Motorsport News Issue 242 - October 16-29, 2002

5■W100 pqge*bATHURST special m Australia $5.95 NZ $7.50 inci GST No. 242 October 16-29 2002

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Falcon XR6 Turbo shown in Acid Rush.

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New Falcon with 240kW Turbo Engin^an< Sequential Sports Shift. Can’t get enough Of this. > The new Falcon brings track performance to the road. When your foot goes down, your pulse goes up. It all starts with four new performance engines. The Barra 182 DOHC in-line six, the searing Barra 240T, the Barra 220 5.4L, 3V V8 and the Boss 260^ 5.4L, 4V V8.

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Adding further excitement is the Sequential Sports Shift on the automatic transmission.* Choose manual control or automatic mode with Adaptive Shift. Whichever you choose it’s a thrilling drive over and over.

New Falcon. Can’t get enough of this.

●Auto optional on Falcon XT and Falcon XR sedans,

www.ford.com.au

t 260kW Falcon XR8 engine available early 2003.

FMC 0090

No Boundaries

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motorsport news

Issue 242

16- 29 October 2002

news and opinion 4 7

8

One lap from disaster How Skaife made it by that much Give this man a drive! Is Greg Ritter set to become a one-man silly season?

Schuey in a Jag FIA makes some bizarre FI proposals

10 introducing... The BA and Nations Cup Monaro break cover 25 Motor Mouth Eric Bana: Actor, comedian, Ford fan 28 Box Seat Saward deals with some weighty issues 82 Taik Converter The bit of the magazine that you write and we read

foaturos AO riV6 Minutes wiin tne Datnurst winners, oksits sno Kicno noio cuun 30 Five minutes with Jack Brabham He's almost certainly won way more GPs than you ever will 32 King of the mountain Brock reflects on his return to Bathurst

race coverage

72 Cool hand Luke Youlden takes Konica honours in Bathurst V8 curtain raiser 74 The new breed Two first-time winners share Ford bragging rights 76 Marcus my word Gronholm slaughters all before him in New Zealand to take WRC crown number two

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Photos: Cover: Dirk Klynsmith.

Contents: Dirk Klynsmith, : Marshall Cass. .'i \ Photo4/BOTHWELL

20 Bikes

78 Rallying

80 Speedway

82 NASCAR

84 Drag Racing

86 Histories

88 National Scene

91 Marketplace 3

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II

We were screwed": Murf

RACE officials have defended the imposition of a five-minute penalty on Greg Murphy’s Kmart Commodore after a msyor pit lane incident during Sunday’s Bathurst race - but Murphy remains deeply angered by the officials’ decision to impose the maximum effective penalty.

Murphy copped a drive though, with a five minute toilet break, after his car left the pit bay while the refuelling hoses were still attached to the car. Although safety mechanisms meant that little fuel flowed out onto the road, the refuelling pit crew was knocked over.

“The regulations are quite clear,” race director Tim Schenken told MNews on Monday.

“Failing to exert proper control of a car under those circmnstances has clear penalty options which include 125 championship points; disqualification; five minute penalty; or a sizeable fine.

“It is the car controller’s job to ensure something like this doesn’t happen. The Stewards decided that it was a clear breach and that a five minute penalty was appropriate.”

Understandably, Greg Murphy remains unimpressed: “I don’t think these guys understand what degree of penalty they’ve imposed, and for what - a human mistake,” a stiU bitter

Murphy told MNews on Monday.

“Five minutes is virtual disqualification. We were in a position to perhaps win the race.

Our sponsors have lost the many hundreds of thousands of dollars of goodwill and exposure that would bring, we’ve lost the points and the biggest loser is ... motor sport itself.

“The reaction and support we’ve had since - from Ford teams, other drivers, race fans - is amazing.

They agree - we were screwed.

“The question is, why did they choose to impose the maximum penalty? We made a mistake. I could understand a drive-through and a fine. Nobody else was involved; no-one else’s race was affected; we didn’t set out to cheat.

“We simply made a human mistake ...

“If that is the system, it is wrong.

It should be changed.

“I do have to apologise to TV viewers. There’s no real excuse for bad language on TV, but I hope people will understand that it was a pretty emotional moment...”

TWR boss Jeff Grech didn’t want to comment on the matter on Monday, except to say that, obviously, an error had been made but that the penalty seemed very harsh: “I feel Sony for them. Murf’s right - they were quick enough to win the race,” he said.

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"Nobody else was involved; no-one else's race was affected" - Greg Murphy, above

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Tyre problems were random

corners, does increase the risk of flatIN a mirror image of the problem which afflicted HRT at Bathurst in spotting. It also places increased loads on front tyres.

1998, a number of leading V8s, "The really quick guys are on the particularly Falcons, suffered frontbrakes into the Chase before the car right tyre deflations on Mount Panorama. has fully settled after the fast right kink," Moorehead offered.

Most were self-inflicted, according "That does increase the risk of to Dunlop Motorsport boss Jeff Moorehead. picking up that right front and " Several were as the result of flatlocking it."

TWR team boss spotting," he told Jeff Grech confirmed PidNews on Monday. that his crew had "There were a discussed the tyre couple as a result of situation as it hitting other cars or became apparent walls, and a couple of that several teams broken wheels. had countered "We looked at most problems: of the tyres and they - Dunlop’s Jeff Moorehead "I think front were all structurally camber was the sound, just mainly issue," he said. flat-spotted."

"Once we realised it was affecting That the problem should primarily affect the Falcons seems to be due to mainly the Fords and none of our guys reported a problem, we were the higher negative camber used by sure we would be okay." many of the Ford teams which, while - CHRIS LAMBDEN aiding the front grip level through

"We looked at most of the tyres and they were all structurally sound, just mainly flat-spotted"

Keeping a watching-brief: Marcos Ambrose keeps an eye on the Pirtek Falcon after it blew a front tyre. (PiumbyairkKiymmun 4

motorsport news

NEWS Leaving no Stone unturned BATHURST weekend is generally a good time for the rumours about next season to be flying, but the goss is that the recent tip in MNews that Russell Ingall is heading to Stone Brothers Racing is correct; but the team isn't too keen on losing the services of David Besnard and is investigating the logistics of running three cars full-time.

Funding remains the big issue.

Rumours also suggest that the team will have a separately funded, housed and managed satellite team in the Konica Series next year using their current AU Falcons. SBR signing Mark Winterbottom is wellplaced to fill one of the seats.

Mobil u 0 -

le stays cool Wins Bathurst and title - but he ceuld have been one lap away from engine destruction

MARK Skaife had, maybe,one lap left before his engine evaporated in a cloud of steam last Sunday.

Team boss Jeff Grech confirmed post-race that “one more lap and we would have been in trouble, I

think.

“Despite Mark’s short-shifting, water was starting to come out of the overflow and the temperature was stiU going up by a degree a lap.

We have a cap which breaks away at 118 degrees. On the last lap the temperature hit 117 ...”

The drama with plastic bags in the air intake had already eliminated one of Ford’s strongest hopes, the 00 Motorsport Falcon, . when Skaife picked up the first bag during a Safety Car period.

“They were flying everywhere and I was literally weaving in and out ofthem,” he told MNews,“ and I saw it go under the front ofthe car. You know how you then look in the mirror to see if it comes out the back? Well, it didn’t...

16 October 2002

“I radioed the guys to check and sure enough, they came back with the bad news.”

Up until that point the #1 Commodore had run virtually faultlessly.

“The gearbox temperature was up at the end of the first stint, but we decided that was a faulty sensor. That aside, the car was going like a dream.”

Grech confirmed the increasing problem: “The car normally runs at 82 degrees, but the first bag lifted it to 94-95. We were concerned, but thought we could live with it.

“The next bag shot it up to 107 with 10 laps to go and we started to think about whether or not we should come in and clear them, or risk it.

“Next thing, there’s another one in there and it’s shot up to 111! The oil was up to 164, but that’s okay it’s good stuff.

“By now we had Mark shortshifting; water is coming out of the

overflow; one more lap and that would have been it. That’s certainly the hottest we’ve run something and gotten away with it, as far as I can remember...”

Skaife too was sweating, but had bought himself some space with a sizzling burst after catching Steven Richards napping at the restart.

“The car cooled off a bit under the Safety Car and I hoped that ifI could get by and get some clear air I could push it for a lap or so to get a bit of space -it was the best chance we had,” he told MNews.

The HRT car pulled over three seconds on Richards before Skaife reverted to protection mode: “We knocked 3-400 rpm off the top in most places, but I was really pushing it across the top from the Cutting to Forrest’s Elbow and really tr3dng to get the corner exits there and at Hell Corner spot on.”

It was enough and the basis for a famous victory which,incidentally also confirmed Skaife as the 2002 Australian V8 Supercar Champion.

■ Further to last issue's rumour about TWR Racing in 2003 and the associated moves within the camp.

The grapevine says our take on Paul Weel joining in the fun is looking on the money and there’s talk of the CAT sponsorship moving from Briggs Motorsport to the 'evil empire'. A Queensland-based, CAT-backed Commodore for Jason Bright would give TWR access to another test track, Queensland Raceway, wouldn't it...

■ Speaking of TWR,the 'TW' in TWR, Tom Walkinshaw, was on-hand at Mount Panorama to watch his lads score a 1-3-4. It was the Scot's first visit to the race for a couple of years, having finished third in the 1985 event in a Jaguar XJS. ■ Greg Mtljrphy wasn't the only one getting penalised at Bathurst.

The officials were very busy and they had a few standing matters from the Queensland 500 to get through.

Briggs Motorsport ($4000), and Team Kiwi ($2000) were both fined for losing wheel nuts during the 500, while Garth Tander, Matt Coleman, Cameron McLean, Dean Canto, Tony Longhurst, John Faulkner and Allan Grice were fined a total of $2100 for pit lane speeding violations on Thursday and Friday.

Tyler Mecklem copped a $2000 fine suspended for six months provided he doesn’t breach again for failing to "obey instructions of an official", while Garry Rogers Motorsport and Glenn Seton's Ford Credit team were both fined $2000 for exceeding the 7500 rpm rev limit on Saturday.

From race day, OzEmail Racing and Orrcon Racing were fined $2000 each for losing wheel nuts. That's a total of $18,100 - plenty, thank you very much.

■ A familiar face in different colours at Bathurst on the weekend was John McLean. McLean was working with the Weel/K&J outfit in a one-off appearance.

5

Bathurst gets support AVESCO’s long called-for government funding for Bathurst could come to fruition - but only if there is a change of government in New South Wales.

The NSW opposition coalition has pledged $10 million to upgrade the track should it win office. Liberal Leader John Brogden saying that the government was determined to ensure that the track remained the country’s premier motorsport facility.

“Today’s commitment by the Liberal/National parties will ensure the future of this tremendous sporting venue,” said

Brogden.

“The $10 million urgent capital works injection will help ensure the race stays in Bathurst and enhance the year-round potential of the venue as a tourism and recreational facility.

Nationals leader George Souris reported that that Bathurst 1000 generated $60 million to the local economy, and that the initial works would not be dependent on Federal government funding.

AVESCO Chairman Tony Cochrane welcomed the announcement, saying that the record crowds were indicative of the popularity the race held with racing fans.

... and we like to watch

SUNDAY’S Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 provided a ratings bonanza for Network Ten. Ratings source OzTAM confirmed on Monday that viewers nationally averaged over 1.5 million for the seven hour duration

of the race, peaking at 2.34 million.

Ten executives were, apparently, delighted with the figures and happy to suggest that, quite likely, the return of Peter Brock could have been the catalyst for the race’s best ratings for five years.

Vote #1 The Skaife Party: Even the opposition ioves Bathurst. (Photobywpix)

Ford plans an ^

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CARLTON United Breweries will be one of the two 'platform'sponsors for the V8 Supercar Championship Series.

AVESCO Chairman Tony Cochrane and CUB’s General Manager (Marketing) Jamie Cook announced a six-year deal at Bathurst last weekend, that will see the series known as the 'V8 Supercar Championship Series, presented by Victoria Bitter and TBN' in the future. No details of the value of the deal were announced but, as MN reported a month ago, the deal 6

is thought to be worth $19 million over six years, Cochrane said that an announcement regarding the second sponsor would be made soon, with a total sponsorship value of $35 million in the next five years.

"V8 Supercars and VB have enjoyed a successful sponsorship alliance since 1997, and we are delighted to announce VB's increased involvement in the category," said Cochrane.

"Other sports such as FI, MotoGP and the AFL in Australia

have successfully applied the concept of platform sponsorship which gives the sport an opportunity to keep its own brand identity and equity over the long-term."

VB will continue to be involved with driver sponsorship as well as its popular VB Challenge, pitting Ford and Holden V8 Supercar drivers against each other in demonstration events.

As well, there will be 'V8 Superbars' set up at hotels and bars around the country, starting in Adelaide in March, - PHIL BRANAGAN

FORD may re-establish an inhouse racing division for the first time in 30 years.

Following the completion ofits internal review ofits V8 Supercar program,the Blue Oval is believed to be close to green-lighting the division, which would be responsible for the funding, engineering and administration ofits racing programs.

A decision is expected to be made soon, with the changes to be in full effect for the start ofthe 2003 season in March. Ford Racing Manager Howard Mmsden is believed to have discounted any thoughts of retirement at the end ofthe cmrent season to establish the department, prior to leaving the company at the end of next year.

There is major activity talking place at present, viith Ford Racing working hard on the aerodynamic specification ofthe BA Falcon V8 Supercar, as well as looking seriously at re-entering radlying. At present, there are 17 deposits for new Barra racecar shells, all of which will be prepared in Queensland by Peter Beehag,except for two shells that will be buUt by 00 Motorsport from Beehag-supphed

motorsport news

NEWS A bet each way The HMS Racing outfit will be running two cars in the Konica V8 Supercar Series next season, but will hedge their bets and run one Falcon and one Comnnodore. The team is to unveil the new Commodore in December, having run an ex-DJR Falcon for Greg Crick in the Konica Series this year.

Phil Scifieet joined Crick at Bathurst on the weekend, though gearbox failure left them out of the race.

THE future of Greg Ritter is undecided, with the Shell Helix driver out of contract following the Bob Jane T-Marts 1000.

Ritter was in fine form at Bathurst, out-qualifying the more fancied pairing of Paul Radisich and Steven Johnson and racing to seventh at the end of the race, sharing the #18 car, above, with Alan Jones.

"I don't have anything for next year," said Ritter. "I would like to think that I have done enough here, and there are a few teams making some positive noises, so we will have to see what happens."

Ritter would not say which teams have started discussions, but he did say that they were three Ford teams.

One man who was impressed with Ritter's efforts over the weekend was Jones, who did much of the set-up work with the older of the team's three AD

chassis and who was pleased^to allow Ritter to do the qualifying'runs.

Following his top 15 run-off appearance, in which he jumped to sixth place, Ritter was put back to 15th on the grid after the car failed to meet a 'template' test, the front guards of the car found to me 3mm too wide by race officials.

Jones had been due to start the race but, having contracted an eye infection on raceday, Ritter started and finished in the car.

Among many others, Jones was impressed; "He is very dedicated, he is fit and he is a bloody good driver. He deserves a full-time drive and I really hope that someone gives him a chance. It was my job to help give Greg a platform to launch from and he did a great job when he attacked."

- PHIL BRANAGAN

new era Dynamik back RC Focus? components.

At Bathurst, Ford Australia President GeoffPohtes gave the strongest indication yet that the company would enter the Australian Rally Championship with a Group N prototype Focus.

“Yes we are interested in rallying the Focus here in Austraha, we are looking very closely at it and I believe we will do something,” said Polites.

“I don’t know who we would use or exactly how we will do it but I think it will be an important part of the Focus marketing platform.”

Ford launched the performanceoriented ST170 Focus to the Austrahan motoring press at the recent rally of New Zealand imderlining the car’s links with its World Rally Car cousin.

Ford Australia has not run a factory backed rally program since the Cohn Bond-run Escort Rally team was disbanded in 1980 Interestingly, some of Bond’s mechanics from that team (including John Gray)now work for Marsden at Ford Racing and worked on the engineering and construction ofthe BAracecar unveiled at Bathurst.

- BRANAGAN/THOMSON 16 October 2002

TEAM Dynamik is coming back to V8 Supercar racing.

The Adelaide-based team, which won the 2001 Konica V8 Supercar Series, will run two Holden Commodore VYs in next year's V8 Supercar Championship Series.

Team principals Malcolm Ramsay and Kieran Wills have secure factory support from Holden for the cars, one of which will be raced by Simon Wills, below.

"We are taking this challenge very seriously indeed," says Ramsay."We have been overwhelmed by the ongoing support we have received from racing associated businesses, local business and fans alike."

Rumours have linked a

number of TWR drivers ^ith the project, including Holden Young Lion Rick Kelly and Jason Bright, but an announcement is not expected for some time.

The construction of two VYspec Commodores has begun at Ramsay's Birrana Racing workshop, where seven key staff appointments have already been made.

The announcement means that Adelaide will have two loca l teams, with Halliday Motorsport joined by TD. HMS will, incidentally, expand to a two-car KV8SS team next year, with a Commodore joining the team's current Falcon AU. Dynamic will run under the Imrie Motorsport two-car 5 franchise. ●?g s-

n While an announcement on his FI future is reportedly not too far away (with all the pundits stili saying Jaguar...), Mark Webber's 2002 efforts are seeing him poll well in F7 Racing magazine's Man of the Year award.

Indeed, Webber has made the final six in no less than four categories for the awards. An unbankable favourite for Rookie of the Year, Webber is also in the vote for Personality of the Year, Qualifier of the Year and the top award, Man of the Year!

Australian supporters can add their vote to the poll via Britain's FI telecaster ITV's site, www.itv-f1.com n Despite recent denials from circuit management, it was announced last week that the Phillip Island track is up for sale. n With the Nations Cup crown to be decided at the Honda Indy 300, PROCAR has made a couple of tweaks to the cars for the season finale. The Viper has scored an extra 30 kilograms while the Ferrari 360 GT loses 20 kg and the Lamborghini loses 10 kg. n Race engineer Aaron Kelly has joined PROCAR Australia. A long-time advisor to PROCAR, Kelly has been involved with Wayne Park Automotive, where he was involved in the development of the technical regulations for the V8 Brute class. n Alex Davison has finished his third season of racing overseas with yet another strong run at Hockeheim.

The Porsche racer, who has been on fire in the last few rounds of the season, started from sixth in the Carrera Cup season finale but flev^ through the field to challenge race leader, Brit Adam Blair.

"On lap 13, he went wide going into the new hairpin and didn't seem to have any drive -1 think he missed a gear-and I tapped the back of him," said Davison.

"The following lap, the same thing happened again on the way into the corner. He missed the apex totally and he wasn't accelerating, so I drove up on the inside of him. Suddenly, when I was alongside, he got going again, and came across on me."

The two made contact, Blair suffering a flat tyre and the Aussie emerging in the lead, but he copped a stop-go and ended up 19th. He was placed eighth in the series points.

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Franchitti: “I am gonna drive one!’

Dario wants aV8! No joy for Ford WHILE it’s up in the air as to where he will race in 2003, one thing’s for sure - Dario Franchitti has been offered a drive in a V8 Supercar, and the Scot is eager to take up the offer.

People have been asking me as well about driving a V8 Supercar,” Franchitti told us.

“I would love to drive a V8 and I have been offered a chance to drive one later this year, but whether I have the time - or am allowed - to drive one I really don’t know.

“I can promise you, though, that at some point I am gonna drive one. They look awesome and I want to be a part of it.”

Franchitti is yet to sort out a deal for his 2003 program.

He’s not too keen on moving to the IRL with Honda and the Andretti/Green team and a move to Newman/Haas in CART is a mooted possibility.

However, the Team KOOL Green driver wants to stay in CART rather than race purely on ovals.

-AARON NOONAN

For a Motor Mouth column with the Champ Car star, turn to page 27.

8

in parity testing

COMPUTER-calculated Ford/Holden performance parity has been introduced - but there is a nasty sting in the tail for Ford teams.

The system, exclusively revealed in the last issue of MN,was approved by the TEGA Board 4:0 10 days ago, but when the calculations were subsequently done by the group, there was insufficient difference to initiate a performance change.

The TEGA system averages the fastest 20 laps over the most recent four race meetings for both the top ten Holden and Ford cars, expressing any difference as time per minute. The trigger for a change was set at 0.13 seconds per minute.

Initial calculations by one Ford group had shown a likely outcome of 0.23 seconds per minute, but when TEGA officials did the sums, it came out at less than 0.13.

As MN closed for press, it was uncertain where or how the discrepancy had crept in, but, having done the calculations and

Back to the drawing board: Ford’s Howard Marsden. announced “no change”, TEGA is unlikely to want to consider the matter again until after the NZ round in November.

However, Ford teams, aghast at the outcome, may press TEGA to look at the situation again.

“Overall race results showed there’s an obvious need for some

change, yet they introduce a system that results in no change!” one stunned team manager told MN. “Ford might have had a win at the weekend, but it took a major TWR failure to do it. If nothing’s done, they’ll walk Bathurst...”

The release to the teams of the figures garnered from the Avalon TEGA testing would seem to support Ford’s continued claim of a significant front downforce shortfall.

Whether that will now lead to any pre-Bathurst change is, however, another question.

TEGA Chairman Wayne Cattach said on Monday:‘The Board voted the system in unanimously and the results seem to have been accepted. It's a dead issue.

“Interestingly, if it had applied to the first four races this year, there would have been a change required, but the most recent four races didn’t show the required difference.

“On the evidence, you would say that Ford have closed the gap...”

- CHRIS LAMBDEN molorspon news

NEWS Gulf goes West

by PHIL BRANAGAN THE future ofthe VIP Pet Foods Queensland 500 remains in doubt following the announcement of the V8 Supercar Championship Series calendar last weekend.

AVESCO Chairman Ibny Cochrane stunned observers last Friday with the news that the contract for the race would not be renewed for next season.

On Sunday,he announced a 13race calendar for 2003 with two TEA’ (to be announced)dates reserved.

“We know when we are not wanted,” Cochrane said, referring to an apparent refusal by the Queensland Events Corporation to be involved in the race in the future.

