Motorsport News Issue 234 - June 26-July 9, 2002

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Issue 234

26 June - 9 July 2002

news and opinions

Webber is getting hot Why the Aussie is suddenly in demand in Formula 1 Castroi Castroi Castroi LP looking for youth for 2003 Green Day Looming?

Jaguar faces the big test A V8 Supercar copy Changes in the wind for Konica V8 Supercar Series Motor Mouth The Editor gets a bit Silly, Silly, Silly Box Seat Saward crawls up to Aussies. Too late, we say Taik Converter This might just be the beer talking but...

features

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28 5 minutes with Le Mans winners How it feels to win Le Mans three times 30 5 minutes with Wiii Power Is it Formula Holden or Formula 3 this week?

32 Ferrari Festa The Prancing Horse at 150 and Jean Todt on team orders 34 Perkins on retirement Still plenty to say from the shy-and-retiring LP 38 Aii Day and Aii of the Night Aaron Noonan stays awake for all 24 Hours

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D THE Holden Racing Team may face disciplinary action over recent comments made by TWR Racing manager Jeff Grech.

A meeting of the board of the Touring Car Entrants' Group TEGA will be convened in Perth this weekend to discuss what action, if any, should be taken over comments Grech made in a newspaper article published just prior to the Stegbar 400 in Canberra earlier this month.

In the story, published in The Australian, Grech claimed that Ford itself was to blame for its poor results in the 2002 V8 Supercar Championship and labelled the 00 Motorsport team as the "greatest sponge of the money" Ford was investing in the series.

The TEGA board will address the comments and determine whether they are in contravention of TEGA's Article 7.1 which prevents the teams from rriaking negative statements about other teams, or

their sponsors.

The article states, in part, that any teams which is a signatory to the agreement "acknowledges the role of each sponsor and it will not publicly do or say ... anything which is or may be construed as detrimental, perjorative or unfavourable to the sponsors .. . or which might generate unfavourable or undesirable criticism for them or for any of their products, services, officers or personnel."

It will now be up to the board to determine to what extent, if any, Grech contravened the Article what action, if any, should be taken is he is deemed to have done so. There are a number of courses open to the board under the Teams' Agreement, up to and including a loss of franchise rights. Flowever, the likelihood is that that action would not be taken against TWR Racing and either of its teams, HRT and Kmart Racing Team.

- PHIL BRANAGAN

Crennan sees Red

THE return of Peter Brock to the sport as co-director of V8 Supercar equipe Team Brock is creating waves - and not all on-track.

Team Brock, which currently runs a single red Commodore for kiwi driver Craig Baird, launched its new range of merchandise - primarily red in colour - at the recent Canberra Street Race - and immediately raised the ire of HRT/TWR boss John Crennan, who believes the new team's apparel is too close to that of F1RT in design.

In a three-page letter to Flolden dealers, Crennan has warned that in his view Brock's team was "out to copy FIRT" and, working with a former HRT merchandise partner, is "luring many fans into thinking

that there was some connection with 'The Holden Team'."

Crennan's solicitors are, according to the letter, investigating all the options, including an injunction on the sale of Brock merchandise.

The return of Brock, in his role with the new team, appeared to strike a chord with race fans at Canberra, who beseiged the team's merchandising area. Brock himself reported healthy merchandise sales.

We were unable to contact team principal Rod Nash for comment as we closed for press, but MN understands that no official correspondence has yet been received by the team.

Jag beckons,

by CHRIS LAMBDEN

HALF way through his debut FI season, Mark Wehher finds himself in the midst of FI SiUy Season negotiations which could take him to Jaguar, Jordan or BAR in 2003.

Most prominent among those options is Jaguar, for whom Webber \^1 test, at Barcelona, on Friday.

The test comes following a lengthy meeting between Webber, manager Flavio Briatore and Jaguar boss Nikd Lauda during the Canadian GP a fortnight ago.

While the Jaguar team is pubhcly still saying that it is still discussing 2003 with Eddie Ii-vine, MN’s sources are insisting that Eddie is gone. The timing of Webber’s test could not provide a clearer pictm-e - there’s a vacancy and Webber is in the frame.

‘Tm not getting over-excited about the test itself,” Webber told MN on Monday. “Barcelona is an ‘aero’ track and that’s an area where Jaguar has been suffering as much as Minardi.

They (Jaguar’) know what I’ve been doing. This is mainly about Jaguar seeing how I work; how I go about my stuff.

“But there’s no doubt that Jaguar would be a good team for my career they have manufactoer backing and, really, can’t dip down any further than they are at the moment.” moiorspori news

NEWS

Ibnt Webber!

-SURIA

Shock! Perkins in at Kmart!!!

Look for a new face taking part in the Friday Media rides in Perth this week. With Larry Perkins taking a weekend off from driving he will be passengered around the track by Greg Murphy. Maybe Murf is just trying to butter up a team owner for 2003... ?

Channel 10 viewers will also hear LP's familiar tones throughout the broadcast. With no car to drive just for this weekend, Perkins will join the Ten commentary team.

■ Refreshing news for anyone who likes a beer with their V8 Supercar racing; CUB has, we hear, committed to a multi-year sponsorship of the V8 Supercar broadcast on the Ten Network.

■ Will Power has been confirmed to share the driving duties with Mark Larkham in the enduros. Power, who races in both Formula Holden and Formula 3 at present, will share the Orrcon Falcon at Queensland and Bathurst.

mlile Jordan, BAR and others watch “There is an option with Minardi next year too - Stoddy(Minardi boss Paul Stoddard)is hopeful ofsome feed-back from the test as Cosvvorth is one ofthe engine options he’s working on for next yeai'. In some ways it would be nice to complete the job and get Minai-di further up the grid...”

It is the Jaguar option, though, which has the UK media talking, allied with reports that Webber’s occasional training companion Jensen Button may not after all be staying with Renault and might be headed for a dream pairing at Jag with his Aussie mate.

At the same time, recent publicity surrounding Jacques Wleneuve and BAR team boss David Richards(the latter bemoaning Villeneuve’s salary, said to be 25 percent of BAR’s budget!)and a possible move by the Canadian to Renault(for whom he won the championship in a Williams) has seen Webber’s name put forward as a logical replacement.

A further option is Jordan where, at one point, Japanese driver Takuma Sato was costing the cashstrapped team $250,000 a day in damaged race cars. Eddie Jordan’s plans for 2003 remain fluid, with no confirmation yet on whether he will keep or lose Honda as an engine supplier.

NEXTISSUE:How it all went with Jaguar...

26 June 2002

whv Webb WHY is Mark Webber suddenly in demand?

He's delivering the goods.

FI may often be seen as a world of money, of driver deals driven by huge personal sponsorships or national backing, but just occasionally the faith is restored.

While the sharp end of the grid looks pretty committed for 2003, there are manufacturer-backed teams further back who simply must start to perform. That’s Jaguar and BAR in particular.

So why Webber?

With Webber on board, Minardi has been into uncharted waters this year. The romantic drama of Melbourne aside, there has been a consistent string of over-achieving performances: Imola and Monaco in particular.

The two years and thousands of kilometres of testing with Mercedes: a year of the same with Renault - all now playing their part.

And hardly a scratch. Zero driverinduced damage bill. Team managers like that.

Fernando Alonso is seen as a fast young thing. Great. He's not seen as a technical whiz. Jaguar and BAR need all that.

Jaguar and BAR both have

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overpaid and underperforming 'establishment' drivers on staff.

Senior management in Michigan and Tokyo will only put up with that for so long.(When Henry Ford III took over at Ford this year he was apparently less than amused to discover that the secondhighest paid Ford employee world wide is a Mr Edmund Irvine ...)

In four short months, Mark Webber has delivered in spades for Minardi and the FI pit lane looks to have taken notice, it restores your faith.

■ Jason Bargwanna is in the wars.

While his Phillip Island rollover left him largely unscathed, Bargs is currently suffering from an infection in his left knee and will be hobbling around in Perth this weekend. So, if you see him, do not challenge him to a penalty shoot-out ...

■ If you buy your tickets to the VIP Petfoods Queensland 500, you could get a bonus. Qne lucky buyer will get a 'Hot Lap' in the official V8 Supercar Championship Safety Vehicle, just one of many prizes being offered to advance ticket holders for the September 15 race.

Have a geek at http://www.queensland500.com/tick eting.asp for details.

■ We hear that there is going to be a change in drivers for the Toll Ipec team in the enduros. Christian Jones had been connected to the team but it now appears that Anthony Tratt will share the car with a driver with more V8 Supercar experience. No word on who may get the seat, though we believe that Nations Cup racer and sometime V8 Supercar co-driver Paul Stokell recently tested for the team.

■ David Auger is going Asian. The former Super Touring driver will compete in the rest of the Asian Touring Car Championship. The former Alfa Romeo racer will drive a Longman Racing-prepared Peugeot 306 in the series, with the support of long-time backer Leatherman Tools.

The next race in the series is on July 20 at Sepang.

5

3 cars for Pei

by PHIL BRANAGAN

THE Castrol Perkins V8 Supercar team looks likely to continue running three cars next season, despite the retirement from full-time racing of Larry Perkins and the exit of Russell Ingall.

Perkins, who will step down from racing at the end of the year (with the possible exception of co driving in the endurance events), confirmed last week that he would be running two young drivers alongside Steven Richards next season.

One driver who is almost certain to be with the CPR team next season is Fabian Coulthard.

The New Zealand Formula Ford driver, who finished third overall at the Australian GP support events (after winning one of the races), has tested for the team already.

“It is no secret that I want to have Fabian Coulthard drive with me next year,” says Perkins.

“I haven't got all the paperwork sorted yet, but that will be going ahead, from my point of view.

“The other guy is definitely sorted out, but I will not go public on that for another six weeks.”

No worries: Juan Montoya did not seem worried about his future after taking his third successive pole last weekend.

(Photo by Sulton-lmages)

Williams waiting on iiontoya option THE Williams FI team has denied a report in England’s Motorsport News that Williams has taken up its option to retain Juan Pablo Montoya in 2003.

The article was widely reported on the Internet but, unfortunately, it is not correct.

“It is quite untrue,” said a Williams insider. “We have not picked up the option - yet.”

It is fairly clear that the Colombian will be re-signed, but the team says that there is no hurry to do anything as Montoya cannot sign any other contracts until Williams has made its decision.

Montoya is rumoured to have been contacted in recent weeks by McLaren - an interesting thoughtbut it is not clear whether this is for 2003. McLaren is not expected to change its driver line-up next year.

It is believed that Williams has an option on Montoya’s services for at least another two years if it chooses to take it up.

Half Schumacher’s deal comes to a close at the end of 2003 and Williams has an arrangement with Jenson Button which runs until the end of 2004. Button is expected to stay at Renault in 2003.

Montoya is also believed to be on Ferrari’s shopping list as a possible replacement for Michael Schumacher at the end of 2004, when the German’s contract comes to an end.

- JOE SAWARD 6

Back again: LP might be standing aside, but will retain a 3-car squad in 2003.

(Photo by Slipsireani Phoio}>raphics) TEDE FI team bosses met at the Heathrow Hilton last week for a meeting that lasted six hours.

All the team bosses were present, with the exception of Peter Sauber and David Richards.

Most of the meeting seems to have been about the future of Minardi and whether or not Paul Stoddart’s team,will be giveix,^omething like US$12m (AUS$21m)of TV money which would have gone to Prost Grand Prix.

Stoddart says he could go to

Photo by Sutton-lmages

Saving Minardi

arbitration and is confident that he would win the case but that woidd take two months and the Australian cannot afford to keep the team running for that long. We do not believe he is bluffing.

But it seems that several teams are happy to see Minardi go to the waU Ibm Walkinshaw has suggested that the moiHgf.be

divided up equally among the other teams and has gained the support of several teams.

What the teams clearly fail to imderstand is that Minardi is a strong and popular FI brand, personifying the underdog against the

NEWS

rkins While Perkins is in no hurry to name his other driver, the frontrunner for the seat is Paul Dumbrell. The 19-year-old has been the star of the Konica V8 Supercar Series this year, most recently taking a three-race sweep of the Oran Park round of the championship.

Perkins is keen to make sure that the level of expectation on his younger drivers next season is not too great.

“I am not expecting young, new drivers to be able to win in their first season in a car,” he says. “It is unreal to expect that, but it is not unreal to try and get solid performances out of them.”

A new Commodore is currently being built at the team's Melbourne HQ, but it may not be used for Bathurst, as the team has three cars race-ready and Perkins believes that the advantage of having a brand-new car for the classic is not as great as it once was.

In the meantime, Perkins will miss this weekend's Perth round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series, having made the decision to stand down to concentrate on running Richards and Ingall, and allow another entry to make the trip across the Nullabor.

For more on Perkins, see our interview on page 34.

big manufacturers and that, if it is put out of business, that will reflect very badly on the sport as a whole.

The FIA exists to safeguard the sport and keeping Minardi aUve is something that the FIA would like to do.

The FIA convened another meeting at the Nurburgring last weekend to help settle the matter(see story on page

zs tait zoez

n Former 500cc racer Daryl Beattie may be looking for a career racing V8 Supercars, The 1995 world championship runner-up, now a commentator with Network 10, had 12 laps behind the wheel of Paul Morris's Sirromet Wines Commodore at Queensland Raceway last week and described it as "the most fun I've had since I stopped racing bikes".

Beattie got within 2.7s of the fastest lap of last year's Queensland 500.

We’re right behind, er, beside you, Michaei: The whole Ferrari team (Photo by Sulton-lmages) will effectively be on trial at the FIA in Paris.

Ferrari bracing for Paris meeting AS Motorsport News hits the stands, Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello and Ferrari were due to go up before the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris to answer charges over what happened during and after the recent Austrian GP. There has been a lot of speculation about the punishment which the team may face, with most people seeming to think that the team will be let off lightly.

Our sources are indicating that this is not the case at all and that there could be a very severe penalty for the team for bringing the sport into disrepute. There are many sound reasons why this could happen: there is no doubt that the decision by Ferrari to order Rubens Barrichello to move over for Michael Schumacher was a public relations blunder - even if the FI rules allow for such team orders.

More serious was what happened on the podium when Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel found himself live on global TV being whistled at by his own electorate. This was obviously a big embarrassment and FIA President Max Mosley later wrote to Schussel to apologise for what happened.

The big issue, however, is that Schumacher seems to have decided to try to appease the crowd by putting Barrichello on the top step of the podium so that the Brazilian received the winning trophy.

It is not the first time that Schumacher has run into trouble over podium activities, as there was a behind-the-scenes fight in Malaysia in 2001 when Michael wanted to go on the podium wearing a red wig. This was headed off at the last minute when it was pointed out to Michael that

it would embarrass the Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

But there are even bigger issues in play.

The FIA has long been seen to be a little too much under the influence of Ferrari and now is the perfect opportunity for the federation to underline its new independence by slapping the team very publicly. This would create a much better image for the FIA in the long-term.

As Schumacher was responsible for the problems, he could have a large number of Drivers’ World Championship points docked from his score.

But as Ferrari cannot be blamed for what happened on the podium the team might not lose its Constructors’ points and so the actual relationship between Ferrari and the FIA would not be hugely damaged.

For the whole of FI, such a move would be a big bonus as it would boost interest in the World Championship, in which Schumacher is the runaway leader.

On Tuesday, Schumacher was to help out the FIA with the launch of the next phase of the European New Car Assessment Program (EuroNCAP) which will reveal the second car to be given a five-star award for crashworthiness.

Cynics have suggested that Schumacher’s involvement is ‘community service’ to help pay for the Austrian debacle and that part of his punishment will be the embarrassment which comes from the World Champion unveiling a major road car triumph for Ferrari’s FI rivals, Mercedes-Benz.

Schumacher’s presence will, of course, give the EuroNCAP event a much higher profile than would be the case if he was not present.

- JOE SAWARD

n Tasmania's Australian Rally Championship round will be known as the Subaru Safari Tasmania for the next three years following a deal agreed with Subaru Australia last week. n Fred Douglas has stepped down as the Chairman of the Australian Formula 3 Association.

Douglas, who announced his decision at Winton last weekend, had been a member of the F3 Association for several years. A full-time replacement will not be nominated until the end of the year, with the role being filled in the interim by Bill Maddocks.

"Freddy has been with us a long time, and he'll still have a contribution to make," Maddocks said. n Speaking of F3, whispers in the paddock at Winton suggested that the Adelaide-based BRM team are close to announcing that a Finnish driver will step into their third car, the Dallara 398 driven by Darren Palmer last year, for at least two of the remaining rounds on the 2002 calendar. n There are worries that Toyota FI driver Allan McNish might have problems with a shoulder injury in the run-up to the British GP on July 7. The problem came from the Scot using a new seat in the European GP at the Nurburgring. McNish finished the race despite the pain but is not sure whether or not he will be able to test this week. Flowever he says that there is no way he is going to miss his home Grand Prix. n An interesting story concerns a very quiet visit recently by veteran racing car designer Ron Tauranac to the Asiatech chassis factory at Didcot in England. Tauranac is very close to the Honda Motor Company although his influence with the current management is not as big as once it was as many of those with whom he worked in the past have now retired.

There are rumours that Asiatech is looking at buying into a team but our sources say that this is not likely to happen until 2004. n Edouard Michelin, the boss of the entire Michelin company, was at the Nurburgring to see his company in action and to meet with the team bosses who use the French company's products. Michelin was the motive force behind the current FI program which was instigated after he took over control of the firm in April 1999.

-JOESAWARD/STAFF 7

Bowlby bows out of Lola BEN Bowlby,the chief designer of the Lola CART program,is leaving his current role and is tipped to be on his way either to Formula 1 or to a job as a designer in the Indy Racing League.

The obvious move would be to the new MK Racing operation in Charlotte, North Carolina, or to Don Panoz's G Force operation, which has been rumoured to be looking for a new chief designer.

The possible FI opportunities are mostly in the midfield and could include Toyota, Jaguar Racing, Jordan Grand Prix and Arrows.

An announcement is expected shortly to throw some light on the mystery.

- JOE SAWARD

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THIS week is going to be vitally important for the Jaguar team as the company runs its all-new aerodynamic package and revised car for the first time.

If there is not a major improvement in performance, it is likely that there are going to be more changes within the team.

The team is currently under scrutiny by the Ford Motor Company's Richard Parry-Jones, who is two weeks into a sixweek survey into Ford's involvement with Jaguar and Cosworth. The aim of the investigation is to establish what is needed for Jaguar Racing to win.

The new chassis is the first step towards a recovery and so there will be much interest in the first tests of the car at the 8

Deutsche drama DEUTSCHE Post, the main Jordan sponsor, which owns both DHL and Danzas, is in trouble with the European Commission's Competition Directorate and has been ordered to repay the German government USS538m of subsidies which it received in the 1990s.

The Commission conducted a three-year investigation and has now ruled that these were illegal, as they gave the company an unfair advantage over its major rivals.

Deutsche Post says that it intends to appeal the decision but has wisely made a provision of around US$800m in its 2002 budget (the fine plus interest), just in case it loses the case.

The repayment amounts to about a third of the company's annual profit.

German sources at the Nurburgring were saying that this means that Deutsche Post is absolutely certain not to stay in FI next year.

This has been rumoured for some time but has yet to be

confirmed. It is worth noting that even before the EU announcement, there were stories that other teams were keen to take the company away from Jordan.

The German government is still Deutsche Post’s largest

shareholder - with a 69 percent stake. The EU has just completed a three-year inquiry . into the aid, which it says gave Deutsche Post an unfair advantage over its rivals as it was able to undercut prices.

- JOE SAWARD

□

Ford testing grounds in Lommel, Belgium. This venue has been chosen because the testing can take’ place in complete secrecy, as Lommel is hidden away in a remote and wooded part of Belgium, close to the Dutch border.

It is expected that the initial aerodynamic mapping tests on the straights at Lommel will be carried out by Andre Lotterer.

If these tests are successful, the car will then be sent to Barcelona for the big test at the end of this week.

There are lots of rumours floating around about the team with one popular story suggesting that Ford might consider putting Tom Walkinshaw in charge of Jaguar Racing.

We do not believe this one.

- JOE SAWARD motorspori news

NEWS

Asian F1 TV pinch THERE have been stories appearing in recent days suggesting that Formula 1 television coverage has been stopped in Asia but this is not the case at all.

Coverage of the Canadian and European GPs on Star TV, which supplies most of Asia, went ahead as normal.

But even if the coverage is continuing across Asia, there is a problem because the coverage has been paid for in recent years by British American Tobacco and the tobacco giant has decided not to go on funding the progi-amming.

There is currently no-one willing to pay for the costs of the TV coverage, the suggestion being that none of the other manufacturers wish to fund what amounts to an advertising campaign for Ferrari in Asia. For the moment, however, the costs are being met by Formula One Communications because the Asian market is vitally important to the sport as it makes up around 60 percent of the 350m viewers who watch every race.

If the viewing figures drop by 60 percent, the ability of FI to raise money will fall accordingly. The problem is th with the Kirch group’s financial problems the Formula One group is being asked to make savings and this seem, to mean that the Asian feed is under threat.

The recent economy drive for Formula One was seen last week when a memo was sent to the teams saying thi the automatic start light system, the jump-start technology and pitlane speeding gear, plus other race control systems would not be available for the French GI Negotiations with the FIA resulted in the cutbacks being cancelled, presumably because the race would haw been cancelled if the systems were not in place. The interlude does lead to questions of who should be responsible for the costs of the electronic systems used b; race control and there will probably have to be a long-ter solution to the problem, presumably with the FIA either; funding the Formula One systems or developing systems of its own.

- JOE SAWAE

n Michelin has been carrying out a very low-key test program involving Olivier Beretta, driving Williams and Arrows chassis.

The former is one of the cars which was used for the company's initial tests a couple of years ago and the latter are believed to be 1998 chassis which are used by ORECA in its 'FI Driving Experience' program.

Beretta is an ORECA sports car driver and does a lot of the team's l Michelin testing.

Beretta was running recently at Miramas where Michelin flooded sections of the circuit to try the latest wet rubber. n The European Formula F3000 team Is being run for the rest of the year by Colon! Motorsport.

Paul Stoddart of Minardi was keen to offload the team as quickly as possible but, as Colon! cannot own two teams in the same series, the arrangement will continue as a collaboration until the end of the season. It is then expected that Colon! will take full control of the team.

Photo by Marsh/BOIHWELL

Lausitz or bust

THE company which runs the EuroSpeedway at Lausitzring in the old East Germany has declared itself to be insolvent.

The vast facility, built in an old open-cast coal mine, features an oval, a road track and a huge testing oval, was largely funded by money from the German state of Brandenberg.

The Germans hope that the facility wiii continue to operate (as does CART, which is the one big event which the Lausitzring does have).

The iatest rumours are that likely buyers include Octagon (which runs most of the racing circuits in Britain), the France Famiiy’s International Speedway Corporation and its rival. Speedway Motorsports Inc. - JOE SAWARD

n Mercedes-Benz unveiled a statue in memory of Juan Manuel Fangio standing next to a Mercedes GP car to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Nurburgring.

The statue was unveiled by the McLaren team drivers David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen.

Coulthard then drove a lap of the new Ring in a 1927 Mercedes racer. n According to a study by the London-based marketing company Arksports, the amount of money being spent on sports sponsorships will continue to grow and will reach US$20bn a year by the end of 2010.

That would be an increase of almost 43 percent over the amount of money spent in sport in 1999. The growth will be across the board but the developed markets of Europe and America will enjoy less growth than in Asia. n CART boss Chris Pook has been busy promoting the upcoming CART race in Montreal in August and has admitted that CART is no match for Grand Prix racing - and does not intend to be.

It will be the first time for many years that CART and FI cars will have run on the same track (albeit at n different times) and will give an indication as to how the two series compare. Pook says he does not expect the CART cars to be as quick as the FIs. Montreal is hoping to pull in crowds of around half the number that showed up in the course of the recent Canadian GP weekend.

- JOE SAWARD 9

n n n n

ten home of

[motorsport] V8 Supercar Championship* .Rd 6

Jun 30 ...Barbagallo .

Jul 28 ....Oran Park ..

,Rd 7

Aug 18 .. .Winton ....

.Rd 8

Sep 15 .. .Old Raceway Oct 13 ... .Bathurst ...

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Oct 23 ... .Gold Coast .

.Rd 11

,Rd 9

Konica V8 Series* .Winton .

.Rd4

Aug 4 ... .Mallala , Oct12 ... .Bathurst

.(non Championship)

Jul 7

,Rd5

FIA Formula One World t

Jul 7

Championship Silverstone

.R d 10

Jul 21 ....Magny Cours Jul 28 ... .Hockenheim ,

.Rd 11

Aug 18 . . .Hungaroring

.Rd 13

^ \ Sep 1

■Rd 12 .Rd 14

Spa

CART FedEx Championship* .Rd 7

Jun 30 . . . .Chicago Jul 7 .Toronto . .

.Rd 8

Jul 14 . . . .Cleveland

.Rd9

Jul 28

Vancouver

.Rd 10

Aug 11

. . .Mid Ohio .

,Rd11

MotoGP Motorcycle Championship* Jun 29 . . . .Assen

.Rd7

Jul 14 . . . .Donnington . . .

.Rd8

Jul 21 . . . .Sachsenring . .

.Rd9

Aug 25 . . .Czechoslovakia

.Rd 10

PROCAR confirms Z Photo by Sutton-lmages

Jones vs Jones

4

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SBK World Super Bike Championship* .Rd9

Jul 14 . . . .Laguna Seca Jul 28 . . . .Brands Hatch

. Rd 10

Sep 1 . . . .Oschersieben

.Rd 11

Sep 8 . . . .Assen

.Rd12

Nations Cup Jul 14 . . . .Old Raceway . . .

.Rd6

Aug 11

.Rd7

. . .Wakefield Park . .

Sep 8 . . . .Sandown

.Rd8

S ep 22 . . .Philip Island . . . .

,Rd9

eimmX

World Rally Championship* Jul 11-14 . .Safari . . . ,Rd 8 Aug 8-11 . .Finland . .

,Rd 9

Aug 22-25 .Germany

●Rd 10

Sep 19-22 .San RemO

.Rd 11

Australian Rally Championship* Jul 13-14 . .Adelaide . ,Rd4 Aug 10-11 .Tasmania

.Rd5

Sep 7-8 . . .Melbourne

.Rd6

rt en1

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home of

[motorsport ^

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B

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All event dates in this calendar were correct at the time of printing. Please consult any individual tracks and/or associations for dale changes.

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

THE next round of the Konica V8 Supercar Championship at Winton on July 7 is looking like a Jones-fest, with entries from Andy Jones and Robert Jones.

Andy, inset, son of Brad Jones Racing team manager Ki m, will have his maiden V8 Supercar start at the wheel of the team's third OzEmail Falcon AU, the car which Brad Jones ran at the Albert Park GP meeting earlier this year.

Jones Jr will also run the car in the Bathurst 30-lapper, primarily to give him experience for the Bathurst 1000. Brad Jones and John Bowe will share the lead OzEmail entry, while John Cleland will share with another

hi 'Sir

driver - perhaps Andy Jones in the team's second entry.

Meanwhile, Formula Ford graduate Robert Jones will debut the Spies Heckersponsored Commodore VX, which was launched in Melbourne last Friday.

The car,, which has been built

at the team's Melbourne workshop, carries the support of a number of subsidiary sponsors, including Toll Ipec.

Jones, son of former racer Bob Jones, is expected to run in the remaining rounds of the KV8SS, - PHIL BRANAGAN motorsport news

NEWS PROCAR classes

ur classes PROCAR’s planned 24-hour race at Bathm-st took another step towards reality with the release of the eligihility schedule.

The sports and touring car race, which is scheduled to be run at Mount Panorama on 16-17

November, will feature an anticipated entry list of more than eighty cars from all over the world.

Entrants will be divided into 10 specification-based groups to be organised in compliance with each class’s technical regulations.

- MARK GLENDENNING

Group 1: FIA Series Grand Touring Cars (l\l-GT), British GTO, All Japan GT - Group 2 and Australian Nations Cup - Group One including Lamborghini Trophy.

Group 2: Porsche Super Cup (2002 regs).

Group 3: Australian Nations Cup Group Two. Group 4: FIA Super 2000(2002 regs).

Group 5: Australian GT Performance (2002 and 2003 spec).

Group 6: FIA Group N (3001 cc and over).

Group 7: FIA Group N (2500cc to 3000cc).

Group 8: FIA Super Production and New Zealand Schedule 'S'(weight adjusted).

Group 9: Australian GT Production Cars-Class B, C & D (2002 and 2003 spec).

Group 10: Cars invited by PROCAR. If the number of groups entered in one of the groups is less than five when entries close, the affected cars will be amalgamated to the next higher one of the same group. The exception to this is Group 10.-

’Ere! Who est-vous?

ALAIN Prost was a very low profile visitor at the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Prost was a guest of Audi and in the course of the weekend had dinner on Saturday night with Franz-Josef Paefgen, the man who is in charge of running Bentley and the VW group's motorsport activities.

Prost is known to want to re establish his image in France after the collapse of his Formula 1 team and the whisper is that he might try to do this at Le Mans.

It is suggested in sports car circles that Audi is going to quit the scene, having now won Le Mans on three consecutive occasions. It is expected that Bentley will now become the major challenger for VW, with a three-car team in British racing green next year.

It is not clear how Prost would fit into the scheme of things but perhaps Audi would like to sell the existing cars and let them be run by privateers ...

- JOE SAWARD 26 June 2002

Stokell is Big Brother!

WHILE most of us are content with rear-view mirrors, there are a few out there who consider them to be just too ‘old-schooP. One such person is Paul Stokell, who steers the fearsome Lamborghini Diablo GTR in the Nations Cup series. Having been hampered by problems with rear visibility, Stokell team came up with a very cool solution - mount a small digital video camera onto the rear wing strut, and transmit images to a screen installed in the cockpit.

“We haven’t been able to see out of the back of the car all year,” said Stokell, who used the system for the first time at Winton last weekend.

“There’s absolutely no visibility

behind you when you’re in the car, so I’ve been covering my line even when I didn’t have to. This should make things a bit easier!”

If Stokell’s results from the weekend are anything to go by he racked up three wins from three races - then he just might be on to something ...

- MARK GLENDENNING

n Silverstone is now in the home stretch in its preparations for the British GP and with the new dual carriageway finished on the Dadford Road access to the circuit should be improved dramatically. Inside the track, a vast area (around 18 acres) of hard standing have been created to cut down on the muddy problems of yesteryear and the big question now is whether or not the Silverstone bypass will be close enough to completion for parts of the road to be used for GP traffic. It is clear that the entire bypass is not going to be ready in time but if there is enough road completed to help ease the access problems the circuit wiil be in good shape. With just three weeks to go before the race there is a lot of optimism amongst the circuit authorities that ail be well. n Professor Sid Watkins has finally been recognised by the British government for his safety work in Grand Prix racing. Sid was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen's Birthday Honours list. Watkins has been the FI doctor since 1978 and has been the key player in safety developments since the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger at Imola in 1994.'The Prof has chaired the FI safety committee which has done amazing work in terms of circuit safety, chassis work and crash-testing.

Watkins has also been working to raise money for his Brain and Spine Foundation. n Building up Formula 1 in the USA was always going to be a lengthy business but recent TV viewing figures from Monaco gave much hope that the US is beginning to wake up to the delights of Grand Prix racing. But unfortunately the Nielsen Media Research results from the Canadian GP were not as good as had been expected. The Monaco GP rated a 2.0 (around 4m people) but Canada (despite having the advantage of being on the same time zone) rated only a 1, which made it 17th on the list of popularity for sports events. n A court In Canada has been hearing of the racing exploits of Frenchman Christopher Rocancourt, who presented himself as Michael Schumacher's Ferrari team-mate until he was arrested in April 2001.

