japanese giant remains level headed it has a surprise or two in store for the coming months.

The car will be driven by the Toyota Motorsport test team of Mika Salo and Allan McNish through 2001, as had been previously announced, but Toyota will also keep the two men on for its first season in competition in 2002, bucking yet another trend. The team which has chosen to operate from Germany - a unique decision in modern Grand Prix racing - has also opted to avoid the increasing wave of young talent in order to give make-or-break opportunities to two experienced men.

Nonetheless, Toyota Motorsport president Ove Andersson did not make any great claims that the team will dominate upon its arrival.

"Only when we succeed can we maybe start thinking, or better dreaming, about challenging for the title," he said, "Of course there is a desire to see the car race as soon as possible but we are realistic and want to have the car well prepared for racing, so that's why we are embarking on such an exhausting test program."

Toyota Motorsport will develop and manufacture its own chassis and engines from the team's base in Cologne from which a decade of success in the World Rally Championship was masterminded. The Formula 1 project will be headed by general manager Norbert Kreyer and technical director Andre de Cortanze.

Already Toyota has around 20 engines for testing and the car is said to conform totally with current FI regulations, having even completed the new crash tests successfully, and FIA president Max Mosley paid tribute to the thoroughness of the outfit's preparation.

"1 want to welcome Toyota into Formula One for the 2002 season, he said. "This is an historic day. It says two things about Toyota - for the first time in the modern era we will have a major manufacturer in Formula One and they will be doing everything themselves.

"That is an extraordinary achievement and shows their self-confidence that in the full glare of the public they have decided to go into one of the mosi demanding sports. That is very courageous.

"Not only for Toyota but for Formula One, it is important that we are competitive," said the team's Finnish driver Salo.

"Formula One needs another dominant team. Flopefully, that will be Toyota. That is why I am here."

-(j/OTA

motorsport news

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NEWS ... and IVlika 'baptises' it!

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SCOTLAND'S Allan WIcNish has been named as IWlika Sale's partner with the Toyota Motorsport Formula 1 team in 2002.

And while the chance to finally get into Grand Prix racing may seem like a good idea for the 31-year-old from Dumfries, below, it is unlikely that the new team will make much of an impression in Formula 1.

Toyota bosses have realised that they need to play down their ambitions and are now saying that they hope to be able to qualify when the team debuts in FI in Australia next year. The 'Japanese have also begun explaining that the decision to

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do everything in-house was deliberate so that Toyota personnel would learn as much as possible about how Formula 1 works.

This is a curious approach but, as money seem to be no object to Toyota, it can afford to be unsuccessful. This is a luxury which few FI teams have.

Toyota adopted a similar policy in CART racing but eventually realised that the only way to go forward was to go into partnership with good teams and as a result of that the firm is now doing well in the United States series.

It is possible that after three or four years of losing in Formula 1, a similar decision will be taken there but, at the moment, Toyota says that it intends to push ahead with the program, based in Germany and employing a large number of staff without any FI experience.

As we have suggested, Toyota will be backed by Esso.

The Toyota VI0 FI engine is a 90-degree VI0 but, while the unit has been run for several complete race distances on the dynamometers in Cologne, the first run in a car ended after just a couple of laps.

- NICK CARTON Oh, what an FI car!

Salo gets to work at Paul Ricard - before bending Toyota’s latest weapon.

McNish, inset, will join him.

(Photos by Sutton-Images)

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TOYOTA TOYOTA’S Formula One preparations suffered a minor setback when Mika Salo crashed while testing the recently-launched car at Paul Ricard last Sunday.

Salo was travelling down Mistral Straight when the gearbox failed, sending the car into the wall at around 220kph.

He was examined by team doctor Riccardo Ceccarelli before being flown to La Timone hospital in Marseille for a precautionary checkup. The Finn escaped serious injury', but did experience some back pain, and flew home for rest. He will continue with his fitness progi-amine before retm-ning to his testing duties in the near future.

Damage to the car was restricted to the nose, and the carbon-fibre gearbox components that failed will undergo x-ray examinations at Toyota's Cologne base before testing resumes this week.

F1 TV down FOR the first time in recent history, Formula One Management Ltd has reported a fall in viewing figures for the FIA Formula 1 World Championship,from 57.75 billion viewings in 1999 to 53.27 in,2000.

The number of viewings the cumidative sum of the total number of viewers globally available to watch every Formula 1 race and report broadcast throughout the year - was dented by the abandonment of Formula 1 by broadcasters from 11 countries which previously bought the coverage.

Fourteen countries have now stopped carrying FI since 1998, bringing the total to 195.

- JOE SAWARD

ADELAIDE 500!

Skaife made a perfect start to his Championship defence at Phillip Island... ...what can Lowndes and Bright pull out of the bag in the City of Churches?

n Can anyone stop Ferrari?

McLaren have their work cut out as FI heads Brazil-wards n CART at Long Beach The action resumes a month after Mexico. a Perth ARC Possum sets out for his squillionth championship.

9

ten home of

[motorsport] Shell Championship Series V8 Supercars * Adelaide ....

8

●R d2

Apr 29 ... .Eastern Creek

●R d3

May 13 ...Hidden Valley JunlO Canberra ...

,R d5

Jun 24 . . . .Perth

,R d6

Jul 15 . . . .CaiderPark .

.R d7

Jul 29 . . . .Oran Park . . .

.R d8

R d4

Aug 26 . - .Ipswich

,R d9

Sep 9

,Rd 10

Winton

%

i ^

Konica V8 Supercar Series * May 6 . . . .Winton . . .

.Rd3

May 27 . . .Philip Island Jul 8 Lakeside

.Rd4 Rd5

Aug 12 . . .Mallala .

Rd6

Bathurst

.(non Championship)

FIA Formula One World Championship Brazil* Apr 15

. . .San Marino*

.Rd3 .Rd4

Apr 29 . . . .Spain

,Rd5

May 13 . . ,A1-Ring*

,Rd6

May 27 . . .Monaco* Jun 10 . . .Montreal

,Rd8 ,Rd9

● - denotes F3000 round also SOOcc World Grand Prix Motorcycle Championship * .Rd 1 8 Japan . . . .

Apr 22 . . . .South Africa

.Rd 2

May 6

Spain . . . .

.Rd 3

May 20 . . .France . . .

.Rd 4

June 3

.Rd 5

Italy

FedEx CART Championship Series * Aprs

.Long Beach

.Rd 2

Apr 29

Texas . . .

.Rd3

May 6

Nazareth .

.Rd4

May 19 . . .Motegi . .

Jun 3 . .Milwaukee

.RdS

Jun 17

.Rd7

. . .Detroit. . .

.Rd6

World Rally Championship* .Rd 5

May 3-6 . . .Argentina .

Jun 3 Cyprus . . .

.Rd 6

Jun 17

.Rd 7

. . .Acropolis .

SBK World Super Bike Championship 1

. . . .Kyalaini . . . .

Rd2

Apr 22 . . . .Philip Island

.Rd3

Apr 29 . . . .Sugo

.Rd4

rten1 home of

motorsport] I \ H

All event dales in this calendar were correct at the time of printing. Please consult any individual tracks and/or associatbns for date changes.

I

Series or events telecast on Network Ten are marked with an asterisk. Check your local guides for screening details.

THEEE are a number of tracks and promoters vying to continue Australia’s round of the American Le Mans Series.

Panoz Australia, which organised the now-defunct Race of a Thousand Years in Adelaide, is believed to have at least three series options to hold a race this season.

These are believed to be serious bids for a race in either New South Wales, Victoria or Western Australia.

There had been talk that there could be a street race based around Sydne/s Olympic precinct, or one at Eastern Creek.

“We've had five proposals for races since Adelaide was cancelled (at the end of February). Sydney is a strong contender and the Olympic facility would be an exciting place to hold our event,” ALMS founder Don Panoz said.

A spokesman for the New South

W’ales sports board said: “We are interested in the ALAIS and we are talking about it soon.”

But it is believed that, last week ●after meeting with Australian representatives, Panoz said that a NSW event was not likely.

Another is to hold a race on December 8-9 at either Sandown or Phillip Island. Sandown already has the final round of the Shell Championship Series scheduled for December 2, but track promoter Jon Davison did not see this as a problem.

“All the infrastructure is already in place,” he said this week.

“We can bump the V8 Supercars out on Monday morning and bring in the sportscars. It’s no problem; it’s mainly housekeeping. But sportscar racing in Australia has a problem; both events at Sandown (in the 1980s) and the one in Adelaide have failed.”

Davison has gone as far as to suggest that the event would be split into two races.

“My recommendation to Panoz’s Scott Atherton was to run the event in two segments. We would not like to approach the council for a late-night permit.”

Davison says that he will approach the Victorian government for support once he has a clearer idea of what will happen to the event. One thing in his favour is that the Victorian Minister for Tourism, Mr John Pandazopolous, is the member for the local seat of Dandenong.

One thing that may stop the race going to Phillip Island is the limited number of days that the track has available to it to run events in which cars make substantial noise. The Environment Protection Authority stipulates that the track cannot exceed noise limits on more than

Sandown plans Easter bU

SANDOWN promoter Jon Davison has said that this year's Easternats will be the biggest yet.

The event, set down for Sandown on April 13-15, is expected to draw up to 600 entries, making it the largest event of its type ever held in Victoria.

For the first time, there will be

a Super Cruise on the Princess Highway, as well as one event on the infield of the racetrack.

“We think that cars may get as fast as 200kmh," says Davison.

Ford and GM have both approached Davison to support the event, and several V8 Supercar drivers will be in attendance to provide rides around the track for the public.

As well, there will be displays of the latest in both marques highperformance cars.

Sandown will be supporting a number of competitors, including Gary Myers (Mustang), Peter and Debbie Gray (Chev Camaro) and Clint Ogiivy, the runner-up in the Summernats burnouts.

“We believe that the event will have something for everyone,

moiorspon news

NEWS ¥

Peugeot'S'02 ARC assault

by JON THOMSON

i

a set number of days.

PI also has a Super Touring/Future Touring endurance race scheduled for the week after the December 8/9 weekend.

Perth’s problems appear to be that any facility could not be ready in time for a race this year.

Panoz explained that the Western Australian track would be finished in time for the 2003 season, but he refused to reveal details except that it would not be a street circuit and that it would be close to the city.

Panoz did admit that he wants the circuit to be ready for when he launches a stand-alone Asian series. He explained that it was unlikely to happen next season.

“It's not just a question of staging races,” he said. “We need an infrastructure of teams.”

- GARY WATKINS/STAFF

PEUGEOT will be a part of the Australian Rally Championship next year - with a 206 World Rally Car earmarked for the local title.

The French maker swept all before it in the World Championship last year, with Finn Marcus Gronholm at the wheel of the sleek silver factory machine, and now the local distributor Peugeot Concessionaires wants to capitalise on the success of the car by chasing the Aussie title.

Peugeot Concessionaires general manager Mr Chris Downie said last week that an ARC campaign in 2002 was one of the company's main priorities as it pushes to expand its market presence in this country.

“We are committed to making Peugeot successful in Australia and the rally progi'am. is an important plank in our plans,” said Mr Downie.

“The Australian Rally Championship would be used to promote our hot hatches, both the 206 and the 307 when it arrives here.

“We have requested a 2001-spec 206 WEC from the factory, as campaigned by Marcus Gronholm this year and it is on the agenda.

“We have talked to the factory

about a program and it would not be cheap, particularly as a car alone costs about $750,000, but we want it to happen,” he said.

Peugeot Sport has been churning out 206 WRCs since early 2000 and now there are many examples contesting national championships in Europe, along with a swag of privateer machines in the WEC including those campaigned by Italian operation Grifone.

Peugeot Concessionaires is part of the Inchcape Group, whose managing director Ti'evor Amery steered the company's other marque, Subaru, into Australian ralljdng when he headed up that franchise.

Downie, who formerly headed up VW in Australia, was seen deep in conversation with former VW campaigner Simon Evans and his team manager Tom Fyfe at last year's Rally Australia in Perth.

Evans is one of a handful of drivers who would be capable of piloting a car such as the 206 WEC. However he could be in competition with foi-mer Subara gimup N driver Michael Guest and with Neal Bates who will be out of a drive with Toyota at the end of this year.

Peugeot's entry into the ARC will be given added impetus with the liliely arrival of a Hyundai WEC car here next year as well.

^ckbuster and will be a great event for the family," says Davison.

One of the highlights of the event will be the Burnout finals on Sunday afternoon, which will feature 50 cars running over a three hour period.

Entries are stil l available for the event, and will be accepted up to 10:00am on Sunday, April 15.

30 March 2001

Two-Oh-Six: Could we soon see a Peugeot 206 WRC in our forests (Photo by Sulton-lmages) and, if we do, who will be driving it?

n Spotted wandering around the pits was 1998 Formula Ford champ Adam Macrow. Macrow was all but signed and sealed to run a Konica program with a Ford team in Queensland until a change of plans and he was busy scouring the paddock II Champ Car refugee Mark Blundell has claimed the final seat in MG's Lola-run prototype squad for Le Mans. The new LMP675 class was due to turn a wheel for the first time on Wednesday this week with Anthony Reid driving.

B Rickard Rydell will race a Volvo l S40 Super Tourer in the Swedish Touring Car Championship this year in addition to carrying out testing work for the manufacturer's new touring car challenger. n Expect former CART and now Busch NASCAR driver PJ Jones to be in a seat for Indy. Fie may move into the CURB Records car that Billy Boat will leave for the race to join AJ Foyt. a The new Riley & Scott MklllC won't be on the grid for June's Le Mans 24 Flours. The Dyson Racing squad gave the car a promising debut in the Sebring 12 Flours, but the team decided against entering the French enduro. Team boss Rob Dyson said: “The car is still too new to take to a place like Le Mans.’ n Reynard's next all-new prototype will be aimed at the LMP675 branch of the category'. This year's 01Q, a reworking of the 2000's 2KQ, is due to be raced by the Dick Barbour and ROC Racing squads in the ALMS and ELMS respectively with Eric van de Poele and Didier de Radigues doing the driving.

B A works-backed Chrysler Viper should be on the grid for this year's Le Mans 24 Flours. The factory ORECA team has withdrawn from the GTS class to concentrate on its prototype programme, but the French team appears to be the driving force behind a solo Viper GTS-R entered under the banner of the French motorsport federation. Likely drivers include David Terrien, last year's SportsRacing World Cup champion.

B Corvette Racing has signed Scott Pruett to drive the longer events on this year's Sportscar calendar, in specifically the Le Mans 24 Flours and the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, He replaces Chris Kneifel, who was recently appointed CART Chief Steward, The third Kelley Racing entry for indy which Pruett's name has been linked with will more than likely not run at all, the team focused first on getting regular drivers Mark Dismore and Scott Sharp into the field safely.

11

News

FI team speak on AGP accident BAR chief Craig Pollock and Williams Technical Director Patrick Head have spoken of their findings following the accident in Australia between their two drivers, Jacques Villeneuve and Ralf Schumacher,from which a flying wheel killed spectator marshal Graham Beveridge.

Currently the Australian authorities have kept the remains of Villeneuve's BAR, from which the wheel that hit Beveridge came,and all parties are seeking to reach a positive conclusion to the investigation.

"They've certainly asked for the data from our car," said Pollock,"and I believe they've asked for the data from the Williams as well, and obviously we are helping them out with anything they want to know.”

In the time following the Australian Grand Prix, questions have been raised over who,if anyone, was at fault for the incident but Pollock insisted that it was not a question of Schumacher or Villeneuve being blamed for the catastrophe. "I don't think either driver was lifting off any earlier or later than before," he said. "Certainly it was earlier than he (Villeneuve), would be lifting off in qualifying, but I think it was just a basic racing accident - and that's how I'd like to leave it."

Head, meanwhile, was a little more forthcoming.

"Ralf's braking-point was the same or slightly later than on the previous lap," he said. "I think it was fairly well-known that the Michelin tyres had a bit of a dip in them in their early laps, so I think Ralf was probably struggling with a bit of understeer at that time, and I'm sure that Jacques had in his mind that he was going to overtake him."

-(MICK GARTON 12

More Renaults?

by JOE SAWARD ALTHOUGH its engine is far from competitive, there are rumours beginning to circulate in France that the radical 111degree unit wiU be farmed out either to a second works team or as a customer version.

Historically there is a precedent for such a plan as the last time Renault ran a full works team in 1977-’85 it did allow Lotus access to its engines - but only after several years of development.

Development is one thing that the new unit needs above all in Renault’s quest to get to the top in FI, and as such it would seem strange to dilute it with a customer program. Honda, of course, supplies both Jordan and BAR with some success but it began with a conventional unit of daunting ability, and it remains to be seen whether or not it can successfully spread itself so thinly and still take the final step to set the pace rather than run very close to it.

Mercedes-Benz has never taken its engines to more than one team, allowing Ilmor to work with singleminded intent. BMW has also not yet shown the slightest inclination to divert its efforts away from Williams, and the results of that policy are already bearing fruit, with both Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya on the pace of Ferrari in Malaysia.

Ferrari supplies older-spec engines to Prost and Sauber, but these are low-maintenance deals for the Scuderia and take nothing away from its own engine program.

Should Renault truly be putting its engine out to a second team the only obvious candidates are its current rivals at the blunt end of the field -Arrows and Minardi.

Aitows has strong connections with TWR of course, which built the Nissan R.390 supercar and ran Nissan’s world sports car program.

The Renault-owned brand is still finding its feet after recent financial difficulties and it may be that adding a bit of Formula 1 glitter may help the brand, but

Asiatech is not only a supplier of its rebadged Peugeot engines to Ai-rows but also a partner in the team and this appears to be a long term tie-in.

This leaves European Minardi as the most likely benefactor from any such plans on Renault’s part.

Paul Stoddart’s Anglo-Italian team currently runs the European VIO, which is a substantially reworked version of the 1998 Ford Cosworth unit and desperately needs to secure a manufacturer deal.

Certainly, there is a link to Renault both through Renault’s initial interest in buying the team and through its lease of talented youngster Fernando Alonso’s driving abilities.

Whether the Renault appears in the Minardi, and whether it would be badged as a Renault, Nissan or European would seem to be entirely dependent upon how desperate Renault is to put miles on its truculent unit within the current testing restrictions and also just how persuasive Stoddart can be.

Returning partners? Renault may expand its F1 program, and Alain Prost might be a Camel again. (Phoiobysmion.images)

And a return for Camel?

ANOTHER sponsor from the past being mentioned as a possible FI returnee is Camel.

The cigarette brand, which sponsored the Lotus team from 1987 to 1990, and which was subsequently on both Benetton and Williams until 1993, is being

linked to a potential sponsorship with Alain Frost’s team. An announcement could be made as soon as the weekend of the San Marino Grand Prix on April 13-15.

Prost initially carried sponsorship from Gitanes, which is owned by French tobacco giant

SEITA. Camel is a brand of the American company, RJ Reynolds, which has a substantial motor racing sponsorship of the NASCAR series through its Winston brand.

Should Prost gain the deal, expect to see the cars appear in predominantly yellow livery,

molorsport news

OPINION

A tough start ad a gut full of cricket and football? Good, so have I.Thank Christ the motor racing season has started. And at Phillip Island on the weekend it certainly did! Not brilliant overall, but still good.

sure, will be quite the opposite and work brilliantly. Phillip Island is more suited to shorter sprint races, as tyre wear is still a consideration. The longer the race, the more spread out the cars will be, which was quite evident on the weekend.

That's two years we have run this style of race at Phillip Island.

Not for a third, please.

kay, I have put it off for long enough, as much as it pains me, I suppose I should give you my list of excuses for the weekend.

What can I say; basically, we got blown away.

Through testing we settled on a say that because the most pace that we thought would be interesting part of the weekend quick enough and, basically, it wasn't. was seeing all the new team combinations, There have been paint schemes quite a few teams and all the doing their homework fanfare that over the break, which goes with it. was highlighted on The whole the weekend. road show has Unfortunately, Phillip Island is one of those gone up another level, places where, if the with all the car handling is a bit teams involved evil, it's very difficult to drive around the looking absolutely problem as you immaculate in usually end up their embedded in a fence. presentation I kept hearing the Mind ifIJoin you?; Ingall gets up close and personal with Greg and definitely voices from my 20 (Photo by John Morris/Mpix) Murphy at Phillip Island. showcased the team members saying sport as world"finish, finish, finish, class entertainment. points, points, points". So that's Afew people In my opinion, what made it just me on how commented well Craig to exactly what we did. a 'good' weekend was the actual Lowndes is going so far this We weren't going to win, so go race itself. year, but to be quite honest, I the points. I know this is very unI have had a few comments Russell like, but trust me, once can't understand why people think it should be a surprise. we get to the circuits where it is back from some motor racing His team purchased an exfans that the racing was slightly peddling the car that counts, and not that we are three clicks out monotonous and, more to the Stone Brothers car, which we all with the shockers, I will be back know has to be a front-running point, hard to follow. Especially car. in the middle of the races - who to my old self before you know it.

1 believe they supplied actually was leading, who had pit 0 finish off, I would like to engines and have been stopped, who hadn't and so on. reportedly supplying technical remind everyone that the V8 could be a bit harsh, bagging data and Craig is hardly a dud Supercar panel show is on again the format at such an early driver by any means, so why this Sunday so make sure you tune in and watch all the stage, as the long race format at shouldn't they be going all right! a few of the other tracks, I am Enough said. geniuses of motor sport cure the

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Once m get to the circuits where it is peddling the car that counts, and not that we are three clicks out on the shockers, I will he back to my old sell n before you know it. problems of the world.

Also, there is a fantastic new Internet game at http /,'www,dreamdrive.tv that's up and running on the Internet where you can run your own V8 Supercar team and drivers competing against other entrants.

Based on the results of the actual V8 Supercar races, there will be winners from each round with fantastic prizes at the end of the season.

We are all off to the sensational Adelaide 500 for the next round of the Championship and trust me, I can't wait to get there for what is definitely one of the best rounds of the Championship.

Hope to see you there.

By Allan Schofield

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30 March 2001

13

Guess what?

MICHAEL Andretti will be in the field for this year's Indianapolis 500!

The announcement was due to be made at a press conference on Tuesday after we went to press, which wil l see the former Champ Car champion return to the Brickyard for the first time since 1995 and the subsequent split between CART and the IRL, formed by Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Tony George.

The car will be backed, as we predicted last issue, by his CART sponsors Motorola, with sources suggesting the amount of money being pumped into the one-off race venture enough top run an existing IRL team for a season!

Andretti tested a Pennzoil Panther Racing Dallara/ Oldsmobile Aurora at Homestead on the weekend,(an opportunity which arose when the Rio CART race was cancelled) with the chassis and equipment to be sourced by Team Green from Panther Racing, who won the IRL's opening race of the season at Phoenix. Barry Green's scheduled presence at the press conference would seem to indicate that he will enter and run Andretti in the IRL's showcase event, a race Andretti has never won.

Green has always stated his intention to focus and concentrate on winning the CART championship, but Andretti's desire to return to the Indy race as well as his backers obviously has given Green reason to try and repeat the Indy 500 success he had with Jacques Villeneuve in 1995. The race was the last where CART awarded points towards its championship and the field was made up primarily of cars from the CART series.

Andretti joins Gil de Ferran, Helio Castroneves, Bruno Junqueira and Nicolas Minassian as CART drivers in the May classic.

- PHIL MORRIS M

Foot & mouth cpisis worse

by JOE SAWARD BRITISH Motorsport Promoters(BMP)is preparing to refund all the tickets sold in advance for Silverstone’s Spring'Trophy on the weekend of April 1 as the foot and mouth crisis continues to ravage British livestock ... and the threat to the British Grand Prix increases.

It is highly likely that the meeting will be adjudged too big a risk to the local environment as the British government seeks to find a way to curb the spread of the virus which is deadly to cloven-hoof animals.

Human beings are not affected by the disease but are carriers through clothing and dirt on the shoes, and this can then spread over 40 miles on the wind, bringing certain doom to any cows, sheep, deer or pigs in its way.

Early season club events have taken place at Silverstone, where the total attendance has been a few hundred including competitors, although strict disinfecting measures have been put in place. By contrast the prospect of several thousand people coming from across the country to wander the 800-acre site is a serious threat that may bring the disease rampaging through the hitherto uninfected land near Silverstone.

The British Rally Championship has already been grievously hit by the catastrophe. The opening two rounds of the series - the Vauxhall Rally of V/ales and the Pirelli International Rally in Cumbria have already been abandoned in this make-or-break year for the BRC. The introduction of full World Rally Cars to Britain’s leading series and the arrival of a rival championship package has hindered the BRC’s repackaging.

The third BRC round, the Scottish Rally in June, runs through some of the worst hit areas in Britain and may well be rescheduled for October. The following Jim Clark Memorial

Rally, although an asphalt round on the closed roads of the Scottish borders, is likely to be moved from June to December, and the Manx Rally held on the hithertouninfested Isle of Man is keeping a watching brief for any cases of infection in its agriculturallyfocused economy. There remains a realistic threat, however, that the entire championship could be scrubbed.

The Government’s latest figures estimate that there will be no control of the spread of foot and mouth before early June at the soonest, by which time there will be over 4000 confirmed cases of the outbreak. This is over four times the scope of the previous national foot and mouth crisis of

1967, which caused the abandonment of that year’s RAC Rally(now the FIA Rally of Great Britain), and more livestock have been slaughtered in the first month of the current outbreak than in the entire course of the 1967-68 outbreak.

All this is a cause of gi-ave concern over the British Grand Prix, scheduled for 15 July, as the British government seeks to impose a 120-day incubation period on affected areas. Even if the event survives the cull of British sporting events, it could well struggle to draw a full attendance if large percentages of its ticket holders have to travel through or from incubated foot and mouth zones.

Vii

A NUMBER of principals inciuded in a 1969 Formuia One design study by Pinir ieading FI designers in the aftermath of Melbourne’s marshal fatality. Noted de project, which aims to provide a high ievei of protection for the drivers, as well £ into the air after contact. The Pininfarina car, incidently, appeared at the Melbot motorsport news

NEWS

Reynard to build Jag’s FI wind tunnel Coming to Europe: The HANS concept has worked well, especially in US Super Speedway racing. Will it be mandatory in FI? (Photobysuiton-images)

Compulsory HANS in ’02?

The 2002 season will in aU probability see the mandatory use of the HANS(Head and Neck Safety), device in Formula 1,following moves to

1 i

j \ ii .r-

8-

ifarina are under consideration by signer Alan Jenkins is involved in the iS minimise the opportunity for cars to fly irne Motor Show in 1970.

30 March 2001

make it a global requirement in the wake of the death of NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt.

Earnhardt died following an accident on the last lap of this year’s Daytona 500, the blue riband event for the American series, sending out shockwaves akin to the loss of Ayrrton Senna in Formula 1. It is understood that the injuries to the base of the skull to which Earnhardt succumbed were caused when his head hit the steering wheel,something which the HANS system could help to avoid.

The HANS restricts the driver’s upper body movement, thereby cocooning them in the event of a major impact and although a percentage of the NASCAR drivers opted to wear it of their own volition, Earnhardt was not one of them.

The system has undergone preliminary testing in the Formula 1 environment but it is felt that modifications are required before it can effectively be used in the tighter confines of a Formula 1 car. Following the scale of the accidents that befeU Michael Schiunacher and Jacques ViUeneuve through the Australian Grand Prix weekend, however,this is likely to accelerate the development of HANS for Formula 1.

- NICK CARTON

ADRIAN Reynard is about to pull off a remarkable coup by agreeing a deal to have Reynard Motorsport build a Formtda 1 standard windtunnel for Jaguar Racing.

Reynard is a shareholder in Jaguar’s rival British American Racing hut in recent months he has had almost no actual involvement in the running of the team, as this has been taken over almost entirely by Craig Pollock.

Reynard has been very busy trying to rebuild his racing car business after a series of setbacks and selling aerodynamic technology is a logical route for him to take. Reynard engineers have been involved in the design and construction of three of the most advanced windtunnels in the world: the BAR windtunnel in Brackley, the Auto Research Center windtunnel in Indianapolis, Indiana and the recently-completed NASCAR windtunnel in Mooresville, North Carolina.

In all three cases, Reynard has been involved in the project with a partner providing the financing and obviously this has produced a healthy revenue stream as the construction of windtunnels costs many millions of dollars.

Jaguar Racing needs a good vhndtunnel quickly because plans for the all-new Ford motorsport campus,at Silverstone have been chugging along rather slowly, and the team has had to continue to use the Swift Aero windtunnel in San Clemente, California, which is not a very convenient arrangement and one which was left over from the days of Stewart Grand Prix.

The work at the motorsport campus is not expected to begin for at least six months and it will be another year before the windtunnel is likely to be finished.

There will then be a period of commissioning and so the windtunnel will probably not be ready for use until the design of the 2004 car begins.

-JOESAWARD

n Dutchman Christjian Albers has been confirmed as Mercedes' 10th driver in the DTM. The 21-year-old, who was Mark Webber's F3000 team-mate last season, joins the Persson Mercedes team in addition to his role as European Minardi FI test driver. n From the 'you must be kidding file': Who made his Indycar commentary debut on ESPN last weekend at Phoenix in the IRL? None other than Jason Priestley, former Beverley Flills 90210 star and IMSA and rally driver himself.

H Reigning FIA GT Champion Julian Bailey will return to the series with Lister less then three months after he was dropped by the British squad.

Bailey will race the team's second Jaguar-engined Storm with German amateur Nicolaus Springer. Co champion Jamie Campbeli-Walter drives the lead car with Dutchman Tom Coronet He will drive for MG at Le Mans.

B BTCC ace Anthony Reid has said that Alain Menu's move to the DTM will keep a lid on what he sees as over-inflated salaries. "I'm glad Alain iMenul has left the championship," said Reid,'because his wage demands have really put an economic dampener on things. So it's really good to get back to basics." n Wynn's V8 driver Paul Dumbrell is due to test a Busch Grand National NASCAR shortly. The 18-year-oid's test is with a team that is backed by Wynn's in the US. He finished second on the weekend in the Southern 300 Endurance event at Ruapuna Park Raceway in New Zealand in a works BMW with Kevin Bell.

8 Murchison and Ashby? Lansvale sponsor Cable and Wireless Optus has been in the news recently. The country's second-largest telecommunications company is to be taken over by SingTel, the Singapore government-owned telco.

Of course, with Murcho now calling the island economic powerhouse home...

8 Minardi may only be a small team but it has always been innovative and it seems that it will soon become the first team to use an all titanium cast gearbox. At the moment, the team is using a 2000spec gearbox because there was no time to do anything else, but an Italian firm called CPP has been building the first of Minardi's 2001 gearboxes and these should make their debut at the Spanish GP. The new units will mean a completely new rear end for the existing cars but the team hopes that there will bee a significant weight-saving involved.

15

STOP PRESS: BUGAISKI Former Formula Fordster makes impressive FHolden debut PENALISED FURTHER

McColl gets NRC ride

by AARON NOONAN

JUST as we were about to close for press came the news that Citroen’s Philippe Bugalski, who led the Cataluyna WRC round for most of Saturday and part of Sunday, has been demoted from fourth to eighth in the results.

The FIA has handed the Frenchman an extra two minute penalty for starting stage 15 prior to the starting line. This comes on top of a two minute penalty which he was given for starting the same stage late.

Citroen’s director told the media that he did not agree with the FIA rules. He could still be called before the sport's motor sport council in April for further punishment.

IN an 11th hour deal completed just prior to the opening round of the Formula Holden championship on the weekend, Stewart McColl has signed to drive for NRC

Racing.

McColl, who finished third in last year’s Formula Ford championship and had two tests with the Melbourne-based team, will drive alongside Emerson Newton-John in the Formula Holden series.

“It has been difficult waiting for so long during the off season for many things to happen to allow me to join a top Formula Holden team this season,’^ said McColl.

“To join NRC Racing at the last minute before the first round certainly makes it all worth it- it couldn't have worked out better for this major step in my motor racing career. I am very excited about the season ahead.”

Eyes on Rick Kelly and Birrana: Stewart McColl becomes the latest Formula Holden rookie in the 2001 field.

McColl made an impressive debut at Phillip Island on the weekend with second overall, especially considering his lack of experience in the ‘wings and slicks’ category.

Lack of experience in starting these types of cars forced the New South Welshman (who now lives in Melbourne)to fight through the

field after slow starts, but he set the fastest lap of the weekend during his charge and is pumped up for Adelaide.

‘Tm looking forward to Adelaide.

The lessons learnt at Phillip Island were pretty necessary in terms of simply getting more experience with the car and the way it responds, so I’ll be feeling a

Bob Wollek 1943-2001

SPORTSCAR racing lost one of its legends with the death of Bob Wollek on the eve of the Sebring 12 Hours earlier this month. The 57-year-old was due to compete in the : race he won back in 1985 when he was knocked off his bicycle on a public road near the Florida track.

The Petersen Motorsport team he was to drive for with young Brit Johnny Mowlem withdrew as a mark of respect.

Wollek became a fixture of Sportscar scene after a career spanning five decades. A former world student ski champion and member of the French downhill and slalom squads, he switched ‘ to motorsport at the age of 24.