However,the corporation issued a media release shortly afterwards, saying: “Neither Mr Cochrane nor anyone associated with Queensland Raceway has approached us to continue funding. Queensland Events Corporation is in no way responsible for Mr Cochrane’s decision to move the event to another state.”

Clearly, that leaves the door open to allow discussions to continue regarding the future ofthe event.

One ofthe major sticking points for the race is rumoured to be the sanctioning fee and, wMle no numbers are available, Motorsport News has been told that the fee for an endurance event is well in excess ofthat for a sprint race, but without any likelihood for increased spectator attendance(and hence, revenue)for the longer race.

There is also the possibility of AVESCO staging a 500km race itself, perhaps in conjunction with IMG (which promotes V8 Supercar races atAdelaide, Bathurst,Pukekohe, Sandown,and, until recently, Canberra)or Octagon Motorsport (which promoted the Queensland 500 for the first time last weekend).

V8 Supercar Championship Series

NC Rd.1 Rd.2 Rd.3 Rd.4 Rd.5 Rd.6 Rd.7 Rd.8 Rd.9 Rd.10 Rd.11 Rd.12 Rd.13

Australian GP, Albert Park Clipsal 500, Adelaide Phillip Island Eastern Creek Winton Barbagallo Hidden Valley TBA Oran Park TBA Bathurst Surfers Paradise Pukekohe, New Zealand Sandown

March 7-9 March 21-23 April 11-13 May 2-4 May 23-25 June 6-8 July 27-29 July 18-20 August 15-17 September 12-14 October 9-12 October 24-26 November 7-9 November 28-30

Konica V8 Supercar Series

Rd.1 Rd.2 Rd.3 Rd.4 Rd.5 Rd.6 NC

Wakefield Park Clipsal 500 (Support) Eastern Creek (Support) Phillip Island Winton Mallala Bathurst

Cochrane admitted that AVESCO may look at running its own event and did not rule out doing so at Queensland Raceway.

There are two significant reasons why AVESCO may return a similar event to QR. With almost half ofthe teams of TEGA(which is a 75 percent shareholder in AVESCO)based in south-east Queensland,the loss of a race would force teams to nominate a test track at which they do not race.

That would leave them severely disadvantaged over Victorian-hased teams that can test at either Wmton or Phillip Island,both of which host V8SCS and Konica Series races.

Secondly,AVESCO has deals in place with current sponsors that are fikely to require 13 rounds ofthe

February 22-23 March 21-22 May 2-4 July 5-6 August 2-3 August 30-31 October 9-11

championship and there are no obvious venues to host a 500km race to replace the VIP 500.

Phillip Island,Eastern Creek and Sandown have all conducted 500km races in the past,hut those tracks already have dates allocated for 2003.

Cochrane said that AVESCO’s preferred option was not to have ‘repeat’venues (ie, having one track host more than one round)but he would not rule it out.

Will there be a round ofthe V8 Supercar Championship in Queensland, apart from Surfers?

There are a lot ofreasons that there wfil; we would suggest that, after much negotiation, there wfil be a sprint race at the track in Jifiy and possibly a return to Synunons Plains in Tasmania in September.

No title sponsor for V8 series

THERE will be no title sponsor for the V8 Supercar Championship Series next season - but there will be a boost in series sponsorship.

AVESCO Chairman Tony Cochrane said in Queensland last week that the series would have two major ‘platform’ sponsors, with the series to be known as the “VS Supercar 18 Sepiemliar 2002

Championship Series, presented by X and Y’.

He further said that the sponsorship deals would raise as much as $35 million over the next five years.

While no details of the companies involved was forthcoming, Motorsport News believes that one of them wiU be Carlton Brewing.

The company currently sponsors the category through the VB Challenge and is title sponsor of the Barbagallo Raceway round of the series, the VB 300.

MN has been told that the company has agreed to a sixyear deal worth approximately $20 million.

-PHIL BRANAGAN

THERE will be no Gulf Western entry in the Bob Jane T-Marts Bathurst 1000.

The team, which took second place in the Konica V8 Supercar Series, has withdrawn the entry of the Harris Racing Falcon AU that was to be driven by Andy Jones and aTBA. n Nathan Pilkington will be among the first to race the new Nissan 350Z sports car when he lines up for the inaugural Bathurst 24 Hours in November. Pilkington, the 2001 Sports Touring champion in the Australian GT Production Car series, took delivery of his new car from Japan last weekend at his raceshop in Sydney. The 3502 is expected to become a popular alternative to the ubiquitous Porsche 'customer' GT racecars. n The battle for the Australian F3 tyre tender has boiled down to just two candidates - current supplier Yokohama, and Hankook. Both were tested at Phillip Island last week, with Yokohama providing the same specification of rubber as that which it supplies to the German series, and Hankook bringing its considerably harder-compound Italian series-spec tyre, A final decision is still on the horizon. n Expect a further influx of new cars to the Australian F3 series next year. A Perth-based outfit. Race Torque, is believed to be entering three 2001-model cars that are currently battling out the Asian F3 series. The cars will be steered by drivers from Hong Kong, and will be powered by Renault engines. It seems probable that the cars will run at Phillip Island's Island Magic meeting later this year ahead of their entry in next year's championship. n Former Ferrari FI driver Ivan Capelli is making a return to racing in a Ferrari. The Italian, who started 93 Grands Prix, has been working as an FI commentator for Italian TV, will join the British GT series in a Ferrari 360 GT this weekend at Donington. The Veloqx team, which runs ex-PHR Scuderia machines from here in Australia, is intending to run in the pan-European FIA GT Championship next season. n Former Minardi and Frost FI racer Gaston Mazzacane is looking at going racing in America, The Argentinean, who competed in 21 GPs between 2000 and 2001, has been speaking with Derrick Walker about either a program in CART or the IRE for next season. He is still only 27 years old.

9

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■

ten home of

[motorsport vs Supercar Championship* Oct 23

Surfers Paradise

.Rd 11

Nov 10 , . .Pukekohe

■Rd 12

Dec 1

■Rd 13

Sandown

Munro and Bar

CART FedEx Championship* ● Rd18 Oct 27 Surfers Paradise .Rd 19

Nov 3 . . . .California

Marions Cup

Oct 27 . . . .Surfers Paradise . .

Nov 17 . . .Bathurst

.RdIO

.{non Championship)

World Rally Championship* Nov 1 -3 . . .Australia . . . .Rd 13 .Rd 14

Nov 14-17 .Great Britain

World Series Sprintcars Nov 16 . . .Bunbury Nov 23 . . .Kwinana

. Rd 1 . Rd2 . Rd3

Nov 27 . . .Kalgoorlie Nov 30 . . .Adelaide

. Rd4

2003 VS Supercar Championship* Mar 9 . . . .Albert Park . . .(non championship) Mar 22-23 .Adelaide . . . .

.Rd 1

Apr 13

Phillip island

.Rd2

May 4 . . . .Eastern Creek

.Rd3

May 25 . . .Winton

.Rd4

June 8

Barbagallo . .

.Rd5

Jun 29 . . . .Hidden Valley .T.B.A Jul 20

●Rd6

Aug 17 . . .Oran Park

Rd8

Rd7

2003 Konica VS Series' Feb 23 . . .Wakefield Park

.Rd 1

Mar 22 . . .Adelaide

.Rd2

May 4 . . . .Eastern Creek

.Rd3

July 6 . . . .Phiilip Island . .

.Rd4

Aug 3 . . . .Winton

.Rd5

Aug 30 . . .Mallala Oct 10 . . . .Bathurst

.Rd6 .(non Champio nship)

■'i-- T.

Three left over crest, Dick: Ford President Geoff Polites gets busy with the pace notes while Dick Johnson gives the Barra some at Mount Panorama. Next month, Garth Tander will get to drive the Monaro, below, with three other lucky drivers in the Bathurst 24 Hour race. No wonder he is smiling ... (Photos by Marshall cass and DirkKiynsmiih)

2003 Formula T Championship Mar 9 . . . .Albert Park

.Rd 1

Mar 23 . . .Malaysia Brazil Aprs

.Rd2

Apr 20 . . . .San Marino

Rd 4 .Rd5

May 4 . . . .Spain

.Rd3

2003 CART FedEx Championship* Feb 23 . . .St Petersburg

.Rd 1

Mar 23 . . .Monterrey

.Rd2

Apr 13 . . . .Long Beach

Rd3

Apr 27 . . . .Europe

.Rd4

May 4

.Rd5

Rockingham

May 18 . . .Chicago

.Rd6

rt en1 home of

motorsport ■

All event dales in this calendar were correct at Ihe lime of printing. Please consult any individual tracks and or associations lor dale changes.

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

GARRY ROGERS

motorsport

JASON BARGWANNA

tander

●■j

■ra take a bow

NEWS Premier Gow The organisers of the ambitious Premierl Grand Prix single-seater series - now postponed from its projected launch until 2004 - have taken on Alan Gow in a bid to boost interest among the world's professional football (soccer) clubs.

■ incapacitated by a recurrent back problem, Ross Brawn stayed in England to direct Scuderia Ferrari's Japanese Grand Prix operations - from his armchair at home. The team's technical director had a satellite link to the pits at Suzuka that also provided a communication channel to drivers Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. Brawn's back complaint was apparently aggravated when he was given a passenger ride in a Ferrari sportscar around the Brands Flatch circuit in England last month.

Dad, I wanna borrow ya new car: Dick Johnson gets his ear chewed by son Steven, above, while the rest of Ford’s drivers cop a feel of what their 2003 race cars will be like, below.

(Photos by Marshall Cass and Mick Fishburn)

BOTH Ford’s V8 Supercar ‘Prototjrpe 1’ and Holden Motorsport’s Monaro Nations Cup contender made their debut appearances at Bathurst last weekend.

Garth Tander gave the yellow Monaro a few laps’ running on Saturday sifternoon, catching many (including AVESCO

Chairman Tony Cochrane) by surprise.

Come Sunday, Dick Johnson chauffered Ford CEO Geoff Polites for three laps in the first trackready version of the BA Supercar, which will be used for aero testing prior to life as a team show car.

Interestingly, both cars featured sequential Holinger H6S

gearboxes, a change from normal V8 Supercar practice.

The Monaro will make its race debut at the Bathurst 24 Hour race, skipping the Surfers round of the Nations’ (Tup Championship.

We are advised that it was not ready for the final NC round, which makes its Bathurst run all the more surprising...

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16 October 2002

By Allan Schofield

„,Ai1PL«oki46 ftRy/AYS To MaY8E lHA4PiCA?tWE tAo^T ItbrtiWAWTCARS!

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i

■ During the build-up to the season finale in Japan, Jaguar Racing's Eddie Irvine played down talk that it could mark his retirement from Formula 1.

In/ine, 37 next month, claimed that he was "all but sorted for 2003" but that, for contractual reasons, he could not elaborate. Out of contract with his present team, 'he has been linked with a return to Jordan, the team with which he started his Formula 1 career back in 1993. Jaguar Racing CEO Niki Lauda commented that nothing would be decided until after Japan. Jaguar's other driver, Pedro de la Rosa says he has a firm contract for 2003.

-QUENTIN SPURRING

lAiPtlAWitufeT

'’aWf'!

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■ Arrows Autosport, the holding company of the apparently defunct Arrows Formula 1 team, faces a winding-up petition at the Fligh Court in London on Tuesday (15 October).

The order is being sought by Britain's Inland Revenue, which is renewing its claim for unpaid taxes, having allowed the company six weeks grace in which to solve its crisis. Of the many other creditors, former team driver FleinzFlarald Frentzen is due to bring a case for unpaid wages on November 13.

1 11

Manderson’s German F3 test JAMES Manderson left for Germany yesterday for a German F3 test at Hockenheim.

The new Australian F3 Champion will drive a Swiss Racing Team Dallara-Speiss 02 around the Hockenheim short course this Friday.

"The team has almost pencilled me in for a seat," said Manderson. "This is being treated as a test for making sure.

I'm testing for the team 1 hope to drive for next year."

Accompanying him will be BRM chief engineer John-Paul Messenger, who himself has some serious runs on the board in Formula 3, having engineered for Takuma Sato during the Japanese driver's successful campaign for Carlin Motorsport in British F3 last year.

Manderson will return to Australia next week, only to fly back to Europe next month for a British F3 test, most likely with Carlin, that he won as part of his prize for taking the Australian title. The trip also looks set to include a run in a Team ADM Formula 3000 car at Vallelunga in Spain.

- MARK GLENDEIMNIIMG

Asiatech byJOESAWARD THE Asiatech operation, which has supplied engines to FI teams for the last two years, has been forced to stop its planned Formula 1 team because money that had been pledged is not available to allow the project to go ahead.

This is believed to have been caused by the downturn in the world economy.

It was never very clear who was involved in Asiatech, although the company admitted that its principal backer was Sony Corporation heir Hideo Morita.

Asiatech bought Peugeof’s FI operations when the French manufacturer pulled out of FI in 2000 and supplied engines to

Arrows in 2001 and Minardi this year. The organisation also set up a research and development facility in the old Williams Touring Car Engineering factory in Didcot.

At Monza the company gave details of its development work on an FI chassis, right.

But the money it seems has run out.

“Problems with previously firmly-guaranteed funding have prevented Asiatech from moving on to this second phase of the program,” the company announced.

It is not clear what will now happen to the staff at VelizyVillacoublay but many of them will probably move to either the expanding Citroen World Rally Championship program or to the Peugeot WRC effort.

McNish walks away

ALLAN McNish, in his last race with the Toyota FI team, was very fortunate to emerge unscathed from a high-speed accident halfway through the qualifying session for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

The Toyota went out of control in the high-speed 130R corner and spun, launched over the low kerb and into the barriers which are close to the road at that point. The impact speed was probably in the region of 260kmh and, fortunately, the car went into the steel barriers backwards with what looked like zero deflection from the angle of impact. This meant that the barrier took the full brunt of the impact and the result was that the car went through the top two layers of the three-tier fence.

The impact is reckoned to have resulted in McNish undergoing forces of around 60G. If the car

had hit the barriers head-on it is unlikely that McNish would have survived. As it was, the failure of the barrier probably helped McNish, as it absorbed a lot of the energy of the shunt.

The impact destroyed not only the barriers but also the fibre-optic ring which is used by the Formula One TV crew which meam that there were not many views of the impact. The repair work took 75 minutes.

McNish suffered no major injury but his knees made heavy contact with the inside of the Toyota"s monocoque, causing serious bruising and swelling.

Although McNish took part in the morning warm-up on Sunday in Suzuka, Formula 1 doctor Sid Watkins decided that McNish should not be allowed to race as he felt it would not be 100 percent safe.

- JOE SAWARD

Belgium’s future lies with teams THE FIA World Council has handed the future of the Belgian Grand Prix to the Formula 1 teams.

The Belgian politicians have been very unhelpful in recent months, passing a law that bans all tobacco sponsorship in the country from the middle of 2003. The FIA says it is going to ban all tobacco advertising from 2006 but, until that happens, wants countries to accept Formula 1 as it is.

The European authorities seem happy with this and are moving towards just such an agreement but the Belgians want to be different. One of the problems is that the majority Flems were able to outvote the minority Walloons-over the legislation. The Spa-Francorchamps circuit is in Wallonia.

The problem has continued on and off for 12

several years but so far the race has been saved thanks to legal manoeuvres from the Walloons but this time it seems that there is no way out. The FIA was apparently happy to vote the race off the calendar, despite the best efforts of the Belgian delegate John Goossens to get the date of the race changed so that the 2003 ban could be avoided. Goossens says he is confident that the Automobile Club of Belgium will be able to negotiate with the politicians to change the law for 2004 and 2005 but that it is now too late to do anything for 2003. This idea was rejected out of hand hut the World Council then agreed that it would let the race go ahead if the Formula 1 teams could agree amongst themselves not to run with tobacco advertising.

This is a very neat way of passing the buck.

Dumping the Belgian GP, which is held on the classic Spa circuit, would be a deeply unpopular move amongst FI fans, who do not care about the political issues of tobacco sponsorship and just want to see cars racing on the high-speed sweeps of Spa. The teams may all agree to the idea but this would be a major achievement. The tobacco issue should not be a problem with the teams that are not tobacco-sponsored but one can foresee a situation in which the smaller teams might take advantage of the situation and try to squeeze concessions out of the big teams in order that the race goes ahead. The big teams will probably object to being blackmailed and will hold out and so it is entirely possible that the race will end up being cancelled.

-JOE SAWARD motorsport nows

NEWS

calls It quits

Photo bvsulton-imaaes.com

Good news; you won a Jag. Bad news; it’s an R3 Jaguar Racing and British TV station Sky FI digital+ have concluded their unique Formula 1 fan competition, in which the prize was a genuine 2002 Jaguar R3 racecar. It ended last week with an event for 16 finalists at the team's Milton Keynes HQ, where the car was won by 32-year-old truck driver Adrian Dawn. All money raised from Sky FI digital-i- telephone lines during the on-air competition have been donated to the Queen's Golden Jubilee Charities and Jaguar's official charity, the NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children).(QS) n Sebastien Bourdais will test for RenaultFI next month. The bespectacled Frenchman is the pleasantly surprised 2002 FIA Formula 3000 champion, having been promoted by the penalty imposed on Czech driver Tomas Enge for drug abuse.

Mercedes grabs top BMW engine designer

Photo by sutton-images.com

Wrong number: Orange is leaving Arrows - and FI. ORANGE, the mobile telephone company that has been sponsoring the Arrows team for the last three years, has announced that "at this stage" it has no plans to undertake any further team sponsorships in Formula 1.

Orange has yet to give details of its sponsorship plans for the future but it is anticipated that the company wi l l increase its trackside signage program and may also become the title sponsor of a number of races.

The Japanese GP marked the first time that a race featured trackside signage from both Orange and Vodafone. Normal ly the races 16 October 2002

{Photo by iutton-images.comi

are divided between the two companies, with Orange having some races and Vodafone the others. It is not however expected that the mixing of the two brands will happen at other races next year.

Orange's chief executive Jean-Francois Pontal said that the FI sponsorship had been a great success, despite the problems this year with Arrows.

"It has e xceeded all expectations both in terms of del ivering worldwide brand exposure and providing a platform for showcasing Orange products," he said.

- JOE SAWARD

MERCEDES-BENZ has poached one of BMW"s top engineers as it tries to get to grips with its rival on the FI scene.

BMW Motorsport"s general manager of engine development Dr Werner Lauremz is to leave the company with immediate effect, laurenz, who has been in charge of the FI program since he replaced Paul Rosche at the start of ■2000, is expected to go to Mercedes-Benz where he will begin work on April 1 next yfear. It is expected that Laureinz will go to work at llmor BMercedes in Brixw.curth in England. It is expected that he will take up a piosition at the same level in the company as Marion lllien.

"It will be a big improvement for MercedesBenz," said BMW Motorsport boss Gerhard Berger. They will be powered by BMW technology."

Laui?enz"s job at BMW will now be taken by Heinz Paschen, the lead designer of the powerful BMW VI0 engine - JOE SAWARD

n Nicolo Petrucci, the chief aerodynamicist of the Arrows team, has signed for Jordan. The former Ferrari engineer is seen as having been one of the major reasons for the good showings of Arrows in recent years but the disintegration of Tom Walkinshaw's team has meant that he will now move to Jordan where he will work with Henri Durand. The two men both worked with John Barnard at Ferrari's Guildford Technical Office in the late 1980s. n FIA President Max Mosley and his advisor Alan Donnelly are currently on a tour of clubs and governments involved in the planning of FI events. The trip has taken them to Beirut, Bahrain, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai and Suzuka. Mosley is due to break ground on the construction work of the Shanghai racing circuit on Monday. The race will not be confirmed until after Bernie Ecclestone visits the city in the course of the next 10 days. Mosley will then fly back to Paris where it is believed he has a meeting planned with Ferrari boss Jean Todt to discuss the need for change in FI. ■ Nico Rosberg, the son of 1982 World Champion Keke Rosberg, is to test,a Williams-BMW F1 car at some point shortly. Rosberg Jr recently won the Formula BMW championship in what is his first season in single seater racing. BMW Motorsport boss Gerhard Berger says that he believes Rosberg "has the potential to become a Formula 1 driver" - JOE SAWARD 13

FI calendar changes THE World Motor Sport Council met in Paris last week and voted to change the Formula 1 calendar for 2003, in order to give teams the three-week break they have been insisting on in the northern hemisphere summer.

The Hungarian GP, which had been scheduled for August 17, has been pushed back to August 24, thus creating the necessary three-week break between the German and Hungarian races. The downside of the decision is that Hungary and Belgium now have to be just seven days apart.

This will not be easy for the FI circus as all the necessary equipment (notably the TV centre) will have to dismantled, transported and rebuilt again, all

Party on!IfFerrari win at Hungary in 2003, there won't be as much tie (Photo hy Marsh/Bothwell ) for celebration ... within four days. This will mean that crews will have to work around the clock to get the job done, which will be tiring for those involved and expensive.

Much depends on whether or not the Belgian Grand Prix takes place as planned but if not there will then be a three-week break between the Hungarian GP and the Italian GP at Monza.

Apart from this change, the calendar remains as it was when it was announced in June.

The date are as follows: March 9, Australia (Melbourne): March 23, Malaysia (Sepang); April 6, Brazil (Sao Paolo); April 20, San Marino (Imola); May 4, Spain (Barcelona); May 18, Austria (Spielberg); June 1, Monaco (Monaco); June 15, Canada (Montreal); June 29, Europe (Nurburgring); July 6, France (Magny-Cours); July 20, Great Britain (Silverstone); August 3, Germany (Hockenheim); August 24, Hungary (Budapest): August 31, Belgium (Spa); September 14, Italy (Monza); September 28, USA (Indianapolis); October 12, Japan (Suzuka).

- JOE SAWARD

Bran

Panoz star tojc

Jimmy goes where? Toyota testing CART may lose another of its American drivers in Jimmy Vasser.

The 1996 CART champ, who has had a miserable season with Tearri Rahal, probably won’t be back with the team in 2003, with prirriary sponsor Shell going 'to either withdraw or severely cut back its funding of the team.

That would leave Bobby Rahal unable to afford the price being asked by 36-year-old Vasser. . A move to NASCAR racing is one Vasser is entertaining. A possible Busch Series-schedule that would allow a hole to compete in the Indy 500 is one possibility for him, for Vasser seriously looked at heading stock car racing after parting company with Chip Ganassi’s team at the end of 2000.

