Motorsport News Issue 228 - April 3-16, 2002

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EXCLUSIVE: MARK WEBBER’S BRAZILIAIV GP DIARY

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With a V8 punching out 220 kW, Series III XR8’s performance is seriously wicked. And, thanks to a body-kit inspired by V8 Supercars, it has a look that’s just as mean. So go on, be a devil. See your authorised Ford Dealer or call 1800 503 673. rSERIES-ml www.ford.com.au

FEEL THE POWER OF 3

28 5 minutes with Rob Nguyen From nowhere to F3000 in about 10 seconds 30 5 minutes with Ray Borrett Flolden’s new top man sits down for a chat 32 Brabham’s doubie act Rashback to FI, circa 1982

race coverage

so Brede-ing ground Brede notches one up for Ford in Konica land 55 Konica supports Sonics dominate Formula Ford XKCQsnE 1 I

56 Panizzi with the lot Pugs cruise in Catalunya momsaort 60 It’s Max. Again. Dumesny takes the Easter Trail

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Photos: Cover: ^ AFl Images, Suttonfmages. Contents: Sutton-lmages, John Morris/Mpix, Marsh/Bothwell

20 Motorcycles

58 Rallying

62 Speedway

64 NASCAR

66 Drag Racing

68 Histories

70 National Scene

75 Marketplace 3

Skaife made some improvements to the car since Adelaide and I am confident that they will help at MARK Skaife and the Holden Phillip Island. We can’t wait to get Racing Team can be beaten down there. and a number of drivers are “I am sick of hearing HRT,HRT lining up to have a crack at the ... they have been the dominant so-far dominant duo. team. I know that they are the While the public response to the team everyone is looking to beat, team’s five start/four win 2002 and the next bloke to do it will be a record has been unprecedented (see legend. I want that to be me! letters, page 82), HRT’s opposition “But... I want to beat Marcos is confident that The Reds can be Ambrose as much as I want to beat beaten - perhaps as soon as the Mark Skaife. We have been the top second V8 Ford teamibr Supercar the last umpteen Championship at years and Philhp Island whatever I race next week. n in,I want to win.

Ford’s Someone has to - Steven Johnson deliver Ford its championship ‘leader’is Craig next Lowndes,fifth championship, place in the points after Adelaide, and that is what I want to do.” and he points to the fact that HRT Steven Richards, fourth in the has come to grips with Dunlop’s points, says that HRT’s new control tyre very quickly. performances were largely “They have had a good set-up predictable. ' from the word ‘go’,” said Lowndes.

“The better-resoxirced teams “They are right on top of the always adapt to a new variable like Dunlops and that is where we need tyres faster than the lesserto be. The whole thing now is to be resourced teams,” he said. able to control tyre degradation.

“I would not be surprised if HRT “We have had a lot of went well again at the Island, development in the off-season because they test there and have which did not show well at done for years. I think that we can Adelaide. PreQualifying at Mallala match them later in the year but, went well for us, but we lost the in the short-term, there’s no reason plot at bit in Adelaide. But we will to get down yet. have two days’testing at Winton ‘We have to keep on keeping on.” before Phillip Island, and we think Richards’s team-mate Russell that will go well.

Ingall has a different slant on the “The other thing is that we have same problem. three virtually identical cars now, “The Ford teams have actually where we did not have that before. been closer than most of us,” he We can go to a track and Neil says, “but they keep standing on Crompton and Rodney Forbes can their tails. If you took the best out try things different to myself, and of three Ford teams and put them that can be a huge advantage. together and you have the ‘HRT’ of ‘We are trying!”

Ford teams. 'They will get there, He is not the only Ford man though. gunning for the team. Steven “HRT always get out of the gate Johnson, who lies sixth in the strongly. Our tracks come later in points after the Clipsal 500, points the year. We have to hang in at the to the fact that Skaife and HRT start of the year, make progress had a solid, mistake-free weekend, and nail them at the end. Bnt if we but that other teams did not. find half a second, they might find “The Radisich thing(crash) it as well! meant that the team was working “I saw some in-car vision from very hard on that,” he pointed out.

Murf’s car in Adelaide. He looked ‘We had a reasonable car in like he was doing it easy; he had Adelaide, but we missed out on excellent steering and good power some of the calls and you have to down out of the corners, and his learn to take the good with the bad. car is not quite as shiny as the red “I am a lot more confident than I rigs. was last year. At this stage in 2001, “We need to make our car do I was in ninth or 10th and things what those cars are doing. It’s got better from there. We have hard, but that is the target.”

by PHIL BRANAGAN

"I want to beat Marcos Ambrose as much as I want to beat Mark Skaife

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or is it a matl COULD a solution to stopping the Holden Racing Team Freight Train be weight penalties?

'Success penalties', which allocate additional weight for winning teams and drivers for subsequent races, have been used in major series in the UK, Germany and Japan for some years and now some V8 Supercar team managers are looking at the merits of the system for Australia, Russell Ingall makes a good case for weight penalties; 'When was in the UK, the touring cars had the same problem there. BMW Motorsport won the championship with the best cars, the best drivers and the best budget - and the championship deteriorated. So they brought in the weight penalties - the best team still won but the racing was closer, so the fans and the manufacturers were happy, ''You are not penalising teams for the whole year. It is an easy, simple system. People might think that it is a mongrel idea, and yes, it is penalising the drivers and the teams which win the most.

"But a bigger penalty would be if the category goes down the drain if the fans go away. They

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You are not penalising teams for the whole year, it is an easy, simple system

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- Russell Ingall sh ould come first . . ."

Jon Matthews, team manager for Ford Credit Racing, recognises the possible use of the system here.

"FIRT has earned its success and we can't begrudge them that," he said, "I think it took six years before they won a round

motorsport pews

NEWS Kmart Racing goes for Euros THE hot tip from the UK is that Andy Priaulx will join Yvan Muller at Kmart Racing for the enduros.

The Frenchman, who raced at Bathurst for FIRT in 2000, will drive with Priaulx (who races in the BTCC for Flonda) at the VIP 500 at QR and the V8 Supercar 1000. Priaulx is due in Australia early next week for a V8 baptism with the KRTs at Winton ... n Steven Johnson has been 'paying' for the heat he faced in Adelaide. Johnson's left foot ended the weekend badly burned, and he has been receiving regular medical attention since the race. Ford has supplied some insulation for the car's transmission tunnel to ensure that the problem is lessenedjn the future. n A hearing into the lap scoring at Adelaide's Clipsal 500 has been cancelled and that no further action will be taken into the alleged Safety Car/lap scoring anomalies in Race 1. n Greg Ritter is down to make his sprint race debut with Shell Fielix Racing at Phillip Island. The 1999 Formula Ford champ will pilot the #71 Falcon.

;er of 'Weight and See’? f

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Is it impossible to bridge tbe gap? No. Is it difficult? Yes. But it takes timen - Wayne Gardner

but now they are the team to beat, and good luck to them for that.

"But from the sport's perspective, if something doesn't happen soon, so that other teams win some races, how long will the fans stay and watch?

"We have already seen 'reverse 3 April 2002

grid' races, which was tried with limited success. This year, we have longer races with pitstops, and we have seen HRT cope with all that very well. But, at the moment, I cannot see another team that can consistently get close - certainly not a Ford team.

"Take the four TWR cars out of last year's results and there is a fair variety of race winners. From a team perspective, we need to lift our performance and our funding to their level. But from the sport's perspective, it has to change.

They (the public) are seeing red race after race ..."

One driver who has recent experiences with and without weight penalties is Wayne Gardner. Apart from racing the Caltex fdavoline Falcon in the local series, this year Gardner will once again mount an assault on the Japanese GT championship, driving a TOMS Toyota Supra.

The Japanese system 'awards' a 50kg gain for a race win, with penalties of 30kg and 10kg for second and third respectively.

Additionally, cars are given an extra 10kg for qualifying in the top three, Weight is then taken off in 10kg and 20kg increments for reduced

results in subsequent races.

"From a selfish point of view, I would like to see it," said Gardner.

"We know that we need to work harder at the moment but, with the restrictions on tyres and testing days that we have to deal with, it makes it doubly hard to play catch-up and close the gap that FIRT has on everyone.

"It's all about the fact that people are sick of seeing the same teams winning," he continued.

"FIRT could cope with weight penalties, if they were to happen.

It's all about Ford and Holden, and their teams, sharing the wins around.

"Is it impossible to bridge the gap? No. Is it difficult? Yes. But it takes time."

Gardner's team co-owner Ross Stone says that he would be against the introduction of weight penalties.

"I don't believe in it," he said.

"All my life, we have raced to win on a level playing field. There has been a lot of talk about who can catch HRT, but it has come after one race. We don't even want to discuss it, as far as am concerned."

- PWIL BRANAGAN

n The Lansvale teant is already looking ahead to the enduros, testing both Tm Leahey and Matthew White recently. No decision on who will partner Cameron McConville has been made. n Formula Ford will run non championship races this year at both the Bathurst V8 Supercar 1000 and the V8 Ultimate at Sandown. The open-wheeler machines were absent . from the support bill at the Mountain last year. n The second round of the Nations Cup championship this weekend at Symmons Plains will see no changes to the cars, after the Nations Cup Entrants Group met following Adelaide's opening round to discuss the technical specifications of the various cars. No changes to any vehicles will be made, except for the application of success ballast to the top three cars in both Group One and Two from Adelaide.

Paul Stokell's Lamborghini will carry an extra 30 kilograms (bringing it up to 1580kg), while John Bowe's Ferrari scores an extra 20kg and Geoff Morgan's Viper gets 10kg. n There was been some positive news over the future of Lakeside.

New owners, the Pine Rivers Shire Council, recently sent a letter to interested parties, stating, "Council gives in principle support for further investigation into the use of the Lakeside facility." Council then clarifies this by listing the uses it would consider, including "Motor Car activities at a club level."

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Gar-Chan returns to Japanese GTs WAYNE Gardner will once again mount a challenge on the Japanese GT Championship this season.

Gardner, who will resume his V8 Supercar Championship season in the Caltex Havoline Falcon at Eastern Creek on " April 28, followed by Flidden Valley on May 19, will drive a Toyota Supra turbo for the factory-backed TOMS team.

He will share a car with Takeshi Tsuchiya, who drove a sister car to Gardner's last season.

"It's all about putting the fastest drivers in the best car," said Gardner, who was in

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contention to drive with another Toyota team this season.

"I drove one car last season and was very fast in that, while 'Taxi' (Tsuchiya) was the faster driver in the other TOMS car. He is young, very fast and we should have a good season."

Gardner - nicknamed 'Garchan' by his Japanese fans, was due to fly to Japan for his first test session of the year at the Tl Aida track this week, prior to the first race of the GT championship at the same track on April 14.

- PHIL BRANAGAN

Reynapd ii

by JOE SAWARD

REYNARD Motorsport, one of the most successful production racing car companies, has gone into receivership, with 100 staff losing their jobs and the collapse leaving many competitors uncertain as to whether they will be able to continue with Reynard machinery when there are no spares and no engineering support.

The effect of Reynard’s collapse is expected to felt most of all in CART although the series is fortunate to have a month with a race so that any teams which decide to switch to rival machinery

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To the Mountain: Tony Cochrane has welcomed the announcement of the Bathurst 24 How: THE proposed 24 Hour PROCAR event at Bathurst has drawn support from AVESCO's Tony Cochrane.

The Chairman and acting Chief Executive Officer of AVESCO said last week that, far from decrying the race which was announced at the Clipsal 500 last month, AVESCO thought it would be a boon for the sport.

"Both IMG and ourselves are delighted with the arrangement," Cochrane said. "The agreement we have for Bathurst means that the bill for hiring the track can be split between the two events, and that will mean a saving of approximately $300,000, which is substantial in anybody's language.

"We welcome the fact that the race will take place in November."

It was reported in the previous issue of Motorsport News that there was conflict between Cochrane and a PROCAR official regarding the announcement of the 24 Hour at Adelaide, But the discussion in pit lane that we reported was over the access of PROCAR's TV cameras, present at the Parklands track for its delayed coverage of the Nations Cup event.

"That was it in a nutshell," explained Cochrane.

"There are clear guidelines regarding when and where other categories can have access to the circuit.

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(Photo hy Dirk Klynsmilh)

We discussed the matter, PROCAR apologised and everyone carried on within the agreement."

Cochrane went on to say that the 24 Hour race would underline AVESCO's long-held commitment to seeking upgrades to the Mount Panorama facilities.

"Everyone knows that Bathurst is one of the world's classic racetracks," he said. "The potential is there but it needs updating to be able to maintain its place in motor racing. We have been saying that for some time, and it is true now more than ever."

The November 23/24 race is expected to attract up to 83 entries, with many international teams already expressing interest in coming down under for the event.

In the meantime, AVESCO and V8 Supercar 1000 promoter IMG are pushing ahead with plans for their annual classic, which will take place on October 13.

"The last two races at Bathurst have been among the best ever seen at the track, but I think that the plans IMG and ourselves are making for the 2002 race will make It the best yet," Tickets for the V8 Supercar 1000 are available through Ticketmaster 7 now, with full details available on the race's website at www.v8supercarl000.com or by ringing 1300 136 122.

- PHIL BRANAGAN

from Lola will have time to make the necessary changes.

The collapse of Reynard has caused shudders throughout the industry but the signs are that the company’s failure was not the result of the recession but rather due to the fact that the company faced increasingly tough competition from Lola and that the company management has been rather disrupted in recent years.

Founded in 1973, Reynard enjoyed huge success from 1981 onwards,initially in Formula Ford (where the company sold over 650 ~— chassis) and then in Formula 3 (360 cars). Formula 3000(220 cars) and CART(148 cars). The company had a tendency to become overextended and had to be saved from disaster on several occasions by the inventive Rick Gome.

Gome joined the company in 1981 and immediately landed a deal to keep the business going, selling 12 cars to the United Arab Emirates, having convinced the government that they would keep the company’s fighter pilots happy when they were not fl3dng.

Ten years later, Reynard got into trouble while trying to put together an FI team and Gome saved the day again by selling 40 Formula 3 cars to Mexico for the creation of a local F3 senes.

Gome’s ingenuity and Adrian Reynard’s technical prowess helped the company to rebuild and then enter CART in 1994. The profits were huge and Reynard paid himself some vast salaries in the late 1990s, collecting $45m between 1996 and 1998.

He planned to make even more money by floating the company on the New York Stock Exchange and in order to make the company a more stable business he bought a

motorsport news

NEWS

n peceivership Four more Pukekohes

Goodbye running fox: After 29 years, Reynard is no more.(Photobysutton-images) variety of other companies, notably Gemini TVansmissionafor $23m and the Riley & Scott company.

Reynard also invested heavily in technology so as to become a world leader in computational fluid dynamics and building windtunnels.

The company also flirted with the automotive industry via its Reynard Special Vehicle Projects which designed such weird and* wonderful devices as the Chrysler Patriot gas turbine sports car, the Ford Indigo concept car, the Strathcarron sportscar for road use and racing GTs for Don Panoz.

The flotation did not come off and since then the company has slumped badly as Lola and Dallara have taken over key markets.

CART has largely kept Reynard afloat but the weakening of the series and the increasing number Photo by Sutton-Images

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of teams using Lola chassis meant that the profit margins disappeared while other projects failed to get off the ground. Gome departed to work for BAR in Formula 1 but then returned to try to save Reynard but concluded some months ago that he would move to Lola instead.

The Reynard assets(such as they are) will be sold off but the creditors have been told not to expect much money to be raised. A lot of the machinery was not owned by the company itself but leased from other Reynard-owned businesses.

The coUapse of Reynard will probably trigger moves by Lola and Dallara to move into the markets which have opened up and it can be safely assumed that Dallara will produce a CART chassis next year.

PUKEKOHE will remain on the V8 Supercar calendar for the next four years,following the announcement that event organisers IMG has signed a new deal with the circuit located on New Zealand's North Island.

The terms of the agreement will see the Pukekohe Park Raceway owners invest in upgrades to a number of areas of the facility prior to this year's Boost Mobile V8 International in early November. Among the areas targeted for improvement are spectator facilities, with a pedestrian bridge planned to link the inner and outer sections of the circuit, and extra grandstand seating.

"After assessing all of the options, we decided the Pukekohe was a known quantity for us. It had a great response in 2001 from both the drivers and the New Zealand fans and the improvements we have planned will only continue to enhance the event," IMG Director of Motorsport Geoff Jones explained.

2001 winner Greg Murphy supported the announced return to the circuit.

"It's great news to hear we'll be going back to Pukekohe, I think it would've been a shame to run away after one year," Murphy said.

"Realistically any place we went was going to need a lot of work and the majority of the infrastructure is already in place at Pukekohe."

TWR's MG deal TWR boss Tom Walkinshaw has just signed a deal, rumoured to be worth $850m, with MG Rover.

The TWR-MG Rover deal is believed to be linked to the recent announcement linking the British car company and China Brilliance of Shanghai.

The deal is a technical and commercial collaboration between the companies to produce new models mainly for the Chinese automotive market. The deal with TWR has yet to be officially announced by sources within MG Rover say that it wil l go ahead.

In the short-term Arrows needs an injection of cash to keep things moving in the right direction. There are huge bills to be paid to Cosworth Racing for the supply of the company's FI VI0 engines.

- JOE SAWARD

n A familiar face at the Konica V8 Supercar round at Wakefield Park was Craig Lowndes's engineer, Oscar Fiorinotto, who was helping out Paul Dumbrell's Wynn's Racing outfit.

Fiorinotto worked with Dumbrell in the series last year when the teenager drove a Gibson Motorsportprepared Commodore. n If you happen to be at a Konica V8 Supercar race, take the time to check out the paintjob on Derek van Zelm's VT Commodore. Being bright pink and orange, it shouldn't be too hard to spot. The livery, which would normally cost around $8000, came courtesy of sponsor Flouse of Kolor.

"We wanted something that would stand out," Van Zelm told MN. We think he succeeded ... n 1994 Targa Tasmania champion Andrew Miedecke has pulled his Dodge Viper out of this year's event.

The VI 0-powered machine was damaged in a crash during Rally Tasmania in February. The culprit? Flis own brother, whose Nissan GTR belted into the stricken Viper after it had already run off the road! n Jamie Miller, Ric Shaw, Anthony Robson and Kosi Kaiaitzidis will drive a Group A Flonda Civic Type R at the Nurburgring 24 Flour race in June. n Cop that you Kiwis dept: Aussie karter Tyson Pearce took out New Zealand’s most prestigious Senior National Kart title at the New Zealand Kart Championships in Christchurch last Saturday.

Driving a Parillia-powered Omega Kart designed and developed by his father's Omega Karts company in SA, Pearce won one of the heats and finished in the top six in two others to claim pole for the final, which he went on to win by a several kart lengths. n Alex Zanardi will return to the * EuroSpeedway circuit this September as honorary race starter. The Italian, who lost both legs and very nearly lost his life in a late-race accident with Alex Tagliani at the first German Champ Car race there last year, will start the September 2,1 race. n With Reynard going 'down the toilet', Reynard teams in the Champ Car series have been readying for the announcement for some time. Team KOOL Green and its sister Team Motorola squad have been testing Lola chassis in preparation for the announcement, and will use them from the Motegi round onwards.

H Without a sponsor to run Sarah Fisher in the IRL, Derrick Walker now looks like having to face his contracted driver in court. The diminutive racer has a five-year contract with Walker, though a lack of sponsor dollars has left her on the sidelines ail year so far, prompting her to go to League honcho Tony George for help from his law firm.

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3^ THE FIA World Motor Sport Council met in Paris last week and voted in favour of a proposal from the Formula 1 Commission to restrict each driver to only one engine per weekend from the start of the 2004 season.

The rule change, which is supposed to cut costs, will see any driver using more than one engine during the race weekend having to start 10 places further down the grid than his best qualifying lap. The rule includes any use of the spare car, which means than any driver having a crash or a mechanical problem on Saturday must now decide whether to switch to the T-car or to wait for his own car to be repaired and risk having a poor qualifying.

Complicated systems of phasing in the new regulations were discussed but, in the end, the teams could not reach agreement, and so the vote was settled by the FI Commission, which needed only a two-thirds majority to get the regulation voted through.

As part of the agreement, the FIA has agreed not to interfere with chassis design regulations in 2003 and 2004, This should save money, as it will mean that the smaller teams will not be required to build new chassis each season, although in all probability they will build new cars simply to remain competitive.

- JOE SAWARD

Hackett closer to F3000 One-off DTM drive and Le Mans part of deal?

PETER Hackett has arrived in Prague to meet the team that he aims to join for a European F3000 campaign this year.

The Sydney-based driver, who won the Australian Formula 3 Championship with Piccola Scuderia Corse last year, has apparently signed a deal with the new Czech-based team run by Antonin Charouz, who is better known as Fox’mula 3000 front-runner Tomas Enge’s manager.

However, Hackett was forced to sit out the first test day at Vallelunga in Spain due to contractual problems.

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Details of Hackett’s deal (which came together after Hackett was introduced to an individual connected with the team at the Australian GP) are still hazy, however it is believed to include a full season in European F3000, a possible one-off DTM drive in a Mercedes at Bmo, and even the possibility of a ‘gallop’ in a Ferrari 550 Maranello in the GTS class of the Le Mans 24 Hours.

The European F3000 series kicks off at Vallelunga on April 21.

- MARK GLENDENNING

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Peugeot eyei

by JOE SAWARD

RUMOURS are circulating that Peugeot Sport boss Corrado Provera is looking at bringing Peugeot back to Formula 1 within a few years - with a team of its own, despite not winning a single race in its seven year involvement as an engine supplier to McLaren, Jordan and Prost.

The talk is that Peugeot Sport is expected to stay in rallying for another year or two but will then step aside and make way for sister company Citroen to take over the wiiming. Thus it is fair to say that the right moment for Peugeot to leave rallying would be at the end of 2003. Thus logic would suggest that a Peugeot return to FI would be at the start of 2004.

In FI circles, however, Peugeot’s failure has long been blamed on the attitudes within the company.

McLaren terminated a four-year deal with Peugeot after the first season and, although polite about the French company, there is no doubt that McLaren realised that it had made a mistake.

Alain Prost said recently that he had been “too nice” to Peugeot and added that “in 1994 Ron Dennis recognised immediately what was going to happen and broke the contract with them. My mistake was not to have the force of

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character to do the same.

Even former Peugeot Sport boss Jean-PieiTe Jabouille was outspoken about the attitudes within the company, Sport Auto magazine in 1998 that the .

Peugeot management did not understand how FI operated.

“I was kicked out of Peugeot because of my lack of political skills,” he said. “People who are worthless but lick everyone’s boots, get promoted. When things go well, they want the credit but when things go badly they do not want to be held responsible.” motorsport news

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out damaged AU THE future of Glenn Seton Racing’s Ford Credit Falcon crashed by Glenn Seton,left, at the Clipsal 500 remains in limbo.

While the team has three cars, team manager Jon Matthews said that the crashed car was on the chassis jig at the moment and the team was evaluating whether it would be better to focus on repairing it or continue on with preparing the team’s remaining cars for Seton and test driver Owen Kelly.

“We don’t know at the moment,” said Matthews of the car which debuted at Bathurst last year and started on the front row of the grid in the hands of Seton and Steven Richards.

“We’ll determine how easily it will be to repair. It’s no good

FI - again? .<

controversial turn eight, will step into one of the team’s remaining two cars for round two at Phillip Island. He’ll line up in the car he drove during last season.

It’s not the first time the team’s plans have been thrown out the window by a crash.

Seton’s testing accident at Phillip Island in late-2000 destroyed his team’s first AU Falcon and left him on the sidelines for Sandown and Indy, while another of the team’s cars also met its demise at Phillip Island, albeit back in 1993 with Drew Price at the wheel during testing.

-AARON NOONAN

Asiatech confirms FI team IT is no secret that Asiatech wants to run its own Formula

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1 team as soon as possible depending on the opportunities available and the money that will be needed.

Not the best move possible: A French team with a French engine - the perfect dream. Well, not quite ...

When Peugeot sold the engine program to Asiatech, the new management of that organisation, run by former Peugeot Sport engineer Enrique Scalabroni, admitted that “it was necessary to make some corrections” in the management.

“Manufactui-ers have one approach, racing teams have another,” Scalabroni said.

“What we have done is to change the ‘engine’ attitude by putting in 3 April 2002

putting all that energy into (fixing) it and losing focus on the main game.”

Seton, who received a cut chin in the accident at the somewhat-

managers who have a ‘chassis attitude’.”

Peugeot considered creating its own Pi team back in the 1980s when Jean Todt was in charge.

In 1993, the company concluded that it could not justify the costs of the full FI program asked for by Todt and this decision precipitated his departure to Ferrari. Jabouille took over and Peugeot decided to enter FI purely as an engine manufacturer in 1994.

John Gano, the managingdirector of the team, confirmed the plans last week, saying that Asiatech might enter F1 next year or in 2004.

"The company is ideally placed to take over the Prost facilities in Paris, though the team principals and engineer Enrique Scalabroni are of the opinion that the team should be based in Britain, even it the engine department remains in France. The organization does have a British base, in the old Williams factory in Didcot.

If the team wishes to enter F1 next year it will have to put together a dossier and pay a $48m deposit to the FIA in November.

Asiatech's backers, a mysterious consortium of Asian businessmen, has not really made it clear what it intends to do with an F1 team.

- JOE SAWARD

n Christian Fittipaldi, who was scheduled to make his 2002 NASCAR Busch Series debut at Bristol Motor Speedway, will instead debut the #30 Mike's Hard Lemonade Monte Carlo at the Hardees 250 at Richmond on May 3.

A conflict arose for Fittipaldi when his Newman/Haas team scheduled a last-minute test session in Sebring. n Another Champ Car driver to head for Stock Car racing is Frenchman Nicolas Minassian.

Dumped by the Ganassi/Target team partway through last year, Minassian will join Ray Mallock Ltd's team in the European ASCAR series, teaming up with former Volvo BTCC pilot Kelvin Burt. n Just how fit are racing drivers and motorcycle racers? British bike magazine Motorcycle News recently tested British World Superbike rider James Toseland against a number of athletes from different sports and, it turns out, he is fitter than Manchester United and England soccer star David Beckham. Mind you, Toseland is not married to a Spice Girl ... n The Formula 1 paddock in Sao Paulo was busy with visiting VIPs, notably the soccer legend Pele and the Sao Paulo mayor. There was no shortage of old racers as well with triple world champion Nelson Piquet, double world champion Emerson Fittipaldi, double CART Champion Gil de Ferran (now racing in the IRL) and former FI driver Roberto Moreno, who is looking for a drive this year after the contraction of the CART field, all spotted around the paddock.

■ Jose Nilton da Silva, from the city of Campinas in Brazil, was a great fan of the late Aydon Senna (the two sharing the family name 'da Silva' - which Senna stopped using when he reached FI). When his sc#i was born in 1998 (four years after Senna's death) Jose decided that he would give the child two Christian names: Ayrton and Senna. The new Ayrton Senna da Silva (aged four) made his racing debut recently in a go kart race and finished sixth.

■ Eddie Irvine was awarded damages of around $3000 resulting from his High Court victory over the Talksport radio station which had used his image to promote its programs without his permission. The judge said that $3000 was a reasonable sum for damages. However this is bad news for Irvine as he last year rejected an offer of settlement from Talksport for $7500 and so has been ordered to pay costs, which could amount to anything up to $500,000.

The judge said that the legal teams could appeal his decisions but noted that further legal action will push up the costs still further.

-JOE SAWARD/STAFF 9

ten home of

[motorsport !^T<2«m!JOB5ISS

vs Supercar Championship* Apr 14 . -. .Phillip Island ...

.Rd 2

Apr 28 ....Eastern Creek .

.Rd 3

May 19 ...Hidden Valley ..

,Rd4

Jun 9 ....Canberra

.Rd 5

Jun 30 ...Barbagallo

.Rd 6

Jul 28 ....Oran Park

.Rd7

Aug 18 ...Winton

.Rd8

Sep 15 ..'.Old Raceway ..

.Rd9

Oct 13

Bathurst

.RdIO

Oct 27

Surfers Paradise

.Rdl l

Nov 10 ...New Zealand ..

.Rd 12

Konica V8 Series* Rd 2

Mays Phillip Island Jun 16 . . . .Oran Park . .

Rd3

.Winton

Jul7

Aug 4 . . . -Mallala , Oct 12 Bathurst

Rd4 Rd 5 .(non Championship)

FiA Formula One World Championship Apr 14 . . . .Imola . . .

Rd4

Apr 28 . . . .Barcelona

.Rd5

May 12 . . .A1-Ring .

,Rd6

May 26 . . .Monaco .

Jun 9 .Montreal . . . ,

,Rd7

Jun 23 . . . .Nurfaurgring Jul 7 .Silverstone .

.Rd^8 .Rd9 .Rd 10 .Rd11

Jul 21 Magny Cours Jul 28 . . . .Hockenheim

.Rd 12

Aug 18 . . .Hungaroring .

.Rd13

CART FedEx Chairipionship* .Rd 2

Apr 14 . . . .Long Beach Apr 27 . . . .Motegi . . .

Jun 2 ■Milwaukee

.Rd 3

Jun 9

.Rd 5

Montreal . .

.Rd 4

MotoGP Motorcycle Championship* Apr 7

. .Japan

.Rd 1

Apr 21 . . . .South Africa

,Rd2

May 5 . . . .Spain

,Rd3

May 19 . . .France . . .

Jun 2 .Italy

,Rd4 .Rd5

SBK World Super Bike Apr 7

Championship* . . . .South Africa

■m

Dingle Dell, bloody hell!

Davison had a strong start to his overseas asS&Ult.

Daw dabiii^ (Photo by Jakob Ebrey)

FF Champ makes strong FRenauR debut at Brands

by AARON NOONAN

WILL Davison has raced strongly in the opening round of the British Formula Renault Championship at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit on Easter Monday Crossing the finishing line just as we went to press, the Motaworid driver moved from 14th on the grid to finish seventh.

In his fourth year of Formula Renault, Danny Watts won the

race, though the points finish is a strong start for Davison, who passed a few cars in the opening laps and was aided by others falling off.

Davison ended up a lowly 14th on the grid, though it should have been much better.

The Formula Ford Champ was fifth quickest for most of the session and headed out in the dying stages on new tyres in a bid to improve. However, Suzie Stoddart crashed Davison off the road at Paddock, leaving him

Aussie barrier OK by FIA THE FIA has approved for use on world motor racing circuits an absorbing crash buffer - the Tyson D-cell - which is the invention of an Australian-owned and operated company.

The result of two years work and testing both in Australia and England has produced the kmetic energy absorbing buffer system, which was developed m Queensland by Simon Tyson’s, Deceleration Research-

■Rd3

Apr 21 . . . .Japan

,Rd4

May 12 . . .Monza

.Rd5

May 26 . . .Britain

.Rd6

Nations Cup Apr 7

.Symmons Plains . .

,Rd2

May 5 . . . .Oran Park

,Rd3

Jun 9

. . . .Canberra

.Rd4

Jun 23

Winton

.Rd5

feHerol^ received a grant of $82,000 from *e federal government, the new Lsh barrier, which

rt en1 L

home of

[motorsport^ All event dates in this calendar were correct at the lime ol printing. Please consult any individual tracks and/or associations for dale changes.

ScriQo or events telecast on Network Ten arc morked with an asterisk. Chock your local gilidos for screening details.

unable to complete his hot lap.

"It did no damage, but the car stalled and these cars don't start on their own." said Davison.

"Realistically, I should have done a mid-1 m24s on the second set which should have put me back up to sixth or seventh. When I was in the top three it was surprising, but where I am at the moment in the overall pecking order is the top seven or eight in terms of my pace."

Round two of the title is on April 20 at Oulton Park.

Another Aussie invention: Simon Tyson, Executive Director of Tyson Deceleration Research, with the newlyapproved-by-the-FIA crash barrier.

^® on all new circuits around the world as well as upgrading existing ones, is clamed to have a ‘zero damage result ‘post test The new system apparently offers 250 percent less rebound, substantially less than other units, and helps offer instant access to trapped drivers.

Barriers can be altered to have different kinetic energy absorption rates depending on the speed and trajectory of corners and straights.

Aimed at replacing the current, somewhat outdated tyre barriers which surround race tracks, the new barrier system can be modified through the lightweight energy absorbing cells that sit within it. motorsport news

N€WS IflfN1 P^N^B^scpe had hi§f|F^ipubli&'irun bahihd tha wheel of thp1roy6t4'^id2 Fb'rnriura dne car at Barcelona twb weeks ago.

Briscoe GOiinpleted 55 laps while carrying out work oh aihew engine specification, in addition to a hew chassis and geherai d#Belopniient work, with a best time of i m24.108s ‘T would have liked to hawe done a few more iapsiini my first real fl . test,” Briscoe eaid. “ there were a few giitehes

CZZT”^ ^

with the hydraulics and eleetrohics, but we were testing some new things today for the next couple of racesj so we expected a few teething problems.

“Overall though jl am quite happy,the ear feels good to drive and it is getting better all the time.”

Briscoe also denied recent reports suggesting that he had been oh the verge of making his F1 debut in Malaysia, stating that he was required to attend all iFli races as a standby, and that there had been no questioni marks over Salo’s health at Sepang.

n The Williams-Renault in which Ayrton Senna was killed at Imola in May 1994 has spent the last eight years in the custody of the Italian legal authorities. Recently however the Italians decided that they could learn nothing more from the car and it has now been returned to Williams in Britain. It is not known what Williams will do with the car - which represents some of the darker moments of the team's history.

Three years ago various members of the Williams team were acquitted of manslaughter charges related to Senna's death.

tMC*

●^holo by bufton-images

Prancing to the UK

pnolo by Jpnn Morns/Mpix

THE Ferrari 360 Michelotto run

by John Bowe at the opening round of the Nations Cup in Adelaide made its way to England last weekend.

The PHR Scuderia squad ran the car for new UK-based team Veloqx Motorsport in the opening round of the British GT Championship on the weekend, with team manager Paul Cruickshank acting as crew chief and colleague Phil Hughes filling the role of chief mechanic.

3 aprll 2002

"Obviously we are very excited about our first overseas event," said PHR Scuderia Managing Director, Gordon Kennett.

"It was just a matter of weeks ago that we detailed plans to tackle the global market and this is step one in what will be a number of overseas ventures for PHR Scuderia, It is a real testament to Paul and the team that they were Veloqx UK's first choice.

While its regular car will still be making its way back from

n Lotus disappeared from Formula 1 in 1994 but the Lotus Engineering automotive consultancy business continues, although it is now owned by the Malaysian car company Proton (which is controlled

by Petronas).

Lotus Engineering will take part in the soapbox derby at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this summer with the aim of producing a 50kg device which will be capable of running at 55rnph down the famous Goodhill hill. The car, which has been codenamed Lotus 119 will be built from aluminium and carbon composites. The last Formula 1 car was the 109.