He raced at Le Mans for the first time in 1968 and was still a contender for outright honours 30 years later.

The Frenchman may not have won the ultimate prize in his chosen discipline, but he notched up victories in just about every other race worth winning in sportscars racing. He achieved four triumphs in the Daytona 24 Hours to go with his Sebring win 16

Lancia legend: Wollek picked the wrong time to .step out of the Newman Porsche and into the Martini Lancia, but he still remained one of the quickest Sport.scar pilots on the ALMS tour in a GT Porsche until his untimely passing. fPholobySui i-Imagcsi

and claimed total of 11 world championship victories.

Wollek made his name during the 1970s driving Kremer 935s, but it was in the Group C era in the 1980s that he came of age as a Sportscar driver even though he reached the age of 40 in 1983. At the start of that season he and the Joest team famously beat the factory

Porsches in the Monza lOOOKm. The 956 had just been released to customer teams, and Wollek and Thierry Boutsen beat them first time out. At the end of the decade, the Frenchman was still winning with Joest and the venerable 956-962 series Porsche, notching up its last world series victory at Dijon in 1989.

Wollek missed out on Joest's glory period in the middle of the decade when he moved to Lancia for a two-year period that yielded just one big win. Joest, of course, notched up back-toback Le Mans victories with the^ Newman-liveried 956.

Wollek was somehow destined never to win Le Mans.

Three times he drove a factory 962 at Le Mans in the late 1980s, yet he never recorded a finish. Some of his best years at Le Mans came after he had reached his half century. He was a frontrunner in 1994-1998 and came home second on three occasions during that period.

Wollek was unique in that he stayed at the top of the sport well into his 50s. He was a perfectionist, who remained hungry for success, but he also loved racing and everything about it. A keen fitness fanatic, he cycled 6000 miles a year after a knee injury prevented him from running and playing soccer.

Wollek is survived by his wife, Michelle.

- GARY WATKINS moiorsport news

NEWS

Aussie duo ready

F3Q00 and lFS eliaiiipiiH^liips begin this weebeml MAEtiK Webber and Jiames . ! Gourtney kick oM theiir \ respective international I ehampionships this weekend, i While Coiairtiiiey’.s openiiiig i British F3 ronmd is at FI SiJverstone, Webber travels to , Birazil with the GP entomrage for i the first F30§§ ehaiinipionship ' race held in Sotaith America. ; It is the start of a cruirach few i months for lemettom’s test driver i as he tries to manaoeuvre into the I limelight before the Joaly/August ; FI silly season.

“There’s no G0sfiasio,n about i what 1 have to do in F3i®0 this : year,” he told us this week.

Having run third in the

chaimipionship m his rookie year, Webber knows that championship victory is expected of him in 2001.

A regular FI drive may depend on it.

“I have to do the job and be i n the right position when the(FI) driver changes start to happen for 2001,” he said.“And I think there wii be a few...”

Webber goes into this weekendfs openiiiiig race with some comfidience folowimg a strong rum in pre-season testing although he will be surrounded

by Brazilians dessperate to shine at home.

Having completed three more days of tyre testing for Benetton

last week,im Barcelona, Webber will fly out of Brazi l straight alter the F3O00 race on Saturday afternoon, missing the PI GP, in order to be ready for fuirther PI testing work at Jerez next week.

Tn the meantime, Courtney is looking forward to racing again.

“Testing is good, but nothing is as good as racing,” he told us this week. Of the six days of pre season testing undertaken by the Jaguar F3 squad, Courtney has run in the top three four times and is confident ofbeing right there when it gets serious; “We’ve been on the pace all the time, so that’s good/’ he said.

-CHlRiSLAlVroDEN

n When being questioned about the apparent advantage that the Ferrari F2001 has over the rest of the Formula 1 field, technical director Ross Brawn denied that the team is using illegal traction control.

Instead, he suggested that the Jordan Honda EJ11 is the best accelerating car in Formula 1 so far this year. n Juan Pablo Montoya believes that he is only limited by his car.

After getting closer to the pace in Malaysia, only his second Grand Prix, he said: "If the best 1 think the car can do is 12th then that is what I am aiming for," said Montoya. "And if ' the car can win, then that is what I am going to aim for - to be first."

H Ricardo Zonta could conceivably be thrown a racing lifeline by Jordan, for whom he is currently test driver, should Flavio Briatore exercise his option on Jarno Truili for 2002. Otherwise, opportunities look thin on the ground, and Olivier Panis has said that, despite his success, test driving is not the ideal way to spend a season. a The late Mike Hailwood, nine times world motorcycle champion, 13 times Isle of Man TT winner and former Grand Prix driver, is to be honoured at this year's Silverstone International Historic Festival.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie: Courtney s been r©n tliie^paee. now it’s time to race ...

(Ptioto by SuUon-lmages}

Texas safety concerns Rumours of a CART drivers strike at Texas Motor Speedway next nnonth have been crushed by Championship Drivers Association President Mauricio Gugelmin.

Drivers had harboured concerns about the safety standards at Texas Motor Speedway, and there had been recent suggestions that they may refuse to race if certain modifications were not made, "There is no question of the drivers boycotting this event," said Gugelmin.

"Of course we're very sensitive when it comes to safety. You should never close your eyes to safety. We love our sport, we love to perform for the people, but we don't like to hurt spectators, mechanics or ourselves."

30 March 2001

The prez: Mauhcio Gugelmin The PacWest driver did admit that there had been concerns regarding the circuit, but most, such as repainting blend lines and mounting plexiglass on observer's stands, have since been addressed by TMS officials.

One sticking point remains, though. Drivers and CART have petitioned for the installation of a temporary barrier that would protect the pit road from a car spinning through the infield.

Currently, the configuration of the Speedway has the infield exposed to pit lane through Turn 4 and down the front chute.

"This one we don't agree with," said TMS General Manager Eddie Gossage. "I can name many drivers that have ripped their cars in half by hitting the blunt end of the wall,, but I can't think of one that has spun through the infield and gone into the pit lane. We don't see the need for it, but if CART wants to do it, then we'll allow them to do it," CART has given no indication as to whether they will have the barrier installed.

- PHIL MORRIS

91 Prost has committed to testing the 1999 British Formula Ford champion N;colas Kiesa iater in the year. Kiesa is about to start his second season in British Formula 3 with the RC Motorsport Prost junior team. n For those teams without a works engine deal, the return of traction control should hold no fears, a simple kit is available from Magnetti Marelli. n Eddie Jordan has chastened his former driver Rubens Barrichello after punting his man Heinz-Harald Frentzen out of a potential podium finish in Australia. ‘I think it was a nogo situation,” he said. 'I don't believe it was on and in a situation like that the driver in front has no chance.' n Eddie Irvine doubts that Michael Schumacher's dream of a few years of Ferrari domination will remain just that. "Take Michael out of the equation and they're not dominant," he said. n Jordan is set to diversify into soccer, courtesy of new partner Puma. The sports equipment giant has teamed up with the Grand Prix team to graft its expertise in lightweight technologies onto its boots and balls. n The Prodrive-run Arden Team Russia Formula 3000 team has abandoned the Italian F3000 series for a full-scale assault on the FIA Formula 3000 Championship.

- JOE SAWARD 17

News

Max:"Intensely irritated

ff

FIA boss worried over increases in speed of FI cars

by JOE SAWARD

DESPITE almost unanimous pleas from Formula I’s teams and diTvers, FIA president Max Mosley is absolutely intent on reducing the speed of the sport following the strides in performance made over the winter.

Although the speeds at the Malaysian GP were not drastically faster than 2000, this is because the races were effectively almost held back-to-back. In Malaysia last year, Bridgestone was running what was believed to be approaching 2001-spec rubber and this, combined with inclement weather, conspired to minimise any leaps in performance.

In Australia however, the cars were lapping faster than at any time in their four previous visits to Melbourne, and Michael Schumacher qualified over foui' seconds ahead of last year’s pole position despite the reduction in

Turning up the blowtorch: Michelin’s return has, indirectly, made FIA president Max Mosley totally intent on slowing the cars in the wake of the developing tyre war.

(Photo by Sutton-lmages) downforce imposed by the FIA at the suggestion of its Technical Working Group as a pre-emptive measure before the BridgestoneMichelin t5rre war.

“I was intensely irritated,” Mosley said on British television.

“We sat the Technical Working Group down and said ‘we must do

something’. They got their sums wrong and we got the blame for it.’

Despite the Malaysian let-off, the FIA’s embarrassment is likely to be compounded by another high-speed weekend in Brazd. The fast, s\veeping natm'e ofthe circuit playing to the strengths of grippy tyres and low downforce. Although

the abrasive surface is likely to convince many teams to eiT on the side ofcaution in tenns ofcompound, lyi’es are widely believed to be the FIA’s favourite target for further slowing Formula 1 by the addition of extra grooves. Nobody is particulai'ly convinced that this will work, however, and the tyTe manufacturers are up in arms that they would have to create entire new compounds to cope with the extra load.

They have asked instead to find less drastic solutions of their own to propose to the FIA. The chances of the first tyi’e protest coming in Brazil are better than average, not helped by the FIA’s long-awaited pronouncement of what constitutes a slick tyre. If a tyre has worn to the point where three of its four grooves are gone, it will still be legal and only if all four grooves have been erased will it be thrown out by the FIA stewards.

Many are expecting Sunday night to go on for a long time...

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Troy: The helmet stays on, OK? ALL eyes will be on Ti’oy Corser at and was slugged a $600 fine. this weekend’s round of the World “They can’t go changing the rules Superbikes at Kyalami in South without asking lor our opinions,” he said after the race at Valencia.

Africa, though not to see whether he can win two rounds 'T’ll keep my helmet in a row, but on because it helps me whether the Aussie "They'll just have to keep to focus on the race will take his helmet coming up. fining me at every race off for the televised ft “They’ll just have to or change the ruie ‘pre’grid. keep fining me at SBK bosses have ~ Troy Corser every race or change introduced the rule the rule.” which exists in Grand The disagi'eement between Corser and the rule book is said Prix bike racing, which states that each rider must remove their helmet so as to have spurred the former SBK champ television audiences can see their heroes into looking at the possibility of up close. becoming a rider’s representative in Corser refused to do so in Valencia future meetings with SBK organisers.

Try seeing his face on the grid: Corser may as well pay the fines now and be done with it...

Foot in mouth

IBE current Foot-andMouth outbreak in the UK has had an effect on the training schedide of Superbike rider, GSE Racing’s Ned Hodgson, who lives on the Isle of Man. Like mainland Britain, the island has closed public footpaths and rights of way as a preventative measure to

halt the spread of the disease.

“I usually go trials riding with current World Champion Bougie Lampkin, who has been granted special permission by the Isle of Man Government to train on an area of coastline dominated by cliffs. This is out of my league though, so I think I’ll keep my feet firmly on the ground!

Ukawa quick

FORMER 250cc rider Tohru Ukawa has topped the timesheets in SOOcc MotoGP*testing at Suzuka. Fighting a bout of the flu, Ukawa set a 2m05.729s lap to head countryman and fellow Japanese MotoGP rookie Noriyuki Haga.

Haga had dominated the morning practice, improving on his best lap from last Monday, although the three-hour afternoon session was finally won by his countryman Ukawa, who replaced Spaniard Carlos Checa on top of the time sheets with just 10 minutes remaining until the end of the session.

“Of course I'm very happy. 1 feel much better from my flu and I was able to lap faster than yesterday," said Ukawa.

“I'm aware my best lap was just a single lap that I managed to clock thanks to the tyres, but it was nice to see my name on top of the list.”

Carlos Checa was the only other rider to lap under the 2m06s and tinished ahead of team-mate Max Biaggi, who was third. The Honda machines of Valentino Rossi, Alex Barros and Loris Capirossi completed the top six.

Defending World Champion Kenny Roberts crashed his Suzuki and finished testing early.

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The Awesome Audis: The Audi drivers probably had enough of a lead to stop for a roast lunch ...

(Photo by Sutton-images)

(Photo by Sutton-images)

BMW’s new V8-engined M3 will become unbeatable in the GT class of this year’s American Le Mans Series that's the verdict of sections of the Porsche camp.

The Schnitzer teann's factorybuilt M3 GTR came a close third in the second round of the series at Sebring earlier this month, despite running for the first time only a week before the meeting began.

Alex Job Racing driver Sascha Maassen, who won the 12-hour race, said: "We will have no chance. After this weekend we have to understand that we are the underdogs. The potential of 22

that car is amazing, but we can only Improve by one or two tenths."

The Stuttgart marque's motorsport boss, Herbert Ampferer, said: “Right now, I do not see a road version of that car. I'm told that it exists, but I want to see it."

BMW and the Le Mans rule makers, the Automobile Club de rOuest, maintained that there was a road car.

Schnitzer is due to have two V8 cars in time for round three of the ALMS at Donington Park on April 14. Fredrik Ekblom and Dirk Muller will join JJ Lehto and Jorg Muller in GTRs. - GARY WATKINS

“THE best race I have ever done in a sportscar in my whole life,” was how Dindo Capello described his role in working with Laurent Aiello and Michele Alboreto to win the 12 Hours of Sehring on March 17.

The No. 1 works Audi R8 led an Audi 1-4 sweep, taking the flag just 0.482s ahead of the sister car of Tom Kristensen, Frank Biela, and polesitter Emanuele Pirro in a contrived photo finish that will be remembered as the closest in Sehring history.

Capello, who previously earned a spot in the winner’s circle at last year’s Petit Le Mans and Adelaide events, captured the lead after Ki'istensen received a late stop-go penalty for speeding in the pit lane and dedicated his win to the late Bob Wollek, who was lulled in a traffic accident in the week of the race.

“Tom was unlucky to get the penalty, but we also had our own share of bad luck as well with a flat tyre and our own stop-go penalty,” Capello said afterwards.

“I was pushing hard in second place then I saw the other car in the pits on one of the big screens around the track. I wasn’t sure if it was live or I was seeing a replay, but I soon learned we had regained the lead.”

The factory Audis were the class of the field, finishing four laps clear of the third-placed privateer Champion Racing Audi of Dorsey Schroeder, Andy Wallace and Ralf Kelleners.

The similar Gulf Audi of Stefan Johansson and Guy Smith finished fourth, a further four laps in arrears.

Until Kristensen’s penalty in the final hour, the leading pair had spent the entire event in battle with one another.

The No. 2 Audi had been plagued by problems throughout the race, vrith Kistensen’s indiscretion capping off a day that had earlier included a blown tyre, a loose lug nut, and the replacement of spark plug wires and the ECU. Both Panoz LMP07s took early baths, Klaus Graf parked the second car behind the wall after just 12 laps with an alternator problem, a water leak and glitches in the gearbox and engine management system, while the other car’s first routine pitstop turned into a farce when the fuel rig discharged part of its contents over David Brabham.

Jan Magnussen took over but soon had to return after the water temperature spiked.

The next ALMS/ELMS race is at Donington Park on April 14.

SEBRINe 12 HiUR RESULTS March 17, 2001 1. Aiello/Alboreto/Capello Audi R8 370 laps 2. Biela/Kristensen/Pirro Audi R8 -I- 0.482s 3. Kelleners/Schroeder/Wallace Audi R8 -4 laps 4. Johansson/Smith Audi R8 -8 laps 5. Field/Dayton/Sutherland Lola-Judd -38 laps 6. Konrad/Borcheller/Gavin Saleen S7-R - 38 laps 7. Pilgrim/Collins/Freon Chevy Corvette - 39 laps 8. Luhr/Maassen/Collard Porsche GT3 - 44 laps 9. Pobst/Menzel/Bernhard Porsche 44 laps 10. Lehto/Muller BMW M3 V8 - 46 laps motorsDon news

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23

Phoenix indy Racing briefe Chip Ganassi has filed two entries for the Indianapolis 500, the race it won last year with Juan Montoya.

Both Nicolas Minassian and Bruno Junqueira will drive G Force chassis with Oldsmobile Aurora engines. The Frenchman will carry #33, while the Brazilian will carry #44. Robbie Buhl has also entered in his Purex-backed #24 machine, one of only a handful of cars powered by Nissan Infiniti engines.

Slamming

i

I

Hornish Jr becomes youngest ever Indycar wi

n Junqueira and Minassian have had their first test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The duo ran nearly 150 laps each of the Brickyard in 2001 G Force chassis with a stock setup geared toward driver comfort.'It's awesome," said Minassian."It's very different from what I've done before. It's a very special oval, as well as very fast. I'm really proud to be here. Last year, I couldn't think about being here.' n Speaking of pre-Indy testing, Arie Luyendyk has had his first drive of an Indycar since crashing out of the 1999 Indy 500. The Dutchman ran a Treadway/Hubbard car at Las Vegas and will hit the Indy track on April 15 for further running. n The speeds of the current spec IRL cars are impressive. Greg Ray's pole speed of 177.663mph (20.263s) compares well to the qualifying record of Luyendyk of 183.599 mph (19.608s), set in 1996 with a turbocharged ReynardFord, such has been the advancement in the new generation IRL car since its introduction with four-litre 'stock block' engines in 1997.

H The IRL has removed qualifying points in a bid to stop welFfunded teams building special 'qualifying' engines to set quick times. n TeamXtreme Racing, which ran Airton Dare in the IRL, has joined forces with long-time Indycar car owner Jonathan Byrd to field a second car in the Indy 500 for Jaques Lazier, the younger brother of 1996 winner Buddy Lazier.

by PHIL MORRIS WHEN Pennzoil Panther Racing parted ways with Scott Goodyear and signed former Toyota Atlantics fi’ont-runner Sam Hornish Jr, they were taking a punt which rode primarily on the back of a handful of IRL races with an underfunded team.

They must have known

something, because the 21-year-old .American took the team to a win in the opening round of the Indy Racing Northern Light Series at Phoenix on March 18, taking the lead from pole-sitter Greg Ray on the first turn and leading 140 of the 200 laps.

“This is great,” Hornish Jr said.

“What else could you ask for? To come to the first race and get all the jitters gone, it’s great. I hope we have a lot more of these.”

n The Kroger Co,the largest retail food company in the US, along with Procter & Gamble, will be the naming rights backers of the Walker Racing IRL car driven by Sarah Fisher. The company's brands include Ralphs and Food 4 Less, which previously backed John Della Penna's CART and IRL programs.

9 Speaking of Della Penna, he and Memo Gidley were wandering the pits at Phoenix. When asked about his impending IRL team, he said that it'depends on rnone/. Roberto Guerrero was also there after his Zali Racing entry fell over.

9 Tyce Carlson was a popular man in the Tri-Star Motorsports entry. The American has picked up the backing of Penthouse on his side pods...

24

With eyes on Indy: de Ferrari, above, tasted the wall after contact with (Photo by Sutton-lmages) Schroeder and the following Mark Dismore, below.

Hornish became the youngest Indycar winnoi- in history, finishing 1.3s clear of the League’s oldest driver, 45-year-old Eliseo Salazar, carrying AJ Foyt’s famous #14 for the first time. Defending Champion Buddy Lazier (Hemelgarn Racing) finished third ahead of Scott Sharp (Kelley Racing) and Billy Boat.

“Knowing I’m going to every race really is a big confidence builder,” said Hornish dr.

“I know that if I wreck a car it is not the end of the world even though we don’t want to do that.

I’m surprised at victory as soon as we did. I thought we had a good shot at a top three at this race, but as far as being surprised on the success of my career.”

The race had its fair share of drama and incidents. Ray blew a motor on lap 119 while in the lead, handing it to Stephan Gregoire who later spun to avoid hitting Lazier, who was struggling to change gears. The Frenchman hit the wall, giving Hornish Jr the lead on lap 128.

Hornish Jr in fact had been close to going down a lap in an earlier pace car period, but a new rule introduced by the IRL(though used by most other racing series for years) which waves past the cars in between the pace car and the leader allowed the Pennzoil driver to get back up and

moiorsport netMs

!

Sam

inner in Phoenix

A ticker tape driver: Sam Hornish Jr became the youngest Indycar winner that we can remember and got a ticker tape welcome in Victory Lane.

(Photos by Sutlon-lmages)

challenge for the win.

The other big talking point of the weekend was the IRNLS debut of Team Penske drivers Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves.

Carrying out some racing practice prior to their first assault on the Indy 500 since winning in 1994, the team had a learning experience with the different chassis/engine combination.

Castroneves qualified a lowly 17th, while de Ferran came to grips with the car quicker, lining up fifth.

In the race, Castroneves zoomed through the field and actually led a handful of laps before his Oldsmobile Aurora engine gave out. CART Champion de Ferran also failed to finish, though his retirement was more his fault than anyone elses. The Brazilian was running low on fuel on the one-mile oval and having missed the pits the previous lap, nearly did it again, jinking left at the last moment.

The following Jeret Schroeder couldn’t avoid him and the two collided.

Felipe Giaffone (Hollywood/ Treadway) was the first rookie home in sixth a lap down, ahead of Jeff Ward, Robby McGehee, Buzz Calkins and Airton Dare.

Round two of the series will be at Homestead, Miami on April 8.

Points; Hornish Jr 52, Salazar 40, Lazier 35, Sharp 32, Boat 30.

30 March 2001

IRL

In a different league

TEAM Penske made its IRL debut at Phoenix and showed that it has Gome to grips with the Dallara/Oldsmobile/ Firestone package which it will use at Indy in May. Who’d have thought we’d been writing that sentence in 1996 when the CART/IRL war was at its fiercest?

Having done many miles of testing in IRLspec cars in recent times at Indianapolis, both Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves had turns at the front of the field.

The Phoenix race is the only one which fits in the team's CART schedule prior to Indy with a clash between CART’s race at Long Beach and the IRL’s Homestead race prior to more CART races.

“They came packing," said defending IRL Champion Buddy Lazier, who finished third.

“There's no doubt about

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that. They came with some ammunition, and they had something up their sleeve.

“They were running hard, but I think they would have had a hard time accomplishing the final result, because a lot of us were right there, too.

They had a shot at it, for sure.”

Roger Penske was happy with the weekend.

“I think we did well,” he said.

“Both cars led the race; we were competitive.

Unfortunately, Gil got drilled coming into the pits. We were right on our : strategy, running conservative on fuel. I think we learned a lot.”

All of that testing paid , off too; the first five cars to finish at Phoenix were Dallara chassis with Oldsmobile engines and Firestone tyres.

The same combo Penske will use at Indy ...

Aussie and a Kiwi for Indy Lights WHILE there won't be a Jason Bright in Indy Lights this season,there will be two ex-Formula Holden drivers.

Steve Owen and Andy Booth, both former drivers at Hocking Motorsport in Australia, will drive for Brian Stewart Racing from Long Beach, with Owen's deal for the one race at the moment.

Booth will run the 10 rounds which remain in the series, while Owen's main Britishbased sponsor, Gigawave (a telecommunications microwave link company) will wait and see if the level of exposure is what they are after.

Both drivers missed the opening round in Mexico with Owen carrying out a test at Pahrump in Nevada for two days.

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News

Menu jumps to DTM

ALAIIM Menu will be in an Opel in this year's DTM series in Germany.

The 1997 and 2000 British Touring Car Champion will run a 2001-spec Opel Astra V8 for Euroteam and is only one of four drivers to receive the brand new car.

Menu's signature didn't come until the team could sign a sponsor to finance the 2001-spec car but the 37-year-old Swiss has already been testing at Hockenheim.

"I will have a free hand to start with," said Menu.

"Then, if one of the Opel drivers is looking good for the championship, I guess the rest of us will have to help him, which is fair enough. But having said that, I have a lot more to learn in a short space of time (compared to Open team mates Manuel Reuter and Joachim Winkelhock).

"I even have to learn German again I And I have to brush up on my Italian, because most of the mechanics are from there."

He replaces Stefano Modena in an expanded effort from the Euroteam, with former DTM Audi star Hubert Haupt as Menu's team-mate in a 2000-spec car.

The other 2001 cars are earmarked for Reuter, Winkelhock and Timo Scheider.

The move brings Menu full circle in terms of his touring car career. He began racing in the DTM in a BMW in 1991 before switching to the BTCC with Prodrive in a BMW and driving for Renault and Ford following that.

It didn't matter whether Menu ran the BTCC or DTM in terms of Bathurst. Both have a date clash with the 1000 kilometre classic, so Menu won't return to drive with Mark Larkham as he did last year.

One seat is still available in Opel's eight car DTM squad.

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i From a Ford to a German Holden: Reigning BTCC Champ Alain Menu makes the move to V8s in Germany.

(Photo by Bothwell Photographic)

Mrs Lowndes and Mrs Johnson

Slight to the BTCC SUPERBIKE superstar Aaron Slight will step behind the wheei of a Peugeot 406 Coupe in five rounds of this year’s British Touring Car Championship.

A winner of 13 World Superbike races, Slight has previous touring car experience, driving a Honda Accord Super Tourer in the Tourist Trophy at Donington in 1997 and a Commodore back home in New Zealand In the 1999 Pukekohe 500.

"Driving in the BTCC for the factory Peugeot team is a dream come 26

true," said Slight.

"I have always wanted to race cars and I’ve done a few competitive car races In the past. To drive for a global company like Peugeot will be awesome, and I look forward to working with them.”

He joins the works Pug team, which consists of Matt Neal, Steve Soper and Dan Eaves.

The new-look British Touring Car Championship was launched this past Tuesday and will feature factory teams from both Peugeot and Vauxhall with MG to join in later in the year.

LOWNDES versus Johnson in Ford Lasers!

OK,so it sounds strange, but that’s what’s happening at the Clipsal 500, when Natalie Lowndes takes on Jill Johnson and host of other celebrities in the All Female Celebrity Challenge in identical Ford Laser SR2s.

The two racing wives will be competing in a 14 car field, which includes sporting, media, and show business stars.

All win compete in the new 2.0 litre SR2 version ofthe Ford Laser which are to be fitted with 16” alloy road wheels,ABS

brakes,lowered suspension and a full body kit.

The celebrity cars will be painted in the team livery of the top Ford V8 Supercar teams, each driver being ‘adopted’ by a Ford V8 driver.

Lowndes will be partnered with husband Craig in the Gibson team, with Jill Johnson being coached by son Steven.

Other drivers include Jane Flemming, Dawn Fraser, basketbaUer Rachael Spom, singer Marie Wilson and Tania Zaetta.

We reckon Glenn Seton’s the lucky one. He gets to coach Tatiana Grigorieva ... moiorsport news

OPINION

I

was reasonably happy with the way our first Shell round went with HRT, although funnily enough I got a worse result in the second race with a car that was better than the first.

I thought there was some benefit in staying out that extra couple of laps in order to have fresher tyres on the car for late in the race.

However, on the lap before I came In I got held up by Brad Jones and then lost a bit of time in the pits as well, which meant that we came back out in fourth, rather than second.

So the master plan didn't quite work out...

Even though the Island is our test track, it was going to be a difficult one to beat Skaifey at all round, because he's done a million laps around there and knows it better than anyone else.

Still, it was a tremendous start to the series for the team - and getting early points on the board is always a big plus.

W

hile there seems to be some discussion about the downforce on V8 Supercars at present. I'm not sure any reduction would make a huge difference.

Certainly, on corners like the one onto the straight at Phillip Island, there is some reduction in front grip when you're close to another car and it affects your entry speed onto the straight - but there are not too many corners like that in Australia coming onto long straights.

Eastern Creek has a long, fast corner, but it's coming off the straight.

But at most circuits there really aren't corners where any reduction in downforce is going to effect corner speed that much.

The downforce that the cars currently have with the wings is what makes them exciting to drive and it's just sufficient to give enough stability at high speeds to make them reasonably safe.

Compared with something like a Champ Car, where 70 or 80 percent of the grip comes from the downforce, and a sudden loss of that can be quite exciting, the percentage of grip due to the wings on a touring car is quite small.

I can see where the suggestion [to cut the

downforce] has come from, but I think that the situation is simply due to the nature of the series we have at the moment - everyone is so close that of course it's going to be hard to pass.

While Phillip Island wasn't the best place to make a judgement. I'm sure that the new format, with longer races, is going to provide more action.

The Island is very hard on tyres and as they go to pieces, people do tend to spread out a bit.

I prefer the longer races. It gives you time to work on somebody you want to pass rather than having to do something desperate - I'm sure that's why there were less people visiting the Stewards' room on Sunday...

I"here's also that beenhaving a suggestion the engine's air intakes at the front (rather than via the rear of the bonnet as in NASCAR) contributes to the lack of benefit of being in the tow and it would be interesting to see some data on that.

I do know that you don't

Even though the Island is our test track, it was going to be a difficult one to beat Skaifey at aii round, because Ik's done a million iaps around there and knows it better than anyone eise

Motor Mouth With Jason Brinht seem to get an advantage out of being in someone's slipstream in a touring car as opposed to an open-wheeler something I noticed the first time I drove one.

I'd like to see it tested.

Whether there is some power drop-off due to following closely which negates the benefit of the tow is something which may be worth investigating.

Certainly, if that's the case, then there's an opportunity to do something which would restore that benefit and provide more opportunities for passing.

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A weekend at the seaside: Bright backs up HRT team-mate Mark Skaife in the first race at Phillip Island.(Photo by Ian Robinson)

27

B

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ver the years 1 have occasionally been accused of taking the contrary view simply for the pleasure of having an argument.

And if forced I will admit to a certain mischievous nature.

"Eh bah!" spat a Frenchman the other day in the Media Centre."You bloody Engleesh!

You have given to us ze mouth and feet disease."

I thought this was a rather boring thing to say and, feeling moderately waspish at the time, I smiled and replied diplomatically.

"Some people might say it is a good thing. We are all Europeans together and we should share things. We've been giving you farming subsidies for years. Now we are just putting a few of your peasants out of business to cut down costs for all of us, so really you should say merci beaucoup and not be so objectionable And I wandered off leaving a rather wide-eyed Frenchman making strange wheezy noises. could not help myself. I am ●not by nature a nasty person but if pushed I think one should

push back and I have no qualms about the subject matter. I was always told that the best way to have a successful dinner party was to avoid all questions relating to politics, to sex and to religion. It was not long before I came up with the ultimate question to cause trouble: "Do you think that Catholics should sleep with Protestants in Northern Ireland?"

Oh, I remember some wild dinner parties with that one. In one of my former residences we used to invite people who we knew would spark off one another. It was a sort of spectator sport and when the flak started to fly I would retire beneath the table while vegetarians battled huntsmen, right battled left and good fought with bad.

No subject was taboo. It was fun and often rather educational. was reminded of this on the flight to Malaysia when was reading about the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. This year. this amazing event claimed the lives of 23 women and 12 men who were crushed in a

stampede. It seemed to me that over the years I have read the same story time and time again.

Only the numbers are different.

And it struck me as odd that the newspaper reports were not complaining about the need for bigger run-off areas for pilgrims to avoid the constant repetition of the same mistakes.

Of course, getting into religions is usually the recipe for lots of irate letters from little old ladies in refined seaside resorts like Frinton-on-Sea (it is amazing where these Muslims get to these days). And then you get the death threats from men with long beards in places where ladies have to dress in voluminous tent-like structures (No, I am not talking about Minnesota).

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One is simply not allowed to complain about religion killing people, but if motor racing is involved, everyone is allowed to criticise the sport.

Have you ever wondered why there is always such a fuss in the newspapers if someone is killed in a motor race? The slaughter of 35 Muslims in Mecca warrants only a passing paragraph but the newspapers have screeds of verbiage if something falls off an FI ear and kills a passing parrot.

The more I think about it, the more unfair it is. Motor racing is a dangerous business. Every so often there is going to be a fatal accident because people are trying to push back the limits of what is possible. They are trying to bend the laws of nature and

Imagine what would be In the newspapers around the world if 10 people were Killed in a motor racing ^accident"

FORMULA ONF you cannot always get away with it. Over the years many lessons have been learned and nowadays the Formula 1 cars are amazingly safe - but there is still the same old screaming headlines whenever there is an accident.

Why? Why does motor racing allow itself to be bullied by the do-gooders?

People are allowed to die doing ali hinds of stupid things but if someone goes to a motor race apdi is accidentally kited, it is a good excuse for the press to call out the National Guard.

What bugs me is that it is not about the value of human life. Or the lack of it. The editors never bother to try to ban mountains.

Not long ago I was somewhat

taken aback to read about a series of accidents in the Italian Alps which claimed the lives of 10 people in a single day. There had been a snap of cold weather and the mountain paths were rather slippery. Six experienced climbers fell off their perches and four others were killed skiing over cliffs and into trees, snowploughs and so on...

And I thought to myself: imagine what would be in the newspapers around the world if 10 people were killed in a motor racing accident.

And then I got on to what they call “General Aviation".

This is what is done by people with small aeroplanes. Every other day, one or two of these flying machines fail to live up to the first part of that

description and plunge into the ground. No-one makes a fuss.

As one would expect, most of these were accounted for by automobile accidents on the

Not ago meso a long bunch of someone statistics sent (what is the collective noun for numbers?) which had been published by the US National Transport Safety Board. From this I discovered that in 1998 in the United States of America, a total of 43,920 people were killed in transportation accidents,

roadways of.America. scored well with a totalTrains of 831 people having their clogs popped by iron horses, Recreational boating wiped out a further 808 and those wildly dangerous bicycles snuffed out 794. General aviation helped 621 people to shuffle off their mortal coils.