,,-r

Maybe not Shell, hutfunky as hell: Could CART he losing another of its Americans? tPlumr h\ .M

Wilson tests Champ Car

LAST year's Formula 3000 champion, Justin Wilson, has tested for the Newman/Haas Racing outfit.

The tall Brit ran one of the team's Loia/Toyotas around the Homestead oval, and is eyeing a seat in the team for 2003, should Cristiano da Matta join Toyota's FI outfit.

Much more at home with increased space in a Champ Car as opposed to a Formula 1 chassis, Wilson ran over 600 kilometres around the 1.5-mile oval.

"It’s quite an experience to get behind the wheel of one and experience the speed," he said.

"I thought I'd experienced quite a bit, but nothing quite like going around an oval. It's impressive and it takes a bit of time to get used to the different aspects of driving ... a whole new world.

14

Out with the bow-tie and in with the red and white: Penske Racing has been busy testing the new Toyota IRI engine.

GIL de Ferran has had his first taste of Toyota’s new-for-2003 Indy Racing League engine.

It was the first time the Brazilian had been back in a race car since suffering a concussion in a crash at Chicagoland Speedway at the penultimate IRL round, de Ferran ran more than 600 kilometres at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, running a 2002model Dallara equipped with the new motor.

Team-mate Helio Castroneves has already tested the new motor (at Kentucky in August), which the team will switch to from Chevrolet for next season.

“It’s going really well,” said the

two-time CART champion.

“It’s going well from two standpoints. I very happy to be here, it’s nice to be back on the horse again. And secondly to be the first guy to drive (the)Toyota engine around this track is a pri-vilege. Things are going well.”

“We’re just really happy to be here,” said John Faivre, senior manager of track support for Toyota Racing Development.

“Indy is our main focus, and the test is going really well. We’re obviously new to the IRL, and this engine is new for us, so I think we have a long way to go to catch up to what the other guys are doing, but I think we’ll get there.” molorsporl news

ii for 24 Hour

in international Porsche squad for Bathurst 5

C

I

WHILE it still is yet to be officially announced, Paul Tracy is definitely going to Player's/Forsythe next year.

But why no announcement?

Because his current team Team KOOL Green - has blocked him from making an announcement, citing it as being a breach of contract.

Throw in a reported $50,000 fine from the team for publicly bagging the Honda engines in Denver and it's all a very unhappy situation ...

Attention Suppliers of Leaded Racing Fuel [AVGAS)for Motor Sport

Recent amendments to the Regulations of the Fuel Quality Standards Act(2000) now require CAMS, along with ANDRA and Motorcycling Australia to apply for an Approval to permit the use of Leaded fuels in certain competitions.

As part of this application, CAMS must list all the suppliers of Leaded Fuels who will sell such fuel to competitors, including circuits, aerodromes, service stations etc. These businesses will become "Regulated Persons" under the Act. If you operate a business that intends to sell leaded fuel for racing until 30 June 2005, please contact CAMS prior to Friday, 1

November 2002 and provide the following details: l Registered Name, ABN or ACN, and address of the business l Physical address of the business l Telephone and Fax numbers l E-mail address (if available) l Name of Contact Person If you are aware of a business from whom you may purchase leaded fuels, please ensure that they are aware of this requirement.

Once the Regulations are in force (date not known at this time), it will be illegal for a business to sell leaded fuels (other than for aircraft) unless it either holds an Approval itself or it is listed as a Regulated Person under the auspices of the Act.

Peter Lawrence, Manager-Technical Services, CAMS, PO Box 147, Caulfield East, Vic 3145 P 03 9593 7777 F 03 9593 7700 E technical@cams.com.au 16 October 2002

by AARON NOONAN

I AUSSIE David Brabham will be I among the line-up for the 1 Bathurst 24 Hour in November, i The Panoz ALMS racer will be returning to the site of his 1997 AMP Bathurst 1000 win to share a Cirtek Motorsport Porsche GT3-R with 1998 Le Mans winner Stephane Ortelli, American Vic Rice and Aussie F3 racer Darren Palmer.

“What expat Australian driver wouldn’tjump at the opportunity to come back with a top team and compete in a race like this at Mount Panorama?” said Brabham, who now bases himselfin Georgia.

The Cirtek team will be taking another GT3-R to the Mountain.

5 though its driver hne-up hasn't |. been confirmed. The team ran a car I in the ALMS “Race of a Thousand I Years’in Adelaide in 2000, where I Palmer joined the team.

I “I’m thrilled to be back with the team again and to be driving a Porsche with a genuine chance of winning,” said Palmer.

Ortelli is one of the hottest Sportscar racers in the world. He’s won this year’s Porsche Supercup championship as well as the FIANGT Championship in addition to running at Le Mans with Henri Pescarolo’s Courage/Peugeot squad.

The Frenchman won Le Mans along with Allan McNish and Laurent Aiello in a works Porsche 911 GTl 98 in 1998.

NEWS Blundell goes bush MARK Blundell, former Formula 1 driver and television commentator, is to make his rallying debut on the Network Q Rally of Great Britain next month, Blundell will drive an MG ZR Super 1600. His co-driver for the event will be Formula 1 journalist Bob McKenzie of the Daily Express.

Blundell is MG Sport & Racing's motorsport ambassador and has competed for the company at Le Mans for the last two years. n Bernie Ecclestone recently had a long meeting with CART's Chris Rook and Gerry Forsythe although details of what took place has not been revealed. It is not clear what this might have been about but it could well have been about trying to convince Jacques Villeneuve to take up Forsythe's offer of a drive in 2003 with the Players Team, Rook has talked recently of his desire to see CART as a feeder series for Formula 1 and it is possible that this was also on the agenda. n Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony George has confirmed that he is seeking a new title sponsor for next year's US Grand Prix, the contract with SAP having concluded. n The FIA World Council has ruled that in future there will be no advertising allowed on the race track itself. In recent months there have been a number of experiments to see whether or not it is feasible to have painted signs on the actual race tracks, in order to avoid this (because of the potential for accidents caused by the different surfaces)the FIA has decided to solve the problem with a blanket ban.

-JOE SAWARD

Porsche lOOl CT3-RS

This is the ideal car to contest outright honours in the upcoming Bathurst 24 hour and is eligible for Che 2003 Nations Cup championship.

This car has done 16 hours since new. Engine has just been refreshed by Porsche Motorsport Germany. Comes withi 3 sets of BBS wheels, spare set of Sachs shock absorbers, Stack dash logger, and spare diff ratio to suit Bathurst.

Further details contact Peter on 0407355360 15

The Future is coming Dubai-based series bound for Australia

BOB Jane has entered into a partnership with Dubai-based Futureracers to reinstate ‘Legends’ racing in Australia.

'This is very exciting,” said Jane. ‘‘We are moving to promote a series in 2003 that enables US Legends, Aussie Racing Cars and Futureracers to compete together in a national series.”

Futureracers will enter the market as a joint venture initiative by an Australian/United Arab Emirates consortium. This consortium will manufacture the new Futureracers both in Australia and the United Arab Emirates. Final assembly will be carried out in Australia by an exV8 Supercar fabricator.

Racing would be largely concentrated in the eastern states, and the plan is to stage an inaugural series commencing at Calder Park in early 2003. ‘‘What makes this a fantastic project is the plan to run the same style of races in 2004 in the newly-constructed Dubai Autodrome,” Jane continued.

“It will be complete in

September 2003, it covers 7.5 kilometres with a five kilometre FIA approved Formula One racetrack. This is a great opportunity for more Australian drivers and support teams to compete overseas”.

A spokesman from the Dubai consortium, Mr Khaled Al Zubeidy, said that the Futureracers’cars will be exclusively available from Revolution Race Gear, and a very attractive finance package will enable competitors to finance the car, driving gear, CAMS licensing and tuition all in one package.

Khaled also said the Dubai group planned to involve TAFE colleges for track mechanical support service. This will be similar to the TAFE panel beating service at Bathurst and also available at tracks in Queensland.

Under tl'iis program, nominated TAFE students will be chosen to attend select events in Dubai as part of a student exchange program.

WRC Safari il

by MARK GLENDENNING

THE Safari Rally finally lost its tenuous grip on a slot in the WRC schedule after the FIA announced that the famous African event will not be a part of the 2003 calendar.

In a statement released after a meeting of the World Motor Sport council in Paris two weeks ago, motorsport’s governing body confirmed that “the Inmarsat Safari Rally has been excluded from the 2003 Championship calendar because the necessary guarantees for the event had not been given and the ASN had failed to meet its obligations to the FIA.” The Safari Rally, which had become almost an institution in world rallying, had been a part of the championship since the early 1970s, and was the last WRC event to be run on open roads.

A provisional calendar has been released, but may well change in the face of pressure from manufacturers to reschedule certain events, including Rally Australia, on logistical grounds.

The FIA also confirmed that both Cyprus and a new event, the Anatolian Rally in Turkey, will feature on the schedule for next year, although the dates for each are yet to be finalised.

Other changes include a limit of four tarmac rallies in Europe in 2004. Currently, there are five Monte Carlo, Sanremo, Tour de Corse, Catalunya, and Deutschland.

On a technical front, the fuel capacity for both Group A and Group N rally cars will be restricted to 95 litres from 1 Januai-y 2003.

For both the full story on the

If-:

Safari no more: Africa is no longer represented on the WRC calendar.

(Photo by Photo4/BOTHWELL)

possible date change for Rally Australia and the reactions to the loss of the Safari event, turn to page 78 of this issue.

2003 FIA World Rally Championship(provisionai) Rally Monte Carlo 22-26 Jan Rally Sweden 5-9 February Rally New Zealand 9-13 April Rally Argentina 7-11 May Acropoiis Rally 4-8 June Rallye Deutschland* 23-27 July Rally Finland 6-10 August Rally Australia 3-7 September Sanremo Rally 1 -5 October Tourde Corse 15-19 October Rally Catalunya 22-26 October Rally GB” 5-9 November n Subject to an examination of safety issues by the FtA Safety Commission ** Subject to the observers' reports on the 2002 event

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motorsport news

NEWS

umped

I Just what i rallying needs: I another Finn!

8

Paasonen set to replace McRae RYAN Briscoe had an encouraging outing in the latest round of the German Formula 3 series at Hockenheim two weeks ago.

The Sydneysider got things off to a mixed start, finishing third fastest in the first qualifying session before whacking the wall in the second outing.

Nevertheless, a smart drive in the race was was rewarded with, third place. Ahead of him was Gary Paffett(Rosberg), the Englishman’s victory sealing his claim to the 2002 Championship,

and Timo Glock(KMS).

Race two was run on a wet-butdrying track, and Briscoe’s decision to remain on wets proved to be the wrong one. The track dried a little too much, and Briscoe’s PREMA Dallara-Opel was left to finish fifth, and second of the wet-shod cars behind Glock.

Norbert Siedler(Swiss Racing Team) made the right call however, and was rewarded with his first German F3 win, with Vitantonio Liuizzi(BSR)and Markus Winkelhock(Mucke)chasing him home.

TV crews draw fire RALLY of New Zealand Clerk of Course Morrie Chandler has said that a new policy towards the media on rallies, principally television crews, has to be found after two major accidents involving TV crews inNZ. In the first, three people were injured when a Group N car crashed off the road into the wreck of Markko Martin’s Focus, and then into a crew retrieving a tape from Martin’s car on the outside of the bend.

No warning triangle was displayed, as it was impossible to remove it from the Focus.

In the second crash, during the final leg, Carlos Sainz knocked down a cameraman standing in what FIA officials described as “a totally inappropriate position.” The injuries range from broken legs and ankles to a collapsed lung and ruptured spleen.

“What I think the sport is going

Sydney Unite 79 Newton Rd Wetherill Park 02 9609 1101

Trouble brewing: Three people were hurt while retrieving a tape from the (Photo by Neil Blackbourn) crashed car of Markko Martin, above. to have to do is find some guidelines for the media people or we won’t have a sport at all. It’s a very delicate balance finding what’s fair and reasonable to both parties. We’ve had two moderately serious injury crashes that would not have happened if TV people had been standing in sensible places,” Chandler said.

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The New Zealand Herald claimed that an unnamed rally official had said that the TV crews “got what they deserve.”

“They think they’re bloody Gods, waltz in and stand where they please all because they have a TV camera and a'TV bib. Arrogance doesn’t stop a rally car.”

-JONTHOMSON

AFTER a strong performance in Rally New Zealand, Jani Paasonen looks set to replace Alister McRae at Mitsubishi.

The young Finn did what the incumbent team drivers McRae and Delecour had been telling people was impossible, and that was to challenge the frontrunners in the WRC2 Lancer.

Paasonen captured the car's first stage win and was in fourth when he stepped over the edge on the unforgiving Kiwi roads and crashed.

Talk is that McRae will be paid out of his contract, and that De'lecour's future is also shaky.

Paasonen has been confirmed in the Ralliart line-up for Australia and the Rally of Great Britain, making up a three-car team with Deleacour and McRae, provided that McRae's shoulder has fully recovered.

One Mitsubishi team member, who did not want to be named, told Motorsport News that the team was now paying for its decision to trim driver costs when it signed Delecour and McRae junior.

"There wasn't a lot of choice when we lo$t Tommi Makinen, but Alister and Francois looked reasonable prospects and had much lower sign-on fees," said the Mitsubishi source.

"We are paying now for a lack of attack and results. Jani has been a breath of fresh air and his attack has boosted team morale enormously, as well as proving the car is capable of setting fast stage times."

-JON THOMSON

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17

DTM shunt-o-rama BERND Schneider drove a classy race to take out an eventful DTM season-finale at Hockenheim two weeks ago.

Schneider(AMG MercedesBenz CLK) kept things together while behind him, everything fell apart, Jean Alesi was lucky to walk away from a massive shunt that also included Martin Tomczyk and Marcel Fassler, below.

Tomczyk brought out a second

safety car after a puncture caused heavy contact with Bernd Maylander.

Manias Ekstrom (Abt-Audi TT) finished second ahead of Uwe Alzen (AMG).

Laurent Aiello, who clinched the 2002 DTM title at Zandvoort, had early dominated the qualifying race in his Abt-Audi TT, finishing ahead of Schneider and Ekstrom.

Alesi exited early after a crash.

THE Apex Motorsport squad, run by veteran Sportscar team boss Richard Lloyd, has been dumped from Bentley’s Le Mans 24 Hours assault in favour of the organisation that designs and builds the British car maker’s EXP Speed 8 coupes.

Racing Itechnology Norfolk, which is owned and run by Bentley sister company Audi, will mount what is expected to be a two-car attack on the French enduro next year.

The move, which has been billed as a consolidation, is part of a greater involvement by the German marque in the Audi-VW group’s bid to \vin the 24 Hours Photo fay sutton-irTageo.com | with Bentley in 2003- witness the loaning out ofAudi driver Rinaldo Capello to test the car late last month.

Bentley’s bid will be bolstered by an influx of personnel for Germany. That is likely to include engineers from Audi Sport and, 15 - 17 November 2002 possibly, Joest Racing, which has Mount Panorama, claimed a hat-trick of Le Mans wins for Audi.

Bathurst NSW The core of the Apex team, PROCAR Australia invite you to be an integral part of this unique believed to be about 15 people, will endurance event. Enjoy the race action "face to face" with top also move over to RTN, which international teams racing against Australia’s best, PLUS,PLUS,PLUS masterminded Toyota’s Le Mans - check out the benefits!

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campaigns in 1992 and 1993 as TOM’S GB.Among that number will be Apex team manager John Wickham, who becomes team director.

The announcement coincided witli Bentley’s long-awaited confirmation that it would take two cars to the Sebring 12 Hours by way of preparation for Le Mans in June.

No drivers have been annoimced, but a superteam comprising three former Le Mans winners with Formula 1 experience is still on the cards.

Candidates include Johnny Herbert,Allan McNish, Mark Blundell and Martin Brundle.

Test driver Guy Smith, who tested the car two weeks ago, is in the frame for a drive. Also in the picture are Andy Wallace, Eric van de Poele, JJ Lento and Capello, who also drove the 2002-spec EXP Speed 8 at Snetterton late last month.

Capello, who was present for Bentley’s second run on Michelin tyres, said:‘We don’t have news on what Audi is going to do next year, but if we are not at Le Mans I would like to do it with Bentley.”

-GARY WATKINS

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Maximum temperature Yamaha US goes for Aussies

YAMAHA will run four bikes in the AMA championship next season - and two of them will be for Aussies.

Damon Buckmaster, Aaron Gobert, Jamie Hacking and Jason DiSalvo will ride all-new, fuel injected, factory-prepared Yamaha YZF-R6s in the AMA US 600 Supersport class, with DiSalvo also competing on his YZF-R6 in the AMA US Superstock class.

In addition to racing the YZFR6, Buckmaster, Gobert and Hacking will battle for the AMA Formula Xtreme championship on Yamaha YZF-Rls. "This arrangement with Graves Motorsports allows both teams to focus on one specific machine and put forth our best effort in each class," said Keith McCarty, Yamaha racing manager.

"I expect some great results this coming year from the entire team that we've assembled.

We've got the perfect combination of young guns and guys who have already delivered great results."

20

MAX Biaggi ran hotter than the weather at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The Italian, noted for his love of hot weather, waited 11 laps to move on Alex Barros’s Honda. above, and, when the Brazilian’s slipper clutch malfunctioned briefly, Max swept by, quickly established a gap and went on to take the win.

“Now I have a chance to finish second in the championship which is not my dream,” grinned the Roman after the race.

“But if you remember that in the pre-season tests we were slower than the two strokes and now we can run with the Hondas, you see that we have made great improvements. I always judge my performance by how my team-mate rides and today think I did well. I am very happy with the team.

Even though they know I will not be with them next year and I know it we are both working hard, very hard to do the best.”

Valentino Rossi started on the outside of an all-Honda four-stroke front row and was fourth on the opening lap. But clutch problems pushed him wide on lap 3, which let Carlos Checa’s Yamaha past, settling up a race-long battle between the two and Torhu Ukawa’s Honda.

Rossi retook the lead in the

battle on lap 18 and, despite the efforts of the other two, hung onto the spot.

“I don’t mind fighting with someone for a position,” said Rossi later, “but Ukawa sometimes overtakes in impossible places and it is difficult to respond. If he is better than me he should pass and go and I will follow, but if he cannot pass cleanly he should maybe follow and then try something late in the race instead of slowing us both.”

Fourth-placed Daijiro Kato was fourth, well clear of a good battle for fifth that saw Shinya Nakano (his first ride on the Gauloises Yamaha Ml four stroke) get the better of Carlos Checa, Kenny Roberts Junior (Telefonica Movistar Suzuki) and Loris Capirossi (West Honda Pons) on the first of the two strokes.

Points: Rossi 310, Biaggl 189, Ukawa 182, Barros 159, Checa 136, Abe 123, Capirossi 109, Roberts 92, Kato 91, Jacque 66.

MARCO Melandri only needed to finish within two points of Fonsi Nieto to clinch the 250cc title, but a broken spark plug put the Italian’s Aprilia out of the race.

Nieto went on to win with team mate Toni Elias, with Roberto Rolfo (Honda) third from Yamaha’s Sebastian Porto.

Elias’s win keeps the 250 title alive at Phillip Island, with 50 points up from grabs in the final two races.

Points: Melandri 248, Nieto 221, Rolfo 186, Elias 161, Porto 156, Battaini 124, LocateUi 108, Alzamora 101, De Puniet 96, Matsudo 82.

ARNAUD Vincent (Aprilia) won a telling 125cc race from Lucio Cecchinello (Aprilia) and Dani Pedrosa (Honda) after an exciting race that was spoiled by a flagman’s error.

The flagman mistook a group of riders running at the back of the pack for the leaders.

FIM rules require the race results to be taken from the penultimate (rather than final) lap. That meant that reigning World Champion Manuel Poggiali, who crashed on the last lap while running fourth, was reinstated as the fourth place finisher and picked up 13 points instead of the seven that he was due for picking up his fallen machine and coming home ninth.

Pedrosa, who had taken second from Cecchinello on the last lap, was put back to third, losing four valuable points.

Points: Vincent 240, Poggiali 220, Pedrosa 207, Cecchinello 152, Jenkner 148, Nieto 113, Sanna 94, Azuma 93, Kallio 78, Borsoi 76.

molorsport news

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Abe gets Mlfor Phillip Isiand

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NORICK Abe will ride a fourstroke M1 MotoGP machine from Yamaha to contest the Skyy Vodka Australian Motorcycle GP this weekend.

Abe, who has been the leading Yamaha two-stroke rider in the series this season, had complained publicly that his Antena 3 team wasn't given an Ml, while the less-

with f Melai the 2!

GP.

HE may not have a seat for 2003 but Alex Barros proved in Japan he deserves one.

The Brazilian veteran made his debut on Honda's RC21IV work for him, beating Valentino Rossi after a tense battle.

And, after a frustrating season aboard Sito Pons's Honda NSR500 twostroke, he made every post a winner.

"This bike is the best bike I have ever ridden," Barros said later. "The only problem is the braking and especially the engine braking, and today I think I have less problems than Rossi."

The normally unflappable Rossi battled a series of set-up problems all weekend and could not come to terms with his similarly-mounted opponent.

"We had some problems but at the level we are at its our job to sort them out," said Rossi's crew chief Jeremy Burgess. "Alex rode a great race."

Loris Capirossi took third after leading early on his two-stroke, while Daijiro Kato(who took a convincing pole position on the other Honda '4') retired after breaking a clutch.

Max Biaggi retired after shredding a too-soft front tyre, leaving Tohru Ukawa to fourth to give Honda the first four places. Carlos Checa on the first of the Yamahas was next ahead of Kenny Roberts on the Suzuki GSR-V.

The Spanii past h oppor on the only t(

1 butm Stick 6 chicar IV could Melan came and w Loc made Hondc leadini

successful Gauloises Tech 3 Yamaha pairing of Shinya Nakano and Olivier Jacques had landed the new machines ahead of him.

Nakano and Jacques made their four-stroke debuts last weekend at Sepang in the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Abe, above, will also ride the Ml in the final round of the series in Spain.

The other four-stroke rider who will make his 'home' debut on a four-stroke will be Andrew Pitt.