England, the PHR Scuderia team will field its second 360 Michelotto at Symmons Plains this weekend in the second round of the Nations Cup series, with Bowe driving a black version. The red car will return from England immediately after the Brands Hatch GT race.

Behind the wheel of the Ferrari was last year's British GT Champ, Calum Lockie, and former F3000 racer Jamie Davies.

- AARON NOONAN

n Waving a chequered may seem like an easy enough task but when soccer legend Pele was given the job in Brazil on Sunday there was an embarrassing lack of flapping black and white flag when Michael and Ralf Schumacher hurtled across the finishing line at the end of the 71st lap of the Brazilian GP. Pele was looking the wrong way when the two Germans arrived. David Coulthard was the first man to get the chequered flag. Ooops.

■ The Head and Neck Protection System (HANS) will become compulsory in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship and in Formula 3000 from the start of next season.

The FIA says that the rule will be applied so long as it has confirmation from the teams that no driver will be at a disadvantage as a result of using the device.

There is also the matter of concluding a licensing arrangement with DaimlerChrysler so that the HANS device can be used in all forms of international racing.

■ FIA President Max Mosley told the BBC's Hard Talk program that the British GP is not under threat from the proposed race in Moscow.

Mosley did not say which race would be dropped to make way for the Russian GP but said that it would "probably be one of the European races". The comments will come as a welcome relief for Silverstone which has been under constant pressure in recent seasons.

- JOE SAWARD 11

Fire destroys F3 cars

by MARK GLENDENNING

AUSTRALIAN F3 outfit Piccola Scuderia Corse have begun the rebuilding process after a fi*eak roadside fire destroyed virtually aU ofthe team’s material possessions,including the two race cars,a fortnight ago.

PSC team manager Michael Masi confirmed that the team has leased two Dallara 396s from the RCH team for drivers James Cressey and Jeffrey Brewer to run at Symmons Plains this weekend,”* while a pair of new cars are on their way from Europe in preparation for the third round of the series at Oran Park in May. “Well be sending a small team to Symmons Plains just to try to get some points, and we’re aiming to be back in contention at Oran Park,” Masi said.

“Thank God for our sponsors,and drivers for getting behind us the . way they have.

“I’d also like to thank everybody for all the phone calls and emails from all over the world that we’ve received offering sympathy and support.”

On their way from Italy are a Dallara 399 which has been updated to 301 spec, and the 301 that won the Italian Championship last year in the hands of Lorenzo Del Gallo.

The incident occurred when the team was returning to Sydney after the season-opening round in Adelaide when,just after lam,the Ford F250 towing the team’s trailer suffered a puncture just outside ofYass, NSW. The trailer was sitting in the breakdown lane waiting for a mobile repair van when it was

Not much more than a smouldering wreck now: Kiwi James Cressey will be forced back into the 1996hnodel car for Symmons Plains after his Adelaide-podium finishing F301 was burnt to the ground.

(Photo by Dirk Klynsrrtith)

rear-ended by a semi-trailer. The impact dragged the trailer and ute 100m down the road before a fire broke out in the semi’s engine bay As the semi’s driver leapt clear, the flames spread and engulfed the truck, trailer, and ute.

The team’s two race cars - the brand-new Dallara F301, which was driven at Adelaide by Cressey, and Brewer’s F398, which helped Peter Hackett to the title last year, were both destroyed. Also lost was all of the team’s support equipment,including spares, tools, wheels, tyres, set-up sheets, and computers.

Miraculously, nobody was hurt in the accident, although the driver of the semi-trailer has subsequently been charged with negligent driving.

FHolden te SEVERAL Formula Holden teams were preparing to make their way to Phillip Island for testing as Motorsport News went to press.

Kiwi Fabian Coulthard, right, who set tongues wagging after a great performance in the Formula Ford support races at this year's Australian Grand Prix, is said to be among those looking to make the step up to wings and slicks.

Coulthard's main hurdle is his current spot at the top of the

NZ Formula Ford championship, the final round of which clashes with the first round of the Formula Holden series at the 'Island on April 14.

If Coulthard can wrap up the FF series before the final round, expect to see him trying out one of Kevin Murphy's cars.

Also present at the test will be Akihiro Asai, who has already signed on to drive for Hocking Motorsport this year.

Christian Murchison, who is reportedly in the process ot

New NZ Formula Holden team

HAVING helped guide the career of Scott Dixon aU the way i to Champ Car racing in America, Kiwi veteran Kenny Smith is putting together a new Formula Holden team for 2002 in an effort to further the career of more New ‘ Zealanders.

The Formula Ford veteran and former Formula 5000 and Formula Atlantic champion has acquired the two Reynard 93D and 94D Gibson Motorsport machines formerly campaigned by Paul Dumbrell during 1999 and 2000.

'The 93D “hybrid’now sports a range of9'TD pieces, including a sequential gearbox, with 16-year-old Kiwi Nelson Hartley odds-on to drive one of the cars in the Gold Star Championship, which starts at Phillip Island on April 12-14.

Hartley recently tested for Graham Watson’s team at Eastern Creek and is poised to be receive a consortiumBack on the track: After over a season in mothballs, the ex-Dumbrell 94D will backed drive,just like that of 1998 champion Dixon.

-AARON NOONAN be part of Kenny Smith’s new FHolden squad.

12 motorsport news

Bpede wants more First-up Konica winner encourages a longer championship schedule

,

Photo by John Morris/Mpix

THE winner of the opening rotmd of the Konica V8 Supercar Series, Dale Brede, has called for series organisers to consider lengthening the V8 Supercar development series’s schedule.

The Canberrian, who made a victorious debut for Harris Racing in the Gulf Western Oil Falcon at Wakefield Park on the weekend, sees the five-round championship as too short.

“I think there are two problems with having only five rounds,” said Brede. “Firstly it just doesn’t give enough time on race tracks. It’s race mileage that gives us the experience to take our careers further. Secondly, it doesn’t give sponsors enough exposure.

“We are lucky that our major sponsors like Gulf Western Oil and

Esanda are fully committed to us but for prospective sponsors, it makes it tough when you have 66 percent less races than the V8 Supercar Series teams.”

Brede plans to step up into the V8 Supercar Championship Series in 2003, though he still thinks it’s important that the Konica Series is expanded, both in terms of its calendar and also into more metropolitan markets.

“We need to remember that the Konica Series should not only be about learning car craft but about sponsorship and business management as well.

“The more conducive the series is for sponsors, the more we get to learn about an area that is just as important as the actual racing these days,” said Brede.

-AARON NOONAN

isting for Island

t

I

NEWS n A few weeks ago, a senior member of the staff at Renault Sport confirmed that the team’s Executive Director of Engineering, Pat Symonds, was going to leave at the end of the current season. Since then, however, it seems that things have changed and in Brazil the team issued a statement saying that Symonds was "one of the most valued members of our senior technical management" and said that "we hope this will continue".

The implication was that Symonds will be staying although the press statement did not actually say that.

Why all this is necessan/ is a complete mystery! n Jaguar Racing has hired Ben Agathangelou as its new chief of aerodynamics. Agathangelou, who will take the post on May 1, has been at Renault Sport for almost three years having joined when the Honda Racing Developments programme ceased upon the death of Harvey Postlethwaite. He had previously worked at Tyrrell and McLaren and is the first senior appointment made by Jaguar technical director Gunther Steiner.

Meanwhile, the team’s new wind tunnel at Milton Keynes should become operational next week.

trying to finalisea deal to return to the Hockiri^ fold, will join Aki at the Island this week.

Alan Gurr is likely to have a test for Graham Watson’s Ralt outfit, for whom he drove last year, while 2001 Formula Ford runner-up Will Power is spending the day with Mark Ellis's Mantis Racing team.

Gurr is definitely a starter in the Searle family BMW Super Tourer for the season on the Power Tour.

- MARK GLEIMDENIMING

n The contract for the proposed Russian Grand Prix remains unsigned although Bernie Ecclestone travelled to Moscow this week. According to Moscow city mayor Yuri Luzhkov, there are a number of issues still to be resolved before the contract is finalised and this has delayed matters by a few weeks. The Russians plan to build a Formula 1 circuit within a purpose-built complex at Nagatino island, to the south of Moscow, But, in view of the massive work required, it seems that the first Grand Prix of Russia is likely to take place in 2004 rather than next year as had been generally expected.* -JOE SAWARD/ QUENTIN SPURRING

MAIMNIE FOLD: THE ULTIMATE TRACKSIDE FAN-BOY

By Allan Schofield

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13

CART/Heil PhoU> /n StUfnn-limr^r'i

From Mexico to Florida: After hosting the opening Champ Car racefor Uvo seasons, CART will be in St Petersburg to kick off2003. (Bo:hneii photographic)

New ’03 opener

THE 2003 FedEx Championship Series will kick off with a brand new race in St Petersburg, Florida, on February 21-23.

The race will be a joint venture between CART and Dover Downs Entertainment with the support of the City of St Petersburg and will kick off the 2003 CART FedEx Championship Series schedule, marking the first time since the 2000 season opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway that the Champ Car season will open in the United States.

"It has been no secret that we here at CART and our partners at Dover Downs Entertainment have been extremely interested in having a Champ Car race in St. Petersburg, and it is truly a pleasure that we are able to,make this announcement," said CART President and CEO, Chris Pook.

The agreement between CART and Dover Downs Entertainment calls for Champ Cars to be racing in St. Petersburg for up to a 12-year term - a seven-year contract with a five-year option. The race will be run on a temporary circuit that will incorporate some of the streets of downtown St. Petersburg around the Bayfront’ Centre as well as a portion of the Albert Whitted Airport.

More power to the blazers This is a reflection of what the media think of the FIA stewards

by JOE SAWARD

TBIE timing was not perfect given the controversy over Juan Pablo Montoya’s ‘dbrivethrough’penalty in Malaysia which even the supposed victim of the affair Michael Schumacher felt was unfair but the FIA has announced increased powers for its stewards at Grands Prix.

With immediate effect, the stewards can move a driver 10 places backwards on the grid of the next race if they consider he deserves punishment for an

incident in a race.

These new powers are bound to cause trouble at some point in the probably not too distant future.

The rule is designed to make drivers think twice before becoming involved in incidents.

This is an interesting idea but the problem that now needs to be overcome is that the credibility of the FIA stewards has suffered severely in recent years because of the inconsistent application of

Nobody tell Juan ... that the Stewards of F1 Grand Prix have even (Photo by Sutton-lmages) more power than in Malaysial penalties and liberal use of the explanation ‘racing incident’.

The lack of action after the crash in Melbourne, when contrasted to the draconian penalty inflicted on Montoya in Malaysia, have underlined the basic inconsistencies that appear to exist

and in FI media circles, one can hear regular use of expressions such as ‘The Red Car Rule’, a comment which refers to any decision which seems to let Ferrari off without punishment or punishes someone involved in an incident with a FeiTari.

and it is not helped by the fact that the same controversial stewards are returned time and time again, even if they are proven to have made mistakes.

This is largely a political issue, as most of the FIA stewards are important players in the politics of the Federation rather than being experts in FI. Most of them have experience in motorsport and should perhaps warrant more respect than they get, but the continuing series of weird decisions has left them with little credibility.

FIA President Max Mosley did recently suggest that roles should be changed at races, with Race Director Charlie Whiting being given the power to punish and the FIA Stewards being turned into the equivalent of appeal court judges(a neat solution to the problem).

The teams however did not seem to be very keen on that idea, although it does have some merits, motorsport news

.A

dep to court

by PHIL MORRIS

FORMER CART president Joe Heitzler is being sued by the Champ Car organisation, which is accusing him of fraud.

The lawsuit claims that Heitzler, left, committed CART to a series of costly contracts without the Board of Directors’ approval, including the unauthorised hiring of . employees, totalling more than $1 million.

“Indeed, Heitzler continued to do so after questions by the Board and by written instruction to the contrary by the chairman of the Compensation Committee,” the lawsuit said.

The suit alleges that Heitzler

attempted to secure his job on a long-term basis by “interfering in CAET’s contractual arrangements.”

However, Heitzler has turned the heat back on the Champ Car sanctioning body by firing off his own law suit, alleging breach of contract. He filed the suit in Los Angeles Superior Court, which seeks damages of $4 million, a decent-sized rise from the $150,000 CAET is seeking from Heitzler.

Heitzler alleged that his termination came because of actions he took to eliminate conflicts ofinterest by several CART directors. He also says in the suit that several directors

cashed their series stock out before the organization adopted the controversial 3.5-litre engine rules for 2003 to prevent an expected drop in value.

“As a result of these actions, (Heitzler) antagonized several members of CART's board of directors. ...” the lawsuit stated.

“On or about Dec. 4, 2001, at CART’s board of director’s meeting in Phoenix, several CART directors sought to terminate (Heitzler’s) emplo3rment ‘for cause’. ... This attempt was rejected by a majority of CART’s board.”

CART’S suit puts it in legal battles on both sides of the country as its own suit was filed in Michigan, with Heitzler’s coming

Hack to try After an Imiv-onlv r/fort with AJ I'ovt last\

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season. Rohhy UonUni w ill inill clonhle { </(//!' this May iil Imlv ami Cliarlalic.

NEWS n Alain Menu was fastest, in his Opel Astra Coupe, in a two-day DTM test at the Oschersleben circuit in Germany last week. The Swiss was fractionally ahead of Karl Wendlinger's Audi TT and Peter Dumbreck's Mercedes CLK. n Jaguar, riding a torrid start to the season, will continue with its 2002 R3 after all. Pedro de la Rosa tried both the R2 and R3 cars at Barcelona last week.

Jaguar Racing CEO Niki Lauda explained: "The performance differential is just not big enough to go with last year's car. Also we are not in a position to divert resources on any kind of parallel development. I am satisfied we have done everything to make sure that our next move is forward." n Green Flag, a UK roadside assistance company, has switched its sponsorship from British F3 to the BTCC this year. It will replace similar organisation theAA.com that backed the class for just one season, the shortest involvement of any BTCC title sponsor in over 20 years. n Reigning British F3 champion Carlin Motorsport has abandoned its plans to race in the Porsche Supercup.

The team ran for just one year in the International one-make arena. n Ralt is back in the BRDC British F3 Championship. Team Avanti, run by ex-Benetton FI engineer Nigel Clyde, will run one car for Matthew Gilmore while second driver Stefano Fabi will begin the season in a Dallara. The team intends to review Fabi's choice of chassis after the first few rounds.

The last time a Ralt raced in the series was 1993 and a Ralt last won the championship in 1991 in the hands of Rubens Barrichello. i

NASCAR stap to run Charlotte/lndy 500 double in May PERHAPS one of the toughest tasks in world motorsport will again be attempted by Robby Gordon in May. The American will run the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR event at Charlotte on May 26, fresh from competing in that clay's Indianapolis 500.

Gordon will join Team Menard for his one-off Indycar race of the year, with backing from regular NASCAR sponsor Cingular Wireless and team 3 llpril 2002

owner Richard Childress, This will be the third time Gordon has attempted the double, after both his previous attempts - in 1997 and 2000 were troubled by rain. The 1997 Indy race was rained back to the Monday, while he missed the start of the NASCAR race in 2000 when the 500 was late starting, again due to weather.

Childress, meanwhile, was a co-owner of the AJ Foyt machine that Gordon finished

21st in at the Brickyard last season.

While Gordon is pressing fullsteam ahead with his plans, Tony Stewart - who has done the double twice - looks like he's withdrawn himself from consideration despite strong interest from Chip Ganassi and Roger Penske.

Then again, Ganassi and Stewart denied they had a deal this time last year, only for the now-Winston Cup ace to race in a Target car and finish sixth.

n Bobby Verdon-Roe has secured a drive for Lister in the FIA GT Championship with wealthy UK businessman Paul Knapfield.

Knapfield raced in the British GT Championship last season, as did BV-R, although Vernon-Roe was a BTCC front-runner in the early 1990s, n The faithful 1600cc engine is to shine again at the annual Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch this year. The event has run for the ISOOcc Zetec engine since 1993 although the Kent-engined cars did have their own event up to 1996 when Mark Marchant was the victor.

However, this season a two heatsand-a-final format will be adopted for the King of Kents. The traditional FF1600 class is still very popular in the UK with regional series and a popular championship for Pre-1972 cars.

- QUENTIN SPURRING/ DAVID ADDISON 15

Phoenix still alive?

No show in Brazil but there’s still a faint heartbeat

ALTHOUGH it seems as though the idea of there being a 12th Formula 1 team, created using some of the assets of Prost Grand Prix, is fundamentally flawed, there continues to be rumours in the FI paddock that Phoenix Finance Ltd,the company behind the idea, has not yet given up despite strong messages from the teams and from the FIA that the bid not welcome.

The question is, what can Phoenix Finance Ltd do about it? The operation is not a signatory of the ■*Concorde Agreement and therefore the dispute cannot be solved in arbitration at the International ■ Chamber of Commerce.

The FIA says that Phoenix Finances does not have an entry in the Formula 1 World Championship

so it is hard to see how a case can be taken to the FIA International Court of Appeal as this course of action is only really open to entrants in FIA championships. It is possible that a complaint could be made to Britain's Motor Sport Association, but it not thought to be very likely to succeed.

That leaves the only real option to be a civil law suit, and there is a long-established principle that the FIA is allowed to make decisions without interference from the civil courts. Several precedents exist and the recent confirmation that the European Commission is happy with the FIA's rules and structure would add to the strength of the Federation.

There is a small chance that a civil court might consider the commercial

implications of an FIA decision and rule on that, but this is a long shot and is likely to take many months to get a ruling and deal with any appeals. There was a case along these lines in the 1980s and it resulted in a couple of years of legal action.

The only easy way to solve the problem therefore is for the Phoenix Finance principals to get all the FI team bosses to agree to allow the 12th team to compete. This is not likely to happen.

And even if everything fell Into place and the team was allowed to compete there would still be questions of the legality of the cars not to mention their performance.

To get through all these hurdles would be a major achievement.

-JOE SAWARD

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THE British Touring Car Championship kicked off last weekend with a heavily revised system of weight penalties.

Rather than the previous system, where cars that performed well in races had weight added to them, cars will now be eligible to have weight taken out if they do not get results. All cars started the opening race of the season at Brands Hatch with 1174kg minimum weight, and the top four finishers from race one were due to gain 42, 40, 18 and 9kg respectively.

But cars which finished sixth or below lost weight in increments of 9, 15, 21 and 24 kg, meaning that there could be a swing of as rnuch as_66kg between cars, depending on their results

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The weight penalties and bonuses will be made on the spot, taking effect as soon as the second race in the two-race format.

HONDA'S new Civic BTC Touring Car will run a full season in the British Touring Car Championship.

Andy Priaulx and Alan Morrison will drive the neat four-cylinder cars, Priaulx seen here shaking down his mount at Brands Hatch during the week.

Priaulx and Morrison qualified seventh and 10th respectively for the opening round, with the Vauxhalls of Yvan Muller and Matt Neal on the front row for both races. Full report next issue.

Braz

Aussies strugg

YOU did not have to be a Brazilian to feature in the opening round of the 2002 International Formula 3000 Championship - but it sure helped if you were.

The locals went 1-2-3-4 in the race, with Rodrigo Sperafico scoring his first Formula 3000 victory and leading Mario Haheifeld, Red Bull’s Ricardo Mauricio and Petrohras driver Antonio Pizzonia to an historic finish. Arden Racing’s Bjorn Wirdheim took fifth in a stirring drive after stalling on the grid, while Enrico Toccacelo took sixth for the Coloni team.

But the race should have been won hy the other Arden Racing entry. Tomas Enge was the class of the field, driving past pole man Sehastien Bourdais on the first lap and motoring off from the pack at a startling rate until he was 14s clear. But the Czech suffered a rare fuel pump failure, and Enge was left to rue 10 lost points.

Even a late-race Safety Car, sent out for Zsolt Bdumgartner’s stalled car, failed to halt the momentum of Sperafico, who won by 0.7s.

“It’s unbelievable,” Sperafico said of the historic 1-2-3-4. “I am so happy for the Brazilian drivers and the Brazilian people.”

By lap 7, Bourdais was also pitbound, a flat tyre leaving his Super Nova team to take home pride for fastest lap of the race, but not much else.

The race was a tough introduction to F3000 for Aussies Ryan Briscoe and Rob Nguyen.

After qualifying 11th and 12th respectively, the two settled mmpack until Briscoe tangled with his Nordic Racing team-mate, Baumgartner. While trying to recover, the Hungarian stalled on the track, prompting the late-race Safety Car. Briscoe and Nguyen finished off the race with a battle between themselves and Bourdais and Nicolas Kiesa (PSM Racing Line) to come home in 12th and 13th respectively.

It was a strong effort from Nguyen in particular. The rookie battled on in an ill-fitting seat in his Astromega car, and was losing feeling in his legs as the race progessed. He was taken to hospital for treatment following the race but, despite this, he motorsport news

II times four I

I

1e as locals dominate Formula 3mi.opener

NEWS n The FIA World Council has tidied up a few of the less clear rules relating to Formula 1 in an effort to avoid potentially embarrassing and difficult situations in the future. Any car which is left behind when the field departs for its final parade lap will in future be pushed off the grid and into the pitlane after 30 seconds. Up until now the teams have been able to continue to work on the cars until the last minute and there have often been clashes with marshals over when a car must be pushed away. n The FIA has clarified the situation regarding the granting of numbers for each FI season, following the confusion in December last year. The convention has, for some years, been that the teams are given the numbers corresponding to the teams'finishing positions in the previous year's World Championship. The only difference being if the World Champion moves in which case the numbers 1 and 2 go to the team to which he has signed.

Although it is not detailed in the new rule the convention has been that if the World Champion retires the team for which he drove will use the numbers 0 and 2.

Brother, can you Sperafico?

Rodrigo scored the first win in the International Formula Sperafico Championship when he led a Brazilian 1-2-3-4 at Interlagos.

j

:|VyVV , n it i:,-

Battling on: Rob Nguyen, right, made a good debut, bravely battling an ill-fitting seat to finish 12th in his first race outside Europe.

Urn ... can I have a Coke now?

Ryan Briscoe, below, also made a good impression first-up ... before his team-mate clanged ihlb him late in the race.

(Photos by Sutton-lmages) i ll

Risuns Biaiil fSOQOw maroli30 2002.

35 laps/153.5kms

passed Kiesa for position on the final lap of the race.

Sperafico was a dehghted winner.

“Of course I gave all my effort but I had luck because Tomas Enge and Sebastien Bourdais had problems. I was in the right place at the right time, and I took the win.

“The rest of the year will not be so easy, and we are going to have to 3 April 2002

work very hard because the luck will not always be on om- side.”

The other two Speraficos were less fortunate. Ricardo, the winner’s brother, finished seventh in the Petrobas car after having set up problems, while their cousin Alex dropped through the field with engine problems before a clash with Briscoe bent his steering.

1 Rodrigo Sperafico 2 Mario Haberfeld 3 Ricardo Mauricio 4 Antonio Pizzonia 5 Bjorn Wirdheim 6 Enrico Toccacelo

35 laps Durango Astromega + 0.7s Red Bull Junior+ 3.9 PetrobrasTeam +5.2 Arden + 5.4 Colon! + 6.1

12 Ryan Briscoe 13 Rob Nguyen

Nordic Racing +11.0 Astromega +11.3

Points: Rodrigo Sporafico 10, Mario Haberfeld 6, Ricardo Mauricio 4, Antonio Pizzonia 3, Bjorn Wirdheim 2, Enrico Toccacelo I.

n Michael Schumacher has been nominated for Sportsman of the Year in the Laureas Sports Awards. The other nominees are cyclist Lance Armstrong, athlete Maurice Greene, swimmer Ian Thorpe and golfer Tiger Woods. Ferrari has been nominated in the World Team of the Year category while Juan Pablo Montoya is nominated as Best Newcomer of the Year. n The Lucky Strike BAR Honda team has announced its latest publicity idea, linking its Formula 1 involvement with the rather more refined and sedate world of art. A travelling exhibition, called Tribe Art, includes work not only by Londonbased artist Julian Opie but also by members of the BAR team. O'jbie is best known for his work related to the theme of movement The exhibition will also include photographs by the team's gearbox mechanic Chico Corradini, who specialises in vivid representations of the scenery around racing circuits. The team's chief mechanic Alastair Gibson has made a name for himself creating statues of sharks made frorn the parts of cars.

H Rubens Barrichello finally had his first taste of the Ferrari F2002 last week. The Brazilian had a steer of the new car in testing before the team jetted a new model for Michael Schumacher, who raced it to victory at Interlagos. n And don't believe any reports that Rubinho will be racing a 2000model Ferrari this season. A Ferrari press release claiming just that was issued ... on April 1.

-JOE SAWARD

«

British Formula 3

I

"- ^ 1^-

1

I^BeSPITE grabbing pdleposifJS&fojoj^oth ra^ in last weekend’s British F3 opener at Brands Hatch,James Courtney Was beaten into second place by Docking Motorsport’s Robbie Kerr in the opening race.

The second race was due to take place on Easter Monday UK time,as MN closed for press.

The race Was lost at the start, when Kerr made the better of it to lead. Courtney pressed

r

hard but on lap slid wide at Sterlings and lost nine seconds to the leader.

The pair had been well clear of the rest of the field and Courtney resumed,still in second, but was unable to bridge the gap.

Tm a bit disappointed,” said the Jaguar FI test driver,“but Robbie made a great start.

That’s the way with F3- if you lose places at the start it’s very difficult to make them up.'

1

n CMMiHtfw sale

$165,

ono

Last drives In Adelaide 500 Contact Tomas Mezera

was on top of the world. dominating both qualifying sessions and setting myself up for a dream start to the 2002 season.

Today I am left kicking myself after fluffing the start just a fraction (#63 from the "Drivers Excuses Book") but that was just enough to let Robbie Kerr, who started second, beat me into the first corner. And that, effectively. was where we finished.

I had a go at getting through a few laps from the end but lost downforce in a high-speed corner from being so close behind (thats #142 from the same book) and slid off the track, but still recovered to finish second. My car was great all through the race and I set the fastest lap towards the end, almost equalling my pole time - so no excuses there.

So am I happy to start of the season so well? Am I Hell I Second means absolutely nothing to me. Other drivers may be satisfied with that sort of result, but 1 don't see it that way at all.

My job is to win races and championships - simple. And if I don't do that, then I am not doing my job well enough.

No-one is harder on me than myself but there is no use in getting upset about it. I learn and I learn fast, so I won't be making

JAMES with JAMES COURTNEY

that mistake again.

My team, Carlin Motorsport, is the best F3 team in the world.

Their professionalism and attention to detail is better than any other I have seen outside of FI. They gave me a car that was capable of getting both pole positions and both race wins. But I let them down and, just as ' importantly, I let myself down.

Tomorrow (after MN closes for press) is the second race of the weekend and I sure as hell won't be making that same mistake again and fully intend to come away from Brands Hatch with the championship lead.

Id am

18

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Roberts n Win or bust, says former champ

Even more joy for Troy NO wonder Troy Bayliss was in such a dominant mood at the second round of the World Superbike Championship.

Before practice, the World Champion received his International MotorSportsman of

the Year Award from MN'Editor Phil Branagan, above.

Bayliss is the second twowheel racer to receive such an honour after five-time world champ Mick Doohan received a special award last year.

THE first World Championship for the new WlotoGP class may not be the Valentino Rossi cakewalk many were expecting if pre-season testing is any indication.

While Yannaha's and Suzuki’s new four-strokes may strtiggle against the new Honda V5, the indications are that Honda's NSR500 may have a kick left in it, with Daijiro Katoh's Fortuna bike topping the sheets at the latest test of the pre-season at Suzuka.

While Rossi struggled with set-up, Katoh snipped 0.33s off Loris Capirossi's 2001 pole time aboard his Fortuna bike.

"I'm very satisfied," Katoh, above, said, "my team did a good job and we concentrated on settling suspension and tyres. I couldn't have gone faster."

20

On the same day, Rossi was 0.13s slower, struggling for grip on the powerful four-stroke.

"I am very fast in a straight line," reported the World Champion, "but it's hard to pick up traction coming out of the corners. The tyres slide a bit too much, but we will have it all sorted very soon."

Earlier in March, another NSR500 rider challenged Rossi, this time Capirossi, who got within 0.2s of the flying 'five' at Catalunya.

The series kicks off this weekend at a track where Katoh has won four times on 250s, The last time a reigning 250 world champion stepped up to a 500 at Suzuka was in 1998, when Yamaha's Max Biaggi beat then-world champion Mick Doohan - on Honda’s home track ...

KENNY Roberts has delivered an ultimatum to his Suzuki team; win or I am outta here.

The former world SOOcc champion has said that if he does not have a competitive 2002 season, he will not be aboard a Suzuki next year.

“If I have to get on a more competitive bike in 2003, that is what I’ll do,” the American said.

“I want to be back winning races and challenging for titles and you can only do that if you are riding a competitive bike. I will have to look at whatever options are available.”

Suzuki’s new V4 four-stroke has been blown away by Honda’s V5 in pre-season testing, the 28-year-old American saying that the power of the bike is well behind what he sees as necessary for being competitive.

“It is too early in omdevelopment to know when we will be competitive,” said Roberts.

“But I have faith in Suzuki to get it right. At the end of the day, everybody agreed to the rule changes for the new four-stroke series so it is up to Suzuki to build a competitive bike on which I can win races.

“I also want it to comer faster and accelerate better, but I’m pretty happy with the throttle connection at the moment.”

“I struggle at the entry to a corner. The bike just doesn’t seem settled.

“But it is so early in the project that we are still finding out some fundamental problems. It is difficult for me to predict when I might be competitive and challenging the Honda at the front.”

motorsport news

BIKES

ipeat Charlie checks out rallying

IT seems that Valentino Rossi is not the only twowheel racer with a yen for rallying.

Carlos Checa took to the second seat in Frangois Delecour's Mitsubishi Lancer to 'navigate' the Frenchman during shakedown for the Rallye Catalunya last week.

Despite having no pacenotes, the Yamaha ace was impressed during his 15 minute ride of a lifetime.

"Next time I'd like to be in the driving seat!" he said. "It was great though, Delecour drives so fast and everything happens so quickly that it's' very difficult to work out what's going. It seems like you can't even see the corner before you're already in and out of it!"

Aaron Gobert goes home

n Pascal Picotte has lost his Ducati ride with HMC Racing in the AMA Superbike Championship. "We have every respect for Pascal and his riding talent," team owner Mitch Hansen said. "We wish Pascal all the success for the future and we wanted to cease the union early enough for Pascal to find another, more appropriate, ride to finish the rest of the season." He will be replaced by American veteran Doug Chandler, whose engine builder Gary Medley has also joined the team.

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n Too late for the previous issue of MN came the news that Kirk McCarthy won the Daytona Pro Thunder race. The former Australian Superbike star beat the Buells of Mike Ciccotto and Michael Barnes by almost 12s.

Green Dream Kawasaki previews its GP racer THIS is what Kawasaki’s new IVlototJP contender may look like when it hits the racetrack later this season.

A prototype I'oi- IIr. machine ha.s l)een testiiiff-it MepaiiK in Malaysia and, reportedly, at I’billip Island, hut the hike is still in the early stages of development.

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AUSSIE Aaron Gobert, who was seriously injured in a crash during the Daytona Supersport race at Daytona on March 8, has returned to his California base. Gobert suffered serious injuries in the crash, including collapsed lungs, broken ribs, a broken right leg, broken right ankle, broken right collarbone and shoulder blade. Gobert is hopeful of racing again in May.

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3 April 2002

21

California 400

More

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of the

by PHIL MORRIS

I IRL’s poster boy Hornish Jr takes close one at California

N its first visit to California Speedway,the Indy Racing League’s Yamaha Indy 400 ended just as closely as it had started.

Sam Homish Jr again showed himself to be the class of the field, his Dallara/Chevrolet outpointing the similar Team Menard car of Jaques Lazier by just 0.0281s in a final shootout to take the win, the second-closest in League history.

The Pennzoil Panther driver

A bit Lite on: Jimmy Vasser and Team Rahal struggled somewhat to come to grips with their IRL-spec Dallara/Chevrolet at California.

(Photo hy Sulton-Imuficil

f..’<1^

Rahal's IRL debut

IN preparation for its assault on the Indy 500, Team Rahal took its Miller Lite Dallara/Chevrolet to the Yamaha Indy 400 at California as a shake-down race before the May classic.

While struggling with a down-on-power Menard-built Chev V8 powerplant, Vasser, right with team owner Bobby Rahal, finished ninth in his third-ever IRL appearance. The American has raced in the Indy 500 for Chip Ganassi twice in the IRL-era.

"It was definitely worth the trip out here to California for our team," said Vasser.

"We came to learn, and that's what we did.

Hey, we're loading the car back on the truck in one piece. We learned about some areas that we are quite deficient. I don't want to go into that here, but it is better to learn that situation here than at Indy. It was definitely a successful fact22

finding tour for us. We gave it all we had today.

There wasn't a lot of attrition at the front, and that made it tough. Now we'll go to Indy in another week and see if we can learn a bit more.

Overall, I'm pleased with our team's professional approach to the weekend."

The team will be back to Champ Car duties on April 12-14 at Long Beach.

took the lead on lap 199 of 200 but Lazier was equal to the task aAd nosed back in front in turn two of the final lap, the cars touching wheels at 220mph!

Eventually the Champion made a final high move through turns three and four and managed to escape with his second win of the season.

“It was real close,” said Hornish Jr, who ran most of the race without a radio and subsequently only picked up the calls from his ’ spotter Pancho Carter(1985 Indy 500 pole-sitter) during the second half of the race and while slowing on pit road.

“Jaques gave me a heck of a run.

I got by him on the next-to-the last lap, but I went into the corner and pushed it in there too far, and it started pushing.

“I was like,‘Oh, here we go, that’s the end of it.’ But 1 had it in the right gear, and I got down and got a good run on him.”

The dice for the lead in the race’s closing stages had been a threeway tussle. Eddie Cheever had started from pole (the first ever for a Nissan Infiniti-powered driver) and been in the thick of the fray with Hornish Jr and Lazier, only to suffer engine failure just nine laps from the end.

He had come out of the final pit stops behind Marlboro Team Penske’s Gil de Ferran, and quickly passed the Brazilian, who had only added fuel and not changed tyres during the caution period from laps 165 to 173 in order to get track position, which was brought about

by Hideki Noda.

The Japanese rookie hit Cheever’s team-mate Tomas Scheckter from behind, putting them both into the wall and out of the race, though both were unhurt.

“I had Jaques, and then I didn’t, and then I did,” said Cheever.

“We kept going back and forth.

Hornish wasn’t even in contention because he was in our dirty air. I moiorsport news

INDY RACING LEAGUE Gidley gets a one-off gallop

Taking it to the line: Hornish Jr held out Jaques Lazier, left, to get the win, while HidekI Noda, above,‘canoed’ his machine after crashing into Tomas Scheckter, below, during the fast-paced 400-miler.

(Photos by Sutton-lmages)

think I could have run Jaques down.

It’s all a question of being in the right position. We were playing with each other.