I have no idea how many people died in 1998 in motor racing accidonts but I would be amazed if the figure was higher than 20, and to get that high, one would need to scour every little speedway from coast to coast. Even if it was 100 people it would still be a tiny percentage.

So why is there so much preaching about motor racing needing to worry about safety?

Knife swallowers are not forced^ to stop nibbling their cutlery; cave walkers continue to lose - Wf:. l /jT. themselves in troglodyte ':4 chambers and tightrope walkers . continue to pull strings to do n :lS.. their thing.

I think it is fair to say that . motor racing should be allowed to live and’let die as yvell. It is not desirable that peog(.e should lose their lives, but the damgers of our sport have been reduced to such an extent in recent years that the insurers have been forced to lower premiums because they have to pay out so i rarely.

The With BoKJoeSeat Saward

Air Jordan: Marlin Brundle lakes to the Melbourne sky at Albert Park in 1996. Five ' n years later, the Villeneuve/RalfSchumacher crash has prompted talk of action - or is it over-reaction?

(Photo hy Siiilvn'liiwues)

....

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Chris Dyer

From Bendigo to Aussie Chris Dyer hasJust embarked on his first Formula One season with Ferrari and will play a key role in helping Michael Schumacher retain his world title. BRIAN REED spoke to him Motorsport News; Tell us about your position at Ferrari.

Chris Dyer: I've come to Ferrari as a performance engineer working on Michael Schumacher's car. Basically the position involves monitoring the performance of the car, ensuring we get the best out of the car, ensuring that the car is set up in such a way that it suits Michael, that Michael is comfortable in the car and he's happy with the performance of the car.

Green and Gold in Red: Chris Dyer already has relationships with two 7’drivers to his credit- Craig Lowndes and Damon Hill. Now he has another - Michael Schumacher.

(Photos by Brian Reed and Dirk Klynsmiih)

MN; You're no newcomer to Formula One - you spent time previously with Arrows ...

CD: Yes, I spent the last four years in England working with Arrows. I started at Arrows in 1997 doing a very similar job to what I'm doing at Ferrari.

At that stage I was working with Damon Hill who was, funnily enough, also the reigning world champion.

MN:So this was obviously a

good foundation to have behind you for your promotion to Ferrari...

CD: Yes. Yes, the previous three years at Arrows I spent as a race engineer responsible for one of their race cars.

MN: You spent Christmas in Bendigo with your family before heading to Italy to take up your new position.

What have you been doing during the past two months in preparation for the opening round of the Formula One season back here in Australia?

CD: Testing, testing and more testing really. Obviously the car's brand new. We've done a lot of running prior to coming to Melbourne to make sure the car is as sorted as possible, plus there's the additional thing for me of getting up to speed with the Ferrari way of doing things - the tools that are available at Ferrari to do my job - I need to understand all of those, I need to understand the car.

MN:The language....?

CD: The language is coming along slowly. Fortunately for me, primarily, most of the technical talk in the team is i n English. Michael speaks English, Ross Brawn the Technical Director is English, so that hasn't been a big problem, although it's more of a problem outside of work away from the factory.

MN; What are the main differences you have noted between a middle-of-theroad Formula One team and the one you're now with at the pinnacle of the sport?

CD: Oh, I think it comes down to resources. Ferrari is that much bigger they can do more things at once. They can do things far faster than we ever could at Arrows.

For example, whereas at /Xrrows we might have had one new part to bolt onto the car, at Ferrari we get 10, and that happens week in, week out.

MN; At whay point in your

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moiorspori news

INTERVIEW

Maranello

(via Clayton and Leafield)

Team, so it was an inter company transfer for me to head across there.

life was it clear you had this interest in the technical side of motorsport?

CD: I always felt I was destined for the automotive industry, but in the road car side of it, and when I finished university that was the road 1 went down. I ended up at Holden Special Vehicles in Melbourne working on their road cars, and that presented an opportunity to do some work with the Holden Racing Team.

I moved to the Holden Racing Team, did three years of Australian touring cars with them finishing in '96 when we won the championship and won Bathurst with Craig Lowndes.

And then at the end of that year I had the opportunity to move to England to work with Arrows which was part of the TWR group, as is Holden Special Vehicles and Holden Racing

TT

MINI: Clearly, you've set yourself very high standards and goals, Chris, because Formula One is the ultimate form of motor sport and you now find yourself in the top team in Formula One. Do you ever pinch yourself and wonder if it's all a dream?

CD: No, I think sometimes I pinch myself and think "What am I doing here?" Three o'clock in the morning and you haven't had any sleep for three days!

IVIIM: Well, that's motorsport!

And what are Chris Dyer's future goals? What would you hope to be doing in, say five years time?

CD: I probably expect I'll still be at Ferrari, all going well. I see it

/i

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The Old Guv’nor and the New: Damon Hill's Dyer-fettled Arrows passes Schumacher’s Ferrari -for the lead!-in Hungary in 1997. {Photo by RaccAcccss)

There are an awful lot of opportunities for me at Ferrari. I have a lot to learn, and I think it will take a few years before I feel the need to do something else.

as a long-term commitment.

Moving to Italy, there's a lot involved, learning the language, that sort of thing, so it's not a short-term project.

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Greg Murphy

95 days NINETY five days can make an awful lot of difference in the life of anyone, and that period of time has been a lifetime in the career of Greg Murphy.

Wednesday, 20 December 2000 is a day that will long be remembered in the life ofthe Kmart Racing star. It was on that day that, literally, the shit hit the fan; team owner Gary Dumbrell told Murphy that he had sold the team to Fred Gibson,from whom he had bought it 12 months previously.

After heading into 2001 with what he thought was a firm. commitment, he temporarily faced the prospect of not having a drive for the season at all.

The world came falhng down.

That fateful day, Murphy was having lunch with the Motorsport News crew. Every time he was interrupted by his mobile phone, his demeanour darkened.

It’s been well documented that his 2000 KET ofT-sider Steven Richards moved almost at once to Ford Tickford Racing but, already, the wheels that would give Murphy a lifeline were turning in the background.

Fast forward 95 days later and you find a diS'erent Greg Murphy.

Even qualifying 13th at Phillip Island didn’t faze him.

“I’m going to be alright,” he beamed after the warm-up. “This is going to be a good day.”

It was. After the first six laps of Race 1, he was on the tail of team mate Todd Kelly, on his way to fifth place. In Race 2, it was even better; third. Fourth on the day, 200 SCS points on the board.

32

That's the time it took from Greg Murphy losing' his Kmart Racing drive to his fine effert at Phiiilp Island.

Attention Kmart racers: The Murf reminded everyone that he will be a force in 2001 with a strong effort at Phillip Island. After a dark summer. autumn and winter look betterfor the NZer. (Phoios by Ian Robinson and Marshall Cass)

'Holden and Kmart were Eioth saying'We will make It happen'.

With that kind ol backing, it makes you feel good that they are behind you" “Last year, I didn’t score any points here,” he said after his day’s work.

“Saturday cost us. After practice, I felt like I could have qualified in the middle of the top 10. In Race 1, I could have been second to Skaife if I had started there.

“In Race 2,1 had a great start.

The car had a little too much understeer, which hurt the fronts a little, but the rears were great. We just struggled a little bit, but at least we didn’t burn up the rears at all’ Despite the fact that, to the uninitiated, it looks like the same Murphy/Kmart/Commodore

combination as he had in 2000, it’s a whole new ball game for the Kiwi.

‘Different environment,” he affirms. “They do what they have to do to make the car work as well as it can.

“I’ve never been so excited.

Everyone has been working so hard, making sure that it all happens. I’ve been really rapt about that. It feels really comfortable.

There were a number of ways the cards could have fallen.

Having acquired the services of Craig Lowndes and the support of Ford, Gibson Motorsport was a candidate to continue with the Kmart deal but the matter was quickly settled; Kmart wanted Holden, Holden wanted Kmart and both wanted Murphy. It was just a matter of sorting out the fit.

“After December 20,1 fmmd out the whole details,” says Murphy, careful not to let too many cats out of the bag.

“Holden and Kmart were both saying the same thing -‘We will make it happen’. With that kind of backing, it makes you feel good that they are behind you.”

According to Murphy,the TWRA/KRT partnership is a good fit.

“There isn’t a team better suited to getting all this up in the amount of time we had than TWR,” he says. “I’m not saying that any other team could not have done it; there are a number that could. But I

don’t Icnow that I would have had this result today with anyone but TWE. ‘It’s good to get into a real car again and show I can do the job.

Ifthat looks like a back-hander to the Dumbrell-run Kmart team of 2000,it is. It’s no secret that Mmphy was frustrated last season and was not happy, while it is equally clear that the team was not well pleased either, more than one Gibson team member pointing on Saturday to Murphy’s 2000standard qualilydng effort.

But, with Lowndes taking his Ford to second on race day, and Murphy hauling through from the teens, both teams appear to have made ‘win-win’ decisions.

And expect added interest from over the 'Tasman, with the SCS circus heading to Pukekohe in November. In tandem with DJR’s Paul Radisich, Murphy is likely to be central to the race’s pre-event build-up. On the category’s last NZ trip, five years ago, Murphy became a national hero almost overnight when he dominated the races for HRT. “I’m excited to know that I will be racing in New Zealand and have a chance to get the same result we had there in 1996,” he says.

“I’m heading there with a lot of confidence and I hope I’ll be near the front of the championship.”

Murphy’s last 95 days have been dramatic, and positive. The next 95 will make compelling viewing ...

-PHILBRANAGAN motorsport news

Endurance drivers

Wanted: V8 drivers

by PHIL BRANAGAN AFTER coming through the busiest Silly Season in the history of V8 Supercar racing, we are now in the middle of another as the teams begin to settle on their co-drivers for the Queensland 500 and Bathurst.

Paul Weel named Craig Baird as his partner before the season even started -in fact, the former Rrtek driver was at Phillip Island for the season-opener. Greg Crick will drive with Marcos Ambrose; and Neil Crompton will join Gibson Motorsport’s Craig Lowndes.

The trend over recent years has seen many two car teams pair their ‘guns’together- Seton/Crompton, Perkins/Ingall, etc - and that will continue, and even expand with the news that DJR drivers Paul Radisich and Steven Johnson will drive together for the first time.

But,for the rest of 2001,the pressm-e is really on. So many drivers taking seats so early in the season means that talent is at a premium,especially due to the lack of potential overseas drivers.

International calendars will see Bathurst share its dates with the final rounds of both the British Touring Car Championship and the German DTM,the two most likely som'ces of overseas drivers, so don’t expect to see much of an influx of stars from Europe.

With a maximum of48 cars starting both enduros, that means 96 drivers, mostly hom.e-grown.

And that means that the chase for talent will be intense.

The lack on internationals will not be a big loss, according to Ford Tickford Racing’s Glenn Seton.

“We need to look at home,” he says.“Most of the time, overseas drivers haven’t been successful at Bathurst anyway.”

One team boss who has seen both sides of the equation is Jeff Grech.

The Holden Racing Iham manager had internationals Jason Plato and Yvan Muller at Bathurst last year, but had earlier found Nathan Pretty to partner Todd Kelly, first in the #2 HRT car at the Queensland 500, and then in the Young Lions car at Bathurst.

The results were interesting. The highly-rated BTCC drivers floundered once the weather caused a practice session to be abandoned, while Pretty was a revelation, actually leading the Q500 through the pit stops and on-track for second before the car stopped on 30 March 2001

V8 Fan; Seton is a strong believer in looking for talented drivers in the Konica V8 Supercar Series.

Co-drivers: Weel, left, and Baird, right, are already partners for August and October. (Photo by Dir1< Klynsmith and MN Digital)

"My advice would lie karting, do Formula Ford and get into a Konica car as soon as you can. It they do a good job, they will get a good drive

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- Glenn Seton

i'-r, placed. And Gavin Monaghan, y who tested impressively for the team at the same time as Nathan, is also in contention for a drive -if not with TWR,then possibly with Kmart Racing, which is also under the TWRA umbrella.

“We would like to run young drivers,” says Shell Helix team manager Brett Bull.“We want to nm Paul CRadisich) and Steven (Johnson)together, and I would like to have a couple of young blokes, but it depends on who is available. It’s more Dick’s role to do that, and he is, but there are a number of young fellas still there.”

Johnson Senior is reportedly keeping an eye on Greg Ritter, who has two Bathurst starts with GRM and who drove the Mike Imrie car at the Island last week.

Appropriately, that leaves the Konica V8 Supercar Series as the most likely shopping precinct for V8 Supercar team managers.

“We’ve just been looking at the Konica Series guys,” admits Seton.

“I have a few concerns that some of

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i Kelly late in the race.

At Bathurst, it was again the Lions who led the way over the internationals.

With TWR Austraha running four cars, Grech is well on the way to sorting out who wdll join Mark Skaife and Jason Bright.

‘We’re working on it at the moment, but we’ll be fairly well covered,” he said.

“Pretty, or someone like him,is an option. In Nathan’s case, there is an arrangement in place if we decide that we want him. But I agree; drivers are at a premium.”

HRT has, in the past, paired its lead drivers, but will only do so again this year if one of Skaife and Bright is mathematically out of contention for the series. That, linked to the fact that there are two SCS races after Bathurst this season, adds more pressure to choose the right co-driver.

So Pretty, with experience wth the team, track and car, is ideally

the Formula Ford guys don’t have V8 Supercar experience.

“It’s a big advantage to have experience in a V8 Supercar.

Formula Ford drivers come through and do a bloody good job, but going straight into the Queensland 500 and Bathurst is a big ask.”

“Anyone who wants to be a professional racing driver in Australia needs to be in V8 Supercars. And a lot of drivers don’t want to race open-wheelers for a career.

“My advice would be karting, do Formula Ford and get into a Konica car as soon as you can. If they do a good job, they will get a good drive. That is what the Konica Series is for; giving drivers the opportunity to get a good, professional drive.”

Perhaps like never before, opportunity is knocking for any number of drivers this season.

Think back less than six months to the Honda Integra race at Surfers; the guy who won it had never raced a V8 Supercar. But now, as everyone knows, Marcos Ambrose knows what he is doing.

Who is next?

33

There were a lot ofchanges to teams and drivers during the off-season but, if the first round of the 2001 Championship is an indication, Holden Racing Team is stili the team to beat. PHIL BRANAGAN reports

c

HANGE teams during the off-season? Good for you.

New sponsors? Ripper.

New drivers? Go get’em.

But the equation to win the 2001 Shell Championship Series remains the same as it was a year ago; beat Mark Skaife and the Holden Racing Team and you have a good showing. Fail, and you are pushing it uphill.

Skaife utterly dominated the weekend, topping both practice sessions, the Top 10 Shoot-out and taking both races under little or no pressure. Just for good measure, he also torched the field on the raceday waim-up - by a full second. Ouch.

Jason Bright took second in the first race, backed it up with a fourth second time around and finished third on the day.

34

Shell Championship Series Round 1 24-25 March 2001 Sandwiched by the Reds was. just as the headline-writers around the country almost wanted.

Craig Lowndes, who found time to tear himself away from the extraordinary attention he was attracting to go 3-2 in his first championship outing for the blue oval. The Gibson Falcon was not quite perfect but Lowndes’s driving, aided by brilliant pitwork, assisted the cause no end.

Taking fourth was Kmart’s Greg

Murphy, who put a tough qualifier behind hiinto just hold out the best of the Class of 2001, Marcos Ambrose, who looked fast all weekend, though his pitstops did him no favours.

Some of the big names in the game came away from the Island disappointed. Garry Rogers Motorsport had a best race result of- wait for it- 12th, the Garth Tander and Jason Bargwannadriven Commodores looking awful through most of the weekend.

Power steering failure did little to aid Garth’s Race 1 hopes.

Not much better off was the Castrol pairing of Russell Ingall and Larry Perkins, Ingall going 98 and Perkins worse off after an incident and a stop-go penalty in Race 1.

Oh yes; Skaife hit a bird in Race 2.

Watch your speed, Craig: Gibson Me when it came to pit stops, vauiting Low moiorspon news

^SHIH CHAMPIONSHIP SEBIiS

1

Igot the pre-qual blues

J \ou re oiitta here: [ Jj'uu Rich;irds was one of the four to I not mtike the prc-quulifying cut. !.

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FOR only the second time in a 'sprint' round of the Shell Championship Series -the term is relative for 2001 - there was Pre-Qualifying to be endured. With 25 cars seeded straight into qualifying, there were seven spots available for the extras that showed up, this time numbering 11.

And there were some quality entries, with the two Kmart Racing cars (the team being new), two Camerons (McLean and McConville finishing the 2000 season outside the top 25) and Team Kiwi Racing. As expected, the first foufmentioned went through without much trouble but, after that, there was a battle.

Not from TKR though; Jason Richards got as far as Honda on his out lap before the black Commodore ground to a halt with a loose coil lead. Jason looked around under the bonnet (when not ignoring a marshal who wanted him to move to safety) and the car would go no further.

The other driver to suffer was Greg Ritter, the Not even that, and a cracked windscreen, could stop him from winning. Next time, perhaps a pig might fly in front of him.

Qualifying

sport were the quickest guns around (Photo by Marshall Cass) ;s up the order.

30 March 2001

. \

There are two schools of thought in practice; go like hell every time you hit the track and dominate (or try to) or creep up on qualifying slowly.

Skaife was, obviously, in the former camp. In both Saturday sessions, he blazed out on fresher rubber at the end of proceedings and set quickest time - which he already owned. It was a message for the opposition to ponder; more than that, it was probably a message for Jason Bright...

Oddly, Skaife was ‘only’ third when qualif3dng ceased. Radisich and Bright were ahead, the two separated by 0.07s, and Ambrose

Imrie Commodore only getting in one lap at the end of the session.

That left two other drivers to head home disappointed. Dean Canto wanted it wet and didn't get his wish, the blue Falcon lurching around too slow to make the cut. And Tyler Mecklem, having unseated Melinda Price in a test at Oran Park the previous Monday, also failed to make the grade.

That left Tomas Mezera and Anthony Tratt to get a weekend's work, but both were bested by the increasingly impressive Matthew White.

With support from John Deere and Comoco to add to Challenge Recruitment, the VS was fifth in the session behind the four newer cars, a fine effort.

He would line up last on the grid come Saturday, and have a tough Sunday, but the Konica Series graduate is proving to be a handy talent.

- PHIL BRANAGAN

followed from Richards, Lownde.s, Kelly, Ingall, Tander and Seton.

The Kmart car and the Valvolines were in the ‘slower’ group, Kelly breezing into the top 10, but the struggle was at GRM (see breakout).

Wliile HRT looked like ... well, like it did in 2000,Ambrose continued his strong form, lining up third (which, someone unkind pointed out, was his worst-ever qualifying effort in the class) and was well ahead of team-mate Besnard.

“No clear lap,” Dave reported.

“Radisich didn’t see me and chopped me up, but at least we’ve had the pace.

“I was quicker than Marcos all day. I know I can go quicker than him. If he’s quick, it’s healthy for the team.”

Speaking of intra-team battles, Seton was fifth, seven spots up on

Richards, while Russell Ingall was eighth, the Commodore showing some speed, but the team was expecting more.

There was plenty of pre-season money on the Shell Helix cars, Radisich carrying much expectation after his Albert Park blitz, and it was of little surprise when he qualified fastest. Johnson was one of the drivers to be ‘bumped’ by cars in the slower group, lining up 12th.

“If anything, practice and qualifying was.too easy for us," mused team manager Brett Bull.

“We usually don’t show that kind of speed here.”

Murphy was shaking his head, taking much of the responsibility for 13th on the grid after running as high as third in practice. The good sign was that he was not

continued on page 38 35

Phillip Island

Not a place for the queezy L (Photo by John^Morrte'Mptx)

PHILLIP Island has a reputation of providing some of the fiercest off-track, highspeed-over-grass action in the SCS calendar.

Remember Dugal McDougall’s fire (inverted, with pike)? Craig Lowndes and John Bowe dancing off in harmony? Greg Murphy’s final corner excursion?

And, for the really old readers (like the Editor), Allan Moffat’s effort in the 1970s?

Even before the racing started, there were three to add to the PI Honour Board. In practice, both Larry Perkins and Steve Ellery surfed off the track at speed, and Paul Weel had a large one during qualifying.

Ellery ran wide coming onto the straight and, after mowing down a Shell Series sign (which, basically, exploded) he fought the car back onto the track after having ran half the pit lane (about 200m) on the grass.

Steve hung on well - after having tightened his belts on the way.

There was no damage, except to the sign.

Weel’s problems were mechanical.

"It wasn’t fun," he said calmly.

"It went ‘bbrrrrrrr’ over the start/finish line ..."

The engine had seized after what Weel described as "an out sourced component" broke. With the real wheels locked, followed quickly afterwards by the fronts, Weel speared off the straight at around 230kmh and slid for about 150m, coming to rest about a metre from a tyre wall.

There was no damage, apart from the need for a new engine and four flat-spotted tyres. Two were replaced by the stewards, meaning that, to add insult to no injury, Weel would be starting from the rear of the grid.

- PHIL BRANAGAN

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36

CQualifying^ Iv

POS DRIVER 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Paul Radisich Jason Bright Mark Skaife Marcos Ambrose Steven Richards Craig Lowndes Todd Kelly Russell Ingall 9 Garth Tander 10 Glenn Seton 11 Larry Perkins 12 Steven Johnson 13 Greg Murphy 14 Mark Larkham 15 Jason Bargwanna 16 John Bowe 17 David Besnard 18 Steve Ellery 19 Paul Morris 20 John Paulkner 21 PaulWeel 22 Cameron McConviile 23 Brad Jones 24 Dugal McDougall 25 Cameron McLean 26 Tomas Mezera 27 Rodney Forbes 28 Paul Romano 29 Tony Longhurst 30 Anthony Tratt 31 Trevor Ashby 32 Matthew White Did not Pre-Quality 33 Dean Canto 34 Jason Richards 35 Tyler Mecklem 36 Greg Ritter

TIME

GAR Shell Helix Palcon AU HRT Commodore VX HRT Commodore VX Pirtek Falcon AU FTR Falcon AU Gibson Falcon AU Kmart Commodore VX Castrol Commodore VX Valvoline Commodore VX FTR Falcon AU Castrol Commodore VX Shell Helix Falcon AU Kmart Commodore VX ICS Smartcar Falcon AU Valvoline Commodore VX CAT Falcon AU Caltex Havoline Falcon AU Supercheap Falcon AU Big Kev Commodore VT JFR Commodore VT K&J/DuPont Falcon AU Optus/Lansvalo Commodore VX OzEmaii Falcon AU Pepsi Commodore VX Greenfield Mowers Falcon AU Densitron Commodore VT vvww.ausmosport.com Falcon AU EA Sports HYL Commodore VT Delphi/Nash Commodore VT Toll Ipec Falcon AU Lansvale Commodore VS Challenge Commodore VS

1:32.9761 1:33.0539 1:33.2111 1:33.2147 1:33.3521 1:33.3714 1:33.3749 1:33.4275 1:33.4275 1:33.4539 1:33.5014 1:33.5850 1:33.7035 1:33.8426 1:33.9563 1:33.9596 1:34.1019 1:34.1186 1:34.1371 1:34.1707 1:34.3605 1:34.4222 1:34.7174 1.34.7739 1:34.8708 1:34.9070 1:34.9869 1:35.1329 1:35.4848 1:35.5860 1:35.8194 1:37.4580

RPM International Falcon AU Team Kiwi Commodore LT Ultra Tune TDK Commodore VT IMS/Saabwreck Commodore VX

1:37.9285 1:37.9332 1:38.2329 1:38.4189

#SCSRoiindl Phiilip isianil

Top T^rr Sfzootout 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10

Mark Skaife Jason Bright Marcos Ambrose Paul Radisich Glenn Seton Steven Richards Craig Lowndes Russell Ingall Garth Tander Todd Kelly

1:32.5121 1:32.7961 1:32.8745 1:33.0265 1:33.0690 1:33.2409 1:33.2985 1:33.5311 1:33.6165 1:33.6533

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Phillip island continued from page 35 down on himself, as he might have been in the past...

Race 1(28 laps)

Last year, at the same time, the red #1 HRT Commodore blasted away from the field to win the first race of the season. This year it was looking like the same, especially after Skaife topped the warm-up by a full second.

On the face of it, 2001 was more of the same. Skaife won the start, pulled half a second a lap, pitted on lap 14 and won by 11s.

It was not quite that simple.

Ironically enough Skaife, like Bright, found that the fine Victorian weather (!) and the subsequent seven degree increase in track temperature had played havoc with the VXs’ set-up and both drivers were fighting oversteer.

“I turned the wheel and it was arrrgggh!” Skaife exclaimed after the race. “I always felt like it was about to go off.”

“I tried to hold people off and look after my tyi'es,” said Bright. “I had oversteer from lap one, so I just wanted to get to the end of the race and have some grip.”

He did - but not before a few hiccups. The main one was Ambrose, who missed the jump slightly but still held onto third.

That became second when he stood the car on its nose at Honda on lap 4, but he lost two spots in the pitstop when the HRT team beat the SBRs on the pit road...

As did Gibson’s. Lowndes had dropped a few spots at the start and was ninth early, running in a five car train behind Radisich. But

a lap 14 stop, followed by the usual cold-tyre speed by The Kid covered up his earlier woes, settling onto the boot of Bright and holding out the increasingly impressive Ambrose to the flag.

We equalled out best ever (race) lap around here," grinned Craig later.

The car was tyre-friendly, hut down on grip, but to finish third. we were ecstatic.'

Ambrose was fourth("We went from second to fourth in the pits. and I can’t do much about that”) from Murphy and Richards (see breakout).

An early stop for Johnson was the good news for Shell Helix Racing, vaulting him from outside the top 10 to seventh ahead of Kelly(who sped ahead of the struggling-for-grip Ingall) and Seton.

The bad news befell Radisich.

After having a traffic jam of cars behind him early on, he had a slow stop and had to fight from there on, Ellery eventually pushing him

Playmates not team-matesr?'Richards and Murphy may be in different teams now but that didn’t stop them from playing hard at Phillip island, this sideby-side run one of the highlights of race one.

(Pmic bvAFl Imaoesi

Memo to Motorsport News photographers: Oh forget it, what caption could accompany this pic. Oh yeah, (Photos by AF1 Imagos and Marshall Cass) and by the way, Jason Bright, above right, did a good job in his HRT debut ...

The tides of change

AS the team which most closely challenged HRT in 2000, Garry Rogers Motorsport started the season on a bad note in qualifying.

After wrestling their VXs through practice. Garth Tander and Jason Bargwanna were forced to go out in the slower qualifying group, from where Garth basically manhandled his way into the top 10, where he finished up ninth.

Bargwanna was much worse off, bucking his way to 15th and missing the shoot out completely.

"Not nice," was how Bargwanna described his car.

"We were struggling when we got here, so we m.ade the 38

(Photo by Dirk Klynsmith)

cars the same and just battled away.

"We tried some things at Winton, which worked, but they didn’t work here. So we have had to put the cars back on their base set-up."

Working in the team’s favour was the fact that they had some standout performances in 2000 after they made major changes overnight, allowing Tander in particular to salvage some Sunday points after indifferent Saturdays.

Blue hair or not, Tander and Bargs went to bed on Saturday night looking for a repeat of those performances come race day.

- PHIL BRANAGAN

back to 12th. After the race, the team explained that the near-25s stop had been caused by a recalcitrant wheel nut on the rear, a problem which will have to be fixed for Adelaide.

For the rest of the Ford drivers, there were mixed times.

Larkham got bundled off on the first lap but, even with a ding in the side of the newly-liveried ICS Falcon AU,he recovered to 16th, one spot down on Weel, who performed another comeback after an early incident in the DuPont AU. And Besnard and Bowe clanged together, the Caltex car tapping into the CAT’s tail at Honda, crunching it in the side and banging a front wheel, which eventually led to JB stopping with a broken hub.

Race 2(28 laps)

With adjustments aplenty in the break, there were some anxious motorsport news

^SHELL CHAMPIONSHIP SiBIES TEAM-mates, one year, rivals the next.

That's the story of Greg Murphy and Steven Richards, who put on one of the best displays of side-by-side driving seen since, well, 2000.

The set-up was that Murphy, having gone the wrong way on set-up in qualifying, was 13th on the grid, seven spots behind the FTR AU. Murf was much happier on Sunday, catching team-mate Kelly in six laps.

But Richards was struggling for tyre speed as the race went on, unlike the Kmart driver.

"It was still understeering but at least that was looking after the rears. He was starting to struggle and I caught him, basically, in two laps," said Murf.

On lap 22, Murphy was close

looks on the grid. Lowndes was a little tardy at the light but, of all his former team-mates, it was Murphy who got away best, almost near enough to challenge the HRTs at Turn 1.

But again, Skaife ran away. A second up after a lap, his only real problem was whacking a seagull on lap 8 and splitting his

enough to look at Honda.

Richards held him off but Murphy took the inside at Siberia -but Richards held him outand, by the time the cars were at the Hayshed (at, ooh, 210kmh?j, Richards took the line.

"That's not the corner you want to go around two wide, so we both backed out," said Murphy.

So, the Ford led over Lukey Heights. Murphy tapped him at MG, ranged up the inside and held on for the long way around the Copse, Richards could have had both cars off the road, but the VX made it through, the duo finishing fifth and sixth.

"He never gave up when I was his team-mate, and he doesn't now,” grinned Murf.

Rivals, but still friends ...

Questions, questions, questions: Perhaps ^arjy Rogers was asking * what was going on, below, between his young chargers. (Photos by Sob Potts) windscreen.

"There were two seagulls on the straight and one of them got hit," he mused later.

He pitted mid-race, resumed with a gap and that was that. He was 4s clear after walking the final lap. Maximum effort, maximum points.

But second ... The most significant part of pit stops is not always what happens while the car is stopped, but where it resumes. If TV directors were like real estate agents, they would know the three Ps - Position, Position, Position.

Bright held out Murphy and Lowndes f" -'=3 i for the first sector of the race but lost out when Lowndes pitted after 12 I laps. Bright waited another three laps and.

Hip a nd shoulder: McConville and Perkins collide on the exit of Honda Corner.

The Optus/Lansvale VX ended up getting acquainted with the bank.

(Photo by John Morris/Mpix) continued on page 41

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Phillip islana SCS Round 1 PhillliB I

oa Race 1 (28 laps)

DRIUEB ae PDS 1 Skaife

nnCHIME/lAPS 45:25.3061 45:36.4051 45:36.9570 45:37.4968 45:41.3614 45:45.8654 45:50.5252 45:50.9311 45:52.0959 45:54.5496 45:57.3045 45:59.4734 46:02.7439 46:03.1740 46:12.2912 46:12.6471 46:16.3509 46:16.6328 46:27.4351 46:45.9428 46:47.8056 46:51.2222 46:54.6774 46:55.3635 46:58.2095 47:00.1624 27 laps 27 laps 27 laps 27 laps 12 laps Race 2 (28 laps) 45:24.9623 1 Skaife 2 Lowndes 45:29.0572 45:30.6137 3 Murphy 45:31.2738 4 Bright 45:33.7340 Richards 5 45:35.1521 Ambrose 6 45:40.5671 Kelly 45:43.6407 Ingall 45:46.1357 9 Joh nson 45:47.1481 10 Seton 45:47.3166 11 Ellery 45:48.0988 12 Tander 45:48.2566 13 Bargwanna 45:50.1465 14 Radisich 45:54.6153 15 Perkins 45:55.5602 16 McLean 46:01.6455 17 Bowe 46:08.1192 18 Besnard 46:11.9062 19 Faulkner 46:19.6948 20 McConville 46:32.4743 21 Forbes 46:36.9543 22 Jones 46:43.6616 23 Ashby 46:55.7781 24 White 47:01.1793 25 Weel 26 Mezera 27 laps 27 laps 27 McDougall 27 laps 28 Longhurst 29 Romano 26 laps 30 Tratt 26 laps 31 Morris 24 laps DNF Larkham Olaps

2 Bright 3 Lowndes 4 Ambrose 5 Murphy 6 Richards 7 Johnson 8 Kelly 9 Ingall !0 Seton 11 Ellery 12 Radisich 13 Morris 14 McLean 15 Weel 16 Larkham 17 Jones 18 Bargwanna 19 Longhurst 20 Perkins 21 McDougall 22 Tander 23 Forbes 24 Mezera 25 White 26 Ashby 27 Romano 28 McConville 29 Besnard 30 Faulkner DNF Bowe

EASIEST 1:34.5600 1:35.0151 1:34.3488 1:34.4818 1:34.8039 1:34.5824 1:35.2665 1:35.0767 1:35.2348 1:35.2613 1:35.0044 1:35.4033 1:35.1963 1:34.7389 1:35.6739 1:34.6298 1:35.7290 1:35.1546 1:36.2771 1:35.4513 1:36.7297 1:35.0960 1:35.6628 1:35.6592 1:36.3907 1:36.4868 1:37.1491 1:35.5229 1:35.3404 1:35.4181 1:36.3331 1:34.6402 1:34.6121 1:35.0941 1:34.6000 1:34.7924 1:34.5196 1:35.2479 1:35.3171 1:35.0361 1:35.0081 1:35.0743 1:34.9331 1:35.1160 1:34.3779 1:35.2537 1:35.1366 1:35.4328 1:35.1390 1:35.5748 1:35.2201 1:35.8649 1:35.8281 1:36.4581 1:36.0714 1:35.8927 1:36.8901 1:36.1699 1:35.8289 1:37.9612 1:37.1957 1:35.6697

Points: Skaife 288, Lowndes 238, Bright 235, Murphy 201, Ambrose 200, Richards 191, Kelly 163, Ingall 156, Johnson 153, Seton 150, Radisich 133, Ellery 132, McLean 108, Bargwanna 105, Tander 104, Perkins 93, Jones 31, Weel 78, Forbes, Morris 66, Besnard, Longhurst 57, McConville, Larkham, McDougall, Bowe 54, Ashby, Faulkner, White 51, Mezera 48, Romano 30, Tratt 9.