The Australian Kawasakia ace subbed for the injured Akira Yanagawa in Malaysia and is expected to ride full-time next season.

Alzam AFTEt Pedro winni andS Series leader Arnaud Vincent looked set for second with three laps to run but his ^rH^'suffered a broken exhaust, leaving him to struggleTiome for a single point in 15th place.

TONI Elias won a great battle

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21

Miami CART

Going for the record: With seven wins and three races to go, Cristiano da Malta could eclipse the CART record of wins in a season, currently held by Michael Andretti (1991) and Al Unser Jr (1994) at eight. (Photo by sutton-images.cofn)

Cris is da Champ! da Matta clinches CART title on streets of Miami

by PHIL MORRIS IF you were hoping to see the fight for the FedEx Championship Series continue into the Australian round of the series on the Gold Coast in a fortnight’s time, you’ll he disappointed to know that Cristiano da Matta won his „ seventh race of 2002 at Miami to clinch the title.

The Newman/Haas racer led the most laps around the tight and tricky Miami street layout(the first time the city’s streets have hosted a Champ Car race since 1995)to claim the Vanderbilt Cup, heading home team-mate Christian Fittipaldi and Jimmy Vasser, the latter’s best result since a podium at Long Beach.

His points lead of69 is too much for main rival Bruno Junqueira who finished fifth in Miami- to topple with three races to go at Surfer’s Paradise, California Speedway and Mexico City.

“Starting sixth I was not expecting to win the race, but other guys made mistakes and we didn’t and it seems like it’s been like that many times this year,” said da Matta, who also earned the $US1 million that went along with the Vanderbilt Cup. “It feels great to win the championship - almost impossible to explain - but winning the race today even makes it better.”

Da Matta becomes the fourth 22

A great day for Newman/Haas: While da Matta, above, took the Vanderbilt Cup, Christian Fittipaldi, below, made it a team 1 -2.

Hell for Shell: 2002 has been a pretty lean year for Jimmy Vasser and Team Rahal but a third at Miami was a turn around. (Photo by sut1on-images.com) driver to clinch a CAET championship for team owners Carl Haas and Paul Newman, their last coming with Nigel Mansell in 1993.

The Brazilian, who will be trying to become the first repeat winner of the Honda Indy 300 on the Gold Coast, took over the lead on lap 20 when pole-sitter Tbny Kanaan copped a penalty for making contact with Scott Dixon that put the Kiwi out.

“I got inside him and for some reason, he(Kanaan)decided to turn right and squeeze me into the fence,” said Dixon.

“We had the car to win so this is pretty disappointing.”

One driver trying to roll the dice and out-nm everybody was Team KOOL Green’s Paul Tracy. The Canadian made his first stop on

lap four when the cautions aired for contact between Mario Dominguez and Patrick Carpentier, thus putting his Lola/Honda out of sequence with the field. It all came to nothing in the end when he was involved in a tangle on lap 94 with Jimmy Vasser, Junqueira and Michel Jourdain Jr. The luck wasn’t wdth team-mate Dario Franchitti either, the Scot crashing into the tyre wall on lap 91 while running in the top three.

He ended up 10th.

Alex Tagliani took fourth, clear of Jimqueira, Jourdain Jr, Adrian Fernandez, Michael Andretti and Kanaan.

(Photos by sutlon-images.com)

'

Points: da Matta 212,Junqueira 143, Franchitti 129, Carpentier 115, Fittipaldi 114,Jourdain Jr 102, Tagliani 95,AndrettWasser 90,Tracy

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OPINION

Car Spangled

KciTKI MotorWithMouth f' Eric Bana

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1

HAVE always loved motor racing and I have been watching Bathurst for years. My dad, my brother and I would sit down all day and not miss a minute. Mum took some years before she got into motorsport...

My earliest recollection of watching the race on TV was when I was about four years old; it was 1972 and Peter Brock won. Then I remember the Ford Falcon XA Coupes running 1-2. Being a Ford man, that was a highlight.

Every single race was great.

When Dick Johnson was running the Tru-Blu and Greens Tuff Falcons, that was a terrific period. I remember the day that he went off at Forrest's Elbow like the day Lady Di died. My phone went crazy; it rang 10 times in five minutes! "Did you see what just happened in Hardie's Fieroes?"

I was the token Ford guy at school; there were 100 Flolden guys and about two of us! I was Ford's spokesman; whenever Dick didn't win, I would cop it-on the Monday. It's the same as being a St Kilda supporter, I suppose.

But when Ford d/d win at Bathurst, I gave it to them ...

When I was a kid, I had a teeshirt made up with a screenprinted message on it, 'Dicky Johnson walks on water'! I was always proud to wear it, but I don't think that I fit into it any more! remember the Moffat years well, then the 'dark period' of the Jags winning. I was actually there in 1989 when Dick and Bowe won in the Sierra. That was a good day, but I was not keen on the Sierra era. For a start, it was a four-cylinder, twodoor British car. No matter how you configure that, with the exception of a Lotus Cortina, that stuff just doesn't appeal to me. And I am not big on turbo stuff.

In a way, I think it is a pity that they could not get a mix of

the local V8s with the international formulae, because I think that that would have been exciting to watch. But, it didn't work out.

But what we have now is pretty good. always make sure that Bathurst Sunday is pretty well organised in advance.

The kids have to have indoor activities planned for the day, and while I would have liked to have all my mates in for the day to watch the race, it was the day before I left for Classic Adelaide, so there was still a fair bit to do.

I actually had a television switched on in the garage ...

I am taking my Falcon XB Coupe over to Adelaide for the event. I did Targa Tasmania in it in 1996. I am really looking forward to it - I have had it for about 20 years.

X was great to see Peter Brock racing again, even if I am a Ford man.

It's great that Peter was able to recognise that he was going to enjoy the event, even if he had retired. That is what I have always admired about Brocky; he took the opportunity to race at Bathurst again and everyone accepted the news in its intended spirit.

Whenever you see Peter talk about anything to do with motor racing, he is so passionate about it. Fantastic. t would have been a great day if Ford had won on Sunday, but you do have to hand it to Skaife and Richo. They drove a good race - and they deserved to win.

Not that I watched the end of the race. I turned the telly off once Craig went out and took the Falcon out for a quick run around the bay in Melbourne ...

Actor Eric Bana starred in The Castle, Chopper and Black Hawk Down and next year will appear as namesake Bruce Banner in The Hulk. His new movie The Nugget is released nationally tomorrow 20

1

river-swapping and other

Everyone is so busy about Formula Vs talking problems that they have missed an important point: there is not much wrong with the sport that a couple of victories from Williams or McLaren would not fix.

We are all Ferrari-ed out. For years we used to say that the best thing that could happen ±0 FI was to have a few ' hnraa victories but (eveBtually)the Red Army of Maranello got it right and now ws have all had too much of a good thing and we are a little queasy at the thought of another year of Ferrari success. We have seen such domination in the past but in the old days the teams at least had the decency to allow their two drivers to fight for victories. Ferrari is a greedy organisation.

But it will not last for ever.

When one team gets ahead, the others are humiliated and that is the greatest spur of all to the kind of people who inhabit the Formula 1 world.

That humiliation will drive

n I

*s

them on to better things.

The greatest strength of the sport is the people in it and the fact that they almost all believe in the purity of competition. Formula 1 is about the pursuit of excellence without compromise. It is about excess and about dreams. If the small teams cannot survive,then they should not be there. This has always been the way and should always be the way. One or two teams are struggling to survive but this is not down to the sportit is down to the fact that they have not done a good job. "ft is not rocket science," says Gary Anderson of Jordan.

"If we build a good car and score some good resuits we will get the money we need, if we do not do that, we will not" 5 There are things which can be improved about the sport but car-swapping, weight penalties and all the rest of it are not a good idea. Formula 1 will lose many more of its supporters if we don red

:■

noses and behave like clowns.

The sport does r»ot need to turn itself into Marineland and have performing seals.

Try as I might I could not escape the feeling that Max Mosley and Bemie Ecclestone were just having a little fun and I particularly enjoyed the the idea of drivers swapping between teams in the course of each season. I look forward to the moment when someone from the FIA has to explain to Patrick Head that his driver line-up for Monaco will be Alex Yoong and Enrique Bernoldi...

Would the show be improved if Michael Schumacher was in a Minardi (though Australians might well salivate at the prospect of Mark Webber in Ferrari!)?

Would putting the Bolshoi Ballet in army boots be a good idea? Why no4 have a lucky dip before each qualifying session to see who gets the nitrus oxide bottie? Why not utilise the technology of the FI black boxes to get to a situation in which if drivers

have a shunt which would have killed them in a Lotus 49 they should be declared "virtually dead" and be banned from racing. This would keep the turnover of drivers going and add excitement... etc etc etc.

It difficult is all rather timessilty. for FI These teamare owners but there are some practical ideas which will help matters without ruining the purity of the sport.

For a start, the television coverage needs to be improved. There is great coverage in FI but K is being kept for the pay-per-view TV channels. No-one watches pay-per-view and when the current deals end no-one is going to pay for it either. The way forward is to provide the free-to-air stations with decent coverage and let them pay for it. They will pass on the costs to their advenisers and everyone will then be happy.

The idea of forcing Formula 1 into ever-tightening

FORMULAJ

^weighty’matters technical regulations is a blind alley. Freezing gearboxes and bodywork is not a good idea.

If we are going down that route the thing to do would be to abandon the practice of the teams building their own chassis and go to Lola for identical machinery. No-one wants to see that happen.

The biggest cost to any team is the engines. If the world economy is such that this creates problems filling the FI grid then the best thing to do is to tell automobile manufacturers that if they

wish to use the obvious benefits of the sport for their own gains then they must be willing to supply not one but two teams with their engines in exchange for space on the cars.

As an added bonus they should be forced to use different brands so that the sport would suddenly have works teams from the likes of Ferrari, Maserati, MercedesBenz, Dodge, BMW,Roils Royce, Ford, Jaguar, Honda, Acura, Toyota, Lexus, Renault and Nissan. The costs would be hugely reduced and the sport enhanced.

The other area of great waste is testing.

Testing is as mad as a nuclear arms race.

The carsjiecome too reliable and the relative positions of the teams never really change.

it is just money wasted.

At the root of it all is the fact that the sport has no flexibility. The Concorde Agreement gives the team the powers to^decide rules but they never agree on anything and so nothing happens. The agreement, which powered the sport to its booming status, is throttling it. Concorde needs to be rewritten to reward teams on an equal basis so that the money is not soaked up by the teams that do not need it.

Success should be rewarded by the sponsors not by the TV money. If teams want prize funds then these should be supplied by the title sponsors.

Anyone who has seen American racing will know the power of a big cash prize.

People get excited when they

M.

188 Saiinii' know that two drivers are fighting for a $5m pay-off. It spices up the action. So why waste that potential?

But above all else the people in FI should stop talking down the show, ft is still a great show if greed did not get in the way... ... and that is the bottom line!

sM &

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Five minutes with .

Mapk Skaife m dull l^dianls rI

Ten yeans after their last Bathurst win together HRT's Bynamic hue connueretl the Mountain again.

Here is what they saU after the race i

QUESTION: Mark, your fourth victory at the Mountain. How does it compare, because today was a particularly tough race.

MARK SKAIFE: It was tough but this place throws up everything, doesn’t it? If you think about the weather conditions, how many cars are in contention, the Safety Car there at the end, the way this race is run, especially the last couple of years, the pace is extraordinary.

The pace today, it was a sprint race every time it went green and it’s an exceptional place to drive race cars around on. «, Q:You had pole, you’ve won your fourth Bathurst but you’ve also wrapped up your fifth Australian Touring Car Championship so that must make it extra-special.

MS: It does. Last year we were lucky enough to do the same. It was a dream come true in lots of ways because to win this race and wrap the championship up last year was unbelievable. The guys have worked so hard, it’s such a hard series.

The competition is the hardest we’ve ever seen and you could see that today.

There were so many cars that were fast enough to win.

It hasn’t really sunk in yet to be honest, but I’m sure it will with a couple of quiet beers.

Q: Let’s talk about those early laps. You and Brad (Jones) were dipping into the 2m09s in the latter half of that first stint and that was working you both very hard.

28

MS:Yeah, the pace was on. The hard thing about this is that you’ve got to make sure the fuel consumption is OK and we were pretty lucky in that respect. The car, all day, was very good on fuel.

Yesterday we did a 2m09.57s in the practice session with full tanks and I said to the guys, T don’t think it will be that fast(in the race)’ but it was like a qualifying lap on full tanks. As it turned out, that’s what everybody was doing.

It was an extraordinary pace and, although there’s a lot of Safety Cars, whenever they’re not there, it’s on for young and old in a sprint race.

Q: Where you confident that you could get past Steve (Richards)?

MS: No,I wasn’t, at all. With the championship up for grabs, I probably wasn’t going to take a huge risk. The \\ guys had told me I had these bags in the front air duct and I needed rr to get past as quick as I could.

I actually planned to have a major attack at the top of Mountain Straight if I could get onto it well enough. As it turned out, Stevie ran wide a little bit and I was lucky enough to get up there. I’ve got to say also, that he was really fair about it. There’s a lot of guys in this category who would have turned hard left and we could have had a really ugly moment. He drove the car straight and it was a credit to him - very

sportsmanlike driving.

Q: What information were you getting from the team about the debris in the front air dam?

MS: I was getting all these alarm hells, like an IT operator, there at one stage. Every lap I’d come along and I’d be given fuel numbers and it was all happening. I didn’t want to alarm the boys but I knew they’d be seeing the same stuff and the gearbox temperature got to 181 degrees and the last fuel one I saw was 115 degrees and I just shut that one off too.

It just comes up like a Christmas tree ‘alarm, alarm, alarm’ and every lap you’d flick it off. There wasn’t too much left at the end. I wouldn’t think the engine’s in the best order it’s ever been in...

We didn’t have one little hiccup with the car all through practice. One of the things is about the engineering stuff. A plastic bag stopped Craig - Mark Skaife Lowndes’s car and as it was, you have to have enough of an engineering parameter to get away with it.

We must have had a better cooling capacity and all the things in terms of doing good race cars, to be able to get away with it and that’s what’s happened.

I said to the guys,'I don't tliiiik it wilt be that tost(in the race)'but

tanks

Q: Have you got any comment on the severity of the penalty handled to Greg Murphy?

MS: I’m sorry, no idea. I’ll stand right out of the controversial stuff.

I don’t need to know about that stuff!

Q:Jim, your seventh win here at the Mountain. Is it possible to compare this win to ones you’ve had in the past?

JIM RICHARDS: I think this one is the best because I probably haven’t got that many more left to go!(laughs). It was great, Skaifey drove brilliantly and I helped it along in the midday shift kind of thing and the pace was on, even for the co-drivers.

We battled away as hard as we could and it was very slippery out there in my stint. I was way, way, too cautious but there was no way I was going to spear off the track, so Russell got a hit of a break on us. Up until that time, Russell and I were blazing along nose-to-tail having a good time.

This race is really about the last 20 to 30 laps. If someone else is doing a good job and hassling you, you either block them and try to keep them behind you, or let them past and try to keep up. If anyone was giving me a hard time. I’d let them past and try and keep up

with them.

When it comes to the pits, you gain a couple of seconds there and be back in front of them again.

The big thing is not to get into any fisticuffs and drive the car as hard as you can so the main man can get in and do the job at the end.

You’re hired to do a job and if it’s good enough, that’s fine, if it’s not good enough, you can’t do anything about it. Fortunately today it was good enough.

moiorspon news

INTERVIEW

Five Minutes ^/vith l ll

Sin Jack Brmam Australia's thnee-ffme worU champion ihnven mahe asentimental return to Bathurstlast weehemi where he was reimiteil with his Brahham-Repco BT13. He spohe to PIH.BBANAGAni MOTORSPORT NEWS: What do you think of the performance of Michael Schumacher this year?

JACK BRABHAIvI: I think that it has been fantastic. I think that Michael has proved b^ond any shadow of doubt that Re is one of the best drivers there has ever been. I can only name about three in his class, and they would be Juan-Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss and Schumacher. I really do admire him. I think that he is fantastic, a vei-y intelligent driver, he has a great head on him and he really knows what he is doing.

MN:Do think that Ferrari has done the right thing, with team orders between its drivers this season?

JB: Ferrari does not have much choice, really, they have the two best cars out there. What I would like to see now is for some other teams to catch up to them. If no other teams catch up to them shortly, I think that the sport will decline.

The cars, though, they should change the rules and regulations in some way to try and even out the cars somehow. Ferrari has a fantastic advantage over everyone at the moment, and I am sure that technology, somewhere along the line, could level out the cars.

Unless they do that, and do it soon, I think that it will be bad for the sport.

MN:Paul Stoddart has done a good job with Minardi this season, do you think that is a good sign? Is it important to have smaller teams surviving in Formula One? JB:Yes. I think that Paul has done a fantastic job, actually. Itjust shows the difference between his team and Ferrari and the amount

of money it takes to do it properly.

With the amount of money that he has available, Paul has done a fantastic job.

MN:And what about Mark Webber’s first season in Formula One? JB: I am really looking forward to seeing Mark in a better team next year. I think that that will be very interesting.

"They have computers doing all the work lor you.

I don't know why they even pay them! n

-Sir Jack Brabham

I think that Mark is going to go a long way in Formula One. You have to have the opportunity to be in the right place at the right time, and I think that is where Mark is now.

MN:What do you think will happen in Formula One in 2003? Do you think that Ferrari will win again, or will Williams and McLaren be able to come up to their level?

JB: If they do not do anything to change the regulations, to try and change the balance, I think we will be watching Ferrari win again.

But the Williams, with the BMW engine, has the potential to be right up there with them.

Hopefully, that can happen next year.

MN:With semi-automatic gearbox,traction control and so on, do you think that Formula One has gone too far in terms of driver aids?

JB: I certainly do. If you look at it from the day when I was driving, they are now driving a car that you virtually cannot get hurt in. They have computers doing all the work for you. I don’t know why they even pay them!

MN:And are they over-paid?

JB: For sure!

MN:So,if you were running Formula One now,like Bernie Ecclestone is, what changes would you make?

JB: I would not change the money, despite saying they are paid too much, because I would like to be a part of it!

30

Give me some advice about Bathurst: Sir Jack Brabham gets the good oil from Jason Bargwanna and Garth (Photos by Dirk Klynsmilh and Phil Branagan) Tander prior to having a drive at Bathurst last Sunday, right. motorsport news

INTERVIEW

-.fr

16 October 2002

Peter Brock

Return of the King

Peter Brock has become a part of Bathurst folklore, and his comeback at the Mountain after retiring five years WHEN a well-stocked merchandising trailer sells so ago \lvas, for many, the stuff that completely out of gear that members are called upon dreams are made of team to hand over their uniforms for sale, you know that something Brock shared his thoughts on the special is going on. five years away, the return weekend with MARK GLENDENNING ofAfter Peter Brock and the #05 Holden to Mount Panorama was an event of almost mythical proportions for the General’s die-hard faithful - a literal second coming. The hype surrounding the nine-time Bathurst champion’s comeback was the story of the buildup to the Great Race.

It intensified when the team set up camp in pitlane at the beginning of the weekend, and lasted right up until Mark Skaife,just moments away from defending both his Bathurst and V8 Supercar Championship titles, swept past Bro'ck on the approach to Murra/s Comer.

It was the type of symbolic moment that many other categories try so hard to orchestrate, and while Brock would no doubt have prefen’ed to have been on the lead lap at the time, it was the best finish imaginable for the Holden army except, of course, a win for Brock himself So how did the man himselffeel about the weekend?

“I did enjoy myself, very very much so,” he said. s “1 didn’t have any vision of the & way it had to be in terms of the I sports psychologist ‘create a I visualisation’sort of stuff. I just

thought,‘yep. there’s going to be a heap of people there, and they’re going to be pretty excited and they’re going to want a bit of time.

And then I’m going to have to find time to get on the track and get the car cracking along, and just enjoy it’. And it all happened!

“After a couple of laps, it was just business as usual. I was intent on trying to get the car to be as user-friendly as possible. That was the biggest challenge of the whole weekend. You didn’t quite know whether it was going to oversteer, or understeer, or hop sideways or what have you.

“We were developing a new suspension bit for the car. So we had a very good engine, braking, and all that sort of stuff. So we needed to get the car so you could steer it nicely. I found that most challenging, to be honest with you.

“Satmday afternoon I think we were about 80 percent there, and by Satm’day evening we were both pretty happy. And Craig(Baird) and I both reckoned during the race that it was nearly there. You could actually get along pretty nicely.”

As things turned out, it would be a difficult afternoon for the Team Brock Commodore, with a stuck throttle and overheating problems ranking high among a list of dramas that plagued the car.

“It’s just the way it goes sometimes. Things don’t quite work out the way you’d envisaged, but we didn’t lose heart. I was quite determined to get the cai- to finish. There’s a tendency these days to spit the dummy if things molorsport news

FEATURE

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don’t go your way. I thought,‘no, we’ve got to make this car finish,’ and it was most gratifying for everyone involved that we were still there at the finish.

“You’ve got to try to accomplish the things you started, and given the time you’ve got and just taking everything into consideration, I think we actually came out of it pretty good!”

So,five years on from his last visit to the Mountain, did throwing the helmet on and jmnping into the car offer the same buzz as the old days?

I Started to think, 'Hold on, I'm really enjoying myself here, passing a few Jokers...

11

It

“Oh, I really enjoyed that! A the start I was thinking, ‘I really want to finish this race,’ and by the second stint, I started to think, ‘hold on, I’m really enjo3ung myself here, passing a few jokers ...”

Interestingly, Brock didn’t fi nd the car to be dramatically different to the one he drove in his last V8 Supercar outing.

“They were basically identical.

There were detail changes like the suspension geometry and different power steering and all of that sort of stuff... better quality brakes ... it’s just nicer. “ I put it to Brock that the team’s merchandise did ‘pretty well’ over the weekend, and he thought for a moment.

“Oh ... I wouldn’t say that. I

16 October 2002

Photo by Dirk Klynsmith

think it did extremely well! I don’t think ‘pretty well’ does it justice.

The guys that look after that side of it I think underestimated the land of support.

“We sold out of a lot of stuff very early on.”