Rookie Laurent Redon took the third spot on the podium, the Frenchman’s best result in the IRL, holding out the Penske duo of de Ferran and Phoenix winner Helio Castroneves, who both had to work their way through the field from lowly grid positions - 13th and 16th respectively.

It was fun out there today, offered Indy 500 Champion Castroneves.

‘There was a lot of close racing.

We had some trouble on our second pit stop, which put us down a lap.

We worked hard for the rest of the race to catch up to the leaders, and I was able to get back on the lead

lap.

“I tried my best to get to the front, but unfortunately, we just didn’t have the speed to win the race.”

Felipe Giaffone, Buddy Lazier (who had to start from the back of the field in a back-up car after a 3 April 2002

warm-up practice shunt), Scott Sharp, Jimmy Vasser and Jeff Ward rounded out the top 10.

Vasser was having his first IRL race since the Indy 500 last year, marking Team Rahal’s first involvement in the all-oval series as it prepares itselffor its first ‘500 campaign since 1995 (see breakout), while Ward - again in the unbacked Chip Ganassi Racing G Force/Chevrolet- cut a tyre early and was the final car on the lead lap.

Lazier actually - had to run in a 4001-model Dallara, which doesn’t have the new aerodynamics update kit as the 2002-spec machine does.

As an indication of the sheer speed and closeness of the 400miler, the event posted a new IRL record for average speed (179.345mph) and lead changes (39), with the finish the secondclosest ever. Add to that the fact that there was only five retirements in the 27-car field for the entire 400-miles, and it’s a recipe which all bodes well for the Indy 500 in May. But before teams can race at the

MEMO Gidley ended up with his first Indycar drive of the season after Robbie Buhl crashed the Team Purex G Force/Nissan on his second lap of qualifying.

Buhl had posted the fastest speed to that point of the qualifying queue on his first lap, but lost control and crashed hard. The American was concussed and not cleared to race, prompting the Dreyer & Reinbold team to draft Gidley in for the race.

Gidley, who lives just down the road from California Speedway in San Rafael, started from the back of the field in the team's back-up car and got the team some points by finishing 21st.

"It's tough to hop into a car in even a perfect situation and even tougher to adapt during the race," said the 'Super-sub'.

"We didn't have many laps in the car, but we moved up six spots on the grid and took the chequered flag, which was important for the team.

"We worked on making the car better and were just hampered by radio communications early on." n Another driver missing due to injury was Anthony Lazzaro, who was replaced by Richie Hearn in the Sam Schmidt Motorsports machine.

Hearn ended up two laps down in 14th place, while Lazzaro will be out of the cockpit for another month after injuring his spine in a crash at Phoenix a week prior.

The American hopes to be back in the car in time to start Rookie Orientation Practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in April. n While he desperately wants to do the Indy 500/Charlotte 600 double again this year, John Andretti's^boss won't let him.

Kyle Petty, CEO of Andretti's Petty Enterprises Winston Cup team, wants Andretti to focus on NASCAR, rather than attempt the double-race effort that he pulled off in 1994.

"I 100 percent want to do it, so I asked and then |. listened for a while," said Andretti, who is hopeful Petty might change his mind.

"He kind of made his thoughts known and I believe he thinks the conversation is over. I kind of think it might still be hanging a little bit."

Brickyard, they get to visit another foi-mer CART track at Nazai-eth, where the Firestone Indy 225 will be run on April 21.

Points: Homish Jr 141, Castroneves 115, de Feran 112, J. Lazier 80, Salazar 77, Redon 66, Giaffone 65, Ward 64, Unser Jr/B. Lazier 60.

n Dropped by Kelley Racing on the eve of the 2002 season, 1999 IRL champion Greg Ray was at California, continuing his search for a seat in this year's series.

"There have been opportunities to be in a race car at every track this season," he said, confirming that he would run the Indy 500 and would like to do both Texas races, Chicagoland and Michigan.

23

Sportscar News Coronel goes home to Holland TOM Coronel has switched back to the Racing for Holland squad for Le Mans in June after a year racing Stefan Johansson's Gulf-backed Audi.

The Dutchman will race for the Jan Lammers-run Dome squad with the team owner and Val Hillebrand.

staying German

Audi confirm all German combo as Le Mans entries released

by GARY WATKINS

AUDI Sport, chasing a third consecutive Le Mans victory in 2002, has confirmed its driver ■ Out of favour in Champ Cars, line-up for the three-pronged Frenchman Nicolas Minassian has attack with the R8 which will landed a Le Mans 2002 drive in the once again by operated by the Team ORECA Dallara-Judd. The 29Joest Racing Team. year-old had tested for Courage, The lead Audi R8 will be shared though will join Olivier Beretta, by reigning Le Mans champions, Franck Montagny and Stephane “■ Frank Biela, Tom Kristensen and Sarrazin in an all-French crew.

Emanuele Pirro. Also confirmed is Minassian also looks like the winning combination from competing in the UK-based ASCAR, Sebring in the form of Johnny series this year. nmHut' Herbert, Rinaldo Capello and Christian Pescatori.

■ Marino Franchitti, who is trying The third entry has an aU-German to carve a name as a Sportscar driver, squad with Michael Krumm is to make his Prototype debut. The Going for the three-peat: Audi vvill have a three-pronged attack in a bid partnered by Le Mans rookies, brother of Champ Car star Dario will (Photo by Sutton-lmages) for its third successive Le Mans 24 Hour victory.

Phihpp Peter and Marco Werner. race a Risi/Rand Lola-Nissan B2K/40 GTS contender endured a MG will run two of its promising outright Prototypes and the GTP in next month’s Phoenix Grand-Arb Lola-built EX257 prototypes in this disastrous debut at the Sebring 12 class (but capable of outright race following a back injury sustained ‘ year’s Le Mans 24 Hours, despite results) Bentley EXP Speed 8.

Hours. The car was completed in by regular driver Anthony Lazarro.

Audi will run three works R8s, only being granted one spot when the paddock prior to the race and Riley & Scott will field a Mklll-C the entry list was published late managed fewer than 20 laps in ■ Courage have firmed up plans last month. chassis with Jim Matthews’s team, practice and qualifying. to build a LMP675 chassis. The Le Another omission is the second and Team Goh will enter a 2001The British car maker, whose Mans-based constructqr has spec Audi R8. effort will again be run by the Judd-powered KZR-1 protot3rpe recruited former Frost GP engineer Cadillac have two of their new \ Chamberlain Motor Sport team, from the British Ascari marque, Michael Tessier to head up the LMP02s, just as Panoz have was disappointed to find that only which Ruled even to gain a spot design the team. one of its LMP675 contenders had entered two of their LMP-1 among the reserves.

Roadsters, while Team ORECA will been accepted for the race. The The new Anglo-Japanese YGK ■ A paltry field took part in round enter two Dallara-Judds.

Co team has also been snubbed by second factory car was listed as first three of the Grand-Am Sports Car Le Mans. Former Le Mans winner reserve and this was awarded a firm Other Prototypes include two Series at California Speedway in Courages (one works, the other John Nielsen’s RN Motorsport place on the grid when the first support of the recent IRL race. The Pescarolo Sports’s), the Panoz failed to get an entry for either his withdrawal was annoimced just Daytona 24-Hour winning LMP07-Mugen and the AscariYGK prototype being designed or days after the pubhcation of the list.

Dallara/Judd of Didier Theys and Judd, while the MG team are the new Reynard 2S-P675 that he The Rafanelli Ferrari squad also entered.

Fredy Lienhard Jr made it three wins favourites in the ‘baby’ Prototype pulled out of the June event early 675 class. from three starts for the Doran/Lista last week after its 550 Maranello Heading the entry list is 18 outfit.

The Dyson Racing Crawford-Judd of Chris Dyson and James Weaver was the only other outright Prototype entered, running second in the 400SPORTSCAR star mile race.

Stefan Johansson has placed his ■ British sportscar manufacturer team on ice for the MG wants to build a car for a new season after failing lightweight division due to be to win an entry for introduced into the FIA GT the Le Mans 24 Championship next year.

Hours.

Rover's sporting arm is considering The ex-Formula 1 producing a racing version of the new and CART racer had re-worked MGF, the TF. The intention planned to enter a is that it would compete in a new 2001-specification subcategory for lighter cars within the Audi R8 in the Motorsport, which is masterminding Honda's existing N-GT division.

French endurance classic and then a selected return to the British Touring Car Championship The new category would be for this season. programme of American Le Mans Series events. less-powerful cars built to a Johansson, whose 2000 Audi ran in Gulf Johansson stressed that this was not the end for minimum weight of 750kg rather colours in last year's 24 Hours, above, is now a team that started out in Indy Lights back in 1997 than the 1100kg limit set for the likes focussing his efforts on the 2003 season. of Porsche's 911 GT3-RS and the and switched to Sportscars two seasons ago.

The Audi would almost certainly have been run Ferrari 360 Modena.

"We are purely taking a sabbatical," he said.

by David Price Racing in place of Arena - GARY WATKINS - GARY WATKINS

U

moiorsport news

OPINION

Smoke and Mirrors

Y

OU'LL no doubt have heard by now that the FIA has announced plans to restrict each FI team to one engine per car, per Grand Prix, starting from 2004.

The new rules, introduced ostensibly to reduce costs, were outlined in a press release issued just after the FIA World Council met in Paris on March 19. Starting with the 2004 Australian GP (assuming that Albert Park retains its place as the FI curtain-raiser), the engine that Michael, Kimi, and Mark use for the first Friday practice session will be the same engine that sees them across the finish line on Sunday. Any engine change will cost the driver 10 spots on the grid.

The concept of an 'engine change' will be defined in such a way that will preclude teams from circumventing the rule by rebuilding powerplants at the circuit. Oh, and by the way, use of the spare car counts as an engine change.

It was also stated that there would be no change to chassis regulations in 2003 or 2004, but given that Maj^Mosley had previously promised that engine regulations would remain stable until 2007, this should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt.

I have to say that I'm having little trouble keeping my pxcitement over these new rules under control. For one thing, as far as cost-cutting measureago, it hardly seems to be the most logical option.

Worse though is that like many comparable measures such as the reintroduction of refueling, it serves as an artificial way to make the racing more palatable to the average armchair viewer. It takes one further step away from being 'sport', and one step closer to being 'spectacle'. In short, it cheapens what is supposed to be the premier racing category on the planet.

Depending on circumstances, the average FI driver would utilise anything up to six different engines in the course of a threeday GP weekend. At present, a good engine deal is believed to be worth something in the order of $200m per season. No doubt, reducing the number of engines used in a year would significantly reduce this.

But only two teams - Sauber and Arrows - are actually paying for their engines this year. Aside from the obvious impact that the new rules would have when teams are negotiating their factory engine deals, it's hard to see how the savings are going to be spread equally through the field.

Also, at the moment, engines are designed to last just slightly longer than a Grand Prix distance.

The new rules would require fairly serious redesign work by the engine makers to build engines that can live up to three times as

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long. What will that cost? Who knows.

And what's the story with making drivers pay in terms of track position for the shortcomings of their equipment?

To quote the infamous 'Chewbacca defence'from South Part It doesn't make sense.

Putting on hat, my 'conspiracy theorist' what would happen if somebody who qualified near the back of the field blew an engine sometime between qualifying and the race?

If they're already on PIS', another few spots isn't going to make a huge difference. Plus, unlike everyone else, they would only need an engine that was good for just over 300km. Which would probably be lighter. And, it follows, quicker. Just a thought.

The move has wide support among the team bosses. Paul Stoddart, whose deal with Asiatech ends this year, went so far as to say that the rules should have been introduced for 2003 rather than 2004, while Eddie Jordan commented that "This is a good start, anything which makes the show more exciting, whilst containing costs, can only be seen as an advantage for Formula One. All these measures will make the Grand Prix better for fans."

The new rules would require fairly serious redesign work by the engine makers to build engines that can live up to three times as tong. What wM that cost? Who knows

Motor Mouth Harit eiBBdBiiBlig Williams and McLaren don't share Eddie's enthusiasm.

Patrick Plead said in Malaysia that if BMW came to him with one engine that had 'x hundred' horsepower and a 500km life, and another with 'x minus 50' hp engine with 750km in it, Williams would opt for power every time, at the expense of track time on Friday. Which means more money spent by the teams during simulations in the factory to compensate, and fans treated to the 'spectacle' of Grand Prix cars avoiding being on track any more than they absolutely need to.

Wow. Hold me back.

If the FIA really wants to reduce costs, then put some sort of cap on testing. If they want to improve the spectacle, bring back slicks and reduce the efficiency of the aerodynamics.

I have been an FI fan a lot longer than I have been an FI journalist, but Grand Prix racing, 2004-style, must be able to be planned better than this.

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Graffiti, hea \nd thejoys n

When you are in Sao Paulo, the Idea that hi 14 days you will turn up In imola is somehow a comforting thought.

There is always something wonderfully Spring-like about the trip to the San Marino GP"

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hen the day finally comes that it is time to stop being a Formula 1 reporter lor when I get thrown out of the paddock), I think that I will make my fortune by going to Brazil and setting up a business selling cans of spray paint.

The most striking thing about Sao Paulo these days is the amount of graffiti that exists on the walls of buildings - almost all of them (except in neighbourhoods were they shoot you if you approach a nice clean wall), The most impressive thing about these huge doodles is that they appear in the most improbable places - three storeys off the ground, for example.

Spray paint must be a multimillion dollar business.

The graffiti gives the town a rather shoddy appearance and, of course, the shanty towns do not help matters. Over the years, things have improved but the process of making Sao Paulo a nice place seems to be a never-ending task. It

Brazilians do on holiday (increasing the population, and so on). All the robbers and kidnappers, feeling that their window of opportunity for maximising the profits from crime were somewhat less than optimised, decided that it was'a good moment to go home and be nice to their mothers and give chocolate bunnies to the kids next door.

Sao Paulo was like a ghost town but because there were no cars, one could jump into a taxi and be at one's destination on time without having had to sit in a traffic jam for three hours and 20 minutes. The smog rolled away and the skies turned blue. And it was almost lovely.

The Brazilians, aware that the Grand Prix does not have the best possible reputation, decided it was time for a new promoter to take over the race and it was obvious that a lot of effort had gone into doing a better job than in previous years. The big sign on the top of the

HmzilUin aces: While l1>a\’iiiyCu>iiMuiiid fivl to grips mih . weekend hmiiii pie). 2f> years a,go loeai hero Carhs Ptieemtl'Mialiliam owner liernie luTlesione played f{olf willi... ye.s', dial is lUiriy'l^erkiits pniilnp...

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motorcDori news

FORMULA ONE

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something about which Brazilians should be proud and, once two little men had been sent up onto the roof on Thursday to correct the spelling of the name, everything seemed to be fine and dandy at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace.

The passage of time fades even the brightest FI stars and it is sad to report that no-one seemed to notice the 25th anniversary of Pace's death occurred just a few days before the FI circus rolled into Sao Paulo. Pace, who was driving for Bernie Ecclestone's Brabham team at the time, was killed in a plane crash on March 18 1977. .

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oming into Sao .Paulo's Guarulhos International Airport in thick fog on Thursday morning reminded one of such things. The gung-ho Varig pilots went in anyway, but the British Airways ch/aps decided that it was probably a better idea to fly somewhere else, while Lufthansa did not wish to be accused of cowardice and landed heavily, demolishing some of the glass finery that the

stewards and stewardesses had not properly secured. So even before the race meeting began, there was plenty to talk about...

Down in the paddock at Interlagos, the chattering classes were getting excited about the number of wheel rims that Ferrari is allowed to use. There were a surprisingly large number of piles of tyres clothed in Ferrari red dotted around the paddock behind which one could do one's gossiping, escaping now and then to the air-conditioned coolness of the Media Office as this year the temperatures in Sao Paulo were higher than they were a fortnight earlier in Malaysia.

But, even for those who like the place, when you are in Sao Paulo, the idea that in 14 days you will turn up in Imola is somehow a comforting thought. There is always something wonderfully Spring-like about the trip to the San Marino GP. The early-season 'fly¬

away' races never really feel like 'proper' FI races. At Imola, the paddock unfolds and the travelling village in which we live takes shape for another year.

In the minds of the world, Imola may be famous only for the death of Ayrton Senna and there is no doubt that every year the mind does flicker back a few years to the events of that miserable weekend.

But in many ways, Imola has got over it all.

Each race track has it own character and its own peculiar (or perhaps particular is a better word) atmosphere and Imola remains a place where the joy of going motor racing is always bubbling away just beneath the surface. It is a pleasure to be there and one always feels that this is the start of the Spring.

The Box Seat wltb Joe Sfwirii “The other day, I was reading the official history of the Imola circuit and learned that this passion is not new. Back in 80 BC, when Imola was known as Forum Cornelii, it had an amphitheatre in which two-horse chariot racing was a big draw on Friday nights (unless there was a good crucifixion to keep the folks happy).

"A passion for speed must be in the blood of Imola people since ancient times," the story said.

Apparently there were no red chariots but in modern times, the passion for racing has been concentrated on the efforts of Ferrari.

A winter of tawdry FI politics and dealing with some of the scummier individuals that inhabit the darker corners of the FI paddock can sap the enthusiasm of even the craziest race fan. But a splash-and-dash of racing fever at Imola each Spring provides the fuel one needs to power one through most of the European season.

Five Minutes With l

Rob Nguyen

WithJust a career tetal elJust 13races uuUer his heit, Brishaue-horu Boh Nguyen has iauded a drive in iuternatiouaiF30BB with Team Astromega.

MABK GLENBENNiNG caught ug with Nguyen ahead oi his series dehutin Brazii.

MOTORSPORT NEWS:You’re about to embark upon your first year of F3000, yet hardly anyone in Australia seems to have heard much about you.

Can you tell us about your background and how you got into racing?

ROB NGUYEN:1 only started sitting in a race car just over a year ago. My parents are of Vietnamese origin. I was bom and bred in Brisbane. Since I was very little I was a big fan of motor racing, staying up half the night watching FI races being broadcasted from Europe. Motor racing is strongly planted in my n heart; during my teenage years I would spend whatever savings I had tearing up the local kart track, and my biggest thrill was being able to race against the mechanics.

Unfortunately I did not have the chance to start kart racing at a yoimg age. The hire karts would be more of a hobby thing for me, and I grew up like most other Brissie kids, studying to find a joh to make a living. I graduated from high school in 1997 and two years later moved to Switzerland to continue my studies.

MN:I understand that your introduction to racing came about through a Formula Vauxhall test arranged hy your parents as a reward for your good school results?

RN: Yes, I got top grades for my first year stud3dng business. It was actually a gift from my brother and sister.

It was a two-day test arranged with an Austrian team called Penker Racing. The team was surprised, notjust with my pace but also my technical knowledge,and no-one accepted that it was my first time in a race car.

The team invited me for a second test. This time there was a driver present who also did some Indy Car races in 1995. In tricky wet conditions I lapped very close to his times. The team showed huge interest and signed me to race for them in Formula Volkswagen in 2001 despite having no experience.

MN:Can you tell us something about the Formula Volkswagen 28

shot?’A test was arranged at the end of January with the new F3000 car.

Present at the test was the Mario Haberfield, who is in his fourth season, and who was also Mark Webber’s team mate last season.

A new car and new circuit for me, but I lapped only 0.7s behind him. The team was pleasantly astonished with my speed with no mistakes, and the feedbacks gave on the new car. One week later they chose me and I’m very happy to be working for Team Astromega. series and the specification of the cars?

RN: Formula Volkswagen was a very famous category in the past using Volkswagen Beetle parts to keep costs down. Drivers like Niki Lauda were once Formula Volkswagen champions.

The series was relaunched in 2001 to rival the Formula Renault series. The cars are something between a Formula Renault and a F3 car in terms of speed. It is fullywinged, giving good downforce, and is quite exciting to drive.

MN:How many races have you actually contested in your career?

RN:I did nine I’aces last season and another four pre-season practice races.

MN:For someone with no racing experience,coming fifth in the points must been a surprise.

RN: Yes. If you look at it before the season, no one would have expected fifth, especially if you look at the experienced field, some of them whom had raced in F3.

But during the pre-season testing I was very quickly on the pace. My first race I qualified fifth, in the third I got pole position, backed up by a third the following race. So during the season, expectations started to run high and I was aiming for fifth position, which in the end I got.

MN;How would you describe your driving style?

RN: Rather difficult to say, since I have not a lot of experience! My team says I have gi’eat car control.

I would describe myself as being

smooth and able to quickly find the limit. I particularly excel in tricky wet conditions.

MN:To jump into F3000 after just a year of racing seems like a huge step. How are you finding the transition, and how easy is it to come to terms with the car?

RN:Yes it’s a mega step; to my knowledge no-one has ever done this before. The first time I drove the F3000 was incredible, the performance is staggering. It was like watching a movie in fast forward and trying to understand everything at the same time.

For a machine with twice the horsepower, the transition has been quite good. I am progressing very well, getting used to the speed, and I have a good feeling for the car now.

How easy is it? It’s very tough but I like the challenge. Finding the last tenth of a second is never easy. My biggest obstacle now is track knowledge, as I have only raced on two ofthe 12 tracks in the cdendar.

MN:How did the Astromega deal come about?

RN:I was actually planning to do Formula Volkswagen for two years but as it went so well in my rookie year. Team Ghinzani in the Euro F3000 championship invited me for a rookie test.

The rookie test went extremely well as I lapped just 0.1s behind the team’s lap record at that circuit. From there everything went into another gear.

My managers thought,‘why not give International Formula 3000 a

MN:Are you happy with the way things are going in testing?

RN:I am quite satisfied with the winter testing. I have to give credit to the team for making me feel comfortable. It’s hard to say where we are in terms of real pace, as different teams test with different fuel loads and some teams use tyre warmers. We just have to wait until Brazil to see where we really are.

MN:Would it be fair to say that this is a Teaming year’for you?

RN: Before the Foimula Volkswagen championship I would have dreamt about finishing fifth. So I don’t think anyone would make any predictions at this early stage. I would wait until after the first couple of races before deciding what expectations I have for the rest of the season.

I accept that it’s my first year and I have a lot of experience to gain.

The challenge is like Mount Everest.

I’m not here to make up the numbers and wouldn’t be here if my supporter didn’t believe I can do it.

My aim in my first races is to finish - hopefully in the top 10.

Then some points finishes and later on in the season, some podiums or even challenge for wins.

MN:How long do you hope to spend in F3000? Do you have any longer-term plans?

RN: It’s simple, the target is Formula One. I hope not to spend more than two years in F3000.

Ideally at the end of the season, depending on my results, I would like to do some test drives for FI and have a test role next season alongside competing in F3000. motorsporl news

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Five Minutes With

Ray Boppett

Rttep 14 yeaps away Inom a direct motor sport involvemont, the respecteil Holden engineer Is bach, with a mpier role to play.

Just a tew weeks into his newjob, he spoke to CHRIS LAMBDBV MOTORSPORT NEWS:Your MN:It’s been 14 years since position is a new one,seen as you were directly involved in fitting in between (Director of motor sport on a day-to-day basis with Holden - what do Marketing)Ross MacKenzie and John Stevenson (Motor you see as the biggest changes, Sport Manager). Correct? both plus and minus, over that time?

RAY BORRETT: On the motor sport front, yes, but the job covers RB: It’s staggering to look at the V8 Supercar scene at the moment. more than just motor sport-the motor sport content of my job is AVESCO picked up this circus, if you like, and has taken it to about 10 percent...

The job carries the title of heights that I don’t think anybody Director of Performance Products appreciated it could go. When it and Racing - which has now been .first started I thought it would last abbreviated to ‘Director ofPun’ a couple of years or so ... who around the organisation ... which' wants to see just Ford and Holden isn’t a bad summary, really! competing?

Anything that’s to do with I thought that the BTCC, with all the different makes ofcars performance over and above the standard product is my competing, is what the public would have preferred, but the responsibility. So I can do what I want, drive anything I want, which Australian public really took to the X Ford/Holden thing in a big way. It’s is a nice bonus. just phenomenal. You’re talking more than $180 million a year MN:What is you brieffor the being spent between all the teams. motorsport content of your role?

It’s big business. That growth is RB: There’s a bit of a learning the biggest curve first up getting back into change. The motor sport- but I did start in IV level of motor sport when I was 15 years professionalism old, with Harry Firth ... in the sport has The motor racing element of the come up in business really drives the leaps and performance products. There’s an bounds. image out there that we can’t Compare 10 divorce ourselves from and we years ago with want to continue winning- there’s the sort ofinfrastructure HRT has no doubt about that! today - it’s mind-boggling.

It[motor sport] is a key part of On the downside, the level of Holden’s business and we will be politicking that is going on. There involved in motor sport for as long is so much money involved - and of as the business is here. course you still have the egos Everyone is passionate about itinvolved in the sport that have Peter Hannenberger goes to just always been there. about every race when he’s in the With so much money being country; there’s usually three or spent, people tend to look after four Board memnbers at each race their own interests. The business - because they want to be there ... needs to be managed in a very So we need to look at how we can professional way and, even since continue to win - even though it’s a I’ve come back into it in the past parity sport. We don’t see that Ford few weeks,there are questions need to win more than their share being asked about why things are of races. being done in a certain way. There I’ve had some discussions with are opportunities to improve it.

Howard [Marsdenl; he has some

has Board meetings and who knows what goes on there? You don’t see Bulletins or Board minutes, so I’m told -1 haven’t been in it that long - so I think there are operational elements that could be improved to keep everyone more informed.

We’ve been talking about getting a Technical Committee up and running again, so that any changes to the product go to the Technical n Committee, get argued back and forth, and then it goes to the Board for basically rubber-stamping.

If you can put some of those elements in place, it’ll make everybody’s life a little bit easier and stop a lot ofthe bitching and arguing that goes on.

One thing I want to do is, without diluting the HRT effort, work on equalising the performance of the Holden teamsbring the back teams up closer to the front ones. My understanding of what Ford is doing is spreading their money across all the teams, trying to lift the total standard. That’s a If good thing to do and will certainly -Hay Borrett enhance the competition for the spectators.

The public want to see competition, not onemake domination.

fairly aggressive improvement plans for Ford and they are a real threat to be reckoned with.

We might have won a lot of races, but we can’t sit still.

MN:Any changes you’d like to see in the way the category is run?

RB: Basic communication. TEGA

MN:There is a move away from the old slightly artificial, subjective ‘parity’to mechanical parity between Ford and Holden.A good thing?

RB:At the end of the day you are talking about entertainment and so the parity issue is real. The public want to see competition, not onemake domination. So when I say we want to win, maybe the margin needs to be a bit less.

It’s an interesting issue. We believe there are things that the Ford has that’s better than Holden.

There has been some attempts to create parity -1 think that needs to be elevated to a higher level, to make sure those things happen.

All you can do is make the cars geometrically equivalent- so the suspension pick-up points are all

the same, or cylinder heads (geometrically and dimensionally) are the same - the tuning of the cars is up to the teams. Some will be better at that than others.

That’s where it ought to be.

So the issues that are currentfront suspension, cylinder heads, aero packages - should all be dimensionally the same and then we go and fiddle and come up with what we get.

MN:Mail that we are getting from race fans right now suggests that they feel that parity is now an HRT/Holden/Ford issue. In a category where the mechanicals are so identical, how can one team be so consistently superior over other Holden teams as much as Ford? There’s a big gap there...

RB: There is a big gap there, but they’ve been doing this as a team for quite some time. What other teams have been doing it for as long? Larry’s maybe, and his cars are pretty close to the pace.

HRT’s infrastructure is pretty sound. They have good people, good organisation, and they obviously do their testing in a very professional way. The end result comes out of the cohesiveness of all those things - they all stick together and work well.

If you look at the other teams they either don’t do their development work as well, haven’t got the budgets, or they haven’t got the infrastructure - and it really does come down to those things.

MN:Can you see a team among the(Ford)opposition that can present a threat?

RB:You see the cars on the track they’ve obviously got the performance in a straight line.

Their engine performance is, I think, very good.

In Adelaide, under brakes, Craig [Lowndes] was climbing all over the cars, making huge gains. I just don’t think they’ve got it aU together yet.

There’s certainly the elements there to make it work. motorsport news

INTERVIEW vV.iil

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Ray Borrett.

Holden’s ‘Director of Fun’ gets to play with the Big Boys’ Toys now ...

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ICHAEL Schumacher is the number one driver at Ferrari - with good reason. We all know that. And so does Rubens Barrichello.

Any delusions that the diminutive Brazilian may have had about having equal status with the four-times-and-counting World Champion have, surely, been swept away by now. Look, its bad enough (good enough?)that Rubens had to move out of Shuey’s way at Austria last season. It’s enough that, when he arrived in Melbourne for the season-opening Grand Prix at Albert Park, Rubens could not answer questions about the performance of the team’s new F2002 chassis - because, up until then, he had never driven it.

But last weekend, when the Scuderia took two new 02s to Brazil for Michael to drive, while Barrichello had to ‘make do’ with the older(but still pretty handy) 32

01,that surely swept away any thoughts even his most ardent fan had about equal status. Michael is 1, Rubens is 2. Please return your trays to the upright position, and drive safely on u the way home.

Grand Prix teams almost always take, on the face of it, rr identical cars for their two drivers to race.

Logistics dictates that it is just too hard to have major differences in hardware for drivers. Yes, one may get first crack at a new wing or underbody, and there could be a gun ‘qualifying’engine for the Hero and a ‘race’ engine for Muggins, but that is usually as far as it goes.

But having different cars has happened before, most notably 20 years ago. But the circumstances were much, much different; it was

not the team number one who got the tried-and-proven package - he got the unproven ‘prototype’. And, in this instance, the team’s number one driver happened to be the current world champion ...

Twenty years ago. Nelson Piquet was on top of the world. He had secured the first of what turned out to be three titles aboard Brabham’s effective and tidy BT49, having overcome the determined but luckless Alan Jones and the mentally fragile Carlos Reutemann in their Williamses to take the 1981 crown. He would, surely, be hard to beat the following year.

But he was not. The Cosworth engine, reliable but venerable, was under siege from the newer and more powerful turbocharged

The writing was on the waii; it Brabham was to remain competitive, it had to go turbo

engines from Renault and Ferrari.

The writing was on the wall; if Brabham was to remain competitive, it had to go turbo.

The team had entered a partnership with BMW, which was developing a four-cylinder unit referred to as the M12/13 which was, remarkably, based on used iron blocks from the 2002 production car.

At the start of its development, it had a modest 557 horses but that figure would eventually double and, even, hit 1200hp and counting during qualifying.

Piquet had actually driven a Brabham-BMW muletta in practice for the 1981 British Grand Prix. But after securing the title in the final race of the season in Las Vegas, knew that he would have to endure a tough 1982 to win in ’83.

And,for a time, he was alone.

Team-mate Ricardo Patrese was not in a Brabham-BMW at the motorsporl news

1

FORMULA ONE Ferrari took different cars to Brazil for Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello; has that ever happened before?

PHIL BRANAGAN looks back 20 years to when Brabham did it all the time -so it could win the title the following season I

start of the season; he was aboard about to overtake the normallyan updated version of the car aspirated Cosworth, and so Patrese was installed in a second Piquet had used to win the title BT50. The rest of the season was a the previous year. The BT49D was tidy, effective and reliable, and the lottery and points were rare, with likeable Italian was confident of Piquet second in Holland and fourth at Dijon’s Swiss GP(one having a good season.

He was right. Race after race. spot up on Patrese). Patrese was 10th in the championship on 21 Piquet would retire with a m3rriad of dramas, the Brazilian keeping points, one point and one spot up his fhistration under control while of the outgoing world champion.

But it had been all worth it.

Patrese finished third at Long Beach and won an amazing Piquet started the folio-wing season with a home win in Rio maiden GP at Monaco where,late in the race, and, despite a mid-season leader after slump which leader expired saw Alain Prost lea-ving Patrese and Renault (who had spun almost snatch while leading the title from earlier) to arrive ft under his nose, in pare ferme not the svelte and kno-wing who effective had won!

Brabham-BMW BT52 sealed the But the tide was starting to first championship win for a turn. Piquet scored two points -with turbocharged engine -with three a fifth-place finish in Belgium and, when the Canadian GP was straight -wins, the final one for delayed after a terrible start-line Patrese at Kyalami when Piquet crash which claimed the life of ‘handed’ him the win in the closing Riccardo Paletti, Brabham scored a laps of the race. memorable 1-2. Piquet, his BMW It was an historic breakthrough turbo thri-ving on the latethat changed the course of afternoon cool conditions, led Formula One. And it is unlikely to Patrese’s BT49 home by 14s. happen again ... Barrichello By the middle of the season, it running reliably while was ob-vious that the BMW was Schumacher does all the ‘donkey work’? I don’t think so, Tim ... becoming more reliable and was

R was an historic breakthrough that changed the course of Formula One

s/ my Success: Nelson Piquet had a tough I9S2 season developing BMW's turbo engine - hut he took the title a yeai; later.

(Photo by Mike PowdVGtlty Images)

RUIVIBLE NO mention of Nelson Piquet's 1982 season would be complete with detailing that year's German Grand Prix.

On home ground, and with increasing reliability from its turbocharged engine, BMW looked forward to the race with justifiable optimism. Piquet reflected this early in the race; on Hockenheim's wide open straights, nothing could live with the Brabham, and he built a handy lead.

Enter Eliseo Salazar. The Chilean journeyman was wandering around when Piquet - with about 150 more horsepower, a lighter fuel load and, it must be said, considerably more ability hammered up behind his ATS-Cosworth to put a lap on him.

At the first chicane, the Brabham moved to the inside, Salazar turned in and, in a trice, both cars were bouncing through the air and into retirement.

While Patrick Tambay swept by to win for Ferrari, Salazar approached Piquet to, probably.

3 April 2002

apologise, and the aftermath has appeared on every sports highlight package in the world. The disgruntled Brazilian struck out at Salazar with hands and feet in a display rarely seen in FI before or since. Quickly realising the futility of trying to punch and man wearing a crash helmet, below, Piquet soon stopped the Steven Segal impersonation and stalked off to make the long walk in.

But... out of camera range, there was a sequel. Actually, two sequels. While walking in, a van stopped to offer Nelson a lift. In Its passenger seat was ... Salazar! And when he

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got out, the row between the two drivers quickly resumed. The driver of the van hopped out to referee but, rather than sort It out then and there, the upset Piquet leapt into the van and drove off, leaving its driver and Salazar stranded!

The other footnote took rather longer to be revealed -some sources say months, some say 10 years. It is said that, long after the race, a senior BMW engine man of the day confessed to Piquet that his engine had, at best, two laps left before it was going to explode.

Manfully, Piquet said that he was pleased that the company had been spared the shame of having an engine blow while leading their home GP in front of millions of viewers, and immediately rang Salazar to tell him that, after all that time, he was no longer a scapegoatl Piquet, of course, won another world title in 1987 and, long since retired. Is a successful businessman in Brazil. Salazar, now 47, Is still racing in the Indy Racing League.