Smartcar but didn’t reflect in the results: While Mark Larkham’s newlook Ford has plenty of car speed, it didn't have the luck.

(Photo by Slipstream Photogrpahic)

The Silver Surfer CRAIG As usual, Lowndes went Lowndes took all to Albert Park the fuss in his looking for a stride and, when top 10 it came time to qualifying effort perform on the and, maybe,a track, did so with top six finish. a minimum of He did rather dramas. better than There was no that. more sponsorship He headed signage on the south to Phillip Gibson Falcon at Island cautiously the SCS opener optimistic, and, hence, no stating that the merchandising Gibson team yet available from would have a big Team Dandenong. part to play in his Preaching to the masses: Holy Craig chats with the fans. We can But there was a success for the count a few HRT jackets amongst them ...

(PhoiobyDirfcKiynsmiiii) banner, advising weekend. After that stock would qualifying be available soon, as previously mentioned in this seventh, his optimism looked and that fans should sign up for well-founded. journal, is making a Ford versus special offers available to them Holden feature. Quite apart It was a considerable effort. from the obvious observation of from early next month.

As could be expected, Lowndes Icon? Perhaps. Traitor? To Channel 9 promoting a Channel was the centre of much some. Marketing team's 10 sport, the Holden and Ford attention from the public and PR teams must be jumping in dream? Absolutely... media, the most obvious of - PHIL BRANAGAIM the air, Toyota-style. which was '60 Minutes' which.

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m

Contrasting fortunes: Marcos Ambrose’s SCS debut went well, shoving the PIrtek car into the shootout and racing to a 4th and a 6th. Bad pit tops cost Paul Radisich though, leaving the Kiwi outside the top 10 (Photos by Ian Robinson and Lynley Raid) after qualifying on provisional pole!

continued from page 39 when he resumed, the Silver Surfer was in front of him - and second, 4s behind Skaife. Gibson’s men had done it again.

It was especially satisfying since Lowndes reported, after the race, that changes to the car had made it worse than it had been for Race 1.

Worse for Jason, when he exited, Murphy was right behind, on warm rubber, and one TWRA VX shot past the other into third.

Bright was soon up to speed but, with Murphy having plenty of grip in the rear, he gave no opportunities to pass.

Ambrose lost out again in the stops, falling to sixth, while Kelly, Ingall, Johnson and Seton filled the 10, Glenn hampered by all four wheels declining to be removed when he made his long stop.

The interest was in the charges in the pack. Radisich got an elbow somewhere on the first lap and had to come back from 29th, eventually getting to 14th. He had hurt his tyi-es going that far and got stuck behind ... Bargwanna and Tander.

30 March 2001

With the cars being run in what Bargwanna described as "the set-up that would have come off the truck" the Bathurst winner went out to, at least, salvage some points. That they did, Garth getting 12th from his off-sider on the last lap after not one but two clash of panels on the way.

“They were both soft touches,” Garth pointed out. “The car was pretty fast, but it was so difficult to drive. Frustrating.”

They also pointed out that they are allowed to race each other. After the two ‘soft touches’, and previous full-blown clashes (like, in Perth), that’s slightly obvious, guys.

Larkham’s woes continued, clashing with Tratt and White on the first lap. A luckless start for ICS, but it’s a start, nonetheless.

Adelaide beckons. Lowndes put in the drive of his life there in 1999. Skaife did it last year. It’s a track that rewards commitment.

There’s plenty of that around at the moment.

And, a word of warning to South Australia. If you’re a seagull, you might want to think about moving for a few days.

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Phillip Island

by AARON NOONAN THE opening round of the 2001 Holden Australian Drivers Championship at Phillip Island was in stark contrast to the category of last year.

While Rick Kelly was flawless in his championship debut in the Holden Young Lions/Birrana Racing Reynard in taking pole position and two race wins, the lack of cars and quality in the field stood out like a sore toe. In fact, it was the smallest FH field since Oran Park 1995 The only drivers to take it up to Kelly were the rookie NRC duo of Stewart McColl and Emerson Newton-John as well as new Hocking driver Christian Murchison, vidth nobody else even close.

Kelly was pretty much untroubled in both races after taking his first ever pole position in anything, though he backed off a bit too much in race one which allowed Newton-John to close right up for a close second.

“I thought‘why push?’ and suddenly there was an NRC car there!” quipped Kelly later.

He did it easier in race two to win by 6s over McColl.

McColl had only done a deal the week prior to the round and did an impressive job, considering the relative lack of running he’s had in these cars.

With no experience in getting these cars off the line with a carbon clutch, McColl made two dud starts but showed great fight to set the fastest lap of the day (lm25.6331s)to claim second for the round with a fourth and a second.

“I think it had to do with the timing but I’m not really sure,” said McColl. “But I’m absolutely wrapt mth my race speed and the way the car handled.”

Newton-John’s second race didn’t last long. He jumped the start and subsequently killed the clutch, retiring after two laps.

The man who occupied a seat at NRC last year, Murchison, was in one of Chris Hooking’s Reynard 98.Ds for the weekend and he gave the team its best result ever, taking third for the round with a pair of thirds.

The cars are still down on development in relation to the earlier 94/95Ds, but Murchison wrung its neck all weekend.

“I’m driving the absolute wheels of it but we’re just getting killed down the straights for power,” he reported.

“If we had the power they(NRC) had, we’d be there.”

Murcho had also created a little but of interest with the flag he was racing under.

Born in Singapore but moving to Australia as a kid, the red and 42

Kelly Gauntry: Brother fodd won two PH races in 1999 at the ’Island and Rick did it in 2001.

(Pholo bv Birti Khromilhl

Old NRC driver, new NRC driver: Chrsitian Murchison, above left, pushed hard for Hocking Motorsport while Emerson Newton-John, above right came within 0.14s of Kelly at the end of R1. (Rwosbyi>ii,KiyTBn«m,iixiapMro3nipi«»..j,.-iFiK.

1

]

If only for those starts ... and Stewart McColl (#19 NRC Reynard 95D) may have just been able to (Phoio by Marshall Cass) challenge Kelly for a win. white flag of the tiny country was next to his name in a bid to try and get some support out of his land of birth so he can fulfil his F3000 aspirations, Murcho of the opinion that he’s got nothing out of Australia in terms of support.

Sounds a bit like Damir Dokic don’t you think?

He still drove with all of the speed that he did last year, while team-mate Chris Staff struggled, an evil-handling car leaving him consistently two seconds off Christian. A huge 360 over the top of Lukey Heights was perhaps the highlight of his weekend, if you could call it that.

Alan Gurr’s Formula Holden debut with Graham Watson’s Ralt Australia didn’t exactly go to plan.

The former Super Touring driver was behind the wheel of the 94D Reynard run by Matthew Halliday last year and had an engine failure on Friday.

Another one let go in race one so he was done for the weekend without really getting a chance to show his true colours.

2000 Silver Star winner Peter Hill was back in the newlyreliveried M-ONE-11 Reynard 94D and grabbed a sixth and a fourth.

Roger Oakeshott took the Silver Star honours for the weekend with

an eighth and a fifth, while F3 Champ Paul Stephenson had a troubled start to the year in Damien Digby's Reynard 92D. He managed a seventh and a sixth.

Two-time champ Simon Wills will be back for Adelaide in a bid to boost the category and Dumbrell, Leahey and Brenton Ramsay are all looking at making one (or two) off appearances. NZ Formula Ford cbamp, 16-year-old James Cressey, is looking at joining the series mid season in one of Graham Watson’s cars, so the season is still looking alright.

Points: Kelly 40, McCoU 25, Murchison 24, Hill 16, Newton-John 15.

motorsport news

SUPPORTS

Fopmua

by AARON NOONAN

w

HERE there’s a Will, there seems to be another.

That was the way it seemed on the podium after the opening round of the Ford Racing Australian Formula Ford Championship at Phillip Island on the weekend, with Will Power and Will Davison sharing the race victories.

The duo, along with Jamie Whincup, were simply the class of the field, with Davison winning the first race and Power the second. Power leads the championship by virtue of picking up a point for pole position.

Power,(hiving the ex-Rick Kelly Stealth prepared by Peter Verheyen, had done minimal testing since purchasing the car and, while Davison and his 2001 Van Diemen were expected to dominate considering his Albert Park fonn, Power was every bit a match.

‘Tm not going to get a big head over it all,” said Power after race two.

“The plan is to finish in the top three each time; I’m not even thinking about the championship.”

The duo traded times in qualifying with Power coming out on top. It was tight. Power nailed a lm40.91s, Davison a ImJl.OOs. Whincup was a solid third but still a second off pole as he continues to come to grips with the ex-YouIden Mygale SJ2000, while Andrew Jones was fourth in the OzEmail Stealth.

At least he was there. WA’s Daniel Elliott and Fastlane Racing weren’t running as a result of a recent testing crash at Barbagailo which required repair.

A1

s was the case last year, when _ eanne Ferrier broke clear of the pack to score an easy pair of wins, breaking the tow of your rivals was the key to success, and Davison, Power and Whincup did

30 Marco 2001

With jaws wide open: Will Power’s Stealth (or should that be Shark?) was the car to have In the opening round of the Australian Formula Ford Championship at Phillip Island.

(Photo by Marshall Cass)

that in race one.

The trio traded positions a number of times, each trying to set themselves up in the right position for the final lap.

Davison did it right and held on fi’om Power and Whincup, with Jones a lonely fourth. Chris Dell, debutante David Clark (doing a great job in his national FF debut in the ex-McColl RF98),iy Hanger, James Small(debuting the 2001 Mygale), Jack Lynch and the struggling Stuart Kostera rounded out the top 10.

But there was someone struggling more than Kostera and that was Nick Agland. Having picked up Bosch Batteries backing for the Spectrum and undergone a run off into the scenery on the first lap of the first qualifying session, the Orange driver had one of the strangest things happen to him.

Carrying the in-car ‘Trackside’ TV cEunera,‘technical difficulties’ forced the electrical system to shut down. What actually happened was that due to the massive vibration of the bodywork caused by the hard-rew/ing little Kent IGOOcc powerplants, the bolts holding the camera on sheared and left the camera swinging on the remaining cable, knocking his battery switch off.

“It just happened to be one of those unfortunate occurrences the battery breaker switch turned to the off position, the car stopped and by the time I rejoined the field, I w’as in last place!” said Nick, nice and diplomatically ...

He was left in 19th and scrambled back to 12th in race two. Though he did win the

tt

I'm not going to get a big head over it all

- Willpower , Best of the rest: Andy Jones couldn't quite match Power. Davison and Whincup for outright pace, thought it was a photo finish between (Photo by j-3hn Monis/Mpix) he and the latter in R2.

Revolution Racegear Hard Charger Award he left Phillip Island with zero points. Not the best start...

Ihe duel at the front was on again in race two, though each of the top three had a scary moment.

On lap six of eight, Whincup had a look at the outside of Davison entering Honda Corner and ended up surfing over the left rear of the Valvoline car. He landed with a whack but continued for another third.

Power had looked like he was in a position where Davison couldn’t slipstream until a big slide through turn two on lap seven put Davo in front. Power slotted right in behind and got the tow past next time to set up the win.

Whincup outpointed Jones for third by an official 0.0023s ahead of

Dell, Clark, Small, Barton Mawer and Marcus Marshall, the latter two unable to repeat the form their 2001 VDs showed at the AGP. The new Ford Scholarship Team and Ford MAX Challenge winner Michael Caruso made its first appearance in Ford colours. The Spectrum driver ran mid-to-rear of the pack as he gains experience and further laps in the car.

2001 series be a Davison Anybody whowill thought that was benefit is clearly wrong. Power has the car to do it, Whincup the talent and proven equipment and Agland the experience. The new Mygale has to be sorted while a few others have to iron out the bugs due to minimal testing. It won’t be a walk in the park.

Points:Power 37, Davison 36, Whincup 28, Jones 24, Dell 20, Clark 16, Small 10, Hanger 7, Mawer 4.

43

Malaysian GP

44

j

FORMULA ONE

IMIicliael Sctiuimaclier won Ills sixth straight Girand Prix - hronn his sixth straight polo position - despite rain and a botched pit stop.

JOE SAWARO report from lyiala^ia

4

ml,

First, second, daylight: Schuey and Ruey belted the daylights out of the opposition at Sepang after going 1-2 in qualifying and the race. It could (Photos by Sutton-lmages) be a long season for the rest ...

I

N the press room after the Malaysian Grand Prix there were two schools of thought about Michael Schumacher’s amazing victory at Sepang.

Michael had gone off while leading when he hit oil dropped by Olivier Fanis’s flamed-tailed BAEHonda as it departed the race.

Rubens Bai-richello followed Michael off. Moments later the circuit was hit by a torrential rain storm.

The Fen-ari team had made a complete hash of its pit stop.

“I called the wrong car in first,” admitted Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn after the race. This will come as bad news to Rubens Barrichello who seems to think that he has equal number one status with Schumacher. At the time Banichello was ahead on the road and so, in theory, was not “the wrong car” at all.

Whatever the case, Barrichello was there first and the Ferrari mechanics made a mess of the stop.

It was nearly two minutes before Schumacher re-emerged.

But luck was on his side. Pie had dropped to 11th but the appearance of a Safety Car meant that the massive time disadvantage vanished. When the race restarted Michael charged back into the lead, despite a heavy fuel load in comparison to many of his rivals.

Michael Schumacher is a brilliant driver but there were moments when his pace in the wet seemed to defy the possible. He was able to drive around his rivals on very wet parts of the circuit while

ranning \vith a hea\ner fuel load and on tjTes which should not have given him an advantage in such places.

Obviousl)’ the choice of intennediates was an inspired one during the rain storm. Even Bridgestone’s top engineer admitted that he was sm-prised by Schumacher and Brawn deciding to use intermediates. The logic was that parts of the track were much dryer than others.

This was true - but there were a lot of corners w'hich were very wet and it was when Schmnacher was running in these parts of the track - and still pulling off passing moves -that his performance was incredible - in the trae sense of the word.

One school of thought said that we had all witnessed a miracle and that Michael should be canonised for the greatest drive in the history of Grand Prix racing. The other school said it was all a conspiracy and the Ferrari domination was so absurd that it had to be that McLaren must have been deliberately hanging back, trying to force the FIA to take some action against Ferrari.

Such is the climate of intrigue and mistrust in the FI paddock at the moment.

Almost everyone wants tractioncontrol to be made legal immediately. The FIA admits that it cannot keep up with the software programmers, who say that there are 10 ways in which one can run continued on page 46 45

Malaysian GP

Reign, reign, go away: Barrichello fought hard after his early off. The surprising Verstappen Arrows and Frentzen foliow. continued from page 45 anti-slip systems if one really wants to do so. In effect, they say, it is really down to whether you are a sportsman or whether you believe that winning justifies everything.

Which school ofthought is right?

Who knows?

YOU say that the opposition wascan under-performing but, even so, the paddock remains sceptical.

It is the fate of Schumacher and Bra-wn to be forever doubted. No matter what they say or do there will always be people who do not believe them.

It dates back to the controversial days in 1994 when they were at Benetton together. And,if the tmth be told, the Jean Todt Fan Club is a very exclusive club outside the Ferrari garage. Everything he says is taken with a pinch of salt.

Just to give you an idea of the post-race chat in the Press Room.

‘The last time something like this happened,” muttered a bemused journalist, “there was a star in the east and a -virgin giving birth in a stable.

“I was live on air,” said another, and I was at a complete loss to explain what I was seeing.”

And it wasn’tjust the press.

‘This has been a very strange race,” said Michelin’s Pierre Dupasquier. “I can only say how impressed I am by the Ferraris, particularly on intermediate tyres in hea-vy rain!

55

(Photo by Sullon-lmages)

There were moments - like lap 13- when Schumacher’ was able to lap three seconds quicker than his rivals despite vei'y wet conditions (it was only a couple oflaps after the Safety Car- withdrew). He had a

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QUillFYiNG M aIairsIa/saiia n PBS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 3 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

DRIVER Nn Michael Schumacher D Rubens Barrichello Br Ralf Schumacher 0 Mika Hakkinen Rii Jarno Trulii Ita Col Juan Montoya Jacques Villeneuve Can David Coulthard 6B Heinz-Haraid Frentzen D Olivier Panis Fr NickHeidfeld 0 Eddie Irvine GB Jean Ales!

F KimI Raikkonen Rn Luciano Burti Br Giancarlo FIsichella Ita Jenson Button GB N Jos Verstappen Gaston Mazzacane Agr Br Tarso Marques Fernando Alonso Br Br Enrique Bernoldi

GAR TIRIE Marlboro Ferrari F2001 lm35.220 Marlboro Ferrari F2001 lm35.319 1m35.511 Compaq BMW.Williams FW23 lm36.040 West McLaren/Mercedes MP4/16 lm3B.180 ItaBenson and Hedges Jordan/Honda EJ11 lm36.218 Compaq BMW.Williams FW23 1m36.397 Lucky Strike BAR/Honda 003 lm36.417 West McLaren/Mercedes MP4/16 lm36.578 Benson and Hedges Jordan/Honda EJll lm36.681 Lucky Strike BAR/Honda 003 Im36.313 Red Bull Sauber/Petronas C20 1m37.140 Jaguar/Cosworth R2 lm37.406 ProsVAcer AP 04 Red Bull Sauber/Petronas C20 1m37.728 lm38.035 Jaguar/Cosworth R2 lm38.086 Mild Seven Senetton/Renault B201 lm38.258 Mild Seven Benstton/Renault B201 1m38.509 Orange Arrows/Asiatech A22 1m39.006 Prost/Acer AP 04 1m39.714 Minardi/European PSOl lm40.249 Minardi/European PSOl Tims disallowed Orange Arrows/Asiatech A22

Ceramic Innavations INNOVATIONS 46

producers and suppliers of the Official Australian Grand Prix Port www.cerBfnlcinnavaliana.coni.au ptione 03 955S 9011 motorsport newt

FORMULA ONE heavier fuel load than his rivals and was on tyres which were really not suited to the wet parts of the track and not only was he three seconds quicker, he also overtook Frentzen, his brother Ralf and Hakkinen - all of whom have very fast cars.

I

Brothers up in arms;.After duelling for pole position, Ralf Schumacher’s weekend went pear-shaped when Barrichello clouted him in Turn 1 and Ralf almost lost himself in a cloud of Michelin tyre smoke. After that, though, it was all good -that BMW sure makes some horsepower...

-tn n

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AS PETRO

On Coulthard lap 16 Michael with dismissive passed ease and built a five and a half second lead in the course of one lap. And on lap 22(by which time Ralf had switched to intermediate tyres and was up to speed) Michael was able to overtake three backinarkers and was still a second and a half faster than the Williams, which is such a quick car that Mika Hakldnen could not pass Ralf at the end of the race.

Banichello was able to match Michael early on but after he had bounced over the gi'ass twice, he had lost a lot of the aerodynamic bits and bobs on the car and so faded away.

McLaren had a temble weekend.

In qualifying the cars were all over the place and things were little better in the race. ’‘There is this trend which says that BMW has taken over on top now and that we are stmggling,” said team boss Ron Dennis.

“This is absolutely lunacy...we are a very strong Grand Prix team and we know how to get on with this. We are going to knuckle down and show everyone. We are going to get the job done.”

But the decision to go on wet tyres during the deluge proved to be the wrong one.

“We did not want our drivers to be out there in flooded conditions on intermediates,” said Adrian Newey.

“Should we have gone on intermediates?” mused Ron Dennis.

“At the time, there was such heavy rain and running water that we took the decision that we thought was the correct one in those conditions. I am very happy with that decision.”

It was a curious thing to say.

Even if Dennis thinks that it is “lunacy” to suggest that McLarenMercedes is under threat from Williams-BMW,the evidence was there on Sunday afternoon. In the closing laps of the race, Ralf Schumacher held off Hakkinen’s late-race charge thanks to the prodigious power of the BMW engine. Raff’s tyres were gone and he was travelling around two. seconds a lap slower than the McLaren - but Hakkinen could not pass him.

I

t would have helped, of course, if Raff had not been bundled into a spin at the first corner and had to start from the back. It would have

helped if Juan Pablo Montoya had not had to get into the spare car at the very last minute. The Colombian ended up in the gravel during the rain storm and Ralf had to duck and weave his way back to the front which, it has to be said, he did very well. Fifth place was scant reward for his efforts.

The Honda teams seemed to have a lot more oomph in qualifying than they had in Melbourne and Jordan looked to be very strong early on. Ti'ulli was leading after the Ferraris went bouncing off on Fanis’s oil and. if the rains had not come, he might even have been in a position to win the race. But ifs and blits are no use in Formula I. The team picked wets during the deluge and, after that, it was a struggle. It did not help that Frentzen was struggling along with a clutch and downshift problem which made his life even more difficult.

In fact, he was lucky to be there at all, as on the first parade lap he had had a control problem which caused a misfire. If the start had not been aborted (because Giancaiio Fisichella could not find his grid position) Frentzen would probably have disappeared early on.

Trulli’s race was compi-omised when he spun off while leading and aerodynamic parts fell off.

Still, Jordan managed to get both cars home, with Fi'entzen fourth and Ti'ulli eighth.

British American Racing, which needs big results right now to keep British American Tobacco and Honda happy, had a completely miserable race, with Panis disappearing with a blown oil pipe which spun him out with a spectacular- flash fire. When the rains came Jacques Villeneuve dropped his car into a gravel trap.

The perfoi-mance of the Aitows was a surprise. The cars looked lousy in qualifiang and the team got into trouble for some wings which were not exactly as they should have been and Enrique Bernoldi was sent to the back of the class on race day.

For the race, the team took off all the downforce to produce a car which rocketed down the straights and then tiptoed through the corners. Jos Verstappen could handle it, Bernoldi could not. The Brazilian ended up in the gi'avel.

Verstappen’s first lap was tjqrical of the man. He used Eddie Irvine as a cushion for the first corner and taking advantage of the problems of others moved from 18th to sixth.

This was spectacular even when you consider that Montoya, Raff Schumacher, Kimi Railckonen and Fisichella had all disappeared from continued on page 48 47

Nialaysian GP continued from page 47 in front of him.

Jos was running a fight fuel load as Aitows has to do and so he was able to do a lot of overtaking. His ability to keep the car on the road in the very wet conditions was pretty impressive when you consider who he was up against. In fact it was pretty weird.

In the end, however, the result went away as it often does for Arrows. Running a fast and fight car only really works when everyone is stopping twice and when you qualify well. IfArrows want some big results this year, qualifying has to improve.

It would help to have a rather more experienced driver in the second car but money was deemed to be more important at the start of the year- and so Pedro de la Rosa, who would have been a good choice, was dumped. The cheque which came with Bernoldi may have been bigger than the money linked to de la Rosa - but it is beginning to look like a bad investment.

The Prost team has a similar problem because Gaston Mazzacane is not(nor will ever be) a match for Jean Alesi. Having blitzed everyone with fabulous testing times in the winter, the team is now looking rather silly because, at both races to date, the supposedly-fabulous AP04s have completely failed to deliver the goods. Thirteenth on the grid was not a bad effort for Jean but Mazzacane’s 20th was dismal.

Alain Prost says that the team is getting a better understanding of what has been happening with every race so, perhaps, it is a little unfair to condemn the team for misleading behaviour in pre-season testing. In a few races from now, it will be quite acceptable - unless

Alesi is mixing it in the top 10.

Jaguar’s efforts were better than in Melbourne -thanks to some development- but there is still a long way to go. Irvine reckoned that he would have done better in qualifying ifIdlleneuve had not blocked him - although not much better. He was 12th on the grid.

Burti was a reasonable 15th.

In the race, Irvine was punted at the first comer and then spun off when the rain started, damaging his car too much for it to be able to continue. Burti did a steady job and finished 10th. It was a solid performance but not very exciting.

Benetton seemed to be a bit better than in Melbourne, but the team is still miring it with the Mmardis, while Sauber had a horrible time - particularly as it is the ‘home’team m Malaysia.

And European Minardi battled gamely on as the staff continued their efforts to catch up. In Malaysia there was a spare car and soon there will be a windtunnel programme as well. After that there will be a new rear end built around a new titanium gearbox. Step by step the team hopes to drag itself forwards. The team has finished three out offour starts this year so reliability is not really an issue.

And we know Paul Stoddart has plenty of engines ...

cjr i

Speed Comparison: ‘Rubens is coming in".

Okay, take your time and no mistakes, lads”.

‘Michael is coming in”.

Move your fat butts!!”

' i

Safety first: Who was practicing safe pit stops?

Who’s unreiiabie?

The Minardis finished again, Alonso and Marques 13th and 14th.

D:

Computi

FORMULA ONE

Trouble In paradise? much careful because there FERRARI may have gone 1-2 in qualifying and the race, but were some bits of the track all is not that chummy that were really, really wet but between the drivers from wanted to make time and I was Maranello. making time. I came in too close to the car in front, I lost a On lap 12 Schumacher trailed bit of momentum and at that Barrichello as they both time he took the chance. charged up behind Jarno Trulli's Jordan. Barrichello made to go "At that time I'd say a team mate would wait behind and inside, was blocked and then wait for some chances in front." suddenly found Schumacher Rubens sounds like a man barging past the two of them at who wants to win races ... the right-handed Turn 5.

It was a contretemps and yet Who wants to hug a millionaire: as they crossed the line Schumacher's time was a All was not wine and roses for second quicker than Coulthard, Barrichello and Schumacher. untroubled but

ar Associates;

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We’re not in Woking any more; David Coulthard finished on the podium again, but the Ferraris were in another race in Malaysia.

30 March 2001

Finnishing sixth: ... is not what Hakkinen was wanting at Sepang, but at least he scored a point.

McLaren will be impatient to get back to Europe.

49

Malaysian GP

What the winners said Highlights of the post-race media conference REsuETSMaiairsian 6P, March 19 2001, 55 laps/304.865hni

1

M. Schumacher th47m34.801 Barrichello Ih47m58.461 Coulthard Ih48m03.356 4 Frentzen Ih48m21.344 5 R. Schumacher Ih48m23.034 Hakkinen Ih48m23.407 lh48m5B.361 Verstappen Trulli 54 laps 1 lap 9 Alesi 54 laps llap 10 Burti 1 lap 54 laps 11 Button 53 laps 2 laps 12 Mazzacane 53 laps 2 laps 13 Alonso 52 laps 3 laps 14 Marques 51 laps 4 laps Retirements Fisichella 31 laps Fuel pressure Villeneuue 3 laps Spun off Heidfeid 3 laps Spun off Bernoldi 3 laps Spun off Montoya 3 laps Spun off Irvine Water leak Slaps Panis Oil leak 1 lap Raikkonen 0 laps Transmission fastest lap: Hakkinan, on lap 48,1m40.362 Drivers' points: M. Schumacher 20, Barrichello and Coulthard 10, Frentzen 5, Heidfeid 3, R. Schumacher 2, Raikkonen and Hakkinen 1.

Constuctors' points: Ferrari 30, McLaren/Mercedes 11, Jordan/ Honda 5, Sauber/Petronas 4, Williams/BMW 2.

^UAV/^ INNOVAIIONS

Ceramic Innavatians producers and suppliers of the

Official Australian Grand Prix Port phone 03 9SSS SOU

Q: You didn't seem to enjoy sitting behind Rubens' car much when he was stationary in the pits. I can imagine why you didn't...

MS: No, there was a misunderstanding about it, because I thought his engine was off, and I saw the guys not sure should they restart it or not.

I was only trying to say, then please push the car forward because you can restart it as well In a different position and in the meantime they can change my tyres.

But what 1 didn't see, the front right tyre wasn't changed by that time, so that was the reason I said, come on, do something, but I didn't have the full picture.

Q; It was amazing, because you must have lost about a minute there and yet you still came charging through, which is phenomenal.

MS: We were lucky, honestly, that we didn't get lapped by the Safety Car. The conditions were really atrocious, undriveable. I'd say, and in this respect we were really lucky that we didn't get lapped and we could join again the back of the Safety Car. But for a while I was thinking the Safety Car would go faster than we could do, actually, because we had to go so slow in certain parts of the circuit and it was really a struggle.

Q: What about when you overtook Rubens - how did that happen?

MS: I got a good drive out of Turn 8 - he had a bit of a moment there, so obviously he didn't leave me the inside so I took the outside: and then I was not able to go on the throttle so early, but we were still side by side and the next corner was my corner and Rubens obviously backed off, being careful not to let anything happen.

But honestly I think it was anyway my line, so that's the moment I got him. I was faster due to traffic as well and I didn't want to lose too much time because I didn't know what tyres David had on at that stage, so I really wanted to get through the traffic and charge the front.

Q: After a race like today, when you've been so much ljuicker, you've lost a minute in the pits, and yet you still come out 20-30 seconds ahead...

MS: Yeah, but the minute we lost we took back by the Safety Car. Finally you can only count the seconds I was behind, maybe, the first car after the green flag, and I was probably only 10 seconds, so that was part of it.

And then the reason we were going so well is we took the right choice of tyre, set-up and everything and we just went right through the field, like we did many other times.

Q: But this time seemed to be much more dominant. Isn't it

After you, Rubens: Schumacher waits - patiently? - while Barrichello is serviced by the Ferrari team. (Photo by SiUton-Ima^es) 50

a big surprise?

MS: I remember Barcelona '96, it was probably the same story, but honestly it's great being somehow dominant, but we know that won't be the case for every coming race now. It was special conditions, special circumstances, and we used them well for us.

Q: Rubens,three stops, but were there adjustments being made to your car as well?

RB: Not really. The adjustments were the same with Michael when we see rain and dry. But bits and pieces were flying off my car, really, that's the adjustment. I had to adapt my driving to the car I had.

Q; You saw the bits coming off when you went off, did you?

RB No, never when I went off. I saw once when I came behind a Minardi in the middle of Turn 3, you know, that fast turn, and because of the turbulence I saw something flying. So obviously I think it was due to the fact that I was running on the grass so much that it got loose.

Q: Then when you both went off that time,that must have been extraordinary?

RB: I must admit, must be honest v/ith you, I thought Michael was already into the wall, because I made it for just a small bit, I couldn't slow the car down and I couldn't afford to spin, otherwise I would have collected him - we were very close at that time and I was really lucky to stay on.

Two laps later I was already really lucky again not to have collected Coulthard and Trulli in front of me, because at that time you have no drive: it's like as if the wheels are not turning, the water comes underneath the car and you have no way to do anything. The cars were spinning, spinning, spinning: all of a sudden I saw that I could still put the power down, I was maybe in fifth gear, I never changed gear, and I just went through the gravel again, came into the pits. We had a disastrous pit stop then off we went again. mntorsDort news

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Oran Park

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Parsons claims Oran Park;grid systei Smile when you’re winning: David Truckie' Parsons, above and above right, went from 10th to two wins without having to pass a single car!

(Photos by Dirk Klynsmith)

by EDW«!RD KRAiUSE TllE Konica V8 Supercar Series has proven itself to be both unpredictable and competitive.After the youth domination of the first round, there were three new faces on the podium in round two at Oran Park, with two of them more 'experienced' gentlemen.

In front of a disappointing crowd of4293, David “TrucMe’Parsons, (with some help from the 'Reverse 10' grid format), reco\'ered from a first race collision with Leanne Ferrier to win two races, while Craig Harris and Michael Simpson used consistency and cool heads to finish second and third.

Ferrier had a weekend she’d probably prefer we didn’t teU you about, while Simon Wills's dislike for the race format was strongly re-inforced, his pole position not counting for much at the end.

Despite this, he stiU left the round in the lead of the series.

Qualifying WiUs continued his perfect qualifying record in the 2001 Konica Series, despite his two morning practice sessions being disrupted by leaking wheel hubs.

It caused a premature end to the opening session in which he was third fastest. He was then blackflagged in the second session, but was fastest by half a second.

Despite the hype,the closest 52

challenger to Wills didn’t come from Ferrier, but Simpson. While he didn't have Ross Stone at the track with him this time, Ross was ‘on the phone every five minutes’, although the phone bill would've been nearly as steep as a plane ticket!