Rocancourt pleaded guilty to defrauding a Vancouver businessman by claiming that he was a Ferrari FI driver. He has been in jail since his arrest and his sentence meant that he has to serve only one more day in prison. However he was also fined US$97,000 ($192,000) and is facing extradition to the United States where there are similar allegations against him.

-JOE SAWARD 11

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Konica 2003 upg rv'. ?-:

Walking the walk, but not talking at all now: Tom Walkinshaw and (former) designer Mika Goughian.

(Photo by Sutton-lmages)

Ooughlan go to court ARROWS Grand Prix went to court last week with its technical director Mike Goughian in an effort to establish whether or not the engineer is legally bound by his contract.

The arbitration hearing ruled that Goughian is under contract.

But this does not mean that Goughian will be working at Arrows again because the law cannot force someone to work in a position where they do not wish to work.

Nor can the team simply sideline Goughian until his contract ends as the legal precedent, established in a case involving Adrian Newey in 1996, dictates that an F1 technical director can only be made to go on 'gardening leave'for a period of six months. Any longer would affect his ability to earn a living as technology is moving so quickly.

In other words, Goughian will be free to work somewhere else at the end of the year.

The only other issue is how the team will be compensated for having lost Goughian before the end of his deal, but this is likely to be sorted out between Goughian, Arrows and whoever it is that will be his new employer (probably McLaren).

-JOE SAWARD 12

KONICA V8 series competitors will contest a couple of rounds on the V8 Supercar series bill in 2003 if competitors get their way.

The proposal was the main one to come out of a meeting between Konica series competitors and AVESCO officials at last week’s Oran Park round.

A seven-round series is proposed for next year, with two of those rounds taking place as a supporting event to the full AVESCO V8 Supercar Championship.

As well, AVESCO will evaluate the possibility of a round in Tasmania,if reasonable financial terms can be negotiated for competitors. Tasmania hasn’t hosted a V8 race since it lost its Shell Series round in 1999.

The meeting re-affirmed the teams’support for the 30-lap supporting race at Bathurst.

“There is the potential to quietly grow this series, without over doing it,” AVESCO CEO Wayne Cattach reported to MN this week.

“The Konica teams are only too keen to help out and make the series gi'ow.”

Cattach reported that series sponsor Konica, whose contract expires at the end of this season, is making positive noises about extending its involvement.

- CHRIS LAMBDEN

1

Bring on the crowds: Konica series stars like Paul Dumbrell and Dale Brede will get to perform in front of huge crowds next_^ season. (Pholo by Dirk Klynsmith)

FI teams head for arh THE tiresome squabbles over the TV money that should have gone to Frost this year have blighted much of the FI season, with an incredihle amount of bitterness between the team owners over the money, which is estimated to he in the region of US$12m (AUS$21m).

Minardi has claimed the money because it is the 10th team from 2001 which is still in existence.

Apparently, the Concorde Agi’eement does not cover the eventuality of a team going broke or withdrawing from FI, so it is a question of interpretation as to whether the money should go to the team that finished 11th or whether it should be split between the other teams.

Bernie Ecclestone might also argue that Formula 1 Management should keep the money, as no-one else has a firm claim to it.

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Come on you blokes, fair suck of the sav: Paul Stoddart gets down to the finer points of negotiation with Tom Walkinshaw and Nike Lauda.

The organisation that is in the position to decide is the FIA. Although the federation has no right to interfere in commercial issues, it is charged to ensure that the code is applied in a fair and

equitable manner.

This is what FLA President Max Mosley did last week at the meeting of the team principals at the Heathrow Hilton.

Until that point, the teams had

moiorsport news

NEWS

rade Kirch reaches the end of the road

by JOE SAWARD

itration

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been insisting that Minardi’s Paul Stoddart prove that he had a right to the money. Mosley turned the problem around and insisted that the teams prove why he did not.

This was followed by a letter to the teams suggesting that they go to the International Chamber of Commerce if they want another outcome. This process will take at least two months.

We understand that GPT Ltd (McLaren, Williams, Jordan, Arrows and BAR)has decided on arbitration and another meeting at the weekend did nothing but harden the attitudes of all involved.

Stoddart is being pilloried for having stood up to the other teams. He has been refreshingly honest about his dealings, happily confirming debts that he has and a few missed payments.

One or two of the other team principals have been less honest about their financial situations.

- JOE SAWARD 26 June 2002

THE slow demise of the Kirch Group - which effectively controls FI - ended last week when the final two companies in the German media empire declared themselves insolvent.

The news means that Leo Kirch's media-based empire has become the biggest German bankruptcy since the 1930s.

Kirch Beteiligung is the company that owns the majority of SLEC, the hoiding company of the Formuia One Group. This means that, in effect, the commercial rights of the sport are controlled by a legal administrator, who is working in league with the banks that are owed hundreds of millions of dollars by the Kirch companies.

Leo Kirch is now effectively out of the picture.

It is not yet clear whether a quick solution can be found to extract SLEC from the Kirch mess, but it is becoming increasingly important for the sport that a solution is found.

There is increasing pressure for a new Concorde Agreement to be made, which will enable the Formula One Group to work with the automobile manufacturers for the creation of a stronger version of the existing World Championship.

The longer the problems drag on, the more pressure there will be for the FIA to act to create stability, as FI teams are having trouble attracting new sponsorship because of the long term instability of the sport.

The future of SLEC lies - in effect, it not legally - in the hands of the three banks that loaned Kirch money to buy the firm: Bayerische Landesbank, JP Morgan and Lehman Brothers.

They must now decide what they wish to do in the long-term.

They can try to find a buyer for SLEC, which will not be easy in the current financial climate. Or they can do a deal with the other SLEC shareholder, the Ecclestone Family, to run the business until the economic situation recovers, SLEC becomes more profitable and

m What now, Bernie? Oh, probably just another lazy hillion or two...

(Pholo by Siiiion~lmjt>es)

they can float the company.

The drop of TV revenues, as a result of the failure of pay-perview coverage and the fact that even free-to-air TV stations are suffering from low revenues because of the cut-backs in advertising, means that the sport is still going to struggle for a while.

The immediate problem is that the Formula One Group needs to pay off the US$1 bn Eurobond issue (in effect a loan) which was issued in 1999.

This will continue to be a drain on the company until 2010, unless the bondholders agree to renegotiate terms. That money was used by the company to buy

elements of the business from another Ecclestone-owned company.

In total, the Ecclestone Family trusts have collected more than US$3bn from the various transactions in the course of the last three years, a situation v^hich has led to little sympathy for Bernie Ecclestone from the teams and the automobile manufacturers.

Having made a pile of money, Ecclestone's challenge now is to sort out the mess that has been left behind. If he can do that, he will stand to gain another big pay off in a few years from now when the company is ready to be floated.

13

Manufactu VAUXHALL www.lriDieeiaht.co.uk

■GOk

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Astras still rule BTCC Muller, Neal share Mondello wins THEVauxhall Astra is still the car to beat in the British Toiijiing Car Championship, withYvan Muller and Matt Neal sharing the wins at Mcondello Park last Sunday.

Matt Neal won an incidentpacked Sprint race at the Irish track, inheriting victory when Mu.tier's works Astra cut out and stopped while leading.

Neal had been in fifth place on the opening lap before picking off the Proton of David Leslie and; Gareth Howell (MG) and James Thompson, who was suffering gearbox problems, waved him past. A late-race Safet/ Car meant that Thompson got close but he cou Id not challenge the Egg Sport car at the flag.

The second race featured a classic charge from Muller, who fought back to win from 12th on the grid after qualifying disasters. Team-mate

Thompson was second from Neal, while Anthony Reid flew in the other MG to hold off Paul O'Neill (Astra) and Alan Morrison (Honda).

Morrison's team-mate Andy Priaulx looked like giving the marque a great result when he resumed in third place after his compulsory stop but the Kmart Racing enduro driver got caught up in a melee with Neal and Reid. The Honda clattered to a stop and Priaulx was done for the day.

Aaron Slight was the best of the Independent drivers, taking eighth in the Feature in his exworks Astra.

Neal now leads the championship by a single point from Thompson, who was penalised five points for using a fifth engine. The BTCC's new cost-saving rules require a driver to be restricted to four during the course of a season.

international Racing C

Yes, he really is that tall: Big Matt Neal goes the Img with (L to R) Tim Harvey, James Thompson and David Leslie.

Yvan Muller, top, drove a stonner to take the Feature Race from J2th on the grid. {Photos hy Sitium-lmagcs)

14

Fopd confirms Focus but will it hit the dirt?

by PHIL BRANAGAN FORD may be on the verge of committing to an Australian Rally Championship program with the Ford Focus.

Ford Australian President Geoff Polites confirmed two weeks ago that the company would sell the Focus as a replacement for the Mazdasourced Laser from October this year, giving rise to speculation that the company may undertake an ARC program.

When asked by a media representative whether the arrival of the award-winning smaQ sedan would lead to an assault on the forests, Polites’s response was only a smile.

But committing to a program would take some time, given that the Focus’s international rally programs, including the WRC, are based on a specialised version of the car developed in the UK by M-Sport. From this year, the ARC has been restricted to Group N-spec and locally-developed cars of a similar specification, hke cars which are due to appear soon from Proton, Hyundai and, it is rumoured, Toyota.

Under the Australian formula.

Ford woxild have to develop a Focus locally, leading to a long lead-time for any action in the local series.

“The end of WRC (cars) in Australia has been seen as a good thing, from a cost point of view,” said Ford Racing’s Manager, Howard Marsden.

“But it raises a number of issues regarding time lines, and other matters.”

Marsden pointed to the fact that Ford chose not to be involved in any program to race the Mondeo in Super Touring racing in Australia, despite the car being two years into a development cycle intemationaUy when the car went onto the Australian market in 1995.

Marsden also indicated that any Focus program would not be in place to conduct a full season of ARC competition in time for the 2003 season, but woidd not rule out pai-ticipation later next season, or in 2004 and beyond.

The manufactiu'er may look at developing a specification for a ‘kit’ to provide to teams, but is nunoui’ed to have already held talks with a Tasmanian-based team. motorsport news

NEWS

pers looking at ARC Bates to run two-car Corolla team?

TOYOTA could be returning to the Australian Rally Championship.

The big rumour in Queensland was that Toyota will be back in the ARC in 2003 with a Group N prototype Corolla for Neal Bates.

The rumour is a strong one and a lot of things point to the giant Japanese maker returning to the fray next year, possibly with a two-car team bringing an as-yetundecided young driver into the team.

It is believed that Bates already has a car under construction in Canberra and could run as early as September’s Rally of Melbourne.

Toyota has changed its focus on the Corolla to a more performanceoriented car but despite this, it

has apparently taken a lot of effort to convince Toyota management to return to rallying.

Bates has continued his links with Toyota this year, running a Lexus in selected events for the

company’s luxury car arm.

Despite the strong rumour, Toyota would neither confirm or deny the possibility of them returning to rallying next year.

- JON THOMSON

9

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Who’s on first? Could we see both Ford’s Focus, above left, and Toyota’s Corolla in the Rally Supersedes in the near future?

Colin has been a naughty boy

COLIN McRae has been reprimanded with a year-long probation for driving the wrong way during recconnaisance for the Acropolis

Rally.

The Scot, left, escaped more severe punishment as co-driver Nicky Grist was able to persuade stewards that signposts - erected to help spectators gain access to the stage during the rally a few days later - had confused them as they were examining the stage during the reconnaissance.

Due to the mix-up, the Ford Focus

MANIWE FOLD: THE ULTIMATE TRACKSIDE FAN-BOY

drivers entered the stage 6km after the official start point and had to double back to ensure a full course recce.

McRae was warned that reconnaissance for the seven remaining rounds will be closely monitored by stewards.

And race officials advised future stewards’ panels that McRae should be be excluded from starting any of the seven remaining events of this year’s championship if he commits a similar offence.

- JON THOMSON

By Allan Schotield

Courtney unlucky JAMES Courtney has had a tough weekend in the latest round of the British Formula 3 Championship at Castle Combe.

The Carlin Motorsport driver took two pole positions in qualifying but won neither race.

Richard Antinucci (Dallara Mugen Honda)jumped the start and his resultant stop-go penalty dropped him down the order and allowed Robbie Kerr to inherit the lead from Courtney, The Jaguar driver chased him all the way through the race but had to settle for second in the end.

In Race 2, more bad news; Courtney made a good start, but the judges deemed that it was too good and this time it was his turn to serve a penalty.

Resuming at the tail of the field, he made It to 20th before getting stuck behind Heikki

Kovalainen and Fabio Carbone, and that is where is stayed.

With Courtney out of the picture, Alan van der Merve took his maiden F3 race win, leading home team-mate Michael Keohane (who started fourth on the grid). Third went to Frenchman Bruce Jouanny.

Courtney had to make do with another fastest lap.

Points: Courtney 173, Jouanny 126, Keohane 121, Kerr 110, Taylor 102.

Unlucky on the track: James Courtney made the most of his company after team-mate Alan CVa Der Menve, top, took hisfirst F3 win at Castle Combe.

(Phoioby Siiiton-lmagfs)

JJ quits Caddy for Audi drive JJ Lehto has quit the DAMS Cadillac ALMS team, which has only one race remaining on its 2002 programme (the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta on 12 October).

The Finn, right, has defected to Champion Racing for all remaining eight ALMS races, to co-drive with former Formula One rival Johnny Herbert in its Audi R8.

Lehto had been with the American manufacturer through two high-profile, but ultimately unsuccessful, attempts on the Le Mans 24 Hour race, which he won in 1995.

- QUENTIN SPURRING 16

But I’m a Williams test driver; Rob Nguyen battles to stay ahead of the pack at

Bourdais i SEBASTIAN Bourdais may have taken his third win of the season hut Rob Nguyen was the talk of the paddock in the Nurburgring round of the Formula 3000 championship.

The Australian rookie, still with less than 20 races under his belt in his whole life, was beaten in the opening qualifying session only by Bourdais and Tomas Enge, and lined up fourth on the grid.

In the race, Bourdais cleared out to win from Enge, with Brazilian Ricardo Sperafico taking third.

But, for much of the race, Nguyen was third, losing the spot to Antonio Pizzonia, who spun soon after getting by the Brisbane driver.

Then, Italian Enrico Toccacelo launched an assault on Nguyen’s Astromega car, but it was a wild and ill-judged overtaking manoeuvre. He punted Nguyen off, which allowed two cars to pass him. Toccacelo retired, while Nguyen recovered to finish fifth.

“It feels very satisfying to score my first points after only six F3000 starts,” said the Aussie later. “I said all along that I wasn’t doing this just to make up the numbers and this marks a big step forward

for me. The more laps I complete, the more confident I feel and I believe I will be able to build on this result later in the season.

“I made quite a good start but Sperafico squeezed me against the pit wall a little and I had to ease off. I was desperate to avoid becoming involved in trouble at the first turn.

“I settled into a decent rhythm early on and a crash up ahead allowed me to gain a couple of places. After that I came under pressure from Antonio Pizzonia when he passed me I didn’t tiy too hard to hold him back, because he clearly seemed to be quicker and my main objective was to make sure I finished and scored some points. Later I made a mistake at the chicane - my only error of the race - and that allowed Toccacelo to get a run on me. He passed me on the outside but was only half a length ahead when he turned in as though I wasn’t there.

“I couldn’t avoid running into him. The good news was that my car was still OK, the bad that I lost two places. If things had been a little bit different I might have finished on the podium today, but I now know what it is like to run at moiorsport news

NEWS

Plans for a French revival

he Nurburgring. Yes, that is Antonio Pizzonia behind hi.

(Photo by Sutton-lmages)

nakes it 3 the front. That’s a feeling I want to experience again - and soon.”

Ryan Briscoe had a tougher time, qualifying a troubled 17th in the Super Nova machine. He stopped after seven laps.

America’s Derek Hill(son of 1961 world champion Phil Hill)

also did well in the Nurburgring race, finishing seventh, having replaced Alex Muller with the Durango team.

Points: Bourdais 34,Enge 21, Pantano 17, R. Sperafico 16, Haberfeld, Freisacher and Pizzonia 13, Wirheim 9.

- JOE SAWARD/STAFF

Ferrari turns up the heat ^holo by Sulton-lmaoc

AS ifits grip on the 2002 Formula I titles was not yet strong enough,Scuderia Ferrari has a new VI0 on the blocks which will probably see service at next month’s Silverstone British Grand Prix.

Ferraris engine project leader, Paulo Martinelli has produced afirst-step development ofhis ‘051’engine with which Michael Schumacher has already won six ofeight races. Although Schumacher used the evolution version last week to slash 0.7sec offhis Mugello lap record in testing, he pointed out that the F2002 chassis had evolved considerably since his last test at the Italian circuit.

- QUENTIN SPURRING 26 June 2002

FRENCH motorsport could be on the way back, with the implementation of a scheme to promote young drivers.

Called 'La Filiere FFSA', the scheme has the support of Elf and Playstation, and rumours hinted that Renault might also be in the background somewhere. The scheme has helped Sebastien Bourdais to get to the top of the European Formula 3000 series but otherwise there has been little sign of much progress on the international scene.

Racing in France has been in a mess since January 1993 when a misguided ban on tobacco advertising, known as Evin's Law (after Flealth Minister Claude Evin), wiped out all cigarette and alcohol advertising.

The government of the day promised to help keep the racing industry healthy but failed to deliver on those promises and, because there was no money, the once never-ending supply of French racing stars dried up.

By the end of the 1990s, France had only two Grand Prix drivers - Jean Alesi and Olivier Panis - but both were getting older.

At the same time, the French government has added further problems for small businesses in France, with massive taxes on employers and the institution of the 35-hour week, which means that labour-intensive businesses having to pay for twice as many staff to get the same work done.

Motor racing at an international level has become almost impossible and the closure of Prost Grand Prix, DAMS and the Prost F3000 team (formerly known as Apomatox) has been a clear sign that French-based companies cannot compete with their European rivals because of the extra costs involved.

There may not be any more money for racing but a reduction in the costs wil l help the industry to grow.

- JOE SAWARD

n Rumours in the tobacco world indicate that British American Tobacco is about to make a takeover bid for Britain's Gallaher Group pic, the owner of Benson & Hedges and Silk Cut. This is significant in Formula 1 circles because Gallaher is currently sponsoring Jordan and BAT is funding BAR. When BAT took over Rothmans a few years ago, the Williams sponsorship from Winfield (a Rothmans brand) ended. n The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, was in Europe recently and visited the headquarters of the Sauber Petronas Formula 1 team at HinwiI in Switzerland. The team has enjoyed considerable funding in recent years from the Malaysian national oil company Petronas and has worked closely with the national car company Proton on the development of engines for road cars. n We understand that Prodrive has taken over the freehold of BAR factory in Brackley and may also have taken control of the freehold of the Reynard Motorsport factory. It remains to be seen what will happen to this facility but it could be used to house one of the many Prodriverelated racing or rallying programs. It is unlikely to be involved in the FI program as the BAR facility is big enough to house everything necessary. n There have been talks in recent weeks between the FIA and the two Formula 1 tyre companies in an effort to work out how to keep lap times in check despite there being a highlycompetitive tyre war between Bridgestone and Micheiin. We understand that the tyre companies were given a variety of choices to consider and both agreed that they would be happy to have racing without pit stops. They proposed this to the federation but we understand that the idea was rejected by Formula 1's commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone, as he is worried that it would have a detrimental effect on the show being produced. n Jos Verstappen may not be in Formula 1 at the moment but he has not lost his love of the sport. Jos was at Mariembourg in Belgium for the first round of the World Karting Championships, helping out fellow countryman Giedo van der Garde, who drives for the CRG company.

The event was dominated by the veteran Alessandro Manetti (CRG) who won both events and so leads the World Championship. Marko Asmer from Estonia was second in the first race in his Tony Kart entry while young British hopeful Ben Hanley was right behind Manetti in the second race. Hanley drives for Maranello Kart.

-JOE SAWARD

New F3s left, right and centre

Australian Formula Three grid poised for mid-season boost as new cars flood in

TWO new Formula Three cars joined the series at Winton last week - and there are still more on the way.

2001 New Zealand Formula Ford Champion James Cressey took to the track for the first time with his new Starion Enterprises team after splitting from the

Championship-winning Piccola Scuderia Corse outfit a couple of weeks ago. The Kiwi’s seat was filled by 21-year-old Sydney driver Justin Watt.

Cressey’s Dallara F399 was previously owned by Andre Lotterer, who won ‘Rookie of the Year’in the German F3 series with

My new wheels: Caruso, teff.and Cressey, above, are leading the recent influx of new Dallaras in the Australian F3 series. {Photos by Dirk Klynsmith)

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MOTORSPORT

the car in 2000(and was also James Courtney’s team-mate last year).

The Starion team is owned and operated by Paul Grimm.

Also debuting a new car was Michael Caruso. The Sydneysider, who won the Ford KartStars title in 2000 and spent last year in Formula Fords, had a dream first nin in his ex-Alan Docking Racing F301,finishing on the podium in his first-ever F3 outing.

Cressey and Caruso’s new cars follow on from the Dallara F397 that Will Power brought into the series in round three Meanwhile, current Formula Fordster Barton Mawer is set to enter the F3 series as lead driver

for a new team being formed by exAustralian Formula One (Atlantic) driver Bob Johns.

Johns has purchased one of the cars run last year by BRM,and plans to start giving Mawer some test miles as soon as his Formula Ford commitments permit.

Sydney-based William Marshall, a recent graduate to Formula Ford who is learning under Johns's guidance, has also been invited to join the team.

With the Renault-powered F3 car of Sam Astuti also close to being thrown into the mix, the F3 field looks set to become a rather busy place as the season goes on.

- MARK GLENDENNING TM

POSITION VACANT 00 Motorsport has a position available in our team for a

UARKHAM

MOTOR

SRORT

Race Car u V8 Supercar Engine Builder Transporter Driver

LMS is seeking the services of a leading engine builder to join its V8 Supercar Team, based on the Gold Coast.

Applicants must have had experience in V8 Supercars.

All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.

Applications to: GENERAL MANAGER MOTORSPORT k 1 / 13 KITCHEN ROAD DANDENONG 3175 Fax: 03 9791 9533 ^^^^^^^^Email: etech@00motorsport.com 18

The successful applicant will need to be able to demonstrate their high level of technical skills, dedication and experience gained from their previous employment background.

A competent understanding of the Motec Engine Management System and Superflow engine dynamometer operation would be highly favourable.

If you are a team player who can complement the above

with commitment, enthusiasm and an absolute 0) requirements desire to succeed, you should send or fax your resume to:

i

CONFIDENTIAL: Adam Perry - General Manager Larkham Motor Sport, PO Box 251, Ormeau Qld 4208 [Fax 07 5594 9144 - private direct]

motorspon news

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World Superbikes

Six doubles for Ba THIRTEEN may be unlucky for some,but Troy Bayliss’s record-breaking season hit that number when he took his 13th race win of 2002 at Misano.

The Aussie dominated the races, taking his sixth double victory of the season after qualifying on pole position on his Infostrada Ducati.

His is now equal with wins in a season with Carl Fogarty, and four short of the all-time record held by American Doug Polen.

In the first race, Bayliss(who had to swap bikes after the sighting lap) stalked Colin Edwards before slipping past to win, from Neil Hodgson and Noriyuki Haga, with Ben Bostrom a lonesome fifth.

The second race was a near replay. Bayliss hid in a pack chasing the fast-starting Hodgson, towing Edwards past the Englishman. The Honda took the lead, but under yellow flags, Edwards waving Bayliss through (before Troy waved him back

past!) and then, on lap 20, Bayliss struck for good, taking his just win.

Behind the rivals, Hodgson and Haga had a clash of fairings before the Aprilia seized third for good, Hodgson fourth from the consistent Bostrom. Elsewhere, Ducati’s Ruben Xaus fell twice, scoring no points, while Gregorio Lavilla got the better of local hero Pierfrancesco Chili to take the four-cylinder ‘class’ win.

“Yeah we were on the ball out there today,” said Bayliss later. “It was a long hard race for everyone; we’re all out there for the same length of time. I actually think that the race was easier than qualifying, in qualifying you’re in and out of the pits and you have to stop to talk to the team in the race you can just get out there and get on with it.”

“We let each other through under yellow flags all the time but you guys just miss it on TV. We had a good lead in race two and though it would be OK to take a

break for two seconds. Seriously it has happened a couple of times already this year but it probably wasn’t as obvious as that one.”

Edwards’s home turf beckons,

with the next race at Laguna Seca, Maybe then he can beat Bayliss ...

Points: Bayliss 360, Edwards 311, Hodgson 194, Haga 182, Bostrom 165.

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BIKE racing stars Valentino Rossi and Fonsi Nieto became rally stars for a day after a test session at the SEAT test track in Martorell, Spain.

The MotoGP and 250 stars took time off from the Catalunya Moto GP to test seat’s Leon Supercopa and Cordoba WRC cars.

I’ve enjoyed (it) very much. said Rossi,“and instead the sensations are completely different, depending of the car, I’ve checked the performance and power of all the cars. I’ve an experience before with the Cordoba WRC,as I was driving the car in the last Race of Champions in (the) Canary Island(s), but in the other hand,the experience with the Leon was superb.”

Local hero Nieto echoed Rossi’s comments; “Drving on gi'avel is much more spectacular and fun and also, the Cordoba WRC is really easy to drive, so I drive flat out!,” he grinned.“On tarmac, the driving style is different, much tecnic (technical), but there you feel the

Number 1,10 or 46? Valentino Rossi got in more WRC practice in SEAT’S Cordoba World Rally Car. power of the car”.

Rossi is pretty serious about rallying; he will compete in the British round of the WRC in a Peugeot 206 WRC.

motorsDort news

MOTOGP

vliss

You go first, I’ll catch ya later: Bayliss stalks his quarry, Colin Edwards, before they engaged in some wavey-wavey action later in the race. Troy still won, though ...

More for Valentino VALENTINO Rossi dropped a pole position at the Catalunya MotoGP but that was as bad as the weekend got for the mercurial Italian.

Arch-rival Max Biaggi beat him in qualifying - hell, Rossi was only fourth! - but the Repsol Honda star out-thought and out-rode the opposition when it counted to take his fifth win of the year in the blazing Spanish heat.

While Biaggi trailed around in fourth, Torhu Ukawa and Carlos Checa fought out the lead, the local leading for 10 laps but, when the improving Yamaha began to overuse its rear tyre, Ukawa took over. Five laps later Rossi, unwilling to engage Biaggi, took over and, despite the efforts of his team-mate, held on to win by just under a second.

"That was a really hard race for the bike, the tyres and me!" said Rossi. "I made a good start and followed the others. Checa had a good rhythm. When the others started to go, I overtook Biaggi. I then tried to make some laps in the 45's but it was not possible. I go and Tohru comes with me. I'm a little harder in braking and I manage

to stay in front. I'm very happy."

The two Yamahas dropped well back by the finish, Checa clear of Biaggi, while Brazilian Alex Barros, making his 200th Grand Prix start, won the twostroke class, despite running Michelin's softest available tyre.

Loris Capirossi, who gave hopes of a two-stroke win after topping Friday qualifying, was next, despite a trip off the track while battling with Barros. He regained a spot dropped to Kenny Roberts, who got the better of Suzuki team-mate Sete Gibernau when the local overshot his braking. Gibernau was not happy: "If we had run together we might have caught up with Barros and Capirossi," he said later.

Rounding out the top 10 were Daijiro Kato, Olivier Jacque and John Hopkins, the American teenager having his best weekend after qualifying an impressive sixth fastest.

Points: Rossi 145, Ukawa 97, Capirossi 65, Biaggi and Checa 56, Abe 52, Barros 51, Kato 47, Jacque 29.

MARCO Melandri took the scalp of Fonsi Nieto again in Spain, taking a hard-fought 250 win.

This time, the two Aprilias were split by a Honda, with Roberto Rolfo taking second.

Melandri led from the start, while Rolfo came from behind to run down the sliding Nieto.

Casey Stoner starred. Still feeling the effects of his broken wrist, the 250 rookie held off the Yamaha pair of Nobuatsu Matsudo and Sharol Yuzy, and Emilio Alzamora's Honda, and hung on for sixth. At the end of the 23 laps, the exhausted Aussie could barely get off his bike.

Points: Nieto 101, Melandri 95, Rolfo 80, Randy de Puniet 66, Battaini 60.

WORLD Champion Manuel Poggiali had power to spare on his Gilera and knew it; so did local Daniel Pedrosa (Honda).

After dicing with Youichi Ui's Derbi before the Japanese crashed, the pair pulled away from the pack, Poggiali outdragged Pedrosa to the line to win. Steve Jenkner (Aprilia) was next from Lucio Cechinello (ditto), while Arnaud Vincent trailed in 11th.

Points: Poggiali 111, Vincent 90, Pedrosa 86, Cecchinello 80, Jenkner 59.

21

IRL/CART

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Ferrari Molish OtKers

GIL de Ferran turned a tough season around with an emphatic win in the Radisson Indy 225 at Pikes Peak International Raceway.

The Brazilian took pole position and lead almost all of the 225 laps to win in his Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet, below.

He was shadowed, in a red. and-white kind of way, Helio Castroneves, who qualified second and finished the race 1.4s in arrears of his team-mate.

Defending Indy Racing League Champion Sam Hornish Jr. finished third in his Pennzoil Panther Dallara/Chevrolet after he and the Indy 500 winner ran wheel-to-wheel over the final laps of the race.

"It was fantastic today," de

Ferrari said. "In traffic, I could drive on the bottom, I could drive on the top. We've been knocking on the door since the beginning of the year, and I'm glad to get one under my belt."

De Ferran was referring to his heartbreak at Nazareth in April, where he ran dry on the final lap.

Felipe Giaffone(Mo Nunn Racing G Force/Chevrolet) finished fourth ahead of while Scott Sharp, who just held out team-mate Al Unser Jr. Greg Ray retired with a mechanical failure in A.J. Foyt's Dallara/Chevrolet, while Anthony Lazzaro, Jon Flerb and Jeff Ward were unhurt in separate accidents during the race.

Points: Castroneves 267, de Ferran 235, Hornish 206, Giaffone 202, Unser 164.

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by PHIL MORRIS IT wasn’t so much that Cristiano da Matta won the G.I. Joe’s 200 at Portland International Raceway as much as Target Team Ganassi lost it.

Putting a tough start to a maiden season in red behind him, Keimy Brack took offfrom grid two and dominated the first part ofthe race but, after the second round of pit stops, he had a wheel depart the Toyota/Lola, allowing da Matta to dictate the rest ofthe race.

The race was a bit of a mess. It took three goes to get it started, and when that finally happened, there

Alex ~to ge't IN/loore award

ALEX Zanardi will receive the Greg Moore Achievement Award at this year's Black and White Gala Dinner in Toronto on July 4.

The Award recognizes an individual, group, or organization that has made a major contribution to auto racing, particulariy the CART/FedEx Championship Series.

The Italian, a two-time CART champion, was forced to retire from the sport after a tragic accident in Germany last September in which he iost both his legs.

22

Greg Moore, right, was one of Canada's most successful driver and was tragically killed in the final round of the 1999 season at the California Speedway in Fontana, California.

Past recipients of the Greg Moore Achievement Award include drivers Bobby Rahal, Mario and Michael Andretti, Al Unser and Rick Mears; CART medicos Dr. Steve Olvey and Dr. Terry Trammell; and CART team owners Roger Penske, Jim Chapman, Barry Green and Carl Haas.

: - ^ liter 4

was a wreck at the Festival Curves.

In the end, da Matta, above and right, held ofif the other red car, Bruno Junqueira’s, by less than a second to t^e his third win ofthe season. Dario Franchitti was third in the Honda/Lola and Townsend Bell scored his career-best finish by placing fourth in the Toyota/ Reynard.'The rookie had earher run third, ahead of Franchitti, but lost the spot during the final pit stops.

“That might have been the most fun I’ve had in a race in my life,” da Matta said after the race. “I was pushing 101 percent from beginning to end.