33

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MAYBE Michael Schumacher can beat Troy Bayliss. Maybe,if his Commodore was given some liberties, Mark Skaife could manage it.

But, on the form shown in the first four races in the World Superbike Championship of 2002, no-one else looks likely to catch the New South Welshman in normal circumstances. After the minor aberration of being beaten to Superpole by Colin Edwards, Bayliss played outjust enough line to tease his opponents before barrelling off into the distance to make his 2002 statistics four starts,four vfins.

Edwards played chase-theAussie the best, running second in both races, while Ruben Xaus was third twice after hanging on the best of anyone else.

“It really has been a perfect weekend in front of my homd crowd. Ijust missed out on pole ' and it would have been a clean sweep!” said Bayliss after the race.

Indeed, he later admitted that his biggest problem during the races had been having a peek at the Superscreen over Lukey \ Heights to keep an eye on the opposition. He came, he saw TV, he ■ conquered ...

Practice and Qualifying The the opposition wasgood that,news afterfor sunning and funning for a week in Taree, Bayliss was caught in an air traffic controllers’ strike and was late

getting to the track.

The bad news was, that it was only Thursday and he would be fine for the weekend ...

Bayliss scored top spot going into Superpole, but blotted his copybook with errors at Honda and MG comers that dropped 0.7s off his provisional best time. This allowed Edwards to take advantage and secure pole after posting a lm32.77s, the only Superpole time in the 32s.

“I was getting sick of hearing, ‘Bayliss, Bayhss, Bayliss’,” Edwards smiled later.

Nori3mki Haga (Playstation 2 Aprilia) and Neil Hodgson(HM Plant Ducati)filled out the front row, with Ben Bostrom(L&M Ducati), Xaus (Infostrada Ducati), Hito Izuztsu(Kawasaki)and Juan Boija (Spaziotel Racing Ducati) completing row two.

Broc Parkes(NCR Ducati) was one ofjust four riders to improve their time to sit in 11th,just behind Hodgson’s team-mate James Toseland. Steve Martin(DFX Ducati) was the big loser after over riding his production 2002 Ducati 998RS, dropping from seventh to 13th after droping a second in Superpole,

Race 1

holeshot and led Bayliss got first the laps from the three Edwards, Haga, Hodgson and Xaus, who had jumped on to his spare bike just before the race.

Edwards squeezed into the lead on lap three and held the advantage over the Aussie, but it wasn’t long

The horses are on the track: Bayliss took both holeshots but, by the (Pholos by John Morris/Mpix) end of the races, was riding by himself.

34

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Troy Bayliss is redTiot, two Phillip Island wins nnaking his 2002 race tally 4 starts, 4 wins. The World Champion dominated on home soil, while Andrew Pitt added a maiden race win to his Supersport title.

DARRYL FLACK reports

WORLD SUPERBIKES

' '-^4

Michelin Men: Troy Bayliss and Colin Edwards were dominant on their Michelin tyres, but after two great battles, it was the Australian who ruled Phillip Island.

That’s what I call a wheelstand: Noriyuki Haga has come to grips with the Aprilia RSV Mille in fine fashion ... {Photos by John Moms/Mpix and slipstream Photographic)

IX. V

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befoz’e the number one Ducati was back in fi'ont.

Xaus moved by Haga for third with Hodgson and Bostrom behind them in a close tussle for fifth.

With a track temperatui’e of 36 degrees, the top three began clearing out at half-race distance, with Bayliss seemingly in control of Edwards and Xaus in the hot conditions.

Haga disappeared off the track and retired with a front brake

problem,leaving Hodgson and Bostrom to duke it out for fourth.

With just four laps to go, any chance of Edwards had of mounting a challenge evaporated when he ran wide on the approach to Siberia after missing a shift.

Bayliss eased away to a 2.47sec win fi’om the Texan, with Xaus a fui'ther eight seconds back in third.

continued on page 36 35

Phillip Island continued from page 35 Having led 11 laps oftheir tussle, Hodgson allowed Bostrom to nip through by just O.lsec to claim fourth, with Hito Izuztsu a massive 16 seconds back in sixth. Lavilla, Toseland, Walker and Lucio Perdercini rounded out the top ten.

Steve Martin claimed a distant 13th, while the NCR team failed to bring a bike home after Frankie Chdi crashed and Broc Parkes pulled in with a chunked tyre on lap 12.

Race 2 Race twotrack brought even hotter 46 degree conditions, but the Michelin runners would again benefit from the successful ll

Hanging it out: Wayne Gardner is a big beiiever in Broc Parkes. Wouid Wayne caii this oversteer? (Photo by Morris/Mpix)

research that the French company had done over the years at the island to remedy serious tyre failures in the past.

Bayliss again made the jump hut a determined Edwards took the lead at MG on lap three and held on to it for the next eight. Bostrom and Xaus fought over third, with the Michelin-shod Spaniard getting the upper hand to take a distant third.

Bayhss retook the number one' position on lap 12, but Edwards, doing all he could to prevent a historic four-race clean sweep.

went under the Aussie in turn one, setting up a thrilling finish. Bayliss had other ideas, and with four laps to go, put his head down and pulled out over a second in just one lap to which the Honda rider did not have an answer. The Ducati star dipped into the 33s for the first time in the race in the greasy conditions in the most disciplined and finest ride of his career to win by 2.5s.

“My bike worked perfectly all weekend and so did my Michelin tyres,”grinned the Aussie after the races. “It wasn’t easy though

because when I was behind Colin in both races I was getting hot air from his exhausts and I really had to dig deep in the last few laps.”

There was no hiding Edwards’ disappointment. “I ran a good race pace in practice but that was at 29 degrees and the hotter weather probably changed things,” said the hot-and-bothered American.

“We made a small change to the gearing to get a few more revs and that proved to be a good move. I could pass Troy on the start and finish straight where I couldn’t in

the first race.’

Xaus made it two thirds on the day, with Hodgson the first Dunlopshod bike home in foxirth from a gaggle of similarly attired bikes; Bostrom, Haga,Toseland, Lavilla and Walker.

Martin was forced to retire after a clutch failure, while Parkes hung on for 13th, with team-mate Chili crashing at the same corner.

The next race is in South Africa; can Troy make it six straight?

Points: Bayliss 100, Edwards 69, Bostrom 53, Haga 50, Hodgson 45,Xaus 43.

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WORLD SUPERSPORT

Pitt is just keeping it Real

ANDREW Pitt(Kawasaki) broke through for his first pole position and world championship race win after his major rivals fell by the wayside.

The 2001 World Champ has been fending off questions about his non-winning ways since the final round at Imola last year, but answered his critics in the best possible way at the Island.

"To claim my first World Supersport pole position at my home circuit was good, but to back that up with my first win in the series is awesome - I still can’t quite believe it," said a

1

It's llie Real Deal: World SiiiMTHiwrl Cluinip Andrew Pin sroivd his Jlr.'!l race win ni 'honw'oi Phillip hhind.

Roll t 'l.iuiliiiti ‘

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jubilant Pitt.

"It makes the world championship more real now."

Early race leader James Whitham (Yamaha) lasted just two laps, leaving Pitt and the Brit's Yamaha Belgarda team mate Paolo Casoll to fight over the spoils. It was the more experienced Italian who buckled under the pressure when he lost the front-end trailing Pitt into Siberia with just four laps to go.

Piergorgio Bontempi(NCR Ducati 748) inherited second, with Stephane Chambon (Alstare Suzuki Corona) in third.

Aussies Chris Vermeulen (VanZon Honda) and 2001 raee winners Kevin Curtain (OPCM Yamaha)finished 1 1th and 12th respectively, while Karl Muggeridge (Honda UK Race) blew an engine among the second pack down pit straight on lap 10, Pitt shares the championship lead with Chambon on 36 points.

- DARRYL FLACK

Round S

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Brazilian GP

New fop Old Replacement Pelicy Ferrari took new and old cars to Brazil but they got tho same old result - Michael winning, Rubens retiring. JOE SAWARD reports on the weekend when the brothers Schumacher ruled at luterlagos

M

ICHAEL Schumacher had the new Ferrari F2002 in Brazil and used it to the full, having lulled the opposition into a false sense of security in qualifying.

'The victory was in part due to the new car;in part to the latest tyres from Bridgestone and in part due to Schiunacher’s brilliance.

It helped that Michael’s biggest rival Juan Pablo Montoya, the pole position man, disappeared into the pits at the end of the first lap after another clash between the two men.

The big surprise was that no-one thought that the Bridgestone runners could do only one stop.

But Michael did. It was not easy, because he had to nurse the tyres along but once he was ahead, there was no stopping him. Ralf Schumacher closed up in the middle of the race and at the end but Michael had him under control.

The fact was, he was playing

with him ...

It was not a great day for Mark Webber, although he drove a strong race. The car suffered fuel metering problems and Webber had to stop twice for fuel,just in case. And his progress was not 38

helped by a collision with Felipe Massa’s Sauber and a botched Minardi pit stop. He finished 11th. not so The story ofof the race was much one careful psychological games and tactics but rather of the first lap clash between Schmnacher and Montoya because,if Montoya had been there and stayed ahead all of Ferrari’s clever plans would probably not have worked. But one way or the other, Montoya was taken out of the action again. This time he was w

The FIA is amazing. They don't have any consistency. It's always the same thing. It's Michael and they don't do anything"

not willing to sit back and be pohte. He had had enough.

“In the last race we came side by side into 'Turn One and his front wing got engaged with my car and they gave me a penalty,” he raved.

“Now he has chopped in front of me and taken my front wing off.

The minimum they should do is a drive-through penalty.

“The FIAis amazing. They don’t have any consistency. It’s always the same thing. It’s Michael and they don’t do anything.”

He stomped away in a huff and wUl probably come to regret those words for two reasons.

One is that the collision was not as clear-cut as Juan Pablo seemed to think. Perhaps when he has seen it on television that will become a little more clear. Top FI drivers do not generally suffer from a failure to judge distances and so the incident was a bit strange, and one might surmise from it that Schumacher might have lifted off but there was nothing much to back up that theory. Even members of the Williams team said quietly after the race that Montoya looked to have just made a mistake.

But the biggest mistake was the outburst after the race. Not because he will have upset the FIA (which he will have done)but rather because by ranting and raging he has shown Michael Schumacher that he is susceptible to pressure. He is not the Ice Man that eveiyone thought he was.

And that means that in the psychological battle that exists

between the top men, Montoya is at a disadvantage. He is quicker than Ralf Schumacher now but in the races, he is not bring home the continued on page 45

f/

'4^

Bridgestone Alone: Michael Schumacher held back the Michelin tide in a solo effort aboard the new Ferrari F2002.

Hug me or I will tell Mum: Ralf finished within a second of Michael, his Williams stronger in the second part of the race.

Wounded pride: Juan Montoya’s challenge ended early, pitting for a new wing and tyres. (Photos by Marsh/Bolhwell and Sutton-lmages)

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QUALIFYING for the Brazilian Grand Prix was a story of tyres. The temperatures were high - higher even than in Malaysia a fortnight earlier - and this meant that Michelin had the advantage.

Interlagos is a circuit which is tough on tyres and so a much harder compound of rubber is required. For Bridgestone, there was the additional problem of having to supply tyres for two different Ferraris; the older F2001 chassis and the single F2002 which was taken to Brazil for Michael Schumacher to race.

Michelin is also a much stronger challenger than it was in Brazil last year.

"Things have moved on enormously in the past 12 months," said Michelin's Pierre Dupasquier. "Remember last year's Brazilian GP was only our third event back in FI and we were still trying to work out how to deal with grooved tyres."

Not so in 2002. Michelin is on the attack and Bridgestone is not having an easy time of it. In Australia, the unexpectedly low temperatures favoured the Bridgestones but in Malaysia and Brazil, the Michelins were the tyres to have.

And there was not much argument about it.

Michael Schumacher managed to scramble the new F2002 onto the front row of the grid - but he was the only Bridgestone car in the top six.

"We need to work harder to improve," said Bridgestone's technical manager Hisao Suganuma, with admirable honesty.

The battle for pole position was always going to be a battle between the two Williams men. although Michael Schumacher's virtuoso skills mean that there is always the possibility of a little magic. David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen were there or thereabouts but at the moment, the McLaren team is not quite convincing enough as a frontrunner. The chassis looks good; the drivers are good; the tyres are good; but there is something missing; horsepower.

When one starts to mention horsepower figures, one makes enemies and so it is best to say very simply that the Mercedes-Benz VI0 engine appears to be lacking about eight percent of the power that the BMW engines are kicking out. Having said that, Interlagos is one of the tracks where horsepower is no the deciding factor. There are the fast blasts up and down but the middle sector is all about handling, tyres and drivers rather than about screaming horses. This may explain why the McLarens were looking a bit better.

The Williams-BMWs are good chassis but

one gets the impression that they could be more efficient and one is left with the thought that, while the Ferrari package is the best compromise of all the elements, the best combination to combat the red cars would be a McLaren-BMW! Getting every element together at the same time is the secret of success in FI and one must congratulate Ferrari on doing that at the moment. The fact that the Ferrari was as close to the Williams-BMWs as they were was testament to the package that Ross Brawn and his crew have produced. The F2002 is needed now and the arrival of one of the cars in Interlagos made things a little more interesting, although the machinations over the tyre supply did rather spoil the whole thing. The question of Ferrari wheel rims was really not that exciting so long as the number of tyres used was not abused. There were rules which were open to interpretation but it was not really worth the fuss that was made.

In the end Michael Schumacher split the two Williams-BMWs, which was a very good effort.

The new F2002 is better than the old one even if the reliability is still a worry.

"We wanted to be on pole," said Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn. "But it is impossible to be dominant at every track. I am not too despondent about it."

Ferrari's challenge was blunted somewhat by Rubens Barrichello being given a penalty for

Sfis;

driving through a red light at the end of the pitlane on Saturday morning. This meant that Rubens had to drop his best qualifying time. As things turned out, it did not cost him a position as his second best lap was only a fraction slower than his disallowed time. But this left him down in eighth place on the grid - a big disappointment for the local hero. The only other Bridgestone runner in the top 10 was Nick Heidfeld, who made it to ninth place.

Michelin thus had the cars which lined up first, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and 10th.

"We're in good shape," said Dupasquier.

The rest of the story was more or less what one would expect to see with the Michelin men at an advantage. Renault Sport continues to claw its way forward, with Jenson Button just a hundredth of a second slower than Jarno Trulli. The Toyotas were doing well again, with Mika Salo 10th but Allan McNish down in 16th after running over a kerb. The Jaguars looked better (for a change) with Pedro de la Rosa 11th arid Eddie Irvine 13th.

Mark Webber was 20th, but his performance was much better than that number suggests.

To start with, against his team-mate (always a pretty fair indicator), he was 1.4s to the good, Alex Yoong showing that while he could hold his end up in race trim, he perhaps lacked Webber's agression and technical nous in qualifying.

Webber's third run saw a leap of 0.7s but a Takuma Sato baulk on his fourth, together with a big improvement from Arrows's Heinz-Harald Frentzen (whom he led for much of the session) saw him 20th, even if he was only 2.3s off pole and 0.9s off the top 10.

As qualifying sessions go it was not a bad one but there was none of the high drama that one gets from a classic session. Hopefully as the year goes on we will see more and more excitement.

There are going to be other circuits which suit us," Michael Schumacher said. "That's the way it is going to happen this year. It is going to be up and down between the circuits."

It looked however on Saturday night that he only way Ferrari could hope for a win on Sunday would be if the rains came - and there was no sign of that happening.

- JOE SAWARD

Irrestible combination; English chassis, Gentian power, French tyres.

Colombian driver, Brazilian track. Juan Montova took hisfourth career pole at Interlagos. tPhoto\ try Siiilon-lmatiff and .Manh/Boilwcll)

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Prix, Mark Driving for the Australian owned KL Minardi Asiatech, Mark Webber scored an amazing two FIA Formula One World Championship points in his first ever Grand Prix - the 2002 Foster’s Australian Grand Prix.

This limited edition (only 500) print celebrates his dream debut performance and the first points scored in FI by an Australian since 1986.

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FORMULA ONE continued from page 40 points enough to be a serious title contender. Ralf is doing that.

The Williams-BMW drivers should have the advantage given the prodigious power of the BMW engines but Ferrari’s new car is obviously good; the tyres are being developed for Ferrari and Michael Schumacher is driving better than ever.

The battles will ebb and flow as he season goes on but Interlagos proved that one should never make assumptions.

Once Montoya was gone, Michael was playing games.

He let Rubens Barrichello through into the lead. The Brazilian was on a two-stop strategy and so had a big weight advantage, but Michael knew that Rubens was not really a threat and that his primary objective must be to preserve his tyres, which he did cleverly.

Barrichello went out soon afterwards because of an hydraulic failure, having convinced everyone that he was on a three-stop strategy.

And then, as the laps rolled on, people began to realise that Michael was going for a one-stop race. It was a lovely strategy and a great piece of racecar driving.

Perhaps Ralf Schumacher could have pushed harder in the.early laps if he had guessed what was happening, but it looked as though Michael was on a two stop strategy and Ralf was content to be where he was.

But it was too good to be trae. At the pit stop the Williams men gave Ralfs frontAving a couple of tweaks and the car was better in the second stint but again Michael-was playing with his brother. He was not fading when Ralf came

Back to Business: Jenson Button showed a welcome return to form, the Renaults both looking threatening in the race. Mika Salo, below, scored another point for Toyota, while the local babes were there in force ...

(Photos by Marsh/Bolhwell and Sutton-lmages) It

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continued on page 47

POS DRIVER 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Juan Montoya Michael Schumacher Ralf Schumacher Daviii Coulthard Kimi Raikkonen Jarno Trulli Jenson Button Rubens Barrichello Nick Heldfeld Mika Salo Pedro de la Rosa Felipe Massa Eddie Irvine Glancarlo Fisichella Jacques Villeneuve Allan McNish Olivier Panis Heinz-Haraid Frentzen Takuma Sato Mark Webber Enrique Bernoldi Alex Yoong

3 April 2002

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CRR Compaq Williams BMW FW24 Marlboro Ferrari F2002 Compaq Williams BMW FW24 West McLaren/Mercedes MP4/17 M West McLaren/Mercedes MP4/17 M Mild Seven Renault R202 M Mild Seven Renault R202 M Marlboro Ferrari F2001 B Sauber/Petronas C21 B M Panasonic Toyota TF102 M Jaguar/Cosworth R3 Sauber/Petronas C21 B M Jaguar/Coswortb R3 DHL Jordan/Honda EJ12 B B Lucky Strike BAR/Honda 003 M Panasonic Toyota TF102 B Lucky Strike BAR/Honda 003 B Orange Arrows/Cosworth A23 B DHL Jordan/Honda EJ12 M KL Minardi/Asiatecb PS02 B Orange Arrows/Cosworth A23 M KL Minardi/Asiatech PS02

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1ml3.565s 1ml3.595s 1ml3.611s lm13.665s 1ml3.935s lm14.233s 1m14.443s lml4.464s lm14.533s 1m14.537s lml4.748s lml4.760s lml4,990s 1m14.996s 1ml5.112s lm15.296s 1m15.340s 1m15.355s 1m16.728s

Brazilian GP

Brazil lap by lap

Lap 1: At the start Michael Schumacher made a slightly better start than Juan Pablo Montoya and the two men went into the first corner with Montoya on the inside. The Colombian braked later and went wide and Schumacher then challenged him at Turn Two, the two cars went side-by-side through the turn. This gave the Ferrari the aiWantage in the fast Turn Three and so he was in the lead on the back straight.

Montoya was faster but Schumacher blocked an attempt to pass. The second attempt resulted in front wing of the Williams clipping the rear wheel of the Ferrari. The wing was torn out and Montoya dropped back, leaving Ralf Schumacher to challenge his brother.

Behind him were the two Renaults of Jarno Trulli and Jenson Button and David Coulthard's McLaren which was already being threatened by Rubens Barrichello's Ferrari.

At the end of the lap Montoya, Allan McNish and Giancarlo Fisichella all pitted for repairs.

Lap 2: Michael-Schumacher pulled away quickly while Barrichello passed Coulthard for fifth at the first corner.

Lap 3: Barrichello, obviously running a light fuel load, overtook Button to move to fourth.

Lap 34: Having nursed his tyres for some laps, allowing his brother to close up, Michael Schumacher set the fastest lap of the race and began to pull away again.

Lap 38: After four fastest laps Schumacher's lead was back to 8.4 seconds. Raikkonen finally managed to grab fifth place from Button. Salo in eighth was the first one-stop racer to pit.

Lap 39: Michael Schumacher pitted leaving Ralf to lead.

Lap 42: McNish spun out and on the same lap Massa and Mark Webber collide. The Sauber spun off, Webber had to pit for a new wheel.

Lap 44: Ralf Schumacher pitted and Michael took the lead again.

Lap 56: With the pits stops over the order was Michael Schumacher chased by Ralf and then a huge gap back to Coulthard and Raikkonen, who got ahead of the Renaults during the pit stops.

Lap 60: Ralf closed to within a second of Michael.

Montoya, running in seventh, set the fastest lap of the race. Villeneuve overtook de la Rosa for 10th while Alex Yoong spun into retirement.

Lap 4: Barrichello overtook Trulli for third.

Lap 61: Trulli retired with an engine failure.

Heidfeld stopped because of brake trouble.

Lap 6: Barrichello passed Ralf Schumacher to take second. He chased after Michael Schumacher.

Lap 68: Raikkonen retired with a rear wheel failure. Salo inherited sixth place.

Lap 7: At the back of the field Fisichella retired with an engine failure.

Lap 70: Villeneuve retired with his engine cutting out.

Lap 12: Bernoldi pitted with a broken rear track rod. Repairs were made and he restarted several laps behind.

Lap 71: Soccer legend Pele (chequered flag in hand) was looking the wrong way when the Schumacher Brothers crossed the line. They both stopped racing nonetheless!

Now here’s something new: There was a bizarre incident in the warm-up, prompted by Enrique Bernoldi crashing his Arrows and starting a small fire. Nick Heidfeld arrived at the scene at speed, partially unsighted by a Ferrari’s rear wing. As the Sauber jinked, it hit the Medical Car, damaging it and forcing FIA medico Dr Sid Watkins into the spare! It could have been much more serious than it was...

Now here’s something eise new: Schumacher nursed his tyres to the extent that he waved Rubens Barrichello by. The the luckless Brazilian retired soon aftenwards.

(Pholos by Sutton-lmages and Marsh/Bolhwell)

Lap 13: Coulthard passed Button to take fifth

place.

Lap 14: Barrichello took the lead from Schumacher at the end of the back straight.

Schumacher did not defend his position, indicating that the two Ferraris were on different strategies.

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Lap 16: Barrichello pulled away while Mika Salo overtook Felipe Massa for ninth place.

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Lap 17: Barrichello went out with a hydraulic problem, leaving Michael Schumacher leading Ralf by eight seconds.

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Lap 22: After two fraught laps Massa dropped behind Villeneuve and Frentzen.

Lap 24: Villeneuve pitted and fell from ninth place to 14th.

Lap 25: Both Arrows went out. Frentzen retired with a broken rear track rod. Bernoldi was withdrawn.

Lap 26: Olivier Ranis retired with a gearbox failure Lap 30: Montoya was gaining places thanks to the pit stops and to a strong recovery drive. He overtook Pedro de la Rosa for ninth place.

46

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FORMULA ONE continued from page 45 chasing up behind him. He was simply saving his tyres. As soon as Ralf looked like being a threat, Michael kicked again,just to show his httle brother who is the boss.

Ralf must have known but he stayed there hoping that Michael wordd make a bad mistake - which of course he did not do.

“People thought we were doing one thing with the strategy,” said Ferrari’s Ross Brawn modestly.

“We did another. I was pleased with that. It was a tough race but it all fell into place. Michael drove the whole race beautifully.”

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It was a tour de force. And great theatre but as the teams packed up on Sunday night a message had

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been delivered to Ferrari’s rivals and in the psychological war that exists in FI these days,it will be a tough blow for the likes of Williams and McLaren to take.

Or to put it another way; Michael wins when he is supposed to win but he also wins when he is not supposed to win, and none of the others come even close to that kind of brilliance.

For the rest of it,note. thereApart was little of outstanding from Michael Schumacher, the race was completely dominated by the Michelin runners.

The two Renaults went off the line as they used to do last year when they were using a clever starting system that was later banned by the FLA. It seems that they have found some other tweak to allow the drivers to make amazing starts. The first couple of hundred metres saw the McLarens swallowed up and they spent the first half of the race trying to get ahead of the Renault boys.

McLaren showed its usual professionalism in getting both Coulthard and Raikkonen out ahead of the two Renaults but then it was all spoiled at the end when Raikkonen suffered a wheel hub failure. More points were wasted on reliability issues.

The good news was that the

McLarens were lapping quickly when not stuck behind the Renaults and that means that the team is getting back to a position in which it can challenge for wins.

“You tend to see the true colours of the car in qualifying and it tends not to be such a big difference in the race,” said David. “So I felt that we were going to be a little bit closer but I don’t think we’re quite there yet, we have got a bit of work to do. We obviously have not taken as big a step forward as the other cars during the winter. We know this car is a quicker car than last year’s car when we did the back-toback tests, but we just haven’t taken a big enough step.”

It is also worth noting that Toyota did it again, picking up a point(the second in the team’s three races to date). It may not he World Championship-winning stuff but it is a hell of a good platform from which to start a serious assault on the hig teams in the years ahead.

As a piece of theatre, Brazilian GP will bethe 2002 remembered as a magnificent con job. Ferrari duped everyone and Michael Schumacher showed (just in case we forget) that he is far and away the best driver in Formula 1.

Magnificent. (more on page 48)

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April 2002

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Q: A great result at a circuit where you have an amazing record. Is it a circuit you like, what is it about you and Interlagos?

MS: Honestly, you know about my knowledge of statistics and records.

The only thing I should say is that I like the circuit because technically it's very difficult, it's a very hard race, a very tricky race, it's very bumpy and you're always having to make corrections which makes it a challenge. But then the goodness here is that we have a reliable car and finish races and that means, naturally, be somewhere in the points or on the podium.

Q: Ralf, how close were you to overtaking Michael?

RS: Well, certainly, I was always waiting for him to make a mistake to be able to... and I was trying to be as fast as possible into the last turn and on the exit but I was never really in a position to try anything.

I didn't want to do a stupid try because it's very early in the season and I didn't want to risk my six points which I was pretty sure to get in this race. I was marginally quicker, but that's not enough to overtake in Formula One.

Q: David. You seem more tired than your fellow rostrum sharers. Was it an exhausting race for you?

DC: I didn't really realise until I stopped then I felt pretty terrible when I was standing up on the podium and those national anthems take for ever. I wish they would speed them up or give us a chair or something. I don't know why really: whether it is because I had not done the first couple of Grands Prix or whether our car is a little bit more difficult to drive, but I certainly felt really tired today.

Q; it was really a matter of watching and waiting.

RS: As it is a lot of times in Formula One anyway isn't it. In my first stint, I struggled a bit with the car's setting, then we changed something at the pit stop and it was a lot lot better, which was 'vhy I closed up but then only by two or three tenths a lap maybe, but that's not enough to overtake.

Q: What about with Jarno Trulli. Was he holding you up or was he fairly closely matched?

DC: Probably, if you were watching the race you would have seen that when he pitted I suddenly went eight tenths quicker on that lap so quite clearly both the Renaults were holding us up.

It was the same when I got past Button, I suddenly caught Jarno up very quickly. So they earned their position on the track. They made great starts and that is part of the game, so we need to improve our starts and if we hadn't lost time then certainly we would have been a bit further down the road. I haven't even seen what the gap was to Michael and Ralf but I think it was a massive gap so I think we would have struggled to get close to them.

Q; Given that this is the first time that you've raced the new car, what does this victory make you feel for the coming season?

MS: Obviously I'm a lot more optimistic on circuits where we traditionally struggled last year, although if you look at his second stmt, he was quite a bit faster. For sure, I could have gone a bit faster but probably not as fast as he was going We're probably not quite there yet, but we're not as far off as we were last year, which Is thanks to the good new car and to some tyre development and improvement from Bridgestone.

Q: How hard was Ralf pushing you during those closing stages?

MS: Honestly, the only overtaking you can do here is into turn one and I was making sure that he couldn't.

That meant braking very late into the last cornor and having a good run out of it and I was coniiolling that in minors and I don't think he was really close enough to outbrake me into the first comet in actual fact, so there wasn't tl'i.i! kind of a worry. In tho infiold, unless you in.iko ,t mi:,tat<Mind you nin wido, it's hnsicnily 111 i(Kvv,il)ln tD ovoitalw Q: After the incident with Juan Pablo, do you feel any problem with the car?

Mr. i didn't fool iiriy loiich He was .saying he lor.i the lii.Hit wing, Irut I riidn't actuallv fool ,inyUiiiti| 'll) I don't know now lie has done Ihal Fl inii! w'.ir, nothing wrong with ,jnylllirig r.in the I': II oiihor no,ij.>i me I didn't notice anything Q: Juiin Pablo apparently isn’t very pleased with you. Does he have any cause for complaint?

MS ' don 1 know I havon'i r.niiii the m.'jiuHMivuj 'll) mn, I niovod nvoi to IliO loft to rivoiil tiim i.iking llui inside, I loft llie i i. ii '.idi, . 11)1111 till him and Hint 's it I .' di.iii'i Lnnw wtsit liii|)|ii)iiH(l. I don't m I I II iw wli.'it niilkiii, him unl i.ippy I i .it

Q; Are you able to change us what you changed? An aerodynamic setting or what?

RS: We changed on the aerodynamic side and I think that simply the second set much better than the first one.

Q: How do you feel about Michael's form for the next few races?

RS: I must say that according to comments from Ferrari side from track side, we were expecting a really big step forward and it has been a step forward but not as big we were expecting. We were able to qualify beside them, with a better start maybe we weto able to win the raco or a bit better first stmt, so I'm full of hope that wo can go to Imola and again have a very tirjlit and close racewith them.

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Q: I was going to come to the gap.

Admittedly you were held up by Jarno but it is a huge gap. Do you think you can be closing that in the next two or three races?

DC: Yeah, I think that clearly we were losing over a second a lap at the beginning and I spent I think 42 laps or so, 41 laps behind Jarno, so with that amount of time loss very quickly you have lost the gap to that time.

I need to look at the lap speed to understand where the rest of the time disappeared, but I don't think we should be surprised that we aren't as quick as the Ferrari and the Williams because we haven't been quite as quick as them in the first two races. We need to keep working to develop the package.

Q: Michael. The overtaking manoeuvre of Rubens on you, was it a team request or your decision?

MS' It is very clear if your team-mate faster that you let by. Obviously the team did tell me as well but when the best tinie team can maybe see that better than I can from a mirror point of view-

FORMULA ONE

Brazil

what could have been a Two pit stops turned top extra ten finish for the Minardi-Asiatech team into 11th at Sao Paulo.

Things had been going to plan until contact with Felipe Massa meant a stop to replace a broken wheel. But ongoing fuel pump problems within the car also meant a late splash-and-dash stop.

But we finished and, with Alex bringing his car home, the Minardi Team completed the most laps of any team over the weekend which must mean something! practice and Qualifying went quite well. Even though the cars themselves came straight from Malaysia, nothing stands still and we had a number of new bits and pieces.

Most critical was an 'upgrade' to our Traction Control system from the Asiatech engineers-the better it works, the better you get out of the slow corners in particular. It was an im,provement, but we weren't prepared to risk it in the race this time...

On the car front, some work had been done on revised front wing end plates and brake ducting - all to improve the general aero package.

The aero improvements help, but the track in Sao Paulo is one of those where the aero is less significant than a lot of other places - it's a very mechanical grip place, with only one or two quick corners (turns six and 10 - the other quick ones are flat out) for aerodynamics to play a big part.

That in itself should be a help to the smaller, less aerodynamically 3 April 2002

At work and atplay: Webber did afine job in the hot Brazilian sun, and so did Jenson Button, below. Perhaps the two drivers were discussing Test cricket?

(Photos by Sutton-hnages and Marsh/BothwcU)

possibly gained another row ...

We tried all the tricks -the engine was due to come out after advanced teams such as Minardi qualifying, so Asiatech 'gave' me but then again, there's a fair old an extra 10Orpm to use and we blanked off some of the radiator straight and the high horsepower teams, such as BMW.Williams area which, although you might looked like being the weapon of briefly run a few degrees hotter, choice. also improves the aero.

I managed to slot in behind We worked through our general set-up and tyre Sato's Jordan choice on 11 (which was Friday and went finishing its into qualifying timed lap) as I reasonably came onto the pleased. long straight to You really start the lap and have to got a pretty structure your good tow. An four three-lap intelligent driver rt (one out, one would have timed, one in) seen me behind runs to get the and pulled to one side once we'd got over the best out of it, and this was my second chance to work at a line, but Mr Sato just carried on flat out, on the normal line ... methodical way of doing it.

Flun 1 was a 'banker' run. The By the time he'd held me up for a couple of corners, it was clear second run didn't make a gain, but the third was a ripper. we were wasting our time.

A little stiffer on the rear bar and I ended up two-tenths behind guess-who on the grid ... Sato! a pretty good clear lap produced a mega gain - seven tenths!

Frentzen had improved too, so grid 20 it was to be - but as our With one run to go, we decided to hang out until the last moment very happy team pointed out, that was only a second from a top 10 (like the hot shoes do) and try just spot and just 2.2s from pole. about everything to snatch another couple of tenths. At this emperatures headed up to 40 point, both Arrows (Frentzen and Bernoldi) were behind me and a degrees as we lined up for the race. On such a physically tougti couple more tenths would have

An intelligent driver would have seen me behind and pulled to one side once we'd got over the line, but Mr Sato just carried on flat out, on Uie normal line.

track and with no power steering in the Minardi (coming for Barcelona, I hear), I was a little apprehensive about the going the distance physically - but that proved to be no problem.

Like all the Michelln runners, we'd settled on a one-stop strategy and, with a number of the Bridgestone runners in front of me likely to be on a twostopper, it was important to just go fiat out and hope to score some track position over them when it happened.

I'd planned to go all the way to lap 45 before stopping, but they called me in early - lap 38.

The fuel pressure was 'spiking' so, they filled it up and off I went.

I gather Australian TV viewers saw a few seconds of the touch with Massa. I'd actually been catching him quite quickly (to be honest, I think he was tiring quite badly) and had a look into Turn 1.

He fought it out and then moved across quite harshly on the next straight.

Into Turn 6, as you saw, I had another go. Maybe 1 wasn't in far enough, but under the circumstances he should have left room. He came across and, bang.

He spun into retirement and I had to come in for a new wheel that was the only damage.

From there on it was quite straightforward, although with the fuel pressure problem rearing its head again, I had to make a third, quick, fuel stop with five laps to go.

It's 7pm Sunday night and I'm feeling physically fine - I surprised myself. The only thing that's really sore is top of my knees. We need to make a few adjustments in the cockpit to improve that.