It definitely worked.

While he was struggling with set-up during practice, Simpson was the closest to the Kiwi in qualifying, courtesy of a multitude ofsuspension changes which put the ex-Besnard EL right on the pace.

Wills, having plugged the leaks, set a lml0.195s on his first set of tyres from Simpson’s lml0.199s. It was damn close and then just prior to halfway through the session Simpson naded a lml0.0844s to go fastest. It looked lilte it could be enough, as WiUs -trying to go harder on his original set oftyres wound up in the gravel trap coming off the bridge, causing a red flag.

But Wills remained 11 composed, and with a second set of tyres had another

admitted Simon afterwards.

While clearly there was (just) enough speed to be at the front. the team were very worried about the race setup, and how hard the car would be on the tyres over three race distances.

Parsons in the Gibson Motorsport VT was in third, a big improvement from Wakefield.

Fastest in the opening practice, he held third with a lml0.2340s. despite a baulk in the dog leg from Dale Brede. Ironically, the first three drivers all set their fastest times on their seventh lap. Other than some minor rear suspension work to assist getting the power II down, aU was good.

-Simon Wills For a while it looked like the Valvoline/Cummins Repco Commodore was going to be starting from near the back again.

Ferrier was struggling in practice, barely able to get into the top 10.

The VCRT team was trying a

I wasn't that happy with the car, op the lap, but it was good enough

shot, nailing a lm09.9021s for what would be pole, the Team Dynamik Commodore the only car in the '9s.

“I wasn't that happy with the car, or my lap, but it was good enough, so I can't really complain,”

It,.,

range of set-up options, none of which appeared to be working. At the end of the second practice they found one they liked, and stuck with it for qualifying. Mid-session, Ferrier was seventh until a couple of tweaks catapulted her up into fourth position, where she would stay with a lml0.3630s. motorsport news

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In the wars: After all of the hype and publicity regarding Leanne Perrier’s efforts at Wakefield Park, Oran Park was a little bit of a fall back to earth. The Valvoline car had a few scrapes, two DNFs and a 12th. Here she slides under Phonsy Mullan’s ex-Forbes VS. (Photo by John Morris/Mpix) in front of the stewards.

Rose was coming out of the pits while Dumbrell was starting a hot lap and at the end of the straight they clashed. each having their own version of events which was eventually tagged a racing incident.

Dumbrell managed to continue and set a few more laps, however Rose only did one more lap - ironically, his fastest- and then parked it and handed it over to TAFE to fix the damage at the back.

"Mai was coming out of the pits just as I was on my hot lap so I decided to abort the lap, but I locked a brake and slide into him," said Dumbrell.

The pole-sitter at this round only a year ago, Craig Harris was in dl sorts of trouble early.

Struggling to come to grips with his AU Falcon, the Castrol car wasn't even in the top half of the field. But a major 'off the wall' rear suspension revision worked and Harris jumped from 13th to qualify seventh.

Owen Kelly was fast in practice but didn't get much of a gain on the new tyres, dropping back to eighth. Garry Holt was having a shocker of a qualifying session, running on seven cyhnders and only five gears, so ninth on the grid was a fair result.

NRC Racing were scratching their heads with rear suspension dilemmas, but after qualifying they were sure they had a handle on it. At any rate, Dale Brede would be starting from 10th, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing considering the race format.

The man who many were looking to spice things up at the front, the experienced Greg Crick in last year's series-winning RPM EL Falcon, was languishing in a surprising 11th position. Two valve springs broke in the second practice session and there wasn't time to fix them before qualifying.

So Crick did one hot lap and

n controversy continues Revenge of the Fords: Apart from Dean Canto’s success in last year’s Konica Series, the Blue Oval hasn’t enjoyed much success in the KV8SS. Craig Harris, left, and Michael Simpson, below, put the marque back on the map at Oran Park by filling the second and third positions on the podium. Simpson is looking for support to continue in the title chase.

(Photos by Chris Carter and James Smith)

>1 «

“I am feeling much more confident in the car,” said Ferrier.

“I am driving it that bit harder, and I am in a much better starting spot than Wakefield so I am feeling good about tomorrow.”

Paul Dumbrell and Mai Rose were fifth and sixth fastest, despite a collision that had them 30 March 2001

parked it,just to make certain that he wasn't starting off the back.

Race 1 The need for reverse 10 grids was amply illustrated by this event. with the top 10 finishers covered by over 30 seconds. It certainly wasn't helped by the second row.

Parsons and Ferrier colliding at the second turn, putting Parsons to the back and Ferrier out with broken steering.

"There were five or so cars all together going into the first comer and Leanne was sliding, her left front wheel touched the right back part of my car and she went off," Parsons said of the comingtogether."She was upset about it but she will come back."

Wills and Simpson jumped evenly but Wills had the line and POS NO 1 73 2 3 4 5 6

93 82 33

7 8 9 10

88 96 20 90

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

145 49 111 500 89 25 56 61 77 37 60 59 84 38 81

44

the lead.

And that was the race.

Simpson gave chase but Simon was too strong. He won by six seconds from Simpson, while Dumbrell stormed from sixth to third at tmm one, followed by Ow^en Kelly. They ran in close company for a few laps but Dumbrell eventually got away and they were lonely at the end in third and fourth. Ditto Harris and Rose in fifth and sixth, although they ran in closer company for longer.

Rose suffered from the opening lap fracas and he chased the Castrol Falcon for 18 laps, but to no avail. Brede was in a similar situation with Garry Holt's continued on page 54

TIME GfiR 1:09.9021 Team Dynamik Comm odore VT 1:10.0844 Michael Simpson MSR Falcon EL 1:10.2340 David Parsons GMS Commodore VT 1:10.2915 Valvoline Cummins Commodore VT Leanne Ferrier 1:10.3630 Paul Dumbrell Wynn’s/GMS Commodore VT Mai Rose Supercar Experience Commodore VS 1:10.3642 1:10.4254 Castrol Harris Falcon AU Craig Harris 1:10.6921 Thermo King/JFR Commodore VS Owen Kelly 1:11.1132 Eastern Creek Karts Falcon EL Garry Holt 1:11.1424 Dale Brede NRC Racing Commodore VT 1:11.2409 RPMInt Falcon EL Greg Crick 1:11.2578 Ric Shaw Shaw Motorsport Commodore VS 1:11.3599 GM Motorsport Commodore VS Phonsy Mullan 1:11.4052 Power Falcon AU Alan Heath 1:11.4780 Actron Air Falcon AU Kevin Mundy

DRIVER Simon Wills

Terry Wyhoon Luke Sieders Ross Halliday Richard Mork Bill Attard Scott March Adam Wallis Daniel Miller Peter Field Tim Rowse

Terry Wyhoon Racing Commodore VS 1:12.0421 1:12.3595 All-Trans Spares Falcon EL 1:12.4882 3M Falcon EL 1:12.6472 V8Racing.com Commodore VS 1:12.7802 Xerox Shop Commodore VS 1:12.8577 Evers Motorsport Commodore VS 1:12.9555 Team SA Falcon EL 1:13.5567 Air Liquide Commodore VS 1:13.6230 MotuI Commodore VS 1:13.6282 Rowse Motorsport Commodore VS

KV8SSRound2 Oran Park 53

Oran Park

Taking tyre conservation to new extremes: Luke Sieders had the AllTrans Spares Ford up and dancing, above, while the NRC team, below, of Arthur Abrahams, driver Dale Brede, Matthew Boniface (back to camera) and Mark Geyer talk turkey.

(Photos by Bob Potts and James Smith)

Speedy but not lucky: Simon Wills and Team Dynamik are continually hampered by the grid system even despite blistering qualifying after problems in practice.

'Pnolo by Drk tOynsnvth}

continued from page 53 Falcon, but on lap 14 of 18 the NRC Commodore went past for seventh. Holt was eighth ahead of a lonely Terry Wyhoon.

Richard Mork was running 10th for much ofthe race, which would give him pole for race two. But with five laps to go. Parsons came through, Truckie making short work of Mork and snaring the valuable pole position for race two.

Race 2 The race was aheady down a few starters before it started. Crick's oil pump had seized as a result of Saturday's valve spring breakage.

With Parsons on pole, the odds on his race victoiy were impossibly short, but his start was simply shocking. From grid two Terry Wyhoon was looking good to lead, except for Brede.

The NRC driver turned his weekend around in the blink of an eye,launching perfectly fi’om row two and into the lead he went. He was followed by Wyhoon,Parsons, Rose, Harris, Holt, Kelly, Wills, Simpson, Mork,Phonsy Mullan and Dumbrell.

Rose pitted on the first lap with gearbox and tailshaft dramas, ending his day while Parsons began to apply the pressure to Wyhoon, eventually passing him under the bridge on lap three. He then set out after Brede, closing

slowly but surely before settling in his slipstream for much of the race. Wyhoon valiantly held onto his third position for another couple oflaps but was swamped by Harris, Holt, Kelly, Wills and Simpson.

That was the order for many laps, Harris clearing off to be a comfortable third till the finish Ime as Holt had Kelly, Wills and Simpson backed up behind him.

Meanwhile, Perrier's weekend wasn't getting any better, having to park the VCR VT on lap five

when she tangled with Mullan again at turn two - while making a passing move. The steering was bent and it was all over.

Parsons pounced on lap eight, lunging under Brede into Recaro Comer and going onto win. Ten seconds later, Kelly copied that move on Holt, which allowed Wills and Simpson to follow him thi-ough.

Brede held second but Harris was closing fast. It was a long way back to Kelly, who had withstood the Wills challenge. And then

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Monica vs series Wills, who had been struggling with tyres that were totally burnt up, spun and went back several spots, eventually finishing eighth, Simpson, now points leader for the day, finished fifth from Wyhoon, DumbreU and Wills.

Konica Rd 2

Oran Park

Race 1 <18 laps)

Race 3 Parsons got another shocker of a start, although he was fortunate that fellow front row sitter Brede was tardy oQ"the line. Harris and Kelly both looked to spht the pair, having shot out like rockets, but Kelly wisely changed course to go the outside.

So Harris was straight into the lead, while Parsons at least held onto second this time. Kelly moved to third from Brede, Simpson, Wills, Dumbrell, Holt and Heath.

Harris and the two virgin-white Holdens broke clear in a tight group, then the next trio were going at it, led by Brede and Wills who had already shot past Simpson on the second lap.

But then on lap four Wills attacked Brede and it resulted in tears as they both went off and lost positions. Wills allowing Simpson and Dumbrell through, while Brede went even further back.

Simpson then began a lonely drive for many laps while the front three scrapped among themselves.

Whatever it is about lap eight,it seems to be Truckie's favourite.

Once again on the eighth tour he took the lead, going past Harris and from then on was untroubled.

Lock ‘er up: Terry Wyhoon, above, continues to impress in his elderly VS, while Paul Dumbrell, below, started strongly with third in R1. Despite (Pholos by John Moms/Mpix and Lynley Reid) the fastest lap of R2 he couldn’t get back.

His win at the end wasn't as convincing as race two, but it handed him the top result for the

day.

Harris held Kelly at bay for the remainder of the race to secure second in the race and overall.

Simpson closed towards the end, but over the final couple of laps he had to deal with an aggressive Wills, though the Queenslander held on to complete the podium.

“I think today was a solid result for the entire team,” Simpson said.

“My guys are virtually doing ever)dhing for nothing and it is a good feehng for all of us to be rewarded with a trophy.”

Dumbrell and Brede were sixth and seventh, while Ferrier had made her way through the field and was up to eighth, but then spun over the bridge in a mistake she admitted was her own.

The Race Three Grid Wars THERE is only one question more dangerous than asking Leanne Ferrier the 'boys versus girls' question and that's asking Simon Wills his thoughts on the current race format.

The fastest qualifier two rounds running. Wills has made up 15 positions over the two rounds, including five at Oran Park. That's not counting the numiber of cars he's passed after having to recover from incidents during races tvyo and three, which puts the number up around 30.

Compare that to Truckie Parsons, who won the day by in fact losing seven positions overall, although he did have to come from the back in race one.

There was talk of sandbagging prior to Oran Park, but none of the top five qualifiers were interested.

30 March 2001

CD V)

"I'll just pin my ears back and go for it," said Wills, referring to his plan to win race one.

Ferrier had similar thoughts, "I'm a racer and I'm going for the win," she said.

Dumbrell was yet to, decide his tactics.

"I'll see what happens in the first few laps,""he said, conceding that he may drop back into 10th position.

While no-one was talking about dropping positions, 10th placed qualifier Date Brede admitted that, while he would try and make his way through the field in race one, if it didn't look like he could get in the top four he would probably hang back and get a good position for race two.

So should the rule be changed? The consensus is yes.

No driver appears to be in favour of the rule. Even Parsons, who

pretty much owed his round win to the rule, is against it, but would only be in favour of a mid season rule change if the drivers were unanimous in their support to change it.

If that's the case, Konica driver's rep Craig Harris has publicly said he will take the matter to the AVESCO board.

There might just be a few cars at Winton which hit 'technical' problems on the last lap of race one but manage to clear them to cross the line ninth or TOth ...

Clearly the 'Reverse 10' is a move which creates excitement and passing opportunities, but race three's grid needs to be the aggregate results of races one and two.

It's only fair and it isn't hard to do the maths and figure it out.

Winton will be interesting.

- EDWARD KRAUSE

pas DRIVER 1 Wills 2 Simpson 3 Dumbrell 4 Kelly 5 Harris 6 Rose 7 Brede 8 Holt 9 Wyhoon 10 Parsons 11 Mork 12 Mullan 13 Halliday 14 Heath 15 Mundy 16 Attard 17 March 18 Rowse 19 Wallis 20 Field DNF Sieders DNF Miller DNF Crick DNF Shaw DNF Ferrier

RACniME/UPS

inSTEST

21:36.2802 21:42.3978 21:45.5372 21:48.1165 21:51.1775 21:52.2860 21:57.4433 21:59.1889 22:04.4257 22:13.2138 22:23.5539 22:24.7167 22:25.3509 22:29.7455 22:33.1686 22:36.0711 22:46.2062 22:46.6222 22:46.9829 22:47.9786 17 laps 5 laps 3 laps 1 lap 0 laps

1:10.7678 1:10.8814 1:11.6621 1:11.6122 1:11.9264 1:11.9166 1:12.1008 1:12.0521 1:12.5230 1:11.5587 1:13.1335 1:12.9986 1:12.9518 1:13.1135 1:12.9751 1:13.9397 1:14.1303 1:14.1982 1:14.1180 1:13.9943 1:13.1055 1:14.1454 1:12.1302 1:38.3672

Race 2 (18 laps) 21:41.1952 1 Parsons 21:46.9054 2 Brede 21:47.2968 3 Harris 21:49.9760 4 Kelly 21:52.6510 5 Simpson 21:56.1011 6 Wyhoon 21:57.4894 7 Dumbrell 22:04.5159 8 Wills 9 Holt 22:09.3415 22:12.1829 10 Heath 11 Halliday 22:24.2099 22:25.8778 12 Sieders 22:27.8430 13 Miller 22:28.7628 14 Attard 22:39.8722 15 Field 22:44.8812 16 March 17 laps 17 Mundy 18 Rowse 15 laps DNF Mullan 15 laps DNF Mork 7 laps DNF Ferrier 7 laps DNF Rose 1 lap DNS Shaw, Wallis, Crick.

1:11.5018 1:11.8429 1:11.8222 1:11.7479 1:11.7577 1:12.1281 1:11.3892 1:11.9531 1:11.9726 1:12.0599 1:12.9788 1:13.0351 1:12.9517 1:13.1822 1:14.1005 1:14.4996 1:12.5056 1:15.3841 1:13.3100 1:13.0073 1:11.8492 1:26.2653

Race 3 118 laps) 1 Parsons 2 Harris 3 Kelly 4 Simpson 5 Wills 6 Dumbrell 7 Brede 8 Mundy 9 Heath 10 Halliday 11 Mullan 12 Ferrier 13 Wyhoon 14 Miller 15 March 16 Holt 17 Attard 18 Field 19 Sieders 20 Rowse DNF Mork DNS Rose, Crick,

1:11.9569 1:12.1478 1:12,1135 1:11.5440 1:11.2155 1:12.4721 1:12.5147 1:12.6975 1:13.0412 1:13.3599 1:13.4611 1:12.0788 1:12.7524 1:14.1804 1:13.9087 1:13.6208 1:13.7635 1:14,5456 1:13.5812 1:16.4420 1:14,4627

21:49.5422 21:51.7816 21:52.7088 21:53,8766 21:54.0868 22:01.4069 22:09.6640 22:27.0226 22:30.3701 22:30.5515 22:32.7980 22:34.3362 22:36.2484 22:36.3522 22:37.1654 22:49.0494 22:51,8983 22:52.6010 16 laps 15 laps 3 laps

y

Points after round two: Wills 436, Parsons 410, Simpson 394, Dumbrell 374, Harris 362, Brede 336, Kelly 328, Ferrier 292, Wyhoon 280, Rose 260, Holt 256, Mullan 238, Halliday 234, Heath 228, March 222, Mundy 218, Attard 212, Sieders 198, Rowse 186, Shaw 144, Wallis 140, Full 110, Miller 100, Mork 94, Field 92, Crick 20..

55

And the winner i

All revved up and nowhere to go: The Read vs. Read Top Fuel final was amongst those disrupted by poor weather.

TSiose iielifiiEi the Bacer's l\Sationals moved mountains to ensure that the event went aheii, Ml ewen tiie^ eeuldnl do anything about the weather. GREG WARD hraved the winil and rain it Gaider emotions when the 35th Thebe wereDrag mixed Australian Racing Nationals drew to a close as the Calder curfew came into effect at 11 pm on the Saturday evening.

The 2001 Nationals, presented

by K & N Filters, had seen both some remarkable performances and some upsets, but Melbourne’s fickle elements consphed to prevent a single eliminator from being decided.

After one of the hottest and driest summers on record, the forecast of a cold front hitting Melbourne on the weekend came true late on Friday evening, curtailing the qualifying action.

But that wasn’t before strong winds had wiped out an entire qualifying session eai’lier in the day, putting the program well behind schedule.

It looked as ifthe bulk ofthe poor weather had cleared for Saturday’s eliminations, and the final Group 1 qualifying sessions were rescheduled for the morning 56

prior to the Group 3 ehminations.

However,the wind strengthened and turned to blow across the track, making it dangerous for the bikes and high-horsepower cars.

While several rotmds of Super Street, Super Sedan, Super Gas and Modified were able to be completed, the wind, occasional shower and the odd oil down had wiped over five hours out of the program by the end of the day.

Several brackets had just seen the finalists decided but most were preparing for the semis when a major oil down right on the start line saw ANDRA CEO Tony Thornton announce the conclusion of the meeting.

“We have had discussions in the last half hom- with the Calder management with a view to completing the meeting this weekend but there are unfortunately no alternatives for us,” he told the disappointed crowd.

“We hope to decide most of the titles in the course of the near future at other events.”

Top Fuel e largest field the season Th was on hand forfor this race, with Strathfield Car Radios lending a hand to allow the popular Rachelle Splatt to return for another shot at a Nationals title. With the presence of the Atholwood & Smith team, as well as Terry Sainty at the helm of Gary McGrath’s ‘Pit Stop’ rail, there were six teams on hand to do battle.

Only the two Reads ventured out on Thursday evening and Jim lit up the top end with the Gregory’s rail as he ran a tyresmoking 5.25 at just 271 mph to bring the team back to earth after their 300 mph heroics at WiUowbank.

After carding a 5.31 at just 139 mph on his first attempt, Steve Read came back Friday evening and carried the front end of the Santo Rapisarda-owned rail well down the track en route to a thundering 4.96 at over 283 mph.

That was good enough to stand for the top spot as Jim again

overpowered the track. Robin Kirby clicked it early on a checkout pass while Smith had troubles on the burnout and rolled on through.

The final session saw a couple of changes as Kirby legged it through for a 5.20/281 alongside Saint/s oil-dropping 5.21/264.

Splatt also made a deposit when her KB spat an oil filter, but not before she had gained enough momentum to card a 5.67 at just 209 mph.

The real action, though, was in the Read v. Read pairing, as ‘the Pom’again left with the wheels in the air. This time they kept on climbing and he had to get out of it as it threatened to become the first blowover seen in Australia.

The front end was damaged upon its return to terra firma and the Santo’s Cranes rail wandered across into the opposite lane.

Fortunately, the Gregory’s car had gone up into heavy tyre smoke just off the line and was able to avoid the errant dragster.

Strangely, it was Jim Read who moiorsporl news

DRAG RACING

I

:jk

[nest couldn't help Stevens repeat last year s runner-,.

(Photo by Marshall Cass)]

Photo by Marshall(Jass)

lent a new set of front rims to the Santo’s Cranes team.

The team was able to get back on the track in time for their first round pairing with Roy Smith, and showed that they were a threat as Read thundered to a 4.97 at over 295 mph to put away the troubled Sainty-powered car.

Splatt may have been a sentimental favorite of the crowd but she was up in smoke early against Kirby. The Pennzoil team suffered a setback though when the fuel pump broke, causing the motor to drop a couple of rods in a spectacular fire as they took a 5.49/195 win.

Sainty didn’t threaten Read for long in their match-up, although

the veteran was forced to pedal it at least three times as he took a smoky 5.93 win.

Kirby had the spare in the frame rails in time for the call for the semis, but Jim Read was getting on top of the conditions. stepping up to a 5.06/292 that gave the Gregory’s team a real chance in the final. ‘The Pom'proved that he wouldn’t be a pushover as he belted out his third 4.9 for the weekend - a 4.97/218 - but he also had to replace that bullet after losing a rod near the traps.

At this stage it appears that the Read/Read final will be conducted in the last session of qualifying at the Winternationals at Willowbank

--I

Top Doorslammer Victor Bray title has yet claim athe Nationals andtoholding championship points lead going into this race, he was pumped to do it this year. He was set to follow his winning form from Perth when he Ccdmed down the big Castrol Chev to produce a low ET-setting 6.28/226 on Thursday evening to cement the top qualifying spot.

Bray’s main danger appeared to be coming from Peter Kapiris and his ‘Batmobile’ Studebaker after the popular local went 6.36 before improving to a strong 6.32/226 in Friday’s humidity. The pair were comfortably ahead of an enginedamaging Steve Stanic(6.43)in third, while one of the fastest Doors!ammers in the world, Robin Judd,found his tyre-shaking 7.39 well short of Rob Broadbent’s 7.19 bump spot at the end of the third session. When the final qualifier was cancelled due to showers, the West Aussie was left out of the

field.

Bray was untroubled in disposing of Broadbent’s McGeepowered Statesman in the first round, but last year’s runner-up.

Brett Stevens, was a casualty when his Studebaker turned the tyres to a 6.77 to go down to Perth’s Dave Simpson as the Ford went 6.49/215.

The other two pairings v/ere over early in the runs, as both Gary Philips and Andrew Searle encountered big problems to allow Steve Stanic and Peter Kapiris through respectively.

There was more bad news for Stanic though - the Ford lost a rod and the blower in the traps, starting a fire that briefly engulfed the front end of the Customline. It put the team out, and gave Kapiris single in which he backed up his continued on page 58 57

8^2007 NATIONALS continued from page 57

Power to spare I

n After his 300 mph heroics at Willowbank, Jim Read and the Gregory's team were struggling a bit at Calder as the

j overpowered the track on each of their quaiif>-ing attempts, settling for a first-up 5 25 as their best which put them in fourth spot. The first round against Terry Sainty saw Read again go up in smoke but he was able to take the win. The team were headed in the right direction, though, and this was confirmed in the semis when Read produced a 5.06 at over 292 mph to move into the final, despite pedaling it at half track.

I

” Not bad for a two-step, was it?" quipped crew chief Sruce Read afterwards,"It has taken us six runs to get i the car dialled in - we've just had too

Top Alcohol

I much power for the track. We should have ! ! backed the (nitroj percentage down after ‘ I the first run but we're there now and can't j ; waitfortheWinternationalsforthefinal!" 1

I

veered towards the centreline with the assistance of the stiff first round 6.33 with a solid 6.39 to breeze and the move into the team’s second Queenslander straight Nationals final. refusing to lift off the It was going to be either throttle - yanked it Simpson or Bray to face off against back towards the Kapiris, but Bray made sure of his first ever Nationals final round middle of the lane, but not before the when he squeaked by in a tight 6.44 to 6.45 decision. left slick clipped the 1000 ft reflector to At this stage it appears that the final vdll be conducted at the Tin disqualify the run. It may have been costly Tops, and it should suit Bray as it in the end as the takes him to his home track, Willowbank. resulting 5.78/237 would have moved up into second spot and he would have had the benefit of a Gary Phillips has had Alcohol a stranglehold on Top for first round single. many years, being something of a Instead, he fell in an perennial finalist here at the upset to the small block rail of Frank Nationals, and he booked himself Intini. another runner-up finish (at The semis were both one-sided worst) after a strong performance.

The Lucas Oils team’s weekend literally so in Newby’s case, as Intini wasn’t able to front. For didn’t begin well after Wayne Newby led the field with his very Phillips, it was more of a contest solid 5.82, while Phillips as Oakey got out on him before languished back in the middle of Phillips unwound a low ET 5.71 at the pack with an unrepresentative ,a record 247.59 mph terminal to 6.31/232. Newby gained further add over 1 mph to Mark Brew’s ground when he stepped up previous mark. marginally to a 5.81 Friday, but It should be a case of Phillips v.

‘Klappa’ vaulted to the front of the Newby for the ‘01 title at the tail pack when he uncorked a end of qualif3dng at the 5.72/246.71 that put almost a Winternationals to see whether tenth between him and the rest of ‘Klappa’can add to his already the field. Paul Shackleton impressive list, or if Newby can announced his presence when he secure his first. climbed all over Newby’s shoulders with a 5.82 to lock down third.

Qualifying damage meant that both Newby and Phillips had Perth’s IanofAshelford has been singles in the first round while on a roll late in Top Bike Dean Oakey was able to drive with his nitro Harley and he again around a Steve Reed holeshot to broke into the sixes with an record a 6.00 to 6.18 win over the off-the-trailer 6.96/203 being good lone flopper in the field. Paul enough to lead the field at the end Shackleton would have wished for of qualifying. The Jack Daniels a little less wind on his final Harley of Brett Stevens wasn’t far qualifying attempt as his dragster, behind, though - a 7.000 and a building upon a fine .909 60-ft 7.03 just failed to crack the sixes and also saw him fall short of his time, was rocketing towards its best pass for the weekend. first 200 mph runs.

No one came close to those two Unfortunately for him, the car

n Steve Stanic, driving for Lucky Belleri, was one of the few who looked

able to threaten the dynamic duo of Bray \ and Kapiris in Top Doorslammer when he

Top Bike

j clocked 6.43 to qualify third, but it came at 1 a cost. Their KB had. likt Easton's, i pumped much of the oil up into the top of I the engine and starved a 'od bearing, . causing the rod to break at the 1000 ft mark. He had coasted across the line at just 200 mph and the computer data suggested the run may have peen as quick as a 6.35. Belleri and Stanic rebuilt the engine and were ready for the first I round, taking the win over Gary Philips i with a 6.43/220, but the throttle stuck, i Another rod went out and it also banged j the blower, starting a fire which charred I the front end of the Castrol Ford. i n Melbourne Top Alcohol ace Tom I Easton looked to be on a high when the I j scoreboards flashed up his best ever ! efforts of 6.12/219.19 on Friday night, but !

I the fearless altered pilot was less than ; happy when he had to haul the speeding ( !■ altered to a halt through pools of hot oil. ‘ !

His KB had thrown a rod after turning a i I bearing due to all the oil getting pumped j up to the too of the motor. He had enough I spares to piece together another short block but he had also cracked the blower case when the motor backfired.

Despite the offer of a spare blower i from FC racer Robert Ambruosi. Easton

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was out. souring an otherwise excellent j weekend. i - GREG WARD , I 1.

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Finals charge; Leake (above) and Ridgeway will go head-to-head to decide the Pro Stock title.

(Photo by Marshall Cass)

...and thars factpiy.standard^ Kigt iliminator Ford: in the remainder of qualifying with Craig Bonwick’s 7.85 holding down third in the eight bike field.

It looked like a battle between Ashelford and Stevens for the title until the latter stumbled against the Harley of Brett Jonas.

Ashelford got through when brother Mark fouled against him and then wa.s able to fight off the determined Jeff Smith with a 7.21/188 shutting down an out of shape 8.40.

Ashelford, the points leader in the Championship, was due to face Craig Bonwick in the final after he had easily by-passed the troubled Jonas in the semis with a 7.72. They will complete the final at a later date and it would seem that Ashelford may be oddson to secure his first Top Bike Championship.

There big concerns thatbe Peterwere Ridgeway would not able to compete here at Calder as a result of his well-publicised accident which injured his hand severely, but the leader in the Pro Stock Championship rebounded in stunning fashion.

After Joe Polito began well with a 7.71, Ridgeway led qualifying at the end of Friday with a 7.60 and then repeated that ET at a thumping 180.14 mph in the rescheduled final session. Bruce Leake had also taken advantage of the cool conditions in the final morning to step up to a 7.62 for second spot, displacing Bruno Cugnetto’s 7.67.

The stiff crosswind and cool surface caused problems in the first round of racing, with several cars getting loose.

Both Cugnetto and John Barbagallo got out of the groove in their match up but the Ford driver regrouped quickly to get an ugly 8.02 to 8.21 win. Polito molorsport news

DRAG RACING as Hinds’s .401 light put the pressui-e on the returning champ and he got out of shape on the chase. Hinds then lost fire on the line against Lee in the semis to set up another Lee V. Scerri final after ‘8001/ had cruised past Peter Cochrane and Angelo Ganitis without incident in the first two rounds.

Categories ther brackets in the Group Two, Three and Four (Photo by Marshoil Cass) sections faired differently in their ruined his chances with a foul to progress in eliminations. advance Tony Wedlock’s 7.77, Competition Eliminator saw top while both Leake and Ridgeway qualifier Craig Geddes foul away took sohd wins over Jay Watson his chances in the very first round and Jason Grima respectively. with a tight .393 light, allowing Leake continued his good form Charles Van Ysseldyk to move on when his Cutlass downed from second spot -with his Barbagallo with a sohd 7.71, B/Dragster to face the roadster of while Wedlock matched that Sal Ali in the semis. performance with his Pontiac, On the other side of the ladder, only to be outdistanced by a Mick Utting and his third superb 7.57/180.25 from qualified C/D were to go up Ridgeway. against Sam Blumenstein and the COME A/AP Olds after the latter The final promised to be a ripper but now it appears we will had improved upon his qualifying have to wait until the Tin Top times during eliminations.

Championships at Willowbank before we have a Nationals Champion crowned.

?: Brett’Gillespie lights it up in his Coimpehtton

t was the current .National Champion Sam Scerri who was easily the most comfortable with the conditions at Calder this weekend as he led from start to (nearly) the end. He was the quickest after each qualifying session, and secured the top qualifying medallion by -virtue of his 7.60/177.69.

It placed him comfortably ahead of ‘Bluey-’ Howard’s 7.82 and perennial final round opponent Jason Lee’s 7.88. Howard’s loss to Dave Hinds in the first round was the big surprise of the bracket

30 March 2001

Super Stock had seen the DD/G Nissan 300 ZX of the Sammut Bros, set the pace right from their first pass, an 8.06 going more than 0.25 under the index. The A/MS cars of Tom Dimitropoulos and Nino Cavallo were close behind and battling for class braggingrights, the South Australian just edging out Cavallo, his 9.262 just pipping the Mopar’s 9.263 for second.

Sammut advanced to the final after downing Grant Williams and Mick D’Agostino - at the cost of dipping under his index both times - while Dimitropoulos also damaged his index in mo-ving to the semis. His race ended there as he fouled against the D/G Camaro of Ian Brown, who had qualified 4th at 8.94. That final, most probably, will be run at the Tin Tops at Willowbank.

With just six bikes. Competition Bike wasn’t going to be a major focus of attention but Danny Grotto made sure it was all focussed upon him as he upset No. 1 plate holder Periy Mackie with a P/CB 8.77 eclipsing the champ’s 8.91 in qualifjdng.

All of that attention went to TeiTy Emeiy when Grotto stumbled and then Mackie fouled against Rhett Lougheed. Lougheed had to face Parker in the semis, while Emei-y had a bye run into the final.

Super Street was the V only non-Gp.l bracket n where the finalists had I been determined before I the curfew came into “ play. South Australian Mick Yfantidis had t built upon his pretdous 9 reputation as a tough H runner to get past the 8 sheer volume of ^ T

competitors in this bracket in order to face off against local Mick ’.' Collett. It is Collett’s second consecutive . year in which he has made it to the semis at least, and he may want to take it a bit further this year.

Most of the other C brackets have yet to i progress past the semi H final stage and it will n be determined by I ANDRA when and S where each of these categories will be ' contested in order to

Clearing space in the trophy cabinet: Reigning j National Champion Sam Scerri is gearing up for (Photo by Marshal Caol the final against Jason Lee.

decide the Nationals Champions for 2001.

n Peter Pearce has been battling to get his radical Kawasaki-powered Fueller down the track under power but he recently discovered a couple of areas in the fuel system which may have unlocked the secrets to ' vastly improved performance for the : One Stop team.