“After Kenny dropped out, Bruno was right behind me,always putting on pressure, so I never had a chance to breathe. It was qualifying laps from start to finish.”

Da Matta earned 23 points for the weekend, the first driver to do so under CART’s revised points system. He scored a point for topping qualifying on both Friday and Saturday, 20 for the win and one more for leading the most laps.

Patrick Carpentier finished fifth (after starting 13th) ahead of Michel Jourdain Jr, Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Michael Andretti and rookie Mario Dominguez.

Points: da Matta 74, Junqueira 54, Jourdain Jr,54, Franchitti 49, Fittipaldi 43. Carpentier 38,Andretti 34, Dixon 34, Paul Tracy 32, Max Papis 32.

fflolorsport oews

US NEWS

CART goes Cosworth Single engine and cost-cutting measures for2003X4-

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26 Juna 2002

CAET has finally -finally announced its engine plans for 2003, with the news that there will be a single supplier of horsepower next season; Cosworth.

The British manufacturer will supply all cars with engined based on the current Ford/Cosworth XF unit which is used by Forsythe Racing, Team Rahal and Herdez Competition.

“We are going to balance the company out, stabilise the company and go back to join one of CART’ old, old friends in the supply business - Cosworth,” said Chiis Pook,President and CEO of CART. “We will stay with the turbocharged engines for the next two years, on an exclusive basis

with Cosworth, and lower the costs of racing in this series and remove any barriers to entry into this series by using this engine for all of our competitors.”

Pook went on to say that, while there is presently no official involvement from Ford itself, discussion were ongoing; “I can’t say any more than that, but they are exciting and fun conversations,” said Pook.”

Cosworth will supply and service around 100 engines for the teams, the units running at lower revs than the current 16,000rpm ceiling of the 2002-spec Ford unit.

The move, along with the recent demise of Reynard, means that almost all the grid in 2003/2004 will run in similar Lola-Cosworths.

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The other manufacturers currently involved in the series, Honda and Toyota, have already announced Indy Racing League programs, as well as continuing with their Formula One progi'ams.

Pook also announced in Portland an Entrant Support Program (ESP) that will provide US$1.5 million ($2.8m)in support for each entrant running the 2003 season.

The announcement, along with the expected lower costs in engines and the recently announced chassis freeze (which will see 2002-model cars retained)is part of Pook’s plan to revitalise his dwindling grids by limiting the cost of fielding a car in the series to the region of US$66.5m per car.

- PHIL MORRIS

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OPINION

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INTER is not my favourite seasor not ski and, wht sons are out in the street zooming around on their scooters in T-shirts, shorts and caps turned backwards, I am usually inside, sitting on the heater, wrapped in a parka.

But this is my favourite time of year. We have been waiting all these years for a decent V8 Supercar Silly Season and, by gum, at last we have one. Barely a day is passing now without some 'hot' tip about who is going where, who is taking whose money by the sackful and what the state of play will be in 2003.

There are several ways of finding out what is going on in the background. One is - unfortunately - almost entirely inaccurate; the phone call from a MN reader who swears - swears- that he just saw V8 Superstar Harvey Godzone driving out of Bloggs Racing's bunker in southern Queensland, presumably after meeting with Bloggs, his sponsors, his banker and accountant and, if this were AFL football, his team-mate's wife.

Great. Straight away, we haul out the moth-eaten little black book (mine is actually brown) and dig out the number of Godzone's Melbourne home.

"G'day, is that Jezebel? G'day Jez, it's Phil from Motorsport News. Not bad, not bad. How are the kids? Oh, what kind of rash?

Sounds nasty...

"Listen Jez, is Harve there? He is ... G'day H, it's Phil. What's new? Yes, I heard about the rash.

Sounds nasty..."

26 June 2002

Wild geese flap by. Unless Harvey has just bought a Concorde or his house has advanced call forwarding equipment that even a layman can operate, it’s another dead end tip.

“The other method is when Driver A wants to talk to Team Owner B without alerting Current Boss C. But, understandably, he lacks the proper phone numbers.

But we have them, so he picks up the dog and bone and calls us.

We promise to keep a lid on things, pass on B's numbers and write it up on our story board, from where it usually amounts to nothing. He will probably stay with C and that's the end of that.

Then there is the 'misinformation' tip. Joe Smoke is coming to the end of his deal with Team Drudge and wants to stay next year, but he wants more money. So clever old Smokey talks to a mate whom he knows talks to us, suggesting that it was him who was seen driving out of Bloggs's factory. The news runs in MN, Old Man Drudge hears the story, cranks up Smoke's pay cheque, re-signs him and everyone is happy.

Except us - because we have run a dud story and look like dills.

s

0, how do the real stories actually get written?

Well, despite being a big business, the motor racing world

"It seems that, every time we look, Mark Webber is being connected to another team" is actually a small place. People really do have to go and visit people and, to do that, they need to fly or drive around, so they are sometimes seen by reliable sources. Teams need to buy things, apart from drivers, and people talk.

That is the one thing that never changes in motor racing. Money gets poured in in huge amounts, the technology is impressive and, sometimes, the racing is just staggering. But it is still people who make the sport happen and, if you are in this line of work, you are in the people-to-people business.

There are some people who, seemingly, know everything that is going on (and no, I am not saying I am one of them). But those people, sometimes, let people like us into their playground and we get to find out what is going on.

Ingall in a Ford? To be sure.

Perkins to retire? Yep. Next...

“The other good part of the silly season is what is happening in

Formula One. It seems that, every time we look, Mark Webber is being connected to another team.

Apart from Friday's test for Jaguar at Barcelona, it is alleged that Webber's name has been at least pencilled in the frame at Toyota, Jordan and/or BAR. And we have it from decent sources that the people who know from The Big Three - Ferrari, Williams and McLaren - are well aware of the stellar job the bloke from Queanbeyan is doing at Minardi.

It's not just that MW is dragging the black beast to places it should not rightly go (like in front of Jags and challenging BARs) but he is doing it without crashing the car every third lap, unlike some other drivers we could mention.

Apart from being fast, Webber is cheap to run, and team owners like that kind of driver.

Look; we at MN are well on the record as saying we think that it is high time that Eddie and The Cruisers (Irvine, Frentzen and, even, DC) packed up their helmet bags and went off to count their savings, and good luck to them. They have had their shots are beating Mika and Michael and come up short, and now it is someone else's turn.

And, if that opens up a competitive (and well-paid) seat for an Aussie driver (or even two), who are we to complain?

25

R

ETAIL therapy is what happens when you get fed up and feel the need to go and do a bit of shopping.

It seems to cheer up most people and even the millionaire FI team bosses sometimes do it when life in the paddock has worn them down. The difference is that when FI team bosses go on a binge they have rather more money to spend than we normal folk. Normal folk might buy a pair of shoes or a new frock (girls) or some executive toy (boys) but an FI team boss would buy themselves a rather bigger present.

The other day in Montreal, Paul -Stoddart decided that he needed some light relief from the stresses and strains under which he has been in recent weeks. He was reading through a local newspaper and found an interesting advertisement for a convertible Ford Mustang.

Stoddart grew up trading cars in Melbourne and Sydney and he recognised a bargain when he saw one, and was off down to a local car lot.

The owner of the car did not know who he was but a deal was quickly struck. When it came to discussing sales tax, Stoddart informed the seller that he did not need to pay it as the car would be leaving the country immediately. It was not the first time the dealer has heard such a

story and insisted until his son arrived that the tax be paid. The son however explained to his dad who it was who was buying the Mustang and that he had a Boeing 747 sitting on the tarmac at the nearby Dorval Airport.

Stoddy spent the weekend driving around in the Mustang and then, the day after the race, did a few formalities at the airport and then the Mustang was loaded into the guts of the Jumbo - along with all of the Minardi FI cars and spares - and the team flew off to Europe ...

"The thing I love best about motor racing is the characters involved. There is never a dull moment.

"Nothing surprises me in Formula 1," said Mark Webber the other day. And I know what he meant.

But I am still surprised by many things and, I have to say, by many people. A few weeks ago, I was chatting to one of the motorhome girls (as one does) and I discovered that she had two degrees: one in law and one in theatre and drama. It was somewhat unexpected ...

At the Nurburgring it happened again. I wandered into the telephone room in the Media Centre to send some e-mails and, as I was tapping away, I was vaguely aware of a conversation going on over my

head between a journalist on one side of nne and a girl from the telephone company. It was in what sounded like Japanese.

Then I heard the girl say something in perfect English.

"Wow," I said. "I haven't met many westerners who can speak Japanese."

"It's Chinese," came a reply from either side of me.

"Mandarin."

I was more than surprised.

"So, let me get this straight," I said. "You speak German, English and Mandarin."

She smiled and added: "... and French, and Spanish, and Croatian."

"Well," I said. "Let me tell you that if you would like a job in Formula 1, you can get one tomorrow. The teams would die for anyone who can speak Mandarin. Some of the marketing people can barely speak their own language ..."

It transpired that not only could she speak Mandarin, but she could write it as well and was studying for a doctorate in languages and was only being a telephone girl for a bit of fun.

“There have been times in recent years when I have wished that the Formula 1 drivers were as charismatic as some of those in the paddock.

We went through a phase not long ago when everyone was a

bit too dull. Things are changing.

We have Montoya, Webber, Button and Massa. The journalists have some colour with which to paint pictures.

I was discussing the current lot with a girl I knovy outside FI who was complaining that she needed to find herself a nice looking man and asked me if any of the FI drivers were worth a look. There was a race program knocking around and so I let her peruse it.

"They are all school children!" she cried after the first few pages.

I asked her what criteria she thought would be necessary and she gave me a few hints.

"You need Webber," I said and showed her a photograph.

"Um-m-m-m ..." she said with a glint in her eye. "Yummee ..."

I must say that I am a big fan of Mark (in a rather different way, I should add). He is what a racing driver should be, a breath of fresh air.

Webber and I had a bet the other day. We were talking about the American girl racer Sarah Fisher and 1 was remarking about her performance in qualifying for the Indianapolis 500.

"Yeah," said Webber. "But Lynn St James did better."

I was surprised. Most FI drivers think that the history of the sport began the day they started racing.

FORMULA ONE "Rubbish," 1 said. "She never did better than the last row of the grid."

Webber gave me a quizzical look. I thought for a second and then decided he was right, "No mate," he said. "She qualified on the second row one time."

I thought for a second.

"No way!"

And so we put money on it (five dollars - we are still arguing about which currency) and then I went around my friends from the US press corps and each told Webber that he had lost his marbles (and his money) and that he should stick to driving racing cars ...

Alas, the Internet revealed that Mark was right (horror of horrors!). In 1994, Lynn Bloody St James qualified sixth. I was impressed and paid the evil Webber 10 Canadian dollars (I couldn't find any cheap New Zealand ones). When you lose a bet with a racing driver, the best thing to do is to overpay them.

They never have change and you can go on demanding the change as though you have won the bet.

Webber is claiming that he does not need to pay anything because of the emotional trauma I caused him, suggesting that he might be wrong. I doubt it would even work in a Florida court. 'he rise in recent weeks of Rob Nguyen in Formula 3000 has

given us the chance to throw things at one another again.

"You'd better look over your shoulder Webber," I may have been heard to say, "There is a really fast Australian bloke coming along now!"

"I'm not worried," he said (looking over his shoulder).

When I suggested that Nguyen would be on the podium at the Nurburgring in what was his 15th motor race (including karting) Webber and I nearly went financial again. As Webber owes me money, I had nothing to lose and I happened to think that Nguyen could do it. And he nearly did. The guy's raw speed is extraordinary.

Unbelievable. F(is F3000 team are shaking their heads in disbelief. This guy is a phenomenon. He may not have the experience and racecraft to compete with the guys who have been racing for 15 of their 20-25 years but Nguyen is naturally faster.

We'll see," said wise old Webber, admitting after the race that Nguyen would have been

third but for a silly challenge by Italian charger Enrico Tocacello which dropped hinn to fifth.

There are many dangers for a young racer who gets too much too soon and his biggest threat can be his own attitude. It takes a very tough character to stay on the straight and narrow. We will have to see.

But with Webber doing good things at Minardi, Nguyen weaving fairytales in Formula 3000, James Courtney winning in British F3 and Ryan Briscoe clearly a man with some potential (albeit in need of some refining) Australia stands on the verge of a great new era.

What a lucky country ...

ED'S NOTE: Motorsport News actually discourages belting on motor racing...

●truBlack and White Aussie Show: Webber, right, wonders what to do with Saward’s money while Nguyen, main pic, streaks through qualifying on his way to fourth on the grid.

(Photos bv Suilon-lnuigfs)

The Box Seat witli Joe Saward

Five Minutes with l ll

The Le Mans Winnens Audi came to Le Mans,saw ami conquereilfor the thintl straight yean. AARON NOONAN Hstenetl to what the victors thought olit all QUESTION: What makes you happier now - is it the victory or the record?

TOM KEISTENSEN:A lot of things make us happy today.

(There was)the very, very tough battle, the fantastic racing car, the battle between us - the pace was really, really high. The development of the car over the years, everything put together. Us three (drivers), the mechanics.

Every time I have been here and won I have been with Reinhold Joest.

All these things. There are a lot of emotions coming to our minds. It doesn’t really sink in. Everybody said to us that we could make history, but, with the respect of Le Mans, we took it as treating it like just another race. It’s all a dream, but for sure, a dream came tme for me.

Q:Emanuele, you were driving the car when you took the chequered flag -for the third time. Do you have the same emotions?

EMANUELE PIRRO:Yes. I think every sportsman forgets pretty quickly what he has done in the past. You have a competitive mentality, so every time you enter into a competition, it is a new competition. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve won it 1000 times.

You have to give your best and, besides, we have a high responsibility, because the investment and, I don’t want to say probably the money because it’s not the most important thing, but the work of so many people who have given so much of their talent and time to prepare for this race.

These results don’t come by coincidence. They take some help from God and luck to make it possible. We came here to learn in 1999 with two cars finishing third and fifth. We made a good car in 2000 and eveiy time, every car has finished in the best possible position. That’s why I say money is not the most important thing, because the work of so many humans gave me the responsibility and motivation.

28

Q: Many people were surprised by the speed of the Audis in the first few laps.

TK:Yeah and they went even faster again. So, it was for the whole race. The cars are amazing.

You can drive them hard all the time and they still last.

It’s a unique piece of equipment. All the people in the workshops, the mechanics working over night; all these things help us to get this great satisfaction.

Q: Dindo, you had a few problems during the race, a few more than #1. Was it that that made the difference between victory and second place?

RINALDO CAPELLO: OK, we had problems. The first puncture cost us a lot of time, but then #1 had a problem and at the end we were on the same lap. It was difficult to get a gap, because the lap times were close from the beginning to the end. We could push really hard from the beginning to the end without any problems. #3 had more problems than us, and that’s why we were ahead.

Q: Were there any team orders during the race? Did Dr. Ulrich say to you to drive your race and see what you can do?

RC: We had orders at the beginning of the race - to finish first, second and third ... to bring the trophy to Ingolstadt.

"The cars are amazing.

You can drive them hard ail the time and they still lastn - Tom Kristensen Q:Did you ever doubt that you could win the race?

CHRISTIAN PESCATORI; No, we never really doubted. We did our best throughout the whole race, but as we reached the closing stages we saw it was impossible to make up the two minutes that separated us.

Q:PhiUip Peter, this is your first time at Le Mans. What impression has this made on you?

PP: It’s such a huge event. I really didn’t expect it to be as big. And then you have the chance to drive the best Sportscar in the world, so you Icnow you have to learn the circuit but drive as fast as possible and make no mistakes.

That’s the thing we wanted to achieve and our goal was always to finish on the podium. We had a puncture at the beginning, but being a rookie, finishing on the podium is a great achievement.

Q:Dr. Ullrich, you said last year that you wanted to come hack and win the trophy outright. You’ve done it. How do you feel?

WOLFGANG ULLRICH: It’s a very

special feeling. I always hoped for it, hut it was more or less a dream.

The good thing is that we made it happen because we have the right people. We had cars running like clocks for 24 hours and the few hiccups we had, our guys managed (to fix) in short times. I think we didn’t have a pit stop longer than six minutes and I think the leading car, if I am right, was in the pits for not even 20 minutes.

Q:Dr. Ullrich.I heard Emanuele say that money is not the most important thing, but your car was the only real competitive one and I didn’t see a true race,I’m afraid. Is it possible to have regulations to limit the investments?

WU:If I’ve got it right, you think the problem is that we won because Audi has invested so much more than anybody else. What the car costs has nothing to do with the regulations. I have to say that we did not, as many people think, put money in like crazy.

I never talk about numbers but it’s not more than what we did to do touring cars in 1996. We just made something excellent out of it.

If you look some years back, there have been some manufacturers that have been on the level that could win Le Mans.

They have pulled out- their decision - and they’ve gone somewhere where you can spend much more money if you like (Formula 1). motorsport news

INTERVIEW

A*.

Five Minutes with

mlPower 000

DIot many drivers can consistently win races in both Formula Holden and Formula Three.

MARK BLENDENNIIIIG spoke to somone who is getting runs on the board in both.

MOTORSPORT NEWS:I remember talking to you at Sandown late last year, and you had no money and no idea whether you’d even be racing in 2002, and here you are running in both the major single-seater categories in the country. That’s a hig turnaround.

WILL POWER;Yeah, it’s funny how things come together.

I honestly didn’t think I’d be doing anything this year, because I didn’t have any money. It was only because Graham Watson rang me up, he saw me at the Indy Young Guns. He rang me up and said he wanted a driver for next year, and that I was on top of his list.

I did a test for him, he was pretty impressed, and it just went from there. Somehow,I got the money together.

with quick cars. It’s good though, it’s good to have a challenge. You can never, ever win them all.

MN:Do you have to change your driving style when you’re switching between the Formula Holdens and F3s every weekend?

WP: That’s the problem, they always seem to be exactly a week after each other, and I think that’s a ... it’s hard to say whether it hinders you, but you definitely have to change your style.

I always thought the more driving you did, the better off you were!

IVIN: What kind of adaptations do you have to make?

WP:In the F3s you’ve got to be really smooth. The smoother you are, the faster you can go.

Formula Holdens can make you a bit lazy, because you’ve got so much more horsepower. And they seen to work better if you drive them really hard. Going in really hard on the brakes and stuff like that seems to get you around the track faster.

MN:Is it too early to start thinking about next year yet?

Are you aiming to head overseas, or have a go at the Konica series? You’ve already had a V8 test with Mark Larkham.(Power has since been confirmed as Larkham’s endurance co-driver).

WP:It probably is a bit early to say. It all depends on people’s money. Anywhere you want to go.

Especially overseas, if you want to go overseas, you need a big backer. It’s as simple as that. It it<.

MN:It’s funny, because now you’re probably getting more laps in wing and slicks cars than anyone else in the country.

WP:Yeah, but we do zero testing.

We just seem to be racing, because we can’t afford to go testing.

The Formula Three drive was just lucky. The CoolTemp guys had a car and wanted somebody to drive it.

MN: So you just sat back and got the phone calls?

WP; Oh no! (laughs) You never sit there and get the phone calls. I was always speaking to people who I’d think was a potential sponsor or a potential drive.

You’ve got to do that, otherwise you'll never get anywhere.

MN: And it’s paid off fairly handsomely. You’re leading the Formula Holden series and sitting equal third in the F3 Championship WP: Yeah, with the Formula Holden thing, it’s been a pretty good season. Bar a DNF in the Northern Territory, everything’s gone pretty well.

And in Formula 3 I’ve only had two rounds, and I poled and won every race, so that’s gone well. But this weekend (F3) is tough, because there are a few good guys 30

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Changing places: With both Formula Holden, above, and Formula Three, he/ow,campaigns in swing - and now a V8 Supercar endura nce (Pholos by Dirk Klynsm ith) drive as well - Power is having a rather busy year.

doesn’t always matter how good you are, it’s who you know.

MN:Are you mainly interested in open wheelers?

WP: Open wheelers or V8s, I like either. Any good driver, if you ask any of them, want to do open wheelers, and they all end up back here in Supercars.

But the V8 Supercars are the most competitive touring car series in the world. If you can be on the pace in Supercars, you can be on the pace in any touring car.

MN:From the outside, it looks like your driving has taken a real step forward since your time in Formula Fords. Your thoughts?

WP:It’s just the sort of thing where you must always improve. I think the biggest area where I've improved is consistency.

You have to always be consistent and keep finishing races. But I did that last year too, the only thing that let me down last year was car maintenance.

At Oran Park, the gearbox blew up while I was coming second. At Sandown the driveshaft broke, and that cost me. It was in the first race too, so I had to start from the back of the field for race two.

I don’t know whether I would have won the championship (Power finished runner-up to Will Davison in 2001), but at least it would have come down to the last round.

It would have been much more close.

MN: Do you race differently when there's a championship on the line?

WP: You do. You can be too conservative. The year that Will and I ran, the problem was that it was just us two, so you had to win races. It wasn’t a consistency thing, you had to win races to win the championship.

For a few of the other guys, it was their first year and they were not quite up there, but for Will and I, it was our year. We had done our miles the year before.

But if there were a few more guys up there, then if I didn’t finish then there’d be someone else in a position to take points away from the other guy!

moiorsport news

INTERVIEW

26 June

Ferrari at 150

50 and counting

Schumacher crossed the WHEN Michael line in Montreal, he logged F’eirari’s 150th victory, reaching yet another landmark in the histoi’y of the sport’s oldest team. Michael has been responsible for 40 Fen’ari wins, as many as the next fom’drivers in the Ust added together.

What made Canada even more special was not just that the 149th success in Austria was so tarnished by the public’s reaction, but the fact that Italy’s World Cup squad lost to Croatia early on Saturday morning.

Everyone in the country needed cheering up.

“Football, like in England, is a very'important sport for us,” said team manager Stefano Domenicah.

“The match started quite early, 5am or something, but some ofthe guys were here at the track to watch the second half. So everyone was a little bit fi’ustrated! But they are professional guys,so after the disappointment they started to be positive once again on our job.”

“I had a little bit of grief about the English referee, I must admit,” said Ross Brawn.“But I don’t think it was the referee’s fault. The linesman called a few odd ones, and it was a bit unfortunate. It was a big disappointment for the guys, as there was elation for us the day before. I would have been much happier if Italy had won!”

After Juan Pablo Montoya got pole position it looked as though Italy’s only victoi’y of the weekend might come in the Ferrari Challenge support race, where a success was guaranteed, but 32

another great perfonnance from Schumacher saw the big target achieved.

The win was celebrated just like any other. Ferrari had made no specific plans to mark it, and there were no ‘150’ banners, and no team photo call. The crew went through their usual back slapping routine, and then it was straight into a late lunch at the motorhome.

Schumacher and most of the key team members flew home Sunday night, so there was no special party.

Typically, Michael was completely underwhelmed by the magic number, but the significance did not go entirely unnoticed.

“It’s really important, because it’s

been able to achieve, and it’s so nice because it’s such an effort fi’om a lot of people.

“There’s some very, very good people at Fen’ari, and they all pull in the same direction. We have our ups and downs, but I said after Austria it was a period when the team had to make some reflection about what had happened, and we all stuck together, nobody blamed anyone.

“We all looked at our situation, and we all learned ft’om it. We’re having a great period, but we’re also aware thatjust around the comer are going to be some difficult times, and we’ve just got to be prepared for them.”

"I know I've won more than Michael! Whatever he's won,I've won a few more... ft

- Ross Brawn history,” said Domenicali.“Ferrari is a strong team for many, many years, but this gr’oup is representing something, because it’s a couple of years that we are wirming. So we are proud of that. But the most important thing is that we keep on achieving good results.”

“It is special for Ferrar’i to win 150 Grands Prix,” said Brawn,“and it’s special for me and all the guys to be here when we’ve done it. It wasn’t something I was thinking about before the race, I must admit, but it’s is a nice landmark. It was my ambition to come to Fen’ari, and Fen-aii was in a stage of recovery when we all joined. It’s been tremendous to achieve what we’ve

Did Ross happen to know how many wins he’d contributed to?

“I know I’ve won more than Michael! Whatever he’s won. I’ve won a few more ...”

In fact Brawn’s total now stands at 43, the Brit kicking off with number 109 in Monaco in 1997. He’s still a few behind Jean Todt, who an-ived four years earlier, when the score was on 103. There’s no need to tell Jean that he’s been responsible for 48 victories, since every one is represented by a photogi’aph of the podium in his office in the Fen-ari motorhome.

“It’s 31.5 percent,” he beamed, a point of two out but nevertheless displaying the capacity for mental

calculation that made him such a great rally co-driver. “It’s great to be part of Ferrari’s success, and be involved in the Ferrari story.

“But I’m not so interested in these numbers. For me the important thing is to have good people and be happy together. I managed to find the right people, put them in the right place, keep themi working quietly and peacefully.

“If I have to take numbers I will take numbers like how much time Michael is with Ferrari, how many years he will stay with Ferrari, how long my closest people will stay, how long I will stay. For me those are the significant numbers.”

Nor do football scores figure on Todt’s radar.

“I should be depressed as well!,” said the tunnel-visioned Frenchman, who could hardly ignore his countr3mien’s plight. “But the only thing that can depress me is the result of the red cars.”

But what of the opposition? Not so long ago McLaren was neck and neck with Ferrari, but now the team lags behind on 135 victories.

“How many have we got?,” questioned a nonchalant Ron Dennis.‘We’ve got a bit to work to do, haven’t we. They’ve only had 30 years longer than we have, so I don’t lose sleep over it.”

It was actually 16 years if you consider when Brace McLaren founded his team, but it’s fair to say that things didn’t really get going until Dennis took over in 1981. At that point Fen-ari’s score stood at 79 and McLaren’s just 18, so you’ve got to give him credit...

-ADAM COOPER moiorsport news

FORMULA ONE

No, not this time

After the controversy ofAustria, all eyes were on Ferrari team manager Jean Todt in Germany He spoke to ADAM COOPER MOTORSPORT NEWS: The fans were not happy in Austria, but they are happy today ...

JEAN TODT: Before the start of the race, there were more Ferrari flags than any other flag. Sure they were happy.

In Austria, some were happy and some were not happy. We were not anticipating such a reaction in Austria.

It was a surprise for us, because team tactics have always been in n .motor racing, have always been in FI, ■j' and we were not expecting such a controversy after Austria. i^iiyiN: So today the orders were p Rubens first, Michael second? t ● -Jt: We gave the instruction after . the second pit stop to maintain the position,.and asked our drivers to keep iri the position.

MN: Why didn't you allow a real , race between the drivers? i.t JT: Why? Because we (are) i defending the Ferrari team. And i vyhat does matter for us is to have .Ferrari, in front.

MN: ls.it good for racing when it's like Le Mans at the end? , JT: It’s up to the others to be in ;■ '.front of us. You will not see Ferrari .^.fighting. We fight against 10 teams, f not against Ferrari.

I think it's difficult for the others to see Ferrari being so dominant at the moment. If the others want to be front of us they have to work as l^ard as us. We are competing to be the best, and at the moment we have the strongest team.

MN: There was quite a lot of conversation in the last few laps.

Was it quite straightforward?

JT: There was not so much conversation, but there was a lot of camera (time) on our radio, which make it look like there was a lot of conversation.

But we were not using the radio as much as they were using the camera!

I mean, we were informing Michael about the development of the race, he was asking us what about his brother, we were talking like that.

We were not starting to give them instructions because they are professionals, and they were very happy and prepared for what happened.

MN: You said you wouldn't hesitate to use team orders again and let Michael through.

JT; We are nine races into the championship, and our advantage went from 23 points to 46 points, even (with) Michael being second.

The situation is different.

MN: Some people might say that you have your mind on the FIA hearing.

JT: Unfortunately, I can only be responsible for what I'm doing or what the team is doing. I cannot be responsible for what other people say or write.

I’m not going to tell you what I think about the FIA, because I will only be able to comment after the hearing of the FIA.

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33

Larry Perkins

T

RYING to describe Larry Perkins is like trying to describe ... well, it is like trying to describe Larry Perkins.

There are many opinions about the 52-year-old, self-taught engineer and racing driver who, at the end of this season, will call time on a three-decade and counting career behind the wheel though, he will leave open his options to continue racing in future endurance events.

Opinion in the V8 Supercar paddock is almost equally divided on whether Perkins is a madman or a genius. For my part, there have been times when I have felt like grabbing the nearest stick and belting him with it. There have, equally, been times when I have felt like hugging him.

In the course of the more than a decade I have dealt with LP, on all sorts of levels, I have resisted the temptation to do either. Of that inaction, I am particularly proud and Perkins is probably quite relieved about it, as well.

“I would like to think that I am neither(a madman or a genius),” grins Perkins. “But what you are is, sometimes, only relevant in the eyes of someone else, or in your

own eyes. The way I look at it, I have never been fussed how I look in the eyes of someone else - other than the guys who work for me, and the guys who I have good commercial relationships with.

Other than those,I don’t seek to know how they see me ... I don’t try to present something, other than, ‘That is what it is, and that’s what you’ve got’.”

So, how does Perkins describe himself?

“Five feet nine; 80 kilos; intellectually handicapped;(pause) incorruptible; I have an opinion, logical; and I read once 10 years ago that I was intolerant of fools.

So if I was intolerant offools 10 years ago, I do not know what you would call me now.

“It’s got worse...”

The success of Perkins’s racing exploits have been welldocumented; six Bathurst wins, two Sandown 500s and one Queensland 500(one-and-a-half if you count last year’s) and numerous race wins. Equally, there is the reputation for engineering almost bulletproof cars and the large list of clients for cars, components or both. More than 40 cars have emerged from his workshops and the demand shows

no sign of slowing down.

“I started the business here to have an engineering business,” says LP,“but which came first; the need to go racing, or the need for a business? The business was first, closely followed by the need to have a race car. Coupled with that has

been the increasing number of people who work for me directly and the loyalties that I owe to them because of their loyalty and dedication.

‘To have those guys - and many have been here 12,15 years, and a lot have been here 10 years - to

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INTERVIEW

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have their enthusiasm undiminished means a lot. There are 34, 35 people here on the books.

I am proud of the fact that I have been able to keep a good workforce together, very proud. That is really the motivation now; to keep a viable business going forward for

the next five years, or whatever, because I owe it to those guys.”

Apart from the loyalty of his workforce, Perkins enjoys a similar relationship with his sponsors.

During most long-term relationships, there is usually chat about tension between team and

sponsor but Perkins and Castrol, Holden and Dunlop have enjBoyed a very smooth partnership.

“That is another fact that I am very proud of I have never biad a dispute with a sponsor. I wonrk on the very simple premise thartt you may get a sponsorship with rthe

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approval of seven of a company’s 12 directors. Not everyone is always a wild; fan of car racing; 1 recognise that. But, at the end of a term,I want 12 of the 12 to say. We have had good value from our money’.

“I iiave always tried to deliver to the sponsors more than what was said and do more of the hard yards thani were expected. I think that has paid off.”

So^ the decision to retire. It seems like the media was asking the question relentlessly until the start of the season and then stopped asking - until Canberra, when he spoke up about what was in his mind.

‘T have never really been thinking about it, other than when people say to me,‘Hey, when are you going to retire?’,” says Perkins.

“And; my answer has always been, ‘When 1 feel like it, when I get old, whatever, whatever’. In this last year or so, I have been thinking, quite independently,‘The fact that I drive is limiting some of the things I want to do, from a business point of view’.

‘The other thing is, look at the future. The company’s future is not with me as a driver, because there continued on page 36

Larry Perkins continued from page 35 are other drivers out there who I can hire to do a better job. I want to support the up and coming young guys.

“I have recognised that fact. I recognised it some years ago, and I hope that I have not recognised it too late. It would be nice to go and get a driver who is twice as good but that is not as easily done as said. So I had to bide my time, waiting for the right guys to come along.

“Steven Richards has come along and he fits in fine. He has all the things I want. What I have planned is to have two more young drivers join the crew next year. I have had to make these plans in light of the well-known run-out of Russell’s contract; he is not going to be here next year.