In terms of my input, that was a better drive than Melbourne, Interlagos is a tough, demanding circuit and we pushed the whole distance. Three stops and 11thcould have been a couple of positions better, but that's life.

We've got a day at Misano next Friday in the lead-up to our 'home' race at Imola. Every test day is valuable and there are things to test and learn that will hopefully help at our 'home' race.

49

Wakefield Park

The New Bp( A Ford didn't win a round oflast year's Konica V8 Supercar Series, though Dale Brede made sure that wouldn't happen in 2002 with his first V8 round win at

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Wakefield Park. MARK GLENDENNING reports from the opener at Goulburn

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THE RACE IS ON Yes, Finishline® is back, bigger and better for 2002 season.

The easiest and most popular V8 tipping game is back and ready to go for the Australian Touring Car Championship.

Winners for each round will receive fabulous prizes of Team gear. Model cars. Magazine subscriptions and much, much more.

ALE Brede landed the first punch at the Konica V8 Supercar seriesopener at Wakefield Park last weekend,taking the red and yellow Gulf Western Racing AU to a win and two second places.

The Canberrian, who had previously never won a V8 Supercar race, drove consistently throughout the weekend to narrowly edge out pre-season title favourite Paul Dumbrell for round honours.

Last year we weren’t really consistent, but now the team have prepared a really fantastic package. The car was really good all weekend,” said a delighted Brede after the race.

Dumbrell ended an eventful weekend behind the wheel ofthe Wynn’s VX Commodore in second place, with Greg Crick pushing hard

to bring the Tourism Sri Lanka/3M AU Falcon home in third.

The overall winner will take off the mega prize which we will announce mid season.

Qualifying

Get yewr entries in new ... eieses 5pm the Friday prior to each roynd.

Howard Marsden probably isn’t ready to move Ford’s entire V8 Supercar interests across to the Konica Series just yet, although there must have been the odd moment on Saturday at Wakefield when he was sorely tempted.

The final practice session prior to qualifying had produced a onetwo-four for the Blue Oval courtesy of Crick, Brede and Michael Simpson, leaving Dumbrell flying

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the Holden flag in third.

Qualifying was split into two 25 minute sesssions, divided between the top and bottom 50 percent after practice. The quick group took to the track first, and for the opening 10 minutes it was Fords as far as the eye could see as Crick, Ross Halliday, and Simpson all enjoyed spells at the top of the timesheets Three and a half minutes in.

Brede posted the first sub-6Is lap for the session, establishing himself at the top of the tables with a ImOO.9095s.

Shortly afterwards, Dumbrell rolled toward the pit exit for the first time, only to encounter traffic almost immediately upon taking to the circuit. Before this had a chance to develop into any real problem for him, the red flags were brought out after Ron Searle’s VS rumbled to a halt with electrical problems at Tui-n 9.

PD was the first driver to rejoin the circuit when the green flags were waved, but again it was Brede doing the damage.A 60.723s, followed shortly after by a 60.3767s, and suddenly there was nobody within 0.5s of the Gulf Western AU. Then, with a clear track ahead, Dumbrell went bang. And then he went bang again. A 59.9675s, followed by a 59.8808s, and suddenly PD was on provisional pole, the only man to have done a sub-60s lap. Brede improved with

motorsport news

Monica V8 series

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Some turning, some burning: Dumbrell ended up second on the day in the ex-Ingall Commodore, above, while Greg Crick, below and below right, made it a Ford-Holden-Ford sandwich with third overall

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(Photos by Dirk Klynsmith and John Morris/Mpix)

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(Photo by John Morris/Mpix)

a 60.33s late in the session, but that was as close as he got; leaving Dumbrell to emphasise his PI with a third sub-60s tour of 59.92s.

While all eyes were on Dumbrell, Matthew White was busy putting on a show of his own.

White was visibly taking his VT to the limit. Actually, he occasionally went over it - three times in one lap, in fact.

“I wasjust trying to get ten-tenths out ofthe car,” he grinned later.

His efforts paid off with a 61.1708s that was good enough to vault him past Brede into second place, setting the scene for an allHolden front row.

“At the end of the day, everyone’s got sob stories about why they didn’t do it (qualify on pole) so we’ve just got to got out tomorrow and make it happen,” Brede reflected.

Crick completed the second row with fourth place(“we tried to make the car go faster, and I don’t think we got it quite right”), ahead of Simpson's EL. Craig Harris had problems throughout the session with his wheel rims, which refused to marry properly to the rubber and 3 April 2002

caused this tyres to deflate twice.

He finished the session in 18th.

Leanne Ferrier, meanwhile, isn’t used to finishing a qualif3dng session in 14th, but overheating problems were causing some major dramas for the Fleetcare Racing VS Commodore.

Elsewhere in the ‘slow group’ there were some surprises. Rod Salmon pulled off one of the biggest shocks of the day when he bounced from 22nd in practice to sixth on the grid. As you do.

Defying their lack of Supercar experience, newcomer Grant Elliot stuck the Sydney Star Motorsport VS in ninth ahead of the similarly green Michael Turner, while the efforts of Kiwi driver Mark Porter, who has jumped from NZ TransAm to V8 Supercars, were rewarded with a 12th place on the giid.

Race 1(14 laps) Tthe wenty-six cars gridded up for opening race - two fewer than had taken to the track for qualifying the day before. Craig Bastion’s EL was an absentee, the continued on page 52

/Qualifying^ POS NO 1 64 2 76 3 89 4 161 5 93 87 6 7 25 30 9 98 90 10 11 56 78 12 99 13 68 14 15 110 16 61 17 58 18 19 74 20 95 21 38 22 72 23 77 24 94 25 26 26 47 27 69 28 140

CAR DRIVER Paul Dumbrell Wynn's/IRCA Commodore VX Matthew White VIP Pet Foods Commodore VT Gulf Western Falcon AU Dale Brede Sri Lanka Falcon AU Greg Crick Michael Simpson The Pinnacle Falcon EL One World Falcon AU Rod Salmon Kitome/Lubrimaxx Falcon EL Terry Wyhoon Bob Thorn Super Cheap Falcon AU Grant Elliott Sydney Star Commodore VS ADI Electrical Commodore VS Michael Turner Actron Air Falcon AU Kevin Mundy Mark Porter Hydrolink Falcon AU AJG Commodore VS Wesley May Diesel Tech Commodore VS Shane Beikoff Chance of a Lifetime Falcon EL Grant Johnson 3M Falcon AU Ross Halliday Derek Van Zelm Scallywags Commodore VT Castrol Falcon AU Craig Harris Fleetcare Commodore VS Leanne Ferrier Transtar Commodore VS Ron Searle NRP Commodore VS Mathew Hunt Smith's Trucks Commodore VT Robert Smith Richard Mork V8 Racing Commodore VS HSR Falcon EL Mark Howard Doulman Commodore VT Bob McDonald Bastian Falcon EL Craig Bastian Robert Jones Spies Hecker Commodore VS Clyde Lawrence CLR Commodore VS

TIME 59.8808 1:00.1708 1:00.3361 1:00.3887 1:00.6664 1:01.0789 1:01.1999 1:01.2627 1:01.2922 1:01.3075 1:01.4092 1:01.4409 1:01.6496 1:01.7225 1:01.7393 1:01.7534 1:01.7704 1:01.8642 1:01.8715 1:01.9767 1:02.0608 1:02,4704 1:02.7685 1:02.7917 1:03.0166 1:03.3732 1:03.4443 1:05.3165

1

Round 1 ifValcefflelil Park 51

^AK:onica vs series

New but not slow IT'S generally held that a V8 Supercar is not an easy machine to come to terms with, although you wouldn't have known it if you watched some of the performances by the rookies at Wakefield Park.

Grant Elliot, pictured, was the talk of the paddock for much of the weekend after putting in some sensational performances behind the wheel of the Sydney Star Motorsport VS Commodore.

Elliot, who previously campaigned a Torana XU-1 in Group N, kept his beak in the top 10 throughout the weekend, qualifying ninth and scoring two

sevenths and a ninth in the races.

His efforts attracted the attention of Garry Rogers, who decided to make Elliot the inaugural winner of the $500 'Garry Rogers Motorsport Award', which will be presented at each Konica round to the team that registers the most outstanding performance.

Kiwi Mark Porter also looks like being one to watch after ending the weekend with two sixth-place finishes. What's even more impressive is that he had never sat in his Hydrolink AU prior to Saturday.

Joining him in the 'oh, so

that's what my car looks like' camp was Chance of a Life Time winner Grant Johnson, who also had his first-ever run in the EL and finished with two eighths.

Michael Turner showed great pace in his first outing in exMatthew White VS. Turner pulled off one of the shock results in qualifying by lining himself up in 10th.

A race 1 spin, however, put him too far down the field to convert his efforts into results.

Nevertheless, if this is what we can expect from these guys now, who knows what they'll be doing once they actually know their way around the car...

- MARK GLEIMDENNING

continued from page 51 team having reported engine dramas late the previous afternoon. Joining him was Ferrier, whose overheating problems had caused some damage to the engine, prompting the team to go into damage control mode and trailer the car before the repair bill climbed any higher.

“Never mind,I guess that it's just one of those things that people describe as ‘character building’,”

ft

rued a very disappointed Ferrier just before the race.

The field made an orderly start, with Dumbrell leading away while Brede snuck inside White at Turn 1 to take second. The leading five, rounded out by Crick and Simpson, wasted little time in pulling out a gap over sixth-placed Salmon, while further back Harris was already on a charge, vaulting up from 18th to seventh in the first four laps.

At the front, Dumbrell was running at near-lap record pace, and a better run through lapped traffic helped to build a small gap over Brede that stretched to 2.2s

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Hope he’s got a ‘Super Cheap’ way of getting out of there! Bob Thorn’s V8 comeback had its moments.

(Photo by John Morris/Mpix)

by the end of the race.

Third-place was a little more hard-fought, with Crick surviving a heart-in-mouth moment while lapping Bob Thom to close right up to TOiite’s rear brunper. At the end oflap 14, the gap was around 0.5s.

As it turned out, that was enough,for on lap 15 Turner sailed into the gravel and beached himself.

With Richard Mork’s car already stranded courtesy of a huge engine blow-up, race control decided that

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enough was enough and waved the red flags three laps before the scheduled end ofthe race.

Race 2(17 laps) he inverted-10 format saw

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Kevin Mundy and Elliot share the front row for the second outing in a field that was further depleted by the absences of Mork and the VS of Matthew Hunt.

While Harris was showing

everybody the way at the front, dispatching Terry Wyhoon and Mundy to take the lead, Dumbrell, Brede, Crick, et al began their slug through the field from midway down the grid.

Soon the trio had worked their way toward the sharp end, with Crick trying to close the gap to Harris while holding off Dumbrell,

continued on page 54

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TIME/UPS FISTEST 14:23,7781 1:00.7019 Dumbrell 14:25.9755 1:00.6268* Brede 14:29.6813 1:01.0633 White 14:30.2270 1:00.8517 Crick 14:33.1627 1:01.0716 Simpson 14:45.6507 1:01.9229 Porter Harris 14:46.0105 1:01,5093 14:50.6625 1:02,2810 Wyhoon 14:52.2026 1:02,0027 9 Elliott 14:53.5808 1:02.2383 10 Mundy 14:54.6955 1:01.8498 11 Thorn 14:57.6435 1:02.0009 12 May 14:58.8943 1:02.0972 13 Johnson 15:01.7389 1:017654 14 Salmon 15:04.6155 1:016269 15 Hunt 15:05.1858 1:02.2675 16 Searle 15:10.8285 1:02.9360 17 Halliday 15:14.6855 1:03.1687 IB Howard 15:17.9099 1:02.4200 19 Beikoff 20 Smith 13 laps 1:03.2459 21 Lawrence 13 laps 1:05.1565 22 McDonald 13 laps 1:03.4470 DNF Turner 13 laps 1:02.3080 DNF Mork 13 laps 1:03.2290 DNF Jones 12 laps 1:03,7934 DNF VanZelm 3 laps 1:02.0134 DNS Ferrier, Bastian.

POS

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

DBIIEB

lIBCt{- 17 hK 1:01.5366 17:46.1438 1 Harris Brede 17:46.4092 1:00.8772* 2 Crick 17:46.9093 1:01.1877 3 1:01.0311 Dumbrell 4 17:51.0395 1:02.0928 17:58.3530 5 Wyhoon 1:02.3322 6 Porter 18:03.0461 7 Elliott 1:02.4380 18:06.9131 1:02.3650 8 Johnson 18:07.1656 18:07.7342 1:02.6025 9 Mundy 1:02.3469 18:13.8311 10 Searle 1:01.4833 18:13.9955 11 White 1:01.6065 18:14.2810 12 Simpson 1:02.3764 18:16.0219 13 Beikoff 14 Salmon 18:21.7588 1:02.3572 18:23.7163 1:03.2870 15 Halliday 16 Smith 18:24.5587 1:02.9460 17 Turner 1:03.1184 18:32.6293 18 Van Zelm 1:02.2968 18:36.0324 19 Thorn 1:02.2006 19:01.3076 20 McDonald 1:03.5083 16 laps 21 Lawrence 1:05.4972 16 laps NC Jones 1:04.1587 11 laps T.02.6261 DNF May 8 laps DNF Howard 1:03.9573 6 laps DNS Hunt, Mork, Bastian, Ferrier.

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1 Brede 30:50.7862 1:00.6667 2 Dumbrell 30:50.9944 1:00.6039* 3 Crick 30:57.1650 1:00.9028 4 White 1:00.8101 31:05.7757 31:08.2923 1:01.0775 5 Simpson 6 Harris 31:24.6881 T.01.3063 7 Elliott 31:28.2265 1:01.6154 8 Johnson 31:39.6736 1:02.2314 9 Searle 31:45.9478 1:02.1555 10 Hunt 31:48.0346 1:02.2831 11 VanZelm 1:01.8496 29 laps 12 Beikoff 1:02.3967 29 laps 13 Porter 1:01.9629 29 laps 1:02.6490 14 Halliday 29 laps 1:01.5905 15 Mundy 29 laps 16 Salmon 1:02.9121 29 laps 17 Lawrence 1:04.9456 28 laps 18 Turner 1:02.2977 28 laps 19 Smith 1:03.6039 27 laps DNF Thorn 1:03.0072 23 laps DNF Wyhoon 1:01.6847 21 laps DNF Howard 1:05.5666 5 laps DNF Jones 1:25.1851 llap DNS McDonald, Mork,Ferrier, Basban,May,Hunt Points: Brede 248, Dumbrell 218, Crick 170, Harris 157, White 135, Simpson 109, Elliott 96, Porter 94, Johnson 84, Searle 76, Mundy 74, Beikoff 66, Salmon 64, Flalliday 63, Wyhoon 61, Hunt 53, Smith 51, Van Zelm 48/Lawrence 48, Turner 39, Thorn 36, McDonald 24, May 21, Howard 15.

54

continued from page 52

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and Brede zipping past Wyhoon to chase down the Wynn’s car. With the field picking new lines down the main straight to avoid assortedbits from Wesley May’s VS - which had lost a wheel - Harris now had Crick and PD fiirmly on his bumper.

Dumbrell spotted a gap and decided to have a go. It didn’t work, and by the time he had rejoined, he had lost two places.

Brede got inside Crick for second at the inside of turn eight and immediately started closing in on Harris. In the end he simply ran out oflaps, and the Castrol Falcon went on to cross the finish line just 0.26s ahead of the sister Gulf Western car.

Dumbrell recovered sufficiently to re-pass Wyhoon, but Crick was simply too far down the road and went on to claim the final spot on the podium.

Race 3(30 laps) e sun, which had been

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conspicuously absent on Saturday, was well and truly out by the time Race 3 rolled around, and the warm ambient temperature, combined with the longer format of the race, would present a new test to many ofthe drivers.

In a new system developed for this year’s series, the Race 3 grid was decided by nominal points awarded in the first two races.

On front row then, was Brede and Dumbrell, with Crick and White lining up behind.

The field made it three fi'om three in the clean start stakes, \yith Dumbrell making a better getaway from the line only to have Brede reclaim his spot at the front on the inside at turn 1.

Mmost straight away,the Falcon set about opening a small gap which later stretched to as much as two seconds before lapped i traffic began to come into the fl equation. * A large-ish field, a long race, and the short lap time around Wakefield, meant that slower traffic was always going to play a big part in the finale, and so it proved.

“We came up on lapped cars quickly,” confirmed Brede later.

“Some guys were good, others were really not good at all.

Something of an understatement if ever there was one ...

“To be honest, the traffic played into my hands a bit,” Dumbrell admitted.‘When Dale went through,they knew I’d be going through too, so it made things a bit easier.”

As the race went on, the physical demands of the race format started to take their toll, with more and more tired drivers sliding into the gravel. If this was creating any

A Very Important Commodore: Matthew White returned to the Konica Series at Wakefield Park. Here he heads Michael Simpson and Terry (Pholo by Dirk Klynsmith) Wyhoon. problems for Crick he didn’t show it, running a fairly lonely race in third to finish almost seven seconds behind the leaders and almost nine seconds clear of White.

Brede and Dumbrell crossed the line to begin the final lap just a few tenths apart, with Brede’s rear bumper flailing in the breeze behind him courtesy of a tap from his pursuer.

It eventually flew off at turn eight, with just half a lap to go.

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amazingly without causing any problems to either car. The increasingly vocal crowd rose to their feet to watch the Ford and Holden round the final bend together and cross the finish line, the AU bettering the VX by just 0.2s.

If the final moments of the opening round were any indication of what we’ve got to look forward to, the 2002 Konica Series seems set to be something pretty special.

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FORMULA FOm "H

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Team-mates Whincup and Marshall share Wakefield opener

Red, blue, yellow and victory; Gold Coaster Marcus Marshall, who these days lives in Melbourne, scored his first career Formula Ford win at (Photo by John Morris/Mpix) Wakefield Park, and now sits a close second in the title.

by MARK GLENDENNING SONIC Motorsport fulfilled pre-season expectations by taking both races at the opening round of the Formula Ford series at Wakefield Park last weekend.

Team-mates Jamie Whincup and Marcus Marshall each drove away from Goulburn with a win in their pocket, however the form of some of the competition suggests that the fight for the title could be a bit New Van Diemens can’t be bad things: The 2001 title-winning more wide-open than first thought.

Whincup ^cked up the first machine of Jamie Whincup, above, leads the title, while Andrew point on offisr for the weekend Jones, right, had plenty of speed but not the luck to go with it.

(Photos by Dirk Klynsmith and John Morris/Mpix) when he stuck his Van Diemen _ __ RFOl on pole,just over 0.1s ahead of Marshall, leaving Barton Mawer Whincup was able to recover and at the entry to Turn 10, and and Andrew Jones to fill row two. continue in fourth. the Victorian immediately set For the first few corners of Race A long battle between them for his sights on Winterbottom, 1. the positions toward the front of third (which became second who by this time had fallen the field remained static until following Whincup’s excursion) slightly away from Marshall.

Mark Winterbottom nosed his ended when Mawer went wide at BeforeTong, the Bosch car Bosch Batteries Spectrum ahead of turn two and Winterbottom was was another notch on Jones at turn six to take fourth.

Whincup’s belt, and suddenly able to sneak through. The top Not long afterwards, Jones was three proceeded to greet the the ‘Super Sonics’ were in trouble - a plug lead had chequer in that order, with Mawer running 1-2. worked loose in the engine,forcing With the top three ruiming holding off a charging Whincup to the OzEmail Van Diemen 02 into keep third by a mere 0.07s. nose to tail and just a handful the pitlane for repairs. After a brief Whincup had another scare in oflaps to the finish, the delay he was back, albeit well race two when he was caught out pressure levels were soaring down the field and minus his sky-high. Something had to by a set-up change and ran slightly engine cover. It didn’t harm his give, and when the crunch wide on the first lap, allowing pace though - on lap 11, Jones came,it was Marshall.

Justin Cotter to slip through. It posted a lm02.2951s tour that “It was 100 percent my mistake, was short-lived, though, as the reset the lap record; a small I just went in too deep,” he said.

Valvoline car had regained its consolation for finishing 22nd.

By the time he had recovered fourth spot within half a lap. from outbraking himself at the Meanwhile, the top of the field Winterbottom, meanwhile, was looming large in race leader first turn, he had dropped to was producing plenty of drama of its own when vhiincup missed his Marshall’s mirrors, and shortly fourth, allowing Whincup to scoot away to the win and, by virtue of afterwards, Whincup was causing brake pedal and took to the grass, similar problems for Mawer. the bonus point for pole position, handing the lead to Marshall.

The battle for third was settled Mawer and Winterbottom also the championship lead.

Winterbottom was second in found their way past before when Whincup got through Mawer 3 April 2002

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another encouraging result for both the young Sydney driver and the works Spectrum team, with Mawer again taking third.

Further down the field, the big mover was Jones, who finally had a co-operative car underneath him and duly hauled it through the traffic from 22nd to ninth.

Points: Whincup 33, Winterbottom/ Marshall 32, Mawer 28, Cotter 20.

55

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Rallye Catalunya

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HE View from the Bridge known as C25 on the Viladrau Stage said all there was to say about the 2002 Rallye Catalunya.

Each year, thousands of spectators gather to get a grandstand view as the world’s best rally drivers assault one of the great comers in tarmac rallying. The bravest drivers swing right, fire the car hard left and take as much of the apex as they dare, often three-, or even two-wheeling through the comer at maximum speed.

But, on Day 3 of the 2002 event, Gilles Panizzi broke the mould.

On SS15, he intentionally approached the corner in the middle of the road and kept it there, turning in at the final moment. The silver Peugeot 206 WRC spun like a top through a full 360 degrees, smoke pouring from the crazed Michelins as Panizzi and brother Herve left the fans screaming for more.

Of course, Panizzi did not win the stage - he was only second.

But, having started the day with a 44 second lead, he did not need to win it. The Frenchmen were even more dominant than they had been at home two weeks earlier; on the first two days, Panizzi gave up one stage win(and then by only 0.2s) to Petter Solberg. On every___ other stage, he had been either fastest or equal fastest in a crushing display of superiority.

Richard Burns backed up his team-mate for another Pug 1-2, but this time the party was crashed by Philippe Bugalski, the Citroen driver kicking Marcus Gronholm off the podium by 30s.

Solberg took fifth, while the final points went to Colin McRae,the Scot driving in pain after, briefly, considering having a broken finger amputated before the event. In the end, McRae drove with all 10 digits, grimacing the Ford Focus home in a gutsy performance.

The other Ford favourite, Carlos Sainz, sent his fans home disappointed - though, it appears, they may have contributed to his demise. After three stages were cancelled due to spectator problems - and more than 230 road cars had been removed from stages - Sainz found another car where it should not have been and spun in sixth gear to avoid a collision. In the end, the Ford sustained too much damage and the local hero was out.

But then the fans had Panizzi’s Cirque du Soleil performance to cheer them up, and the thought, perhaps, that two more tarmac wins in Germany and Sanremo could see the road racer extraordinaire contend for the WRC crown.

56

Day 1 The Catalans love their rallying - toosure much.

SSI had to be cancelled after too many spectator cars were on the course and Panizzi set the agenda by clean-sheeting everything else.

Despite a threat of SS6 being canned due to a small fire (it was quickly put under control), Panizzi finished the day 26s up on Burns.

Tommi Makinen’s dreadful nm continued. In the final stage of the day, he recovered after going off the road and into a ditch, costing two minutes, and finished the day in 12th.

But the Subaru’s engine was damaged and, on the first transport section of Day 2, it quit.

Team-mate Solberg, one of the few men who looked capable of challenging the 206s, dropped time with brake problems,falling to sixth.

While McRae and Sainz (navigated by Marc Marti after regular co-driver Luis Moya was injured in a testing crash) were in seventh and eighth, Colin’s brother was.also have problems,Alistair McRae wrestling his Mitsubishi down the road after a rear tyre blowout at over 160kmh.

Day 2 More spectator problems caused the.first two stages to be canned, biit Panizzi picked up where he left off by taking SS9.

But on SSIO,the tide turned.

Sainz had his accident, while Solberg finally took a section from Panizzi.

“I was pushing hard into a fifthgear fast comer with a few cars on the inside and on the outside,” explained Sainz back in service. “I corrected my line but there was a car which had two wheels on the tarmac. So I had to force a sixthgear spin.

“It was stupid to risk running that stage. It would have been better to stay safe.”

His comments were echoed by many other drivers ...

Panizzi continued on his winning way for the rest of the day, stretching his lead over Burns to 44s, while Solberg faded along with his brakes again, leaving Bugalski in third from Sebastien Loeb.

I

t was not all tricolour smiles for the French. Loeb, after a brilliant run in Monte Carlo, had ended Day 2 in a strong fourth, but had his Citroen roll onto its roof on SS14, the shoi-test stage of the rally.

All that was left was for Panizzi to get the car home and that he molorsport news

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WORLD RALLY

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Rally Briefs

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Gilles Panizzi spanked the opposition in Catalunya to lead a 1-2 for les Lions. ^OMSON reports i

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French forest flyer: Panizzi, above, continued his spooky, Corsica form in Spain, leading a 1-2 for Peugeot.

Threewheeling: Bums, left, let it all hang out near the C25 bridge in his drive to second place.

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The cheap seats pay off: Spectators got a bridge-eye view of Panizzi looping his Pug just for the heli of it. Rovanpera however, had to take a slightly more orthodox approach, below left.

did, despite entertaining the punters on SSI5 and allowing Burns, Jesus Pui-as (Citroen) and Solberg to take turns at taking stages until Gilles righted the ship to take his second straight WRC win.

“This has been a fantastic rally for me. In fact, March has been a pretty good month!” he grinned.

“I decided to give the crowds a spin or two and they went crazy!

“As for me. I’ve proved again that I’m very competitive on asphalt and now I want to continue to build my experience and speed on the gravel as well.”

Burns was a solid second from Bugalski, whose consistency (he did not win a single stage) was a highlight. Gronholm kept his world championship lead with 3 April 2002

3h34.09.0 1 Gilles Panizzi/Hen/e Panizzi Peugeot Sport Peugeot 206 WRC 3h34.46.3 2 Richard Burns/Robert Reid Peugeot Sport Peugeot 206 WRC 3h35.22.5 3 Philippe Bugalski/J-P Chiaroni Citroen Sport Citroen Xsara WRC 3h35.51.7 4 Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautianen Peugeot Sport Peugeot 206 WRC 3h36.10.6 5 Better Solberg/Phillip Mills Prodrive Subaru Impreza WRC 3h37.36.3 6 Colin McRae/Nicky Grist M-Sport Ford Focus WRC Drivers Championship points: Gronholm 21, Panizzi 20, Burns 13, Makinen 10, Sainz 9, Bugalski 7, Rovanpera and Loeb 6, C, McRae and Solberg 5, A. McRae 2.

Manufacturers Championship points: Peugeot: 52, Ford 25, Subaru 20, Mitsubishi 6, Hyundai 1.

Rallve Catalunya Oui, baby!

Peugeot Sport team manager Corrado Provera celebrates yet another 1-2 for Les Pugs in Spain.

fourth from Solberg. Colin McRae (having to change gears with his left hand after pre-event mods to his Ford)took the bravest point of his career, holding off the private 206 of Harri Rovanpera and Markko Martin (Focus). Francois Delecour’s struggling Mitsubishi and Freddy Loix’s Hyundai

rounded out the top 10.

Sanremo beckons, and the change in surface from tarmac to gi-avel will assist Gronholm, Solberg and the rest of the drivers who must be sick of watching Panizzi’s rear wing.

But, if Gilles ever learns to like dirt, watch out...

CALLS have come to reduce the amount of debris dragged onto the stages by corner cutting on tarmac rallies.

This was after punctures rather than driving ability decided the Junior Super 1600 class on the Spanish round.

Mousse tyres are available to the outright works cars that enable them to cut corners with minimal risk of punctures, but for Super 1600 they are banned on cost grounds.

Italian Andrea Dallavilla got a rear puncture 10 kilometres from the end of the final stage, costing him the win, which went to fellow Citroen driver Dani Sola.

Almost all the leading Junior World Championship contenders got punctures, including Francois Duval, Martin Rowe, Niall McShea, David Doppelreiter, Gianluigi Galli and Alejandro Galanti. n Argentinian Gabriel Pozzo will replace Swedish veteran Stig Blomqvist in a Skoda World Rally Car for the upcoming Cyprus and Argentina Rallies, Pozzo, the reigning Group N champion, made his debut in the Octavia WRC on the Rallye Catalunya last weekend but retired after a turbo fire.

"I know this was not a popular decision as far as Stig was concerned," said David Sutton, who manages both driver's contracts.'

"But I hope that Gabriel's appearance on his home event will help us to secure the vital funding that we need for Gabriel in the future." n Peugeot will enter a worksbacked 206 World Rally Car on the Corona Rally Mexico for Finnish driver Flarri Rovanpera.

The Leon-based event is scheduled for just one week after the Cyprus Rally, giving Rovanpera and co-driver Risto Pietilainen barely enough time to make the journey and practise. The rally, which is run on loose surfaces, is reported to be fast and smooth.

The move, which was announced last week, is the clearest sign yet that the central American rally is regarded as a realistic World Championship contender. Peugeot took a similar approach to the Deutschland Rally last year, sending a car for Marcus Gronholm. The rally is now part of the World Championship.

"It's a commonsense decision, because we are selling very weli there," said Peugeot Sport chief Corrado Provera.

"The target is to go and have people talking about Peugeot."

- JON THOMSON/STAFF S7

Colin keeps his pinky

COLIN McRae revealed prior to the start in Spain that he was prepared to sacrifice a finger for the sake of his World Rally Championship hopes this year.^ The Ford star broke the little finger on his left hand in a huge crash on the Tour de Corse. He told his team that he was willing to have it amputated if he found his driving was impeded by it.

However despite severe pain, he was able to cope with it in Catalunya and will retain the digit and undergo intensive physio ahead of Cyprus in three weeks time.

Racing with his injured hand heavily strapped, McRae was assisted in Catalunya by the addition of an extra gear change mechanism to the right of the steering wheel to complement the usual mechanism on the left, giving McRae the option of changing gears with either hand and thus alleviating some of the strain.

- JON THOMSON/STAFF

Ptioio by Sutton-lmaoes

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RALLY Australia has announced a major re jig of stages for this year, including the return of the popular York and Muresk stages east of Perth and the dropping of the rally's longest stage,the 45-kilometre Wellington Dam stage.

The rally returns to the York area at least partly for the benefit of the media. The stages aren't particularly testing, but are amongst the most photogenic in that part of Australia. Wellington Dam has. 1 been omitted to make the route more compact. .\ j The service area in the southern leg will be moved from Harvey' | i to Dwellingup and the Murray River stage will be re-introduced to

rnaintain the stage distance. The eastern leg's service point willbe I rhbved from Mundaring to Chidlow. , i'. ^ ^ i \ - JOM THOMSON I

ln I-

Is EVO, is slow

MITSUBISHI Ralliart chief Andrew Cowan has admitted that the Lancer World Rally Car has serious failings and is concerned that it may struggle for competitiveness in all conditions, not just on tarmac.

The latest Mitsubishi, which has yet to finish higher than fifth on a WRC event, has been badly off the pace on tarmac, but Ralliart had previously maintained that it would be much better on dirt.

But now, Cowan is the first to suggest that this may not be up to it on dirt either.

“It’s something to do with the front of the car,” he said. “It’ll affect us on the loose too; you get good grip on gravel these days. I don’t think it’s a homologation thing, but we don’t know what it is.”

Aversion II of the Lancer is due later this year, but is unlikely to appear until August at the earliest.

- JON THOMSON moiorsport news

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RALLYING

Pug: tough road ahead PEUGEOT Sport Director Corrado Provera has predicted that his team will find the next few months tougher going and insisted that the World Rally Championship isn't a foregone conclusion.

This is despite the fact that Peugeot now has more than twice as many points as its nearest rival and its drivers hold the top three places in -the title. . "We have won the same rallies in which we

scored exactly the same amount of points as last year and you should not jump to the conclusion that the championship is already over," Provera said.

"We should wait until the competition is maybe beating us in Cyprus and the Acropolis."

The next four events are the roughest in the World Championship and Peugeot has yet to win any of them with the 206.

- JOIM THOMSON

'7^

Crowding the issue SPECTATOR crowding was a real headache for Catalunya organisers this year in an event once lauded for its safety precautions.

The organisers had to cancel the opening stage on day one and the first two stages on day two and,for a while, it seemed that the third and fourth on day two might go as well.

Last year, San Remo taped off any on-stage parking areas at least two days before the event started to keep them clear of parked_cars.

Unusually, Catalunya failed to do so and the organisers seemed surprised when rally fans camped out overnight and then left their cars in dangerous places.

By the organisers' own admission, 236 cars had to be removed from the stages before they could run.

Doubtless Carlos Sainz would have preferred them to have shifted a few more...

- JON THOMSON

Sweeping changes THE FIA World Council has voted through a series of proposals from the Rallying Commission which will enhance safety, reduce testing and avoid clashes over driver contracts.

The organisers of ail international rallies will now have to submit detailed safety plans to the FIA, with details of all safety measures for competitors and officials plus safe viewing areas for spectators, the location of all marshal posts and details of how spectators will be managed. The aim of the new rules is to stop any further accidents involving spectators and officials - which is seen to be the biggest threat to rallying at the moment.

In an effort to cut down on the costs of the World Rally Championship, it has been agreed that all testing at nonEuropean venues (including Cyprus) must be conducted within five days of the start of the rally or in the five days following the event.

In order to stop unofficial tests, the FIA has adopted a definition of testing which involves the presence of ‘personnel employed by or contracted to a team’.

The WMSC has also approved the creation of a Contract Recognition Board for the World Rally Championship.

This will operate in the same way as the F1 system - which has proved to be very effective in recent years.

- JON THOMSON

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59

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Easter Trail

Max does it again T~T7r

by BRETT SWANSON

THE 2002 Easter Sprintcar Trail proved to be a historic weekend with Australian and World Series Champion Max Dumesny in his Valvoline Maxim,taking two wins and the overall cash bonus as well as continuing to be the winningest driver in Easter TraU history.

The ‘Indiana interloper’Paul McMahon created history also by becoming the first American to race in the Trail and the first Yank winner of an Easter Trail feature.

McMahon also made a record attempt on the altitude record at Warmambool on Easter Sunday after failed steering put him into the wall while leading the main event.

In the overall results, Victorians Mike Van Bremen and Rob Rankin finished second and third ahead of Sydney’s Adrian Maher and Luch Monte.

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That’s what 14 other competitors were asking after Dumesny cut through the field like a hot knife through butter before a huge crowd on the opening night at Avalon.

Dumesn/s form was simply stunning, as he scorched away from pole sitter Lewis on the opening lap and simply disappeared. Within four laps Dumesny was on the tail of lapped traffic and by race’s end had lapped the majority of the field.

At one stage he even stuck the nose of his Valvoline Maxim under his anticipated main rival Robbie Farr in an attempt to lap him.