Analysis of data showed a lack of fuel pressure at half track and some n I work by Top Fuel owner/crew chief Charlie DIFilippo and consultant John Marshall saw some changes being made to the tune up. Pearce had one last chance to make the field and hung on to it, despite getting out of shape at quarter track, to record the ; bike's first seven second run. It was 1 later canned, however, when that ; session wasn’t completed due to the high wind and so Pearce missed out on racing. n One of the biggest surprises at the Nationals was the non-qualifying effort of the holder of the quickest ET for a Doorslammer in the world, Robin Judd. With the bump being a ; comparatively slow 7.16, most would ; have expected the WA-based : Studebaker to be able to get in but ; turning and then shaking the tyres in the first two qualifying sessions and a broken blower belt in the third - held him to a 7.39 best and put him at the bottom of the list. Judd was the very first in line for the rescheduled final session and was very disappointed when the decision was made to pu'l the pin due to the | strong cross winds pushing the Top I Bikes (running just ahead of the 1 'Slammersl off the track. n One of the main reasons why the fourth and final qualifying sessions for Group 1 was cut short was the first pairing of Top Bike featuring Peter Pearce's Kawasaki and the 200 mph Harley of National Champ Jeff Smith. While Pearce held on for a 7.84 to (temporarily) make the field. Smith neared the centreline as he approached the traps and then, caught by the strong wind, veered across towards the wall. He held on . for as long as he dared before stepping off onto the grass, leaving the bike to its own devices. Both he and the Harley survived to compete in eliminations, eventually falling to Ian Ashelford in the second round. n The Rochester-based team of Marcus Chambers had little to cheer about after producing his best ever run, a 6.75/214, in his HQ Top Doorslammer. A side window blew out of the Monaro past the traps and the run was disallowed by officials.

The .75 would have easily put him into the field but his final qualifier put paid to his hopes as the KB threw a rod just off the line, taking another with it.

- GREG WARD S9

DRAG RACING

Dunn and dusted at 331.61mph

by DAVID OSTASZEWSKI MIKE Dunn defeated Larry Dixon in the final round of the 14th O’Reilly Nationals at Houston Raceway Park to move into the points lead during the March 23-25 weekend.

Dunn’s final round 4.60/324 held off the quicker 4.57/319 of Dixon to give the Darrell Gw5mn/N.Y. Yankees team their

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first victory since making a return to the sport late last season. Dunn had earlier wheeled the Ken Veney-tuned dragster to a 331.61 mph blast during qualifying, becoming only the second driver to eclipse the 330 mph mark.

Meanwhile, Dixon was stringing together consistent 4.5s in his Dick LaHaie-tuned Miller Lite dragster.

The number two qualifier at 4.54/324, Dixon posted 4.55/311, 4.60/319 and 4.55/316 victories

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Window of opportunity: John Force fought h)s way into the Funny (PhcMo by DavKi Osto&zewski) Car finals before the heavens opened.

HEAVY rain cancelled final eliminations at the 32nd annual Mac Tools Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida on 16-18 March.

The decision to pull the plug on the event came when no visible window of clear weathei- was in the foreca.st for several days. The NHRA has re-scheduled the event for Friday and Saturday, April 20-21.

The fields i n all of the professional categories were set along with some record performances being established.

Ijcading the way in Top Fuel was Gary Scelzi'.s 4.57/322 in the Team Winston dragster.

Scelzi recorded his best in the opening session on Friday, but followed up with three more consi.stent passes of 4.59, 4.61 and 4.57. Second was Lan-y Dixon in the Miller Lite entry with a 4.58/316.

Andrew Cowin continued his .streak of good qualifying runs, putting the K&N Filters-backed machine into the sixth slot at 4.65/309. Cowin will square off with '99 Winston Champion, Tony ●Schumacher, when racing resumes.

Funny Car established an alltime quick field for the second event in a row with John Force leading the way at 4.81/316. He 60

will square off in the opening frame with Chuck Etchells, who anchors the program at 4.960 seconds.

Mark Pawuk leads the Pro Stock qualifying list for the fi rst time since Pomona '92. Pawuk's Summit Pontiac Grand Am stopped the timers in 6.846 .seconds at 200.68 mph. Behind him was Darrell Alderman’s Dodge, with a 6.85/201.

While the notorious Gainesville quarter mile did not produce a record quick fi eld, it did provide some history as it marked the first time that all 16 Pro Stock qualifiers topped 200 mph.

Antron Brown paces the quickest Pro Stock Motorcycle field ever at 7.20/186.

In other categories, Randy Daniels set.a new track record to lead the way in Pro Stock Truck at 7.43/181. Greg Stanfield holds the second spot at 7.44/181 and also set a new national speed record at 182.08 mph.

Meanwhile, Gainesville also played host to the much antici pated NHRA debut of Pro Modified cars. Alan Pittman’s ‘41 Willys blistered the track in 6.217 seconds at 226.24 mph to qualify in the top spot. He was followed by the hemi-powered Dodge of Chip King at 6.24/211.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

NtRWIRl-, ^ SBIDNO, over Bobby OENIf ». I '-jl Baldwin, Kenny Bernstein and Gary Scelzito advance into the NuroZo/t: final round. ifAussies Andrew Cowin and David Grubnic both ...and that one’s gone right out of the park: Dunn hit a homer in Houston. qualified (Photo by David Ostaszewski) well, but faced each other in the first round six straight races. Johnson's GM Goodwrench Service Plus Pontiac with Grubnic taking a 4.69/311 to recorded a final round 6.84/200 to 4.77/302 victory. Cowdn did qualify hold off the Summit Pontiac's higher, in the sixth spot at 6.88/200, and moved him to the top 4.598/322.42, a career best speed for the K&N driver. Grubnic of the points table ahead of son Kurt. landed in the 11th position with a Pawuk’s strong performances of 4.72/308 and following his win 2001 continued with solid runs of over Cowin in round one, fell to 6.84, 6.86 and 6.85, all at 200 mph, Gary Scelzi in the second frame. to defeat Troy Coughlin, Darrell Del Worsham scored an upset in Aldei-man and Kurt Johnson.

Funny Car when he defeated John Randy Daniels defeated Bob Force in the final round. The top Panella on a holeshot in the Pro qualifier at 4.81/312, Worsham Stock Truck final round. Daniels’ used a final round 4.85/311 to stop the 4.85/303 of Force. It was the 7,43/180 defeated the reigning series champion’s faster 7.41/181. quickest side-by-side race ever in a Daniels’ Bailey 'frucking Chevj' SFunny Car final round, and gives 10 had defeated Victor Cagnazzi, Worsham his fourth career victory and first since Seattle in 1999.

Jeff Naiser, and Panella teammate Jeff Gracia en route to the final ‘Tve won before, but this one’s round. the biggest by far,” said Worsham.

Panella did manage to set a new “I've never outrun a guy like John Force in the finals.” national speed record at 182.40 mph, while Greg Stanfield also Coming off of a third best made history when he recorded the qualifying effort of 4.85/315, Force clas.s’s first pass in the 7.30s. looked unstoppable in Stanfield recorded a 7.395 in eliminations, cranking out round one, and backed it up with a 4.88/307 and a pair of 4.82s at 314 7.396 in the next round. mph to trailer Chuck Etchells, Reigning Pro Stock Motorcycle Frank Pedregon and Whit champ,Angelle Savoie, defeated Bazemore. The runner-up finish Matt Hines in the final round allowed Force to take the points 7.18/183 to 7.20/187 to score the lead in his quest for an eleventh first 2001 win in the class. The championship.

Team 'Winston rider scored her Warren Johnson bested Mark Pawuk in the final of Pro Stock 14th professional win and is only two shy of Shirley Muldowney for taking win number 83 and most wins by a female driver in extending the Johnson family win NHRA Drag Racing competition. streak at NHRA national events to

McClure injured in Orlando crash JIM McClure, the icon of Nitro Top Fuel Harley racing, crashed his new bike during qualifying for the AHDRA opener in Orlando.

McClure spun the tyre at the starting line, lifted and got back on the throttle, salvaging the run.

The bike appeal ed to get very ‘ close to the left wall near the

finish line, but never touched it and slowed to under 100 mph.

Eyewitnesses reported a puff of white smoke, before the bike went off the track and disappeared in a cloud of dust.McClure suffered a collapsed lung, but is expected to be at the IHRA opener in Virginia later this month.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI molorsporl news

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Rally of Catalunya

The Pain in Si Citroen put everyone on notice in Spain when they threatened a 1-2. But circumstances, and officialdom, meant that Peugeotgot a 1-2 of their own. JON THOMSON reports

I

T was an all-Frencli affair at the top end of the Catalunya Rallye in Spain, which ended in a controversial and emotional win for Didier Auiiol.

While Le Marseillaise played to celebrate a 1-2 for Peugeot and French drivers Auriol and secondplaced Gilles Panizzi, however,it

was a bitter day for Citroen, which made an emphatic return to the World Rally Championship.

Jesus Puras took the early lead in his Xsara T4 WRC car, and Phillipe Bugalski looked poised to win until he was penalised for a stai-t line infringement. Citroen appealed the decision, the stewards

knocked back the appeal and the penalty was doubled, dropping Bugalski out of contention altogether.

While all that was going on, amid much French shouting, Tommi Makinen was continuing his amazing return to form by taking third and adding to his handy lead in the 2001 championship.

To make the event even better for the Finn, rivals Colin McRae and

Reds versus Silvers: Citroen looked set for a 1 -2 in Catalunya until Puras, left, got stranded with fuel pressure problems and Bugalski was penalised out of the event.

The Firm: Peugeot took a 1-2 of its own, Auriol below, leading Panizzi home.

(Photos by Sutton-lmages)

Marcus Gronholm continued to suffer from annus horribilius, both failing to score points on the all tarmac event.

Puras Auriol setstage, the pace from and the veiy first the Spaniard ending the first day with a lead over his team-mate ol just mider 9s, with Auriol in third. All three had enjoyed relatively trouble-free days, but the opposition was already feeling the strain.

The biggest loser was Ford. After McRae, Carlos Sainz and Francois Delecour gambled on tamiac-spec Pirellis, they finished the first stage in 13th, 12th and eighth respectively, Franlde just behind Gronholm. But Subaru was in even worse trouble; Better Solberg ditched bis WTIX and Richard

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WORLD RALLY

»ain Bums lost 30s on SS3 after having geai'box problems.

Worse was to come for the Brit, who busted a rim on SS4, costing more time. By the end of the leg, Burns was down in 15th position.

While the all-French affair continued up front, McRae’s season went off the rails completely before the day was over. His Focus stopped with fuel pressure problems and he once again failed to finish an event.

Burns’s fightback started as soon as Day 2 did, but he still trailed the Frenchmen on the early stages of the day. But there had been a shift in the Citroen camp; first Bugalski started to take time off Puras,then he took the lead on SSIO as his team-mate started to suffer fuel pressure problems.

“The car was perfect but it suddenly stopped,” said Jesus. “It was very hard for us. We’ve missed a very good chance of victory and it

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Different directions: Makinen and McRae continued their seasons in Spain. Tommi was third in the Lancer, left, while Colin had anoiher DNF in the increasingly unreliable Focus.

(

(Photo by Sutton-lmages)

is not enough to know that we dominated the event from the very first stage, it’s time to go home.”

That left Bugalski ahead ofAmiol, but Citroen’s dramatic rally continued on SS14. The Zsara was having clutch problems, meaning that he di'opped 10s to Auriol and was now 25s in front.

Worse was to come; the start of the next stage was uphill.

With the leaking clutch master cylinder unable to be repaired, Bugalski stopped between the start entry control and the start line, earning a two minute penalty. He was quickest on the stage once the T4 was rolling, but the damage had been done.

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^% n At the next service, he was a minute late, earning a 10s penalty, dropping him from contention.

Worse was to come. Citroen appealed, stating that a one minute penalty(which would have restored him to third) was appropriate. Instead of agreeing, the stewards double the penalty when they discovered he had jumped the start on another stage.

Presumably mad as hell, Philippe dominated the rest of the event; on the final stage, he was 7s quicker than the opposition. But the damage was done; in the end, he was classified fourth.

It was now a Peugeot 1-2, with second-placed Panizzi under pressure from Makinen. While the Finn had been consolidating his position and WRC lead, Sainz was suffering from tjrre problems, dropping from fifth to sixth behind

the Mitsubishi of Freddy Loix.

In the end, Peugeot ran to their 1-2, while their French rivals had to settle for fourth and a Super 1600 win for Sebastien Loeb’s Saxo.

It was Peugeot’s first win since last year’s Rally Australia. And Auriol’s first since China in 1999.

“Of course I’m happy, I’ve had a lot of bad luck in the last two years, but that’s part of life,” said Auriol.

“Maybe we were lucky, because Philippe had his problem, but I’ve lost rallies like that in the past,” he added.

Panizzi’s second place gave Peugeot its first significant manufacturers points for the year and bumped it into third place behind Mitsubishi and Ford.

The series resumes in Argentina on May 3-5.

3:40:54.7 1 Didier Auriol/Denis Giroudet Peugeot 206 WRC 3:41:17.9 2 Gilles Panizzi/Herve Panizzi Peugeot 206 WRC 3:41:56.1 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 3 Tommi Makinen/Risto Mannisenmaki 3:42:20.4 Citroen Xsara WRC 4 Phillipe Bugalski/Jean Paul Chiaroni 3:43:11.4 Mitsubishi Carisma GT 5 Freddy Loix/Sven Smeets 3:43:30.4 Ford Focus RS WRC 6 Carlos Sainz/Luis Moya Drivers' points Makinen,24, Sainz 17, Auriol and Rovanpera 10, Delecour 8, Radstrom and Panizzi 6, Gardemeister 5, Gronholm 4, Burns 3, Manufacturers' points Mitsubishi 39, Ford 21, Peugeot 20, Hyundai 8, Suabru 7, Skoda 6.

WRC Round 4 Rally of Catalunya 63

r Rally Ney^s IVlitaubishi #2 on hold MITSUBISHI’S plans to put a young gun into a second factory Ralliart Lancer alongside Ed Ordynski this year hinges on the level offunding Ralliart Australia will receive from Ralliart Japan.

According to Mitsubishi Australia PR man Kevin Taylor, while the plan is not off the agenda, it is ‘on hold’, pending funding decisions.

“We certainly want to do it and, hopefully, we will before the year is over,” he said. “However, we won’t be at the Forest Rally with a second car.

“It really hinges on Ralliart’s level of funding out of Japan and that is still being determined.”

The company tested six young hopefuls in January with a view to bringing on a young talent for future grooming in the same way Subaru has done for Cody Crocker.

- JON THOMSON

COLIN McRae is close to losing patience with Ford after dropping out of the Catalunya Rally on the first leg of the event.

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McRae said that he is becoming frustrated with recent results.

"The performance has been good but we're just not getting

to the end," he said.

"There's a limit to how much someone can take."

McRae has finished just once since his near fatal crash in

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Corsica last season and his statement implied that he may start to look elsewhere next season.

Ford sources are now blaming Colin McRae's retirement and related problems suffered by Sainz and Delecour, on a faulty batch of fuel pumps.

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Possum Hunt back on

AFTER a five month layoff, the Australian Rally Championship bursts back into life this ■weekend with the opening round of the 2001 series, the Respect Yourself Forest Rally in Western Australia.

With five consecutive titles to his name. Kiwi Possum Bourne enters the title with confidence on his side as well as a newer version of his S’abara Impreza 'VYRC to aid his hunt for a record sixth championship.

However, Boui’ne has had luck on his side many times in the last five years and the balance sheet isn't nearly as one-sided as it appears at

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CVMOVOTA

Toyota challenger: Neal Bates and Coral Taylor will be pressing hard to wrest the ARC title back to Toyota, and Canberra.

Six shooter: Possum Bourne is out to make it 6 ARC wins. (Photobyjt.hnMomsfl.ipix) 64

first glance.

Chief rival Neal Bates has been painfully close to taking the title back from Bourne in recent years but luck is a fortune in rallying and the kiwi has his name on the trophies to prove it.

It ■will once more be a two-horse race in the outright fight Subaru versus Toyota, Bourne versus Bates, an equation which has dominated the ARC for the past eight years.

Some interest ■will be re-kindled, however, in Group N where regulation changes gi’anting greater mechanical freedoms should allow them to close at least some of the gap to the World Rally cars.

The improvement in the performance of Group N cars comes in gearbox and braking departments and will put Bates

and Bounre under some pressure.

Last year Ed Ordynski took victoiy in a round of the title and both he and Cody Crocker -will be better equipped to do it again this year.

There will be an added threat in Group N from a strengthened privateer brigade, particularly local star Dean Herridge now with some factory support in an Impreza entered by the Les Walkden Rallying team. With the right car and a famous team behind him Hen’idge is tipped to be the cause of many upsets over the coming season.

Privateers such as Stewart Reid, Spencer Lowndes, Brett Middleton ■will also be north watching.

While NSW won’t have a round this year after it was felt Coffs Harbour was too pro'vincial, WA's round has moved out of the city to a regional centre to avoid roads which conflicts with Rally Australia.

The first test of course will come this Friday night (30 March) when the Forest Rally fi res into life with a tarmac Super Special Stage in the WA south-western town of Busselton, a favourite beach-side tourist town about 2.5 hours south of Perth.

The real battle, however, will be fought over the following two days in the pine plantations suiTOunding the historic timber town of Nannup in land from Busselton.

There will be 11 stages covering close to 260km of competitive rallying.

-JONTHOMSON motorsport news

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Forfurther information Ulease contact: rinke Desert Race incorporated,PO BOX 283,Alice Springs NT 0871 or

van Bremen's the C

Dumesny breezes into Wagga to take final Autopro round WHILE Max Dumesny breezed into Wagga Wagga to snare the win in the final round of the Autopro Super Sprint Series last Saturday night, Mike Van Bremen couldn’t be stopped from taking the series championship, though the ‘Flying Dutchman’ had a disappointing final race with driveline failure.

All he had to do was to finish his first heat to ensure victory, and that’s exactly what he did.

It was the first appearance of a big Sprintcar show at the circuit in three years and again the series featured a strong car count of 31. In addition to the SRA regulars came 10 Parramatta regulars on a rare night off from Sprintcar racing at the Sydney venue.

The heat races produced some spirited racing. David Murcott won heat one without being headed, while Dumesny just failed to run down Garry Chippendall in heat two after starting from the rear of the gild.

Heat three decided the series when Van Bremen took fourth behind Mark Blyton, David Anderson and Jeremy Warren.

Darren Saillard held off Dumesny to take the next heat, while Jeff Judd topped Matthew Reed and Ian Lewis in a superb heat five.

Grant Tunks took the final heat and interestingly, that split the heat wins evenly betv/een the Victorians and the New South Welshman.

The night’s -most horrifying moment came in the B-Main as drivers hustled and bustled to finish in the top four and

move into the A-Main.

Sydney’s Damien Abbott rode a wheel approaching top speed on the main straight on the first lap and wrote off the car in a violent series of flips that lasted half the length of the straights. Abbott walked away unharmed from “easily his biggest accident”.

Peter Knight, Van Bremen, John Shore and Dave Hall picked up the transfer positions for the A-Main, which began with a tangle between Saillard and Shore. Saillard rolled and the front end was torn out of the car.

Dumesny led the restart with Murcott, Reed, David Anderson and Ian Lewis in pursuit and it was Anderson who was making the move. He passed Reed on lap three while Murcott in front was doing his best to stick to the Valvoline #5 machine.

Murcott’s Ranbuild machine didn’t quite have enough to catch Dumesny and Max took the chequer over Murcott, Anderson and Reed. Tunks, Lewis, Blyton, Troy Little, Shore and John Vogels rounded out the top 10.

The SRAAutopro Super Sprint Series for 2000/2001 has certainly lifted the bar in terms of professionalism and presentation for the sport. The strong car counts and enthusiastic crowds have made it a strong series. Not too many people would could say they have a state series which out muscles Victoria.

Points: Van Bremen 2863, Judd 2664, Swayn 2398, Lewis 2381, Matthews 2261, Warren 2209, Vogels 1896, Bulmer 1838, Thomsen 1684, Chippendall 1618, Murcott 1604, Itnight 1566, McCuhbin & Ramsdale 1435, Russell 1270, Hough 1250, Sheills 1201, Hunter 1109, Pitcher 1102, D.Van Bremen 1070.

Murcott’s Premier

Tassie tiger snares penultimate SRA round

TASMANIAN Sprintcar driver David Murcott showed his superior driving class and made light work of winning round nine of the Autopro Super Sprint Series at Premier Speedway on March 17.

Murcott powered away in his Johnboy in a patient but steady drive to haul in leaders Warrnambool’s Ken Veal and Ian Lewis on lap 19 of the 25 lap race to win the penultimate round of the championship on a sticky Warrnambool surface.

Murcott’s win from Lewis and Veal virtually guaranteed the highly-sought 66

after Sprintcar Racing Association Championship would go to Van Bremen, who finished the round with a seemingly untouchable 263 point lead.

Van Bremen, of Croydon, amassed 2693 points after the win and headed to the final round at Wagga International Raceway needing only to grab a top-two heat placing to clinch the title from Camperdown’s Jeff Judd.

Van Bremen finished the feature in eighth position after starting from 11th, but it was the veteran Lewis gaining the ascendancy early.

- GEOFF ROUNDS

■●r-

Max’s round, Mike’s title: Van Bremen's strong season was (Pholo by Brett S.vanson) rewarded with a win in the Autopro Series.

Cruse m a close one

TASMANIAN Kane Cruse clinched victory in the last round of the Tucker Time Southern Shootout Series to record his maiden victory and narrowly win the 2001 series championship at Premier Speedway on March 17.

Cruse, 23, was magnificent in the final round and won the overall title by six points.

"I came here to try to win every race tonight. We have worked so hard for this, you don't want to know how much it's cost us to do this series," said an emotional Cruse.

"This is just great, there is nothing of this standard of competition over home, this is my first feature win in the series, that's how

tough it is."

He set the standard in his first heat, breaking the existing eight lap record, top point scoring after the heats, winning the stars dash and led every lap of the final to put the result beyond doubt.

When points were tallied from the heats, Cruse and Willsher were tied in the lead in the series with Dillon five points behind prior to the final.

He started the 15-lap feature from pole position and drove away to win convincingly from Warrnambool's Darren Mollenoyux, who hung on to second by a wheel from the fast-finishing Australian champion Luke Dillon and Ken Willsher in fourth.

Points; Cruse 427 Willsher 421, Luke Dillon 418, Lee Dillon 358.

moiorspori news

SPEEDWAY

hamp

Speedway Briefs MIKE Figliomeni has claimed victory in the fourth Krikke Boys Memorial, run at Bunbury City and Regional Speedway in Western Australia.

The Midget champ scored a lastgasp win when Max Dumesny shredded his right rear tyre on the last lap with Skip Jackson running second having travelled all the way from Pennsylvania for the $10,000to-win show. Gariy Brazier, driving Geoff Kendrick's #92 Eagle, was third ahead of the stricken Dumesny.

A tough night: Todd Waniess not only had to overcome Andrew (Photo by Brett Swanson) Scheuerle but also a broken down transporter.

Waniess ... finally!

IT may have taken 13 rounds, but Todd Waniess has finally taken his first round win in the Titan Garages Queensland Sprintcar Stunmer Shootout.

Waniess and Andrew Scheuerle had a brilliant battle at Toowoomba’s Charlton Speedway on Satui'day night, but Waniess had to really work hard for the win.

Brooke ploughs on

BROOKE Tatnell’s 2001 assault on the World of Outlaws in the United States continues to move along positively.

The Sydneysider sits equal 12th in points with Donny Schatz as we go to press, with names such as Dale Blaney, Stevie Smith, Jason Meyers, Jac Haudenschild and Randy Hannagan all trailing the Aussie, whose latest result was a 19th place finish at 1-55 Raceway.

His form in the #6 Parsons-owned machine has been very strong, regularly making the A-Mains and generally moving up from his starting position. He has had two top 10 results already and his current form indicates that better things may be in store.

Prior to 1-55, Tatnell stormed to 15th from 22nd on the grid in the feature at State Fair Motor Speedway, having qualified a lowly 37th in the 41 car field. Finishing seventh in his first heat, Tatnell transferred to the ‘A’ with fourth in the ‘B’, while Gumout Series (the World of Outlaws equivalent to Busch Grand National NASCAR) graduates Paul McMahan and Craig Dollansky picked up first and second.

Danny Lasoski leads the WoO pointscore, with Dollansky second and Andy Hillenburg third.

Max Dumesny Motorsport Australian Distributors for

Xoosirr ^ ^ RACING TIRE

For more information on Hooaer Drag and SpeedwayTyres call:

NSW: 02 9679 1990 ● Fax 02 9679 1187 VIC-03 9331 6477 ● Fax 03 9331 7444 SA 08 8332 0800 - Fax 08 8364 0296

30 March 2001

The night didn’t start well, with the defending Champion’s transporter breaking down on Brisbane’s inner city Stoiy Bridge followed by a pair of fourths in the heats once he got to the track which placed him out of the shootout.

It did, however, put him on the second row for the feature and he took the lead early from Peter Thorley before holding out Scheuerle in the race’s dydng stages.

“We weren’t real nice in the heats,” said Waniess.

“We changed the car for the feature but still really weren’t nice. We were pretty lucky to start fourth we just held on and stayed at the bottom.”

Stephen Bell grabbed third in the feature in a night which was a recovery of his championship chances, with Cameron Gessner fourth in the Union Steel Viper.

A week earlier, Darrell Hodges had taken a flag-to-flag win in round 11 at Brisbane International Speedway.

The penultimate round of the QSSS will be on April 21 at BIS.

Points: Hodges 824, Jensen 814, Bell 812, Waniess 755, Thorley 743, Ki-uck 676, McKenzie 641, Hoffmans 604, Bridge 535.

■1 In the #15 Maxim used so successfully by Donny Schatz during the summer, Robbie Farr claimed a convincing win in the 19th Coca Cola Sprintcar King of the Wings at Quit Motorplex in WA. He ran half a lap clear of Mike Figliomeni and Skip Jackson. a Garry Rush Jr has finallly broken through for a Sprintcar feature win in Parramatta City Raceway's Linde Forkliffts Sprintcar Stampede on March 17.

He held off Adrian Maher and Troy Little to take the win after inheriting the lead from Wayne Skipper, who spun with six laps left to run. a March 17 also saw the running of the NSW Speedcar Championship, and it seems that new National Champion Adam Clarke can do no wrong this season.

The A-main had several stoppages. A disappointed Mark Brown retired from leading the race with 21 laps to go, and Troy Jenkins' wretched luck this season continued when, in a clear second place, he lost the left front wheel coming out of turn 4 on the last lap.

Steven Graham picked up second after Troy's retirement with Brett Morris, Craig Brady and Nathan Smee completing the top five.

■ Jamie Jennings returned to the winners' circle at Speedway City on March 10 after a commanding, unbeaten performance in 'Streetsville 2001' when he led home regular Victorian visitor Robbie Faux, top local Brian Findlay and Australian Champion Barry Edwards.

Fifty street stock jocks including NSW and Victorian drivers assembled for the event.

2000/01 AUTOPRO SUPER SPRINT SERIES SCORE F inal Standings 2000/2001 Series

I.V6 Mike Van Bremen

2.VIIJeffJudd 3.V20 David Swayn . . .

4.V 18 Ian Lewis S.V9 Rod Matthews ..

6.W52 Jeremy Warren 7.V70 John Vogels 8.VI2 Colin Bulmer . .

9. V32 Ian Thomsen . .

.2863 .2664 .2398 .2381 .2261 .2209 1896 1838 1684

I0.V43 Garry Chippendall . . .1618

1604 1566 I2.VI4 Peter Knight.. .

1435 l3.VI3Tim McCubbin .

1435 I4.V2I Frank Ramsdaie 1270 15.V30 Darren Russell .

1250 16.V56 Brent Hough ..

1201 l7.V36TroySheills 1109 18.V73 Charles Hunter I 102 19.V84 Graeme Pitcher 20.V16 David Van Bremen .. .1070 1I.V7I David Murcott .

Rnd lO.WaggaWagga, Mar 24. \. Max Dumesny 2. David Murcott 3. David Anderson 4. Matthew Reed 5. GrantTunks 6. Ian Lewis 7. Mark Blyton 8. Troy Little 9. John Shore 10. John Vogels

■V5 V7I V37 V49 N54 VI8 N82 N20 .N6 V70

67

Agreement on Earnhardt autopsy pics THE Earnhardt family and the Florida courts have finally come to an agreement on the use of Dale Earnhardt's autopsy photographs.

A court appointed doctor specialising in automotive biomechanics will review the images before they are permanently sealed.

The examination and non copying of the photos will be limited to three issues (whether there was evidence of head whip, steering wheel contact or a blow to the top of the head).

"First of all; we don't know the entire detail of the agreement and who the medical expert is going to be," said IMASCAR President and CEO Mike Helton.

"In the meantime, we have had our own analysis of the report, the photographs as it relates to all the other information NASCAR has of the car itself and all the other outside specialists that we're using to collect as much data and to reach the

The first Ford win ot 2001; Dale Jarrett wa.s the man to get the job [Photo by done at Darlington.

mil

ihm

!r«

best possible conclusions that we can."

- MARTIN D CLARK

Troubles st Roush Martin, Burton and co under microscope

ROUSH Racing is encountering one of its worst seasons on record thus far.

Mark Martin is the top Roush contender lying 22nd in points,followed by Matt Kenseth 27th, rookie Kurt Busch 29th and Jeff Burton an amazing 35th.

So what’s up? Chemistiy, politics, lack of communication?

Just about everything, it would seem.

One team member said that Roush “big wig” Jeff Smith apparently told Martin,‘You’ve had your chance at the championship, it’s someone else’s turn now”, meaning they want to concentrate their efforts on Burton or Kenseth.

As for Busch, his car remains 68

unsponsored, but he has fared well and, for the most part, kept out of trouble in his first handful of events.

Last year’s title hope Burton wrecked in his first three races at Daytona, Rockingham and Vegas and then suffered engine woes at Atlanta.

In Darlington he ran inside the top 10, but a pit road screw up knocked him to 18th, still his best result of the year to that point.

His new sponsor Citgo have expressed their annoyance in the team’s performance, having left the Wood Brothers’team and their driver Elliott Sadler to plough millions more into the Roush camp. As for Sadler, he’s 18th in points with sponsor Motorcraft and won a race!

“Fm the only one driving the car, Fm the one that’s got to take responsibility,” said Burton.

“I don’t think because we’re 35th in points today we’re going to end up 35th in points. We may, I just certainly hope we don’t.

“We’ve been very competitive in the races we’ve been in. We’ve been a top five team for the last four years.

“We found our limit on this (harder compound)tyre and we found it the hard way. We’ve got to put it behind us.”

It would seem more that burnt rubber is brewing at Roush Racing right now ...

- MARTIN D CLARK

Under the pump: Jeff Burton.

(Photo by Martin D Clark)

molorsport news

1

sadlep's fipst Wood Brothers break through for first win in eight years

ELLIOTT Sadler, driving a Wood Brothers Taurus, became the third first time winner in the last seven races in Winston Cup on Sunday at the ultrahigh banked Bristol bowl, fending off John Andretti and Jeremy Mayfield to the flag for

the win.

“I can’t believe it, we’re in victory lane at Bristol,” exclaimed Sadler. “We get to go to The Winston and we’re going to win that one too,” he remarked of the all winners’special race in May. Sadler’s crew chief Pat Tryson gambled for track position rather than new tyres when a late caution flag waved,leaving Elliott to head the remaining 68 laps on older tyres than the immediate competition.

Sadler started 38th from the backstretch pits, winning the race from the farthest back in Bristol history in his 75th Cup start. He became the 17th different winner for the veteran Woods, who started racing in 1953, their last win coming with Morgan Shepherd in 1993 at Atlanta.

Jeff Gordon looked strong early on, but faded from the lead. He did rebound to fourth after a last lap altercation with Tony Stewart.

Stewart, while Gordon said “we’re both ag^essive and we both want to win, it was just a meeting of the minds on the last quarter lap of a 500 lap race.”

Rookie Kevin Harvick, who started third, continued to impress by leading the most laps (139), but a cut tyre relegated him to 24th, while Kevin Lepage started 42nd in the Morgan McClure Kodak car and finished a creditable 14th in his first effort with the local team.

Due to a rash of 13 cautions, an amazing - for Bristol - 25 cars finished on the lead lap, but the cars of pole-sitter Mark Martin and Jeff Burton were again not in In the saddle: Elliott Sadler. that gaggle.

(Photo by Martin D Clark) Burton slapped the wall hard on Gordon had his nose under the straightaway and, to add Stewart entering the third turn insult to injury, came down in and Stewart came down the track .front of his team-mate and took on Gordon, sending the Joe Gibbs him from the race also ...