“I have to look after the company.

That means that it is the right time now to get some young guys in here and get on with it.”

So, who will LP pick to succeed himself?

“It is no secret that I want to have Fabian Coulthard drive with me next year. I haven’t got all the paperwork sorted yet but that will be going ahead, from my point of view. The other guy is definitely sorted out but I will not go public

SMI

on tiW for another six weeks.”

RSuraomrs suggest that the other diiwer ont whom Perkins is keeping an eye is- current Konica Series lsa(3lorP&ul DumbreU. O&nccommon thread that Perkins shanres wdth Ingall is their ijite=riiational backgrounds. Like Perikins did 20 years before him, TheE Enforcer went to Europe with littLie or mo money, made his way through the ranks of open-wheelers befcare'fiiading it was a lack of oppeortimdty, not lack of ambition or talej'nt, which forced him back to Ausstralia.

“TTliat was only a coincidence,” saye Perkins.“That was the way it was-s;'ther-e are not 10 guys coming alooigevery day that you can diocasc from. Russell’s background was.-, in some ways, similar. Like Marreo.? Ambrose;I did try to get himi; to dn-ive for me before he came on tike scene. I failed; I wish I had beenn able to secure his services but I diSdn't. That’s life.

“E am mow getting- some young guyEs wh® I hope I can train and coaeli and use their natural abdiatics to get to the level that is rsginiired to drive competitively.”

VWith Ibngall leaving and Perikins stepping dovm from raci- .ng fudl-time, 2003 will be a ■wat^ershed year for the team, with marnyof the expectations falling

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But,just one thing; Perkins is not a definite starter in the endurance races for 2003. The races are more than a year away and things may change.

“I have let it be known early on that it is an option that I want to keep ahve. I do not want to be known as one of these drivers who says that he is retiring and then, three months later, makes a comeback and carries on. I have said, at this stage, that I vrill stand ready to drive next year in long distance races.

“However,if that is not the best way to win the race,I am not going to ismiss that. In others words, I am saying that it is not cast in granite that that is what I am going to do. It is cast in granite that I will have an option to do that.

“It would be very sfily of me to write myself out ofthe equation, ifI could stm do the job well. That is why I have left myself in the job.

"I do not want to be known as one of these drivers who says that he is retiring and then, three months later, makes a comeback and carries on. I have said, at this stage, that I will stand ready to drive next year in n long-distance races

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■^Victorian C

onto the experienced shoulders of Steven Richards.

“I am not expecting young, new drivers to be able to win in their first season in a car. It is unreal to expect that but it is not unreal, though, to try and get solid performances out of them. The other way is to try and hire established guys, at enormous cost, and I am not in the business of having all the budget going to pay a driver. A driver alone can never win a race - the team is just as important as having a good driver.

You have to have a good balance; a good engine, a good pit crew, a good driver. One of those by itself will not get you results.”

And it will definitely continue to be a three-car Castrol assault; “I want a third car to be there. I do not want all the eggs in that basket to be on one young driver.

After a year, his skill level may not be to the level I want. I want to

- Perkins

have two young guys running around. That gives you a better opportunity to get the best driver out of the ‘apprenticeship pool’.”

And, with three full-time drivers and LP on the bench, does that mean two cars for the endures?

“Next year is a long way away, but that is the intention. There are some unknown things; it is unknown, for instance, if there will be three cars allowed next season. I am hearing mutterings from people saying that they do not want team owners to have more than two cars.

I am very disappointed to hear things like that.

“It is a socialist kind of approach.

That does not reward anyone. I have always had the -view that, if (TWR Racing’s) Mister (John) Crerman is able to run five cars, like he has this year, I do not really see a downside, especially as he is running his cars well. If we were to take the other approach and only run one car, we would have a very small field.”

“I am not retiring for the sole reason that I am too slow, even though that is a factor in racing. I am retiring for lots of reasons.”

There was a fair bit of talk at the end of the 2001 season that Perkins was evaluating his future, having been disappointed in his own performance at Bathurst where a winning opportunity was lost when he hit the pit entry wall while making his final changeover to Ingall. Had that not happened, Ingall would have returned in excellent track position to challenge Mark Skaife for the -win.

Perkins, as ever, is frank in summing up the situation; ‘T have to evaluate every aspect of the race team. My own performance, in making an avoidable error, was a large mistake. It happened; but you have to get over it eventually.

“In 24 years of racing at Bathurst, it was the first time I have ever bent a car in the race. I wasn’t having the slightest problem moiorsDort news

INTERVIEW

The future and the present: With Russell Ingall, above, leaving the team, Steven Richards, left, steps up to the role of on-track leader. Now, if you were LP, who would you co-drive with at Bathurst?

Not just a toy: Perkins Engineering has plenty to do, like developing the Elite Recorder data logger.

i on the track. I came down the hill and the pit entry was dry, and I got a wheel on the white paint...

“It caught me out. I was illprepared for the back of the car to slide; it was‘unprogi'ammed’. I did not anticipate that.”

So the fature beckons. He wants his drivers to succeed and do it with him for a long time. “ I do not see much point in giving a driver a short-term deal. It takes time to build a rapport with a driver and a team. When you get success with a driver, you want to continue that.

“Russell was in his last year of a three-year deal. I offered him an extension at the start of the year and he declined. I knew then that he was not going to be staying.

“Russell is in his seventh year of driving (for the team)but things

change. That’s fife.”

But, at the same time, Richards arrived after parting ways - a year earlier than many expected - with Glenn Seton’s Ford Tickford Racing team.

“I do not know what happened,” says Perkins. “I made a professional approach to Steven and it was up to him to make his own arrangements

with Glenn.

“Steven has brought an experienced Level 1 driver’s set of skills to the team. He is very enthusiastic and has an understanding of mechanical sympathy ... he is also very good with the sponsors. He knows what is expected of him and how to conduct himself.”

And what now? Building cars and components, certainly. The expansion of Perkins Engineering’s customer base, with new items like the data logger the firm has developed for the aviation industry. New opportunities, new challenges and, maybe,some time for the other things in life. A new hobby, perhaps, like growing palm trees?

Perkins shrugs.

“I am in new temtory. I have

clear memories of being the youngest guy on the gi-id; at that stage, I was in unlmown territory.

The cycle has turned; now I am in unknown territory again ...

“I want to maintain the company and its workforce, to continue to be an ongoing, performing, solid company. I want to give myself time to pursue the opportunities, like the data logger. All of these things will contribute to the company’s long term futm-e.”

There is still plenty to do, starting with this weekend’s race in Perth. Larry will not be driving, just keeping an eye on the Castrol Commodores of Ingall and Richards.

No LP on the grid? Somehow,I think to get used to that, it is going to take more adjusting from us than the man himself...

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TAS

VIC

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City Discount Tyres Reynella 147 Sherriffs Rd

Gary's Motorsport Tyres Unit 2/10 Carnegie PI Blacktown NSW 2148 Tel 02 96768655 Fax 02 96765300

Kostera’s Tyre Service 7 Mead St KalamundaWA 6076 Tel 08 92933500 Fax 08 92931355

Fulton Enterprises 31-33 Tamar St Launceston TAS 7250 Tel 03 63341739 Fax 03 63318252

Stuckey Tyre Service 828 Sydney Rd Brunswick VIC 3056 Tel 03 9386S33I Fax 03 93869153

City Tyre Service 79 Me Minn St Darwin NT 0801 Tel 08 89415388 Fax 08 89415144

Reynella SA5I6I Tel 08 83873522 Fax 08 83874036

MOTORSPORTDEALERS 26 June 2002

37

Moonan at Le Mans

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F you call yourself a motor racing fan, there’s no doubt what you simply have to do t least once in your lifetime 3 to the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Notliing can prepare you for the 'ent. It is so unique, not just in e on-track sense, but in eiything that surrounds it.

Qualifying alone is a marathon mpared to what we are used to Australia. Wednesday and mrsday see two sessions on each ly of two hours. That makes eight lurs of qualifying, more than a ithurst 1000 before the race even arts!

Autosport’s Marcus Simmons perhaps put it best: “This makes Bathurst look like the Brands Hatch Indy circsuit.”

And it’s not jiast a race. The entire town/city- of Le Mans is a massive part of'the event, with every shop front decorated with model cars and race track scenes.

It’s big business as well. Take the Volkswagen, group, through Audi and Bentley, as example.

Winning this ra.ce is unbelievably important and hhe amount of muscle (and momey)is incomprehensible. Put it this way, Audi (along mth GM)built a full

hospitality complex at the back of the pits, with more staff involved in the catering than in a whole V8 Supercar team.

Add in a working room for journalists as well as the production of an Audi newspaper every day, printed down the road in Le Mans, and you have one serious approach to winning a motor race and splashing Audi across newspapers and television screens all around the world.

Such is the approach and attention to detail, there are workers who clean the toilets.

Doesn’t sound impressive? Well,

Audi(alwig uiitli GM)buHt a full hospitality complex at the back of the iPts, with more smff involved in the catering than in a wime W Siwercar tean"

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they clean them after each and every person has used them ...

The media centre alone is impressive, stretching for five rooms along the pit building. Each of the 2493 accredited media has their own television screen, with timing screens, lap charts, regular coverage as well as access to the closed circuit system of cameras at every point on the track.

On Wednesday evening I headed to the other side of the front straight, watching the cars cut their way through the night. I was standing in exactly the same position as 80-plus spectators were when they were cut down by a flying engine after a multi-car crash in 1955. Chilling stuff.

Driving around the majority of the circuit is possible right throughout race week, and, with accommodation in the town of Mulsanne waiting for me, trips up and down the Mulsanne Straight to the car park are necessary. The

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Major Tom to (around Control: Tom Kristensai, Frank Biela and Emanuele Pino imeet Les Punters before taking fieirthird straight Le Mans 24 Hourcfeissic.

Breathe in, breathe out: The Hawaiian Trcopic babes were as usual, a hit with the photographers Jkist after this pic was taken, there was a nasty fight over which girllgcot Noonan’s phone number;: tthe blonde lost and had to ring hin...

IPIXMOS by rmages du Sulton)

metorsaon news

PERSPECTIVE humps on the Mulsanne have been flattened somewhat, mostly in response to the Mercedes aerodynamic destruction in 1999.

Cruise over the much-reduced crest at the end of the Mulsanne, and again, it’s hard to believe being launched through the air and landing on your head, scraping all the way to a standstill from 340 km/h.

The diesel Ford Focus wagon I’m a passenger in doesn’t quite out-run a Mercedes sportscar, but it hammers home a point. Le Mans is an awesome place, but treat it without respect and you deserve to get hitten.

Nothing compares to the sheer passion of the ‘parade des pilotes’, the Friday parade of drivers in Le Mans. Each of the crews of the cars are paraded through the city with throngs and throngs lining the route. Children rush to the cars in search of autogi-aphs and posters and the atmosphere is

simply unbelievable.

The Australian media contingent for the event ‘adopted’ the American crew of the No.12 Panoz after the car to take David Brabham, Jan Magnussen and Bryan Herta didn’t even show.

Photographers Andrew Hall and Mark Horsburgh and Panoz’s Aussie lads Paul Ryan and Jon Hartjoined MN on walking the route. Needless to say, it’s something not easily forgotten.

The sight of young American rookie Gunnar Jeannette standing in the back of an open car and pumping his fists in total

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jubilation to be at the parade summed it up. This is something special. There are people on balconies and hanging out windows in the tall buildings surrounding the route, waiting for a glimpse of the drivers. And the Haw'aiian Tropic girls ...

The 24 hours is a marathon, but a day at La Sarthe starts far earlier than the 4pm start. We are all out of bed at 6am in time for the 9am wam-up and the pre-race hoopla seems to go for an eternity.

But when the rolling start gets the field moving, things are only just starting.

TMs Is somettibig specie. Tlwre are ^opie on baicmies and hanging out vmdows in On tal bnldings sorrenndbig tlM route, waiting for a glmpse of the driVBPS"

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Wander through the crowd and it’s a different bunch. Sure, they are passionate, but not in the V8 Supercar, Holden versus Ford, sense. There are race fans, event fans and sporting nuts. You are bombarded by merchandising stores. Model cars, videos, books, posters, t-shirts. There’s nothing you cannot buy.

Wander down over the Dunlop Bridge and take in the cars ducking into the new section of the circuit, where a fast right and .slow left replace the former left/right sweepers after the bridge. Take in the ferris wheel that lights up when the sun goes down as well as the various sideshows that beam more lights than the 50-car field put together.

Rest for an hour in the media centre, but don’t let your eyelids close. There’s still a whole 20 hours to go until the end of the greatest endurance race on the planet...

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39

European GP

Monkey bus All eyes were on the Ferrari team management at the Nurburgring, but- this time - they allowed Rubens l Barrichello to retain a hardl-eamed victory. Joe Saward reports on a fascinating European Grand Prix

errari team orders may have overshadowed the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, but there was no denying that Rubens Barrichello drove a storming race and thoroughly deserved his long-overdue second career victory.

The popular Brazilian’s opening lap was a cracker, launching the number two Ferrari from fourth on the grid into a lead he never really relinquished, despite plenty of pressure from his celebrated team leader.

In fact, it was Michael Schumacher who cracked under the pressure, having a rare off that prevented Ferrari team management from subtly conspiring to put the German at the top of the podium, even if

they had been tempted.

The European Grand Prix was a thing of rare beamty.If William Shakespeare had; -ATitten the plot, he could not have come up with any sweeter ironies or moral issues.

With a few laps to go, Ross Brawn added connedy to the drama when he ate a bamana while around the world everyone wondered if there would be any monkey business- in the last few laps as Schumacher ram around behind Barrichellio.

It was Austria all over again, but switching the positions was not an option after the amti-Ferrari outcry at the A1 Ring. Niot even the steelballed Jean Todt could consider such a choice.

But then how eonld the team let Rubens win wheia in doing so they

would undermine their own defence that team orders were needed to make sure Michael gets as many points as possible in case things go wrong in the World Championship?

The race justification from Brawn after wasthe that things have moved on and now Ferrari feels comfortable that it can afford to give away four points and not worry about Michael losing the title. It was a logical sound byte.

But what happens if the FIA World Motor Sport Council takes away 40 points on Wednesday?

What happens if Michael crashes and breaks his leg again?

While all these questions were being resolved, the lap times indicated that the Ferraris were

Rapid recovery: Kimi Raikkonen came back from this off to finish third.

(Photo by Sulton-lmaaes)

not pushing hard. Tlhe midfield was going much faster.. And the Ferrari radios were .rmaning hot.

Was there ever a race in Formula 1 history w which there was so much excite.T!neBit right up until the last corner- vvhen the drivers were quite dleatrly not racing one another? It was exquisite.

One can imagine MaiX Mosley sitting at home giggling and 40 -

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motorsport news

FORMULA ON£

mess

This one is mine: After the disappointment of Austria, Rubens Barrichello officially earned his long overdue second GP victory.

(Photo by Sutton-lmages)

Bernie Ecclestone rubbing has hands as millions sat glued to their TV screens: Would they do it?

Would they not?

One can argue that the sport has come to a strange place when these are the issues that leave us fascinated, but what can be done?

Ferrari’s domination is such that one should perhaps feel sorry for the stumbling opposition, but cannot. They must do better. They 26 June 2002

must work harder. This is not a charity business.

Ferrari must enjoy the moment, for it took a long time to come and may some time slide away again.

The clever people in Maranello will imderstand that humiliation such as we saw Ferrari serve to their rivals on Sunday is the best motivation for the others to improve. Pain is the greatest stimulant.

By theclear end of theeveryone first lap it was that except Ferrari was wasting their time. The two WilliamsBMWs made good starts and were 1-2 as the field swirled in and out of the first corner. But, by the end of the lap, Barrichello was leading and Michael Schumacher was third. Pole man Montoya was down in fourth.

By the end of the third lap, Michael was ahead of his brother and chasing after Rubens and then the full horror of Ferrari's pace was drummed into the opposition as they ran away from the field like horses prancing among a bunch of Shetland Ponies...

The numbers tell the terrible story. On lap three the gap from continued on page 43 41

Qualifying

Montoya takes si^rise pole

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n paper, it is fair to say that quaTtfying seemed to iruficate that the WilfiamsBMW team was in a good position to win the race. But it was not really a true picture.

Williams had not expected much before the qualifying session and the team was quite surprised when they ended the day 1-2 on the grid with Juan Pablo Montoya quicker than Ralf Schumacher by a tiny margin.

The key issue was that Michael Schumacher had had a bad time of qualifying. On his first run, his car stuck in gear and he was forced back to the pits and for the spare car, which had a less powerful engine than the usual Ferrari qualifying 'hand grenade'.

Despite this, Michael was pretty close to the pace and might have taken pole but for a couple of mistakes at the final corner.

"It is impossible for me to say if I would have been quicker in my race car," said Michael."I made a couple of small mistakes.

I pushed too hard and I overdid it. I have no excuses. I think without those mistakes I would have been on pole position."

The result was not great, but it could have been worse. The big worry was that the McLarens on row three, which always seem to start well, would somehow manage to get ahead of the Ferraris and would then hold up Schumacher in the early part of the race.

Barrichello was not really in the hunt at all because of handling problems in the first section of the circuit. He qualified fouith, three-tenths of a second down on Schumacher.

The first section of the track was completely new,the circuit authorities having decided to get rid of the troublesome old first corner and replace it with a tight

hairpin and then a series of tight corners. It was not popular with the drivers -rrew sections of tratck rrewer are.

The main aim was to create a new stadium area in which thousands more spectators could be accommodated so that more money could be generated.

There is never a shortage of spectators in this part of the world and there were over 100,000 present on Saturday to watch the qualifying session.

Late in the session, Ralf had the pole time by six-tenths, but was then bounced out by Montoya with an advantage of only 0.009s.

At the end, everyone was out trying to get a clear lap. Michael did it and looked to have the whole game sewn up, but blew it.

It was convenient for Williams, but these are realists and they knew that Ferrari would be very hard to beat in the race. In recent races the Ferrari package has been much more competitive in the races than it has been in qualifying and the fear was that it would be the same again.

Williams has been trying to get the chassis and the Michelin tyres to work better together, but for the moment it is still not enough. The Ferraris are so fast that if they get away in the opening laps there is no holding them - even if Williams is able to run strong one-stop strategies.

In qualifying, Michelin looked good with a 1-2-5-6-7-8 while Bridgestone had just a 3-4-9.

The two McLarens were fifth and sixth, with David Coulthard for once ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. Both drivers said that they doubted they could have gone any quicker than they had done as the car is still not

competitive enough.

The McLaren and Williams teams are now beginning to faalise^at it is unlike^

11th with Nick Heidfeld ahead of Felipe Massa. Heidfeld flatspotted a tyre early on,then had a bad vibration which seemed to

to allow anyone dose to the Ferraris. They are just too strong.

"We have development bits coming," whispered one engineer,"but they are not going to close this gap."

Ferrari always seem to be well ahead of the other Bridgestone runners,the Michelin men seemed to have an advantage in the midfield. The obvious sign of that in Germany was the fact that Renault Sport was ahead of Sauber.

Jamo Trulli was faster than Jenson Button on this occasion, but Button did not really get a decent shot at qualifying as his fastest run was his first and then understeer developed, ft was not until the final minutes that the team sorted it out and then Button hit traffic.

The Saubers were ninth and

tfUjuM the car for the rest^the complain iKkofgi^ The paa- were spit tatKm Toyota of Mika Saio, back in a decent position after the less than h^opy times in Canada. This being the team's home race,they were keen to do wen. Ahan McNish was 13th.

There was much fanfare about the new Honda engines and it is not really unkind to say that this was a bit of a flop. Places 12th, 14th, 18th and 19th hardly suggested that the V10 is going to send shivers down the spines of the engine designers in Munich and Maranello. The new engine is heavier than the older one and is meant to produce more power, but it did not seem to work.

Olivier Panis gave BAR something to feel good about by being the fastest Honda qualifier.

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Costly mistake; Michael Schumacher had pole for the taking until he made a mistake on the last corner. He had to settle for third. fPhotot>yMaisn.Botbweiii

Three-wheeling: Local driver Nick Heidfeld was again a star in qualifying, out-pacing rookie teammate Filipe Massa, but it was (again) a different story in the race.

While Massa slipped into the points in sixth place, Heidfeld was just outside in seventh at the finish.

(Photo by Sutton-lmages)

motofsport news

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FORMULA ONE Vtlleneuve was somewhat embarrassed as 19th was his worst ever qualifying, which is not a great place to be when you are doing contractual negotiations for sums around S20m.

The two Jordan-Hondas were Itti and 18th, which is about only odd thing beings faster than Giancaifo F^icbaft^ThHlINKiin said he was corrfuse^'wfliili^ unusual for him. Perhaps the team is suffering from not having enough boffins working on the cars...

Down at the back we had the usual melange of Arrows, Jaguars and Minardis, with HeinzHarald Frentzen being the top Ford runner with 15th on the grid.

Jaguar was 16th and 17th with Pedro de la Rosa faster than Eddie Irvine. De la Rosa did particularly well as he had to go to the spare because of mechanical troubles and because he lost hisiibest run when a Renault wondered into his path.

Mark Webber again wound up his Minardi to knock off Enrique Bernoldi's Arrows, but Alex Yoong did not show much tendency to do likewise.

Never ones to say too much in advance,the men at Ferrari were quietly confident.

"I think we will be pretty competitive tomorrow," said Ross Brawn... The men at Williams and McLaren did not doubt it.

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continued from page 41 Michael to Ralf was a second. On lap four it was four seconds. On lap five it was 6.8 and so it went on: 9.2,11.5, 13.6,15, 18.2 and so on...

"They could do five pit stops and still win this one," mumbled one of the cynics in the Media Centre.

On lap 23,just before his first stop, Michael spun and dropped back 10 seconds, but that was made up again by the time the second stops came around, suggesting that he might have taken the fight to Rubens in the closing laps had he wanted.

To see the number one Ferrari trolling around behind the number two was not a sight to warm the cockles of a racer's heart, but that was how it turned out. Ferrari let Rubens win to show that it does not let team orders dictate everything - and yet the result was dictated by team orders.

After the high of qualifying, Williams was even outraced by McLaren for third place.

Ralf plugged on ("Ferrari is extremely strong in the race")

Oh, Eddie, you are a devil: The ever-sexy Jordan team had not one but two Sun page three girls at the track and old Eddie just couldn’t help getting his mitts on the merchandise...

(Photos by Sutton-lmages)

continued on page 44

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43

continued from page 43

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Over and out: David Coulthard tried a bold outside move on Juan Montoya (above) that ended in retirement for both drivers when the Williams spun out and whacked the McLaren in the process (main pic).

(Photos by Sutton-lmages)

99

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while Raikkonen ran sixth early on, despite a spin which dropped him behind Button on lap 17. But the McLaren strategy worked better and when Raikkonen pitted on lap 35 he was able to do so without losing what had become third place.

Ralf and Jenson were behind and, as Button had a second stop to be done, he fell back to fifth, the last unlapped runner.

Raikkonen was third because Coulthard and Montoya had come to a sticky end on lap 28 when David tried to take the position from Juan Pablo. The two both behaved well but the right rear of the Williams just tagged a kerb and was pitched into a spin and clobbered Coulthard. And that was it for the day for both men.

Montoya later apologised to DC, but neither man was happy with the outcome.

Button's fifth place was meagre reward for Renault, but as Ti-ulli went off early there were not many excuses. Jarno ended up eighth.

Renault’s strategy was based on the concept ofthe cars being ahead of the McLarens at the end ofthe first lap and when that failed to happen (no surprise, really)there was nothing much that could be done.

Massa took the last point for Sauber and, with Heidfeld seventh, it was not a bad showing from Sauber.

BAR got both cars home, but Fanis's ninth place and Villeneuve's 12th were not much to get excited about.

Still, it was rather better than the other Honda team, Jordan, which had its two drivers collide at the first corner. On this occasion the fault lay with Giancarlo Fisichella. Whatever the case, the race was ruined and the look on Eddie Jordan's face said it all.

Arrows got two cars home.

Bemoldi took 10th on the last lap 7T

Europe Grand Pnx .i June 22 2002

^

RACE RESULT Ih35m07.426s Ih35m07.720s Ih35m53.861s Ih36ml4.389s Ih36m24.370s Ih35ml8.260s

Barrichello 2 M. Schumacher Raikkonen 4 R. Schumacher Button 6 Massa Heidfeld 8 TruHi

59 laps 59 laps 59 laps 59 laps 59 laps 59 laps

10 Berholdi de la Rosa 12 Villeneuve lrentzen 14 McNish Webber 16 Sato

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R Salo Yoong R Irvine Montoya R Coulthard Rsicheila

59 laps 58 laps 58 laps 51 laps 48 laps 41 laps 27 laps 27 laps 26 laps

Gearbox Hydraulics Hydraulics Collision Collision Collision

Fastest lap; M.Schumacher on lap 26, lm32.226 30, Drivers' points: M. Schumacher 76, R. Montoya 27, Barrichello 26, Coulthard 26, Raikkooen 11, Button 10, Fistchelia 6, Heidfeld 5, TmlO/Massa 4, Irvine 3, Webber/Salo/Frentzen Z Constructors' points: Ferrari 102, Williams/BMW 57, McLaren/Mercedes 37, Renault 14,Sauber/Petronas 9, Jordan/Honda 6, Jaguar/Coswoith 3, Minardi/Asiatech, Toyota and Airows/Cosworth 2. '

motorsport news

FORMULA ONE

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European Grand Prix

Positions lap by lap

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;GER Williams

i 7 Jarno Trulli

ITA Renault

I 8 Jenson Button

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12 Olivier Panis

TRA BAR

113 Allan McNish

GBR Toyota

114 Takuma Sato

JPN Jordan

ESP Jaguar

17 Eddie Irvine

GBR Jaguar

: 18 Giancarlo Fisichella

ITA Jordan

! 19 Jacques Villeneuve

CAN BAR

' 20 Mark Webber

AUS Minardi

I 21 Enrique Bernoldi

BRA Arrows

22 Alex Yoong

MAS Minardi

by diving past Pedro de la Rosa's Jaguar, but Frentzen's race was ruined when the team had another refuelling machine failure - the third in three races. It might be an idea if the team threw the existing machines in a lake and started with new ones...

De la Rosa got home in 11th while Irvine went out with a

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Toyota's promising qualifying did not translate to the race as McNish ended up 14th and Salo went out with gearbox trouble.

Minardi also got just one car home with Webber 15th. He made a tremendous start, passing the two Arrows and a Jaguar into the

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where Ferrari goes up before the World Motor Sport Council to explain the issues raised by the Austrian GP.

Michelins had a problem. After his first stop, normal pace was resumed, but it was too late. Alex Yoong went out with hydraulic problems after another fraught race.

On Sunday night Michael Schumacher led the World Championship by 46 points. It might have been 50. But who knows what it will be after

The action now moves to Paris,

Wednesday evening...

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Welcome to\ the MCG II

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European GP

Why there were no Ferrari team orders After the TV cameras were turned off, the two Ferrari drivers faced the press to explain the situation with regard to team orders. Here are the highlights: Q: What did you think of that, then, Rubens?

RB: Great. Germany seems to be so great for me because it's the second win in Germany and the only difference to the first one is that I haven't cried as much! I'm very happy.

I'm actually delighted because Friday wasn't such a good day.

Saturday morning was a bit of a struggle again. This time I had a good set-up but the tyres were a bit difficult. Michael seemed to be very happy and this time I chose the tyres he was using and it was definitely the right choice. I want to thank him and the team for letting me have the data and support because otherwise I think I would have struggled a little bit. I think the choice we had for the race was definitely the best one.

Q: Was there ever any chance that you were going to have to do the same thing (move aside) as in Austria?

RB: Of course, people will be saying many things about that, but let's just enjoy this one. It's been a fantastic run. From fourth on the grid to finish first is a fantastic feeling. My whole family is here, my son, my wife, so let's just enjoy it. I don't want to talk about Austria.

Q: Michael, what are your feelings about Rubens' win here?

MS: Oh, very good. Fie has done a superb race, he hasn't made a mistake like me and that's why he deserves to win.

I think if I could have stayed close during the pit stop, maybe we had a chance. We had an open race, we tried and I lost out because I got too close and spun off.

Q: During the closing stages, obviously the pace had been 46

relaxed. When was it decided what the strategy was going to be?

MS: Basically, after the second pit stop because then, as we saw in the first stint, there wasn't any chance to overtake on the circuit because we were too similar. The team came on the radio and said, 'You have enough gap, so let's take it in a safe way and drive to the finish because you guys can't do anything on the circuit, anyway.'

^grand mx OF EUkon

Q: Rubens, after what happened in Austria, has everything gone back to the way it was before and do you think the hearing on Wednesday will take into

\\

In Austria, it was race number live (six), and now we are n in race number nine. I think that justifies the situation.

- Michael Schumacher

Q: Michael, in Austria Jean (Todt) decided to switch positions; it wasn't the case today. Why? MS: I think the points situation was quite a different one in these days than it was in Austria because nobody sort of knew how the season would develop and we are obviously in a much more comfortable situation now, whereas in Austria we weren't.

Q: The team decided today M

consideration what happened today?

RB: It doesn't have anything to do, really, I think. There was no decision today. It was a fair and square race and Austria is part of the past already. All in all I agree with what happened in Austria. It is not that what happened here is paying for whatever race, it is what is done is done.

Q: Michael, during the last part of the race on the pit rr

All In all, I agree with what happened in Austria.

-Rubens Barrichello

that you did not need four extra points. Is the championship now almost in the bag for you?

MS: Am I champion now? I wish to say that, but it is not.

We go step by step closer to It, but until it is the case there is no point thinking too much about it.

wall there was a lot of talks (between the Ferrari people) and Jean Todt seemed more nervous than usual. Can you explain why?

MS: At one stage we were having a bit high oil temperature while I was following Rubens closely.

Probably that is why.

Q: Was the order already planned before the race or after the stop?

MS: No, we had a free race.

Q: You said at first that the situation is different to Austria and after that you said:'Am I champion? Not yet'. Isn't the situation the same?

MS: We are slightly different in that the points difference is quite substantial now, although the championship is not finished. I think in Austria it was race number five (six), and now we are in race number nine. I think that justifies the situation. People have sometimes certain ideas, but 1 think that we are simply not, and at the time, arrogant enough to think that it is so easy to win this championship.

I don't want to say now we are arrogant, but we now have quite a substantially more points difference. We saw what happened to Ralf, we saw what happened to Montoya, we took all this into consideration.

Q; How difficult was it here in Germany not to fight for the win?

MS: I did fight, very hard. 1 fought so hard that I went off.

Q: Except the order after the second pit stop...

MS: There is no strong feeling about it because we could not overtake on the circuit, that's it, and after the second pit stop, when he came out in front of me, I knew that's it. motorsport news

M.WEBBER 23 T

I

had to put aside all the off-track goings on, including this week's test with Jaguar, to concentrate on the job in hand at the Nurburgring.

In the end, we had a reasonable weekend made difficult by a single set of tyres that produced a peculiar balance for the KL Minardi during the first part of Sunday's race. By the time we'd made our first stop and a fresh set of Michelins had overcome the problem, our day was pretty much shot- as it was for other Michelin runners.

The problem turned out to be the way in which we had been asked to 'scrub' the tyres on Saturday.

Michelin's technicians have a particular way in which they want the rubber run through a heat cycle and bedded in for best race results.

On this occasion, it simply didn't work.

The second and third sets we put on in the race were ex-qualifying had run two laps flat-out from 'green' - and they were fine. Like 1.5 to 2 seconds a lap better!

You could see the Williams and Toyotas in particular struggling with the same problem.

As we have done couple ofin times before, wea had a run close to qualifying trim during Saturday morning's practice sessions - ending up 14th. There was still 20kg of fuel in the car, but more and more we are finding, as are others, that the information we get from doing one light run does help for later in the day.