If you’d asked one of the deleriously happy souls who were busy buying up all the merchandise in question what could be better than a Brock comeback at the Mountain, the answer would have been fairly simple: two comebacks.

But Brock hasn’t taken the bait just yet.

“Let's put it this way. I have no intention of driving again. If you’d asked me at the end of 1997, I’d have said that. But life is always changing, you get those little twists and turns, and to be frank.

I’ve just got to be prepared to say, ‘well, let’s see what’s up the road’.

“So I’m not going to paint myself into a corner. I was badly injured only a few weeks ago, and I’ve come back from that injury. I feel pretty good, I’m very fit. There were a few twinges of pain here and there, and there are still bruises.

“People like to say,‘well, you’re 57, you can’t do those things’. Well I like to say,‘Peter Brock can’. And I think anyone else can if they put their mind to it.

“So in a sense, you can make a point, and at least be some sort of benchmark for people out there to say,‘well hang on, if he can do it.

I’ll get out there and have a go’.

“I’d like to leave the impression that life is what you make it, really.”

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Thursday

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Jason tops the time sheets as HRT,Seton,Perkins set the early pace

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IT was just a Thursday,like any other Thursday at Mount Panorama.The air had a chill and there was something of a threat of rain.

Okay, it was not quite like any other Bathurst Thursday. The newly built-up kerbing at Reid Park (exclusively reported in MNews,September 17) was causing grief among the drivers, and the lack of track time was causing a few drivers and team owners to scratch their heads (see breakout).

But, otherwise, it was just like Thursday always was. There was plenty of mid session jousting, a red flag stoppage and the usual fluriy of fast laps at the end.

And, as usual, the Holden Racing Team ruled the roost.

It went like this. Marcos Ambrose set the ball rolling, Steve Ellery put in a quick lap but, before the Forces of Ford could start opening the champagne (alright; it was only Thursday, so Tarax)the red rattlers came out to rattle the opposition.

This time, it was Jason Bright leading Renaissance: Bad year it might have been but Seton (left) was on the pace immediately. Thursday is data day - the 00 Motorsport engineers confer with Lowndes, right. Photos: Dirk Klynsmith, Marshall Cass

the way, all but matching Mark Skaife’s equivalent time from 2001, despite the changes to the track and a different tyre, not to mention 12 months of development.

It was pure HRT: the times came at the end of the session on the team’s Q500 rubber and they were doing it, if not easy, then pretty well with a bit in hand.

To add to the woes of the opposition, a glance at the times of individual drivers would not have brought any solace. Bright was quickest, Skaife second, Glenn Seton third and Jim Richards fourth - of course, in the same car as Skaife. Jim was delighted with the time, which he modestly put down to a good car and team, and the restjust shook their collective heads.

Seton, who stated that he wished every round of the series was at Bathurst, was rapt, having made minimal changes to the #5 FCR Falcon, while the next man, Larry Perkins, was just the opposite.

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motorsport news

Bathurst 2002

Time Gentlemen, please

a S

I “It didn’t handle very nice,” reported LP.“We adjusted it and fixed it up.”

He also learned, at the post session media conference, that co driver Paul Dumbrell had had an excursion across the countryside at speed but, generally, there was reason to be cheerful in Castrolland.

David Besnard was next. The Queensland 500 winner was also unhappy at the start of the session, the former Wayne Gardner car oversteering around the top of the mountain. The Stone crew set to some changes and Bezzy(who even had a spin at the start of the

HOW much time is enough time?

Once upon a time, the cars hit the track on Wednesday morning, foiiowed by another in the afternoon. Two more sessions followed on Thursday, with quaiifying on Friday, the (top 10) shoot-out on Saturday and the race on Sunday.

This time, it was different. A singie 60-minute session on Thursday, with another Friday prior to quaiifying that afternoon.

And even the Thursday session was a last-minute thing; originaily, there was no V8 Supercar track time allocated for Thursday at all.

Why? Cost-saving. V8 Supercars are, by world standards, almost ridiculously cheap racing cars to build and run but the teams that run them have to do so in Austraiian dollars, so cost-cutting is stiil a priority. Less track time means less cost to the teams.

A good Idea - but was an hour a day too little time?

Most of the team principals spoken to by MNews thought the situation was ridicuious, pointing session, costing a quick time) was much more content at the end of the hour.

Gardner had problems of his own. He was looming up on the Holden Young Lions car at the Caltex Chase when Nathan Pretty found three slower cars on the track. Pretty hit the picks harder than WG expected and the gi’een car whacked the red, splitting a bumper. The damage was not too serious and both teams carried on.

continued on page 38

Missed by that much!Skaife just trailed team-mate Bright - and supported additional track time. out that since the hardware and the teams were aiready at the track, why couldn’t they run an extra session? One team owner put the cost of doing so at less than $2000 per car - though this was countered by others, putting the figure up to 10 times higher.

There were several pledges to change things next year;

“Yesteryear, we had a session for second drivers,” said Mark Skaife. “It was a good idea.”

“In Japan, we get 90 minutes in the morning and 90 in the afternoon,” said Wayne Gardner.

“And that is for a two-hour, twodriver race.”

“Saving money?” mused Larry Perkins. “AVESCO wastes a lot more money on lawyers.”

But, maybe, the last word should go to Glenn Seton; “It's not cheap to come to this race. It costs a fair bit to sit in a grandstand, buy food, or even pitch a tent. We have to realise that the most important people here are the spectators and, if they are going to come here on Thursday, we have to put on a show for them.”

Seton had a great idea; run longer sessions (say, two hours) but limit the number of laps each car can to just over half that.

That way, there will be something happening on the track for ionger, but at iittle or no more cost to the teams. Sounds good to us, we who stand and watch ...

- PHIL BRANAGAN

d r i V i n g ^ 1 1 fe driver education & motorsport academy

l defensive driving for the road l advanced driving courses l corporate drive days l motorsport tuition l CAMS licence preparation l Peter Brock master classes

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Thursdav

Kerb that enthusiasm

i^Castrol/

LP on the pace early?... It must be Bathurst again continued from page 37 Greg Murphy and Todd Kelly were sixth fastest, neither driver able to find more than one clear lap at a time, while their European offsiders were well down the list, Andy Priaulx and Yvan Muller separated by a second. Priaulx in particular felt comfortable at race pace and affirmed thal^the Frenchman would qualify the car.

Next came Ambrose. He swapped in and out of the car with Paul Weel and ran only new-ish tyres in the session, both peddlers happy with the set-up of the car and looking forward to Friday.

Former racewinners followed, Tony Longhurst hustling the Betta Falcon to ninth ahead of the Steven Richards/Russell Ingall Commodore, which had a quiet session, both drivers happy to plod along until the time came to go hard.

Next came Mark Larkham, whose main mission for the day « was to ensure that co-driver Will Power got plenty of seat time, and the impressive Anthony Tratt, the Toll Falcon showing real speed to lead a bunch of Fords; Ellery (delighted on old tyres), Craig Lowndes (likewise; with the team pleased with the day’s work), Greg Ritter (best of the Shells, who felt they were heading in the right

Photo: Marshall Cass

direction), Meix Wilson (playing himself in slowly) and John Cleland, who ran as high as fifth in the session before the fast guys struck.

The other OzEmail car was less well off. On his fifth lap, John Bowe felt the engine go funny and coasted to a halt, prompting the red flag. The #21 car was brought down off the mountain, where a broken camshaft was diagnosed and an engine change ordered.

Likewise, the second Valvoline car was in problems, Jamie Whincup getting only four laps done before a crankshaft broke.

The other GRM car was 23rd, Jason Bargwanna a tenth faster than Garth Tander, the team not chasing a time.

And the Brock factor? There was a media and Holden Corporate scrum in the Team Brock bunker as The Great Man climbed aboard, Peter Brock completing the first half of the session before Craig Baird hopped in to set the 20th best time of the session.

But the highlight was the news that the team’s merchandising was going gangbusters, with threequarters of the upmarket signature leather jackets sold by Thursday afternoon. The jackets looked the business and were priced at $600 apiece ...

- PHIL BRANAGAN

THERE had been a fair bit of chat about Mount Panorama’s kerbs in the 12 months since the 2001 visit of the V8 Supercar circuit.

The resurfacing of the track effectively lowered the height of the kerbs around the track, drivers pointing in particular to the kerbs at the Chase, on Pit Straight and some over the Mountain.

But there was never any suggestion that the kerb on the inside of Reid Park was a problem. So there was some consternation among the drivers when they discovered that a//the kerbs had been raised and that there was now a ’ramp’ where the Reid Park kerb used to be.

“It almost fired me off on the first lap,” reported Steve Ellery. “I though,‘sheeesh’...”

“They have done an awful job,” concurred Jason Bright. “It is way, way too high. We’d like to get it changed overnight.”

“Bathurst has never been a 'no kerb’ racetrack,” agreed Mark Skaife. “Last year they raised the track and the kerbs were too low.”

“Now it is ve/y dangerous,” said Glenn Seton.

“It’s a typical move by people who do not understand racing,” said Larry Perkins.

The concern of the drivers was that misjudging a corner by even 10cm at 190kmh would allow the car to hit the kerb and fire it across the track into a concrete wall. In those circumstances, a car (or even more than one) could be destroyed.

Skaife was pretty determined to see it put right. By Friday morning, nothing had been done but common sense prevailed, with a PM decision to grind the kerb down from its 150mm to 90mm.

“These things are all about safety," affirmed Skaife. “Credit to them (the stewards)”.

- PHIL BRANAGAN

Photo: Dirk KJynsmtth

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Congratulations to Mark Skaife and Jim Richards, and all at HRT for a magnificent win in this years Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 at Bathurst.

This victory is the 10th by drivers wearing RPM Racegear.

A statistic of which we are justifiably proud.

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R/ICEGEAR Freecall 1800 804 778 to reach your nearest store.

Friday

JB takes

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^Old bloke' puts one over on the qualifying master; Caltex Falcon out for the weekend; 8 Commodores,7 Falcons make up the Top 15

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THERE is, according to Japanese folklore, bad luck associated with being aged 42.

Wayne Gardner commenced the year aged 42 so he was looking forward to October 11. That Friday would be his 43rd birthday and, with a cake wheeled out for a photo opportunity, he was hoping the following year would hold better things for him.

It did not. After David Besnard leapt out of the box quickly and set a good lap time, Gardner hopped into the Caltex Havoline Falcon and set out to run laps but, at the top of Mountain Straight, it all went wrong.

“I went for the brakes and there was nothing,” said Gardner later.

“I tried to make the corner but it was going way too fast and it went in backwards. It was a big hit; the biggest of my car racing career.”

It sure was. The car was totalled, the rear corner smashed senseless. Ross Stone’s first reaction was that the car was unrepairable; he was right, and the team’s attention turned immediately to their spare bodyshell at home on the Gold Coast. At 1:00pm, the team announced that they were out of the race. Well, the car was, and Gardner was.

A bad news/good news story awaited the Queensland 500 winner on Saturday ...

Gardner got off lightly, suffering only mild concussion and medical opinion was that he would have been well enough to continue driving, should he been required to. But he was not; by Saturday, he had returned home.

The cause of the accident was odd. There is, in the Stone cars, a valve placed in front of the driver’s seat that, somehow, was knocked in the driver changeover. Either Besnard or Gardner had inadvertently knocked it with a foot during the pit stop. When Wayne went for the brakes for his first hard stop from over 200kmh, only the rears worked and, pumping the pedal, he managed to slow the whole mess to 125kmh on impact. The seat broke but the driver did not.

The session was stopped while the scene was cleared and what followed was one of the best sessions in the recent history of The Great Race.

The times came down into the 10s (led by Marcos Ambrose)then the 9s(led by Mark Skaife). Then Jason Bright pipped him by half-atenth before Skaife hit the ball out of the park with a 2m08.45s. It was the fastest touring or V8 Supercar lap ever seen on the mountain.

With that in mind, we proceeded to the qualifying session looking for something special, and we got moiorsport news

Bathurst 2002 it. Skaife immediately set the standard with a 9.18s, only for John Bowe to knock in a 9.11s reply.

Skaife nipped in for a new set of rubber and returned to battle and what a lap it was ...

It was an 8.40s. The slapping sound heard up and down pit lane was jaws hitting the ground.

Skaife had made a few little changes to the car, which obviously worked, and he was 1.3s faster than the opposition at that stage.

Jim Richards hopped in for a few laps, after which the car was parked. It looked like the game, such as it was, was over.

But it wasn’t. Despite having lost most of Thursday with engine failure, Bowe was confident that the car was quick. Brad Jones had clanged with Russell Ingall in practice, bending a steering arm, but the car was put right and JB, in the car for the whole session, put on the eyes and went out.

The Pursuit was chilling. The gap came down to 0.3s with an 8.71, in he came for a tweak and, with five minutes remaining, and an oil flag out at Skyline (after an offfrom Greg Ritter)jthe Tasmanian pulled the.pin and returned with a 2m08.38s.

HRT,the #1 car cotton-wooled, and with Jason Bright less than thrilled with an oversteering #2 car, was unable to respond.

“We are just a couple of old blokes doing the best we can,” grinned Bowe later. “The credit belongs to the team. I just drove it.'

Fast, oh'viously...

The ‘problem’, such as it was, was that the Ford was taking two flying laps to get its tyres up to optimum speed. The Holdens, hy comparison, needed just one. Not a great omen for the shoot-out.

HRT were second and third.

Bright missing an 8 by 0.02s, while Steven Richards “crept up” on a nineflat in the Castrol car which he had aU session (“The boy did a good job,” said an admiring Russell Ingall).

IMG The news is bad: A downcast Ross Stone, flanked by his drivers, called a press conference to explain why the Caltex car was out.

Photos: Dirk Klynsmith

Next came Craig Lowndes, who set the time early and then disappeared into the garage after bending the steering on the wall at The Cutting, though he felt that the 00 car was good enough only for a high-8 or low-9, not a Bowethreatening time.

Mighty Max was sixth fastest.

The Brazilian got his teeth into the track quickly, after ha'ving looked forward to his Bathurst debut. describing it as “more European, but unique”.

Right behind him was Steve Ellery, the Super Cheap AU running through four sets of tyres as Steve nmg its neck, with no reported problems.

Garth Tander was seventh, dragging speed out of the GRM Commodore, the team working

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away diligently. Tander dominated the seat time in the car (as usual) but Jason Bargwanna was having input in his limited laps and all but matching Tander’s times.

Murphy and Todd Kelly followed from the faster group. The team was in something of a quandary; Kelly was going to qualify the car

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and, hence, it had his set-up on board. That did not overly suit Murf’s driving style, so a compromise would have to be settled on for the race.

In the context of 2002,it was strange to see Marcos Ambrose down in 11th, but that matched continued on page 42

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\ .

MOTORSPORTDEALERS ^ 16 October 2002

r'

liJ 41

Fridav Maxed out: Wilson continued his run of top qualifying efforts.

Photo: Marshall Cass

race car. But we are not

hitsFral

going to be on pole.”

So ... look, we said in the preview issue that the intra-DJR team battle

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Ritter is out of contract at the end of the year and would make excellent

continued from page 41 the situation a year ago. The Pirtek driver admitted that he had gone too far in a ‘soft’ direction on set-up and promised better in the shoot-out, suggesting that an 8.4 was “do-able. After all, Skaife just did two of them!”

There were a bunch of contenders from the ‘slower’ group.

Larry Perkins made tjie jump, winding up ninth,,while Wilson gazumped him. Glenn Seton zeroed in to 12th, while the final ‘slow’ man was Greg Ritter,

Pos No 1 21 2 1 3 2 4 16 5 00 6 65 7 31 8 34 11 9 51 10 11 4 12 5 02 13 14 29 15 18 10 16 17 888 18 15 19 40 3 20 21 66 22 17 23 600 24 161 46 25 26 05 27 43 28 35 29 7 30 22 31 20 32 14 33 75 34 56 35 13 36 24 37 87 38 021 39 9 40 59

scraping into 15th. Some effort; Ritter was driving DJROll, the oldest of the team’s AUs and, presumably, not the team’s best hardware. With Alan Jones pleased to have input on the tech side, Ritter blazed around in 2ml0.1569s,four-tenths up on the sister Steven Johnson/Paul Radisich chassis 013, which was still having all manner of problems with a lack of turn-in and, hence, a loss of cornering speed. li It was pretty comfortable,” said Ritter. “The team worked really hard andwe have a pretty good

Drivers Brad Jones/John Bowe Mark Skaife/Jim Richards Jason Bright/Tomas Mezera Steven Richards/Russell Ingall Craig Lowndes/Neil Crompton Max Wilson/Dean Canto Steve Ellery/Luke Youlden Garth Tander/Jason Bargwanna Larry Perkins/Paul Dumbrell Greg Murphy/Todd Kelly Marcos Ambrose/Paul Weel Glenn Seton/Owen Kelly Rick Kelly/Nathan Pretty Paul Morris/Wayne Wakefield Greg Ritter/Alan Jones Mark LarkhamAA/ill Power John Cleland/Tim Leahey Andy PriauIxAvan Muller Cameron McLean/Tony Scott Cameron McConville/Warren Luff Tony Longhurst/Matthew White Steven Johnson/Paul Radisich Steve Owen/Dale Brede Greg Crick/Phil Scifleet John Faulkner/Rick Bates Peter Brock/Craig Baird Mark Porter/Geoff Full Jamie Whincup/Mark Noske Rodney Forbes/Neal Bates Dugal McDougall/Allan Gurr Andrew Jones/Matthew Coleman Tyler Mecklem/Daryl Beattie Anthony Tratt/Paul Stokell Kevin Mundy/Michael Simpson Christian D'Agostin/David Krause Peter Doulman/Bob McDonald Ross Halliday/Allan Grice Jason Richards/Simon Wills David Besnard/Wayne Gardner Ron Searle/Jamie Miller

Car OzEmail Falcon AU HRT Commodore VX HRT Commodore VX Castrol Commodore VX 00 Motorsport Falcon AU Betta/Briggs Falcon AU Super Cheap Falcon AU Valvoline Commodore VX Castrol Commodore VX Kmart Commodore VX Pirtek Falcon AU Ford Credit Falcon AU EA HYL Commodore VX Sirromet Commodore VX Shell Flelix Falcon AU Orrcon Falcon AU OzEmail Falcon AU Kmart Commodore VX VIP Falcon AU Lansvale Commodore VX Betta/Briggs Falcon AU Shell Flelix Falcon AU CAT/Briggs Falcon AU 3M/Coopers Falcon AU Dynapack Commodore VX Motorola Commodore VX Flydraulink Falcon AU Valvoline Commodore VX Milk/00 FalconAU' Pepsi Commodore VX Natrad Falcon AU IMS Commodore VX Toll Falcon AU Actron Air Falcon AU IMS Commodore VX Doulman Commodore VT Gulf Western FalconAU Team Kiwi Commodore VX Caltex Falcon AU Transtar Commodore VT

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Of the rest, Mark Larkham, John Cleland and Yvan Muller got bumped out ofthe top 15, the Scot in particular ruing the loss of a good lap that, he reckoned, would have been a 9.6, which would have been good enough for the top eight.

But he was experienced enough to know that ‘That’s racing’ and was looking forward to a morning off on Saturday.

- PHIL BRANAGAN

CQualifying^

Thurs 2:16.5692 2:10.7325 2:10.3921 2:11.9338 2:12.5019 2:12.6056 2:12.2333 2:13.6333 2:11.5794 2:11.7826 2:11.8392 2:11.2809 2:12.0564 2:12.6481 2:12.5919 2:12.0467 2:12.6069 2:14.4933 2:12.9398 2:13.1686 2:12.0157 2:13.5455 2:14.9145 2:13.8901 2:14.1760 2:13.1516 2:14.7656 2:15.9641 2:14.6318 2:23.7954 2:17.8421 2:18.3031 2:12.0528 2:16.4825 2:17.9357 2:17.8034 2:16.7093 2:14.7039 2:11.6062 2:18.8269

Fri AM 2:09.3536 2:08.4587 2:09.7332 2:10.0195 2:09.9097 2:10.9707 2:10.5488 2:10.0753 2:11.5341 2:10.2764 2:09.3956 2:{l.6236 2:12.3225 2:11.0867 2:10.2197 2:11.1406 2:10.7027 2:10.9006 2:10.9895 2:11.6253 2:11.0580 2:10.6593 2:10.7201 2:12.6645 2:11.4263 2:11.1919 2:12.6575 2:12.6345 2:11.8375 2:14.7113 2:19.8725 2:15.1276 2:11.9715 2:15.6428 2:16.4257 2:17.7916 2:14.9487 2:11.7044 2:12.2230 No Time

Fri PM 2:08.3873 2:08.4047 2:09.0170 2:09.1405 2:09.3559 2:09.4655 2:09.6381 2:09.6631 2:09.6931 2:09.7464 2:09.8100 2:10.0471 2:10.0979 2:10.1493 2:10.1569 2:10.2221 2:10.2432 2:10.3216 2:10.4261 2:10.5120 2:10.5701 2:10.5905 2:10.6554 2:10.7541 2:10.8767 2:10.9689 2:11.0927 2:11.5330 2:12.2725 2:13.2921 2:13.5751 2:14.1437 2:14.7125 2:14,8405 2:14.9576 2:16.1397 2:20.6176 No Time No Time No Time

V8SCS Round 10 Bob Jane T-Marts lOOO 42

Encore: Full renewed an old rivalry with Forbes.

Photo; M Cass

Full creams Milk!

THREE years ago, there was one of the ‘Little team’ moments in the Great Raee.

For one glorious lap, the Diet Shake Commodore VS led the field. Geoff Full was out of synch with the Contenders’fuel strategy and, with a stop of his own beckoning, led a lap after a Safety Car period. By the time the car he shared with Rodney Forbes got to the Chase, the Big Guys had had enough, John Bowe forcing his way through in the CAT Falcon and the VS was left in the dustliterally.

Three years on, Full is a GT Performance contender and a once-a-year V8 Supercar peddler. He grabbed the chance to share the K&J Thermal Falcon with Mark Porter and qualified the Hydraulink car 27th, two spots ahead of the Milksponsored 00 Motorsport car of Forbes.

“I always thought that the BMW Group A cars I raced here were the best things,” mused Full after qualifying. “But a well-sorted V8 Supercar is the nicest thing to drive. From the first practice session, I felt comfortable."