Farr glimpsed the nose of the Dumesny machine and really got on the gas, eventually finishing fourth after having to come through the B-Main following a first heat incident.

Lewis, in the Melbourne International Truck Centre Maxim was in fine form with his rebuilt Kendrick engine sounding sweet and ‘The Fly’ was driving the machine perfectly and patiently to score a pair of heat wins. However, once the feature started, the best Levfis could hope for was second.

“The car was too hooked up, it 60

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On debut and on-song: Paul McMahan became the first American to (Photo by Paris Cha rles) win a ieg of the Easter Trail.

was a bit of a nightmare,” Lewis explained as his car was pushed to scale.

Third place was a great result for Ballarat-based Rod Matthews, perhaps showing the benefit of having Jamie Cobby giving him advice over the last couple of weeks. Matthews drove extremely well and held a solid third place for the duration of the 25-lap event and only came under pressure late in the race from a hounding Farr.

Troy Shiels and Farr were the only cars to progress into the Feature from the B-Main with Darren Jensen just missing out.

The action started in the first heat when Tasmanian Tim Hutchins rode a wheel on the first turn and flipped lightly. However, his chassis was destroyed. Luckily an offer from Geoff Clifford got the talented steerer back on track the following night. Matthews won the heat, holding out Dumesny in the process.

Maher pushed the Bevelite Glass machine to the win in heat two and Lewis drove past Jensen to win heat three. Farr drove into the back of Brent Hough on the

●I

start of this heat and failed to finish.

Karl Enderl raced hard leading Dumesny, however a slight tap from the Aussie Champ spun the South Aussie out of the lead just as Ian Thomsen spun.

Dumesny made short work of the restart to sweep around the outside of Enderl to take the win in heat four.

Charles Hunter was leading the fifth heat and coming under pressure from Lewis when the motor let go in a big cloud of smoke and flame, while the final heat went to Phil Johnson, who raced knowing that the block was cracked. The engine blew on the last lap of the Feature event...

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Mt Gambler McMahan did opposition a Dumesnyatand smoked the Borderline Speedway on Saturday night. The race meeting ran in almost a full inversion the Avalon race with Farr and McMahon running through the heats untroubled while Lewis, Dumesny and Matthews all struck trouble and ended up in the B-Main. motorspon news

SPEEDWAY

on the Easter D*ail Following McMahon across the line was Warmamhool’s Ken Veal, who ran a solid race all night. Veal had qualified on the front row alongside McMahon and had run second for the majority of the race until the flying Farr grabbed the nmner up position.

Sadly for Farr, who’d closed up on McMahon, he pulled in with just two laps to run thanks to a broken rocker...

Third place was a contentious position with it being awarded to Jensen, however astute scorers had Jensen as being lapped early on and the position shoidd have been given to Rankin ahead of Van Bremen, Stephen Bell, Grant Anderson, Luch Monte and Darryl Downing.

Post-race the results were revised, with Rankin being given third.

Friday winner Dumesny hit trouble in his first heat when the car broke a rocker. The crew changed the power plant and Dumesny won the B-Main ahead of Maher.

Dumesny then worked his way through the A-main to be in sixth when Darren Walsh lost it and the

dicing pack of Rankin, Johnson, Hutchins and Dumesny piled into each other.

Dumesny, Walsh and Johnson were out although Dumesny’s team only needed another 30 seconds to make the restart. Maher was a late arrival on the scene and rolled after contacting the fence.

Warrnambool from thewas moment he McMahon on fire hit the hallowed Allansford clayway for hot laps.

In the main event he twice beat Dumesny off the line and immediately pulled Flying but not with the luck: Ian Lewis took the fight up to Dumesny at Premier (Photo by Ian Robinson) Speedway, but engine dramas slowed him. away.

However, his race was turn one. McMahon limped from had a go at Dumesny after the last ver/short lived when on lap the wreck with an injured ankle. restart but then his engine soured three, as he exited turn four, the From here on Dumesny was over the last four laps and he just steering box broke. never headed, but the drive of the held off Jensen by half a car length McMahon was propelled at an extreme rate into the wall from at the chequered flag. night belonged to the veteran Monte, Maher, Rankin, Lewis, who had won the B-Main where he rode out a bone-jarring Hutchins, Van Bremen,John series of end-for-end flips that and had then charged from 15th to second.

Vogels and Anderson completed started before the judge’s box and the list offinishers.

Lewis was not fazed and even ended just past the pit gates in

fling takes Gold Cup

3 April 2002

DARRYL Downiiig, /eft; finished the season as he had started it

The final heat, which went to Green from Veal, saw Bunker roll on

with a great feature win at Speedway City in the Easter Sprintcar Cup over 25 laps.

Run on Good Friday and clashing with the opening round of the Easter Trail at Avalon, there vVere still 16 cars on hand, including four from Victoria and American Paul McMahan, on his first visit to Australia and wheeling one of Luch Monte's machines.

Bad luck dogged the American, who pulled infield in his opening heat with an off-song motor that was replaced for the next heat. It proved no better and blew, putting him out of the final.

Phil March beat Monte in the opening heat, which was marred by an opening lap accident, with Darryn Maggs hitting the concrete.

Heat two went to Wayne Bunker over Trevor Green and Veal, while Dennis Burford had a win over Monte and Downing in heat three.

the main straight at the finish after tangling with March while fighting for third place.

Bunker was unable to run the Pole Shootout while still repairing the damage, though was still awarded the sixth starting spot for the feature.

Downing went through the Shootout by beating Veal, Burford then Monte, but lost to Green, who opted to start from the outside of the front row in the final and grabbed the lead at the start.

He lost out to Downing some laps later in traffic and, with 11 laps to go, March rounded up the duo to take the lead, which he held until two laps to go. The former Aussie champ spun and was sent to the rear for the restart.

Downing resumed the lead, which he held to the finish ahead of Green, Burford and Mark Reuter.

- FRAPJK R/ilDGLEY

«

61

Victorian Sprintcar Championship

Its just more Max

by BRETT SWANSON

E

IGHTEEN years after taking victory in his first Victorian Championship, current Australian and World Series Sprintcar Champion Max Dumesny scored his ninth 'Wctorian title win after an exciting tussle with recentlycrowned Tasmanian Champion David Murcott at Ballarat’s Redline Raceway on March 23.

Dumesny had to use all of his years of experience to repel the young charger who had actually passed Dumesny for the lead with just a hand full of laps still to run.

John Vogels, like Dumesny, another of the classy breed of drivers from the south west of Victoria, grabbed the final podium position after another solid run on an extremely slick and dusty surface.

“That was a good race,” said Dumesny.

“Redline is a fun track. Turns three and four are much like Sioux Falls in America. I’d been trying the high-line, which turned out'not to be so good when Dave got by me so I went back to the low-line.

When he got by I wasn’t that confident of getting back by him, but we pressed on and did it.”

Murcott admitted that it was no disgrace to finish second to Dumesny.

“He’s the best in Australia,” said the Tassie Champ.“I don’t like finishing second, but I’ll take it when it’s second to Max. I think I

AUS 1, WSS 1 and now Vic 1 again! Is there any limit to the number of titles a driver can win in a single (Photo by Brett Swanson) year? Max Dumesny is just getting greedy! caught him napping there, and it woke him up quick! He was faster than us oh a clear track.”

Car owners Frank Ramsdale and Gavin Sharpe were stoked.

“It’s a shame that David has to leave for Knoxville on Monday. It wpuld have been great to have done the Easter Trail with him.”

Two dozen cars from three states fronted to the unique Mount Buninyong circuit and, despite the

vagaries and tightness of the track, the incidents were few and relatively minor.

For the 30-lap title race, Dumesny was on pole with Murcott alongside.

In recent title battles Murcott has really taken it to Dumesny, and this race was no exception.

The pair went deep into the opening turn side-by-side and continued that way down the back chute as well before Dumesny

Murcott aims at WSS

INAUGURAL KIDD program winner David Murcott has joined forces with Frank Ramsdale and the duo will nominate for a place on the 2002/2003 World Series trail.

Murcott headed to Knoxville last week, where he’ll run a full season in Iowa, while Ramsdale will be working on raising a budget for next summer.

“I am taking a step back from driving so that David can give this World Series a decent shake if we're selected,” said Ramsdale.

“If we’re selected for WSS we'll run with support from Cool Chassis and naturaily use their product.

I think David can hold his own. He has a great track record and he’s always fast. I think we could mix it with some of those guys."

The two combined for the first time at the recent Tasmanian Sprintcar Championship, where Murcott took his fourth Tassie title, and finished second in Joiningforces: While Murcottjets off to the US, Ramsdale the Victorian Title to Max Dumesny at Redline Raceway.

(Photo by Brcit Swanson) will seek more moneyfor World Series.

62

finally edged into the lead.

The yellows were out a couple of laps later whe Phil Johnson had a big slow half lose and the yellows were thrown simultaneously for the recovery of Darryl Downing’s front nerf bar, with the South Aussie being sent to the rear.

The race’s first retirement was Steve Knight, who hit the pit gate fairly hard.

“I just lost sight of the wall in the dust,” was his excuse.

From here the race’s momentum was not interrupted, Murcott using a lot of the turn one and two infield to keep pace with Dumesny.

In heavy lapped traffic with just a few laps to run, Murcott was on the infield passing both Dumesny and some lapped cars.

Fortunately, Dumesny was soon able to recover the lead which would have been handed back to him anyway, as Murcott was about to be pinged for passing on the infield.

When Jeremy Warren dropped out of fifth place with a flat right rear tyre within sight of the chequers, it set up a two-lap sprint to the flag which saw Dumesny take a narrow win over Murcott and Vogels. Darren Saillard pulled a last lap pass on Rod Matthews for fourth with Mike Van Bremen sixth ahead of Phil Johnson, Ken Veal, the returning Rob Rankin and Ian Thomsen.

moiorsDort news

SPEEDWAY New NASR General Manager appointed TIM McAvaney has been appointed the new General Manager of NASR after the retirement of Peter Dodd in January.

McAvaney, who has worked as Dodds's understudy for the past eight months, was the Race Director of the 2001/2002 World Series Sprintcar season and also filled the role at the recent MetalCorp Recyclers NASR Australian Speedcar Title.

"I love this sport and have aspired to work in the industry and make a difference for as long as I can remember," said McAvaney.

"I know that this may not be the easiest job in the world, but I am excited to have been given this opportunity."

I-

Johnson meets with manufacturers over cutting costs WORLD of Outlaws founder and President, Ted Johnson, right, has been having a series of discussions with chassis and engine builders with a view to reducing the cost of competing at the ultimate level of Sprintcar racing.

At a meeting with engine builders, they politely pointed out to Johnson that as long as teams were prepared to spend mega dollars on engine development, then they would be unable to do anything to reduce the cost of competition.

The engine builders stated that the only way to slow the cars and to reduce the ever more expensive search for minute increments of horsepower was to reduce the car's aero package.

With massive amounts of horsepower not such a huge advantage, the development of 'hand grenade' engines would be retrlaced by engines with greater reliability and durability, wliich would reduce the cost of racing.

In order to reduce the aero package, tfie Outlaws are considering a reduction in main

wing size from five-by-five top wings to four-by-four wins.

Another change under consideration is the use of a control right rear tyre, a rule that has already been implemented in many series', both in the USA and here in Australia.

Also under consideration for the Outlaws is a weight limit.

While nothing has been settled on yet, they are believed to be considering a minimum weight limit of 1400 pounds, including the driver. This would drivers such as Steve Kinser, who with his large frame and solid wrestler-build, has advocated a weight limit for some years.

Johnson was also said to be critical of chassis builders who've developed a habit in recent times of building one-off and 'odd ball' chassis such as the 'Kicker' car run controversially by Danny Lasoski at Florida last season.

In response to this, the manufacturers explained that these experimental chassis are run by drivers who don't pay for them, ie. Lasoski (Eagle), Steve Kinser (Maxim) etc, and that those competitors that do

Max Dumesny Motorsport Australian Distributors for

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n The list of drivers expressing interest in the next season of WSS continues. Victorian Matthew Reed has discussed pooling resources with Mike Van Bremen for a season-long attack, while Phil March is also on the list. n Steven Graham tore victory away from Craig Brady in the dying laps of the 25-lap My 105.com Frank Brewer Tasman Cup as the pair hit seven lap cars at once at Parramatta a fortnight ago.

He held off Brady to the chequer and the Jenkins brothers, Darren third ahead of Troy.

pay for their own frames don't want these sort of cars because they are oddball.

While on the subject of chassis builde Jerry Russell from Eagle chassis has decided in light of the recent Daryn Pittman crash - in which Pittman suffered crushed vertebrae - that he will only build 'Tall boy' chassis.

Once the frames currently in construction on the jigs in his workshop are completed, then the standard Eagle thereafter will have additional headroom over the cuirent version.

- BRETT SWAMSOINI

n Wayne Millburn led from start to finish to take out the inaugural South Australian 360 Sprintcar Ttle at Speedway City on March 23.

Two heat wins gave him pole position in the 20-lap final, while second generation former Australian go kart champ Michael Burford started alongside on the front row after scoring a win and a second.

In a mix-up at the start, Burford went infield and then charged straight onto the track, slamming heavily into his father Dennis, who rolled in the process. Both the Burford cars were too badly damaged to take the restart.

Milburn took the lead and was never headed, coming home at a canter ahead of Owen Pitt, Harold Brennan Jr and Wayne Bunker.

- FRANK MIDGLEY

2002 WORLD OF OUTLAWS SPRINTCAR SERIES Pike County SpeedvYay March 24

1. Mark Kinser 2. Steve Kinser 3. Tim Shaffer 4. Craig Dollansky 5. Joey Saldana 6. Randy Hannagan 7. Jac Haudenschild a. Donny Schatz 9. Danny Lasoski

10. Jason Sides 11. Stevie Smith 12. Michael Dupuy 13. Dale Howard 14. Leonard Lee 15. Danny Wood 16. Jan Howard 17. Jason Johnson 18. Brad Furr

Standings to March. 25 1.Mark Kinser 2.steve Kinser ... .

S.Danny Lasoski . . .

4.Joay Saldana ....

S.Slevie Smith .... e.Craig Oollansky ..

7.Tim ShaHer S.Brad Furr g.Randy Hannagan . lO.Jac Haudenschild

1342 ,1325 .1316 .1255 .1233 .1232 .1218 1203 .1194 ,1181

83

NASCAR changes provisional rules STARTING at Bristol, NASCAR announced a slight change in its provisional ruling for the final seven cars that make the grid using the allotted car owner points.

If the field of cars is equal to or less than the required 43 cars, the final seven starting spots will not count against their allotment of eight provisional slots per season.

NASCAR have also been on the phone talking to teams not entered in upcoming events to make sure a full grid of 43 cars is entered. Its motive?

If a full field is not achieved, they will not receive full payment from their TV contracts with Fox and NBC.

Ford rookie taps Spencer out of the way to win at Bristoi

n Following his nasty Darlington wreck, Tony Stewart suffered at Bristol with back pain, spinning twice before pitting and handing the car over to relief driver Todd Bodine.

Stewart led 74 laps, but was on the radio to crew chief Greg Zippadeli after the second spin. So Bodine took over at lap 367 of 500 and brought the car home in 16th.

"When I got in, it was really loose," said Bodine of the Joe Gibbs/Fiome Depot Pontiac. "If he can drive it like that, he's my hero." n Jeff Gordon won his first Bristol pole with a new track record of 127.216 mph around the half-mile bowl. Robby Gordon was a surprising second, making it an all-Gordon and Californian-born front row.

Rookie Jimmie Johnson, one of the fastest in first practice, wrecked his primary car prior to qualifying and reverted to a back-up, posting the 33rd fastest time. n Brett Bodine has securedsponsorship from Flooters restaurants for 26 of the remaining 31 races, with Kirk Shelmerdine who Hooters had a prior agreement with - taking the wheel in a second Ford out of Bodine's self-owned stable for five events.

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n Kev, call home: While he made it into the headlines for trying to belt up Greg Biffle after the Busch Series race at Bristol, Kevin Harvick also made waves in the Winston Cup field - but not for any form of violence.

Last year's Rookie of the Year ran a special 'E.T' paintscheme, to mark the 20th anniversary of the release of the classic Steven Spielberg film.

- MARTIN D CLARK

84

Busch wins in Wi

2001 winner and 2002 winner: Kurt Busch, above right, dives underneath Elliott Sadler’s Motorcraft Ford Taurus, above, on his way to his maiden Winston Cup win. Something you don’t see everyday is Jeff Gordon in a spin, below, but that’s what happened to the four-time champ at Bristol.

(Photos by Martin D Clark)

by MARTIN D CLARK TWENTY-TH^E year old Kurt Busch,the fresh faced Roush Racing sophomore,showed a few veterans the way around Bristol Motor Speedway on his way to victory on March 24 and ruffled some of Jimmy Spencer’s broad feathers in the process.

As with the corresponding race last year - where EUiott Sadler visited victory lane for the first time -it was Busch’s first win in the series in his 48th start and he became the youngest winner since Jeff Gordon, who won at age 22.

Busch started 27th and took the lead when he faked a move to pit road, causing leader Dale Earnhardt Jr to pit and Busch to inherit the lead with 92 laps of the 500 to nm.

On lap 444, Busch gave the lead up to Spencer, who dove under Busch in the Target Dodge that had been fast all race from its fourth starting spot.

Busch responded with a bump entering turn two that forced “Mr. Excitement’ wide and then, to add insult to injury, he moved him higher up the track and almost into a spin in the turn.

“I think you should have a little more respect for the guy leading the race,” quipped Spencer.

“I didn’t do it to him, he shouldn’t have done it to me. Kurt Busch just smashed right into me, but that’s OK,I never forget. The only thing is when I smash back he won’t finish. I passed him fair and

square, but he just smashed into my rear bumper.”

When told of Spencer’s comments, Busch responded; “He’s the one that never forgets? Last year at Phoenix he flat dumped us when we were running eighth and he was a lapped car. I guess we could say that I don’t forget what happened at Phoenix.”

After regaining control of his car, Spencer lost 1.5s in the incident and was unable to catch Busch on a subsequent restart when the 14th and final caution came out for Hermie Sadler, who tagged the wall with 22 laps remaining.

Robby Gordon and ‘Little E’also had issues on track.

“He was a moving chicane the whole race,” commented Earnhardt Jr, who headed 181 laps.

“He wouldn’t move over so we had to deal with him at the end of

the race. That’s why it takes three or four times for the guy to finally get into the Winston Cup series, because he doesn’t pay attention and doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

Gordon retaliated when he spim Junior on pit lane after the race and the pair were called to the NASCAR trailer post-race. A scuffle also broke out when Gordon’s jackman approached the Earnhardt Jr crew and shouted at them with some nice words!

Jeff Gordon led 89 laps before he spun himself out and into the wall.

He pitted for repairs twice and finished the race 31st, 20 laps off the pace and he also fell to 10th in the standings.

Bobby Labonte’s fifth placing was his best ever Bristol result in 19 starts and Kyle Petty’s 12th was his best finish since a ninth at Talladega in 2000. motorsport news

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Where’s Gordon? Earnhardt Jr ended up in trouble with NASCAR over (Photo by Sutton-lmages) his handling of on-track antics with Robhy Gordon.

Still not in the Ball Park

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AFTER hitting the wali at Dariington and Bristol in practice then again crashing in both races Steve Park is being evaluated by both NASCAR and Dale Earnhardt Inc. Park spun t\wice at Bristol and hit three cars in separate incidents in his second race since returning from a massive Busch Series accident last September. Although he still slurs when speaking, his eyesight is apparently OK, but even this is obviously now questionable.

A Hne day at Bristol

THREE drivers were handed out fines by NASCAR on-the Monday following events at the half-mile Bristol bull-ring.

Kevin Harvick received the biggest slap on the wrists at $30,000 for his actions against Greg Biffle in the Busch Series race on the Saturday. He has also been placed on probation until after the August Bristol night race.

Harvick took his best car to the track,,but after a nudge fi-om Biffle, he slammed the front stretch wall extremely

hard, so hard that the right front wheel entered through the firewall.

Harvick waited for Biffle in the pit boxes and had him by the throat after the race, the duo broken up by a large group of people.

Bobby Gordon got a $20,000 penalty for his bump on Dale Earnhardt Jr on pit road at the end of the race, while ‘Little E’ got slapped with a $10,000 fine for his retaliation prior to Gordon’s mischief.

- MARTIN D CLARK Photo hy Sution-lmage.t

Ricky Rudd had his first top 10 result of 2002, while Matt Kenseth’s sixth placing saw him jump to second in points behind Sterling Marlin, who cut a tyre late to finish 19th, his worst result of the year.

Busch’s win was well deserved after a harrowing year in 2001 in which he was plagued with mechanical failure often when a threat for the win. He drove masterfully on tyres that had 157 laps on them at the end, similar to the Sadler victory in 2001, when he drove 162 circuits on the same set.

Final result: Busch (Ford), Spencer (Dodge), Rudd (Ford), Earnhardt Jr. (Chev), B Lahonte (Pontiac), Kenseth (Ford), Johnson (Chev), Nadeau (Chev), R Wallace (Ford), Harvick (Chev).

Points standings; Marlin 931, Kenseth 832, R Wallace 815, Johnson 813, Busch 794, Earnhardt Jr. 791, Newman 778, Martin 768, J Burton 740, J Gordon 739.

3 April 2002

FOLLOWING the departure of Kmart as a sponsor in February, Haas-Carter Motorsports has officially closed its doors and released all staff and its two drivers Todd Bodine and Joe Nemechek, right.

Bodine's team had already ceased operation, but he had remained under contract, while Nemechek will more than likely continue to drive cars for his self-owned Busch Series operation.

- MARTIN D CLARK

Photo bv Marlin D Clark

■ Babewatch: In Tony Stewart's pits at Bristol was none other than Baywatch babe Pamela Anderson, above. There's no real story, but we thought we'd provide the proof...

■ Bobby Labonte was among a slew of teams testing at Texas during the last week of March. But when he damaged his Pontiac quite heavily, a back-up Chevrolet Monte Carlo was rolled off the truck. It was Labonte's first run in the car and by all accounts he was pleased with the outcome, liking it substantially more than his regular Pontiac Grand Prix.

■ Darrell Waltrip is to return from retirement and run the April 13 truck race at the half-mile Martinsville Speedway in a Dodge truck owned by Melling Racing and crew chiefed by his broadcast partner and old crew chief Jeff Hammond. Fox TV is letting the pair off a conflicting Nashville Busch Series schedule to run the event, where Waltrip scored 11 of his 84 career wins. Duck Head footwear will sponsor Waltrip in his one-off outing.

■ Jimmy Elledge, who joined Robert Yates Racing from Andy Petree Racing as crew chief for Dale Jarrett over the winter, looks to be on the move again as he is apparently being courted by Ultra Motorsports to head Casey Atwood's team.

Jarrett has not found success behind the wheel since Elledge joined, but internal politics between he and ex crew chief - now team manager - the headstrong Todd Parrott, are probably not helping. Expect Parrott to return back to crew chief duties if Elledge parts ways with Yates.

- MARTIN D CLARK 65

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by KEN FERGUSON CTOR Bray’s quest for a Doorslanuner National Vseventh-consecutive Top Championship sufferedi a severe blow following the controversial Top Doorslanuner final on Satimday night at the Triple M Australian Tin Top Titles at Willowbank.

Bray, who ran out of time to have the brand new car ready for this event, entered with his trusty old Castrol ’57 Chevy, trailing series leader Peter Kapiris by 98 ' points. Peter Ridgeway’s luck was quite the opposite, taking another hard fought win in Pro Stock, despite only having his old smaller cube engine in the Olds Cutlass for this event.

Friday’s qualifying began some three hours behind schedule thanks to the typical Easter weekend rain, which cast doubts over whether the event would actually start at all. Although raining heavily only a few kilometres down the road, blue sky and sunshine began appeared over the racetrack.

The first qualifying session in Hogs Breath Cafe Top Doorslammer saw Dave Koop as the surprise top qualifier, recording his best numbers with a 6.34/217, in his immaculate Delphi ’55 Chev. His nearest rival in the first session was the Lucas Oils ’53 Studebaker of Gary Phillips, with a 6.35/226.

Session number two saw Peter Kapiris step up to where he wanted to be, taking top spot with a 6.27/224, as did Bray with his 6.38/226. The only improver in the third session was the Winters Smash Repairs ’55 Chewy of Les Winter, going 6.38 @ 214.

After taking his first-ever Nationals crown less than two months ago, Ben Bray again 68

The first round saw Bray and Winter record identical timecards, with 6.381, although Bray took the easy win with a 0.488 reaction. while Winter had an uncharacteristic .892 sec sleep on the start.

Andrew Searle put the improved Koop back on the trailer. as did Phillips with Kim Petterwood. The final pairing saw Kapiris getting back to his best. going 6.22/223, to take out the Jack Daniels entry of Brett Stevens.

The second round saw a great holeshot by Phillips on Andrew Searle, only to see Searle’s Acme Fibreglass Customline drive by in the top end after Phillips’s Studebaker began losing traction and getting very loose. Bray took the easiest win of the round with his 6.50/222 to Kapiris’redlighting 6.22/226. Bray was to face Searle in the final and had the chance to claw back another twenty points closer to Kapiris in the championship race.

Searle’s Customline kicked out a conrod on the burnout and just coasted through to the finish line to leave Bray on a solo for the win.

Bray brought the revs up in the Castrol Chev, came in to stage, but left the line before the tree had been activated, and as a result, no time or speed was recorded.

Within minutes of completing the run,ANDRA officials declared Bray a non-winner and would only be declared joint runner-up with Searle.

The decision has left Bray with 20 very valuable points less than he thought he would have, and now makes the task just that much more difficult, if not impossible, to peg back Kapiris in the championship battle. It seems Kapiris only has to qualify at the Konica Winternationals to collect the gold.

It may seem a little strange, but of all the cars in the Pro Stock field running a Peter Ridgeway 400

Mixed fortunes: Victor Bray, top, had his win downgraded to an equaisecond due to a staging irregularity. No such probiems for Peter Ridgeway, above, who iooks on target for another Pro Stock titie.

(Photos by Ken Ferguson)

cubic inch engine, Ridgeway was not one of them. The engine he used at the Global Info Links Nationals back in January was sold to Jay Watson, and Ridgeway’s new powerplant was not finished in time for this event.

It was Watson who grabbed the top spot in Qualifying after the first session, going 7.62/180 in his Chev Beretta. The second session saw Denis Whiting and John Barbagallo step up and run a pair of 7.65’s, but it was Ridgeway who took the top spot with a 7.60/179 with his trusty old small cube engine.

Late rain on Friday night forced the postponement of the third qualifier until Saturday morning.

The only big improvers in the field were Mike Tinney, who recorded his best numbers yet in his Commodore with a 7.74/175, and Denis Whiting who jumped up into the number one spot with a 7.57/179.

The first round saw Bruce Leake and Ridgeway take wins over the 400 ci cars of Barbagallo and Tinney respectively, while Watson and Whiting took out Tony Wedlock and Jason Grima

respectively. Watson blew his chances in the second round against Ridgeway’s 7.59 with a red light on the startline, and Whiting ended Leake’s night with the event’s quickest ET, a 7.55/181.

Whiting needed to repeat that in the final to beat Ridgeway’s 7.57/179, but fell short with a 7.61, again at 181 mph. Ridgeway should now collect another national championship at the season-ending Winternationals.

John Paris! took the win in Super Stock in his record setting A/S Commodore defeating current national champion Ian Brown in the final with an sub-index 9.94/135. Rhett Lougheed took the win in Comp Bike on his D/CB Kawasaki, going well under his index as well to defeat Perry Mackie on his Harley.

Other winners on the night include Russell Schafer in Supercharged Outlaws, Arthur Telford in Modified, David Grima in Super Sedan, Juan Kudnig in Super Street, Omar Sedmak in Super Gas, Chris Porter in Modified Bike, and Josh Fletcher in Junior Dragster. molorsporl news

DRAG RACING

Clay strikes again

REIGNING ESRA Champion Clay MiUican began his Top Fuel title defence with a win in the opening event on the IHRA Hooters Drag Racing Series at Rockingham, North Carolina.

Millican’s Werner Enterprises dragster recorded a final-round 4.79/294 to stop Bruce Litton, who trailed at 4.84/304.

Millican low-qualified at 4.86s at only 219mph when the bolts sheared on the blower drive pulley.

Tbe exiting belt whacked Millican in the arm, giving the Champion some bruising and pain on raceday.

Millican again slowed at the top end in round one, but a 5.00/214 was enough to defeat Grant Flowers.

In round two, Millican roared to low e.t. of the meet at 4.71/303 to stop the 5.13/268 fi-om Paul Romine.

A1 BUles,pictured, took honours in Pro Mod, besting Shannon Jenkins in a classic blower against nitrous final round. Billes recorded a final round 6.32/222 while Jenkins chattered the tyres and slowed.

Billes had earlier defeated Michael Lockwood, and Steve Salvadore.

He received a round two bye courtesy of a rare occurrence when both Alan Pittman and Mike Ashley failed to fire up in their, opening round match-up. , Jenkins, fresh off his Gainesville (NHRA)win, recorded a 6.28/221 to end up 12th. Wins over Mitch Stott, Rickie Smith and Tommy Gray earned him a shot for the event title with Billes.

11

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Photo by ^ayid Ostas^wsj^

Blower cars dominated the qualifying ladder, grabbing the top ten spots with Tim McAmis’s ‘63 Corvette on top at 6.11/228, followed closely by the ‘53 Studebaker of Billes at 6.14/227.

The record-quick field was anchored by Ronnie Hood at 6.328 seconds. Troy Critchley qualified sixth at 6.23/222.

Ron Miller received a gift in the Pro Stock final round, shaking the tyres and coasting to a 15 second win after Brian Gahm threw away a 6.63/208 when he left the bright red bulb glowing on the tree.

Miller had earlier defeated Billy Huff, Hank Hill and Jason Collins.

A new record-quick bump in Pro Stock was also established at Rockingham with Doug Kirk’s Chevrolet on top at 6.53/210 and Jason Collins’s 6.64/210 16th.

Doug Vancil, the 2001 Nitro Harley Champion, defeated Ray

t's time to

Price in the final roimd, 6.63/198 to 7.43/161. In the rormds prior to the final, Vancil single-handedly took out team Mancuso, stopping Johnny Mancuso in the first rormd with a 6.48/200, then knocking off Steve Stordeur with a 6.63/208.

Stordeur set the world on fire in qualifying, recording the quickest pass in Nitro Harley histoiy at 6.355s.

Jimmy Rector stopped Mark Thomas in the Alcohol Funny Car final round, recording a winning 5.89/237 when Thomas red-lighted and slowed. Rector, the 1997 points champion, qualified second at 5.76/242 and had earlier defeated Bill Naves, Ronnie Midyette and Laurie Cannister.

Thomas advanced to the final with wins over Tony Bogolo, John Vouros, and low qualifier (5.73) Dale Brand.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

engines ANDREW Cowin will be among the NHRA stars to mark The Muppet’s 25th anniversary with speciallythemed cars at the Mile-High Nationals in July.

Cowin’s NY Yankees dragster will be adorned with the likeness of Fozzie Bear, above, while other ‘Muppeteers’ will include the Funny Cars of Whit Bazemore (Sam Eagle) and Tony Pedregon (Animal), while Pro Stock Biker Craig Treble will also carry Sam Eagle. The promotion, which extends to NASCAR and WoO, will also see Shirley Muldowney run a design featuring newcomer ‘Pepe the King Prawn’ at the US Nationals.

3 April 2002

Drag Briefs CHARGES against four officials over the death of Todd Wilkes at Eastern Creek in February last year have been dropped, after the Director of Public Prosecutions deemed that there was insufficient evidence to proceed, and has determined to pay costs to each of the officials involved.

CAMS President, Colin Osborne commented in a statement that, "CAMS as always continues to stand behind its officials and supports them entirely, recognising this was a tragic accident. Of course CAMS extends its sympathy to the Wilkes family." n Up-and-coming crew chief Wayne Dupuy has joined Joe Amato Racing effective immediately. Dupuy joins Jimmy Walsh and clutch specialist Bob Bauer in the brains trust of the Amato camp, which fields the Bilstein Engine Flush System/ Keystone/Valvoline Top Fuel dragster. n Pro Stock legend Bob Glidden has pulled the plug on his attempted NHRA comeback after poor results in his early outings.

"I'm just not comfortable in the car," Glidden said. "I've done a pitiful job of driving and these guys on this team have been busting their butts and they deserve better. I'm done; that's the name of that tune and that's it, period."

Driving Steve Schmidt's Pontiac Grand Am for the first two races of the season, Glidden has struggled to make a full pass, finishing both races unqualified at the bottom of the field.

id

■n

DfSl^&PO^ING SBttfBS ■ The IHRA has announced a multi-year agreement with Hooter's Restaurants as the title sponsor for the IHRA Drag Racing Series.

"IHRA is proud to announce our marketing and promotional partnership with Hooters," stated IHRA President, Bill Bader.

"Our goal is to deliver IHRA fans, racers and business partners to Hooters, while at the same time, exposing our unique brand of drag racing to new fans. Hooters is the perfect vehicle to grow IHRA as they're located in existing IHRA race markets and the international markets we plan to expand into."

i

■ 1979 NHRA Pro Comp champ and two-time US Nationals winner Billy Williams suffered head injuries and multiple fractures in an Alcohol Funny Car accident at Rockingham two weeks ago. Williams's condition is said to be critical but stable.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI/STAFF 67

Eddington goes large

by BRIAN REED EVERY year it seems that the Vintage Sports Car Cluh’s quarter-mile dash along Eddington’s main street is growing in popularity.

“Eddington? Where’s that?” you may weU ask.'The normally quiet little village on the way to Maryborough comes alive around this time for the annual event that attracted more than 70 entries this year.

The date, March 23, was particularly appropriate, as it ...

coincided with the birthday of one ofAustralia’s most famous racing drivers ofthe 1930s, Joan Richmond.

Ms. Richmond achieved fame by being part of the first all-female team to win a major international motor race, a 1000-mile event at Brooklands, and also competed with distinction in the 1932 Monte Carlo Rally.

Before she died a couple of years ago, she left many of her trophies and memorabilia to the VSCCA, which displays these items in its Melbourne clubrooms.

It was edifying to see Felix

- .... .. Fearsome: Brian Redpath in his Redpath Special, which put its Oldsmobile poweplant to good use with a time just over 14.0s.

(Photo by Brian Reed)

Regular sight: The Wayne Ford Special is often spotted at Historic meetings around the place, and was among the field at Eddington.

(Photo by Brian Reed)

Capp/s well-used Delage carrying the 05 number on its bonnet. “Is this a sign that Felix is about to change his lifestyle?” was the question some people were asking.

With such an impressive lineup of Historic cars there was keen competition, not only for class honours, but also amongst the Mustangs, the Rambler AMXs,the Cortinas, Austin 7s and Clubman sports cari Ray Sprague’s time of 13.29s in the AMX won his class, while the McGlasham Mustang won Class 27 with a best run of 14.22s.