Friday's practice had gone to plan - well, almost. A suspension failure (a rocker broke) provided a few anxious moments, but we managed to avoid hitting anything and thus didn't lose too much time. We were still able to do our tyre comparison and opted for the softer Michelin and a two-stop strategy.

Despite things being financially tight with the team, they still managed to turn up with a slightly

revised rear wing for this race. It produced a slight gain, but nothing to make major inroads. As I've said before, aero is a critical area and it's simply a case of money = development...

I had no complaints about qualifying itself. My fourth run was an improvement, but threehundredths shy of knocking off Villeneuve's BAR, We would line up 20th, ahead of Alex (Yoong) and Bernoldi's Arrows.

yop^sJjj:

I slotted actuallydown got a the pretty goodofstart and inside a couple of cars, Villeneuve and Frentzen and a Jag I think, into the super-tight new turn one, I saw the Fisichella/Sato bingle just in time and was able to stop and turn inside of the yellow mess-just-and emerged in 15th.

And that was as good as it got.

That first stint almost did my head in! The car felt terrible. There was simply no rear grip. Vilieneuve and both Arrows flew back past in the first couple of laps and I was left to battle on -somewhat frustrated, I might add (I might have banged the steering wheel in frustration at one n point..,).

The lack of rear grip affects everything. Braking, corner speed, drive, the lot. You simply have to take it easy and you can't put any real load into the fronts. It's just really difficult...

I gather viewers in Australia saw the problem first hand - starting with an overshoot of turn one and then a quick 360 as things became dire, just before the first stop.

A fresh set at that first stop transformed the car and we were able to get back to some reasonable sort of race pace - quite good race

It’s a dirty job, butt...: Yes, somebody has to do it.

"Clearly, there seem to be some options tor next year.

If

pace, in fact-for the remaining two-thirds of the race, but the damage was done.

(Photo by Sutton-lmaoes)

've seen quite a bit of tennis ace Lleyton Flewitt recently, I managed to get down to Queens to see him win the final there a week and a half ago and I'm off to Wimbledon for the day on Wednesday. A great way to relax and freshen up for the day at Barcelona on Friday with Jaguar.

The good thing about the test is that it does show that we've been doing some good things and the people who matter have noticed.

I spoke at some length with Niki Lauda during the Canadian GP and we both know that it's

not about lap times down at Barcelona. Track conditions change so quickly and there's usually just a 30-minute window in the morning when conditions are at their best. I also gather than Pedro (de la Rosa) will be running with their new aero set-up and I'll be in the current car, so times won't mean that much.

They know what I've done to date - this is mainly about Jaguar seeing how I work; how I go about my stuff.

I think they're looking for a driver with good technical feel and feedback and that's what they'll be assessing.

What am I expecting from the Jaguar? Well, I'm expecting the power available to be a bit of a surprise, but other than that not a lot of difference to what we have at Minardi. Barcelona is an 'aero' track, with a lot of quick stuff, and that's an area where both teams have been struggling.

Clearly, there seem to be some options for next year at the moment.

Paul (Stoddart) looks to be getting on top of the financial stuff and is

working on next year- the Jag test is interesting because Cosworth is one of the engine options he's been looking at.

There looks like there will be movement involving Jaguar, Renault and maybe BAR, depending on the stories you hear.

None of them would be bad options for Mark Webber- all three have manufacturer backing and that means a desire, and probably the resources, to succeed.

It's looking like Eddie (Irvine) won't be staying at Jaguar, so you'd have to say there's a possibility there.

There are also people who have been pushing my name with Dave Richards at BAR - who's been making noises about how much it's costing to have Jacques Villeneuve on staff...

Who knows where it will end?

The good thing is that we've managed to get the attention of a few people and I'd have to say that I'm optimistic about the future. Nine races into my GP career, what more could you want?

47

Oran Park

Dumbpell on Paul Dumbrell took three giant steps toward the 2002 Konica V8 Supercar title, leaving all rivals in his wake with a clean sweep at Oran Park.

MARK GLENDENNING was there to see how things unfolded

P

AUL Dumbrell has extended his lead in the Konica V8 Supercar Series with a round three clean sweep at Oran Park two weeks ago.

The Victorian teenager’s Wynn’s Commodore VX showed spooky pace all weekend to rack up pole position and three wins, stretching his lead over title rival Dale Brede to 174 points.

Dumbrell bookended his good results with a lm09.5412s qualifying lap that would have placed him eigth in the Top 10 Shootout at last year’s Shell Series round, and a lml0.5317s lap in race three that knocked a few thousandths off Simon Wills’s lap record.

After the race, Dumbrell admitted that with just two rounds left to be fought out, his points haul had given him some breathing space.

“It gives us the opportunity where if I’m running second and the race is on the last lap, I can finish second, whereas early in the season I had to get the lead,” he said.

“But it’s one of those things where you’ve always got to look ahead, because if you have just one DNF,like a crash on race one, you might not be able to make it up in race two. It’s just consistency, and you’ve got to make sure you keep on getting points at every round.”

While Dumbrell was tearing things up on the track however, most talk in the paddock during the weekend concerned the officials.

I □a

V DUMBR®^ The problems Dumbrell andstarted Mark when Porter (Hydralink Falcon AU) both attracted penalties for jumping the start in race one. Before the opening lap was over, an incident in the midfield prompted the appearance of the Safety Car. A marshall stationed at the entrance to pitlane waved Porter and Dumbrell in - and then kept waving. Consequently, Greg Crick and Matthew VTiite, who were running third and fourth, saw the waving marshall and, believing that the race had been red flagged.

■? Lazarus: Crick had a shocker in race one, serving a drive through i penalty that wasn’t meant for him, taking a coupie of hits, and then Tasmanian fought back to take second overail (Photo by Dirk Klynsmilh)

motorsport news

KONICA V8 SERIES

a roll ill

One of those days: Brede, above, overcame a variety of dramas to end the weekend third overall Thanks for coming: With PD, left, finding more amd more pace, is the (Photos by Dirk Klynsmith) sun setting on everyone else’s championship hopes? followed the leaders into pitlane!

“As we came up to the start of the pitlane, they(Porter and Dumbrell) went into the pitlane, there was a guy with the black flag actually waving the black flag and pointing us into the pits,” explained Crick.

“I thought,‘Oh, something’s happened, they’ve changed their mind, they’re going to stop the race’. So I followed them into the pits. I should have ignored the marshall, because he didn’t have a red flag. I don’t know why he was waving a black flag at me, he did the same to Matthew White, and Matthew did the same thing.

“So we copped a drive-through for nothing. I’d have been leading the race, so it might have been a different result.

“I think Paul deserved to win on the day, I don’t think it changes anything really in the scheme of things,” Crick continued.

“It’s one of those things, it’s racing. The officials have to make a decision on the spot, and they made a decision that was the wrong one. The unfortunate part about it is that when drivers are in the car and they make a wrong decision, don’t see the flag or something, we get fined. They don’t seem to get anything, and there’s no comeback for us.”

Besides the confusion caused by the marshall at the pitlane entrance, there was also the issue of Porter and Dumbrell serving 26 June 2002

their penalties during a Safety Car period, which is illegal.

The stairs leading to race control rattled with the footsteps of protesting team representatives after the race, but it was finally announced that the race result would stand and no action would be taken.

Later in the day, a spin at the start of race three brought the Safety Car onto the track again, despite the fact that the car in question had already rejoined the field. The pack was left to do a slow tour for no apparent reason before being released to go racing.

The race one penalty saw Dumbrell rejoin the field back in 12th, and with around half the field ahead of him, victory was not exactly served up on a platter.

But with seven laps to go the Commodore flicked inside Brede (Gulf Western Racing Falcon AU) to take the lead, and it was all over from there. Or at least, until race two, where the inverted-ten format would see Dumbrell forced to make his charge through the field all over again.

“Usually you only have to do this once each weekend!” he said between races.

With Dumbrell winning all there was to win, it fell to everyone else to pick up the pieces, and once again Crick did the best job of it.

The 3M/Tourism Sri Lanka Falcon AU was quick away from

the line in race one before becoming bogged down in the rush to the first corner.

Amid thecar mayhem, a hit to Crick’s prompted a save that would have done the Nigerian goalkeeper proud, leaving the Falcon to continue on for its unneccessary date with pitlane behind Porter and Dumbrell.

Minus the front airdam. Crick went on to spin a few laps later, before finally recovering and

crossing the line 13th.

Fabulous drives to third in race two and secoind in race three were rewarded with second overall for the weekend;.

“We were very pleased to come back from where we were after the first race, wtiich was just a bloody disaster, and. we just had to put our head down and fight back,” Crick said.

continued on page 50

fQualifying^ POS DRIUER 1 Paul Dumbrell 2 Greg Crick 3 Mark Porter 4 Dale Brede 5 Matthew White 6 Steve Owen 7 Leanne Perrier 8 Kevin Mundy 9 Michael Simpson 10 Grant Elliott 11 Craig Bastian 12 Craig Harris 13 Grant Johnson 14 Terry Wyhoon 15 Ron Searle 16 Michael Turner 17 Richard Mork 18 Mathew Hunt 19 Ross Halliday 20 Shane Beikoff 21 Mark Howard 22 Robert McDonald 23 Robert Smith

CAR Wynn's Commodore VX 3M/Tourism Sri Lanka Falcon AU Hydralink Falcon AU Gulf Western Racing Falcon AU VIP Petfoods Commodore VT Simply Containers Commodnrs VX Fleetcare Motorsport Comntodiore VS Acteon Air Racing Falcon AU Howard Simpson Racing FaicoinEL Sydney Star Commodore VS Bastian Motortsport Falcon EL Castrol/Harris Racing Falcon Ait) Chance of a Lifetime Falcon EL Lubrimaxx/Kitome Falcon EL Transtar Express Commodore VS ADI Electrical Supplies Commotlore VS V8Racing.com Commodore VS National Racing Products Corti’mcdore VS 3M/Tourism Sri Lanka Falcon AU Diesel Tech Springwood Commodore VS Howard Simpson Racing FaicomEL Doulman Industries Racing Commodore VT Smiths Trucks Commodore VT

Rounds

TIME 1:09.5412 1:10.1804 1:10.5342 1:10.5433 1:10.6282 1:10.7518 1:10.8025 1:10.8057 1:10.8198 1:10.9608 1:11.0556 1:11.1968 1:11.4275 1:11.6734 1:11.7597 1:12.1140 1:12.1471 1:12.2413 1:12.6333 1:12.8033 1:13.0950 1:13.4723 1:13.6091

Oran Park 49

Oran Park continued from page 49 While disappointing from the perspective of his championship hopes, third overall was a good result for Brede, who started battling a variety of problems almost as soon as the car came off the trailer.

We struggled with tyres all weekend, even in practice. And in race one I got into trouble with Steve Owen, which bent an upright. Then when Paul was catching me,the engine went onto six cylinders. After he passed me. the motor came good. We fought the car all weekend.’

At the end of the weekend, Brede had a second, a fifth, and a fourth to show for his troubles.

Away from the podium. Porter continued to build upon his rapidly-spreading reputation with another string of good runs.

A near-total lack offamiliarity with Australian circuits has not

posed many problems for the Kiwi so far, and so it proved again at Oran Park. Particularly noteworthy was the awesome qualifying lap that vaulted him to P3 on the race one grid. Porter’s achievement caught the attention of as many people on the track as off it, including Crick: People who don’t actually drive don’t realise what a gi-eat effort that is,” he said.

Also shining was Grant Elliott who enjoyed an early race one lead due to the black flags before finally being relegated to third.

Things didn’t go quite so well for Matthew White.A good race one start for the newly-liveried VIP Pet Foods Commodore VT was ruined by a the trip down pitlane behind the race leaders,leaving White to finish an eventful run in seventh place.

The Commodore was belching smoke all weekend, and efforts to continued on page 52

Trouble under the bridge: Brede lost ground after contact w/ith Steve Owen in race one, but at least he was able to carry on to the finish, above.

TraNZ Tasman challenger: Dumbrell steps hard on the anchors as he looks for a way past the speedy Kiwi Mark Porter, left.

(Photos by John Morris/Mptx))

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Oran Park Konica V8s Rd 3

>

Oran Park {/} nace 1(22 laps) RACriME/UPS U POS DRIVER 29:21.1305 1 Dumbrell 2 Brede 29:26.2552 29:32.6645 3 Elliot 29:37.0466 4 Harris 29:40.9935 5 Porter 29:42.4257 6 Mundy 29:44.0868 7 White 29:48.3506 8 Searle 9 Perrier 29:48.9992 29:52.9536 10 Bastian 30:01.9446 11 Johnson 30:08.1836 12 Turner 13 Crick 30:14.6590 30:17.4056 14 Hunt 30:28.1980 15 Halllday 30:31.9391 16 Beikoff 30:45.2682 17 McDonald 18 Howard 30:47.3835 19 Smith 30:53.6347 19 laps 20 Wyhoon DWF Mork 6 laps DNF Owen 4 laps 1 lap DNF Simpson Race 2(18 laps) 1 Dumbrell 2 Porter 3 Crick 4 Owen 5 Brede 6 White 7 Wyhoon 8 Johnson 9 Elliott 10 Searle 11 Mork 12 Hunt 13 Beikoff 14 Harris 15 Halliday 16 McDonald 17 Smith 18 Mundy 19 Howard DNF Bastian DNF Turner DNF Ferrier DNS Simpson

21:37.9990 21:49.6015 22:02.9025 22:11.2242 22:12.7043 22:13.8078 22.14.7787 22:19.9383 22:21.9135 22:23.1006 22:29.3133 22:29.6495 22:35.7948 22:39.8895 22:44.6653 17 laps 17 laps 17 laps 17 laps 10 laps

Race 3(33 laps) 39:51.3072 1 Dumbrell 40:12.3544 2 Crick 40:15.4430 3 White 40:28.6112 4 Brede 40:34.2957 5 Porter 40:36.3734 6 Elliott 40:45.4897 7 Owen 40:52.5796 8 Harris 40:54.1918 9 Wyhoon 40:59.6505 10 Searle 11 Bastian 32 laps 12 Turner 32 laps 32 laps 13 Halliday 14 Beikoff 32 laps 15 Mork 32 laps 16 McDonald 32 laps 17 Howard 32 laps 18 Hunt 32 laps 19 Smith 31 laps 20 Mundy 29 laps DNF Johnson 25 laps DNS Ferrier, Simpson

1:10.5317 1:11.0295 1:11.3572 1:11.0349 1:12.0428 1:12.0323 1:12.1807 1:11.6630 1:12.3015 1:12.8420 1:12.4606 1:13.2207 1:13.3191 1:14.2158 1:12.9995 1:14.4210 1:14.1485 1:13.2716 1:15.1629 1:12.6860 1:12.4931

Points: Dumbrell 778, Brede 604, Crick 501, Porter 398, Harris 327, White 299, Elliott 277, Searle 240, Mundy 219, Halliday 204, Johnson 198, Owen 188, Wyhoon 175, Turner 169, Youlden 148, Beikoff 132, Hunt 131, Howard 127, Smith 118, Bastian 118, Simpson 109, Salmon 100, Lawrence 86, McDonald 83, Evangelou 72, May 69, Mork 49, Van Zelm 48, Foster 46, Thorn 36, Ferrier 24, Jones 14.

ll

illl'R, il‘-

EASTEST 1:10.6897 1:10.9512 1:11.3032 1:11.7949 1:12.0868 1:12.2967 1:11.5202 1:12.5152 1:11.6624 1:12.2715 1:12.6983 1:13.0776 1:11.2231 1:12.6633 1:14.2137 1:14.4456 1:14.4387 1:14.3950 1:14.3968 1:12.7058 1:16.9502 1:25.7654 1:32.1474 1:11.0722 1:11.8638 1:12.1425 1:11.7735 1:11.0114 1:12.2417 1:12.6144 1:12.5507 1:12.6414 1:13.2659 1:12.8413 1:13.6801 1:13.6430 1:12.0594 1:14.0986 1:14.6816 1:14.8442 1:14.5245 1:12.4946 1:15.1234 1:44.0723 1:44.7493

n

c Moving ever forward: Another good performace from Grant Elliot, above, was capped of with third place in race one.

If I can’t see them they can’t see me: Craig Harris’s new method of cooling the engine had just one major (Photos by Dirk Ktynsmith) drawback, left. continued from page 50 fix an oil leak prior to race two found the team still in the pits when the field gridded up, forcing the Victorian to start from pitlane.

He hauled the car up to sixth, and followed it up with a strong run in race three that was rewarded White’s efforts with third place.

“I think we passed more cars than anyone else this weekend, so I guess that’s something,” he grinned ruefully afterwards.

Luck was on Craig pin Harris’s side when a retaining on the Castrol/Harris Racing AU Falcon snapped, flipping the bonnet squarely into the windshield in practice. It was repaired in time for qualifying.

Less fortunate was Owen Kelly, whose One World Sport AU Falcon suffered a broken hub during practice on Saturday. The car was parked for the weekend after the team expressed doubts over the reliability of the older-style hubs.

Leanne Ferrier managed to start her first race since last year’s Queensland 500. After race one contact with Harris dropped the

www.ha(hdaymoforsporfinrm.aV

AerocJymanics? Who need it? A whack in race one left Crick’s front airdam looking as if it had been on the wrong end of a torpedo. Luckily, there was no serious harm done (Pholo by Dirk Klynsmith) Fleetcare Motorsport VS Commodore back into the pack, Ferrier worked her way up to seventh before being garaged with a blown head gasket in race two.

“It’s disappointing, but it was really good just to race again,” she said.

Damage from a collision with Richard Mork in race one also put

Michael Simpson’s EL Falcon out of action for the weekend.

Also clashing with Mork was Grant Johnson, whose difficulties had started much earlier in the weekend when an electrical glitch had kept him on the sidelines for both practice sessions prior to qualifying.

With just two rounds left, it’s hard not to feel that Dumbrell might already have one hand on the trophy.

But just one poor result for the Wynn’s Commodore might be enough for Brede to spring back into the picture. With more than 500 points still up for grabs, all eyes will be on Winton in a couple of weeks ...

Safety first: The Safety Car attracted more than its share of race day controversy (Photo by Dirk Klynsmith)

52

motorsport news

FORMULA HOLDEN

to Power

by MARK GLENDENNING WILL Power dominated proceedings in the fourth round of the Formula Holden series at Oran Park two weeks ago,scoring maximum points with a pole and two wins.

In what he described as "a perfect weekend", the Queenslander stamped his authority on the Sydney circuit early, putting the Ralt Australia Reynard 94D on pole with a 1 m02.0728s lap, almost half a second clear of Christian Murchison (Hocking Motorsport Reynard 97D).

A broken driveshaft left Ian Peters sitting forlornly on the gird as the rest of the field streaked away in race one, with Power beating Murchison on the run to the first corner and resisting the attentions of the Hocking car to take the win by just under two seconds.

Murchison followed Power across the line for an untroubled second place, but the battle for third, some 20 seconds down the road, had been a different matter altogether.

Having earlier iost third to Stewart McCoil (Rait Australia Reynard 96D), Peter Hill (Ecko Globe Reynard 97D) had closed back up on the Ralt and decided to have a go coming off Yokohama Bridge - a move which ended with the Ecko car in the grass.

He rejoined, but following both the spin and contact with Akihiro Asai (Hocking Motorsport) the car Wave if you’re winning; Power iwi: in de asiatingform at Oran Park. (Photo by Dirk Klynsmiih) was handling rather evilly. It all came undone second outing, but when the frustrating weeke nd living in a on the next lap, when Hil l failed world of chronic understeer. time came it was again Power to negotiate turn one and who lead the field into the first In the battle for the Silver Star, speared through the gravel and corner.

Terry Clearihan moved to the top into the tyrewali.

Power cruised on to win by of the points table with his The absence of team-mate three seconds, his only troubles second straight win.

Peter Hackett (who, like Kiwi coming from occasionally Previous title leader Roger Nelson Hartley, was sitting the uncooperative lapped traffic (an Oakeshott won the first race, round out due to cash flow issue raised by several but crashed in the second while problems) granted Hill the rare frontrunners during the being lapped by Asai. weekend). luxury of a spare car for race two.

Murcho, meanwhile, had Murchison again settled for Points; Power 122, M cColl 99, Murchison made some tweaks in the hope second, a whopping 28 seconds 86, Hill 63, Asai 59, Hackett 50, of making a better start in the Oakeshott 30, Clearihan 23, Hartley 22 clear of McColl, who had spent a

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A.

Le Mans 24 Hour

Guess who won?

Report by AARON NOONAN at LE MANS

I

F you thought that anything other than an Audi would win the 70th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour,there was no doubting one thing - you were dreaming.

The three-pronged attack of R8 prototypes was simply unstoppable throughout the ‘rock around the clock’, and not even an irregular number of punctures could slow the Ingolstadtjuggernaut.

Underlining its total dominance of the race was the fact that an Audi never lost the lead throughout the entire 24 hours ...

When the chequered flag fell at 4pm on Sunday, the winning trio of Emanuele Pirro, Frank Biela and Tom Kristensen joined the list of Sportscar greats by making it three wins in a row at Le Mans, taking their Audi R8 to victory by more than a lap over the #2 machine of Johnny Herbert, Rinaldo Capello and Christian Pescatori.

“A lot of things make us happy today,” said Kristensen, the Dane scoring his fourth Le Mans win to add to his first success in a Joest Porsche in 1997. “(There was)the very, very tough battle, the fantastic racing car, the pace was really high.

Every time I have been here with Reinhold Joest I have won. There are a lot of emotions that come to your mind.”

“Every sportsman forgets what he has done in the past,” said 54

partner Pirro.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’ve won a thousand times, you put yourself into a new competition and you have to give your best. We had a huge responsibility because of the investments and the work of so many people. These results don’t come by coincidence.”

Capello perhaps summed up best the whole Audi attack: “Yes, we had orders at the start.

To finish first, second and third,” he smiled.

The #1 Audi crew only ever looked threatened by the #2 car started by Herbert, but the first of a few punctures hit Pescatori on the Mulsanne Straight approaching the four-hour mark.

He managed to get back to the pits but there would be no making up the ground.

In total contrast was the luck of the #1 car. With Kristensen at the wheel, it too suffered a puncture, but the Dane was in the Porsche Curves, within sight of the pits and only one lap short of his regular pit stop, so it didn’t hurt too much.

The luckiest win Le Mans just as much as the quick.

Luck was something that Australia’s great hope, David Brabham, didn’t have. To have expected anything from the ageing Panoz would have been too much, but Brabham and co-drivers Jan Magnussen and Bryan Herta were

Another outing for Audi: Once again, Audi’s R8 was invincible at Le Mans, taking another 1-2-3 after 24 gruelling hours. The Bentley, below, (Photos by Sutton-lmages) was the nearest challenger In fourth place.

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lucky to even be in the race.

Herta bashed a kerb during Thursday night qualifying, punching a hole in the car’s tub and damaging an oil filter, which in turn started a fire. The car was a wreck and the team packed it in, only to return to the task, repair the car and allow Magnussen to start the race.

Aflat t3Te after a handful oflaps was an omen, then massive cooling problems put Brabham’s car out, as well as the Bill Auberlen/David Donohue/Gunnar Jeannette machine.

“The fighting effort our guys put in is a credit to them,” said owner Don Panoz.

“As a team we are now even more determined to come back

next year and give this race our best shot.”

Designing a new car and putting the engine in the rear wouldn’t be a bad start...

So what of the rest? Bentley couldn’t quite repeat its debut podium position of 2001, the single car of Eric Van de Poele/Butch Leitzinger/Andy Wallace running fourth, though miles behind its ‘sister’Audis. A new four-litre engine (up from 3.6 in 2001) wasn’t enough to challenge the German machines, but expect a greater presence from the green machines next year.

The Michael Krumm/Phillip Peter/Marco Werner works Audi ended up third, having suffered a puncture on the warm-up lap, moiorsporl news

SPORTSCARS Not another Dm'en Were you at Le Mans? Then you're a shot at making it into a feature fiim, with filming of 'Michel Vaillant'(Michel Vaillant is a well-known comic book character in France) taking place during the 24 Hour. Two cars were entered in the race by the DAMS team to gather footage for the film, which is scheduled for release in mid-2003.

i

while the rest of the top-line Prototypes had various problems and hobbled home in various states of health.

MG’s gi-eat challenge started strongly, with Johnny Kane’s machine running third in the early stages, but the sister car of Mark Blundell, Julian Bailey and Kevin McGarrity suffered engine failure and Kane’s car fell out, while the ORECA Dallaras, strongly backed to be the biggest threat to the Audis with their speed and Judd engine reliability, couldn’t keep up the pace.

Jan hammers’Racing for Holland Dome had rocked the Audis in qualifying but couldn’t sustain it in the race, a gearbox change and spin among the

IRONICALLY positioned in pitlane next door to the might of Audi at Le Mans was the returning British marque, Morgan.

While the Audi team were totally expected to dominate, the fourlitre, BMW-engined GT car was written off by everybody who criticised the ACO's decision to give-the car a berth in the interests of creating a more varied field.

The last time a Morgan ran at Le Mans was 1962, so the mere sight of the Aero 8 GT, right, on the Le Mans layout was a welcome sight, going as far as out-qualifying some, supposedly-quicker Porsches and Ferraris.

Among the driving squad was a name familiar to viewers of Channel Seven's touring car telecasts of the 1980s and 1990s, in Pom Richard Hay. Making his debut at Le Mans, 26 tune 2002

problems, while the works Riley & Scott of American Jim Matthews, Didier Theys and Marc Goossens dropped out with engine failure.

The Japanese-entered Audi of four-time winner Yannick Dalmas was the centre of attention during qualifying after reports filtered through that the R8 had flipped, setting off a wave of 1999 Mercedes memories. In fact the car had launched into the air after part of the rear wing had fallen off, but it didn’t flip, instead crashing to the ground and into the wall.

It was repaired for the race and pushed on despite a litany of problems and a puzzling lack of pace from Dalmas, unquestionably the car’s quickest driver.

The Caillac attack was crippled

Hay has been racing TVR Tuscans in the UK, and just driving at Le Mans, let alone retiring with two dropped valves on Sunday morning, was an experience in itself.

"The guys have worked so hard, so I'm as disappointed for them as I am for me," said Hay. Buf the DeWalf-backed team brought more than just variety to Le Mans. They brought a happy-golucky approach, something sorely missing from the cold bowels of the Audi Sport equipe. Where else would you see a crew practicing their handstands at five in fhe morning in the pits in a bid to keep from falling asleep?

While the car didn't finish, it certainly put David back into the David and Goliath battle. And they've already started making plans for 2003. They just need a bigger slingshot...

n A late scratching from Le Mans was Stefan Johansson, The Swede, who was to have driven one of ORECA's Dallara-Judds with Olivier Beretla and Erik Comas, pulled out for unexplained reasons, replaced in the team by Pedro Lamy, who actually missed the first few hours of the race due to a clashing V8 STAR race in Germany.

^

by starter motor problems in both cars, though their Chevrolet cousins had better luck, Ron Fellows, Oliver Gavin and Johnny O’Connell taking out the GTS class in their Corvette. The Prodrive Ferrari of Alain Menu, Rickard Rydell and Tomas Enge was the pace-setter, but it suffered an engine problem and subsequent fire at the 12-hour mark.

The Kevin Buckler/Lucas LuhrATimo Bernhard Porsche GTS took out the GT class, but nobody could hold a candle to Audi.

And even if Audi doesn’t return to shoot for four wins in 2003, you can be sure that Bentley will. It’ll just be a different coloured car with a roof; that’s the main difference ...

n A refreshing change in press releases came from the KnightHawk Lola/MG team, above. No boring pre race quotes from American driver Steve Knight here, with the team's pre-race release quoting him as saying: "Here's the deal. I can't wait to get in the car and get my hands on the wheel and put my foot on the pedal and head down this circuit. Do I like wind racing past my helmet at 200H-mph? Darn right. Do I like instantaneous rocket-like acceleration when I gently tap on the pedal? You betcha. Do I enjoy the thrill and challenge of negotiating a corner at 120mph? Heck, yeah. No standard PR quotes this time." Halleluia ... n Absent from the post-race press conference were Erank Biela, Johnny Herbert and Michael Krumm. Against the wishes of the AGO,the trio were taken away by the FIA for drug-testing.

I

n Crawford Race Cars has announced that it intends to produce cars for the new Grand-Am Daytona Prototype category which will be introduced next year. The North Carolina-based company run by Kiwi Max Crawford, has had its chassis design approved and the first Prototype is expected to be completed by the end of spring. n English-based Piper Design is continuing development of an LMP 900 car with the aim of running at Le Mans next year. Drawings of fhe P01 appeared over Le Mans weekend, with appearance a mix between an MG and Riley & Scott. The company has also been contracted by the FIA to undertake a full study of the aero stability of flat-bottomed Sportscars.

-AARON NOONAN 55

Winton

Stokell's triple si PAUL Stokell smacked his recent run of bad luck for six by taking the Lamborghini Diablo GTR to a hat-trick of Nations Cup wins at Winton last weekend.

After a plague of mishaps over the past two rounds, Stokell led every race lap to pick up a haul of 180 points and vault himself back into the picture for the championship.

“The weekend went well, I can’t complain at all,” said Stokell.

There was no shortage of competitors ready to take the fight to the Diablo, with Jim Richards (Porsche GTS Cup), Geoff Morgan (Chrysler Viper ACR)and John Bowe (Fen-ari 360 GT)taking turns to chase the Taswegian down.

But while all had opportunities to close in, none could summon enough power to match the Lamborghini in a straight line.

“Getting to the front and having so much power down the straights made it difficult for everyone else,” Stokell admitted,“although some of the others, like John (Bowe) and Jim Richards have better braking than me.”

Although the clouds hung low

and grey over the centtral Victorian track for the whole weekend, the threat of rain never amiounted to anything more than tihe odd sprinkle.

It was enough,though, to force the cancellation of th^e Top Eight Eliminator qualifying session.

VTiile preceding sessions had mopped out a drj' line on the greasy track, the head-to-head, sudden-death format (of the Top Eight meant that whoever started on the wet line was at an obvious disadvantage. The cars consequently gridded Hip according to their qualifying residts from earlier in the day.

Morgan’s Viper had pole honours for the opening 14-lapper, with Richards lining up al ongside.

Stokell started the race from third, sharing the second row with Bowe.

When the green flag dropped, the Viper led the field through an incident-free first comer. Stokell was second, having gut the jump on Richards, with Bov's sitting fourth. Morgan’s view of a clear track only lasted until he reached turn 12, where Stokell found a way past and immediately began opening a gap.

’

Meanwhile,the pursuing Viper had briefly created some breathing space of its own, leaving Richards to lead a three-way fight for third with Bowe and Peter Fitzgerald (Porsche GTS Cup). Before long though, Richards was lining the

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Viper up for a shot at second place.

He got it, but the ensuing whack saw the Viper drop back to fifth and struggle home with two broken wheels and exhaust and steering damage.

“It was not a smooth overtaking

After a few rounds in the wilderness, Paul Stokell bounced back for a Nations Cup clean sweep In the Lamborghini Diablo GTR. MARK GLENDENNING reports from Winton

motorsporl news

PROCAR SERIES

[Pike Take a Bowe: John Bowe, above, consolidated his lead in the Nations Cup points table with another swag of podiums at Winton.

Mirrors full: After nailing all three races Stokell may have to find some extra space on the mantlepiece, but as Jim Richards and John Bowe show, he had a far from easy road to victory, left.

Take them as they come: Jim Richards, below, had an eventful weekend, but secured enough points to move (Photos by Dirk Klynsmith) into second overall in the Championship. move; it was very un-Jim Richards,” an exasperated Morgan later said.

For the front of the field, things were rather more straightforward in Race 2. Stokell led from

“They get frustrated with this car but that’s racing, you’ve got to overtake cleanly.”