So comfortable, in fact, that when the team asked him to do a radio check during the session.

Full left the mike open to do a blow-by-blow commentary on his laps, even rating the Babe Factor of various parts of the track ...

“At 2(minutes) 11 pace, the car has no vices,” reported Full. “At 2.10, it might be a little nastier but the race is looking pretty good.”

To be fair to Forbes, his prime track time was interrupted by a wall-interface scenario but the performance of #43 reminded us all that, even with smaller fields filled (almost) with professionals, the once-a-year drivers can still reveal some feel-good stories ...

- PHIL BRANAGAN motorsport news

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Baihursi 2002- Shootout

-

Situation noraiai Skaife regains control - and pole; Bowe stays on the front row; Ritter impresses

THE weekend dawned, as weekends should,fine, under flawless blue skies.

It would not stay that way, of course. There would be a fire on the mountain (during the Konica race) and clouds in the afternoon, but the track temps were up(and climbing) as all flexed their muscles for the big day.

And flex they did. After overnight tweaks, Mark Skaife was happy with the #1 car, as was Bright. After having its thunder stolen in the ‘proper’session, the two drivers bombed in an 8.19 and an 8.34 respectively in the warm up, the two fastest laps ever seen on the mountain.

Steven Richards, John Bowe and Marcos Ambrose followed in the 8s, promising a blindingly fast shootout.

But Ford Credit Racing was having problems. Glenn Seton had an oil union break on him,forcing the car to take to an escape road, reducing his session to a single flying lap. Co-driver Owen Kelly 16 Octolier 2002

was not present to register a reaction; he was(reportedly) tucked up in bed, having spent the night fighting a virus, which was causing nausea and vomiting. If he was not able to complete two stints on Sunday, Seton was in trouble.

So, the Ford grapevine leapt into action. With nothing else to drive, David Besnard was brought in to take Owen’s seat. The Ford Credit Racing team met the 12 noon deadline for driver changes and all seemed set for, potentially, a fascinating story.

So, to the shoot-out. There are always winners and losers. The biggest loser was Seton, who had a recurrence of the oil problem on his out lap and would not even get a run. Worse, he was fourth man out, forcing all who followed to deal with a large amount of cement dust on the run to the Elbow. It would force several drivers who followed to make compromises on the slippery surface.

The other losers were Max Wilson, who admitted to mistakes

all the way around to finish 14th, Larry Perkins (“the car was real good but I drove it pathetically.

One mistake followed another one.

Must be a lack of experience ...”) and Steve Ellery (“I hit the wall at the Cutting, and I was a bit conservative on the oil”).

The winners? The biggest was Greg Ritter who, after scraping into the 15, zoomed all the way to sixth with a steady, clinical run.

He pointed out later (without particular menace, it must be said) that it was the best qualifying position for a Shell car for the year, which continues to put his name in the frame for the future.

But that was all the good news for Ritter. The car failed a template test after the run, the officials finding the front guards 3mm too wide.

As a result. The Rit and AJ would start from the ‘back’ of the run-off grid, in 15th from where, Greg observed. Fords had won before ...

The others to make the ‘good news’list were the Kellys, Todd bumping the Rickler by all of 0.02s to make the third row of the grid a family affair.

Jason Bright had a good try but the battle was always going to come down to John Bowe versus Mark Skaife. The red car went out second-last and absolutely

rocketed over the top of the mountain, dived bravely through the muck at Forrest’s Elbow and came up with a 2m08.8278s, which put the ball back in JB’S court.

And it was a brave try. Bowe was actually 0.03s faster going up the hill but dropped two-tenths across the top. He admitted to being conseiwative at the Elbow; “I was a bit wussy at the Elbow, it was the conservative nature of my personality...”

He had talked himself into going in hard during his wann-up lap but, in the end, he was 0.27s back after a great struggle.

THE afternoon free-practice session held few surprises, a TWR Racing 1-2, with Greg Murphy heading Mark Skaife and Steven Richards, all three Holdens running in the 9s on a cool track.

Murf was much happier with the car, praising the car’s power down characteristics (“just like Todd said it would”), while the best of the Fords was Bowe, who had an electrical misfire at the end of the session.

Ritter was again the second best of the Fords, heading Steven Johnson by three-tenths, the increasingly comfortable-looking Wilson next from Larkham, Ambrose and Bright.

- PHH BEANAGAN

Top 15 SllOOtOUt Pos Driver 1 Skaife 2 Bowe 3 Bright 4 Richards 5 T. Kelly 6 R. Kelly 7 Ritter 8 Ambrose 9 Lowndes 10 Tander 11 Morris 12 Ellery 13 Perkins 14 Wilson 15 Seton

Split 1 52.1673 52.1406 52.2083 52.2755 52.3646 52.4438 52.5617 52.1929 52.9400 53.0391 52.7363 52.8970 52.5773 52.7465 No Time

Split 2 1:26.9656 1:27.1756 1:27.5386 1:27.8969 1:27.9893 1:28.0241 1:28.1619 1:27.9923 1:28.0122 1:28.3808 1:28.2657 1:28.4666 1:28.2403 1:28.0122

Time 2:08.8278 2:09.0988 2:09.2949 2:09.5794 2:10.0135 2:10.0402 2:10.0652 2:10.1008 2:10.2383 2:10.3194 2:10.5614 2:10.6719 2:10.8570 2:11.1268 45

f

Race

Mark Skaife and Jim Richards wrote their names into the record books on a day when Hoiden ruied Mount Panorama.

AARON NOONAN reports on a ciassic 2002 Bob Jane T-Marts Bathurst 1000

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Murray’s Co^-ner on lap 161 of the Bob Jane iT-Marts 1000,a symbolic ‘moment’ unfolded.

Amid the hype and excitement of the Holden Racing Team’s hero taking the chequered flag to wi’ap up his fourth Bathurst title and record-equalling fifth Australian Touring Car Championship,the baton was officially passed as #1 swept around the limping #05 Commodore of The Man himself, Peter Brock.

And, it wasn’t just Skaife firing out the records. In the reunion of the two-time Bathurst winning «

‘couple’, Jim Richards sealed his seventh Mountain title, maintaining a steady head to hold the Commodore in a position where it could challenge at the end of the 161-lap marathon that lasted just under seven hours with nine Safety Car periods.

“It was a dream come true in lots of ways because to win this race and wrap the championship up is unbelievable,” said Skaife.

‘The guys have worked so hard it’s such a hard series. The competition is the hardest we’ve ever seen and you could see that today. There were so many cars continued on page 50

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FLAME-PROdF CpATINGS often copied - never equalled

48

bloody.good.start@bathurst.com: Brad Jones leapt away at the start and was almost 2s clear after a lap, setting up an enthralling first-hour battle with Mark Skaife, below, which resulted in Bradley setting a new outright Photos: Marshall Cass lap record for the track.

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Race Prancing Hor... er, OzEmail Some Prance in the Falcon: John Bowe brought along Prancing Horse Racing Scuderia team manager Paul Cruickshank to the OzEmail team for the weekend, the former DJR man overseeing preparation of the John Cleland/Tim Leahey 888 Ford AU. n Making a one-off appearance on the flanks of Luke Youlden's Falcon in the Konica 30-lapper was the allwhite of Parts Plus. The parts chain replaced Super Cheap on the flanks Dirk Klyrjmith

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of the Ellery team's spare car. The 2000 Formula Ford chamraon is looking for the budget to rtin a Konica Series program out of the Ellery team's workshop in 2003.

SI A late entry for the 1000 was a third car from Brad Jones Racing. The team's spare car, with backing from Natrad, was entered for Andrew Jones, who originally was slated to drive the Gulf Western Ford with Dale Brede until that deal fell over. The Formula Fordster was joined by Porsche Cup Champion Matt Coleman in the team's #20 Falcon.

Gulf Western still made an appearance, though. The red and yellow colours appeared on the Nilsson Motorsport-run Falcon of Ross Halliday and Allan Grice, though Halliday wasn't fast enough to make the out, prompting Peter Doulman to join Grice, seeing as his co-driver. Bob McDonald, hadn't made the cut in the duo's Commodore, n Imrie Motor Sport made its enduro driver announcements late in the piece, giving former Ultra Tune driver Tyler Mecklem the nod to partner rookie Daryl Beattie and Sports Sedan racer David Krause the seat alongside Christian D'Agostin.

Beattie and Mecklem debuted the team's latest VX Commodore, built in the weeks leading up to the Bob Jane T-Marts 1000. The team also ran Robert Smith's VT in the Konica race, though with Tasmanian Dean Crosswell at the wheel in his first V8 Supercar start since the Konica race at Bathurst last year. n Crowds were huge this year: 28,556 on Thursday, 33,973 on Friday, 44,127 on Saturday and 57,180 Sunday for a record total of 163,840.

50

continued from page 48 that were fast enough to win.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet to be honest, but I’m sure it will with a couple of quiet beers.”

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the Skaife/Richards duo. It took a late-race Safety Car to put Skaife back in the game and effectively tip the Castrol assault out the door. Steven Richards and Russell Ingall snared a well-deserved second after taking it up to the red car all day long - but unable to match Skaife’s sheer pace when it mattered.

Add in the plastic bags covering the front spoiler of the winning Holden, which sent the temperatures flying, and it was far from a boring countdown to the HRT/TWR steamroller victory.

Jason Bright and Tomas Mezera survived a trip to the Murray’s Corner sandpit to take third, but their TWR cousin Greg Murphy was livid after the Kmart Commodore was held for an excruciating five minutes in pit lane following a refuelling miscue that sent fire extinguisher foam flying across their pit box.

It was another of those days on the Mountain. Drama, accidents and stories of heartbreak. The only way you could really celebrate the 40th birthday of The Great Race...

Race (161 laps) much as the first stint lug-fest between polesitter Skaife and Brad Jones in the OzEmail Falcon was

enthralling,the critical moment that determined the winner of the 2002 race came on lap 137, when Paul Morris’s Sirromet Commodore speared into the wall at Konica Bend.

Ingall had been out in front and looking good. As a rain shower sprinkled its way across the Mountain layout, the Castrol Holden driver was simply sparkling, pulling a comfortable gap on Jim Richards in #1 before handing over to Richo Junior for the run to the flag.

The margin of the lead was six seconds over team-mate Larry Perkins (after a superb performance from Konica Champ Paul Dumbrell, who actually blitzed past Richo Snr in the damp)and there was a further 20 seconds back to Skaife.

But the Safety Car for the-then seventh-placed Morris car meant that Skaife closed up to Perkins.

He scooted by on the restart, scoring a free ride onto the back of the other Castrol Holden when rookie David Krause put one of the Imrie Motorsport Holdens into the sand at Murray’s Corner.

A mistake on the restart let the ‘red devil’into the lead and it was game over. The ‘control freak’ was in control and he blitzed out a sufficient gap that he was ablp to nurse a badly overheating car home.

Unlike many other 2002 V8 Supercar races, an HRT victory wasn’t looking that hot until the Sirromet car was uncorked at Konica Bend. But you couldn’t begrudge HRT their luck: “I actually planned to have a

Hey!I can see my house from here: The pre-race entertainment got some serious air, above left.

Who's a Pretty boy then?

Rick Kelly and Nathan Pretty underlined the depth of talent at TWR Racing with a superb run in the Young Lions VX, above.

Lingering within tent: A marquee blew over and partially blocked the track but the incident occurred, thankfully, during a Safety Car period.

Rattled: Radisich charged early before a drive-through penalty for an incident and brake failure, which caused this, right.

Photos: Marshall Cass and Mick Fishburn

major attack at the top of Mountain Straight if I could get onto it well enough,” admitted Skaife later.

“As it turned out, Stevie ran wide a little bit and I was lucky enough to get up there.”

Richards simply didn’t have the car speed to take it back up to Skaife and he was forced to play second fiddle.

“Early on, at the restart, it wasn’t a very good weapon to take to war and I made a little bit of a mistake on the restart, and believe me. I’m kicking myself for that, don’t worry about it,” said Richards, who for the second time in Bathurst history, helped the Richards clan to a 1-2 finish.

“Russell’s stint in that wet and

motorsport news

Baihurst 2002 hail was just phenomenal. To pull out a 20 second lead going into the last stint was pretty handy. If it wasn’t for the ifs, huts and maybes ... things might have been a bit different but for the Safety Car.' In the early stages, things weren’t quite so rosy for the works Holden squad. Both Skaife and Bright bogged their red-mobiles down on the line, allowing Brad Jones to scoot clear and begin the 2002 edition of the race just as the 2001 event had ended, albeit with the positions reversed.

Jones and Skaife traded times, Jones annexing the track’s 32year-old outright lap record before Ford pitted first on lap 31. What happened next, at Skyline, was something of an omen for the ‘luckstakes’that the rest of the day would hold for the #21 car. Paul Radisich (who had charged the #17 Shell Ford from 22nd on the grid up to 13th before a drive-through for turning Steve Ellery around) ended up in the wall, at least allowing the OzEmail team a stop partly under the Safety Car. Their Shell counterparts had a motor car that was out of the race. ending a very unspectacular weekend for The Rat and Steven Johnson.

It was a big hit,” reported Radisich.

The car was good but we were half a second off the pace. I just couldn’t turn in across Skyline and the brake pedal went to the floor which tends to make me feel it was a suspension problem.

Whatever the cause, it was just the start of a terrible day for Ford fans.

John Bowe dived aboard the Jones car and fought back past Jim Richards until the strong continued on page 53

3

SSES - CB»'

●* / * i

Cos gets the no Blue Suit blues Marcos Ambrose has his racesuit stolen on Friday night. The Tasmanian had to make do with Paul Weel's second suit for qualifying and the race, the team making the best of a potentially 'smelly' situation. n Four years ago, Cameron McLean almost hit a kangaroo when his BMW was exiting Forrest's Elbow during the race. This time around, it was Steve Ellery's turn to try and add to VIP Pet Foods inventory, a large roo leaping in front of the Super Cheap Falcon during Friday's practice session. No word on whether it was the same skippy as '98. n What happens when two car dealers hop into the same car? Not much. As John Cleland and Tim Leahey prepared for their Sunday morning parade lap, the Ford Mustang they were in refused to fire.

No amount of battery jumping attempts could convince the Stang to go, so the Scot and the lad from Orange thumbed a lift from team mate Andy Jones. n Speaking of AJs, Alan Jones came down with an ill-timed bout of conjunctivitis on race morning. The former world champ has his left eye almost half-closed before the race.

Ford's on-site medicos administering some quick treatment prior to the start. The team changed its strategy at the last minute and put Greg Ritter in the car for the start. n Winner of the 'best helmet' award must be Daryl Beattie. The former two-wheel tyro appeared with 'newsprint' all over his dome, with a number of stories appearing for those looking for something to read. n Paul Morris had had a busy week before the race. The Dude married partner Alana on the weekend before he headed south to Bathurst, giving the newlyweds the interesting initials of AM and PM. Congrats to the couple from MN. n Bad luck story before the race must go to Flolden Motorsport PR man (and former MN Asst Ed) Gerald McDornan. After putting the first 'official' Commodore VY lap around the mountain in his road car on Wednesday, GMac emerged on Sunday morning to see the very same VY sitting on blocks, with its wheels having been half-inched by some low-life (who, presumably, drives something similar). McDornan was rescued from pushing the car back to Melbourne by a friendly local Flolden dealer...

- PHIL BRAIMAGAN/ AARON NOONAN 51

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Bathurst 2002 continued from page 51 weekend for the Albury lads went boom on lap 59 at Caltex Chase. At first, JB suspected a blown tyre but, even before he hit pit lane, he was telling the crew it was something major.

He was right. The front suspension had failed, a broken rose joint sentencing the car to what JB post-race dubbed a “30,000km service for three laps”.

“I felt something break.

“We weren’t a bad combo and we certainly would have been there at the end. As a team, we’ve come a long way in a short space of time.”

A 16th at the end of the day obviously wasn’t a true reflection of their speed but the weekend proved that the key and the lock are closer than ever.

With Bowe gone. Ford’s hopes were in the hands of Marcos Ambrose and Paul Weeks Pirtek Ford but they too fell victim to a time-delajdng drama on lap 74 as the right front tyre was punctured and the flapping rubber caused a decent amount of damage, including ripping the shock out.

“We’ll just back out there for points, eh?” Ambrose shrugged to Jim Stone.

That’s all they could do.

“The car speed was very good but it didn’t hold together.”

In fact, the issue of blovra front tyres was coming to the point of being worrying. However, Dunlop didn’t seem to have any reason for concern, the blame being put down to varying individual scenarios.

The teams obviously felt the same, for there wasn’t any warning of caution to drivers to conserve the rubber.

Not the best of days: I Good mates and former I British F3 rivals Marcos I Ambrose and Andy I Priaulx both had trying I outings. Ambrose had a tyre deflate at Caltex Chase, above, leaving the car a wounded animal for the rest of the day, while Priaulx nursed his engine as far as he could before it blew, right, and he parked the Kmart 'Euro' Commodore.

:

^

n

Photos:John Morris/Mpix

continued on page 54

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53

Race continued from page 53 But that wasn’t the only thing that was a bit of a concern.

Since when has a marquee blown onto the track, as it did during the caution period when Jamie Whincup ended up in the Konica Bend wall in the #35 Valvoline Commodore on lap 74?

While we’re not sure who was accountable for the marquee, this year’s Formula Ford Champ was holding himself accountable for his incident: “It was my mistake, I went for third and got first gear and it locked the rears. By the time I pulled it back out, it was too late and I was in the tyres.”

He and Mark Noske made it further than Garth Tander and Jason Bargwanna, who looked like being in for a long day. The 2000 winners lost a lap after a blow-out on lap 28 with Tander at the wheel and it left them short of the fourstop pit stop window (“it blew on Conrod at about 270,” explained GT,“but it wasn’t as violent as I thought a tyre blow out at that speed would be”).

Bargwanna dropped a lap but it was an early pack-up for the Valvoline squad when the #34 VX went into the concrete at McPhillamy Park as Bargs got caught on the marbles.

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Whatever the reason, Murfleft with the fuel hose still connected, sending the fuel man flying and fuel splashing over the team’s pit box. The fire crews were quick to cover it with foam and stop it from igniting, so Murphy fired back out into the fray having only lost a few seconds.

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molorsDort news

Bathurst 2002

All seemed to be hunky-dory until perhaps the biggest on-track penalty in Australian motor racing history. Word came through that race officials were giving them a penalty. Not entirely surprising, given the importance of pit lane safety in these busy days. But it wasn’t a stop-go. It wasn’t a drive through. It was a five minute penalty ...

continued on page 56

Back, in Black: Peter Brock returned from a fiveyear absence and was in for a troubled race, far right.

Not a good weekend: Former racewinners Jason Bargwanna and Craig Lowndes had trying races. Bargs bunkered the CRM car after a tyre problem. above, while Lowndes, right, went out with a blown engine.

Photos: Mpix, Mick Fishburn and Marshall Cass

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55

Race continued from page 55 After initially telling team manager Rob Crawford that he was parking #51 in total disgust at having his chance of victory taken away,(“put it in the truck, it’s over,” he relayed over the radio), Murf stormed into the garage, made a trip to the toilet cubicle in the pits and got back in, the steam still flying out of his helmet.

And that wasn’t the only officialdom decision that riled the TWR ranks. After nearly losing a lap when Mezera beached the #2 VX at Murray’s on lap 46, Bright was later forced to let Perkins by under the last Safety Car for impeding the Castrol drivers progress up Mountain Straight when the duo were involved in a tussle with the flying Rick Kelly.

“I can’t understand the logic behind that one ...” said Bright. “I pulled up beside him. I didn’t weave, I boxed him in fantastically, I thought.”

That wasn’t quite the wording that came over the radio though ...

While Bright eventually got the spot back off Larry, Kelly ‘Junior’ worked his way past Perkins as well and headed off to finish fourth.

He and Nathan Pretty starred on Sunday, the Young Lions proving that they have more claws than perhaps given credit for.

It was a day of young blokes impressing.

Dumbrell gave the #11 car a shot at a podium in his second stint, running strongly behind Ingall in a Castrol 1-2 before handing back to Perkins at the last pit stops, whereafter Skaife, Bright and Kelly Jr got by and the #11 car was fifth at the end.

Behind was another equally impressive performance from the Betta Ford of 2001 winner Tony Longhurst and Matthew White.

Like his Konica rival Dumbrell, White carved his way through the late-race rain and put the Briggs Ford into sixth with Longhurst bringing the car home.

“I was peddling as quickly as I could without doing anything wrong,” said White.

“It was pretty easy. I thought we were in with a chance of a top five but it’s my best result here so that’s always an improvement.”

Both Dumbrell and White starred, doing the job they were hired to do and proving the validity of the feeder series, while Greg' Ritter and Alan Jones flew the flag for DJE,running home seventh.

With AJ suffering conjunctivitis, Ritter started and #18 was put onto an early-stop strategy, running out of sync with the leaders. A spin at the Chase in the closing stages cost him a spot to Longhurst, but there was no doubting the former Formula Ford Champion. He was the fastest driver of the team all weekend. Enough said.

But that was about as good as it got for Ford. Craig Lowndes and Neil Crompton were in a strong position as the race wound down in the #00 machine, only for a plastic bag in the air intake to cook the Ford, while a drive-train failure ended Glenn Seton and David Besnard’s day in the Ford Credit machine.

Bezzy had gone for a trip through the sand at Skyline and it was thought that that may have ripped the mounts for the oil cooler off and contributed to the failure.

Perhaps indicative of the sort of

PETFOC

day Ford had, the two other Briggs cars belted one another at Falken Turn. After Steve Owen had a spin in the CAT version. Dean Canto (who along with rookie Max Wilson starred and had the #65 Falcon firmly in the top 10), who had lost the power steering on lap 60, had enough strength to steer and avoid his team-mate, there wasn’t enough for him to be able to avoid a meeting with the concrete.

“The guys had wanted me to go to lap 130 and I was starting to get a bit tired,” admitted the ‘pocket rocket’.

Scott finished anand Tony Cameron McLean exceptional eighth in the VIP Ford,the last car on the lead lap (see breakout), while Steve Ellery/Luke Youlden and John Faulkner/Rick Bates rounded out the top 10.