One of the best performances of the day was Bill Redpath in the fearsome-looking Oldsmobile powered Redpath Special. He recorded a time just a tad over 14s.

Jim Russell in his equally fearsome Ford V8 Spl. turned on a class-winning run of 15.11s.

Another interesting car was the 1939 Monza V8 Spl. driven by Bert Bajema. In days gone by it was a

‘paddock basher’ belonging to V8 Supercar driver Brad Jones - at Eddington it won class 12 with a best run of 17.76s.

Betty Lowe (21'.26s) won class 10, but fastest female on the day was Joanne Coad in the Vauxhall Spl. Joanne is improving her times every time she appears in this famous Australian special which was built by George and Frank Coad. She is the third generation of her family to drive the car, and her father, George Jnr, only beat her time of 16.56s by a narrow 0.4s.

Fastest time of day went to Barry Murphy in the Wayne Ford Spl. with an impressive run of 12.90s.

Eighteen other drivers went home with trophies for various class wins, and everyone went home \vith smiles on their faces after the now traditional barbeque and lie-telling session at the Roberts’s home on the Loddon River.

Lunch with the Bluebird A CLASSY new dining venue has just opened in Melbourne which is certain to tantalise the taste buds of all motor racing enthusiasts who enjoy good food and wine.

It's called Dutton Enoteca, and is located at the well-known Melbourne motor centre of Jeffrey Dutton - already a popular haunt of the car and bike fraternity.

The Dutton establishment intends to live up to its name and is now open for business after some private functions were held during the Australian Grand Prix.

The venue is adorned with lots 68

of motoring memorabilia, and one pleasant sunny corner is set aside where guests can recall the time when Donald Campbell broke the world land speed record at Lake Eyre in his famous Bluebird.

There is also an area for larger functions as well as a beautifully appointed private space for more personal gatherings - all needs can be catered for In an idyllic setting.

Bookings can be made by phoning Dutton Enoteca, 525 Church St,, Richmond on (03) 9428 7898.

- BRIAIM REED

Phoip

Bruin Heod

moiorsport news

HISTORICS

A Valiant display of might 2002 marks the 40th anniversary of the Valiant in Australia, and the Albury Wodonga Chrysler Club

celebrated the occasion at its 10th annual 'Chryslers on the Murray' gathering on March 22-24.

A record entry of 332 Chryslers and their various affiliates assembled at the yv,.;.

A bit ofeverything: Chryslers ofall shapes and sizes were out inforce in Albuiy-Wodonga t\^o weeks ago.

(Photos by Brian Reed)

Shannons Insurance Top 10 Trophy Winners Arthur Beccari Leanne Colliooate Alan McNight Ian Johnson Shaun Morgan Terry Barker Tom Kreskas Ian Dickson Bronte Wood Val Patch

1962 Valiant S Series Sedan 1970 Plymouth Cuda Convertible 1962 Valiant R Series Sedan 1974 Valiant Charger E48XL 1972 Chrysler Hardtop 1960 Dodge Phoenix 2-Door Hardtop 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T Convertible 1962 Valiant S Series Sedan 1972 Valiant Charger R/T E38 1972 Valiant VH Hardtop Regal

Hovell Tree Reserve in Albury the largest gathering of the famous marque ever seen in Australia - and the faithful came from as far away as the USA for the occasion.

Saturday's program included a 110km tour to Tallangatta and then a trip to the Ettamogah - Pub for an R & S Series photo shoot.

There was judging for the Shannons Insurance Top 10, and in the evening, dinner at the reserve was followed by a rock 'n' roll dance at the Kinross Hotel.

For those hardy souls still standing, the gates opened early Sunday morning for the swap meet and as the cars arrived for the show & shine, any ladies bored with proceedings were taken on a shopping trip. The organisers thought of everything!

With the focus on Valiants, it wasn't surprising that all models through to the last of the Chargers were well represented, apd cars came

3 April 2002

not looking forward to my first run in the wet,” he said when things looked a hit dismal during the Saturday program.

However, after tiying out the Albert Park Grand Prix circuit he came back all smiles after qualifying an impressive sixth.

Things turned out even better in the race itself when he managed to keep out of trouble and let others make the mistakes. At the chequered flag he brought his new BMW Mini across the line in third place to score a podium finish - not bad for first time out!

“It won’t be my last race, I can tell you that!” he grinned.

Although a newcomer to the racetrack, Mike Cooper owns two racing cars, and it comes as no surprise they are both Coopers. He

won Bathurst," and many who now proudly own one weren't even born when they first took on the might of Ford and Holden in The Great Race'.

They were out in force at Albury and were keen to hear of the exploits of their favourite car, even if it included some bad news about lack of brakes and overheating problems that plagued them at the time. And they don't come keener than New South Welshman Andrew Clark who can reel off every chassis and body number and every colour of every 6-Pack Charger ever made!

Steve Elliott is another trueblue Charger man who owns the ex-Doug Chivas car that finished third in the 1972 Great Race - Chrysler's best outright finish at Bathurst. He has almost completed restoration of the Leo Geoghegan car that finished fourth in the same race.

The 10th Chryslers on the Murray attracted a huge following in ideal conditions - it seems the annual event can only get bigger and better.

- BRIAN REED

Vale: Ian Forsyth

A family affair

HE’S not a famous film star, recording artist or sporting hero, but Mike Cooper,son of famous world championship winning constructor John Cooper, was one of the invited drivers taking part in this year’s Celebrity Race at the Australian Grand Prix.

As well as designing and constructing the great Grand Piix cars, John Cooper’s narrie will always be associated with the famous Mini- the little 850cc road car which he developed into the Morris or Austin Cooper and later the all-conquering Cooper S. In spite of his father’s lifelong involvement in motorsport, Mike Cooper could hardly be described as your regular petrol head.

“I’ve never raced before, and I’m

from all parts of Australia.

One of the encouraging aspects of the 10th Chrysler on the Murray gathering was the enthusiasm of the younger Chrysler buffs. The Charger has been described as "the unluckiest car never to have

has great affection for his 1954 Mk 10 aircooled car powered by a 500cc Norton engine as he was born the same year as it was built.

His other race car is the ex-Jackie Stewart F3 car built in 1964 when Ken Tyrrell was team manager of the Cooper F3 outfit.

- BRIAN REED

IAN Forsyth, a stalwart of the Historic Sports & Racing Car Association of NSW Inc, has lost his long battle with illness and passed away on February 26.

Ian was a serving member of the HSRCA committee as Regularity Registrar and Registrar Chairman, as well as Club Plate Manager. He was also a long time friend and long-sen/ing pit crew member to Paul Hamilton of the Historic Commission.

A quiet person who enjoyed using his beloved Daimler SP 250 in regularity events, Ian will be sadly missed by all who knew him.

- BRIAN REED 69

national

scene

aron Noonan

Cpuisin Coleman

M

ATTHEW Coleman took a clean sweep of the opening round of the Porsche Cup last weekend with two pole positions, two wins and a new lap record around the sweeping Wakefield Park circuit.

“I think weVe got off to a good start - running the Grand Prix probably helped me a little bit,” said Coleman.

“I was a little more in tune with the car and a few other guys have got a bit of time to catch up.”

Defending series Champion Martin Wagg,had speed in qualifying, but couldn’t keep it going for race pace. He finished fifth and fourth in the two 14-lap races.

Russell Wright took the trophy home for Class B in his Porsche 993 RS with two class wins(ninth and 10th overall).

Coleman flew away from the start of race one, quickly establishing a gap that couldn’t be breached by anyone - up to eight seconds at one stage.

Wagg started from second position, but was outbraked twice and baulked by lap traffic once, relegating him to fifth after Kim Burke took advantage and ducked underneath him. Paul Whitmarsh held onto second position, followed

by Jonathon Webb in third.

The Dunlop control tyre seemed to be working well in the heat as Coleman set a new lap record of lm02.81s midway through the race.

The second race was a forgone conclusion after the astounding dominance of the GT3s in race one.

Coleman again took an early lead, leaving Wagg and Whitmarsh to battle it out behind him. A small nudge exiting turn one allowed Whitmarsh to dive under Wagg, and take third position. Webb kept out of trouble behind Coleman, and finished in second.

The most interesting battle all day was,ironically, for second last position. Russell Kempnich and Jack Crocker leant their cars together through many of the corners, and spun each other around after exiting turn one in a tangle near the end of the second race. Both were able to rejoin and finish the race.

- ERIN McCOWATT 10

Do they sell Toyo Tyres at Bob Jane T-Marts? It doesn’t matter, because Dunlop is the control tyre of (Photo by John Morris/Mpix) Porsche Cup and Matthew Coleman used them to perfection at Wakefield Park.

And in support

THE support cast was strong at the Konica V8 round at Wakefield Park, with Scott Nicholas all smiles after winning the opening round of the Saloon Car Challenge.

The key was consistency Nicholas received two third placings and a win by keeping out of the melee that his competitors found themselves in.

Jake Camilleri lead most of

the second race until Kris Walton tried to duck inside him under brakes; both of them ended up on the grass with their front bumpers hanging by a thread, handing the win to Nicholas.

Nicholas found himself in the lead again in the third race, until Peter Dane and Kevin Weeks were both able to power past him on the exit of the last turn.

The opening round of the DBA Improved Production Series, above, saw the wins shared between Wayne Wakefield's Mazda 808 Wagon and the Mazda RX7 of Ken Douglas, The thumping V8 Robnell 302 SC of William Adams took a clean-sweep in Production Sports Cars, winning all three races.

- ERIN WicCOWATT motorsport news

NATIONAL

Inky starts as he finished \

TS.

nky'tuiIi-ochI

That CAT’s got some claws; Inky Tulloch, above, was simply ‘the man’ in the opening round of the 2002 Australian Super Truck Championship, (Photos by Mick Fishbum and Peter Schell) while the field, below, scrapped for the minors.

by ERIN McCOWATT INKY 'Tulloch threw down the gauntlet at the first round of the 2002 Australian Super Truck Championship. Not only did he win all three races, but he also managed to break his own lap record around Oran Park three times over the weekend.

Luke Sieders put up a good fight, but ended up a step down on the podium, with three second placings.

Rodney Crick was fast during qualifying and the Top Gun twolap sprints, but was unable to convert that speed into any race finishes. He was plagued with brake problems all day that made his truck favour the grass and the pits more than the sticky black asphalt.

Frank Amoroso drove his Kenworth consistently with two thirds and a fourth, making a great return to racing after a year off due to injury.

Tulloch took an early lead in the first race. After Crick exited the first turn into the grass, Sieders and Amoroso slotted in behind him. Amoroso battled for third 3 tprll 2002

LUDrtcams

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1 ill -'V.

with Bob Middleton for most of the race, but Middleton couldn’t quite make it past.

A reverse-grid start for the second race meant that Crick was able to take an early lead, leaving Tulloch and Sieders to fight for the inside line behind him. However,

V.vi

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halfway through the race. Crick’s brakes failed again and he pirouetted instead of turning through the first corner.'Tulloch grabbed the lead, and didn’t give Sieders an inch to squeeze past for the rest of the race.

Crick and 'Tulloch battled for an

early lead in the third race, but Crick had to retire again. Sieders jumped into second, and ran side by side with 'Tulloch for most of the race. Eventually, Tulloch’s faster cornering speed enabled him to open a small gap and take the final victory.

II

Oran Park Po\^er Tour - Rd 7

Magna an the boapdl

Bosnjak beats out Sidebottom at Oran Park, but Commodore still takes the round

THE unbeaten run of Ray Sidebottom’sAPS Conunodore came to an end in the BIO FUEL Future Touring Championship opening round at Oran Park, when Terry Bosnjak took the win in race three in the Bond RoU Bars Magna.

Sidebottom took the round win by virtue of his victories in the opening two races...

In the opening race, it was all Sidebottom, dominating from the start. Finishing second was the fiery Tasmanian, 2000/2001 champion Tim Shaw. Shaw’s joy was short-hved, with a rear main seal on the engine failing, leaking oil onto the clutch.

With the short period of time between races, his crew were unable to fix the problem in time, putting him out for the day.

Bosnjak took third, though all of the action was back in the pack.

Shanan Sidebottom, driving the second APS Commodore VX, was running in a fairly strong fourth position, before getting sideways coming out of Oran Park's notorious final comer and clouting the wall.

The impact caused the dry sump moimt to break, draining the engine of oil; Sidebottom Jr limping the smoking car across the line. That was the end of his weekend as the teamjooked to fix the car properly for tile next round at Mallala.

Bruce Williams(Commodore VS), Mark Papendell(Pap’s Plumbing Service Commodore), Kerry Wade (Valvoline Falcon) and Mark Telfer(APS Commodore) filled the top six.

In the second race, a come from behind effort from Bosnjak was the feature, after dropping as low as fourth on the second lap. On lap night, Bosnjak got into second position and took up the fight. In the end, the victory was Sidebottom’s,

FUTURE TOURERS - Rd 1, ORAN PARK

Not quite all orange: Ray Sidebottom’s APS Commodore VX is still the form car in Future Touring, but the (Photo by Peter Schell) Magna pushed hard - and won race three, only 1.7s in front of Bosnjak, with Papendell third ahead of Telfer, Wade and Andrew Gillespie.

Sidebottom Sr was out of rabber in the final race, and couldn’t match Bosnjak.

“He skipped away early in the race, and I was cruising to save my tyres to get him toward the end,” said Sidebottom.

“Unfortunately, it was me that ended up in tyre trouble, and when it came time to put the pressure on,I had nothing left.”

Bosnjak was delighted with his effort of knocking the APS car off.

“Finally someone has beaten that orange thing!” he said.

Papendell was again third and holds the championship position, clear of Wade, Telfer and Gillespie in the final race.

rJ

* Mag-nificent: Terry Bosnjak broke the Commodore strangehold on the (Photo by Petor Schell) Future Touring class with a win at Oran Park.

72

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Gurrand Hill THE first round of the 2002 Super Tourers Series left the panelbeaters twiddling their thumbs at Oran Park.

Alan Gurr, above,(driving the Searle BMW 3201) and Peter Hills shared the spoils, with two wins to Gurr and one to Ford Mondeo driver Hills, Gurr couldn't be beaten during qualifying, giving him a clear run into turn one in the first race.

Hills started from the rear of the grid after being unable to

qualify on Saturday, but cut through the field to exit the first corner in fifth position.

Steadily moving up the field, Hills passed his team-mate Grant Johnson to take second position on lap seven.

It seemed impossible that he would win until Gurr had to pit because of a loose oil seal, handing Hills a well-deserved victory.

The second race was a reversal of fortunes. Hills took an early lead from pole, but moiorsport news

NATIONAL Three share honours at opener Photo hy Pcur Schell

. - .... . ...

Whiteline fever: Defending V8 Stock Car Champion Andrew Miedecke was too good at Oran Park. Who can (Photos by Peter Schell) stop him at Maliala?

More of Miedecke

Whiteline Chevrolet team take 1-2

by ERIN McCOWATT ANDREW Miedecke fiUed up another shelf in his trophy cabinet after he won all tlu-ee races at Oran Park for the first round of the V8 Stockcar Championship.

It was a one-two finish for the Whiteline Racing Team, with Miedecke’s new team mate -former Formula Ford Plunii by PcU r Sdieli

jii KOUi;

5 share blew an engine anii had to park his Mondeo on lap two.

Johnson enjoyed the lead for a few laps, followed closely by Ric Shaw (ex-Tony Newman Peugeot 406), but Gurr passed both of them to take the win after starting from the rear of the grid.

Sixteen-year-old rookie Andre Morgan stepped onto the podium for third position in the third race, driving the ex-Auger Alfa Romeo 155TS. - ERIN McCOWATT 3 April 2002

racer Chris Templer - walking away with two second placings and a fourth.

Tony Southwell added some spark to the racing in his Fireworks King Chevrolet, but missed out on the podium. He placed fourth in the first two races, but mechanical problems forced him into the infield during the third race.

Mark Harrison pushed hard all day and ended with two very respectable third placings.

Miedecke took the lead after the first lap in race one,and then steadily cantered away from the field for the remaining 14 laps.

Turn One seemed to test brakes and bravery, as Richard Howe ducked inside Harrison for fourth position, and Templer overtook Southwell for second.

A reverse grid start in the second race saw Miedecke and Templer charge their way from the back of the field to front.

Southwell led for most of the race, but a slight nudge as Miedecke was passing him caused a domino effect, and both Templer and Harrison were able to pass Southwell on the next lap.

Harrison enjoyed the lead for the first half of the third race, but current champion Miedecke proved to be that little bit faster, and took out the win.

A braking duel into turn one between Dean Wanless and Harrison decided second place.

Haixison went in too hot and came out too loose, handing over second place to Wanless on the final lap.

THE Power Tour's Commodore Cup series is likely to be one of the closest fought one-make series ever following the first round at Oran Park on the weekend where Geoff Emery,Christian D'Agostin and Marcus Zukanovic each won a heat.

D'Agostin won the first race, showing the way to Emery, while Zukanovic maintained third for the duration. It-was Emery who won the second race, though the start of the third race almost brought the field undone. D'Agostin moved across on Emery in a bid to protect his better getaway. The resultant clash sent D'Agostin spinning across the infield and delayed Emery somewhat.

Zukanovic assumed the lead with Domaschenz second and ahead of D'Agostin who had cut out a lot of track to rejoin. Seemingly comfortable with the lead, Zukanovic was eventually run down and passed

by Craig Domaschenz, but he was pit bound, leaving Zukanovic to take race honours.

4

April

inue

Event USA Jet Dragsters

Kwinnana Complex W.A.

Forest Rally Procar Championships

Symmons Plains

Wamambool City Kart Titles

Wamambool

13

VS Supercars

Philip Island

13

W.A Spn'ntcars

Kwinnana Complex

13-14

QLD State Championships

13-14

Ford Racing Road King Kart Series

14

Formula Xtreme

Winton

14

Rob Roy Sprints

Rob Roy

16-21

Targa Tasmania

Tasmania

QLD Raceway Shepparton

World's number 1 independent manufacturer of brake pads. For car, kart, sport performance, race, truck, trailer, forklift, earthmoving, tractor and train. Replacement and turbo grooved sports discs.

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73

National Scene Pearce Opens his account SOUTH Australian Tyson Pearce won the coveted Victorian Open Championship in the Formula 100 class at Geelong last month.

Pearce set the pace from the outset, qualifying fastest and winning both heat races as well as the pre final. Driving an Omega kart designed by he and his father, Tyson overcame a loose exhaust and attacks from Western Australian Birel drivers Paul Williams and Michael Patrizi to win the 22-iap final.

Monaco ka'rts took both senior Clubman wins, Remo Luciani notching up his 30th state championship by taking out the Heavy class ahead of a fast finishing Jason Vince while Barclay Holden took the Light victory ahead of Troy Hunt(Top Kart).

The Junior Clubman class went to the Tony Kart of Andrew Thompson, while in Junior Piston Port, he was not able to fend off a risky last lap attack by Paul Laskazeski (BRM).

No winner has yet been awarded in the Junior National Heavy class subject to an appeal after Tim Blanchard and Jason Pringle made contact in the final lap. Daniel Erickson (CRG) took the biggest win of his career winning the Light division.

- MARK WICKS

Bombs away!

BOMBARDIER Rotax, the com pany that manufacture the Rotax MAX engine that has changed the face of karting around the world in recent years, has released their own chassis fitted with the Direct Drive 2-speed (DD2) MAX engine.

The new machine sets a new trend in karting safety and appearance,featuring deformable energy absorbing structures under

the nose cone and across the rear of the kart, including small rollers behind the rear wheels to prevent following karts from flying into the air should they strike it from behind.

Retaining the electric start, 125cc, water cooled concept of the Rotax MAX,and utilising many of the same engine components, the DD2 features a semi-automatic two speed transmission activated by paddles on the steering wheel.

The rear axle of the kart passes directly through the transmission case of the engine, thus doing away with the traditional chain and sprocket drive system.

The kart, which was tested hy Australia’s Over-35 Year Eotax World Champion Darrel Smith, produces 34bhp,is capable of ISOkmh, has four wheel disc brakes and even features a reverse gear.

- MARK WICKS

Aussies struggle in Italy THREE Australians competed at the 13th Annual Margutti Trophy meeting at the Kartdromo Parma, Italy, on March 17, but when all was said and done, it was not a great meeting for the trio.

The weekend started with promise, particularly for Andrew Tomlipson (Top Kart/Comer) who was proving to be one of.the Formula A pace setters in practice, however official qualifying saw him slip to 30th in a massive 70-plus kart field.

Seventeenth and a DNF in the heats forced Tomlinson into the second-chance race in which

World Championship Class Brakes

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he progressed through to the semi-final.

Fie then earned a place in the final by finishing well inside the cut-off point, however officials then slapped a 10 second penalty on him that dropped him back to 27th and out of the rest of the event.

Full-time international Ben Florstman had a hot and cold weekend, qualifying 19th in Formula A. But he fell back through the field with a mechanical problem in the final and withdrew with three laps still remaining.

- MARK WICKS

KARTING 0inCOMING EVENTS

Warmambool City Titles — Warrnambool m o 13/14 Apr Ford Racing Road King Karting Series (Street) — Shepparton ox 20/21 Apr Victorian Country Classic — Bairnsdale

7 April

28 April

Closed Club Day — all Victorian Clubs

For fin.rtli.er inforisiatioii on any of the above events call the Victorian Karting Association

03 5449 9362 nr 93 93621144 For all Australian & New Zealand enquiries Gall IK

WWW. n

MVCIOWANKAWVUG ASSOC\M\OR

Tvww.vha.ash.au vha@bl40.aone.net.au motorspori news

INDUSTRY NEWS

Online Tipping Kart Brakes

THIS year’s Shell Optimax V8 Tipping Competition is back in full swing, having kicked off with the commencement of the V8 Supercar Championship in Adelaide.

The competition is open to all motorsport fans and free to enter. Players access the competition via the Shell Australia website (www.shell.com.au) or the Dick Johnson Racing website (www.djr.com.au) and place their tips for the top six placings in each rotmd. Entries must be in by 11pm on the Thursday preceding each round.

Players can win Shell fuel, oil and official merchandise. There are also three box-framed 1:18 scale models of the DJR #18 car signed by Paul Radisich and Dick Johnson up for grabs. Prizes will be awarded roimd by round and at the end of the season.

I

GAS UP AND GO! SINCE 1978 and Nos perfecting has been promoting the use of Nitrous Oxide Injection as a safe, efficient and reiiable form of performance enhancement.

Nos has always been known for thoroughly researching and engineering each application they use only quality materials to produce kits and components that are easy to install and built to last.

Extremely popular for many years with drag racers. Nos fs fast becoming recognised among street machiners, hot rodders and performance enthusiasts in general as an easy, effective bolt on horsepower improvement option.

Available in kits to suit almost any application, from single cylinder engines to 4s, 6s, V8s and rotary engines with carburettors or fuel injection.

Nos also works extremely well in turbo-charged and supercharged engine applications.

Nos has also developed an extensive range of accessories and components to complement its kits including fuel pumps, fuel filters, solenoids, plumbing fittings, timers, purge kits and bottle heaters and blankets. Nos refilling stations are also available.

Performance Wholesale stocks and distributes the Nos range of products and their experienced sales staff will be happy to advise you on the right kit for your application and vehicle.

Contact Pertormance n Wholesale on 07 3808 1986 or visit their website at www. performancewholesale.com.au

Kdvertlgers with products tor feature In Industry News should send informailon to ads@mnBws.coin.ao; or Brendon Sheridan, Motorsport News. 3S1 Nepean Hwy, Brighton East, Vic 3187.

3 hpril 2002

EBC brakes Australia announced the releasehave of EBC Kart brake pads in Australia.

EBC manufactures the world’s largest range of brake pads and specialises in high-performance and racing applications.

The new range of Kart brake pads are made entirely with asbestos-free materials.

Available in three levels, red: heavy duty organic; green: soft Kevlar-based organic; or gold: sintered metal high durability materials.

The EBC range covers all requirement angles of the world kart market.

EBC Australia can supply brake pads to suit

Tony Kart, CRG, Birel, Wright Kart, Swiss Hutless, Kelgate, Zip Kart, Top Kart, Yamaha, MS/Schutte, PCR, Stratos and Azzuro. Pads for DPR’s Arrows range are coming soon.

For more information or the location of your nearest outlet in Australia and New Zealand contact EBC Brakes Australia on 03 9462 3210 or fax 03 9462 2516.

New seats GMP

GMP Racing Products now stock the Forza 2000 Race Seat from OBX.Incorporating the latest European styling with comfort, Forza 2000 seats are available in black/yellow, black/blue and black/red colour combinations.

Each seat is individually hand made by experienced tradesmen using quality fabrics.

Wear patches have been placed on areas of greater wear to ensure long life.

Meeting and exceeding the ADR 3/01 and 22/00 requirements and priced at $399 the Forza 2000 offers value for money.

For more information on the Forza 2000 range contact GMP Racing Products on 03 9543 6222 or visit the showroom at 37a Fenton St Oakleigh Victoria.

Terra Charged

TERRA CHARGER,Yella Terra’s own supercharger division, has released a complete bolt-on street supercharger package for the popular VN to VT fuel injected Holden V8s.

This positive displacement supercharger is said to deliver throttle response and low end torque for performance and driveability in everyday conditions.

Tbe Terra Charger kit is

designed to look every bit like a factory fit. The kit includes new intake manifolds, pulley set, ducting, air box top, fuel boost controllers and cables for installation by any competent mechanic.

The Terra Charger kit can be purchased for under $7,000 including gst.

For more information contact Yella Terra on 03 9555 5522, fax 03 9555 4152 or visit the website at www.yellaterra.com.au 75

mrace shop II 11^^

RftCESHOP gives you the opportunity to promote your products and services to the widest possible range of motorsport competitors and enthusiasts. Advertising in BACISHflP costs as little as $60 per issue! Call Brendon Sheridan on 03 9596 5555 now!

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Trado enquiries welcome

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» Accurate, Repeatable, Versolile ● Take monuol conlrai or hands-free “ toed design, support, development, installation and on-site training ° Top names demand lop eguipmeni (users inc NIZPRO, HSV, HRT & John Sidney Rndng) information and a For »Engine, chossis, go-Icnrt or motorbike del

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® Aircraft Bolts ® Garlioiig ® Goidiae ® Silverlirae

Ph Byran Miller «> Mobile 0417 274 507 » Ph 02 9524 3389 * 1 Tamba Place Lilli Pilli NSW 2229 » Email easternraceparts@hotmall.com

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PERFORA6ANCE & REUABILITY ●NEW NODULAR CASTING iCISION CNC MACHINED, GROUND TO AaiNG TOLERANCES 'SUT 308 RODS, BALANCER, FLYWHEEL, UP OR ROPE MAIN SEAL

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Sheet - cut to your requirements, sold per square foot Tubing, round, square, solid rod per linear foot Aircraft aluminium Billet metals 2024T3, 6061T6, SCAT, Firesleeve

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Remarkable Windows of Opportunity for Engine Experts

76

Trade enquiries weicome

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Easy to m Extra Power Max Engine Protection Usmd by the Mitsubishi Ralllari WRG team.

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Phone (07) 3808 1986

I^^Call^OB^SIM^IBSBfoi^your^ieares^distributo^J

SHAFT MOUNTED ROCKER ARM SYSTEMS & CAM DRIVES

.V

Visit our website for your nearest distributor.

Holley Performance System Distributors

1800 089 088

www.spectrusisbaile.cBn.aii

Hawker Pacific Call us today with your requirements

Freecall 1800 654 983 Freefax 1800 808 158 Tj) Race logistics LOGISTICS interstate transport ALL ROUNDS ALL CLASSES Fully enclosed custom built race car transporters Professional race car logistic and event specialists Security for car and equipment

I

Contact Neil Griffiths on 0418 474 816

race@tnt.com.au Hioiorspon sews

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MARKET PLACE

W;

As

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Casirol Perkins Racing Team^

As used by top touring car, speedway & drag racing teams. l .080" wall chrome moly

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RACING BATTERIES

Hawker Pacific Ph: 02 9708 8503 Fox: 02 9790 3306

Email : custservice@spares.hawkerpac.com.au

mm AND

piniWRm%% THE HIGHEST QUALITY GEARS IN THE RACING INDUSTRY

11

l available in

also available

NSW: (02) 9678 9977 OLD: (07) 3808 1986 VIC: (03) 9794 5177 WA: (08) 9353 1155 Australian Importer and distributor:

icm

nf

Ph: 08 8363 5566

TECHNOLOGIES Fax: 08 8363 5633 PTY. LTD. www.cranecams.coin.au

ilGHTWEIGHT i FLYWHEELS The ultimate in strength & safety HI PERFORMANCE ENOiHE PARTS g

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PLATINUM

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ESB

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VIC 03 9386 5331 NSW 02 9676 8655 SA 08 8387 3522 WA 08 9293 3500 TAS 03 6273 7555 NT 08 8941 5388

sISKYh

Visit our website: www.crowcams.com.au

state Distributors

MOTOnSPORT WHEELS

RACIINia CAIVIS

Ph 039357 0469 or Fax 03 9357 0001

f^R/\NE m^ams

COMPOMOT/VE

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a huge range of one piece super duty

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TRADE ENQUIRIES WELCOME sales@rocketIndustries.com.au

The world’s strongest and most affordable shaft type roller rocker

COMPONENTS

● Available in twin shaft and unique single shaft designs for all parallel and cant valve engines » Strongest race rocker available with unique lifetime warranty for road and race applications

^mkFORMANCE Y^kOLESALEtS

Phone (07) 3808 1986

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Ph 03 9555 5522 Fax 03 9555 4152

COMPETITION Ferrea STAINLESS & TITANIUM

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World's leaders in Motorsport Safety Technology Helmets ● Suits ● Boots ● Gloves ● Harnesses ● Crew Gear ● and all accessories for all motorsports Quality ● Price ● Service

Visit our website for your nearest distributor.

Simpson Safety Equipment Australia 91 Rookwood Road Yagoona NSW 2199 Ph 02 9791 6001 Fax 02 9791 6002

Phone (07) 3808 1986

www.performancewholesale.com.au

^MANLEYi

CAMS

including PSi(USA) valve springs and pushrods

^

p:03 9357 0469 f:03 9357 0001

CRANE

mw

l Matching race valve train components 'CUKI

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& M" diamet

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l Fast profile design service to your requirements l Custom ground roller, solid and hydraulic profiles using unique computer controlled

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DISTRIBUTORS

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High pariarmancB angina componants for ovar 30 years.

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Trade enquiries welcome

Fax. 02 ersa nos

Avallabh la red, blae, gold & silver

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World Karting Champions 2000

1 st, 2il, 3rS Bolb fornwh Super & hrmvh

Australian Oteania Cup 2000

IsUmlJrd

InfotmuhA hllCandICA}

Phone 9739 6323

●scfetiycrtn- fcr/Kai, flcATicKai, t’enex.5 liC\^ar \veaodA-t3ihheii&crd~j)pc—--} fcy ltd>'fcrju Mr

Jo* Croo

Melbourne

(7

44 Racecourse Rd North Melbourne 03 9326 6088

RADIATORS, INTERCOOLERS & OIL COOLERS

® Offroad cars ® Motorbikes ® Boats ® Hot Rods ® Street Cars ® Circuit Cars Contact Paul Weel on

07 55 981 459 or

Fax drawings to 07 55 981 980 handouilt and 3 Uni 2912

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Kart Amtralla Pty 6-30 Foundry Road Seven Hills 2147 Pk 62 9620 60SS Fox 02 9839 90SS from

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Competition disc pads ● Race brakes ● Pagid ● Hawk ● Endless ● Performance Friction Over 10 years experience of brake modifications and upgrades for road and race. Caliper conversion 1, 2, 4 8i 6 piston. Custom made disc rotors.

Manufacturers A distributors of

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Enjoy a great day with Championship level instructors in

small groups. The following dates are currently available: * April 4 - Winton ● May 5 - Winton ● July 21 - Winton Call 1300 720 666to book. All credit cards accepted.

motorsport news

m race shop

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7

UTS

.7i

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CUSTOM FABRICATION ●Intercoolers Specialists ●Oil Coolers

-

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Contact your state distributor...

Hardiman Auto Supplies (02) 9771 5877 Motorsport Connections (02) 9838 7272 (03) 9794‘ 5177 Victorian Speed Pro ~ Performance Wholesale (07) 3808 1986 (08) 8363 5566 Crane Technologies Gogear Racing Services (08) 9443 4400 rmrs iii ●X

TRADE ENQUIRIES WELCOME

Will suitVS, 2V or 4V Cleveland.

XE, XF 250 X-Flow Falcon - $440 inc gst

. 1

^Blue & Red motor Holden - $440 incgst EFi manifolds - coming soon.

Ph 07 3800 9188 Fax 07 3800 9177 ABN 23 091 653 815 *

DYNO’S, riOWBENCH, DATA ACQUISITION & DYNO SOFTWARE

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Ph 02 9875 5388 Fax 02 9875 323g. ^»^^^__Engitjnfo@sacha*ogejConnjau__^>.:::::i:i;-

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;y"YOKOHAMA AV#N

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Distributors for Victoria and Tasmania Your high performance tyre and suspension specialists

Capri Components

V6-RS3100, MKll & MKlll 1600 Datsun 240, 260, S80ZX & 300ZX Tuning-repairs mods-spare parts LAWRIE

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Phone (07) 3808 1986

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steel Main Caps to suit most V8 applications Manufectured in USA by Pro-Gram Engineering

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2-day CAMS C3/R2/R5 Licence Courses @ Oran Park monthly. $605 in your car, includes C3/R2/5 Observed Licence Test and C3 Lecture. R2 OLT can be completed in a single day for $385.

Peter Finlay's International Racing Drivers School For more info ph 02 9873 1773, fax 02 9871 1018 or email peter@finlays.com.au

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MY Enlerpiises tan help you with any deoler enquiries by Phoning 0413 520 852 email: myent@oiemnil.com.nu

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Also available from Ameritan Tire & Racing Services (02) 9790 7571 Performance Wholesale (07) 3808 1986

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Up to BOft/lb torque nd 40 hp gain over **®™**^®"®™ similar manifolds.

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Importers Clearance Dir

Lazer car racing helmets FIA Approved suitable for all motorsport applications includin open wheel competition, fi re proof lining, all new supersedec stock, while stocks last

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Bruce Collins Enterprises Ply Ltd I 2/10 Pilgrim Court Ringwood Vic 3134 ' Ph 03 9873 3091 Fax 03 9873 2015

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Phone (07) 3808 1986

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www.performancewliolesak.com.au 18

www.pro-floor.com ● ph 03 9804 3455

This space could be yours i Call Brendon on 03-95964i^^)r dgtaHs. noiartport news

A

MARKET PLACE

mFREE Sedans/Sports Cars

Classifieds

2 issues

absolutelyfree*

*Motorsport News Classifieds are FREE for private sales. Classifieds from motor sport traders are accepted (marked wfth 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 9596 5555.