For Richards, it was fairly straightforward: “I was trying to pass and we made contact,” he explained.

“Geoff was in the middle ofthe

Richards, Bowe, and Fitzgerlad at the start, and despite a few feints and lunges here and there, they greeted the flag in the same order 14 laps later.

Behind them, some Porsche-onPorsche action between Tony Quinn and Maher Algadri (both in GTS Cup cars) at the Motorsport News esses caused sufficient

road, and when I went inside he turned in front of me. I’m happy to take half the blame for it.”

Richards motored on to finish second. He was followed home by Bowe, who bounced back from being passed by Fitzgerald to reclaim the final podium spot on lap 10.

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While Stokell again scooted off into the lead in race three,

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26 June 2002

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Winton

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American car, German brakes: A massive lockup from Morgan sent the Viper squarely into the Porsche GT3 Cup of Richards. continued from page 57 Richards’s progress was hampered somewhat when Morgan, caught in a furious brake lockup, cai’ried way too much speed into the Motorsport News Esses and inadvertently used the Porsche to slow down instead.

Richards was thrown sideways while the field peeled either side of him, miraculously without anyone else hitting him. Fitzgerald was forced to take to the grass to avoid contact, and rejoined towards the back of the field.

Richards and Morgan were also able to continue, albeit with a lot of work to do.

With three of the frontrunners

in trouble, it fell to Bowe to chase down the Lamhorghini and for all 14 laps the Ferrari made a real fist of it.

JB had no problems closing right onto the tail of the Diablo over the back of the circuit, and even took the odd opportunity to give Stokell a few taps, but his efforts were repeatedly frustrated by the Lamborghini’s habit of disappearing every time it found a straight piece of track.

With his main title rivals behind him, Bowe eventually went into 'conservation mode' and backed off slightly to secure second place.

“I think we’re so far back in the championship that the other knew that if they did have a go at

passing me, they’d have a lot more to lose,” reflected Stokell.

Meanwhile, Fitzgerald and Richards had been making good progress through the field, and by half distance the Borsches were fighting it out for fourth.

Richards in particular was showing good speed, and had already posted the fastest lap for the race on lap six with a lm25.0251s tour that was some 0.3s quicker than anyone else could manage.

Fitzgerald was defending his position well on fading tyres, but the relentlessness of Richards finally paid off when he made a move stick at Honda corner on the final lap to claim the last

(Photos byDirk Klynsmith)

podium spot.

“That accident could have put us out of the race, so third is a good result,” Richards commented later.

“I didn’t even realise it was Geoff that hit me,I just turned into the corner, and someone hit me, and it was him!”

The spoils were shared more evenly in the Group Two battle, with current points leader Sam Newman,John Teulan and Steve Beards (all in Prancing Horse Ferrari 360 Challenges) each going home with a winner's trophy.

Points; Group 1: John Bowe 618, Jim Richards 555, Geoff Morgan 531, Paul Stokell 415, Kevin Bell 393, Tony Quinn 347. Group 2: Sam Newman 581, John Teulan 550, Steve Beards 506.

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Rug up! Winton may not be known for sunshine and beaches, but it can still pull a crowd.

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Top of the class: While the Lamborghini was winning everything atthe front, things were far more democratic amongst the Group 2s, who (Photos by Dirk Klynsmith) produced a different winner for each race.

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motorsport news

PROCAR SERIES

Tough Performance IF you weren’t at Winton last weekend, then you missed some of the most exciting racing you’re likely to see anywhere this year as the Mitsubishis and Subarus went elbow-to-elbow in the GT Performace races.

Race 1 opened with Mark King (Evo VII) and Graham Alexander (Evo V) both spinning near the Motorsport News Esses, with Alexander being particularly lucky to escape being hit after looping across the track.

Polesitter Peter Floyd(HSV VX GTS)dropped to second at the start and then fell out of contention altogether when he spun on the second lap.

He dropped to 13th, and made it up to 10th before running out of laps.

This left Geoff Full(Evo VII), Brett Peters(WRX), and David Wood(WRX)fighting it out for the lead, and fight they did.

The trio gave each other no quarter, running nose-to-tail, side by side, and three abreast virtually all the way to the finish line.

The enthralled crowd saw Full finally win out, with Peters and Wood following him across the line, although an engine irregularity later led to Peters being disqualified, promoting Wood to second and Bob Hughes(Evo VI)to third.

Despite the setback, Peters ended the weekend with his points lead intact.

A flag-to-flag battle between Wood and Full in Race 2 was finally settled in Wood's favour.

Tough day at the office: Wood and Full slug it out. And this was one of (Photo by Dirk Klynsmith) the quieter moments... leaving Steve Knight to complete the podium in his Evo VI. Full got his revenge in race three, leading Wood all the way home in another tight battle. Third

place honours again fell to Knight.

- MARK GLENDENNING Points; Peters 526, Wood 492,FuU 478, Alexander 442, Floyd 433, Boatwright 369

Cool runnings

by MARK GLENDENNING

THE upstarts took on the establishment and won in the latest round of the Australian Formula 3 Championship at Winton last weekend.

Two poles and two wins from Will Power (Cooltemp Dallara 397 Toyota) continued his 100 percent success record in the category, while Michael Caruso raised eyebrows with an amazing display in the debut appearance of his new Fiatpowered Dallara 301.

Power, who kicked the weekend off by posting his pole lap for the first race with a , deflating tyre, was quick all weekend, but the super-

competitive field ensured that he was going to be pushed all the way to the flag.

Leading the way was BRM's James Manderson (Dallara 301), who lined up on the front row in both races.

The current Championship leader made a far better start than Power in Race 1 and took an early lead, but he was prevented from building upon it when the Safety Car hit the track at the end of the opening lap.

Power made his move shortly afterwards, and was helped along when Manderson was caught out by the greasy conditions. Caruso, meanwhile, got the better of Darren Palmer (Dallara 301) to take second. A

late attempt by recovering Manderson to salvage third again ended with a spin, and he was forced to settle for fifth behind fellow Victorian Paul Stephenson.

Further down the track, newcomer Justin Watt, who filled the Piccola Scuderla Ferral seat vacated by James Cressey, put a positive angle on an otherwise tough weekend for the team by posting the fastest lap.

Manderson stormed to an early lead in Race 2, but Power and Caruso remained in touch and settled in for the fight.

After several unsuccessful attempts. Power finally found a way past on the ninth lap at turn 10, and immediately had to

\

defend a counter-attack from the BRM car.

If Manderson has lucky socks, he had forgotten to wear them because once again he found himself facing the wrong way, this time after being taken out while lapping Bill Maddocks.

He eventually greeted the flag In fifth place.

Power was left to cruise across the line unchallenged, with Caruso a short distance behind in second.

Palmer withstood heavy pressure from Cressey to rescue a third place for BRM.

Points; Level 1: Manderson 116, Palmer 102, Cressey 86, Power 86, Beeley 36. Level 2; Anderson 130, Trengove 79, Maddocks 64.

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Prv^’O oy Dirk KtytMoei

26 June 2002

59

Acropolis Rally

niiMer5is alive Colin McRae took a win in the Acropolis Rally but team-mate Markko Martin should have been the winner. JON THOMSON reports

s

COTTISH flyer Colin McRae has kept his head in a rough tough Acropolis Rally to score a recordequaUing 24th WRC victory.

The Scotsman matched the achievement of Tommi Makinen in Monte Carlo and his Ford team mate Carlos Sainz in Argentina last month to head the all time WRC winners’tally.

But the story of the event was not McRae,but Markko Martin, who looked set for his first WRC win before his hopes were flattened, hterally, but a puncture. After dropping to ninth, the Estonian stormed back to make the top six after a brave drive.

Day 1 The classic opening was day all about of theaGreek Ford but it was not McRae - or even Sainz.

On roads somewhat smoother than usual for the Acropolis, Martin stormed through the eight stages, taking 13s off Marcus Gronholm on the first stage and stretching the advantage to almost a minute by the end of the day.

Running on softer compound tyres than his Ford team-mates, the young Estonian looked on cotirse for his maiden WRC win. Behind, there were more surprises; while McRae was running steadily (despite brake problems and being caught in Fetter Solberg’s dust after the Norwegian spun and lost time), Freddy Loix was the surprise package, starting smoothly and taking second fastest on stage two before capturing fastest on the third test. Thomas Radstrom also took a fastest time in his Citroen, leading to an unusual-looking

leaders’ board.

Bums was suffering from massive oversteer on the loose gravel and was losing time dramatically while Gronholm, running first on the road, was effectively sweeping the roads for the cars which followed.

Harri Rovanpera was the best of the Peugeot drivers in fourth spot and ahead of his more highly fancied team-mates.

Ibmmi Makinen was out of the rally on SS6 when he lost a front wheel and stopped part way through the stage. The Subarus had a fraught day, with Solberg in the wars from the beginning as well.

Martin finished the day with a lead of 50.7s over Loix.

“It’s pretty amazing to have such a big gap,” he reported. “The car’s handling was perfect but other people also had a good road position today.”

Hyundai’s Armin Schwarz held third until the last two stages of the leg when a couple of spins and a long brake pedal cost him time dropping him to ninth.

Day 2 Martin over team-mate increased his McRae advantage while the Hyundai challenge fell away early on Day 2, as Loix struggled ■with a lack of torque on the steep uphill hairpins of the second stage of the day.

Sainz lost time on the same stage and was passed by Bums after he misunderstood a pace note call and took the wrong way at a junction.

Juba Kankkunen was the first to retire on day two. He arrived at service with a front tyre shredded.

4 1 2 3 4 5 6

Colin wins, hands down: Or, in this case, up. McRae took his fifth win in Greece in front of a iot of biokes in T-shirts.

60

Colin McRae/Nicky Grist Markus Gronholm/Timo Rautiainen Carlos Sainz/Luis Moya Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietilainen Potter Solberg/Philip Mills Marko Martin/Martin Pard

Ford Focus Peugeot 206 Ford Focus Peugeot 206 Subaru Impreza Ford Focus

4:27:43.8 +00:24.5 +01:46.6 +01:57.6 +01:58.6 +02:40.1

Drivers' points: Gronholm 37, Sainz 23, Panizzi 20, C McRae 20, Burns 19, Solberg 15, Makinen 14, Rovanpera 12, Bugalski 7.

Manufacturers' points: Peugeot 77, Ford 55, Subaru 35, Mitsubishi 6, Skoda 5, Hyundai 4.

WRC Round 7 Acropolis Rally moiorspon news

WRC NEWS

Peugeot looks at 307

WORD in Greece was that Peugeot is developing a World Rally Car version of its 307 model to replace the 206.

The French company has signed a contract with Hewland to develop a new transmission. Team boss Corrado Provera denied that the Hewland contract was for "a new project," but he did hint that a replacement for the successful 206 was under consideration.

"The 206 is a fantastic car," Gee, they have small houses in Greece: Markko Martin howls past a letterbox (?) while Petter Solberg took more points in fifth, (pnoiobysuiion-images)

But more importantly the team has not succeeded in fixing the turho boost problem that afflicted the car since early on day one and the car was withdrawn.

The complexion of the event changed on SS9,the longest of the event. After suffering a puncture, he lost three-and-a-half minutes changing a wheel, dropping to ninth.

That meant the team-mate McRae took the lead from Burns by 20.2s going into SSll, following the cancellation of SSIO due to a safety vehicle being wrongly located in the stage.

Gronholm, who was steady rather than spectacular, was in third just ahead of Sainz while Loix had dropped out of a podium position to be fifth. The third works 206 of Harri Rovanpera was sixth, just ahead of Radstrom’s Citroen.

Days urns had a sour start to the

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final etape, breaking the rear suspension of his Peugeot on the opening stage.

Burns was joined on the sidelines of the same stage by Alister McRae, who was also forced out after brealdng a steering arm on his Mitsubishi.

While drama occurred all around, Gronholm made his move sliding up to second with a stunning fastest on the opening test.

McRae was only fifth fastest and had his lead cut to 34.1s in what was shaping as a tough battle to the end. His advantage was cut by 26 June 2002

another 6.5s on the second test while Sainz was holding a watching briefin third, 90s behind his team mate.

After giving Hyundai such hope on Day 1, Loix hit a rock on SS14 and holed his sump and, while he managed to limp to the end of the stage, there was no way he could continue.

Gronholm was still hotly pm-suing McRae but the long 38km penultimate stage of the rally saw the Finn take just 0.4s offthe Ford driver and, when he could take only another 3s back on the final 17km stage, McRae made it home to his fifth Acropolis win(and third straight) by 24.5s.

“It’s a fantastic result and one that’s important for both myself and the Ford team,” he beamed afterwards.

“We’ve had a tough start to the year and haven’t always got the results we feel we deserved so it’s nice to be standing on the top step of the podium once more.”

Sainz took the final position on the podium while a frantic scrap for fourth between Solherg and Rovanpera saw the Norwegian driver di-op one second behind his Peugeot opponent on the final stage.

Martin recovered brilliantly to finish sixth while Sebastien Loeb was the best of the Citroens coming home in seventh.

The Championship now heads to Africa for the Safari on July 11 in what is shaping as a Ford versus Peugeot fight for the Championship.

Provera said. "It could be a good car for many years to come, but we are forced to look around.

Nobody should come to the conclusion that we will have a new car next year.

"The problem is the moment we decide to drop the 206, people could assume the life of the 206 is over. It is quite delicate, for marketing as well as technical reasons.

-JON THOMSON

Skoda updates Octavia

Engineering by Skoda, styling by Fisher & Paykel: Skoda is working on an (Photo by Suttan-Zmages) updated version ofits Octavia WRC cat: SKODA has begun testing a new version of Its Octavia World Rally Car that should debut on the Rally Finland In August.

The Czech team has continued development in many areas, but the new model should give it a shot in the arm at a time when other teams are stepping up

newer and newer technology.

The 2002 Octavia will feature a revised version of the 20-vaive, four-cylinder engine, the changes likely to include new manifolds, internals and turbo. It will also have a new front bumper and bonnet, which are intended to improve cooling.

- JON THOMSON

McRaes together?

ACROPOLIS winner Colin McRae says his brother would be Ideal team mate some time down the track.

"Alister would be a good team mate and I've got no problem with that," said McRae Sr. McRae cited the natural competitiveness between the two as the perfect formula for success.

"Most teams are just nervous about putting two brothers together," said Colin "I'd like to be in a team with Alister," continued the Scot, "and I think the team would benefit too. From a driving point of view it would be very, very good. " Younger brother Alister currently in the driving seat at Mitsubishi - agrees with Colin that being in the same team would be good, but only if it was in a car that could compete at the sharp end of the WRC.

"It would be nice," said Alister, above, "but the main thing for me is to be in a car which is capable of winning rallies and titles. If that happens to be in the same team as Colin, then I've not got a problem with that."

-JON THOMSON 61

Rally Queensland

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ossum Bourne has fought hack in his fight for a seventh straight Australian Rally Championship by taking both heats in a tough Rally Queensland.

Bourne took his Group N Subaru to a fine recovery win, bouncing back after a disastrous Canberra rally to close the gap on Mitsubishi rival Ed Ordynski.

Ordynski suffered a rare rollover in Heat 2 after chasing the Subaru driver home on Saturday, only missing the win by 3s.

The result saw Bourne and team-mate Cody Crocker take a Subaru 1-2 for the weekend, with Mitsubishi’s Spencer Lowndes finishing a solid third overall, putting Subaru back in the race for the drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles.

Heat 1 A huge crowd packed around the Xistart ramp on Friday night at the Sunshine Coast’s Kings Beach Caloundra, as the cars were flagged away for round three of the ARC Super Series.

The rally proper got underway the next morning under clear blue skies and temperatures hitting 25 The lead battle became a private see-sawing affair between Ordynski and Bourne. While the Subaru had handling problems over the first two legs, Ordysnki took 2s and 4s advantages, only for Bourne to take the lead on SS3.

Then Ed took 6s on the longest stage of the day, SS5, to get within range, and was only 3s back after SS6.

The win was decided in two runs up the Noosa Hillclimb. Ordynski chased hard but the gap blew out to 6 seconds and then dropped to four before the two runs over the

Hillclimb stage where he edged it back to finish the day 3 seconds behind Bourne.

Meanwhile, Crocker did not have such a good time, sliding on some slippery grass and climbing a bank, damaging the driver’s side chassis rail. Scott Pedder also struck problems, breaking a wheel clean off after thumping a bank on the first stage. He lost over five minutes and dropped to secondlast.

Worse still, NSW privateer John Mitchell rolled less than a kilometre into opening stage to become the rallj^s first retirement.

Despite running third and looking strong, Simon Evans also had a slow-corner understeer problem in his Subaru, setting up a battle for third with the recovering Crocker. The blue Subaru chased the silver one hard, but the gap was too great, 13s separating the two at the end of the day.

Spencer Lowndes was in a solid fifth while Mark Pedder was in a three way fight with Queensland young gun Chris Atkinson and a recovering Dean Henldge for sixth. In the end, it was Herridge who took the spot The battle for supremacy in the F2 class was the most intriguing all year, with the Omega Smeg Daihatsu of Warwick Rooklyn and Mitsubishi Mirage driver Lee Peterson separated by just one second after a tense battle.

Heat 2

■ was cooler and overcast, with a a loop of three stages run Sunday twice each facing the crews before the finish back in Caloundra.

Another Bourne-Ordynski showdown loomed but it was over almost as soon as it started, with Ordynski rolling his Mitsubishi on

i

Possum Boupiie puta tough start u - to his winning waysIn RaUy Qu *■>

still got the blues: Possum Bourne, above, returned to the winners’ circle with a double win in Queensland.

h>T£h

Fast back, sort of: Ed Ordynski, below, rolled his hopes of a Heat 2 finish away on Sunday morning though he continued in the mangied Lancer.

At least now, he has a menu item named after him, right...

(Photos by Jon Thomson)

Heatl

1 2 3 4 5 6

Bourne/Stacey Ordynski/Stewart Evans/Evans Crocker/Foletta Lowndes/Randell Herridge/Macneall

Heat 2

Subaru Impreza Mitsubishi Lancer Subaru Impreza Subaru Impreza Mitsubishi Lancer Subaru Impreza

V.31.20 1:31.23 1:32.06 1:32.19 1:34.02 1:34.40

1:08.02 1 Bourne/Stacey Subaru Impreza 1:08.52 2 Crocker/Foletta Subaru Impreza Mitsubishi Lancer 1:09.21 3 Lowndes/Randell 4 Goasdoue/Weston Mitsubishi Lancer 1:09.31 1:09.37 5 Herridge/Macneall Subaru Impreza Mitsubishi Lancer 1:10.20 6 Atkinson/Atkinson Drivers' points; Ordynski 88, Bourne 76, Crocker 60, Lowndes 44, Evans 35, Herridge 31, M. Pedder 31, Warren/S. Pedder/Yamaguchi 28.

Manufacturers' points: Mitsubishi 254, Subaru 178, Proton 128.

Results ARC Round 3 Rally Queenslanil

moiorsport Rems

ARC

UpKnill AND downhill: Cody Crocker fell to third in the ARC race, despite finishing fourth and second respectively.

ihe season ^enstand. JON I the opening stage. On a slippery corner, the red Lancer slid wide and clipped a bank before returning to its wheels, its roof partially flattened.

With three stages to complete before service, Ordynski nursed the car, which suffered a broken intercooler and subsequent loss of boost. By the time he reached service, he was 33rd and the game was over.

The Ralliart team attracted a

large crowd as they went to work on Ordynski’s car with hydraulic rams, sledgehammers and race tape, battering the car back into a shape somewhat closer to the original than it had been.

On the same stage, Pedder had total brake failure and an even worse rollover and was done for the day.

Bourne took advantage of the situation, grabbing an immediate 17s lead over Crocker after the

opeming four special stages. By the.' end the day, Subaru’s cars wePe separated by 50s. wanted to build at gap at the stairt of the day, and we’ve done thet, so now I can take it ‘slightly’ ■easSer,” said Bourne.

Lowndes moved into third and hadi his focus on Manufacturer’s poitQts, with Ordynski dropping out of the points, though he ●clawed the battered car to ninth.

The struggle for fourth was intense. After finishing outside the top six on Day 1, John CioSi sdoue was in a tense fight wdtlh Herridge and Atkinson, Hemdge suffering some inte'Tcooler problems. In the end, loca-1 knowledge counted for pleiaity, and Goasdoue carried the das, Herridge pulling away from Atknson in a final sprint home.

EVans was unlucky, hitting a bank and breaking a driveshaft.

Buitning on RWD only, the strain on file driveline saw the clutch fail on stage four putting the ViclJorian out of the rally.

The event had been running behind time all weekend with cars up to half an hour behind schedule. With TV commitments pending, organisers cancelled stage 17 to get the cars to the finish on time.

Ian Menzies took the win in the Aussie Car Class in his XE6 Falcon ahead of Dave Thompson’s V8 Commodore while Tod Reed took his Proton to overall victory in the F2 category after two strong finishes in both heats.

The Proton Rally Ti'ophy saw new comer Ian Thorp take the class win in heat two ahead of first heat winner Dave King.

Ordynski still leads the title on 88 points but the Kiwi is now just 12 points behind, while Mitsubishi has 228 points in the makes championship to Subaru’s 178 and Proton’s 12^ The Championship now moves to Adelaide in mid July for what should be another torrid battle in the mud and slush of the South Australian winter.

End of Financial Year

Stock Clearance »off

Some stock up to

Falken Radials Fr $199 - were $299

Hoosier Drag Tyres Fr $299 - were $499

Hoosier Radials Fr $199 -were $199

Hoosier ST-TD Tyres Fr $169 - were $299

Bridgestone, Falken, WIXPT Rally Tyres Fr $149 -were $199

Phone tiaig for a complete list - too mahv to mention.

ONLY WHILE STOCKS LAST!

Hoosier Slicks 13" fr $149 - were $249 Pirelli Race Radials 15" fr $295 - were $399 210-625-/6 16" fr $299 - were $449 $199 - were $399 Mwm/facing Tyr

HgANSOn

Cnr Mountain Highway & Stud Rd Bayswater VIC 3153 Tel 03 9720 8444 Fax 03 9720 8278 26 June 2002

63

Capps brings it home

RON Capps drove Don Prudhomme’s Skoal Pontiac to his first Funny Car win of the season, stopping Bruce Saiwer in a wild, tyre-smoking pedalfest in the 38th Annual Pontiac Excitment Nationals in Columbus, Ohio,two weeks ago.

The weekend was a good one for the Snake Racing camp, as Larry Dixon and the Miller Lite dragster once again dominated Top Fuel racing, racking up their seventh victory of the year and along with Capps, handed team-owner Prudhomme, a fuel-class double for the third time.

Capps and the Skoal team denied Sarver and Toyota its first Funny Car win, taking a 6.02/235 to 6.94/257 victory in an on-and-off the throttle battle to the finish line.

The pair had left fairly evenly at the start, but Sarver struck the tyres, with Capps doing the same shortly thereafter.

Extra momentum Capps kept the Skoal car in front of Sarver to take the win.

“That was unbelievable," said Capps. “I was pumped when I saw the win light come on. This team really needed a win and making ‘Ace’the crew chief on just the green car was a great move.

“Just look at Austin Coil; he doesn’t tune all of those cars, he just concentrates on John’s car.

That’s why they win. It’s too much work for one guy to try and do more than one car”.

Prudhomme, unhappy with the performance of his Skoal Funny Cars, made some personnel changes to both teams just before the Joliet event.

Rob Flynn came aboard to handle the tuning chores on the blue car driven by Tommy Johnson Jr., while Ed McCulloch took sole responsibility on the tuning of the green car of Capps.

For the day, Capps defeated Tony Pedregon,low qualifier Whit Bazemore (4.79/320) and Tommy Johnson Jr., sending him into his first final round for the year.

Sarver, reaching his second final round in four events, qualified the White Cap Toyota second at 4.86/299.

A round one 4.97/286 overcame a huge .132 holeshoPby Frank Pedregon, and fairly easy 5.01/291 and 5.02/293 runs took out Scotty Cannon and Johnny Gray.

Dixon set an NHRA record in reaching his sixth consecutive final round, where he defeated the Snap-On Tools dragster of Doug Herbert, 4.61/319 to a tyre smoking 6.27/163.

64

Win lights all round: Ron Capps, above, had the Funny Car opposition seeing green, while Greg Anderson defeated all comers in Pro Stock, right.

(Photos by David Ostaszewski)

After qualifying sixth at 4.62/311, Dixon scored an off-pace 4.80/290 round one win over Scott Weis. Dixon, crew chief Dick LaHaie and the Miller Lite team returned to their normal form in the next round with a 4.65/302 to 4.73/306 win over Coiy McClenathan.

A 4.70/302 stopped a tractionless Tony Schumacher and sent Dixon into his 10th final round ofthe year.

Herbert, reaching his second final round this year had defeated Chris Karamesines, when the ‘Greek* red-lighted, stopped Doug Kalitta 4.78/302 to 4.79/300 in a tool-brand battle and singled in the semis when scheduled opponent Shirley Muldowney was unable to answer the call.

It was a tough weekend for the Aussies. Fresh from his recordbreaking run in Australia, Cowin arrived at Columbus ready to turn his season around. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out that way, NY Yankees dragster losing traction and falling in the first round to Muldowney.

David Grubnic was also a first-round casualty, suffering an explosion in the engine and then losing the blower belt in his showdown against Tony ‘The

Sarge’ Schumacher.

Greg Anderson scored his second Pro Stock win of 2002 by defeating final round opponent, Darrell Alderman, 6.92 to a clicked-off 11.09/79.

Anderson’s Vegas General Construction Chevy Cavalier had earlier taken out the Chevrolets of former NBA star, Larry Nance, and Ron Krisher before stopping point leader Jim Yates’s Pontiac in the semis.

Three-time series champion, Alderman, had defeated George Marnell, Allen Johnson, and Mark Whisnant enroute to the final.

Craig Ti’eble claimed his thrid Pro Stock Motorcycle title of the season, taking a 7.21/184 win when opponent, Antron Brown redlighted at the start.

“It’s pretty awesome, but we’re still not back in the points lead,” said Treble, who had earlier

stopped Steve Johnson, Mike Ben-y, and top qualifier. Matt Hines.

“Fm not too surprised that Antron red-lighted. His crew chief, Mark Peiser, and I were swapping information on our tune-ups all day, so he knew what I had and I pretty much knew what he had, and I figured that he would push it.”

After qualifying concluded on Saturday, while addressing the media, Hines had made some reference to the legality ofAngelle Savoie’s ride. A possible final round meeting between the two ended in the semis when both riders were eliminated.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI Points; Top Fuel: Dixon 1142, Bernstein 883, McClenathan 706, Schumacher 701, Kalitta 580. Funny Car:Densham 764, Force 763, T. Pedregon 688, Worsham 654, Bazemore 646. Pro Stock;Yates 764, Johnson 678,Anderson.Pro Stock Bike: Savoie, Treble 549, Brown 471.

moiorsDort news

DRAG RACING

Kirby pulls the plug

^ ^hout bv Dirk Klynsmuh

VICTORIAN Top Fuel veteran Robin Kirby has announced that he is selling his team.

Kirby announced his decision at the recent Winternationals, where he made it to the semi-final before being defeated by eventual winner Andrew Cowin, The 46-year-old pointed to the decline in opportunities to go racing as the primary reason behind his decision.

"I find it hard to justify having the amount of dollars tied up in a car and and equipment that just sits in the garage and that is only going to come out twice a year," he said, Kirby has not turned his back on the sport completely, however, saying that he would consider offers to assist other Top Fuel or Funny Car outfits, possibly even as a driver.

Winner of the 1998/99 Australian Top Fuel championship, Kirby's 20-year career landed two Winternationals titles (1998 and 1999), Fie also participated in races and demonstration events in Malaysia and Japan.

Potent in pink SHIRLEY Muldowney has competed in her second NHRA event of 2002,sporting the blue and gold livery of the US Navy and the Blue Angels.

Muldowney looked brilliant during qualifying, posting three 4.71’s and a 4.75, landing the ninth spot in the show and a round one confrontation with Andrew Cowin.

The last time the pair met was at Gainesville, where a small dispute over starting line procedure erupted following the run.

In Columbus, Cowin left on Muldowney,but 200 feet out, started to spin the tyres, allowing Muldowney to turn on the win light. Muldowney was vulnerable, posting a cylinder head-torched 4.95/285.

In the second round, Muldowney squared off against defending series champion, Kenny Bernstein, The three-time NHRA champion was back to her qualifying pace, recording a 4.75/314 to trailer Bernstein, much to the appeal of the long-time Muldowney-friendly crowd.

The win was costly as once again cylinder heads were torched and connecting rods exited the block, putting Shirley out of competition and handing Doug Herbert a single.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI 26 June 2002

I

Photo by David Ostaszewskl

Kalitta comeback?

RUMOURS from the US suggest that two-time NHRA Top Fuel champ(1994 and 1995)Scott Kalitta is hoping to be strapped into a dragster in time for the start of the 2003 NHRA season.

Kalitta, 40, retired following the 1997 season and moved to the Cayman Islands.

When Scott left the sport, cousin Doug Kalitta, the 1994 USAC National Sprint Car champion, took over the ride.

Kalitta Motorsports is actively seeking sponsorship for another dragster to pair with the team’s Mac Tools-sponsored rail.

Scott has already tested in his cousin’s car, and according to team members, is anxious to get back into the sport.

Drag briefs TWO of Adelaide's oldest drag racing clubs have combined to present the Back on Track Celebrity Dinner on July 12.

The Crusaders Drag Racing Club and the South Australian Drag Racers Association, who have been a major focus for the straight-line sport in Adelaide for over 30 years, have organised the function to raise funds for the pursuit of wider drag racing opportunities and "a positive future for the industry in Adelaide and nationally," Tables will be hosted by Adelaide Crows star Andrew McLeod, Australian Cricket legend Jeff Thompson, Jason Williams of the Adelaide 36ers and the creme of Australian drag racers including Jim Read, Victor Bray, Brett Stevens, Robin Kirby, Peter Russo, Peter Ridgeway, Tony Wedlock, Dave Koop, Rosco McGlashan QBE, Danny Baines and Colin Will.

Channel Seven's Bruce Abernethy will compere the evening.

The Back on Track Celebrity Dinner will be held at the Donato Reception Centre, Humphries Terrace, Kilkenny on Friday, July 12.

Bookings are essential. For further information, contact Michelle on 0419 817168 or email blackwooddyno@iprimus.com.au n Continuing the Adelaide theme but on a differnt note, a media release circulated late last week has mystified members of the South Australian drag racing industry.

ANDRA responded with a statement which read in part: "The statement, issued by Adelaide International Raceway, warned of misleading fundraising activity and suggested unnamed parties might be bringing the sport into disrepute.

Coincidentally, the release followed the announcement of the fundraising dinner (see above).

While the release could not apply to the local club activities, its timing may have a negative impact on their efforts."

After describing the events that led to the end of ANDRA-sanctioned racing at AIR last year, the release continued; "There is nothing stopping the drag racing community pursuing their own options - in fact the Trade Practices Act encourages that.

Like most committed sportspeople, drag racers are passionate about what they do.

Some may perceive that as dissension.

Any suggestion that activities undertaken by ANDRA clubs in Adelaide are suspect, false, misleading, disreputable, inaccurate or destabilizing should not be tolerated," - MARK GLENDENNING 65

Winston Cup Wot, no M&Ms?

Petty Larce

by MARTIN D CLARK

M&M (Mars looks set to leave MBV Motorsports and veteran driver Ken Schrader (above) at year's end. The $38 billion-a-year company is apparently moving to another team (rumoured to be a third Robert Yates team, a second Cal Wells operation or a fifth Hendrick team) or will, perhaps, sponsor NASCAR itself as the 'Official Candy of NASCAR'. n Ricky Rudd still contends he has been replaced by Elliott Sadler and his departure announcement from Yates and possible retirement looks imminent.