Pontiac into a spin and relegating Stewart from fourth to 25th.

Final result: Sadler (Ford) ll.l.TSe mph, After the red flag was uncoiled, Andretti(Dodge), Mayfield (Ford), Gordon (Chevy), W Burton (Dodge),T Gordon coasted down pit road and Labonte (Chevy), R Wallace (Ford), Stewart spun Gordon armmd into Hamilton (Chevy),Park (Chevy). the pit wall. Both drivers were Points standings; Jarrett 871, Gordon called to the NASCAR truck post 826, Marlin 823, Benson 776,Park 768, race and emerged smiling.

R Wallace 752, Rudd 743, Hamilton 716, Sadler 709, Elliott 701.

“We’re both open wheel drivers - MARTIN D CLARK turned stock car racers,” said

nn^ MORGAN-’McClure Racing has released driver Robby Gordon from his five year contract with the Kodak-backed team,the team calling it quits after just five races!

“He’s a hard racer there’s no doubt in my mind, but he needs to listen to people down here (with NASCAR),’’ remarked team owner Larry McClure.

“I wouldn’t tell him how to drive an Indycar, and the same should'apply here. So we have agreed to terminate the our contract.”

Gordon is obviously upset with the decision.

The reality is I had a five year contract,” he said. “I didn’t want to step out of the car, I honestly believe ifs a little early to split, but if you are going in two different directions, what does that do for you?

“What I am going to do is take deep breath l and make sure whatever I do neict only helps me. I don’t want bad blood with Larry.”

At this time, it’s not known what Gordon was paid for his release or where he will end'up, whether it be IRL or NASCAR. Kevin Lepage, 38, has replaced Gordon. He formerly drove the Roush-owned #16 Ford.

- MARTIN D CLARK 30 March 2001

NASCAR

Eel up the sponsorship river: Kenny Wnllace in the #27.

(PhoU) by Martin D Clurk)

This is a family program

ana

MANY people questioned Kenny Wallace's move from Andy Petree Racing and sponsor Square D electrical at the and of 2000.

The youngest of the three brothers obtained a contract release from Petree to drive an unsponsored Pontiac for Eel River Racing that carried the Viagra name in 2000.

Team owner, Boston lawyer Jack Birmingham and minority partner Barry Dodson, a veteran crew chief, hooked the likeable Wallace, but the team has been unsatisfactory in landing a sponsor; one that's acceptable to NASCAR anyhow.

Penthouse magazine had agreed to become primary backer on the plain white number 27, but the name waved a big red flag in NASCAR mariceting and the deal was 'put to bed'.

Although Wallace has emphatically denied the team will remain active through the year vJth nc sponsorship, rumours have circulated to the contrary and team member are hearing whispers of competing in maybe one or two more races before the doors are shut.

- MARTIN D CLARK

NASCAR Briefs n Rumours are circulating around the garage area that 2000 Busch Champ Jeff Green is to join Childress Racing in the capacity of a third Winston Cup driver. The space was originally open for Kevin Harvick, but he has now filled the shoes of Dale Earnhardt. n After a lengthy delay, NASCAR suspended two crew chiefs 10 days after the Atlanta event.

Chad Knaus of Stacy Compton's Melling team and Matt Chambers of Kurt Busch's Roush operation have each been suspended from two races starting with Bristol and fined $5000 each. The fines were levied due to seat belt shoulder harness infractions, for non-dated belts. NASCAR mandates belts must be less than five years old and carry a manufacturing date. Apparently the labels were cut off and material trimmed.

- MARTIN D CLARK 69

Eddington Sprints For those who like their motor sport the old fashioned way, the Eddington Sprints might be just the thing for you.

The Victorian branch of the Vintage Sports Car Club of Australia will be holding its annual sprint meeting along one of the streets in the quiet central Victorian village on Saturday, March 31.

There's always a nice selection of old cars participating, and plenty of others in the carpark that are worth a look. Just like the good old days the emphasis is on fun, and if you turn up late, chances are you will miss the action. At least you'll be in time for the barbecue, which generally starts early and finishes late on the banks of the Loddon River.

- I'

n A special tribute to the late John Cooper is being organised to coincide n with the 50th anniversary of the Snetterton track in England on June 23-24. 'The John Cooper Memorial Trophy Race' will be a feature on the program and is being presented by the Cooper Car Club.

The club is also organising a static display of about 20 cars around its stand as well as demonstration laps.

It promises to be a great turnout of Coopers - and a fitting tribute to one of the most influential innovators of motor sport in the 20th century.

T

Coopers to help (Photo by Brian Rent)

■ The .Sooth Australian Classic Speedway Association Inc. is now accepting entries for its Riverview National Vintage Speedway Classic to be held at Murray Bridge on Saturday, April 21.

There will be opportunities for owners of vintage speedway cars and motorcycles to take part in static displays and demonstration runs, and some strict rules have been laid down to ensure proper conduct of the event.

These include the messages that "....Racing is not permitted and will not be tolerated.... an occurrence of a second offence and the rider/driver will be invited by the Steward to join the spectators."

It is hoped this meeting will draw both local participants and inter staters, especially from Victoria.

Michael Qualmann is the contact on (08) 8269 5255 (work).

- BRIAN REED JO

....

_

HE recovery of the associat^^fwijthitfte ^Ttheanwhile>,t»ad long?

Bluebird,34 years after it '^reooweryAprojfect; who wisjtiecii supportedj||ie Salvage operation,,as had his nep hew" sank to the bottorriitjf to remain anonyrhous;said; Don Wales, whtfclaimed that '' Lake Coniston, closes the final "Finding the body has alt^ys. . ^ The possibility of recoyeringchapter on the saga of Donaid been the number-one,g.oal^ Campbell's efforts to smash whateverdihe divers have the body.^s a'^'crucial actually admitted in public. factpii'"fn m%famHy's decision' his ovyn world water spePd^ The original plan, was to , .

-to'reMveij.tlie’BkieBird. record-almost. , The craft was raised to the positively Identify thq, bpdy Tfie'alQfhinium tailfipkof the-" Bluebird.-smeafed with silt surface at Coniston Watejt^before actually lifting the; _ earlier this month, bnngjipjgi - Bluebird, but events have^ n but s^irp^nted blue and with it the news that the conspired against thisi""^,,. bearing,tltB»Oniefn"Jack and divers responsible for^'Tocating . ■»-IMews of tlie discoyeigi^has. ^*‘BIUeGIrd''fftotrf, wasthe first the wreckage believe thaj^ -- T,:.beenkgreetedtambivalent}^by. part of tJhjyjesseLto emerge they have also founddbgjpr-'^ those close to Campbellr^Hls , from beneSt^ the water. The remains of Campbell himself. widow, Tonia Bern-Campb%ll,, rest of therrear Section, Previously, some personal had long objected to the including the Bristol Sidderley effects including his helmet, recovery of the wreck, saying, engine, followed shortly shoes, socks, Mae West, and "Donald always said The craft afterwards and was largely teddy bear mascot had been stays with the skipper'. intact, though the front area, found, but the body had Therefore, as we never found where Campbell was sitting, always proven elusive. Sonar him and he's somewhere in was completely destroyed, equipment has revealed the the lake, I didn't want it up."

Son of multiple land and presence of an object with the She later relented, though, water speed-record holder Sir appearance of a skeleton, when news of its discovery Malcolm Campbell, Donald however poor visibility has raised the possibility of it Campbell set seven world hampered efforts by the being a target for souvenir water speed records between divers to make a more hunters.

1955 and 1964, reaching a detailed investigation.

Campbell's daughter Gina, peak of 276mph at Lake moiorsport news

●

, 4^

HISTORICS l J

Tracey’s reunion n The Tracey's Speedway Reunion, originally scheduled for April 8, has been re-scheduled due to a clash with a soccer fixture at Maribynong Reserve. The meeting will now be held on Saturday, April 7 from 11 am to 4pm. Admission is free. Classes featured will include restored solo bikes and sidecars, midget speedcars and hotrods.

Back in the '60s Tracey's Speedway Vv'as Victoria's principle track, and it was customary for patrons to buy a copy of the evening 'Herald' and use it to deflect the cinders as the cars and bikes flashed past. To add to the nostalgia at the April 7 meeting, a photocopier will be on site to reproduce old photographs and programs from the club’s archives. Maribynong Reserve is in Raleigh Rd.(Melways 28, B7), and for further information phone 9370 5942. n 2001 is a landmark year in the histop/ of the HSRCA of NSW Inc. In May the club will celebrate its 20th anniversary, and a special social event is being planned for the occasion. The HSRCA has now moved to Lane Cove Country Club (Gregory's 124 G14)for its meetings.

Meanwhile, with David Medley getting the urge to go racing again, the HSRCA is seeking the services of a new Assistant Clerk of Course. If you feel you can fit the bill, HSRCA President John Hunter would like to hear from you on (02) 9907 6644.

;r

sialilfjailijfcJUi;

hcartaKB FAu

ii lala ^haJyv«e>haviB, Campb/i V, persort^^— ~alligotto;»gmember^as,Theever to/bayi^^roken both magic that%efe'was tO;see Bluebird out on the lake. It the land and water soeed was a magical time to watch records in the same year. her and to hear the roar of He was killed at Coniston the engine echoing around while trying to become the the hills. first person to break the The future of the Bluebird 300mph mark on water. remains uncertain, though it Campbell managed a is popularly hoped that the 297mph run on the first leg. then turned the boat around wreckage will remain in Coniston as a memorial to and began a second run before the wake had settled.

Campbell's achievements.

The Bluebird accelerated - MARK GLEIMDENNING to over 300mph before 30 March 2001

m

Wrise iy.\ mm

n The Historic Clubman Racing Association is back in business, thanks largely to the efforts of the club's co-ordinator, John Sexton.

Eight Clubman cars took part in the All-Historic meeting at Oran Park in January, and there are optimistic predictions that this number will grow for their next appearance at the Oran Park GP meeting in April. One important Clubman currently undergoing restoration is the Lotus 7 that apparently won the 1969 Johore Grand Prix. Chris Reid is the man behind the project, and the Seven's return to the tracks will be watched with interest. n This year the Austin 7 Club will host the 25th Historic Winton meeting, one of the most popular and best supported annual events on the calendar.

Much of the success of Historic Winton has been due to slick organisation and the fact that a successful formula has been developed and maintained over the years. Supp.regs. and entry forms are now available, and entries close last mail on April 20.

For details contact the meeting secretary, Brenda Campbell on (03) 9592 9310 ph/fax. - BRIAN REED 71

J

I

scene

Noonan

Attacks of the reds AUSTRALIAN SPORTS SiDAN CHAMPIONSHIP

Forget HRT, these are the real red barons: Tony Ricciardello and Kerry Baily were simply the men to beat at Phillip Island. Mechanical problems hindered Darren Hossack, the man who looked most likely to challenge the duo.

(Photo by Marshall Cass)

Ricciardello was diappointed afterwards: “I was planning to go out hard, build a lead, then slow down, but the tyres went oflf. Ijust went a out a bit too hard at the start.”

by MARK GLENDENNING

F

ANS were treated to the spectacle of experience pitched against youthful enthusiasm in the opening round of the Australian Sports Sedan Championship at Phillip Island.

From a 25-strong field, series veteran and multiple championship winner Kerry Baily and his super-quick Nissan 300ZX entered the weekend as the combination to beat.

In the end though, it was 22year-old Tony Ricciardello, piloting his heavily-campaigned Alfa Romeo GTV, who made his intentions clear early on with a series of blistering laps in the first qualifying session.

In fact, they were blistering in the dual sense of the word, because although Ricciardello posted some quick times, his efforts on the first day also highlighted a problem that would largely dictate the nature of the racing for the rest of the weekend - tyre wear.

Sports Sedan regulations allow each driver just one set of new tyres for the whole event, and one single change to the allocated set can be made without penalty.

Given that the characteristics of the circuit tended to make Sports Sedans munch through rubber the way Pacman went through power pellets, this clearly had the potential to cause problems.

n

Red cars always go faster: Kerry Baily, left, and Tony Riccardello were again the drivers to beat in the first round of the ASSC at Phillip Island.

(Photo by Lynley Reid)

And cause problems it did.

Ricciardello went out hard on Sautrday morning, posting a fastest lap of lm32.9878s that was some 1.5s faster than anybody else managed on the day. It was a particularly impressive performance, in view of the fact that he had failed to complete a lap in the second Friday practice session due to gearbox problems.

Pole position came at a cost though, with the WA-based driver badly graining a front tyre.

Meanwhile, Baily encountered traffic while out on his own qualif3dng run and had to settle for third on the grid for Race 1 after being squeezed off the front row by Darren Hossack (Saab).

H

ossack suffered a blown head gasket early in the first race and retired for the weekend, leaving Ricciardello and Baily to fight it out for the lead.

Both aided by six-litre Chev engines with around 650bhp on tap, they quickly left the rest of the field behind.

Initailly, Ricciardello was pushing hard enough to come through the final corner with a couple of wheels on the dirt, almost cutting things a little too fine on a couple of occasions.

In the process, he broke Baily’s lap record by more than a full second with a lm33.6870s.

It was to little avail though - an early charge from the start line proved too much for the Alfa’s tyres, and Baily, who had been concerned with tyre preservation from the beginning, had little trouble catching and passing his rival to take the win with a comfortable three second gap.

Mark Stinson, who ran virtually alone for the second half of the race, completed the top honours with a third in his Holden Calibra.

The damage was sufficient to require a complete tyre change on the Alfa. Consequently, Ricciardello was forced to start race two from the back of the grid, though his job was made easier by the second race being run to an inverted-10 format.

Dean Randle and Mick Monterosso started the second race from the front row, but a first lap shake-up saw Monterosso claim the lead, while Baily charged from tenth to second, relegating Randle to third, and Ricciardello had cut his way through to fifth.

A lap later, and the Baily/Ricciardello battle for the lead was back on. It was short lived-though - Ricciardello rocketed past the Nissan down the straight on Lap 3.

Two laps later, Ricciardello had pulled out a lead of 11 seconds.

Baily was obviously struggling with his car, and his problems were confirmed when he finally parked it at Siberia on lap six with fuel pump failure.

From there on it was all too easy for Ricciardello, and he coasted to an easy win more than 22 seconds clear of Monterosso in second, and Randle a few seconds further back.

Hostilities resume at Eastern Creek next month. motorsport news

NATIONAL

Sparks fly in F3 opener

by EDWAFtD KRAUSE

JAMES Manderson and Peter Hackett shared the wins, and a stewards hearing, diu-ing a controversial opening round of the Australian Formula 3 National Series at Oran Park.

Hackett was fastest in the wet opening qualifying session but, in the dry, Darren Palmer in the Dallara 398 was on top with a lm06.0100s, 0.3s faster than Kiwi Daynom Templeman (Dallara 396), then Hackett, Manderson and Glen Coombs.

Hackett was quickly into the lead in race one but soon had a marauding Manderson right behind him.

On the 12th lap Manderson made his move into turn two and the pair collided, bringing out a red flag.

To their benefit, the race results were declared at the end of lap 11, giving Hackett the win from Manderson, then a spread out field led by Palmer, Templeman and Paul Stephenson, subbing for Coombs who was ill on Sunday morning.

The crash was declared a ‘racing incident’ at the stewards hearing, and the boys geared up for a second stoush.

Thankfully the final encoiuiter wasn’t as damaging, with Manderson getting the upper hand early. Hackett went back to third

AUSTRALIAN FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP

:We Rave contact: Hackett(#2) and i-Manderson (#88) collide ;at the end of the front straight.

(Pttoto by Oirk Kiynstnithj

Ik

Straightaway shootout: Chas Jacobsen heads 2000 champion Paul (Photo by James Smith) Stephenson down the front straight.

The same suspects

The two ‘W’s: Paul Whitmarsh and Martin Wagg were again the class of Porsche Cup at Oran Park.

(Photo by John Morris/Mpix) 30 March 2001

as Palmer got a good start and they ran in close formation for several laps.

A second three-way battle between Chas Jacobsen, Templeman and Mike Beeley added further entertainment.

Templeman worked his way clear of the second trio to get among the leaders, dispatching of both Hackett and Palmer to take second behind Manderson, who claimed overall honours on the day.

Palmer was third and Hackett a distant fourth, but second overall.

FOR the second round in a row, Martin Wagg and Paul Whitmarsh shared the victories in the Porsche Cup at Oran Park.

Wagg was a narrow winner of the opening race at Oran Park, whiie Whitmarsh could scarcely have been more convincing in his decimation in race two.

With the first qualifying session wet, the dry second session would be the one that counted.

In this, Whitmarsh in the Aclass GT2 was dominant, his 1 ml4.6117s a full 1.1 seconds faster than Wagg, who was closely followed by Turner, both running in the GT category.

Richard Wilson (A-993), John Miller (A-911) and Ken Jarrett (GTGT3)filled a spread out top six, covered by 2.4 seconds. Jack Crocker in a 993 was fastest Bclass runner in seventh, well clear of Russell Wright.

Points: Manderson 35, Hackett 31, Templeman 27, Palmer 25, Digby 12.

The first race wasn't looking too interesting for a while.

Wagg got away after Whitmarsh struck trouble on the opening lap, pushing him back to fifth and well down on the leader.

Wagg was in control early on, but Whitmarsh stormed through, including a fastest lap 0.9s faster than Wagg's best.

A drag to the line saw Wagg win by a literal nose from Whitmarsh, with Turner third, 16 seconds behind.

Wright emerged triumphant in Class B from Crocker.

Race two was unfortunately not as exciting. Whitmarsh got the jump from Wagg and, despite some early pressure, by lap three the GT2 was well on its way to victory.

Wagg was second from Jarrett, while Crocker got the better of Wright to win Class B and take fourth.

- EDWARD KRAUSE 73

Worner’s Park THE two Roman Auto-Tek Historic Touring Car races were almost identical at Oran Park in support to the Konica Series.

Pole sitter Cameron Worner in his Ford Falcon won from Jose Fernandez in another Falcon and Brad Tilley in a Ford Mustang picked up third.

- EDWARD KRAUSE

Hi ho, hi ho, off to Laguna we go A GROUP of Australian and New Zealand Superkarters are headed to Laguna Seca to take part in the World Superkart Challenge on May 18-20.

Former World 500cc Motorcycle champs Wayne Rainey and Eddie Lawson have organised the event as a support race to the Winston West NASCAR racing tour. Both Rainey and Lawson are residents of Monterey and regular kart racers.

Formula Holden star Chris Staff, Steve Tapper, John Carter, Simon Mathewson, Alan Rose, Wayne Crossland, Steve Crossland and Anton Stevens will make up the team which will take on teams from the US, Canada, Britain, Denmark, France and South Africa.

Bruce's Saloon Bar

Heinrich too good in Saloon Car shootout

IT was trxily the Bruce Heinrich show in the CSA Alloy Wheels Saloon Car Challenge at Oran Park in round two of the national series.

Heinrich put his Falcon on pole and went on to take two convincing wins, both times over another Falcon, driven by Anthony Evangelou.

Heinrich’s qualifying margin over the Commodore of Kurt Kratzman was narrow, only 0.2s, but it was comfortable compared to the 0.05s between Kratzman and Stephen Robinson, who was third in a Falcon.

Then came ex-Formula Holden driver Kevin Weeks and Gavyn Croft, both in Commodores, and then Evangelou, the top six covered by less than half a second.

In the first race Evangelou got a ripper of a start to be the one to threaten Heinrich early, but Bruce had it under control to eke out enough of a lead, which included a dominant fastest lap 0.6s swifter than Evangelou could manage and

More damn Fords: Sam Milton heads the challengers through turn one.

(Photo by James Smitn)

went to win by over three seconds.

Evangelou and Ki atzman fought out second and third, followed by Robinson and Weeks.

Race two was a similar stoiy, the only difference was Gavyn Croft getting into the action and moving

up to fom-th on the final lap. Despite this the podium remained the same, Heimich, again by three seconds from Evangelou and Kratzman running nose to tail at the end.

- EDWARD KRAUSE

Winterbottom on a roll (Phcrto by Sean Hensholwood)

KARTING Hin COMING EVENTS 7/8 April Vic Formula 'K' Scries Round 1 Ballaya-f «

13/14/lS

AKA Nationals!

Newcastle NSW,

21/22

Bairnsdale Under Lights Bairnsdale

29

Club Day for all clubs

For information on any of the above call the Victorian Karting Association

03 5449 63G2 or 03 93021144 V\CTOR\AHKAW\NG ASSOC\M\OR

'WWW.vka.asn.an vka@bl4iO.aone.net.au 74

MARK Winterbottom successfully defended his Formula 100 Victorian Title at Melbourne’s Todd Road circuit earlier this month. The win comes hot on the heels of his success at the Portland Street Grand Prix, but unlike Portland, this time the fight went right to the very last corner.

South Australia’s Tyson Pearce pressured Winterbottom for the entire final, leading for many of the opening laps before Winterbottom made his way past.

Pearce continued to tail gate Winterbottom and set fastest lap

of the race before making a final but unsuccessful last lap lunge for the lead. Tim Macrow took third on his debut for Swiss Hutless, narrowly beating Mark Hester to the line.

While Winterbottom took out F100, he was upstaged by the spectacular Ryal Harris in Clubman Light, the two engaged in a mighty battle for honours and putting on a superb display of wheel to wheel racing and battle of wits, passing and re-passing each other lap after lap.

- MARK WICKS molorsporl news

NATIONAL

VMRC kicks off at Winton

ROUND one of Python. the Victorian Fitzgerald was Motor Racing also unbeatable in Championship at the MGs and set a Winton on March new class record, nvB Wiim 17/18 was racing while McDowell the way it should added quality to the be; a total day's field with second non-stop racing, V place finishes. large grids and Glen Hastings no crowding! dominated Formula Michael Fords from karter Robinson showed Soaring through the pack: Laurie Davidson’s Soarer Turbo Mark Winterbottom, his Commodore's created interest in Sports Sedans.

(Photo by Neil Hammond) with Ricky Occhipinti near-new yellow just beating Chris paint to all from the final race.

Templer after passing mid-race. the front In Sports Sedans with Phil Morriss showed the old Richard Catchlove (Mazda RX7) The early race was the same 1-2, familiar Datsun colours and speed never far away. The duo shared while Templer outpaced to defeat the Mazdas of Mario the six-lapper wins while Occhipinti.

Caligari and Tom Prentice in the Robinson took the final race Club Car class. The Morriss/ Daniel Reinhardt quickly from Catchlove and Damian established a good lead in Formula Caligari results were repeated Johnson (Torana).

Vee to Ray Colenso, Craig Bundle twice earlier in the meeting.

Trevor McGuinness always and Andy Nethercote. Nethercote Mort Fitzgerald continued his looked a winner in the under dominant winning style in Marque expired with two laps to go, while two-litre Sports Sedans and took Sports, which was made easier Reinhardt and Max Bonney won the other races with the familiar the final race, leading home Karl when George Vidovic's (Python) attack on Phil Boat's PRB Parsons, while Neville Haley and place getters.

Marcus Zukanovic locked horns eliminated both at the first turn.

The next round at Sandown on John Good's Porsche was in the Commodore Cup events.

April 28/29.For a full report on the second from Andrew McDowell Haley took race one and won Winton meeting, keep an eye on Vic the other two, Barry Cassidy and and 2000 Porsche Cup winner State Racer inside Motorsport News.

- NEIL HAMMOND Simon Froude in the second Zukanovic filling the podium in

Life begins

by MARK WALKER

MOTHER Nature didn’t come to Lakeside’s 40th birthday bash on the weekend of March 17/18. After two days of stinking hot conditions, a series of storms wreaked havoc, causing two red flags and the cancellation of two races.

Historic Touring Cars featured on the program, with their first two championship rounds for 2001. Steve Emson (Ford Falcon) made a triumphant return to competition with three commanding victories.

Defending Improved Production Champion Tom Horton(Mazda RX3) made his intentions clear with a convincing clean sweep.

Ross Dillon(VN Commodore) came second in the feature race, after challengers Stephen Thompson (Mazda RX7), David Wood(Mazda RX3)and Colin Giblett(VL Commodore) went off track after hitting an oil slick.

Craig Yates remains undefeated in the HQ Holden Championship, with three victories and for the second race meeting in a row, Kris 30 March 2001

Karting Brie^ n Ben Horstman placed sixth at the Margutti Trophy nneeting in Italy earlier this month. It was another strong performance from the Australian as he and his Biesse/Fox/Bridgestone team prepare for the opening round of the World Championship series at Montreal in June.

KIP Sir n

Si®'

I Tim MsCrOW. (PKoio by Noonan/M News Oigiul)

n Tim Macro\A/ has joined Swiss Hutless for the rest of 2001. The former Kosmic driver made his debut at the Victorian Open in Formula 100 and finished third. Macrow also recently tested a Formula 3 car at Calder, completing a number of laps aboard the Racing Car Heaven team's Dallara. n Taz Douglas has landed the lead Formula A drive with the Kosmic Karts team for this year's CIK series.

Kosmic importer Jim Morton snapped up Douglas's services from under the nose of several other teams. The coveted Kosmic FA drive was originally to be taken up by New Zealand's Jonathon Reid, but Morton has now shuffled Reid across to Tony Kart (another of Morton's teams) to head up that team's FA assault after the departure of Michael Caruso and then Daniel Elliott to Formula Ford. n Dunlop is establishing a promotional fund for karting which will generate dollars through sales of the Dunlop SL1 control tyre. The proceeds of the fund are to be directed primarily at the 'grass roots' of karting and to assist organising clubs to grow the sport.

L Forties everywhere: On the. 40th anniversary of Lakeside, it seemed appropriate that none other than Kevin Bartlett have a steer of a GT40.

(Photo by Mark Walker)

Walton went home with maximum points after three more victories in Geminis.

Tl'ent Usher was another driver to leave Lakeside with a swag of trophies, taking out three wins from pole in his Jabiru in Formula Vee from Nick Leontsinis (Elfin Crusader).

Don Thallon took out the Championship Production Sports Car race in his Corvette from the Porsches of Darren Dunn and Russell Kempnich, while Ian Moncrieff(Van Dieman RF91)took out the Formula Ford

Championship race from the Van Dieman RF95s of Kurt Wimmer and Greg Poole.

Moncrieff also won the combined race with the Sports 1300s, while John Campbell(Hooper) won the championship race in the 1300 class.

Wayne Parmenter(Supra) cleared into the distance in the three Sports Sedan races.

In the championship race, Chris Fing took out second, while Ian Woodward was the top under two litre competitor, coming in third outright.

n Regan Payne participated in a Formula Ford test day at Queensland Raceway recently and has gone ahead and purchased a car. Payne will contest the rest of the Queensland FF series as well as karting at the Nationals and other selected Queensland events. n The second Rotax MAX Challenge World Grand Final has been officially launched. The event will see the top qualified Rotax MAX drivers from 54 countries come together at the 1.2km Morac International Karting Circuit on Langkawi Island on January 21 to 27, 2002. Rotax M/\X series will be contested throughout Australia to qualify drivers for the National final where Australia's team for Malaysia will be decided.

-MARK WICKS 75

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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.

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accepted (marked with a ●) and must be prepaid at the following per issue rates: $5 per 10 words (min $10 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 telephone.

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.

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Pulsar GTiR 1990, black hatch, 2Ltr 5sp man, 67,000kms, pocket rocket WRX eater, intercooled turbo charged, 4WD, Viscous LSDs, climate control air conditioning, 3 inch exhaust. Alloy mags with new Michelin Tyres. $ 19,900ono. Ph 0419 361 908 or 03 9842 9163.203

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 644 217.203 Mini Under 2L Sports Sedan, top 1380cc race engine with all the good bits, near new 13" front tyres, vented Ford disc brakes, top body, CAMS log book, ready to race. $4500. Ph Rob 02 4684 2117 or 0407 294 962.203

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Lotus Europa/47 Replica, very rare, very fast, very desirable, new big horsepower Peter Wallacebuilt Cosworth BDA 4 valve engine, fresh transaxle, fully adjustable suspension. Logbooked since '85. Potentiai Group R HistorlG contender.

Spare Cosworth short motor and many spares plus full drawings. Currently damaged. $20,000. Ph Bob. 02 9544 2399 or 0412 332 336.203 Group Nc Mustang, not complete. Van Zelm cage.

Harrop full floater diff, Sidney engine, heaps of spares. $35,000. Ph 03 5988 6286.203 Commodore VL, rebuilt high performance 308, Aussie 4 speed, 9" locker diff, Simmons wheels, professionally prepared shell and cage, excellent condition, suit Sports Sedan or Club Car. $9500 ono. Ph 02 4946 9554 or 0407 905 039.203 Nissan Skyline GTR R33 96, Nations Cup spec, top HP engine, M8 Motec, very new & fast car, spend $179,000 to build, swap for V8 Supercar package. Must be very good condition. Ph 07 3325 0489 or 0417 775 507. 203

30 March 2001

HR Holden sedan, bash car, very successful car, full roll cage, trip meter, 186 worked, 4 speed, 15-inch wheels, 3/4 chassis, braced diff and front end. Too many extras to list. $4000. Ph 0418 744 757.203 Chevrolet Corvette 1977,350 auto, red with brown interior. Excellent condition, must sell to fund speed way project. $21,000 ono. Ph 02 6552 6366 ah. 203

liilfe'SpMtsiSeiliHFastest MR2 in GTP, Proflex shocks, Elbach springs, Motec ECU, dry brake fluid system, ideal for Bathurst/lndy/Le Mans. Spares negotiable. Killer club car. $24,000. Ph Anton 0408 164 821.203

Toyota MR2, AWII 20 valve, turbo charged, full rebuild, adjustable suspension, big brakes, 16" wheels, /tzenis tyres, Sparko race seats, road regis tered, excellent condition. $22,500ono. Ph Charlie 0414 701 207.203

Ford Escort Club Car 2L, twin side draught Weber carbies, performance tuned extractors. Max power head. Crow cam, flat top pistons balanced and blueprinted. Toyo tyres, 7-in Rebel race wheels, spares and log book. $5400 ono. Ph Craig 03 5126 2822.203 Mazda RXS Club Car Sports Sedan, 13B Bridgeport, fully welded cage, LSD, 4 wheel discs, 15x7 wheels, minor finishing touches needed, $5900ono, or swap under 2L Club Car or Sports Seoan, ready to race. Ph Alan 0411 502 437. 203 Gemini Coupe Improved Production (Club) Car, 2 Litre, twin 40 IDF Webers, adjustable Konis all round, modified brakes, locked diff, many spares. Ready to race. $6000ono. All reasonable offers considered. Ph 02 9274 2201 bh or 02 9181 3071 ah. 203 Gemini Coupe Sports Sedan roller, log book $3700. Rover 3.5 V8, new heads 360hp and block's one thick web. $2500. Ph 02 6734 2259 or 02 6732 3353. 203

Sports Sedan, McPherson Racing Escort RSI700, spaceframe. 2000 Victorian 2ltr Sports Sedan Champion, 5 pole positions, lap records at Lakeside, Calder, Phillip Island and Winton. Fully rebuilt, I'ace prepared for 2001. Fresh Cosworth BDE, new block, new crankshaft, Speedtech fuel injection, Motec system, Hewland 5 spd. $33,000 ono. Ph 0408 522 175. 202 Mazda RXS Improved Production, rebuilt 13B PP and 5 speed Holinger, 5.1 diff. Race shockies and big brakes, Simmons wheels, competitive car with spares. $ 12,000. Ph 0411 736 980 or 07 3216 7871. 202

Peugeot 405 Super Tourers, ex-BTCC cars, com plete with neaps of spares including body shell.

Everything you need to go racing. Will sell separate with spares package. $45,000 per car ono. Ph 02 4577 2779 or 0407 272 165. 202 Gemini Coupe Sports Sedan roller, log book. $3700. Rover 3.5 V8, new heads flow OP 360hp and block's one thick web. $2500. Ph 02 6734 2259 or 02 6732 3353.202

HD X2 Group N, genuine HD X2, CAMS log book, quality new parts used, 2 speed Powerglide, 1 lOmph in 1st gear, top HP motor (all steel), excel lent potential, hand grooved wets, 8 spare tyres and Chevoit wheels, details supplied on request. POA. Ph 03 9439 7667 or 0409 465.837.203

Sports Sedan Commodore VP, new Tig welded chassis with all suspension, floating diff, rose joints, Simmons wheels, new factory panels plus fibreglass bonnet, guards etc. Giveaway at $3750.