Of the rest there were the usual stories of heartbreak. It was an all round crap dpy for Kmart, with Yvan Muller and Andy Priaulx suffering an engine failure while a lap down on lap 123. continued on page 59

Taking a deeper breath THERE have been times when, despite the best efforts of their teams, drivers have literally been carried out of their V8 Supercars, overcome by heat,fumes or a combination of both.

That may soon be a thing of the past if more teams start to employ the latest innovation from 3M Racing, which allows both drivers and their pit crews to breathe easy.

The Halliday Motorsport team has appeared at the two endurance races with the latest in driver aids, designed to purify the air drivers take in during a long stint. The crews were kitted out in 'Jupiter' suits, with battery-powered filters attached to their helmets, which kind of

gave them a 'Darth Vader' look in the pitlane.

The HMS Falcon, along with the similar cars of Super Cheap Racing and Orrcon Racing, were fitted with units that pumped clean and cooler air directly into the drivers' helmets. All drivers reported a great boon in comfort and the attendant Ford medicos verified the benefits of the system.

Fittings are purpose-designed for Arai and Simpson helmets, with more to follow, and the units cost around $1700 fitted for the drivers and $3000 for the crew.

Sounds like a good idea to us ... now, can we do something about all the hot air coming from the teams’ PRs ... ? motorsport news

Bathurst 2002

Something on the air THERE are times when race teams do not tell you the whole truth.

Hard to believe, isn't it? That minor problem with set-up may not just be minor. A broken power steering pump could be a piston through the block.

And are they really happy with their drivers?

You can find out - as MNews did at Bathurst with the assistance of McCall Communications, who debuted their new Icom IC-R5 radio

Fresh from the Fridge: Cameron McLean and Tony Scott had a sneaky run in the VIP Falcon to run the race distance and finish in a fine eighth.

Photo:John Moms/Mpix

Ssshhh. We are listening to you: Until someone starts scrambling their radios, anyway... photo-. Marshall cass

TORSPORT

scanners at Mount Panorama. The units provide a fascinating insight into what happens behind the scenes.

You could have heard Jason Bright describe being forced to hand back a position to Larry Perkins under the last Safety Car as "absolute crap. It's typical of the stewards we have here in Australia. They're going to get an absolute reaming at the end of this!"

You could have heard a conjunctivitis-filled Alan Jones tell the Shell team that "the car feels great but my eyes are ^&#%#'^" and all sorts of other bits and pieces.

Keeping an early eye (or ear!) on just who is going make their stops and when makes you the most knowledgeable fan in the stands.

The new units can scan up to T250 different frequencies, enough slots to program in every car in the V8 and Konica Championship Series, Nations Cup, GT-Performance and any other category you can think of. And the programmable function means that, instead of displaying some indecipherable frequency, the car numbers are identified, making identifying who is talking to whom a snack.

These scanners are available to rent or buy with, in this case, a retail price of just under $600.

If you are serious about following the sport, these things are a must!

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57

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Bathurst 2002 I

i

Another great result: Richo Jr is becoming an endurance legend, taking second with Ingall, while Glenn Seton and David Besnard contemplete the Photos: Marshall Cass and Mick Fishburn retirement of their FCR Falcon, below.

Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 (161 laps/1000km) Results

Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF

DNF DNF

Drivers Skaife/Jim Richards S.R ichards/Ingall Bright/Mezera R. Kelly/Pretty Perkins/Dumbrell Longhurst/White Ritter/Alan Jones MeLean/Scott Ellery/Youlden Faulkner/R. Bates Jason Richards/Wills Tratt/Stokell Murphy/T. Kelly Forbes/N. Bates McConville/Luff B. Jones/Bowe Brede/Owen Larkham/Power Cleland/Leahey Searle/Miller AmbroseA/Veel D'Agostin/Krause Baird/Brock Mundy/Simpson MorrisWakefield Lowndes/Crompton Priauix/Muller Wilson/Canto Seton/Besnard Crick/Scifleet Porter/Full Mecklem/Beattie McDougall/Gurr Whincup/Noske Tander/Bargwanna Johnson/Radisich Andy Jones/Coleman Grice/Doulman

Racetime/Laps 6:58:41.0260 6:58:43.9632 6:58:48.9714 6:58:53.7776 6:59:01.2051 6:59:06.5671 6:59:32.5353 6:59:36.7751 160 laps 160 laps 160 laps 160 laps 159 laps 159 laps 159 laps 158 laps 158 laps 157 laps 157 laps 155 laps 154 laps 146 laps 136 laps 129 laps 135 laps 127 laps 122 laps 108 laps 102 laps 94 laps 93 laps 84 laps 82 laps 72 laps 51 laps 29 laps 14 laps 1 lap

Fastest 2:09.8048 2:10.0556 2:09.9159 2:10.2148 2:10.3488 2:11.1395 2:10.9705 2:11.8378 2:11.4107 2:11.2703 2:10.8974 2:12.1696 2:09.6471 2:13.0883 2:11.6001 2:09.5705 2:11.3673 2:12.3162 2:11.5004 2:17.0804 2:10.2240 2:16.1143 2:11.4265 2:16.2365 2:11.4776 2:10.8528 2:12.0918 2:10.4415 2:11.8002 2:12.1177 2:11.8514 2:14.2784 2:14.0698 2:12.4734 2:11.1397 2:10.9181 2:15.1046 7:17.0066

On 26 22 25 26 22 28 24 18 11 24 28 29 26 27 94 29 8 97 19 8 45 37 61 41 18 29 85 25 21 21 14 22 4 22 26 27

13 1

Fastest lap; B. Jones,on lap 29,2:09.5705(New V8 Supercar and outright lap record) Points; Skaife 1375, Bright 1224, S. Richards 1111,-Murphy 1102, Ambrose 1053, T. Kelly 1046, Ingall 876, Besnard 819, Lowndes 802, Tander771, Bowe 632, LonghurstBOl, Bargwanna 517, B. Jones 498, Wills 491, Johnson 487, Perkins 464, Crompton 451, Ja, Richards 415, Larkham 384, R. Kelly 378, Ellery 347, Radisich 336, Baird 329, Faulkner 323, McConville 320, Seton 320, McLean 314, Ji. Richards 304, Weel 301, Forbes 261, Tratt 255, Mezera 232, Wilson 189, Morris 184, Ritter 172, Dumbrell 160, Al. Jones 136, Pretty 104, Scott 100, Youlden 100, White 98, Bates 88, Power 82, Stokell 72, Owen 70, Wakefield 70, Gardner 62, BredeBO, Cleland 60, LeaheyBO, Bates 56, White 43, McDougal 41, D'Agosb'n 38, Luff 36, Crick 34, Scifleet 34, Full 30, Porter 30, Searle 26, Miller 26, Dumesny 26, Whincup 26, Krause 22, McIntyre 22, Brock 20, Miedecke 20, Quinn 20, Mundy 18, Simpson 18, Beattie 16, Romano -58.

16 October 2002

continued from page 57 “I thought I heard a funny noise and it just went boom,” explained the Brit.

Cameron McConville and Warren Luff had a top 10 finish looming before power steering failure left the Lansvale team a delayed 15th, while John Cleland and Tim Leahey finished off a miserable day for OzEmail Racing.

The Scot copped a one-minute ‘benching’in pit lane for inadvertently spinning Mark Porter’s Falcon into the Dipper wall and out of the race, while Leahey had a spin backwards through the sand at Skyhne earlier on.

‘He was dawdling and braked a lot earlier than he had the five laps before that,” said Cleland.

“I just kissed him -it wasn’t deliberate.” nd you can’t go much A”

urther without mentioning The Man: Brock.

‘PB’ sat in the #05 chair again and started the race, running in the low 20s in terms of position, but the fairytale didn’t quite eventuate.

Numerous problems with the Motorola car, mainly a sticking throttle, meant a lot of time was lost in the pits, leaving the nine-

time champion to steer the black car around in the dying stages so a new generation of fans could say that they saw Brock finish his last Bathurst, albeit 23rd.

If anything, it was a bit sad to see The Man cruising around in the race’s dying stages with a car that wasn’t going as quickly as he would have liked, but to put a Brock-spin on it, the fans loved it.

And Peter loved it that the fans loved it. The queues outside the garage still extended as darkness descended upon the Mountain.

The Man may not have been a winner on the track, but he was a winner with the fans.

Fellow ‘veteran comeback’ man Allan Grice didn’t even make it that far, his Gulf Western Ford going onto seven cylinders and making just one lap.

But for their ‘counterpart’, Richards Snr, it’s probably fair that, considering Sunday was the 10th anniversary of his famous 1992 victory speech, the last word should go to the now seven-time champ: “You’re a pack of lovely, lovely people,” he offered on the dais.

Stick to winning those Bathurst crowns and leave the punchlines to us, Richo!...

See Page 60-61 for the Six Key Moments ofthe race 59

The 6 key moments that 99

^ The Pirtek car goes ^off-sequence It worked back in ^98!

Then it was Jason Bright and Steven Richards in the Pirtek Falcon. Going off-sequence can allow you to get better track position especially if the Safety Cars go your way. SBR chose to take the same gamble this time - and we’ll never know how it would have ultimately panned out the Pirtek car falling foul of tyre failure when still right in the race.

wwiv.

2 Tomas dodges a bullet in HRT #2 How lucky can you be!

Having locked the rears into Murray’s Corner and got stuck in the sand, Tomas Mezera was able to get the second HRT Commodore back on the road without losing a lap courtesy of the Safety Car period brought on by himself!

Tomas was the most relieved man in Bathurst and the pair finished third.

60

moiorsporl news

defined Bathurst 2002 Kmart Commodore cops 5 minutes ho by Marshall CSs

Another outright contender gone A bizarre way to drop out of race contention - but the fact remains that the pit lane incident was a dangerous one. Debate on the penalty may rage, but while an Irate Greg Murphy filled in the time having a pee, the lead Kmart Commodore was now out of the frame - having showed genuine pace.

i;-

Late Safety Car works for Skaife

%

20 second gap erased

«

:■ t

Sometimes you need that little bit of fortune, or a Safety^Car, to win Bathurst and this time fate gmiled on Skaife. After the hail storm, Skaife inherited a 20 second .deficit to .

Steven Richards’ Castrol Commodore. With 17 laps to go, it would have been a huge, but not impossible, task to bridge the gap. In the end, not one, but two Safety Cars helped get #1 back to the front.

if

HRFs clincher - fast and bullet-proof Skaife able to nurse hot car Not one, not hwo, but three plastic bags in the air intake couldn't stop the #1 Commodore. After blasting a few seconds gap in the clean air (and having cooled the car during the Safety Car period), Skaife was able to wind back the rpm and still maintain the gap back to Richards.

The water temp reached 115 degrees ... three short of destruction.

16 October 2002

61

Analysis

The paner of VIP paws While the hig guns were getting ail the headlines, the smallen’butiget team of Cameron McLean and Tony Scott made sure their Falcon stayed on the lead lap. It paid off and the Queensland comhination finished an impressive eighth. AARON NOONAN reports

WHILE the days of the term ‘privateer’in V8 Supercar racing are well and truly gone, there are still some squads who don’t have the sheer firepower of a Holden Racing Team or Castrol Perkins outfit.

One of them is small in comparison - very small. Paragon Motorsport has just two full-time employees, but, armed with a team of hard-working volunteers, Cameron McLean and Tony Scott finished eighth in the biggest race of the year.

They outran and out-smarted plenty of bigger teams with potentially faster cars and drivers from 19th on the grid in a car that doesn’t have the same sorts of trick equipment and money thrown at it.

“Given the car, the size of the team, my lack of race miles, how Very Important Position: McLean and Scott, who finished fourth in the Super Touring 1000 in 1998, took the VIP (Photo by Dirk Klynsmith) would you say that it was anything Pet Foods Falcon to eighth and last car on the lead lap. g else other than fantastic?” beamed I Scott post-race.

“We had no dramas. There was i no other plan than to stay on the lead lap. I did pick up a plastic bag and had to pit because the temperature was going up, but WHILE Mark Skaife and Jim Richards chalked up a win that was it. for experience, the most impressive performances of the “I couldn’t do an 11 or a 12 but race came from the new breed of V8'young guns'. . easily I could do 13s but the object At the forefront was Paul Dumbrell, who blitzed past of the exercise was to stay out of Richards in his stint to put car #11 in second spot, left. The trouble. I’d call it a clever result.”

V Konica Champ showed speed, brains and everything else he'll While Scott contemplates his i need in a full-time drive next year, ultimately winding up fifth. racing future (after all, such a "The car was awesome all day," reported 'PD'. result would be a nice way to go "We had a chance at a Castrol 1-2. Ricbo lost his 30 out, ifindeed he decides against second lead on us and we lost our 20 second gap on the another Mountain classic), HRT car with that Safety Car. McLean said that the result was "Now I know what they mean when they say Bathurst can beyond the team’s wildest dreams. be-so cruel."

“It would have been a good day Rick Kelly and Nathan Pretty starred in the Young Lions for our little team if we’d got into Holden.'The Rickler's' last stint was electric, even if he the top 10,” he said. liv didn't win too many fans among a handful of the other “The car ran superbly all day drivers for his aggressive late-race charging. and we only had two small \\ Then there was Greg Ritter, who pretty much singleconcerns; once when I ran wide at the Chase in the rain and also handedly waved the Shell flag all weekend, and around lap 120 when I had to pit to Y \|, Matthew White, who, like Dumbrell, charged in the have a plastic bag removed from second last session in the damp. The validity of the the radiator grille.”

Konica Series has never, ever, been more proven in The team had planned to pit giving the young 'uns a go.

And we said it in 2000 after Jason Plato and Yvan every time a Safety Car opportunity presented itself and that’s why they Muller ran for HRT, but the young guys absolutely made a whole nine visits to pitlane, belted Muller and Brit Andy Priauix. The overseas the number matching the amount of experiment just doesn't work in V8 Supercar racing SC periods. and the 2002 Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 proved it.

But they were there in the end.

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Japanese Grand Prix

Michael Schumacher completed his season domination as Ferrari notched up an amazing fifth 1-2 finish in succession.

JOE SAWARD reports from Japan.

T

he Suzuka Circuit was not lacking spectators for the Japanese Grand Prix.

There were 155,000 people crammed into the track to see the mighty Ferrari humiliate the opposition.And they did not disappoint.

Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello completed their fifth consecutive 1-2 finish (their ninth of the year) and if we did not know better we would think that things were grim. But there is a reason for this.

The Wnhams-BMW and McLaren-Mercedes teams may have been trying hard, but the major effort of both teams has switched to next year. The new cars and engines need to be good for them to avoid another year of being beaten by Ferrari.

Michael led from flag to flag to complete a really remarkable achievement: he has'finished on the podium in all 17 races this year. You can cab. it dull if you hke, but we should in some ways enjoy watching a master at work.As Michael himself said, it is not going to be this easy next year-.

We can only hope that this turns out to be true for Formula 1 cannot really afford another season hke this one.

The fans at Suzuka did not go home unhappy, however. Takuma Sato - who \^1 probably be leaving the Jordan team shortly - drove a blinding race to finish fifth to claim his first points, the first for a Japanese driver in five years(the last being Shinji Nakano in a Frost in Hungaiy in 1997).

In doing so, Sato lifted Jordan

ahead ofBAE and Jaguar in the Constructors’World Championship.

The team is looking for money for next year and this result will help enormously.

Sato’s fifth place finish bookended the season nicely. In the first race of the season, Mark Webber also scored fifth place on home soil for his first FI points.

Eye on the main prize: j Michael Schumacher was in a class of his own at -i Suzuka, taking his 11th win of the season and .

17th podium finish in as' many races - both records.

(Photo by Marsh/Bothwell)

T

here was little doubt on Sunday morning about what to expect in the afternoon.

Allan McNish was running in a new Toyota and he seemed to be OK,but medical inspections after the 30 minute session left the doctors worried about the bruises to Allan’s knees and it was decided that he should not be allowed to race.

It was a tough call, but FI medico Sid Watkins felt Little squirts: The Ferrari boys celebrate their record-breaking domination. it was necessary and no one questions The Prof The giid was squeezed up and the grandstands filled.

The most important thing would be the start because overtaking at Suzuka is never easy.

With launch control, a Grand Prix start is not quite as wild an event as they used to be, but they are impressive nonetheless.

On this occasion, Michael went off well and Rubens was able to hold off David Coulthard while Kimi Raikkonen was beaten into the first comer

by Ralf Schumacher.

Further back, things were a little wilder with Jacques Villeneuve going for a ride on the gi-ass in the course ofthe first lap, which dropped him back from ninth on the grid to 14th. Jacques was already well into a bad day as he had had to start in the

spare car after his own felt less stable in the warm-up.

Also in a spare was Giancarlo Fisichella, who suffered an engine failure during the recognition laps before the grid lined up. Fissy

motorsport news

FORMULA ONE

f h

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rushed back to the pits to get into the spare, which had a less powerful Honda engine and was set-up for Sato. He, too, had a bad first lap and dropped fi-om eighth to 11th.

October 2002

After his initial break, Michael settled down to buUd up his lead over Barrichello and by the tenth lap he was five seconds clear.

Rubens was himself 11 seconds clear ofthe next man, who by that

point was Ralf as Coulthard’s McLaren-Mercedes had lunched itself on lap seven due to a control system failure.

And so the Ferrari men went away. On lap 20 Michael pitted. On

lap 21 Rubens stopped, allowing Ralf to lead for a few laps. The seven second gap between the red cars stayed pretty much the same until

continued page 68 65

Qualifyin

The master of Suzuk <

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Q

ualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix never really looked like having any outcome other than pole position for Michael Schumacher.

The elegant Suzuka track has always been a place where Michael has been in a class of his own. After a slight glitch with hydraulic problems on Friday, which was overcome with an almost arrogant ease by Schumacher and the Ferrari men, he quickly showed his class on Saturday.

“Suzuka is all about getting the car working for yourself," said Rubens Barrichelio, "and Michael has been fantastic at doing that all the years he has been here.’’

Barrichelio in the end got to within 0.432s of Michael and that was all he was ever going to do.

But the story of qualifying was not about Ferrari domination, for that is like an oft-heard childhood story that makes the eyelids heavy.

Qualifying at Suzuka provided the FI circus with a huge jolt, a memory that motor racing is as dangerous a thing as one would ever want to do.

Allan McNish, in his last race for Toyota (and probably his last in FI), had an extraordinarily violent accident in the daunting 130R corner, “The car suddenly snapped into a big oversteer and I reversed heavily into the barrier,” McNish explained later.

This is not a good thing to do. The infamous 130R is taken at 175mph (about 290km/h), The car went into what looked like a ‘tank-siapper’ and then spun as it speared off the road towards the wall. On the way it ran over a bump or a kerb and flew.

Fortunately for McNish it turned before hitting the barrier. If it had not, we would surely have been writing McNish’s obituary. The impact was so massive that the car punched clean through the three-tier metal barriers, shearing bolts and tearing the mounting posts from the ground. The top two rails simply gave way.

The effect of this was that a lot of energy was absorbed as McNish underwent 57G. The car then turned over itself and landed upside-down on the earth bank behind the barrier 66

/●.*

O

Japanese Grand Prix October 12 2002

~—

Qualifying Session Classification

|1 M Schumacher

2 R Barrichelio

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3D Couithard

[4 K Raikkdi

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[6 J P Montoya

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10 T Sato

|9 G Fisichella

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11 J Villeneuve

1S J Button

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|7 N Heidfeld

24 M Salo

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16 E Irvine

|8 F Massa

12 0Panls

IT] ITPOeURosa A McNish

|23 M Webbei

|22 A Yoi

WORLD

(fortunately there were no photographers or marshals there) and then bounced back and came to rest the right way up on the wrong side of the barrier.

McNish climbed out unhurt and was ushered quickly away by excited marshals. He then had a sit down, which was probably a good idea.

Crash barriers do not generally fail, but if the impact is big enough it can happen.

One can praise the safety of the modern FI and the race tracks of today, but when all is said and done a shunt like McNish’s is one where the outcome is in the lap of the Gods.

This was a lucky escape. Yes, the safety men deserve recognition for the work they do, but in certain accidents it is just down to good fortune.

The damage was such that the session could not be restarted for 75 minutes while the barriers were replaced and in that time the steam went out of the session. At that point Michael was ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya with Barrichelio third, but Michael was seven-tenths faster.

The session began to wind*-up again with Montoya and Schumacher both improving and then Ralf Schumacher and David Couithard joined the tussle for second place on the grid. As the minutes ticked away Barrichelio popped up in second, but he was still a couple of tenths off Michael's best. When Michael shaved another couple of tenths on a final dash, the game was absolutely over. Game, set and match to Schumacher.

“I was having great fun,” he said.

The two McLarens ended up third and fourth and for once Williams was not able to do anything about the silver-grey cars. David Couithard edged out Kimi Raikkonen, but the margin was tiny.

“I think realistically third was what we were aiming for,’’ explained Couithard. “You aim for the top (but) if you look at Ferrari’s performances so far this year there was no reason to expect them to struggle around this track. I am pretty satisfied.’’

The good showing from McLaren meant that the two Williams-BMWs were fifth and sixth, with Ralf Schumacher just outrunning Montoya.

Montoya complained that his car was not very well balanced, so he made a couple of mistakes on his last run that blew his chance to beat Ralf.

It was Monty’s worst qualifying performance of the year (along with

d/

● i

f

Australia, where he was also sixth). ' The big surprise of qualifying - to the delight of the local fans - was the performance of Takuma Sato in his Jordan-Honda.

For most of practice, Hondaengined cars were grinding to a halt ■ here and there. Sometimes there was a fire, sometimes there was not. It was clear that the Japanese were pushing the envelope.

“The Suzuka engine has enough power to make a difference," said Jacques Villeneuve, but on this occasion the two Jordans were leading the way and Sato had beaten Giancarlo Fisichella(an impressive achievement).

“The car was good,’’ explained Sato when he finally escaped from beneath piles of celebrating fans. “I just nailed It. The fans reacted as though I had won the race.”

Fisichella reckoned he might have done better if his automatic downshift had not gone “completely mad", but eighth on the grid was still good enough for him to have a smile.

Villeneuve was next up, but poor old Olivier Panis was once again the man with BAR’S bad luck. He was 16th on the grid because of gearbox trouble.