I Pontiac got an aerodynamic tweak at Michigan. Teams were allowed to pull out the front spoiler an additional quarter inch, so the leading edge of the front spoiler will extend one inch past the line of the front bumper. The Grand Prix rear spoiler was also raised by a quarter inch (to 7 1/8in). Pontiac also received a change (that was not made public); a new hump in the bonnet to accommodate a new taller inlet manifold. There were some annoyed opposition teams at Michigan ...

AFTER what seems like week after week of disappointment, Ricky Rudd finally got the monkey off his back to take the win at the Sears Point circuit on Sunday when Jerry Nadeau (in a one-off ride for the Pettys fell out with a broken differential just two laps from the finish.)

It was Rudd's sixth circuit win, but first since 1990 at Watkins Glen, and it came when his team elected to pit during the caution for fresh tyres. The decision paid big dividends.

"I felt for Nadeau", commented Rudd who, when he got out of his car, thought Steve Grissom was in the number 44 Petty Dodge.

"We weren't going to catch him, we were going to run second. I hated to win it this way, but we'll take it. We were owed something, but not at Jerry Nadeau or the Petty's expense; it would have been good to have seen those guys win."

Rudd has some thinking to do during the next week, as he has to let Robert Yates know whether he'll be back in the Texaco Ford, switch to another team or hang up his helmet for good.

Nadeau had the win in the bag when he and eight other cars chose not to pit during the final caution that left a 24-lap race to the chequered flag. Nadeau ended his day a disappointing 34th.

"It always seems to happen to me", said Nadeau. "With about four (laps) to go, I felt something tightening up and I thought it was fuel. Then all of a sudden, I spun the gear and blew the rear end (diff). This is the way my year and life has been."

Nadeau has one point race victory at Atlanta, but he lost two races with two laps to run last year when he ran out fuel in Atlanta and Chicago.

The top three in points all suffered problems. Points leader Sterling Marlin had trouble early when an off-track excursion threw his water pump and power steering belt off. A new belt was fitted, but after a handful more laps. Marlin was in the garage with a cooked Dodge engine, his day done.

"Let's hope we can turn this around at Daytona 'cause our luck has been down lately," remarked Marlin on his first DNF in 44 races.

Jeff Gordon, who entered the event equal runner-up with team mate Jimmie Johnson, also

Shopping at Sears; Rudd won and celebrated with with his wife, inset.

suffered woes when his differential broke after a wheel hop session while leading the event.

Gordon took the lead from pole winner Tony Stewart on lap two and looked set for his first win in 20-plus races until lap 32. He returned to finish 37th. Johnson also broke his diff with three laps to run and finished 35th.

Roush drivers Jeff Burton and Matt Kenseth suffered engine problems and finished back in the pack, while fellow Roush driver Mark Martin moved to second in points with a seventh position.

Terry Labonte recorded his first top five in 48 events in third, choosing not to stop during the final yellow along with Jeff Green, Elliott Sadler and Bill Elliott. Robby Gordon was tipped to win the race, but went off-course twice in a car he described as "junk".

Final positions; Rudd (Ford), Stewart (Pontiac), T Labonte (Chevy), Busch (Ford), Green (Chevy), Sadler (Ford), Martin (Ford), Elliott (Ford), IMewman (Ford), Andretti (Dodge).

Points standings; Marlin 2918, Martin 2136, Gordon 2116, Johnson 2112, Stewart 2110, R Wallace 2054, Rudd 2050, Kenseth 2050, Busch 2003, Elliott 1972.

n Ford also got an aero change.

Starting from the 7 July Daytona event, the Taurus's rear spoiler will be shaved 1/8th inch to 5 1/8th in.

c

Hioio hv MDC

n Ca:l Wells and his PPI team could be switching to Pontiac from the 'blue oval' brand. Wells is apparently down the pecking order for Ford aerodynamic and financial help and if he switched to Pontiac, he would get more help in that direction.

- MARTIN D CLARK 66

Audi can do it and so can we: Matt Kenseth held off the fast-finishing Dale Jarrett and Ryan Newman for a (Photo by Sutton-lmages) Ford Taurus 1-2-3 on the high banks of Miohigan. motorsporl news

NASCAR Diff robs fill-in Nadeau at Sears Point as Rudd wins

CAT signs for 5 CAT has extended its sponsorship of Bill Davis's Daytona 500-winnlng team for five more years - but Ward Burton may not return in 2003. One rumour has Steve Park joining BDR next year to become a second/third team alongside Burton and Hut Stricklin (if either driver stays) or maybe replacing Burton. Park's contract is up for review at Dale Earnhardt Inc, as is sponsor Pennzoil, which will likely move with Park to Davis, if all goes as planned.

n Cal Wells and driver Ricky Craven are more than happy with their Robert Yates power, but conversations have already taken place with Richard Childress to supply GM engines in '03.

Expect a decision by the end of July.

Wells is also looking at the possibility of adding a second team in 2003 and is talking to three prospective sponsors. n NASCAR will allow the use of soft walls for August's Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. The stock cars will use the same SAFER walls that were used for the Indy 500. The Steel And Foam Energy barrier system is just that, four square steel tubs welded into 6m sections backed by polystyrene foam and mounted to the concrete outer retaining wall.

MICHIGAN NASCAR races have proven to be mundane over the last few years, but the June 16 event was anything but, with Matt Kenseth coming out the victor after a three-lap shoot-out following a red flag for track clean-up.

Kenseth’s win made him the first three-time winner of the year, following two off weeks that saw him drop from second to seventh in the points table.

“We didn’t have a great car,” said Kenseth,“but we kept working on it a little bit, but the track came to us a lot. We were way too loose most of the day, but the track got tighter and tighter. This is what it’s all about for me;running up front.”

With the race drawing to a close, all the frontmnners pitted for fuel under green flag conditions, Kenseth stopping with 11 laps to run for a splash of fuel in three seconds. Then Elliott Sadler spun with five to run and NASCAR uncoiled the red rag, with some teams pitting when the yellow came out before the three green flag laps.

The previous week’s winner Dale Jarrett or rookie sensation Jimmy 26 June 2002

Johnson looked the most likely for

the win.

“One more corner, that’s all I needed,” said Jarrett.“My car was so much faster through the comers. That’s two weeks in a row we’ve had some good fortune.

We’re headed in the right direction.”

Jarrett opted for four tyres(as did Jeff Gordon)on the final stop.

“Our par was so good with new tyres around the bottom we were able to make up ground,” continued Jarrett.

But Kenseth used the apron exiting turn four and down the front stretch to take the chequers and protect the inside line Jarrett needed.

Points leader Sterling Marlin switched to a back-up engine after practice, so was sent to the rear of the grid and soon went down a lap to a fast-paced Jarrett when the Ganassi crew mistimed a pit stop just preceding a caution. He finished 21st.

Current Champ Gordon started a lowly 24th, but rallied to finish fifth, moving to within 110 points of Marlin. Gordon’s protdge Johnson was equal in points to his

co-car owner after the race.

Johnson ended up 14th after he and Ryan Newman, who also elected not to pit at the end, made contact while fighting for second.

“Newman “banzaied’ off the bottom in turn one,” said Johnson.

“But he got loose and took me up the track. When that happened, it just broke my momentum. Ryan (did) what he needed to do; I just hate (that)it turned out that way at the end.”

Newman ownded up to the move; “We had an opportunity to hang it all out for three laps and see what happens. The red flag was a good call on NASCAR’s part.”

Johnny Benson had his best run since returning from rib and internal injuries. He was the top finishing Pontiac in sixth, taking four tyres late. Dave Blaney ran strong late, but stalled his Jasper Ford twice during stops, falling from the top five to 13th with the final miscue.

Final result; Kenseth (Ford), Jarrett (Ford), Newman (Ford), Waltrip (Chevy),J Gordon (Chevy), Benson (Pontiac), R Wallace (Ford), Rudd (Ford), Martin (Ford), Busch (Ford).

n Pop Idol Britney Spears, above, has signed to play the daughter of a team owner aiming to get a driver out of retirement in a NASCAR themed film. NASCAR has agreed to assist in making the film, which will feature real racing footage and the tracks the circuit visits. A name for the movie has not been decided upon at this early stage, but possibilities could include, 'Days of Thunder Thighs' or maybe 'Stroker Face'I - MARTIN D CLARK 67

NO wonder they call it The Ultimate Tarmac Rally.'

The 11-year old Targa Tasmania event has become the benchmark for similar events elsewhere, the latest being in Canada!

Targa Newfoundland is patterned on the highly successful Tasmanian rally and the inaugural event will be staged from September 13 to 22 this year, with Octagon Motorsports acting as consultant to the Canadian organisers.

A powerful association of private and public interests have

combined to bring the concept to fruition for the Canadian island province of Newfoundland - the first time a Targa-style will be held for historic, classic and modern sporting cars in this part of the world.

"Special events for the owners of historic and classic sporting cars have enjoyed huge growth around the world and are now gaining popularity in North America," said Targa Newfoundland organiser Bob Giannou, who attended this year's event in Tasmania.

"Targa Newfoundland is

designed to provide the owners of historic, classic and modern sporting cars to opportunity to drive them in the manner they were designed for, in an environment that stresses safety and good sportsmanship."

The six-day Targa Newfoundland will combine tests of driving skill on closed road sections (Targa stages), with leisurely touring through the scenic countryside of Avalon, Burin, Notre Dame and Bonavista peninsulas, taking in many of the historic communities in the eastern half

of the island.

Organisers expect some 200 cars and crews to take part in the inaugural event with competitors coming from the USA, Canada and Europe, And to show just how strong'® the Tassie influence is, they are calling the event'The r ' Ultimate North American ' Tarmac Rally!'

For further information contact the Targa Newfoundland website at www.TargaNewfoundland.com or the Targa office by phone at (709) 722-2413.

-BRIAN REED

Hey join the Club, man Clubmans to feature in the 2002 Three Peaks Rally

RECENT years have seen the resurgence of the Clubman sports car, an inexpensive racing category generally attributed to the late Lotus founder Colin Chapman.

Back in the late 1950s, Chapman created the Lotus 6, a spidery, lightweight racer that was to set the scene for others to follow, including Garrie Cooper’s Australian-built Elfin.

Like the cars themselves, the rules were quite simple - non-aerodynamic,front engine with powerplant limited to llOOcc (later 1500cc,

and later still ISOOcc), and very affordable, the cars being available either complete or in the very popular kit form.

Many drivers who went on to considerable success began their racing careers in these nimble, excellent handling vehicles.

Several fine examples are currently manufactured in Australia and New Zealand, and it is good to see the featured class in this year’s Three Peaks Rally will be ‘Clubman Cars.’

The 2002 Three Peaks is open to all classic.

collectable and performance cars and follows in the tradition of Grand Touring events by providing challenges to both drivers and navigators.

The three-day event starts at the State Motor Cycle Centre at Broadford on November 2 and then moves to Mansfield, Mt. Buller, Mangalore Airport, Shepparton and finishes with a Presentation Dinner at the Lindenwarrah Resort at Milawa on November 4.

- BRIAN REED motorsport news

I

HISTORICS

Turner triumph

BACK in the 1950s, Englishman John Turner built a number of interesting(and successful) sports cars. Some were powered by four-cylinder, 500cc engines, and then a twolitre engine was fitted to his 1955 Phoenix sports.

When the Turners became more widely available, they were offered with standard 803cc or 948cc BMC engines, or a Coventry Climax fitted to the sports racing model.

The little British sports cars enjoyed success throughout the world, the most notable being one raced in England by Pat Fergusson from 1960 to ’62 known as the ‘Tatty Turner’.

Although production ceased in 1966, the 'Turner was still winning races in 1970 in the hands of Geoff Daryn in England.

And in Australia, the Turner is certainly competitive these days in historic racing.

Perhaps the most successful is the 1960 Turner Mk 2 car campaigned by Bendigo’s Bill Lucas. The ex-Bernard Bisseling Group Sa car was found in a delapidated state under a water tank near Frankston around 1987, and Bill and his father Des set about rebuilding it to race in historic sports car events.

“It had been raced as a marque sports car,” said Bill, “and when we found it the bodywork had flared guards to fit the wide tyres and was powered by a Ford engine.

“We knew it had been issued with a logbook, so we set about doing some homework. A total rebuild followed, and a 998cc A-

series motor was fitted.”

Today the Turner Mk 2 runs as a Group Sa car and under its stylish fibreglass body is a strong 998cc engine built by Andy Bullen in Maldon. It has a limited slip difif with BMC gears and stronger axles built at Bendigo Engineering(which is run by the Lucas family), replacing the old brittle axles that had a bad habit of breaking.

“We also had to do a lot of work on the front end geometry and we built our own sway bars and torsion bar rear end to make the handling work,” Bill added.

It certainly works! At the recent Historic Winton meeting Bill Lucas won both scratch races for Groups Sa and Sb cars, taking not only his class (under lOOOcc) but also the races outright - a real David and Goliath effort considering he was up against some big guns.

Then in Sunday’s handicap race, the Turner Mk2 re-wrote the

record books. Although hopelessly handicapped out of the race, Lucas drove a brilliant race, lowering his own lap record to an impressive lm09.9449s in his futile chase of the limit markers.

Bill’s performances were rewarded with the ‘Driver of the Meeting’trophy, a great effort seeing there were 280 competitors at the 2002 Historic Winton.

He also took home the Alan Jones Memorial Trophy for post war sports cars(a trophy he previously won in 1994 behind the wheel of the same Turner Mk 2).

And to think that only two weeks before, Des blew the engine during a club meeting at Winton and a major rebuild was necessary!

A new Turner challenge is on the drawing boards, with Andy Bullen building up a ISOOcc motor to be fitted to a 1962 model for Sb racing.

Looks like more headaches for fellow production sports car racers!

- BRIAN REED

The only thing missing is you Group C Tourers desperate to boost competitor numbers

AFTER working hard over the past couple of years to obtain 5th category recognition, the Group C Touring Car Association is desperately trying to build up numbers to consolidate what is

There was a lot of interest shown from spectators and competitors alike, but the follow up Wakefield Park meeting was somewhat down in numbers.

According to the Association it’s ‘bite the bullet’ time.

potentially a popular spectator category.

Victorian fans had the opportunity to see the Group C cars at Sandown late last year, and in NSW Oran Park hosted

It is making a special plea to potential starters to get behind Group C, otherwise the good work done in recent years to convince race organisers to include these cars on the

the first outing of the 5th category cars in January.

program will come to nought.

The next outing will be the

26 lune 2002

Round 3 at the Queensland Raceway Historic meeting on July 27-28. If you’re in the Sydney area, head down there to see what it’s all abouti No doubt NSW contact Frank Binding will be doing everything in his powers to drum up the troops at the general meeting of the Group C association which will be held at the Burwood RSL, Sydney on July 17.

He can be contacted on 02 9905 5770.

-BRIAN REED

Briefly historic THE Geelong Speed Trials are another step closer to returning to the Eastern Beach foreshore this November with trials chairman Gary Grant signing an agreement with foreshore traders over access arrangements during the event.

All historic race fans would welcome the reinstating of one of the traditional meetings on the Victorian calendar, a meeting that dates back to the 1950s, n In our coverage of the VHRR's Mangalore Sprints, mention was made of the ex-Norm Beechey Mustang taking part. In fact, this was not the case. Melbourne enthusiast Derek McLaughlin has built up what he describes as "a reconstruction" of the famous Neptune Racing Team Mustang, an excellent copy of the car which Stormin' Norman drove with such gusto back in the 60s.

McLaughlin said his reconstructed car has been approved by CAMS for Group N and is log booked "to associate the history." Of the original Neptune Racing Team Mustang, McLaughlin claims "It has gone to God." The original ownerdidn't quite dismiss the car this way, Beechey saying that he knows where it is, although he did say "You wouldn’t want to see it- it would make you cry."

- BRIAN REED VALE ^ John Ould A LARGE representation of the Melbourne motoring fraternity gathered recently at St. Andrews Church in Brighton following the sudden death of John Ould.

John had a special passion for thoroughbred vehicles such as his imposing Lagonda, and made an impressive debut with his massive Rolls Royce aircraft engined car at the Eddington Sprints a couple of years ago. He competed in rallies and circuit races, and included a number of major international vintage sports car rallies on his agenda.

John was a member of the Institute of Automotive Mechanical Engineers, a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers, and served one term as president of the Light Car Club of Australia from 1971-74.

He was a LCCA life member.

VALE - Fred Gray ANOTHER Light Car Club of Australia member, Fred Gray, died recently.

Fred had been a committee member and treasurer of the LCCA back in the 1950s and he too was a life member. He is also remembered as a competitor behind of the wheel of his Ford Special built on a Bugatti chassis at race tracks such as Nar Nar Goon, and also for his exploits in his infamous supercharged MG. - BRIAN REED 69

national

scene

McDonald snares the silverware

AFTER a few rounds in the wilderness, Holdens took full advantage of the extra horse power allowance bestowed upon them by sweeping the V8 BRute races at Winton last weekend.

Charlie Kovacs topped the field in race one, and Gary McDonald picked up the big trophy for races two and three.

Allan Grice led the Ford charge with two second places, with ex-NFL player Jack Elsegood (Ford), Stephen Robinson (Holden), Glen Barnes (Holden)and Damien White(Ford) also picking up minor placings.

Country music star Adam Brand made his racing debut behind the wheel ofan AUII, and did well to keep the car straight on an incidentlittered weekend that saw several drivers, including Mick Donaher and Grant Denyer, pinged for a variety of infringements.

IN GT Production, Scott Loadsman lost the battles but is still winning the war,the Commodore SS driver retaining his lead in the Championship despite finishing second and fifth at Winton.

Cohn Osborne took his Cehca to a win in race one and backed it up with a second in race two that has moved him within four points of Loadsman in the standings.

David Russell, who finished third in race one, went two bettter to claim the win in the second outing, with Osborne and John Mclhoy(Falcon XR3)following him across the fine.

GARY Young again ruled the Mirage world at Winton , win ning both races in the latest roxmd of the Toyo Tyres Mirage Cup. Young dusted aU comers, cruising to a pair ofcomfortable victories and leaving everyone else to battle for the scraps.

Peter Leemhuie and Richard

I- ^

Master Craftsman: The BRutes honours went to Gary McDohald-"no; not Norman Gunstan - but the show business world was represented by country music sensation Adam Brand (below), who made his racing debut,

KARTING 0in COMING HtNIG

30 June

Clubday

2 July

Vic/South Aust Challenge —

Swaiymi Gartner filled the podium after the third race, while the race two consolation prizes were claimed by Andrew Caplin and James Dutton.

- MARK GLENDENNING

What a feeling; CAMS president Colin Osborne heads for victory.

□

_

13-14 July Vic Country Classic Round 4 — Albury Wodonga 21 July

Open Meeting Warrnamhool

28 July

Clubday

For further information on any of the above events call the Victorian Karting Association

03 5449 6362 or 03 93621144 V\CTOWANKMa\UG ASSOC\M\ON WAVW.vka.asn.au vka@bl40.aone.net.au 71

FORD KARTSTARS

i-

Douglas rules in wet & dry ^,

Finke Desert Race

Four beats two for rare win!

FOUR wheels doesn’t often beat two when it comes to Australia’s toughest off-road race, the Tattersall’s Finke Desert Race.

But for just the second time in the race’s 27 year history, Mark Burrows (Turbo Honda US Buggy) beat Rick Hall’s Honda CR500 to the win over the June 8-10 weekend.

110 cars, 240 bikes and 12,000 travelling spectators made for a spectacular weekend, with Burrows (above) pushing to an early dust-free lead on the run down from Alice Springs to Finke, then repeated the dose - albeit a little more conservatively - on the return leg the following day.

Nearest challenger (fourwheel) KurtJohansson (Nissan) broke a front end early on the return leg, allowing Peter Kittle’s Toyota-powered machine (below)into second. Third, and the Class 2 win, went to Burrows’ brother Stephen.

Bike leader Hall was some 12 minutes down on outright leader Burrows at the overnight stop

A daring outside pass by young Victorian Taz Douglas in the wet Final relegated first round victor Clint Cathcart to second place in the second round of the 2002 Ford KartStars Series.

The Ford Credit Racing round, held in Geelong last weekend, threw up wildly varying weather and tough conditions for drivers all weekend.

Another local. Josh Arandt, claimed fast time in Saturday’s dry qualifying sessions, ahead of Arrow hotshot Adam Graham, Jace Lindstrom, Scott Auld, John Grother and Douglas. Series leader Cathcart was left languishing in ninth place after engine problems, while Round 1 runner-up. New Zealand’s Chris Vander Drift, was way back in 24th after struggling to come to

gi’ips with the conditions.

Cathcart certainly didn’t let his qualifying position linger, storming to the front and disappearing into the distance ahead of the fighting pack in the first two heats. Another driver flying in the wet was Jason Varley, coming from 20th to second in the first heat and holding that position in the second.

Douglas, Nick Parker, Adam Graham,Andrew Torti, Peter Jenkinson and Jace Lindstrom were all fighting hard for the l following positions.

Drying track conditions greeted the drivers for the third heat, with the decision to run slicks left to the last possible moment by most.

The first turn saw Ben Savage spear off the track after being collected by Ai'andt, as Cathcart once again headed the pack. This time, though, he had company in

t * f C

'4 and, despite shaving five minutes of his south-bound time the next day, couldn’t bridge the gap. In fact. Hall (above) finished just behind Johansson, third outright, complete with bloodied face as the result of copping a branch in the face.

Local legend Stephen Greenfield (Honda XR650) and Brad Williscroft(KTM540)took the bike places.

- Story & Photos Darryl Smith

l*

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Hue

June/Juiy Event Jun 28-30

VB300-V8 Supercare

Jun 29-30

Sporting Car Club Races

Jun 30

All British Race Meeting

Jun 30

Formula Xtreme

Qld Raceway I

Jui7

NSW State Hill Climb Championship

Bulahdelah

Jul 6-7

Konica V8 Supercar Series

Jul 6-7

Sprint Kart Races

Jul 7

Marque Sports Car Sprints

Jui7

MG Mutti Ciub Hiii Ciimb

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Jul 7

VIC/S.A. Kart Challenge

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molorsport news

NATIONAL Karting Briefs n NSW's Greg Martin is the first Australian to qualify for the Biland World Challenge at Monaco. Martin won his placing by taking victory in the Biland 250 class at the Coffs Harbour Over 40s Titles recently. n Speaking of Coffs Harbour, The annual Over 40s Titles attracted another large entry over 15 classes of varying weight and ages. There was much evidence that speed is in the genes with the dads of a number of prominent drivers taking placings.

Australian Clubman Light champion Jason Hryniuk's dad Gerald was victorious in Clubman Heavy, Joshua Pontello's dad Peter had a win in Senior National Light, Kyle Clews' dad Jim took out Senior National Light 40-48 year Division, while Nick Agland's dad Tony placed in the Open 200 class. In addition to Biland 250, Greg Martin also had a win in Senior National Heavy.

In the tow? Heat three action (above) sees Cathcart, Lindstrom and Graham head the queue, with eventual victor Douglas (right) Photos by Simon Adams lurking in fifth. the form of Lindstrom, who shadowed his every move.

Meanwhile, Graham was on a charge. After fighting free from the pack, he quickly despatched Lindstrom and then Cathcart, but could not shake the two.

Lindstrom was left to fight off Peter Jenkinson, with contact between the pair leaving Lindstrom spinning into an eventual 14th place finish. A last lap move by Douglas gave him third place over Parker, Torti and Jenkinson respectively.

The sunshine held on for the Pre Final, leaving Graham, Cathcart, Douglas and Lindstrom as the main protagonists at the head of the field. This group fought racelong for the lead, with Cathcart prevailing over Graham,Douglas and Lindstrom. Varley headed the rest of the field ahead of Parker,

Torti, Auld and Arandt.

For the all important Final, the rain came once again.

As expected, Cathcart shot into the lead from pole position, with Douglas in hot pursuit. All eyes were on this pair, waiting for Douglas to make a move. Mid-way through the race he did, shooting down the outside into the first turn. He couldn’t make the move

Victors (I to r) Cathcart, Douglas and Vander Drift and friends (Photo; Simon Adams'

stick, though, with Cathcart holding his line and exiting first.

A couple oflaps later Douglas tried the same move again - this time keeping Cathcart at bay.

The remaining laps saw a see saw battle between the pair, with lapped traffic causing some headaches, particularly for Douglas, who even had to take to the grass at one stage!

Douglas greeted the chequered flag just over half a second clear of Cathcart, while Kiwi Vander Drift had fought his way superbly from 13th to take the final podium place. Lindstrom and Parker were close behind, with Auld, Graham, Troy Woolston and Jason Varley filling the top ten.

The scene is now set for ‘Stone Brothers Racing Round 3’ next month, to be held at Raleigh, near Coffs Harbour in NSW. Cathcart still leads the series with 201pts from Auld and 'Vander Drift, both on 171. Lindstrom (166), Graham (163), Varley (160) and Douglas(153) are all not far away.

n To provide greater incentive for drivers, there have been some format changes announced for the remaining Ford Road King Karting Series rounds. While the series continues, each event (starting with the next round at Mildura on August 17-18) will have 'stand alone' GP status. $11,000 of prize money will be distributed for each of the remaining rounds with a $500/$250/$125 split for the top three in each class. Junior Clubman will retain its GP status and original end of season prize of $2,500 with the winner getting a Formula Ford test. n Having sold the Australian Tony Kart importing business, Jim Morton has taken up historic touring car racing. With a passion for Ford Mustangs, Morton has purchased a Group NC specification 'Stang and has 36 year old Brad Tilley doing the driving. Using the ex-Tony Kart transporter, Morton and Tilley (plus Tilley's brothers who also compete in the category) picked up a win at the Canberra V8 meeting recently.

Morton will continue to attend the remaining three APS CIK Championship rounds. n Stevenson Kart Racing is the new Kosmic Kart importer.

-MARK WICKS

FORD KART STARS SCOREBOARD 2002 Round Two -Geelong 15-16 June 2002 6. Scott Auld 1. Taz Douglas 2.Clint Cathcart

26 lune 2002

7. Adam Graham

3. Chris Vander Drift

8. Troy Woolston

4. Jace Lindstrom

9. Jason Varley

5. Nick Parker

10. Ben Guest

Points Standings

1. Clint Cathcart. . .

2. Scott Auld 3. Chris Vander Drift 4. Jace Lindstrom. .

5,Adam Graham.. .

6. Jason Varley. ...

7. Taz Douglas....

8. Kane Wiltshire ..

9. Josh Arandt ....

10. Nick Parker....

201 171 171 166 163 160 153 142 140 136

73

W€

ft

NATIONAL

.

.^-' 3^-

●-a

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Baily shades Ricciardello off the line, - but the Alfa soon hit the front Photo; Dirk Kiynsmith

ORAN PARK Australian Sports Sedan Championship

icciardello’s oints decision Hennig, Webb and Coleman - close action from Porsche Cup

=hoto: Dirk Kiynsmith

TONY Ricciardello made the long drive from WA to Sydney worthwhile when he took his Alfa Romeo GTC to two wins and a second place in the lat est round of the Australian Sports Sedan Championship at Oran Park.

Ricciardello overcame a better start from Kerry Baily (Nissan 300 ZX) in race one to take the lead at turn four of the first lap. The pair quickly opened a gap over the rest of the field, with Baily swarming all over the back of the Alfa in search of a way past.

A lunge at turn three led to contact and damage to the Nissan, forcing Baily into retu'ement and leaving Ricciardello, who was rapidly losing gears, to take the win.

Visiting Kiwi Andrew Fawcet took his TraNZam Jaguar XKR into third after a battle between Terry Shiel and Dean Randle

ended with the protagonists taking each other out.

Race two was rather more straightforward, with Ricciardello, Darren Hossack (Saab) and Daniel Jameson (Jaguar XKR) taking off, building substantial gaps between one another, and claiming the podium. Baily worked his way up from the rear of the grid to finish eighth.

The inverted-10 format of race three played into Daily’s hands, but a lightning start from Ricciardello sent the Alfa from 10th to second before it had even reached turn one, allowing it to harrass the Nissan for the lead.

Baily had things in hand though, and his win was consolidated when Ricciardello spun and lost touch with the leader. The Alfa settled for second, finishing ahead of Jameson.

- MARK GLENDENNING

Porsche Cup

Coleman, Webb share spoils SERIES leader Matthew Coleman and rookie Jonathan Webb shared the wins in the latest round of the Australian Porsche Cup series at Oran Park two weeks ago.

Coleman put his 911 GTS on pole by the tiniest of margins from Tony Quinn’s 911 GT3 Cup, and then continued to cut things fine by taking the race one win from Webb by just 0.1s after a drag race to the finishing line. Wayne Hennig (993 GT2 Twin Turbo)

completed the podium.

But Webb went one better in the second race, claiming victory after a measured drive, and racking up his first overall win after just four rounds. Hennig and Quinn followed him across the line.

Russell Wright ruled the class B roost in his 933, taking both wins.

Jack Crocker went home with two second place trophies, leaving James Koundouris and Russell Kempnich to take a third each.

- MARK GLENDENNING

motorsport news

INDUSTRY NEWS

Net Girls Top Protection WORN by many of Australia’s leading drivers,Arai helmets are prominent in every form of motorsport throughout the world.

New to the 2002 Arai range is the new ‘GPS’, featuring high levels of safety and comfort.

Developed in the field by Ai-ai’s contracted Formula 1 drivers, the Arai GPS is strong and lightweight thanks to its Super Complex Laminate Construction, Ai'ai’s own fibre composite mix.

Inside, the FFS shaped cheekpads are new and provide an improved fit, reduce , wind noise and lifting of the helmet. A new chin bar vent cools the wearer and prevents misting of the visor, and

there’s inlet and exhaust vents to maximise cooling.

The GPS also has a new visor system with a 3mm-revised Lexan-coated visor and an advanced pivot system that gives increased control and smooth positioning of the visor.

FIA approved and worn by drivers David Coulthard, Juan Montoya, Greg Murphy, Russell Ingall and Mark ; Skaife.

Also from Aral are the open-face ‘GP Jet 2’, the new ‘GP5K’, and the ‘GPX-R’ ' karting helmet. The 'Aral range is fully approved to SA2000 rating.

All are available nation-wide from Revolution Racegear. For your nearest store freecall 1800 804 778.

Cobra Seats

COBRA‘Evolution’is made from an strong ix-part carhonfibre posite and features two mounted hoops to protect the driver from neck injury in the event of an accident.

Fully FIAapproved and developed over the past couple of years here in both V8 Supercar and GTP competition,

FOR over 60 years Serck Oil Coolers have been manufacturing products in the UK,even supplying the famous Spitfire fighter planes with oil coolers during war time.

Today Serck Oil Coolers are original equipment for many prestigious companies including Aston Martin, Jaguar and TVR. Serck Oil Coolers are also the control oil cooler for the new Ti'ophy MGF Series.

Serck manufactures a wide range of high performance aluminium and copper/brass 26 Joee 2002

the Cobra ‘Evolution’is available in standard or wide fittings.

Also from Cobra are a range of other competition seats ideal for all classes of racing and rallying, and to suit any budget.

The ‘Imola IF, one of Australia’s best-valued fibreglass seats, is priced at $699, the ‘Monaco’is a full steel competition seat at $549.

The all new Cobra Trophy is a new addition to the Cobra range, priced from $399.

All Cobra competition seats are available nation-wide from Revolution Racegear.

For your nearest store freecall 1800 804 778.

SHARON Phipps Promotions has been supplying models to race teams and sponsors for promotional purposes at : the race track for many years now.The i GMC Model of the month,featured in Motorsport News is hand picked by n Sharon herself every month.

Keeping in step with technology, Sharon , Phipps Promotions has launched a website : featuring the models they represent at ' www.spspromotions.com.au. * The site includes photos of the models, ; general information on state by state basis. ; The photos are easily downloaded or 4emailed to friends. i If you need models for promotional work ' at product launches, race meetings or photo I shoots a visit to the website will provide a | large choice to suit most requirements or contact Sharpn Phipps Promotions on i 03 9557 7760. ; l

FiIters automotive oil coolers. The Serck range includes over 400 different references, produced using the latest design and manufacturing techniques.