Ph 0412 156 766.203

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*lVlotorsport News Classifieds are FREE for private sales. Classifieds from motor sport traders are

GTP Mazda RX7, 3rd outright Bathurst 2000, Ric Shaw engine, entered for Adelaide. $48,000. Ph Phil 0425 732 796.203

Dino Ferrari replica, turbocharged, fuel-injected V6, 4 speed, new paint, new Motec M4, Simmons wheels, 265 rears, 225 fronts, roll bar. Fibreglass body 1040kgs, electric windows. $19,990. Ph Rick 0417 700 208. 203

2 issues

Falcon AU2, 6/2000, XLS utility, Mako limited edi tion, 4 Itr, auto, silver, all options, alarm, towbar, new car wrnty, only 3900kms, make great tender vehicle, used privately, as new. $32,900 neg. Ph 02 4578 2686or0412 817 166. 203

Toyota Celica GT4, 1991 model, turbo, 4WD, race only, suit Improved Production sport class, low kms, ready to go. $7900 ono. Ph David 0414 275 860.203 1965 Mustang, gold, black interior, new C4 transmis sion, 302W, mild camshaft, roller rockers, S/S valves, moly pushrods, moly rings, screw in studs, Hypertectic pistons, new exhaust. King springs, Koni shocks, too much to list. $25,000 ono. Ph 07 5448 5569 ah. 203

Datsun 260Z 2+2, 2.8 litre motor, 5 speed, mag wheels, Le Mans red with black interior, 11 months,

Porsche 911 RSC5, Australian Porsche Cup Class A spec car. 1998 championship winning car, fully race ready, 3.6ltr motor and gearbox rebuilt by Michael Newton, new suspension, on-board air jacks, kevlar panels, wing and fuel tank. $190,000. Ph John 0419 935 000 or Danny 0438 930 930.202 Porsche 911 RSCS, Australian GTP Championship Class A spec race car, ideal Porsche Cup or Nations Cup car. Multiple race winner, fuily race ready, as new 3.6ltr motor, new suspension, special diff, Motec, Bilsteins, BBS wheels, Pirelli tyres. $190,000. Ph John 0419 935 000 or Danny 0438 930 930.202 Saloon Car #88, 3rd outright in first National race meeting at Wakefield Park Feb 2001. $POA. Ph 02 4573 6418.202

NSW rego, ideal Club Car. $3500, located in Camden.

Ph 0414 556 591.203

Commodore Cup car, cur/ent spec, fresh engine, two gearboxes, ready for 1st round Vic Series 17/3/01. $19,000. Ph 0418 395 566. 202

Sports Sedan, Ford Cortina TF, 351 Windsor fresh engine, alloy heads, roller cam, roller rockers, dry sumped, 600 + HP, big brakes, Koni fully adj shocks, Super TIO box, full floater 9 inch Ford diff fab front end, big rose joints all round Simmons wheels, all moulds, new paint. Ready to race for $30,000 ono. Ph Frank Sola 0412 328 124. 203 VT Commodore V8, ex-police pursuit vehicle, auto, enhanced to SS, can't tell the difference. The car was re-shelled at 14,000 km, now done 60,000. Drives well, ideal towing vehicle with all the luxuries. Any test welcome, genuine reason for sale. $24,500. Ph Michael 03 9717 3775 or 0427 291 963.203

Ford Escort Twin Cam 1972, best example you will ever see. Historic log book, road rego, too many extras to list. $15,000 ono. Ph 0411 878 886 or 02 8701 7753.202 I

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Ford Escort Twin Cam 1972, fresh motor, Club Car log book, road rego possible, ideal Targa car, too many extras to list. $ 15,000 ono. Ph 0411 878 886 or 02 8701 7753. 202

1972 Welsor Invitation Clubman, chassis num ber 008, Group 2A log book. Ford engine & gear box, BMC rear, currently running as SP1300, very competitive and reliable car. Included fully enclosed trailer. $22,500. Ph 0409 277 975.202 1984 Nissan Bluebird, 5 spd manual, air con, bur gundy in colour, body and interior good condition, rego till 09/01, needs RWC, spares inc'uded. $1250 ono. Ph 0402 905 118 or 03 9740 3804 ah. 202

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Go kart, Swiss Hutless Maximo '98, blueprinted KTS 100. Tacho, driving suit, ideal for any class, as new condition. $2900. Also, trailer to suit if required. Ph 03 9590 9196. 203

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Formula Ford 1991 model, complete with enclosed trailer and annex, excellent condition with ratios, wheels and spare bodywork and fresh engine. $16,500. Ph 07 3806 1465.203

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RS2000 Escort 1980, 2L 4 Speed, Jan 2002 rego, authentic Aussie built RS2000, mostly original components, never raced or rallied, Monza red, 2 door, needs some TLC. $4900 ono. Ph 02 9671 4753 ah, or 0404 891 513.202

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Commodore Cup Car #6, 2000/01 spec, finished 6th in National Series with rookie driver, new top horsepower Tate engine and Ferris muffler. Very well sorted. Available for sale with transporter and all the bits. $24,000. Ph Tim 0409 565 012. 202

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^4 Formula Libre, space frame complete rolling chassis, suit autocross/sprint/hillclimb, front inboard pushrod suspension, independent rear.

Four wheel disc brakes, quick ratio rack and pin ion. Alloy floor and dash, Sparco race suit, suit large bore motorcycle engine. $1800 ono. Ph 03 5662 5400 bh or 0419 566 690 ah. 203 1986 86/50 Loia Formula 3000, stunning ex works car fitted with Mazda 12A rotary turbo. Full ground up rebuild. Ready to race. Many spares.

Part exchange Lotus Cortina considered. Ph Donnie Mackillop (Scotland, UK) 0011 44 1360 440 902 or email juliasquire@hotmail.com 203

Piranha P3 1997 F-Libre, fresh-built Kawasaki ZZR1100, many spares, wings, 3 sets wheels, suspen sion, wets. Champion of Winton, 3rd 1998, 1st 1999, 2nd 2000. $17,500 ono. Ph Dennis 0417 011 652.202

Chev 350,too much race gear to list, heaps of HR Over $17,000, spent $10,000 ono. Ph 02 9825 6110.203 Mercedes Benz 190E intercooled turbo, kit, brand new, cost $5000, will sell $2500. Ph 03 5156 7758 or 0412 366 157.202 Ford 9" diff, LSD 3.5, good condition with spare LSD ctr. $450 the lot Ph 0403 412 280. 202 Complete Pi system, data logger with C-Dash. As fitted standard to current-spec Van Diemens from fac tory. System 1 including all sensors, loom, software, beacon and dash. Used 2 times since new, excellent system. $6200. Ph 0409 219 032. 202 Clutch, 5 5 AP triple plate metalic, as new with new plates. $980. Ph 0403 412 280.202 Titanium valves, Chev 2.80 inlet, 1.60 ex. $1000 the set. Ph 0403 412 280. 202 Webers, 3x45 DCOE 13 same batch, matched set in excellent condition, spindles as new. $1050. Ph 0403 412 280. 202

Formula 5000, Begg FM2, pristine condition and quick. 2nd in NZ Formula Libre Championship last year Will be supplied with zero hour Chev engine. $80,000. Ph 00 64 9 4199665 or email: dcl1255@voyager.co.nz

Turbo, wastegate, ex-Indycar, 50mm valve, very light, excellent condition, $50U Ph 08 9571 1685,202 Brakes, 2 AP Racing calipers, 4 spot, 1 7/8 and 1 3/4" pistons, new carbon metalic race ready & 3 pads, suit 1213" rotors 2 AP Racing calipers, 4 spots, 1 1/-'" pistons, now Hawke 110 pads, new 12" cross-drilled rotors. $3500 ono, Ph 08 9571 1685 or 0414 908 129.2c.'

PR brake rotors, new Alcon 280x20mm vented 8 bolt. $580. Ph 0403 412 280.202

U2 Sports 1300, with Corolla engine and 4 speed box, neat and quick car, many extras, mounted wets, nothing to spend. Ready to race, log book with registered trailer. $12,000, Ph Al 02 4721 5060 bh or 02 4736 6853 ah. 203 Fond /Anglia 105E Improved Production, injected, dry sumped, 2L Cosworth, 5 speed, LSD adjustable suspen sion, 4 spot APs, all quality parts, will separate engine and car. Reluctant sale. POA. Ph Rod 02 6562 7762.202

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Cortina 3J Club Car, current CAMS log book, new high HP engine, 5 speed box, 9" axles. Falcon 4w discs, rac ing seat, harness, 2 sets wheels, fast, reliable, reg win ner. Ph Paul 03 5152 2114 bh or 03 5156 6394 ah. 202

Capri Sports Sedan, 12A P/P rotary, space framed, all fibreglass panels, new dutch and diff, 48s Oran Park South. $4000 ono, Ph 02 9771 0440.202

Supericart, '91 Zip Eagle, '91 Yamaha YZ250cc, 2 sets of slicks, (1 new) and 1 set of wets, all on rims.

Numerous spares, enclosed trailer, all in excellent condition and ready to race. $3800. Ph 02 98201673.203

Formula Ford, Royale RP31, Grp R, excellent con dition, ready to race. $16,500 ono. Ph 02 9716 0082.203

PR brake calipers, AP 4 spot with Padgid pads, recond, good. $960. Ph 0403 412 280.202 BMW 5 series, BBS alloy wheels, 7"x14", good conditionx4, difficult to get. $500 ono. Ph 0403 412 280. . >2 Formula Vee Rennmax Mk2, $5,750 motor just top ended, new floor, new trailing arms, 2 pac paint, adjustable brake bias, adjustable shocks, some spares with registered trailer. Ready to go racing or hillclimbing. Ph Matt 0417 240 255 or 02 9676 5154. . 12

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Wheels, five English Dunlop 5 1/2 x 13 with Bridgestone Premio 185x70 lyres. Ford four stud with corrert centres, nuts and washers. $1250. Ph07 5452 5812 ah or 0419 477 264. 203 Sierra Cosworth head, complete with inlet manifold &45mm Webers, belt, tensioner, gears etc, $3150 ono. Ph 02 4294 1196. 203 C&S Holley carby, 860 CFM, completely re-kitted. $1050. Ph 0416 048 962.203 Ford 5 litre, Motorsport block, crank and 5.7" rods. POA, Ph 03 5988 6266.203 Hilborn injection, to suit Windsor. $1200. Ph 0418 423 007.203 Webers, 3 x 48 DCO, new unused. $2100 ono. Ph 02 6231 2964.2C3 Mk 9 gear ratio, 19:32. Ph 07 3806 1465 ah, 203

Nissan Bluebird Sports Sedan, alloy space frame, mid-mount 2.2ltr, Motec M8 injection. Sierra turbo 450hp, intercooler, fibreglass removable shell, FI car bon fibre brakes, FI flooring, titanium parts, trailer and extras, $35,000. Ph Gino 0417 577 063. 202

Bulant 1940, Australian SPL, eligible Grp L, total ly rebuilt. $9500 ono. Ph 02 9716 0082.203 Delta Ford 1960s, eligible Grp M, in pieces but all there, as is $6500 ono. Ph 02 9716 0082.203

Holden 308 heads, large valves, screw-in studs, guide plates. Crane gold roller rockers $700, A9L conrods, set $200, Edelbrock Performer manifold $200, 308 block standard bore with crank $250 or $1200 the lot. Ph 0416 281 054 or 03 9795 1112.203

Open Wheelers

Galloway-developed, race-winning Spectrum 07, Speedtech engine, MoTec, spares package, with assistance given to new owner $37,000. Trailer also available. Ph Owen Kelly 0419 896 382.203

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Ford Sierra RS500 body shell, with doors and hatch, suit Sports Sedan (burnt and sandblasted) $750 ono. RS500 fibreglass panels, bumpers, wing, flares, bonnet and guards, plus headlights and tailights. POA. Sierra 4 door bonnet, guards, lights and bumpers. $750 ono. 203

Formula 3 Reynard 903, 2nd 2000 National Championship, powered by Golf engine, ready for 2001 season, priced for quick sale. Loads of spares, $33,000. Ph 02 9743 5357, 203 Butcha Formula Vee, one of Australia's fastest, NSW champion 98, 2nd Super Series 98, Pole 99 Nationals, several lap records, weighs 465kg with 95kg driver. Mags, data logger, $13,500. Ph 02 4954 3333 bh or 02 4359 2796 ah.

Mini Arden, Xflow, alloy head, new, 1310 block, steel crank and rods, pistons, cam, manifold for 2 Webers, all parts unused inc head. POA, Ph Gary 07 5529 3374 or 0414 552 933.203 Alloy V8 parts, both Leyland and Rover. Leyland 4 spd box complete kit, exc, Ph 02 6231 2964.203 Valiant Group N parts, Webers, engine parts, new g/box, suspension joints, exc donor car. Will separate.

Ph 02 6231 2964. 203

Mini Cooper 5 parts, brand new including S/S billet crankshaft 76mm, 1:1 drop gears with tappered roller bearings, sprint camshaft. Vernier steel sprockets, 716 steel flywheel, grey dot clutch diaphram, 3 into 1 Janspeed extractors, red dot rare distributor plus much more. Ph 02 931’ 2134 or 0417 047 432 .-cr Parts, 1 Charlyn power head $400, 3 left hand drive steering racks $150, 20 assorted spring all rates $30 each. Ah □ ano Momoe snocks Sr’OA, 2 AFCO radius rods $50 oa r, 10 coikwr kits $30 eacn. 9-in diff, very narrow, i.ew shorieired axles. Commodore disc brakes 5.1 -entre. $500. Ph 02 6242 6638 ; . ● Air jacks, new/useu, large range, most applica tions, quick release handles available, top quality.

C.C.I. Ph 0418 925 767. » Clutches, 7.25, 5.5, 5.0 single, twin, triple plate, sintered or carbon, AP-Tilton-QM, new/used. Spare covers, 'mgs, o'ates also avail able. CCI Ph 0418 925 76/.

9 Pedals, brake/dutch, floor moui l/hanging, new/sued. Also available, bias valves, bias cables, mas ter cylinders, reservoirs etc. CCI Ph 0418 925 767. » Brake calipers, discs, pads. Mega range, new/used, exc condition - AP, Alcon, Brembo, Outlaw, WilKvood, Overnight delivery. CCI Ph 0418 925 767. ● 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, TPl, FT200. CCI Ph 0418 925 767. <» Oil coolers - heat exchangers, Earls, Setrab, Serck, 6-70 row, new/used, also used water to oil heat exchangers, over 100 instock. CCI Ph 0418 925 767. ● Racecar parts, brake parts, chassis stands, diff oil pumps, exhaust collectors, fuel cell acces sories, oil filters, quicklift jacks, ratio boxes, radi ator caps, springs, spoilers, wings etc. CCI Ph 0418 925 767. ● 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. ● Radiators, alurrmbm, new/used, single/dual pass, top quality, large range, various sizes, suit all applications, fr $300 CCi Pn 0418 925 767

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Modified Production, VL Commodore, workewd 3.3 blue, CNC brake setup, powerglide, very compet itive, nothing to be done, heaps spares. $7000 ono.

Ph 02 6624 6071 or 0418 229 791.203

motorsport news

MARKETPLACE Transporters/Trailers

Super Sedan chassis, with Pontiac body, was ASCF registered, 4 meetings old. $1200. Four plat form grain scales used to weigh car. $1000. Ph 02 4572 5949. 203 Two new AFCO rear coil springs, 250 + 275 S80 each. Pius 175 + 400 $50 each. Power steer ing ram tube with 2 hoses $150. Pair front struts $100. Ph 02 4572 5949.203 Super Sedan Corvette '95, body, complete, less motor and box, QC, 2 spare bodies and 5x5 hubs, spare tyres, rims, upper and lower arms. $7500. Ph 0425 233 169. 203 Fomula SOO/Micro Sprint, chassis kit, c/moly tig welded, bonnet, tail, aluminium panels, all susp mounts and nerf bars, brand new. Bargain at $1750.

Ph 03 6424 4544 bh or 0409 092 040.203 Super Sedan VT Commodore, full roller, wide 5, Q change diff, Wiilwood brakes, Q steer and charlyne, excond with spare body and moulds and other spares. $11,000. Ph 03 6424 4544 bh or 0409 092 040.203 Super Sedan, Rayburn chassis. Commodore VS Clubsport body, aluminium interior and fuel tank, window net, AVCO top and bottom control arms, throttle pedal and linkages, electrical and spares. $3000. Ph 0416 048 962 or 07 5494 8962.203

Trailer, fully enclosed tandem 7 x 2.5 x 1.8, colour bond panelled, rear door ramp, side door access, winch, full length awning, near new. $7800 ono.

Ph Paul 0418 109 006. 203

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Ford F250 1992, 5.8L EFi, auto, A/C, P/S, 12 months rego, towbar, all new alloys, ally chequer tray, tvrin fuel tanks, extremely tidy, awesome tow ing rig. Must sell, $18,750. Ph 02 6895 4046.203

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Transporter, 28' x 8' x 10’ pan. Retractable ramps, winch, 240 & 12 volt, plenty of belly lock er storage, side door access, wheel racks. Drives very well, reliable & economical & Hino's biggest 170 diesel. $23,500 ono. Ph: 0418 G44 217.203

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38 foot transporter, 2 car, ex-Super Touring team, ready to go, 240V power, winch, heaps of storage, excellent con dition. $15,000. Ph 02 4577 2779 or 0407 272 165 . 2o: Enclosed transporter, 26ft x 8ft x 9ft, dual axle, elec tric brakes with breakaway, 240v lighting, alloy checkerplate, rear ramp door, superwinch, fully enclosed annex, Sunrasia wheels, white colourbond. $11,000 ono. Ph 02 9524 1623 or 0415 445 386. 202 Scania race transporter and dog trailer, three car transporter two cars in Scania, one in dog. Ideal for lim ited space at tracks. Scania fully refurbished with replaced roof and side panels. Scania $75,000, Dog $25,000. Ph John 0419 935 000 or Danny 0438 930 930.202 Lusty 48ft race transporter, three car transporter (ex-HRT), prime mover not included, ready to go.

Professionally painted, hydraulic lift, interior cupbaords, lighting. $170,000. Ph John 0419 935 000 or Danny 0438 930 930. 202

Engines 1 Chev 355 engine. Cola crank, JE pistons, Weaver dry sump, 18 degree heads, Jessel rockers, roller cam, alum radiator, alum Ford 9-inch spools. Ph 0416 049 442.203 Full race Chev engine, never raced, new 4340 crank, rods, JE pistons, full roller Brodix 10 with Jessel rocker gear, Victor Jnr. Manifold, billet caps, 600hp-iengine. $12,000. Ph 08 9452 2808. 203 13B PP rotary, 300hp, complete 51mm downdraught Weber carby button dutch & lightened flywheel. Electronic disL $2990. Ph 03 9792 9526 or 03 9708 0992.203

Drags

40ft Lusty Pantec, ex Glenn Seton, 2 car caring capacity overhead tyre racks both sides, large over head lockable storage areas both front and rear, 12 volt winch with battery charger, wired for TV, 40ft X 18ft annex with side walls, 18ft wide, with brand new secondary smaller annex 20ft x 18ft, remote control alarm system, massive amount of storage cabins all with master key lockable doors with liv ing area, fold down seats either side. $ 136,000. Ph Graham Flunt 03 9528 1188, 203 Fully enclosed tandem trailer, 18x6x6, electric brakes, fully enclosed alum annexe, winch, plenty of storage space, will carry two Formula Fords or similar. $4400. Ph 03 9431 3955 or 0414 469 250. 303 Hollywood mobile home, with race car in rear. 5 ton with tag axle 190hp with turbo, 6 speed, cruise 1 lOkm/h. Toilet, shower, coooking facilities, sleeps 6, immaculate condition. Spent $200,000, sell for $110,000. Ph 08 9452 2808.203

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A Grade Sedan, 1997 EL XR8 Falcon, fresh 400hp 302 W, Tilton clutch, lop loader, 31 spline 9-inch diff, MSD ignition, full Autometer gauges and much more good gear including spare engine. $9000 the lot. Ph 0413 412 525 or 07 3297 5227 ah. 202

30 March 2001

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International Acco, 345 V8 on gas, two spd diff, sized to suit sedan, aluminium ramps, winch, stove, fridge, CD, 240v, tyre racks, under body storage, full awning from side. Urgent Sale $12,500. Ph Tim 0409 565 012. 202 Pantech, ideal for open wheeler or small sedan. $1500 ono. Ph Tony's Auto Parts 02 4968 9111.202

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1985 Isuzu F5R dual cab, seats 7 people, 454 Chev with engineer's certificate, on gas. 240v, bellylockers, winch, ramps, bedroom, 4 berth, suit large sedan. $27,000. Ph 03 5382 5940.203

Super Sedan Mazda RX7, 13B turbo. Microtech injected, QC diff, only 2 meetings since total rebuild, trailer and spares included. Easy to drive, excellent complete starting package. Regretful sale. $8000 ono. Ph 02 6043 2449.202

or Email: richard@selectechnologies.com.au 202

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Super Sedan SA79, Pontiac, complete less motor, gearbox. Leaf spring, new spindles, bit rack. Winters wide five diff, competitive car, spares available. $16,500. Ph 0419 474 140.202

Speedway Mini Sprint, Oatsun 1200 twin 45mm Weber carbies, on methanol, GX head, indepdendent suspension, spare fuel, tyres and much more. A lot of work done, ready to race as last season, very compet itive car. $4000 ono. Ph Damien 03 5996 3552 or 0407 559 519. 202

Tech-Numbers 1 to 16. Prepared to pay for edi tions in good condition. Ph Richard 0438 791 090

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Ford Pinto 21, 2 x 48 Webers, Crane cam, extractors, Mallory dist, 5 meetings since rebuild, Celica 5 speed, suit ClubGports Sedan $3800 ono. Ph 02 6687 5355.233

Speedcar, 2000 Clark Performance NZ chassis, Gaerte, Chev engine, Lee P/S, weld wheels, 19 gallon fuelsafe tank, 1st 50-lap Classic and Sth Pacific champs W/Springs. Car $46,000 NZ, spares info at www.khm.co.nz or ph Kevin 0064 9 8187134, 202

Magazines, Racecar Engineering Volumes 1 to 4, 1991-95, numbers 1-6 for each volume. Race

l1

Super Sedan EB Falcon, chassis and body with new Thunderbird nose and interior. Fuel tank, gauges, switches and brake lines. Leaf springs and sliders. $1500. Ph 02 4262 8209 or 0412 652 397. 203 Rolling chassis, VN-V5 Commodore Super Sedan.

New suspension and shocks, ready to race less engine. Spares included details on enquiry. $6000 ono. Ph 0408 839 788 or 0418 856 633.203

Enclosed transporter, 30ft Tag, 3 yr old, smooth white colourbond, 6 wheel duratorque independent, 6 wheel electric brakes, breakaway, rubber sealed doors, wind-up rear ramp. $15,000. Ph 0414 248 855 or 02 9521 1901.202

Halda Twinmaster, Tripmaster and Speedpiiot and l-laida accessories. Heuer dashboard stopwatches also wanted Ph 0411 259 828 or 02 9360 0808 ah. 202

PliotograDlis V8 Heroes, from 80s and 90s. 10 photos from S45 me postage. Ph 07 3806 1465 ah. 203

other Clipsal 500 tickets, 1st chicane, best seats (2), for 6-8 April, Ph 0419 339 796. 203 Race clothing, Sparco gauntlets, t-shirt, socks, all new.

Bell Mag4 56’, black, radio wired, exc cond. Assorted balaclavas and D'S nomex tops. Ph 02 6231 2964.203 Workshop decorations. Ford Motorsport banner 2.4 X 1.4, blue'red on heavy white vinyl $60. Goodyear 1980s FI banner, canvas 1.4 x 0.8 $75. Assorted screen-printed enamel signs. Ph 02 6231 2964.203 Books, large range, yearbooks, technical, marque, general interest, genuinely cheap to clear. Call for list.

Ph 02 6231 2964.203 Race suit, FIA size L, FIA boots size 9, FIA gloves size 10, helmet large, 2 meetings old $700 ono or will separate Ph 0419 439 465 or 02 9792 4779. 203 Car Storage, at a sensible price from April 1st, mon itored, br'ck lock-jp factory attended 8am-6pm daily. Cars only $20 p/week, only 6 places available.

Ph Colin, Seaford, V;c 9782 4144. 2C3 Mack 613 Elite tractor, trailer and tanker unit, 23" long, never out of box. Authenticity cert, perfect condition, cost new $565, sell for $400. Die-cast metal. Ph 02 6284 4833.203 Formula One and MotoCross blockmounts, 3 FIs (90x60), 5 Motocross ;50x40), very good condi tion, $40 ono FI and $15 ono Motocross. Ph 08 8636 2527.203 Queensland Raceway competitors pass, nclud free track time and spectator entry, discount compe tition entry and garage hire, preferred parking etc, must sell $ 1500 including transfer (60% of new price). Ph 0409 270 063. 203 Snap-On toolbox, KR 637, 34" long, 18" high, 18" deep, 10 drawers, ball bearing drawer slides, internal lockable section, drop down front cover. $1500. Ph 0414 270 813. 203

;■

Ford Falcon Sport Pack XF, mild 351 Cleveland, C4, eOOcfm v/s, headers, 3" single exhaust, pro low ered front by 50mm, 4 wheel disc brake, LSD 2.77:1, 15x7 ROH polished mags, 245x60 & 225x60 BFG, After market bonnet scoop, grill, rear and boot spoil ers. Pro respray 1999. Quick car with economy.

NZ$12,000. Ph 0064 03 548 1334 (NZ). 203

Wanted Neptune Racing Team, Jim McKeown, Lotus Cortina Mk 1, friction powered model car.

Originally available from Neptune Station's circa 1964. Lost by anxious 40 year old who needs a replacement. Please help! Email: rodbarrett® ozemail.com.au or 0411 101 977.'203 Commodore Cup car, to lease for selected rounds in this years championship. With team support. Ph Marcus 0403 372 100 anytime. 203 SVO wheels, 16"x8" to suit Falcon. Ph 03 9720 5667. 203 1991 Fosters Australian Grand Prix, pro gramme. Will trade 1987 or 1993 copy, ex condi tion. Ph New Zealand 0064 9 4153959. 202 Race suit, FIA-approved XL, in good condition. Ph Russell 07 3800 0163 or 0419 397 349. 202 Speedway, vintage speedcar. Formula 500, or TQ suitable for restoration. Prefer complete vehicle.

Ph Doug 08 9525 2995 or 0418 924 465. 202 15x7 wheels, to suit Datsun 260Z. Ph 02 4952 6209.202

Sponsors required, for a talented QLD driver. Looking lor a naming rights sponsor for Improved Produaion car. Racing an ex-Group A Walkinshaw V8 Commodore. Great tax write off! Ph 07 5577 1005.203 QLD Raceway competitor pass, includes event entry, general practice track time and many more benefits. Bargain at $2500. Ph 07 4634 7961.202 Fielmet, open face FLIC FG3 kevlar, white, size large (60cm), new, unused. $ 125. Also, race kit bag, RPM, yel low, stores suit, helmet etc. Excellent condition, as new, $80. Ph Richard 03 9762 2282 or 0414 508 723.202 FIA suit, large, FIA boots size 9, FIA gloves size 10, helmet size large, 2 meetings old. $700 ono or will sell separate. Ph 0419 489 465 or 02 9792 4779. 202 Race suit, RPM 'Trans Am' triple layer, nomex, size XL. Red with white shiney nomex shoulders. New, never worn. $750. Ph Richard 03 9762 2282 or 0414 508 723.202 Shoei helmet, excellent condition, 3 visors (dark, clear, blue mirror), good for child, must sell. $150 ono. Ph 02 9670 4091.202 Magazines, Wheels 1953-1956, most months. ,The Motor Cycle 1951-1952 various, some Autocar, Royalauto, Motor Manual, The Motor, some years.

1953 Redex Trial story, photos, results, photocopys only. Ph 02 6040 3094 ah. 202 Founding life membership at QLD Raceway, x2, free entry to all QR meetings Inc pit entry (as spectator), and free track time with car (general practice) plus discounts on competition entry and pit garage, $26000 Inc transfer fees ($500 ea), Ph 07 3800 4712 or 0419 799 311.202

81

OPINION

nmirsiNin EDITORIRl S1AFF

Editor: Phil Branagan Staff Journalist: Aaron Noonan Staff Journalist: Mark Glendenning

PRQOUGIION Aciv & Graphics Co-ordinator: Viv Brumby

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GONTRCTS 89 Orrong Crescent North Caulfield Vic 316) (PO Box 1010 North Caulfield Vic 3161) Ph: 03 9527 7744 Fax: 03 9527 7766 Email: nnsnews@02email.com.au

CONTRIBUTORS General: Grant Nicholas, Darryl Flack, Mark Jones, Jon Thomson F1: Joe Saward, Adam Cooper, Nick Garton 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 D Clark (USA) National: Mark Wicks, Sean Henshelwood, Michael Shaw Photographers: Sutton Motorsport images, Dirk Klynsmith, Bothwell Photographic, Marshall Cass, Nigel Snowdon & Diana Burnett, AFl Images, Neil Hammond, Slipstream Photographic, Thunder-Pics, Phil Williams, Allsport, John Morris/Mpix, Frank Midgley, John Bosher, Lynley Reid, Mike Patrick (UK), Daniel Wilkins, Peter French, Chris Carter, James Smith Artist: Bernie 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 materiai submitted.

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82

MN’s bleating jackals I can't quite believe the bleating and implied criticism

by Chris Lambden and Paul Branagan about who should have announced the sad death of Graham Beveridge at the 2001 AGP.(MN No.200, p.7).

Are they trying to tell us hat their ilk, which persisted in jamming tapes and cameras into the faces of those trying to save Mr. Beveridge's life, should have been entrusted with any task requiring sensitivity?

Immediate thoughts conjure pictures ofjackals, vultures and hyenas in the wild, don't they?

One need only recall, with shame, the frenzy with which this group trampled the reputations of, and spread false reports about, the horrific and tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales, to see why the press could not be entrusted with anything sensitive.

Michael Schumacher showed the world a dignity which the denizens of the press have demonstrated repeatedly they can't nor do they wish to approach.

By not releasing anything to the press a precious dignity was preserved for the world and the Beveridge family was spared the hypocrisy of the press at that point...

I've no doubt you won't wish to print this letter but the sentiments must be expressed

Ta k

J. Williams Milawa, Vic You got the last part wrong, Williams. Now, the rest...

You appear to be under the false impression that the media was at the accident scene.

There was no access allowed to anyone, let alone the media. As far as I know, there is no suggestion that anyone was there who should not have been.

We were critical, and rightly so, of the fact that the media was kept in the dark. Having Michael Schumacher publicly break the bad news was not on.

There’s no point to be gained in making irresponsible generalisations, which drag all the media down to base level.

And, as a matter offact, a couple ofAGP officials and marshals have contacted MN and praised us for our coverage ofa sensitive issue.

Phil Branagan (not Paul)

Our new best friend My boyfriend, Hamish Orr, a winner of one of the limited signed posters of The Holden Gladiators (last year) has now won the ultimate in prizes. He won the

heartless arrogance in the face of tragedy- (regardless of the financial compensation offered hy the AGP office- they can easily afford it).

Grow up Mr. Walker. And next year, how about keeping your mouth shut so we can all enjoy the event.

Patrick Athertom Email:athertoJi@iweb.net.au

One for the kids

Have race tracks ever considered having a child care centre?

I know that we have .3 $15,000 Pizza Haven Adelaide children and have to attend Clipsal 500 package. He is a V8 alternate racing meets so that one Supercar enthusiast(Holden only of us is always at home to watch of course)and reads your the children. Unfortunately, they magazine religiously from cover to do not appreciate the fine art of cover and helps keep Kevin, motor racing as their parents do.

Motorsport Tours, in t-shirts.

The first race track to initiate If you could squeeze this letter this idea could boast of having the in your back pages I would be ever first child care centre in so greatful. This is a prize of a life Australian motor racing history, time and could not have gone to a therefore promoting the use of the more enthusiastic fan. facility by more family members.

Maree Gately Maybe you could arrange some Chippendale, NSVf sponsorship by the teams, and include a junior racers kit for children attending the centre, with a hat, some sticlcers etc. You could also arrange for drivers to visit the Ron’s show: But perhaps some perspective is needed 'Junior Pit Crew'.

Ron’s priorities I know that if this sort of AGP boss Ron Walker has done resource were available, more it again. His official response to families would attend, instead of the tragic death of the track Dad just going. volunteer was reprehensible.

Men out there may laugh at the Mention of the tragedy was tacked idea, but there are more women on to the end of a statement supporters of motor sport now primarily boasting the crowd than ever before. Why not build figm’es! It reeks of a man on that, and cater for the whole embittered by the fact that family? someone had the audacity to die Sue Bush and steal the headlines from the sbush@alburycity.nsw.gov.au glory of yet another great Melbourne Major Event. As if that Melbourne speedway? wasn't enough, he then bluntly Congratulations on the coverage dismisses any need for track safety of the FI Grand Prix, with plenty discussions; how dare anyone of interest in all categories. suggest that Albert Park is less Some time ago we saw photos than perfect! and read a report that indicated a R. Walker has proved in the past new speedway was to be built in the western suburbs of Melbourne. that he will not tolerate anything Is this still on track ? And if so or anybody undermining the glory of his precious Albert Park Grand how about a few progress reports?

Prix (i.e. Schumacher's innocent I am sure a lot of speedway fans criticism of the circuit in 1996, will be anxious to hear if we are McLaren's team orders of 1998) still faced with the Warrnambool but this time he has insulted the drive to see great sprintcar racing.

Keith Cook memory of one of the unsung heroes of motorsport and shown North Bayswater, VIC motorsport news

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