Classifieds can be mailed, faxed or emailed. Classifieds are not accepted over the telephone.

Forward to Motorsport News Free Classifieds, 357 Nepean Highway Brighton East 3187. Fax: 03 9596 5030. Email: mnews@mnews.com.au. Make sure to list your category.

Improved Production RX 3 Coupe, Red available for 2002 season on either lease or arrive and drive

maintaining this exceptional performance vehicle.

Complete with 8 point cage, heavily modified brake & chassis, excellent duco. Sell less engine & gearbox. Absolute bargain. Spent well over $50,000, Sell $7,000 or $27,000 with drive train.Leave msg or SMS 0414-063-889 Troy. 22s

basis VMRC. 2nd Bennalla Gold Cup 2002, winner most improved 2001. Quick and reliable. Ph: 9790 6204 or 0409 023 060.229

rr-f 'T*.

BMW E30 3231, 5SP, steer, air, spoilers, skirts, new tyres /Simmons,Eibach brace,K-MAC camber kits, new exhaust,4.10 diff,unialter, lots more, immaculate, $9500, ph 0407543006.229 Torana LC, genuine GTR 202 bored to 208, ACL pistons, Bathurst 6000 head, rolla rockers, triple Su's, line bored balanced crank, 1 ton clutch, Ross balancer, Therma fan, big cam M20, $6000 ph 07 3816 0148. 229

Pearl red in colour. New Paint & Flares, Front S Rear Spoiler, Left Hand Drive, Magnesium Hubs, Variable Ratio DIFF, Wilwood (4 Spot) Calipers, Plastic Fuel Cell, 15" Alloy Wheels, Hoosier Race Slicks, Plus lots of spares. Transport available at very competitive rates. $7,500 ono, Ph Ian 0412 072 201.229 Ford Capri 12A PP, brand new engine, complete rebuild, one race old, new seat, harness, brakes, wets, heaps of spares, all new flares, guards. wing&brand new trailer. $11,000 ono. Ph 0413 797 938.229

Sports Sedan Isuzu Bellet, 13B turbo, intercooled, injected Volvo brake calipers, big vented discs, very quick and reliable. Complete with spare wheels, tyres, wets and trailer. First outright at Wakefield Sprints, $8500, ph Geoff 0418 388 291. 229

il

Nissan 280 ZX, Improved Production car. Built 1998. Willwood brakes, Bilstein fully adjustable suspension, full weld in cadge, RB-25 engine, to much to mention, plus spares. Almost ready to race. Cost $40,000. Sell $13,000. Phone 0418139646. 229

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Radical Clubsport 1100, Kawasaki ZZR 1100, fast reliable car, would suit circuit racing/sprints inci gears, springs, body parts, new $60K plus, will sell for best offer over $30,000, ph 0419 276 593. 22s

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Torana (A9X Update) Club Car, 500+ hp alloy head Chev, Manley, Crane, Venolia, Mallory, Accel, BG, Tilton, Serck, Autometer, Willwodd, Simpson, Koni, Moroso, Tremec 5 Speed, 9in, 4 w/discs, new Trans-Am suit package, hi-speed tandem car trailer, total cost over $35,000, sell whole package $25,000 neg, ph Trev 08 8280 5150 for further details. 229

VK Commodore, Full Group A specification, fresh 5.0 litre complete with Getrag box including new clutch. Harrop running gear. Full Group A feulling system and Simmons wheels. As raced by ClearahanA/Villiams 87/88. Original paint ready to race. Suit new Group C/A category. With log book. $35,000, ph 0418 994 566. 22s TraNZam /Sport Saloon Chev Camaro, Pro fessionally built space framed car- approx 3 years ago yet run very little (approx 1,500km's), 4 speed gear box, ford 9' diff- 5.7 litre Chev V8 motor, recently freshened, good hp and contains all the good gear. Rev kit. Scat forged steel crank, 23 deg Brodix heads, dry sump, 3 stage oil pump etc. Gas canister double adjustable shocks with coil overs4 spot calipers on 13' discs. Recently professionally set up for BF Goodrich radial tyres. Serious sale, priced accordingly, custom flat desk trailer available. Consider trade Formula Ford or Classic Saloon. Ph Lindsay Dodd (NZ) 03 341-0082 027 4383 997.229

or

MGA 1600 Coupe, 1961, 87500 miles, mech A1, org rust free body, lady owner, only driven on Sundays. Reg 16 MGA, $24,750 ono, ph 03 9889 5777. 229 Porsche 911 RSR, road reg in QLD, competitive,

i

ail good bits, 330hp call for list, $59,000, 0412618 911. 229

j

ph 08 8339 3234 or 0412 055 607 229

3 April 2002

Mb

engine. P.O.A. Phone (07) 5441 7700 BH or (07) 5448 5569 AH. 22s

'i ]

NASCAR, 1997 Ford Thunderbird. Fully rebuilt motor with receipts. (Has not been run since rebuild). Fully set up for road course racing and ready to go for the Power Tour 2002 Series. This Race Car has everything. The only fully Australianconstructed NASCAR, built originally for Terry Wyhoon Racing by Tom Smith. $65,000 the lot. Ph 0412 778 111. 229

Holden HZ 1979 stroked to 326ci, VN injeaion heads and manifold, L34 crank, forged pistons, roller rockers, Wade mild cam. Supra 5 speed, factory air, power steering, rear discs, GTS dash, long range tank, Koni/Lovells suspension, new tyres, tinted, immobiliser, 170,000kms, 40,000kms this engine, second owner, absolutely immaculate, $9,000, Sydney 02 9731 1103 or 0413 271 182.228

■m Pontiac Trans Am Sports Sedan, Built by K & A Engineering. Best of everything. Motec, Air jacks.

Data log, 5 Speed Hewland, Loads of spares. Just rebuilt for new season. Available with or without

Datsun Stanza Coupe, body and trim original, FJ20 and 5 speed. Skyline struts and brakes, new 15x7 Superlites, Falken tyres, new suspension, fast road car or club car, books and history, $3900 ono,

Subaru RC Turbo, ready to rally. New Goodman engine, top hp, log book, homologation papers.

Engineers certificate LSD, full cage. Has been refreshed but never used, heaps of doors, panels, spares. Cheap to keep. 4x4 with all the potential to thrill. VJB-777. $11750 ono. Ph 0418 115 551. 228

Club car LH Torana, s/b Chev with dry sump, Tilton clutch, top loader, full floating 9 inch, 4 pot brakes all round, fresh paint, ready to race, priced to sell asap, $11500, ph 02 6374 1303. 229

Mazda RX3 Sports Sedan, 13B-PP, fresh engine, 48 IDA Weber, full stainless steel exhaust all by T.A.S. Performance. 5 speed, full steel structural cage, fibreglass front, current log book, ready to race, ring for full listing. $16,500. Ph 0409 875 381. 229

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4

Torana Sports Sedan, U-XU1, fresh engine, new wheels and tyres, runs great looks great, heaps of new stuff, plenty of spares, very neat and well maintained car $7500 ono ph: David 0428442411 (NSW). 228

wm m

.t c.

Escort MKII Club Car, strong 2 litre engine. King suspension, current spec Bond roll cage, Sparco seat, Sabelt 5 point harness, locked diff, current logbook, on registered trailer, heaps of spares, $4000.00 Ph 0418 421015.228 Ex Dick Johnson driven race & rally prepared 1991 TX3 4WD. Competed in Targa 1992 - 94, plus numerous hill climbs and circuit racing throughout Australia.

No expense spared in

Ford XM, 170 Pursuit, 3 spd man, triple Strombergs, Koni shocks, Yoko tyres, yellow with blue interior, log booked historic race car, heaps of spares, must sell, front-running class car, XMRXD141197B18113M. 228 continued over page

19

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i spares list available on application. This is the most reliable and affordable Super Tourer available.

Contact David Auger 0418 794 240.226 Subaru WRX STIVIII, Gr N or GHTP full road rego currently road car - Drummond susp, full cgae, STI standard seats plus carbon race seats. 3" exhaust spares inci turbo $42000 Rego VUH-755. Ph Ewan Jones 02 4956 5577(w)or 0438 577 827.22a

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 110 box. Full floater 9 inch Ford diff, fab front end, big rose joints all round, simmons wheels. All moulds. New paint. Ready to race $25,000 ono. Contact Frank Sola on 0412328124 or 0359402478.22a Ford Sierra, 2,3 turbo 3 Door Hatch.Suitable for racing only. $5000 ph 0419267375.22a

Mazda RX3 dub car, 13B quad throttle body, fuel injected, fresh motor not started, 5 speed straight cut box 5th 1:1, tandem trailer, much more, dyno on sale, $12000 ph 07 3841 0310.228 Falcon EL XR6 race car. Chrome Moly cage, 2 x 300hp engines, Bilsteins, spool, heaps of spares, 18 wheels, lyres some new. Needs front panels.

Suit rally car, club car, improved production. $25000 Ph Syd 0402 336 530. 228

Open Wheelers VR Cornmodore, 5.7 It Holden, new motor, injected, dry sump, Motec, 5 spd, Harrop front end,6 pot brakes, spares, etc. Running as a Sports Sedan. Ph Steve 07 3397 7833 (w) or 07 3398 4692 (ah). 22s

Formula Vee, just been rebuilt, one meeting old, new panels and fresh paintwork with open trailer, $5200, ph 0416 209 271. 229 I

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Nissan Bluebird TRX, 2-litre Improved Produrtion car, built in 1999 and only 10 races old. Fully worked SR-20 non-turbo, Motec-4/8 injection, Koni adjustable suspension, Willwood adjustable pedal box, big RX-7 brakes. Also available: spare SR-20, gearbox and f/glass moulds. Ready to race.

Consistent race winner. Reluctant sale $13,900, ph 0412 201 199.22a

Datsun 1600 Improved Production car, L20, twin Webbers, electronic ignition, 4W discs, CR gearbox, R180 diff (5.1:1 and 4.8:1), near-new tyres, spare set of wheels and tyres, CAMS logbook, spares $5000 ono, ph Steve 02 4982 6834 ah. 22s

2 litre Sports Sedan, winner 2000 SRS and 2001 USSA championship, MK II Escort - full space frame, fibre/g panels, rolling chassis, fully refurbished for 2001/2002 season (not raced). Suit Ford engine. No expense spared - new suspension, Hewland gear train, LSD, race clutch pack, numerous extras. Bargain at $18000, Ph Luke 0418 582 882 228 Opel Monza, Originally imported to^Australia by Norm Gown from GOWN-HINDHAUGH for Group C homoligation purposes. Vehicle converted to club/Targa car with Bilstein coil over suspension, race brakes, set up for Turbo RB-30 and 5-speed.

Vehicle suitable for collector or competitor, being reluctantly sold below cost as unfinished project. $9500 ono. Ph ah 03 5152 2003.22s FIQ Flolden race car, NS_W #52 Div One car, front running car, loads of spares, wheels, gearbox, diff and more, dyno sheets, available $6500 or make a reasonable offer ,Ph Peter Hogan 02 4646 1033 24 hours. 22a

BItMK

Formula Ford, Spectrum 06, Complete Package: 2 fresh top H.P. engines, ratios for every circuit, full setup data, plenty of spares inch wheels & tyres, setup bars. Immaculate condition. $29,500.

Details at Ph. Damon 0414 984 65, www.harperglobal.com/spectrum. 229 Formula Ford Van Diemen RF90/91, VGC, won last time out, not raced for five years, needs minor finishing, $17,500. Single axle open trailer, steel floor, electric brakes, $1500. Ph 0412 421 126 (Brisbane). 229 Formula Ford 2000 Spectrum, ex Nick Agland, maintained by Boarland Racing. Motec dash. $32,000 with spares, $38,000 with spares and top HP Lamer engine. Ph Ray 0413 124 222 or Mike 03 9580 5236.229 Formula Vee 95 Sabre, in immac cond, latest Sabre body, Long box 2 sets of 5.5" wheels New K9 tyres revalved shockers, latest spec engine too many spares to mention must sell changed to another category. $12990 Ph:03 9790 6204 or 0409 023 060.229

L

Alfa Romeo Super Touring car, Alfa Romeo 155 built by Alfa Romeo faaory tor BTCC, original log book. ex Richards ASTCC, Independant Championship winner 2001 and 3rd outright, 250kms since complete rebuild, expensive spares package including engine, gearbox, 70 gear ratios, 40 wheels, panels, tyres etc, too many to list -

J

6 litre Chev Capri, space frame, cambered rear, counter lever front, Harrop brakes. Liberty box.

Cola crank, JE, H beam Eagles, alloy heads, Pro Series carb, 7th last round Aust championship, 2nd 2000 QLD c/ship, ultra reliable with heaps potential. 30ft enclosed trailer, sleeper and lounge included. $35,000. Ph Brett 07 4634 8562 ah or 07 4633 1807 bh 22a Peugeot 405 Super Tourer 1991, fresh 295 bhp engine. H pattern 6 sp X-Trac. Car only 7 meetings old, ready to drive in 5/T champ or 2 It S/S. Will consider dismantle. VGC, $22500, ph 0417 703 773 or 07 3343 2733 bh. 22B

Formula Ford Swift FB89, complete. Suitable for super sprints, hillclimb or pre-'90 FF championship. $10,000. Ph. 0417 495 839 (Sydney). 22a Ralt RT4 81/147, FT200 complete minus engine, stored for last 15 years, $24000 Aust, fax 64 9274 8642 NZ email ksmith@titan.co.nz. 22a Formula Vee, fresh engine and paint, not used for five years, great 1st car $1500. Also trailer to suit small car $1250 or $2500 the lot. Ph Sean 02 4628 8280 or swap senior go-kart. 22a Complete Go Kart Package, ready to race. With J motor. Excellent condition (qualified 11th Aust titles).

Lots of spares and accessories including: trolley, all sprockets and chains, spare carby, hubs, axle and tyres, tacho and temp guage, wheel alignment bars, all lubricants, matching suit, boots and gloves plus many other spares. Is a very competitive package and would be perfert for a newcomer to the sport. Will give assistance with set-up etc. $3500, call Steve on 0438 645 192 or 02 9686 8001.22a

Drag Baclnn 1937 FiatTopolino altered, 125 inch Pluger torsion bar Funny Car chassis, complete or roller.

Has run 7.43@180mph soft tune up. Will suit KB. Show quality finish, all the right bits. 14.71 blown small block, glide etc, has made 1165hp in 8001b heavier vehicle. Ring for more details. Complete $35000, roller $18000 ph Bob 07 3824 5311 after 4pm. 228

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Triumph TR8 marque sports car. Rover V8, 5 speed gearbox, 4 wheel disc brakes, spare set of wheels and tyres. Immaculate front running car at a fraction of replacement cost. $30000 ono. Ph Peter 0412 084 062, work 02 9971 1212.22a

Rail RT4 81, Aust F2 fitted with 1600 Golf FT200 complete with spares. $25500, ph 0428 650 850.22a

Lotus Super 7 Cosworth S2, Genuine factory built car. Complete documented history including original UK MOT card issued March 1965. Currently all in alloy, in S3 specifications with Syd Fisher twin cam, quaife gearbox and escort rear end. Original chassis, 1500 Cosworth pushrod engine and close ratio gearbox. All original components to be sold with the car including standard axle, alloy wheels, two sets of guards, 2 nose cones and panels plus much more. Enough parts, excluding a chassis, to build a second car. Offers around $60000. Ph Mike Wilson 03 9439 3111 or 0417 551 205.228

1934 Ford Coupe, has run 7.6@178mph, all new paint, glide, converter, diff and helix 1400+hp small block, all new over $60000 spent. Roller $20000 engine $22000, box and converter $3000, take both with enclosed trailer $70000, ph Bob 07 3824 5311 after 4pm. 228 Wanted: share partner/driver, with sponsorship or money to help run and maintain mid to low 7 sec supercharged hotrod or purchase drivetrain and run car. All offers confidential, ph Bob 07 3824 5311 after 4pm. 228

Speedway Super Sedan chassis, AU Falcon, fibreglass bodykit complete less running gear. Excellent condition, $2000, ph 4730 3440 or 0419 989 010.229 Sprintcar 2000 Gambler, 8 shows old. Brand new Frankland r/end, 2 new f/ends, new himes, arms, stops. Outlaw tank. Best of everything, EC. C/with spares inc wings, wheels. Also 18. alloy engine near

Send us your classified ads and we’ii run them for IDEE* CateOOIlf: □ Sedans □ Open Wheelers □ Speedway DDrag □ Parts □ Engines □ Trailers □ Wanted □ Photographs □ Other.

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NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS Please use the form provided and print clearly. Please note we are unable to return photographs used in classified ads. Ads will appear as soon as 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.

moiorsport news

MARKET PLACE r

new POA. Ph 0410 493 242 or 03 9728 4839.229 Modified Production VL Commodore,6 meetings old, very light strong car Speed Shop 200hp BNG Wiilwood pedals, Quicksteer, adjust suspension, VT brakes, fibreglass moulds, 20 alloy wheels and tyres, $9000 Ph Colin 07 5482 4318.22a Super Sedan VP Commodore, complete car less motor and box, with spares, $1000 ono 0408 475 662. 223

Paris Wheels, 4 speedline,5 stud suit vSsupercar/sports sedan good condition $2500 ph 0417558452.229 Hollinger 6 speed gearbox, good condition $10000 ph 0417 558 452.229 Flewland crown and pinion set, new, never used.

HE28 9/35 ratio. Best offer, Ph 02 4959 2716 or 0412 493 711.229 Dry sump oil tank, tank 5 gall with heater. New Peterson oil pump, drive kit suit 4 bolt bal Ford V8 17" BBS RS500 wheels, RS500 steel flywheel, 5 stage weaver, dry sump pump with mount brkt and scavange manifold, suit Ford V8 2 x 14 1/4" + 2 13 1/4" disc rotors V8 Supercar, ph 03 9359 6066. 229 Mazda BFMR Grp A, turbos and eng. 4.1 spdbled gearbox. Grp A brakes, bront & rear adj Bilstein suspension. Marsh seats, Williams harness plus heaps of other spares, ph 07 4728 4743.229

Automobile Year Nos 1 to 21, Aust Motor

l Brake calipers, discs, pads. Mega range, new/used, exc condition - AP, Alcon, Brembo, Outlaw, Wiilwood. Overnight delivery. CCI Ph 0418 925 767. l Hewland, DGB, 5 speed transaxle, top condition, new 9:31 CWP, ratio choices and spares available, $14K ratios, over 300 in stock to suit DGB, GFGB, TPT, FT200. CCI Ph 0418 925 767. l Oil coolers - heat exchangers, Earls, Setrab, Serck, 6-70 row, new/used, also used water to oil heat exchangers, over 100 in stock. CCI Ph 0418 925 767. l Racecar parts, brake parts, chassis stands, diff oil pumps, exhaust collectors, fuel cell accessories, oil filters, quicklift jacks, ratio boxes, radiator caps, springs, spoilers, wings etc. CCI Ph 0418 925 767. l Uprights, fabricated/cast, fronts/rears, various sizes, new/used, also CVs, driveshafts, wishbones, rockers, pushrods, all top quality, exc condition.

CCIPh 0418 925 767. l Radiators, aluminium, new/used, single/duai pass, top quality, large range, various sizes, suit all applications, fr $300. CCI Ph 0418 925 767.

Transporiers/Trailers Coach transporter, 37ft mid-mount 250hp turbo Volvo, 4 speed, pre-selected gearbox, airbrakes, tubeless tyres, excellent condition, $14000, ph 02 4730 or 0419 989 010.229

36 foot MRT gooseneck trailer, coupledstft Chev Silverado dual cab, trailer has 12 -e 240v power work bench, tyre rack, heaps storage, sleeps 4.

Suit most size sedans, tidy inside -e out. A welimaintained Chev dually 454 auto makes the ideal tow rig. Sell complete $39,000 would separate or trade larger transporter. Ph 07 3888 5934 or 0409 895 934.22a 72 Ford Bus, 6 cyl turbo diesel, seats 8, bunks, storage area, rear section for racecar $11500 ono, ph 0243334070 or 0408246032.22s Fully enclosed triaxle, on 14 inch wheels, lots of storage, benches, drawers, sink, 12/240v wired, electric brakes, insulated, $11500 ono ph Wayne 0413 617 798 or 07 3287 7715.22a

Other Australian GP posters 1985-1995, Adelaide years. For sale to highest offer as unframed set only. Ph. (02) 6281 3211 after 8pm. Email tonyswan@acay.com.au. 229 Old motor magazines, Motorsport News, '72'95 Auto Action, Motor Cycle News, Trail & Track, Competition Cimmunicator and some Revs mags.

All offers considered. Ph Jim Hutton 03 9705 6262 or 0407 800 224.229

■facing Yearbooks No 12 to 16, also Bathurst Yearbooks and some race programmes and race posters. Ph 0411 404 560 ah. 223

Eoflines 253 Commodore Cup 99/2000 spec, used twice VGC, plus 2 bare blocks std bore, 4 heads for rebuild, 1 crank std $4800 ph Garry 02 6383 3341.223 Toyota 2.2L 3SG engine, new crank, lightened heat treated -t slot pierced, new argo rods, new ceramic coated pistons, new head, new cams, new valves, new gaskets, new bearings, now total seal piston rings, new water pump, sump tuning gears, MSO ignition plus spares must sell $8000 ono ph 02 9707 3965.223 GTR Skyline engine, 3.0L engine with Gibson Motorsport RB 2.6 head and cam. New IHI 370hp roller bearings, Motec injection, Cosworth pistons.

Billet rods, 700hp, test-drive car, $26,000, ph 03 5037 6902 ah. 223 Flolden 6 cylinder. Bill Man bottom end.XUl spec cylinder head. Brass button Race ciutch.

Strong street/strip/track engine.Hear running. $1200 ono PH 02 66247593 ah (N.S.W.) 223 Nissan SR20 motor, new, built by Goodman engines. Wolf computer, 250 hp, dyno sheets, $10500, ph 0428 650 850.223

Wanted We desperately require 2x 58 DC03 Weber Carburettors or parts, Genuine reason for our search Any leads or help appreciated, ph. Dan 07 5445 6065. .229 NISMO modified front struts (One Pair), Teflonlined inserts, Bilstein shocks, modified caliper mounts for BIG brakes, HD springs, brand new adjustable, locking platforms, fabricated heavy duty camber/castor/toe plates allowing custom settings, fabricated strut bar mounting plates, just overhauled. Slot straight into 1600, Tarmac Rally or Circuit Racing. $600, 0410 658 463.22a .993 RSCS gearbox, completely overhauled and fitted with steel synchros,an LSD and a low diff ratio of 3.44.1 (STD).$8,500 - Contact Chris on (02) 9418-3711 (W) or 0412-048-251.22a Super T-10 Tex Racing gearbox, rebuilt c7w shifter kit alloy rods. HD ext housing (magnesium). Gears 1 -23, 1.61, 2.43. Call Rod 0414 237 811, 03 8329 0702 (w), or 03 9654 0707 (h). 22a Icom Radio system (RR), In car kit and Pit radio.

Head set, charger etc, as new.$2500 Ph Chris 0413139811. 228

HSV ‘Priority Classified' VT documents, inci pricing, perf and tech specs, conf letters Crennan - Walk, HSV in-house letters, Ige photos and GTS trim samples etc in HSV folder. Price incI postage. $100, ph 07 46393308.223 CF Bedford racecar transporter, enclosed 15ft tray with lockable storgae in front section, tyre racks, winch, 4 mtr alloy ramps, lights, long range fuel tank, alarm, full length enclosed annex, suit small sedan or open wheeler, ph 0418 883 973.229

A/H NSW. 220

Ralt RT4 ground effects sidepods, new $3500, ph 0428 650 850.223 Chev Fuelie heads ported by Rams, roller rockers $1600, Manley forged f/t pistons -f30 new suit 6 rod $800, TRW pistons on rods $300, ph 0427 007 9 00. 228 Kaditcha Formula Pacific rear suspension new $1000, Formula 2 rear wing, 2 sets of end plates and OK catch tank wing mount

M .A.N Pantec, Aero kit. Long range tank, 15 Speed R/Rover, Kitchen, Shower etc. New Tyres, CB UHF, Recaro seats. Driving lights, HUGE Annex, Ultra reliable. Fast, Cheap rego. $35,000, Phone (07) 5441 7700 BH or (07) 5448 5569 AH. 228

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(

$800, ground effect side pods and brackets $600, ph 07 3800 5903. 228 ● Race seats, top quality imported race seats at wholesale prices. Ph 02 6562 7762 or 0412 785 486. * Clutches, 7.25, 5.5, 5.0 single, twin, triple plate, sintered or carbon, AP-Tilton-QM, new/used. Spare covers, rings, plates also available. CCI Ph 0418 925 767. ® Pedals, brake/clutch, floor mount/hanging, new/sued. Also available, bias valves, bias cables, master cylinders, reservoirs etc. CCI Ph 0418 925 767. * Air jacks, new/used, large range, most applications, quick release handles available, top quality. C.C.I. Ph 0418 925 767.

SAprH 2002

v8touringcars.com This sought-after domain name is forsale, (serious offers only). Contact details on the web site www.v8touringcars.com. 223 Damon Hill's seat from his 97 campaign in Melbourne. Only one in Australia. Photos avail, $500 ono email dspeedstar@optusnet.com.au or ph 0412 397 177. 228 Automobile Yearbooks, 14-34 (1966 - 1986), excellent condition. 1958, 1959, 1960 & 1963 no cover sleeves on these four. $1,000 the lot Ph. Sydney 02 9987 0330.223

6 Cylinder parts for sale, 2 cam shafts, 35/75 (Ivan tye) and a 104 waggot . Romac bolt on harmonic balancer 1.6 chev roller rockers with guide plates and brass bobbins. 2 veriejet carbys ex-malrose,ex-Halliays engineering. Ported and flowed blue motor manifold,JP high volume water pump, steel 186 crankshaft, finer filter air filter $550 or nearest offer. Please phone 02-66247593

Group C Torana equipment, 15 x 10 Hot Wire wheels , also looking for 4 magnesium globe wheels used on John Harvey Marlboro A9X, Ph 08 9306 3221.229 Corner scales to suit medium saloon. Ph Ron 07 5539 9337 or 0414 399 337.229

Transporter Hino 170 Diesel Ramps and power winch, 240/24 volts belly storage very reliable and quick.Seliing due to purchasing a larger transporter at a bargain price,$13990 Ph: 03 9790 6204 or 0409 023 060.229

Enclosed trailer, approx 30ft electric brakes, will fit sedan or sprint car etc. To be sold by auaion at Airport Auctions No 20 Woorang St Milperra. Sale date 27/3/02. Ph Craig Taylor on 0408 204 056.22a

Fan van, purpose-built for selling T-shirts, hats, parts etc. Plenty of storage 240 volt power, very tidy, towed with ease by Chev Blazer 350 V8 auto.

Complete outfit $14000 would seperate ph 07 3888 5934 or 0409 895 934. 228

Motor SporlToursi ■uanciouitci

● ONE CALL DOES IT ALL, Phillip Island - Vic V8 Supercar 12-14 April 2002, MOTO GP Championship 18-20 Oct 2002 from $379 per person. Eastern Creek - Sydney V8 Supercars 2628 April 2002 from $479 per person. Hidden Valley Raceway - Darwin V8 Supercars 17-19 May 2002, Legends of Motorsport 22-25 August 2002 from $649 per person, V8 Supercar 400 Canberra 7-9 June 2002 from $499 per person, Barbagallo Raceway - Perth V8 Supercars 28-30 June 2002 from $499 per person, V8 Supercar 1000 - Bathurst 10-13 October 2002 from $319 per person.

Most packages include Accommodation, Breakfast, Track Ticketing, Paddock Pass, Circuit Transfers, GST, MST Event Kit (Cap, Sunglasses, Poncho, Ticket Holder & Lanyard, Comfort Kit). Enquiries & Bookings contaa the Team at Motor Sport Tours Pty Ltd Ph 07 4691 5833 Fax 07 4691 5733 Mob 0412 900 228 Postal AddressPo Box 83 Oakey Qld 4401 Email - motorsportours@ozemail.com.au Web - www.motorsportours.com.au » Driving suits, top brand imported race suits, boots, gloves etc. Many styles and colours at wholesale prices, Ph 02 6562 7762 or 0412 785 486.

Escort 1100 conrods, ph Chris 0407 065 302.229 10x15 Hotwire mags and BBS 15" x Moffat and 19" XE all to suit Falcon. Ph 03 9359 6066. 229 Wanted turbo charge complete unit, to suit Corolla 1300CC ph 0407 545 801 email hydrohaven® h.d.c.com.au. 229 Exp race engineer seeks full time position with leading Melb-based race team. 24 years experience, can fabricate, weld, turn spanners, data aquisition, superior technical ability and much more. Ph Andy 0427 847 776.223 CAREER DESIRED S.E.QLD.,

I

Aircraft Engineer

seeks appointment into motorsport workshop.

You'll gain an employee, 20 years aviation experience, driven by safety, productivity, customer satisfaction and self motivation with a pro-active approach. The Airlines loss could be your gain. Contart Scott, Alexandra Hills, 0438 795 790, bensonsonalex@bigpond.com. 228 Autosport (English) magazines, 1983 to 1996, $200 the lot, buyer collects, Ph Karl Taylor 0425 251 125.228 Navigator for Targa Tasmania, with experience.

Fast 2402. 8-22 April 2002. Call Ben Brooksby 0402 133 721.223 Any parts to suit Cheetah Mark 6 Formula 2, including 2T Celica motor, adapter plate for Holinger gearbox etc. PLease contact Edward Gavin 0409 794 033.223 Wanted A9X Torana, ex Group C, complete car or will consider body shell. Ph bh 03 5428 3916.228 Wanted to buy, club car-sports sedan-formula libre etc.tas/vic.approx $10000. ph 0407 871 554, email knight2bigpond.com@bigpond.com. 223 Exp race engineer seeks full-time position with leading Melb-based race team or manufacturer, 24 years experience, can fabricate, weld, turn spanners, data aquisition, superior technical ability and much more, ph Andy 0427 847 776. 223 Scaletrix cars, buildings, parts, spares etc, interested in all things Scaletrix. Don't throw it out, I might want it. Ph 02 4392 1524.22a

81

1

OPINION

motorsport EDITORIIU STUFF Editor; Phil Branagan l editor@mnews.com.au Assistant Editor: Aaron Noonan l noonz@mnews.com.au Staff Journalist: Mark Glendenning”" l mark@mnews.com.au

PRODUGTIOH Adv & Graphics Co-ordinator: Viv Brumby l viv@mnews.com.au

ADVERTISINB Advertising Manager: Brendon Sheridan l ads@mnews.com.au

Join the club So I am not the only one who is bored watching the HRT Super Series.

I agree with comments made that AVESCO need to do something to keep parity with HRT and the rest of the field although at least this year we can look forward to maybe a white HRT car winning, rather than the standard red ones.

Wouldn’t it be nice to se another car - any car - run at the front for once?

Stephen McKay Galston NSW

Public flogging

ADMIHISTRRTIOH Managing Director: Chris Lambden l publisher@mnews.com.au

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converter Send US your thoughts: mail; 357 Nepean Highway, Brighton East, VIC 3187 fax: 03 9596 5030 «email: mnews@mnews.com.au

I wonder what value there is for Ford to be competing in V8 Supercars based on the lamentable results of the last few years.

Based on the Clipsal 500, states very clearly in the 2002 this year promises to be another AVESCO Operations Manual Rules shocker. for V8 Supercars Rule C 9.4.2 While the volume of Holdens ‘Where the centrelock wheel and Fords on the grid is similar, fixing (single wheel nut) is used, it the expertise supporting the cars is not permitted for the centrelock leans in favour of the Commodores nut to be retained either in the - or perhaps this is just wishful wheel or the wheel gun; the nut thinking by a loyal Ford fan at the must be fully detached from the end of his tether. The two makes replacement wheel while it is are comparable, but so many Ford being fitted to a car during any competitors cannot achieve or wheel changing operation”. sustain the professionalism needed Last year when Gibson to get results.

Motorsport changed their With sales on the slide, global centrelock nuts, they could not use business models and economic even though they were within pressures, poor local economies of i,^them the rule. TWR are not within the scale and no substantial export rules and are getting away with it. program in place from Australia, Louise Spencer how long before a senior Ford spenl27@hotmail.com executive puts a red line through Falcon’s budget?

Go HRT I Roger van der Lee What on earth do these people who email address withheld gripe about the dominance of Skaife and the HRT want- would Nutty profess-er they rather revert to the ‘reverse Why is there one set of rules for grid’format ? anyone and then there is another Or perhaps it may be possible to set of rules for TWR? make Skaife start from the rear This became very clear to me in whenever he qualifies on pole ... or the telecast of the Sunday race of maybe we can get the stewards to the Clispal 500. do their thing and give him lots of The TWR cars have the ‘Stop/Go penalties’. centrelock nut being I'etained in I am sure that we can nobble both the wheel and the wheelgun Skaife somehow and make for their tyre pitstops, when it

‘Opinions expressed in Motorsport News are not necessarily those of Australasian Motorsport News or its staff.

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I'T'-’

Photo by Dirk Klynsmith

02

evei-yone feel good about other drivers winning.

I don’t think there is any other sport where so-called fans deride excellence to the extent that happens in the V8s.

Karrie Webb, Ian Thorpe, Michael Schumacher, Tiger Woods .... and Mark Skaife.

They win often because they are the best. Enjoy their skills!

Bob Jarman Como, WA

Go HRT II I refer to the anti-HRT letters in MN #227’s Talk Converter.

What a load of garbage!

Here we’ve got a team that has dominated a series for the last few years, and now we’ve got a few disgruntled fans saying “They’ve had their fair share of wins, and I’m sick of it. Time to fix the rules so they cant anjrmore”. What bull!

I guess a lot of you have forgotten how much of a laughing stock HRT were in the early 90’s.

You only have to look at the old GP500 series when the Repsol Honda team dominated for so long compared to today to see how every team has its day, and in the long run it has no effect on the popularity of a series.

I think penalising the best team and creating a whole heap of artificial results will do even more harm than just letting TWR go.

Its not up to the officials to cut the tall poppys (or the fans as the case may be), rather it’s the responsibility of others to catch the leader. That’s what motorsport has always been about.

The fact that'TWR has some unimaginable budget should be of less consequence than anti-TWR fans like to make it out to be.

A. Grant Walkinshaw@austarnet.com.au MG:Is that really your email address? Sheesh ...

Helmet head I have a question for you. I entered the Richo’s Helmet comp (with about five designs).

What the happened; bit funny: he turns out with the same paint job as the car? Figure!

You can’t tell me they liked it so much they painted three cars in a week or so! And at Adelaide he had a different design, as it was sitting on the car roof in his interview. If you can enlighten me with what the **** happened with that comp, I would love to know.

Alan Dyer Gold Coast, QLD MG: The winning design (chosen

by Richo himself) intelligently incorporated CastroTs new corporate look - but the helmet wasn’t quite ready for Adelaide. motorsport news

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