Cooler kits are available with a wide range of connectors making fitting easier.

Oil coolers are available for use on diff oil, gearbox oil, transmission oil and engine oil.

For more information on the serck Oil Cooler range contact sole Australian distributor Fabre Australia on 02 9758 1966 or call in to 4 Frazer St Lakemba NSW.

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l Custom ground roller, solid and hydraulic .-^9 profiles using unique computer controHed/^^^^ machines for unrivalled accuracy f l Matching race valve train components ^ including PSi(USA) valve springs and a huge range of one piece super duty pushrods Ph 03 9357 0469 or Fax 03 9357 0001

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ENGINE FASTENERS & ACCESSORIES

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from 6.00" to 10.00" ^ aow uu l .080" wall hardened steel

CKOWCAMS

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FREE SPECTATOR ENTRY

^ September

ENTRIES FILLING FAST

Contact Owen Cromble on 03 9894 4270 or artycf@smartchat.net.au for details

WIIMTON RAC

WAY

CRANKSHAFTS,

2-day CAMS C3/R2/R5 Licence Courses ® Oran Park monthly. $605 in your car, inciudes C3/R2/5 Observed Licence Test and C3 Lecture. R2 OLT can be compieted 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

www.finlays.com.aM

ill CON-RODS, RACE CAMS RACING PRODUCTS &VA1VE TRAIN COM PONENTS ylRFORMANCE WHOLESALEfS

Phone (07) 3808 1986

Visit our website for your nearest distributor.

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Phone (07) 3808 1986

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Contact your state distributor...

Hardiman Auro Supplies (02) 9771 5877 Motorsport Connections (02) 9838 7272 (03) 9794’ 5177 Victorian Speed Pro (07) 3808 1986 Performance Wholesale (08) 8363 5566 Crane Technologies Gogear Racing Services (08) 9443 4400

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anmaesTonc cnr Mountain Hwy & Stud Rd Bayswater vie 3153 Tel os 9720 8400 Fax 03 9720 8278

V6-RS3100, MKll & MKlll 1600 Datsun 240, 260, S80ZX & 300ZX Tuning-repairs motds-spare parts LAWRIE

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Tel 03 9710 1091 Fax 03 9710 1887

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V8 Supercar Race ancJ Show Car body kits. Available in

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Quality assured.

Ph. 02 9758 1966

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Manufactured in USA by Pro-Gram Engineering RCS - The new racing clutch system from Sachs » 5.760 combinations possible «torque range 300 - 1800 nm l individual tuning to any vehicle Sachs Bogo Australia Pty Ltd Ph 02 9875 5388 Fax 02 9875 32^

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www.pro-floor.com ● ph 03 9804 3455 rOMnr} Race logistics RACE 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 Contact Neil Griffiths

1

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race@tnt.com.au molorsport aews

MARKET PLACE

fflFREE Sedans/Sports Cars

Classifieds

Under 2 litre. Sports Sedan, VW L series,

double wishbone suspension all round, LSD, spool and locked diffs, equipped with Fire Bomb, full instrumentation and centre-lock wheels. Spares.

New pyrometer, bump steer huage, camber caster guage, 20 x 10 ezy up shelter with walls, electric winch trailer, new wets and drys, all you need to race this car except the dollars included. 473 hp, 860kg, $35,000 ono. Ph 03 9808 8966 bh, 03 9888 9298 ah or 0417 312 230.235

fresh engine and running gear,12 Speedline wheels race ready for PHILLP ISLAND, Sandown 500, Bathurst 24 hour and 2003 series $54,000 Ph Adam 0402127 243. 235

1

absolutelyfree*

*Motorsport News Classifieds are FREE for private sales. Classifieds from motor sport traders are accepted (marked with a ●) and must be prepaid at the following per issue rates: $5 per 10 words (min $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.

Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 6 GT Performance class,

everything new. ground up built, never raced, requires engine to complete, ring for details, $12,000 ph 0438 217 405 or 03 9727 1828.235

2 issues

NFNW

Welsor waggot sports 1300 Clubman built 1972 by Colin Waer, rebuilt from one end tothe other including new pait. Features 3K Corolla engine with new big valve head, Modena close ratio gearbox, new dutch, rebuilt diff and new front shocks, 2 sets of 3 piece wheels new Avon a 40/45 hillclimb tyres, same compound wets. Very quick and competitive, 3rd outright at Tarrangower last year, 1 outright Eddington Sprints last year. $17,500, ph Andrew 03 5443 0810 or 03 5442 3347.235

Kevlar seats: 6pt cage; Terraphone; Rally Master computer; Shift light; comp springs/struts etc. $25,500. Ph Charles 0418 126 450 2it

Commodore Cup cars and equipment, the very best available, several cars and heaps of spares including engines, gearboxs and diffs. Contact Barry Cassidy on 0417 358 313 or 03 9336 1911.

Torana L34 Club Car, Harrop rotors, big calipers, full floating 9 inch diff, top loader, dry sump, fresh paint, less eng (suit S/B Chev), seam welded. Must sell asap. Cheap at $8,000. Ph: 02 6374 1303 23^

235

-a V

Datsun 1600, Stored 10 years, rust free shell and panels, original black trim also 180B 55S motor 240K 5 speed $2000 ono. 235

●-

- ■ ©

:

9*

■re

5--'

j

Cortina Mk 1, excellent original condition, suit Group N / Classic Rally etc. Reg HS0001. $2,800 ph 03 6248 1248.235

HSV VT II SENATOR SIGNATURE, Phantom Mica (black), 5.7 V8 250kw, 52,000kms, 6-speed, 9/99, Coulson (shale) leather seats, sunroof, 10 stacker, luxury performance pack inc: 18" Grange wheels, brakes, tints, mats etc, log books, Quik Trak security, Nokia phone kit. Rego: 11/02. An immaculate rarely driven vehicle. Must be sold.

RBR-440 (n/t) $55,000 offers (0411) 101 977

Datsun 2402, Marque Sports, chassis no. 185, 2 engines, 2 gearboxes inci option 1, original body panels, discs all round, plus spares, $25,000 ph Colin 03 9836 2600 (bh) or 03 9808 1525 (ah). 235

Qld Gemini Series race car, competitive and consistent, very reliable, 100% finishing history, fresh carbie, some spares, on-track technical advice if required. Ready to race, $5000, Ph Matthew L'Estrange 07 5494 5476 or 0412 566 276. 235

I

Torana Sports Sedan, 2.02 4 speed M20 adj shock all round, 4 spot brakes, 16x10 Simmonds wheels, fre?h engines, turbo 400hp, ready to race, logbook, $6800 ph 0418 311 320.235

heads, microtech injection, big h/p, big alcon brakes, aluminium radiator, steel cage, CAMS logbook, fresh A032's, $1600, ph 02 4351 2448 or 02 4352 2526 (h). 335

V8 Supercar, Perkins-built car, done 8 meeting since new, Perkins Chev, low K's, fuel tower, 12 964 RSR Replica, Road Registered, Ideal Classic Class in Targa Tasmania, Porsche Cup, etc. 1/4 mile 12.75 sec, 1st in class - Dutton, Strathfield

wheels and spares, ideal Konica Series Bathurst race and Sports Sedans. $60,000, ph 0417 778 188. 234

Indy, $65,000 ono Full specs available, ph 03 9318 7515 or 0410 635 91 1.235

Exa Sports Sedan, 20B PP Triple Rotor, RWD LHD fuel injeaed, full space frame chassis, lift off front and rear, professional build and National Championship ready. Raced only 4 times since completion, suit new buyer. Fully adjustable

29 May 2002

U XU1 Sports Sedan, thousands of dollars spent on this great car, refreshed 202, new wheels and tyres, highly maintained, lots of spares, nothing to spend, just go racing in one of the best categories. $7500, ph 0428 442 411 (Syd). lu '

EA Falcon, abandoned Saloon Car project, good straight car, rebuilt 5-speed, all sound deadening stripped, ready for cage, $2400 ph Neil 0427 936 430 or 02 6760 8409.232 engine, ready for National Series. Latest spec, must sell, urgent, best offer, 07 3208 8633. 235 Commodore Improved Production, 355 Holden stroker motor, aluminium late model

m

Ford Cortina TF Sports Sedan, 351 Windsor fresh engine, Alloy heads. Roller cam. Roller rockers, Dry sumped, 600 + HP, big brakes, Koni fully adj shocks Super T10 box. Full floater 9 inch Ford diff, fab front end big rose joints all round, Simmons wheels, All moulds, New paint, ready to race for $25,000 ONO Ph Frank Sola on 0412328124 or 0359402478. 235

XE Street Sedan, Imp Prod 351 3 spd steel bond cage, ground up build, 4 meetings old, 52.5 OP South 1st outing, full spares, motor and gearbox just refreshed, see F350 in Transporters, ph 02 6382 5927 or 0407 786 458.234

Saloon Car Falcon EA, 5 races old, fresh

(Sydney) Private Sate 235

iiL

Group A, original Caltex car. run 3 laps Bathurst, brand new car, log book, 1 meeting Bathurst. Ph 02 9681 4123.234

1974 LA Lancer rally car, 2 litre Group G with big history, rebuilt over the last 12 months features more extensive roll cage with double intrusion bars, brand new Ralliart 4.6 LSD new exhaust etc. comes with 4G32 complete with Np 5 works cam, new exhaust and twin Weber manifold to convert to PRC New Harnesses Brantz rally computer. Club permits plates engine number 3A94604. $7000, ph Andrew 03 5443 OSIjTor 03 5442 3347.235

Torana Sports Sedan, 202 Sspeed, Fibreglass pannels. Quick & ready to race. Spares include Rims, Spoilers. Moulds, Diff, Springs, Bootlid, Must sell due to new project. $8,500 ono Ph Michael02 4732 501 1 (bh) 02 4774 0607 (ah) .234

Torana A9X Update, Circuit race/club car, big horsepower Chev, steel cage, Tremec, 9 inch, 4 w/discs, Manley, Crane, Venolia, Milodon, BG, Accel, Mallory, Tilton, Simpson, Willwood, Koni, Autometer, spares, tandem trailer. $25,000 neg, ph 08 8280 5150 (SA).234

:—

1991 Nissan GTIR Pulsar. King tandem trailer(as new); Harrop discs (new); 4-pot calipers (new pads); CR gearbox (overhauled); comp clutch; 75mm exhaust, air box with Rampod; 16" wheels;

JR-

Mod Production VL Commodore, Methanol 202 Koney shocks, adjustable suspension, lots of spares,-ready to race. POA. Ph 03 5962 5538 or 0428 101 420. 233

79

months reg QMA 578, RWC, 18,000km, spare 2 It engine complete with 5-speed gearboxx and diff, new driveshafts, heaps of spares, $14,000. For more info ph 03 5145 1350 or 0409 413 949.234 Falcon V8 BRute, new Feb 02, upgraded valve train, 2 rounds old, ready to race series, contact John Pengelly. POA, ph 0418 820 338.234 Mazda RX3 Coupe, 1974 set up for tarmac rallying. 17th outright in 2002 Rally Tas. 2nd in class. Built with no expense spared. MoTec dash and ECH etc. $19,5000 CH3949 ph 0438 699 911. 234

1 Porsche 934 Replica, road/race/rally, 1991 build (G. LovetVAutoArt), 3.3 It twin plug, K27 turbo, reliable 380-400hp, G50 5 speed, RSR suspension, air jacks, Flarrop/930 brakes, cage thru suspension, Blackmans interior, kevlar seats, immobiliser, never pranged, CAMS logbook.

Spares include 12 wheels/tyres, spoilers and complete front susp. Road reg. Cost over $200K to develop, $67,500 firm. 03 9822 5034 or email womble@mira.net. 234

RS 1600 Tarmac Rally car, 2 It dry sump, alloy block BDA, Motec fuel injection, Quaife 5 speed SCCR box, Tilton twin plate clutch, Tran-XLSD, Quaife floating axle assembly, Bilsteins, Willwood 4-piston fronts. Ford Motorsport rear discs, adjustable pedal box, seam welded, tureted, Panhard bar, compression struts. Too many items to list, logbook, only 1 meeting since built. Reluctant sale. Build cost of vehicle well over $100,000, sell $69,500 ono. Ph Colin 0438 441 480.234

Welsor Clubman 1976 (Car #12), Datsun A12

VP

Commodore,EFI

1994 Gold Coast Indy Pace Car, EDXR8 Auto, body kit, GT17" wheels, CD stacker. $29,900 ono, ph 07 5583 8929 (w) or 07 5596 6169 (h). 234

1300CC, dry sumped, blueprinted and balanced, 2 X 45mm Webers, Datsun 4-speed, 'Beam' front axle, BMC 'A' rear axle, 4 wheel discs. Fully restored from bare chassis. Group Q logbook and C of D. Ready to race, $18,500, ph Barry 0412 703 635.234

Open Wheelers

- IT

1991 Nissan Pulsar SS5 Race Car, ex-Garry Rogers Motorsport car, CAMS logbook, full alloy rollcage, 2 It engine Autronic engine management, 5-speed Viscos diff, fully adj suspension, 8 wheels with Dunlop R race tyres, 12

Corolla, KEIO Club Car, road reg, 4 AG on carbs, 5 speed, alloy half cage, harness, sports wheel, seat, Yoko A539 tyres, reliable, plenty of development left, $5000 firm, Ph Rob 03 6334 5833.234 NASCAR Ford Thunderbird, very competitive car currerrtly racing Power Tour, Some spares. $45,000 ono, ph 0418 450 740. 234

Formula 2 Historic Group Q, restored and raceworthy, fresh Ford engine, excel tyres, easy and cheap to maintain, $16,500, ph 0403 131 304. 234 Azzurro chrome moly kart, comes complete with KTIOOSE clubman motor. Ready to race $1400 ono, ph 03 5248 2541. 234

Speedway

Elfin 623/F3, Historic race car (Group Q), genuine all steel gear driven Holbay engine (no expense spared), 5 sp Holinger LSD, wets, top hp, a very successful race car. $28,500 firm, ph Des Lamer 08 8272 5637, 235

engine incI steel crank, roller cam, cam bearings, full floater diff, all best equip. Spares include wheels, tyres, bilstein shockers & fibreglass. Well built, well presented competitive car with unlimited potential. $18,000, Ph Greg 0408 577161 or (03) 5571 9118. 234

a

t

1961 Schazum, Grp M racing, Flistoric logbook, certificate of description, full history, BMC A series engine 1098cc, VW split case gearbox, Triumph brakes, steering & some suspension components.

Some spares inci body mould, short engine etc.

Custom built trailer included if required. Car located at Albury, will deliver to Melbourne, Sydney etc. $25,000, interesting trades considered. Ph Peter Cooper 0408 204 432.234

GTP XR6 AUll Falcon, ex Longhurst as raced at Bathurst 99/00. Upgraded to AUll spec as per Procar requirements. Perfect entry level car. List of spares. $35,000. Ph Guy on 07 3343 1566.233 TG Gemini club sprint car, 2001 Group 5 championship winning car - Class E. Fully worked 1600. 5sp. Spare 4pot brakes. Runs 2:04 Phillip Island. $5500 ph 5622 1909.233

Datsun 2402 Marque Sports 310cc, fuel injected, C/R box, 4 diffs, 3 set wheels, glass panels. Eastern Creek lm44, $22,500 ph 07 5578 1846.234

Production

ti

Mk II Escort, 2 litre Sports Sedan, Pinto engine, twin Webers, 4 w discs, new brakes, 5-spd Celica box, locked diff, quick rack steering, moulds, many extras, $12,900 ph 02 6687 5355. 234

Escort Sport Sedan, close ratio box, space frame, fresh single rotary turbo, 4 link rear adjustable suspension, fibreglass panels, first see will buy, $21,000 ph 02 9686 8596 or 0417 475 409.234 ITT llUirr

Modified

■'1

Sports 1300 Clubman, Haggis Toyota US 160 hp+/450kg. Hillclimb and circuit diffs. Successful racing history. Log books. Eligable historic. Spare rims. Wets and slicks. Dual Modification, new paint, superb condition, ready to race. POA. Ph Mark 0438 586 115 (Vic). 235.

Haase go-kart, with T motor, good competitive kart with spares, won last time out and would be a perfect kart for a newcomer, $2000.235

Super Sedan Vic 33, IROC Camero, 350 Chev, Bert box, quick change, wide 5 all round, lots and lots of spares. 21ft custom built enclosed trailer/workshop. Nothing to spend, ready to race. $41500. Ph 0418 520 456.235

Super Sedan Commodore, ex-John Pyne chassis, quick change diff, spare wheels, tyres, bonnet and doors. $7500 ono. Also 355 Chev methanol engine. $8500 ono. The lot $15,300 ono. Ph 02 6341 3710.235 Modified Production VK/VL Commodore, all good equipment, Pro shocks. Autometer guages, Mallory pump, MSO, Charlyn power steer, heaps of spares, $8000 ono, ph 07 5598 5746 or 0417 738 229. 235 Super Sedan chassis, AU Falcon, fibreglass bodykit complete less running gear, excellent

BOW Send us your classified ads and we’ll run them for FREE* Category; □ Sedans □ Open Wheelers □ Speedway DDrag □ Parts □ Engines □ Trailers □ Wanted □ Photographs □ Other.

Description;

news

Please keepads tonomorethan 30words,plusa photo if required.

Name:

Address: Ph( BO

)

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.

motorsport news

MARKET PLACE condition $1800 ono ph 0419 989 01 or 02 4730 3440. 235 VW Quickchange, suit compact offset axle, one piece bircages, brakes, strengthened cage, $500, ph 0438 557 056. 235 Front and rear wings, suit Litre with kits, $500 ph 0438 557 056. 235

Sprintcar, 2001 Stealth Dash 12 Shaver. Good hp, never bent, all good gear, lots titanium. Spares wings (Kelly Winfirld Racing). Last start winner. $49,500ono. Ph; Phil 0415 229 590 234

Engines RACE ENGINE, Holden 202-40'bore 'The real thing' short motor. ACL race series pistons, shotpeened, rods, blue pwinted and balanced.

Decked block.

Just freshened up (2 hours old) $1800 ONO.PH 02 6624 7593.235 Two Holden Supercar engines, Perkins slide manifolds on both, one wet sump engine, one dry sump engine, both complete with exhaust systems, many options, make an offer, ph 03 5626 1319 all hours. 234

Parts Hewland FT200 Transaxle. Outboard brake model ex Rail RT4. Lots of ratios. Only 2 meetings since overhaul. Ph:(02) 9949-3996. 235 RS 2000 body shell, minus front, mark 2 escort pedal box, brand new Momo steering wheel and Boss kit, ph 0416 166 215.235 Generator, 5.5 kva, good condition, $1200 ono ph 02 4933 4637.235 Seat belt, 5 point Pacific Scientific buckle.

Dominion 2 in webbing, 4 straps and ends, black. $80, ph/fax 02 6253 1028 or email ian.h@netspeed.com.au. 235 Dry Sump tank, alloy, ex-Clubman, 150 mm dia, 360mm h plus neck. 18 mm 1/0 pipes. $120. ph/fax 02 6253 1028 or email ian.h@netspeed.com.au. 235 Appendix J EH parts, 12 port head, Seton ext CAM abd roller rockers clutch and flywheel rollcage Konis front adn rear springs and front bar.

Locker diff and modified front seat. $2500 ph 02 4274 4498 bh or 0407 460 484. 235 Chev Billet Oliver 6" Rods, exc cond $1500, Holley 750 genuine methanol carb $750, KSE rear mount power steer pump $450, 6x 035" JE Pistons 3 races, 6x 030" Ross Pistons both suit 3.48" stroke OFFERS? ph 03 6424 4544 bh or 0409 092 040.235

Ford and Chev, new and used parts, 14" and 13.5" Brembo and Harrop discs just bedded in from $200, NASCAR 351 engine block, 4 bolt Chev, sleeved back to standard and modified passages $3000, new 4ma crank rods and new pistons to suit $2500, Pord AUll body shell, ideal for Sports Sedan, started project $1500, Space frame with all pick up points, fuel tank and engine plates to suit Chev engine, just put your body over it $2000, V8 Supercar bell housing oil tanks, 1 Behag, 1 Stone Brothers Ford to Hollinger gearbox. Cobra engine, complete with 4 IDA'S Aii sump, Aii rocker covers, Aii manifold $10,000, Chev F5000 McKay manifold, complete with 8 trumpets and linkages $3500, Chev manifold to suit fuel injection or 410As $1500, Ford Boss manifold to suit 4 IDA carbys $1000, Ford Boss 302, indy rods $200 each, Ford Boss set of 8 new rods with 8 new pistons to suit $4000, Cariilo rods new set to suit Ford 302 $2000, 1 pair Ford Boss heads BARE $1600, 1 pair Ford high port heads 0 ringed new ported and matched $2000, flywheel steel to suit 7 1/4" clutch $400, flywheel Alo new Chev $500, Lola F5000 front uprights $400 each, Bell housing Repco Holden to DG300 $1000, brake calipers SCP 4 piston large from NASCAR $300 each, brake calipers Willwood, 4 piston new $1200 pair, 9" Ford crownwheel and pinions from $250 all ratios. Roller rockers Crane and Crown suit Ford and Chev, new and used from $50 each, V8 Supercar brake pads from $200 set, front or rear, Ford Aii bell housing $200, Lola 10" x 15" sports car wheels $250 each, plus many other Ford and racing parts, numerous cam shafts from $50 each, 31 spline axles $50 each. Ph 03 9510 7418, 0412 678 943 or fax 03 9529 5329. 235 ICOM Racing Radios, Complete with headset, charger, two radios and spare battery. As new, $1800. Phone 0413 139 811.234 Motec ADL 4, Brand New, 2mb memory. Pro Analysis, Telemetry, and other upgrades. Beacon transmitter /receiver, CAN Cable, plus more. $9000. Ph Luke 0412 417 187.234

l Bob Gill clearance sale: Celica body shell, complete with all moulds, panels, aii doors and wings $1500, Jericho gear rations from $400 per set, diff (9" complete drum to drum (no centre) $350, Harrop 9" complete fully floating brakes and calipers $2500, 9" NASCAR housing and floating end $500, 8.5" Mustang diffs complete $200, /kxle tubes with fully floating ends $500, Oil coolers from $500 each. Mustang 82 Model LHD complete Dick Johnson-style body $6000, magnetos LH and RH rebuilt by Bill Dudley from $800 each. Weaver dry sumps from $600, dry sump tanks from $300, clutches triple plate 7.25"

29 May 2002

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/dual pass, top quality, large range, various sizes, suit all applications, fr $300. CCI Ph 0418 925 767.

Transporters/Trailers

Olher Large quantity of Autocar magazines, 19481965, also The Motor 1948-1965, large runs available or by the year or single copies, ph 08 9279 7003 fax 08 9377 3939.235 Grand Prix International magazine, issue 1 (1979) to issue 105 (1986) plus comprehensive index. Rare. $800 ph/fax 02 6253 1028 or email ian.h@netspeed.com.au. 235 l SusProg 3D, Suspension By Design V4.11 (new version), a 3 dimensional automotive suspenion design program for design and evaluation of road and track suspenion. $275 inc GST. Australian and Demo produced supported. http://www.bevenyoung.com.au or posted out on request. Inquiries/orders Seven D Young ph 08 8298 5548 all credit cards. 235 Annuals and Yearbooks, Automobile Year, Aust

F250, Ground up rebuilt, dual cab, dual rear wheels, 460 bog block, auto, dual fuel(420 usable Itrs), power steering, c/locking, alarm, c/control, CD, 7 seater, quick sale, PZQ 814, $25000, ph 0418 520 456.235

I

71

F350, 4 spd, 66 classic beast, full spares, fast reliable immaculate, 35K ono for both (XE Sedan), selling due to health, will separate, ph 02 6382 5927(bh)02 6382 3510(ah) or 0407 786 458.235 2 car transporter, ex GTP, Prime Scania single drive. Pantech 240v, benches, shelves, tyre rack, winch, belly bins, hyd, rear lifter, 11m x 6 m annexe, $25,000 ph 0408 275 187.235

Holden L34 twin coil point distributor, complete with cap and rotor. $575. Ph 0428 535 245 Mel. 234

Car trailer, dual axle, 4 good tyres, 1.9m x 4.4m, 12 months rego, $1800 ono, ph 02 4933 4637.235

Falcon AU body shell, no panels, lightweight body, ideal for speedway and others, brand new, genuine enquiries only, $2000, ph Norm Fisher ' Racing 03 5339 5834 or 0407 829 580. 234 Parts for Group C L34 Torana, 1 pair Girlock 4 spot calipers, 2 sets pads, $1200, sump for L34 $300, set L34 heads with 1.6 Crane roller rockers $700, diff centre 3.08 with Detroit locker and axles to suit L34, $1200, ph 03 5428 3916(bh). 234

Commodore Cup etc. $6000, ph John Pengelly 0418 820 338.234

l Racecar parts, brake parts, chassis stands, diff

Holley 350, new $200. Parts bath, little used, $140. Husky engine analyzer $65. Ph Ron 0414 399 337 234

Coach transporter 37ft midmount, 250 hp, turbo Volvo, 4 speed pre-selected gearbox, air brakes, tubeless tyres, excellent condition $14,000 ph 02 4730 3440 or 0419 989 010.235 Dual cab, beaver tail tray. Dodge DSN 400, 318 V8 on gas, $5000, ph Rob 03 5439 7296 or 0428 507 908.235

Motor Racing Yearbook, Aust Competition Yearbook, Bikeyear, Raceyear, Bathurst and James Hardie 1000 - The Great Race. Various prices from $35 each. Also Bathurst programs and Racing Car News. Ph0411 404 560 ah. 235 Bathurst programs, 73, 74, 77($75 each), 80-88 ($50 ea) 93, 96, 97 ($40 ea), 85 Sandown 500 ($50). Ph Glenn Auckland NZ 09 571 3341.234 Race Suit Package. Revolution Racegear "Mondial - RPM 900" suit and kit. Size: Large double layer Nomex Suit (Yellow top half/ all black bottom) Size 10 black RPM boots, large gloves with full underwear set. Used once for CAMS licence test. As new condition in RPM kit bag. Cost $1100 sell for $900 ono. Call Anthony on 03 52825776 or mobile 0417 310371 234 Race suit /kit for sale. Revolution Racegear, Trans Am kit. Size M Triple Layer Nomex Blue and White suit, size 8 1/2 Le Mans high boots, large gloves, with full underwear set. Used for CAMS licence test only, never raced in. Call Ian on 02 49664434, mobile 0439081156. 234 l Driving suits, top brand imported race suits, boots, gloves etc. Many styles & colours at wholesale prices Ph 02 6562 7762 or 0412 785 486.

Wanted WARNING; MNews has been made aware of an individual (using the surname Trees) who is responding to Wanted ads, demanding payment prior to the dispatch of goods and then disappearing once the money has been deposited into a Westpac account in Taree.

NSW Police are on the case, but in the interim please be careful!

Clutch AP 7 1/2 pressure plate, brand new, gear lever Hollinger 6 spd, brand new, ph Peter 02 9630 6509 or 0418 217 451. 234

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VP Commodore race shell (ex-5upercar), suitable for Sports Sedan, complete with doors, two spare spoilers, race seat, fuel tank, rear wing, skirts and many other spares. Also for sale VS body shell, soitable for someone building a racecasr.

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master cylinders, reservoirs etc. CCI Ph 0418 925 767. l Air jacks, new/used, large range, most applications, quick release handles available, top quality. CCI. Ph 0418 925 767.

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l Pedals, brake/clutch, floor mount/hanging, new/sued. Also available, bias valves, bias cables,

l Brake calipers, discs, pads. Mega range, new/used, exc condition - AP, Alcon, Brembo,

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81

OPINION

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82

Schumey - or Skaifey?

Well we now really do have our own Michael Schumacher of V8 Supercars. He has the same initials, drives a red car with the same number 1 on it, and is dominating the current series.

Yes, he has driven very well in the best-prepared car from what must be the best-funded team. It’s a pity that he has also taken on the arrogance that seems to go with this dominance.

To date he has only been beaten in three races out of 13 contested. It’s pretty sad that on two of these occasions he has complained about other drivers not letting him through.

When Ambrose beat him, he complained on television that he was getting blocked excessively. In the reverse gidd race in CanbeiTa, he was heard over his radio to threaten that he would turn around a particular driver if he blocked him again (his words were a little more colorful).

I’m sorry Mr Skaife, but I think that the other drivers must have missed reading the regulation that states that ‘all drivers must allow Car Number 1 to pass unhindered in all circumstances.’

I wonder if on the third occasion when he was beaten, this time by his teammate Jason Bright, he was waiting for his team manager to “do a Ferrari” and call him through?

Perhaps all of the other teams should now concentrate their efforts on beating him at Bathurst - the only individual race that many believe has more prestige on its own than the entire championship. I can just imagine the collective roar around the track and in thousands of lounge rooms when he finally comes unstuck. But I’m sure he will find someone else to blame when he does !

Paul Winter Loxton SA

Leave it to the pollies I just watched the MG races from Canberra on trackside on Channel 10 - it must be embarrassing to AVESCO that the MG races were more entertaining to watch than the V8 races.

I have never been a fan of the Canberra race and will be glad if it does shut down in the future. It is a classic example of current Supercar races being about making more money than supplying paying spectators with entertainment.

I taped the telecast over the weekend it was on (the first time in years I have not sat and watched a telecast live) and just

Gonvorter Send us your thoughts: mail: PO Box 7072, Gardenvale, VIC 3186 fax: 03 9596 5030 email: mnews@mnews.com.au

fast forwarded through until I saw something worth watching.

I didn't stop the tape very often.

When are team owners going to realise it is not worth going to Canberra due to the huge car damage bills faced. Even small driving errors can end in huge crashes taking out four or five cars.

Just look at Rodney Forbes' crash. When is his dad going to realise his son is out of his depth he should be racing in the Konica series for a while to improve his driving and cut down on his errors. It would save a lot of money for Craig's car.

Tracks like Mallala and Lakeside provided much better racing but didn't meet AVESCO's big money making plans. Now they want to go to Dubai or somewhere. If I was the Winton promoter I would be wonied as his track will probably be the next to get the chop.

Neil Stratton Hornsby NSW

History repeats

I find the current wave of letters complaining about either Michael Schumacher or Mark Skaife’s

consistent winning quite amusing.

Motor sport has been littered with years when one team and/or driver has dominated a particular category - but there has always been some great racing attached to it.

Remember Dick Johnson, John Bowe and the Shell Sierras absolutely crushing everyone in 1988/89?

How about the year that McLaren won 15 out of 16 Grands Prix, with Senna and Prost sharing them. Or Andretti and Petersen’s Lotus steamroller.

Have I missed something? Is something different now, or are we just so swamped with TV sports these days that the novelty has worn off.

History also shows that each of these periods of domination came to an end. So, Michael and Mark, yours is coming sometime soon.

And finally, why isn’t the same derision aimed at Valentino Rossi and Troy Bayliss for their dominance of bike racing?

John Hewitson Ferny Creek, VIC

Lookin’ on the bright side Just thought I'd drop a line after reading of the ‘disappointment’in Canberra.

I was perched on Turn 13 (Canberra Chicane), renamed “The Larry Are A Boofta” chicane by the flag marshalls who were keeping count of the drivers that missed the turn, and I had a ball: My special moment was walking past Max Wilson, who was talking to one of his engineers and hearing him spout out(with accent) “... at the back of the f'”“’'‘ing grid!”

There's always something to complain about in motorsport, so I just try to enjoy it. Mission Accomplished.

Chris Blaxhall ehris_blaxhall@hih.corn.au

Narrow-minded? Reader Stratton reckons the MG racing was better than the V8s ...

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