“What can I say?" said Oliver. “I’m really frustrated because this isn’t what I had hoped for in my last GP with BAR.” This meant that the two Renaults were in the wheel tracks of motorsport news

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Villeneuve, with Jenson Button showing his class again by beating JarnoTrulli.

Sauber's Nick Heidteld was next up in 12th, but the German driver complained that all of his runs were disrupted one way or another, his fastest by a mistake of his own.

Felipe Massa was four-tenths slower and that meant three places on the grid.

Toyota (complete with a blue haired Mika Sale) was relieved that McNish had got away without injury, but there was some disappointment that the cars did not fare better. Mika Sale was 13th, McNish 18th.

The heroes of Monza, Jaguar Racing, were not going as well in Japan, The cats were in the

doghouse, evidence that the chassis is not a classic piece of FI design.

Eddie Irvine suffered an engine failure when it really mattered and did not really deliver a more representative time while Pedro de la Rosa struggled with set-up. The pair were 14th and 17th, And that left Minardi down at the back as usual, but quite close to the action. Mark Webber had to pick up his car and carry it, having chosen to use the harder Bridgestone tyre.

"That last flying lap was not a pretty one," he admitted, “but we did the best with the amount of grip we had available.”

Alex Yoong got within three-tenths of Mark on this occasion, but being on the softer rubber was an advantage.

77ie ups and downs of racing: While Mieluiel Schumueher (above) alinosi efforllessly look pole. Allan McNish was lucky to sia-vive a huge acci dent that destroyed his 7'oyola (below).

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67

.t-

Japanese Grand Prix GRAND PRIX RACE RESULT - S3 LAPS

mM M. Schumacher 2 Barrichello 3 Raikkonen

Ih26ni59.698s Ih27m00.205s Ih27m22.990!

Ih27tn35.973s Ih28ni22.392s

1

4 Montoya ' 5 Sato 6 Button 7 Heidfeld 8 Salo 9 Irvine 10 Webber R R

52 laps 52 laps 52 laps 52 laps 51 laps

R. Schumacher 48 laps de la Rosa 39 laps

R Fislchella R Trulli R Villeneuve R Yoong R Ranis R Coullhard R Massa NS McNish

Engine Transmission

37 laps

Engine

32 laps

Mechanical

27 laps

Engine

14 laps 8 laps 7 laps 3 laps

Spun ofI Throttle Throttle Spun off Nonstarter ;

Fastest lap: M.Schuniaclicr on lap 15, lm36.125s Drivers' pdnts; M. Schumacher 144, Barrichelk)77, Montoya 50, R. Schumacher 42, CouHhanl 41, Raikkonen 24> Button 14,Tniin 9, Irvine 8, HehtfeM and Hskhella 7, Villeneuve and Massa 4, Panis 3, Wd)ber, Fr^rtzen, Sato and Salo 2.

Headed West; David Coulthard was an early retirement with eiectronic throttle trouble.

(Photos by Marsh/Bothwell)

End of the road: Alex Yoong completes what is likely to be his final F1 race, sitting in the sand watching Michael Schumacher charge by in the lead.

continued from page 65 the end ofthe stint when Michael pulled out a couple more seconds as they were lapping the backmarkers.

On lap 37 Rubens pitted again.

On lap 38 Michael followed him in and this time Ralf was not close enough to get between them. The gap was around 10 seconds and that

did not much change until the last lap when Michael slowed up so Rubens crossed the line just behind him. There was no silliness this time. This was Michael’s race, his 64th Grand Prix victory.

There was little to be added to that except perhaps to salute Bridgestone’s 70th victory in 100 races. Yes, one can argue that the company was the sole tyre suppher in FI for one season, but the Japanese have now beaten off both Goodyear and Bridgestone and that is pretty impressive.

Third place went to Raikkonen, which, one must say, was somewhat

Constnictors' poin^ Ferrari 221, Williams/BMW 9i, J McLareii/Mercedes 65, Renault 23,Sauber/Petrona^ 11,Jordan/Hoiida 9, Jagiiar/Coswortli 8, BAR/HbmIa 7,-r Minardi/Asiatech, Toyota and Arrows/Cosworth 2., -j J

by default for at the end of the first lap he was running in fifth. The retirements of Coulthard and Ralf were entirely responsible for Kimi’s promotion, but one takes points when one can and Raikkonen was happy to have them.

“I had a fairly straightforward race,” he said. There was a glitch with the throttle control system, but the team used something called a ‘default strategy’to rectify the problem. Or,in plain English, someone pressed the reset button.

Montoya came home fourth after a lacklustre weekend. Monty’s lap times were aU over the place and he never looked like a threat.

Ralf should have had the third step on the podium but an engine failure put paid to him.

The thing that got the crowd excited was Sato’s fifth place.

The Jordan team put this down to

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motorspon news

FORMULA ONE

Affordable bonded dampers for every performance application Saving the best to last: Takuma Sato sent the Japanese crowd wild with a strong qualifying perfor mance followed by a fifth placing in the race, scoring his first World Championship points -just as Mark Webber did in the first race of the season in his home race. But will it be good enough to keep Sato in F1 next year?

(Photos by Marsh/Bothwell)

brilliant strategy, but there was only a little evidence to back up the case. After the first set of pit stops Sato had dropped from sixth to eighth(due to the decision by the team to make a rapid change to the front wing).

Sato’s lap times then certainly improved and when the second pit stops came he was able to win back one ofthe lost places.

FisicheUa also regained a place he had lost hut his day was to end soon after in a cloud of Honda smoke. Takuma drove on to glory and the crowds went mad. It was nice to see.

The final point went to Jenson Button, who finished a lap down in his Renault. His race had been an uncomplicated one, moving up as those ahead failed. He started ninth and finished sixth (Half Schumacher, David Cordthard and Jamo TruUi having all stopped).

stop looked as though he had run out TruUi’s failure just before second offuel, but the team said his that the retirement had been caused by “a mechanical problem”.In-depth espionage in the garage revealed that the problem was the engine.

Sauber had a dull day with Nick Heidfeld running home seventh, but Felipe Massa was in a scrap with Villeneuve early on, lost downforce, went off and tobogganed across a gravel trap into a barrier.

Mika Salo ended his Tbyota career in eighth

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place and admitted that it was “not the most exciting of races, to be honest”.

Behind him was Eddie Irvine’s Jaguar, providing evidence that the Monza revival was not the start of a great resurgence but rather the result of a good engine being able to overcome a duff chassis. At Suzuka you cannot hide a duff chassis.

Eddie complained of lack of grip but at least made it to the finish. Pedro de la Rosa struggled until his transmission failed (again). The good news on this occasion is that he did not faU into a river, as happened at Indianapolis.

This left Mark Webber to bring home the sole surviving Minardi after a hard day at the back of the field. Mark did rather better than Alex Yoong, who spun off several times.

It was a very bad day for British American Racing with the team being leapfrogged in the Constructors’ Championship by Jordan.

Olivier Panis had gone out early with an electrical problem while Villeneuve tried to recover from his early error but then went out when his engine went boom.

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Japanese Grand Prix

What thev saif

got just about every record; do you get tired of this at all?

MS: No, because - 1 can only repeat myself - it's not the driving that is my motivation, it's simply the love of the sport that is the drive for what I'm doing

/

Highlights tram the past-race press eaaterence

and I'm still hungry for more.

Q; Michael, are there times Q: Michael, when you retire, who has the best chance to be the next number one?

MS: You know I don't know

OK, you can smile now: Michael Schumacher and

that you don't really believe this year has happened?

MS: No, I don't believe it's

team manager Jean Todt [Photo bv Marsh/Bolhwell)

anything to do with luck. It's hard work. Our guys do get the car as reliable as they can, and what I do in the car on the other

when the next young generation is coming, who it will be, because it will be quite a while that I will be around.

side, so I don't think really it's because of luck. In a way, it is unbelievable that it can happen.

None of us would ever have

Q: Michael, why do you think you have fewer poles than last year?

MS: I think last year we had a specific car which worked fantastically well in qualifying.

Sometimes it was a little bit more difficult in the race. This

expected that we would be so successful. But that's the way it is, we celebrate it, we know it will basically be impossible to repeat because I'm more than confident that, unfortunately, our opponents will get stronger so the situation will get tighter naturally.

Q: Kimi, when you had that problem on lap 48, you must have really been worrying, given the bad luck you've had this year.

KR: Yes, it was a little bit funny when your car suddenly slows down and you don't really know what's going on, but luckily it recovered automatically. Just when I slowed down in the

year maybe we orientated a little bit more for the race. In the end,

think that was a fair?

chicane, everything went normal and it was OK.

that's a little bit more important.

MS: In all honesty, I would rather be criticised for being dominant than being too slow. Sometimes you have to take some criticism.

Q; After David had had his problem, did they come on the radio and give you different limits?

Q: Are Ferrari going to run this car at the start of next year?

MS: No, the plan is to have a new car for the first race next

Q; Last year you told us you didn't think you had had a dominant season; would you accept that you had this year?

MS: Maybe. Yes.

KR: No, no, I don't even know what happened to David, just that he slowed down, that's all.

Q: Michael,some people criticised you because you were so dominant. Did you

year. Honestly, if we don't achieve this, if we feel that we're not reliable and we're not ready, then we have a good machine that we could start the season with, but that's not the

Q: How long are you going to carry on doing this? You've

plan.

'I

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Positions lap by lap

WORLD

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October 13 2002

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1 Michael Schi 2 Rubens Barrichello

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3 David Coulthard

‘GBR:McLaren

4 Kimi Raikkonen

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5 Ralf Schumacher

;GER Williams ii

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8 Giancarlo Fisichelia

ITA Jordan ,1

!GBR;Renault i[

11 JarnoTrulli

ITA ! Renault i

12:Nick Heidfeld 13 Mika Salo

[GER^Sauber ;| !GBR:Jaguar

15 Felipe Massa

BRA Sauber ]

16 Olivier Panis

, FRA BAR

17 Pedro De La Rosa

i ESP Jaguar '4

18 Mark Webber-

lAUSiMinardi ;|

19 Alex Yoong 70

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19 motorsport news

FORMULA ONE

WBBER'S GP DIARY

s

uzuka provided a fairly ‘hard work’ finish to the Grand Prix season, although finishing the day with a top 10 finish was a nice finale for the Minardi team.

It was a fair slog, though, because, in retrospect, I think we made a couple of bad decisions in the lead-up to the race - in particular opting for the harder Michelin option when the soft tyre would have been the way to go. A great thing, retrospect!

In his last race, Alex (Yoong) was faced with a bit of a dilemma.

For various reasons, which I won’t go into, we oniy had one correctly operable power steering system in Japan and, while he had it for practice and qualifying, I had it for the race.

Suzuka is a circuit of high load and, I must admit, it was good to get the system for Sunday after battling without it for two days.

Alex is a little guy and was going to struggle, so he started very light on fuel and, having

Siauka

compete with the next cars up the line.

I wasn't completely happy with qualifying on this occasion. There was probably another two or three-tenths in the car during the iast run, but I made a couple of mistakes. It could have been better...

Suzuka is one of the really challenging tracks. While I had run there before (in the MercedesBenz sports car in ’98), attacking the place in an FI car is a different thing again.

With additional power and downforce, it would be huge ...

A

nd so ends my first season in Grand Prix racing. I have to be happy with the way it has panned out.

Even taking away the

\\

Suzuka is really challenging. With additional power and downforce,it would be huge ff

gone for the softer tyre, was going to be at his best early on - which he was.

Starting from the grippier side of the track helped, too, so for eight laps he ran in front of me, until the car got away from him at the hairpin.

On the harder tyre, we’d done the only realistic thing and loaded up with fuel to go as far as possible before making the first of two stops- at lap 21.

The car was mechanically okay, but Suzuka does make you pay if you’re down in the horsepower and downforce stakes, so it was simply a case of pressing on as best we could.

In the end, both stops were good, the car ran strongly and we ended up 10th as a few of the pointy end teams fell over,

F

riday and Saturday went quite well- although, as I said, we got the tyre choice wrong.

We managed to get a reasonable balance in the car but, as qualifying would show, we simply didn’t have enough grip to

16 Ociober 2002

/

And ifthat doesn’t work, you try this... Webber givesfellow Aussie Ryan Briscoe some tips about FI. (Photos by Marsh/Boihwell)

spectacular start in Melbourne, we had a number of other pretty satisfying races mid-season, all of which contributes to creating an initial reputation among the people who matter in Grand Prix racing

and the interest in me for 2003 that has followed.

The story as far as that goes remains the same. I’m confident that everything is in hand and expecting that something will be

announced quite soon.

After all, once the testing ban finishes (in late November), you’d like to be working towards getting a flying start in 2003- whoever that is with.

71

Konica V8 Supercar Challencie

Luke goes large

by AARON NOONAN

WHILE the Konica V8 Supercar Challenge wound up becoming a solid test session for some of the less experienced co-drivers in the Bob Jane T-Marts 1000, it gave Luke Youlden a chance to shine - and shine he did in a Safety Car-punctuated 30 laps.

In the Elleiy team’s second Falcon - with one-off backing from Parts Plus - the 2000 Formula Ford champion went toe-to-toe with Wayne Wakefield’s Sirromet Commodore and managed to run home a clear winner in the Saturday sprint.

“It would have suited me to do the 30 laps under green,” said Youlden.

“The Safety Car hurt us a bit but it made it a good race.”

But there had been one worrying moment for the youngster.

Challenging Wakefield on the run into Konica Bend at the top of Mountain Straight on lap 19, the Sirromet machine tried to uncork the Ford, as Wakefield moved over, and over, and over, leaving Youlden with nothing but grass and kerb on the apex of the uphill bend.

“I was a bit worried because the kerb is quite big there,” he reported after the ‘moment’.

“I thought it damaged the car but I pressed on and the car was OK. We had the legs down the straight.”

Wakefield, who started alongside Youlden on the front row of the grid in the Morris team’s second Commodore, made a bad start and had to pick his way past a handful of machines, though the fuel problem, coupled with the fact that the #67 car only had six tyres for the whole meeting,(given that the

Go to woah: Youlden led the field at the start, right, and was still there when it mattered, above.

(Photos by Dirk Klyrsmith)

#67 car had no tyre bank of older tyres to use in practice), meant that things were harder than normal.

It’s good to be up on the podium again,” said Wakefield.

“Luke had a bit better car speed.

There was a fuel pressure problem though with about eight laps to go and I had to switch between the main and reserve tanks. I had to lift off to half throttle and let the fuel catch up. I know how the car will behave on a full tank now and what it’s like when the tyres start going away at the end of a stint.”

Matthew White ran a lonely race in the VIP Pet Foods Holden to

take third,(“I was pushing eleventenths but I didn’t have the pace the VS was faster here last year!”) with Terry Wyhoon an impressive fourth in the elderly EL Falcon.

The race behind them, though, was filled with carnage. The Safety

Car was summoned three times while accidents were cleaned up, the accident rate hitting an alltime high of six incidents on the one lap, being lap 12.

The first to go was Tim Rowse, an off at Skyline breaking his

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moiorsport news

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That familiar ‘crump’ sound: Lap 12 gave a number of competitors an express ride to the DNF list, including Phil Foster and Mark Floward, above.

(Photo by Dirk Kiynsmith) steering and prompting SC period number one. Then Kevin Mundy and Peter Doulman (the Doulman

running just the one set of running gear for the entire weekend, the former Formula Fordster came

VT a non-qualifier from the 1000 due to the cut-off) came together at McPhillamy and the Holden was beached, before all hell broke loose on lap 12 when the race was re started.

Phil Foster and Mark Howard

under pressure from Dean Crosswell, guesting in the Smith’s Trucks Commodore VT.

ended up in the Mountain Straight wall after they tangled with Clyde Lawrence, while Michael Simpson, who had been running an impressive third at the start, suffered a diff failure. Add in that Mundy stopped with a suspected broken wheel and Robert Jones putting the Spies Hecker VX into the wall at the Dipper, and the world seemed like it had gone crazy.

But through the craziness came Andrew Jones. Doubling up in the same B JR Falcon for the 1000 and

It all got too close with one lap to go, when the Tasmanian locked the rears and rotated at Hell Corner, tapping Jones into a spin. The Albury lad pressed on for fifth, while Crosswell eventually finished ninth.

Craig Bastian (now in the exSalmon AU), Grant Elliott and Tony Evangelou separated the pair by the end of the 30 laps.

While it was a long way to ran 30 laps at Bathurst, it still was a cracking race. Two good ones in two good years.

Maybe there should be a few more of these things on the main series bill to liven things up somewhat...

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At the moment I am studying Office Administration and have just started this year. I have around two years to complete my ii

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I am an avid motorsportfan and never miss a telecast of a race. My favourite racing is the V8 Racing in Australia, however I also watch the motorbikes and sometimes watch the horse racing. I am looking at doing some modelling for the Spring

POS HO 1 30 2 67 3 76 4 25 5 20 6 47 7 98 8 300 9 72 10 24 11 95 12 89 DNF 90 DNF 79 DNF 38 DNF 77 DNF140 DNF'32 DNF 69 DNF 36 DNF 68 DNF 94 DNF 58

DRIUER Luke You lden Wayne Wakefield Matthew White Terry Wyhoon Andrew Jones Craig Bastian Grant Elliot Tony Evangelou Dean Croswell Peter Doulman Jamie Miller Phonsy Mullan Todd Vi/anless Paul Freestone Mathew Hunt Richard Mork Clyde Lawrence Michael Simpson Robert Jones Kevin Mundy Phil Foster Mark Howard Tim Row,se

RACETIIEAOPS Ih23m49.4331s Super Cheap Falcon AU Ih24m02.2475s Sirromet Commodore VX lh24ml 0.7574s VIP Petfoods Commodore VX Ih24ml3.7122s Kitome/Lubrimaxx Falcon EL Ih24m37.0069s Brad Jones Racing Falcon AU Abacus Funds Management Falcon AU I h24m39.9068s 1h25m09.1818s Sydney Star Commodore VS Ih25m10.5506s ANT Racing Commodore VS Smiths Trucks Commodore VT Ih25m22,0330s Commodore VX 29 laps 28 laps Pedders Suspension Commodore VS Mullan Real Estate Commodore VS 26 laps Metal Corp Commodore VS 29 laps Spies Hecker Racing Commodore VS 27 laps National Racing Products Commodore VS 24 laps 24 laps V8Racing.com Commodore VS Karingal Haulage Motorsports Commodore VS 12 laps 11 laps Howard Simpson Racing Falcon EL Spies Hecker Racing Commodore VX 11 laps Action Air Racing Falcon AU 11 laps Diesel Tech Springwood Commodore VS 11 laps Howard Simpson Racing 11 laps Commodore VS 2 laps

KonicaV8 Supercars Bathurst 16 October 2002

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Formula Ford

Two first-time winners; Queenslander,Prett Francis built on his good showing at Queensland to take out race two at Bathurst, left. Earlier in the weekend though, it was another debut winner in the form of up-and(Photos by Marshall Cass) comer Neil McFadyen, shown above trailing Francis.

WHILE the Australian Formula Ford title may have been decided long ago, it meant that some new faces stepped up onto the podium on the in in the non-title

particularly with two broken ribs suffered in a water skiing shunt a week earlier.

The luck wasn’t with Mark Winterbottom, the Bosch Spectrum driver crashing out of the lead at Griffin’s Bend on lap one of race one, and suffering contact in race two that bent the back pushrod.

I got caught up with someone at the top (of the Mountain), so at least it gave the boys four laps earlier to start packing up!”

Two of thp quickest machines on the weekend were Jordan Ormsby’s Stealth, which broke Rodney Forbes’s 1997 lap record in race one on the way to finishing third, though a touch with the wall bent the back track rod and he was out of race contention.

Ash Lowe was the big charger.

The Queenslander shunted heavily in Thursday practice and charged his way to 10th from the rear of the grid in race one and took fourth in the second race.

-AARON NOONAN

"Queenslander Brett Francis took hi^ Van Diemen RF02 to his first fflhi in the second race and got the overall win after running second in race one,leading home Neil -'McFadyen and Justin Cotter.

“It’s been a long time but it was a pity I didn’t see the chequered flag,” said Francis, referring to the fact that the second race was redflagged one lap short because of a multitude of stranded cars.

It was a shame for McFayden, who won the first race, as the Tankworld Stealth driver had been planning a last lap charge, though he had to count himselflucky just to finish after contact with Daniel Reinhardt ripped his nosecone off.

For Cotter, finishing third for the weekend wasn’t easy,

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ivlarcus Gronholm capitalised on an error by Richard Burns to grind the opposition into tiny ito and seai the 2002 WRC ^iipvn in New Zeaiand.

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IGHT from the start of this year’s Rally of New Zealand there was an air of inevitability as Peugeot and Finn Marcus Gronhohn again demonstrated their dominance of the 2002 title.

Gronholm and the team arrived with the drivers and manufacturer’s titles all but in their grasp, and they left with both trophies in their cabinets after a forceful display of their supremacy.

Richard Bums had command of the rally until a crash mid-way through the second leg not only destroyed the car, but also the Englishman’s title hopes.

The Finn only had to cruise after Bums’s demise, knowing he could not be beaten in the title. However, he went on to win every remaining stage to register a commanding win. It also gave Peugeot its eighth perfect score of the season, and the manufacturer’s title for the third year in a row.

Day 1 Burns’s of defending World chances Championship hingedhis on his performance in the final three rallies of the year starting with New Zealand, and the Englishman attacked from the start.

The Peugeots were clearly the cars to beat, as Burns led the way with Harri Rovanpera and Gronholm falling in behind.

Gronholm was struggling in his 76

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car with a series of hydraulic problems, costing him time.

The Peugeot onslaught may have been the most dominant force on the opening leg but Finnish Mitsubishi recruit Jani Paasonen was the revelation, finding pace in the WRC2 Lancer - pace that team regulars Mister McRae and Francois Delecour have been unable to identify.

Paasonen had the Lancer in the top three after four stages, leapfrogging Gronholm and Makinen. Interestingly, Ralliart team-mate Delecour was languishing back in 14th.

Stalling the car on the start line of SSI was not a good start for Carlos Sainz, the Ford attack faltering before it even started.

Colin McRae was amongst the top five but had no answer to the pace of the Peugeots. However on SS4 the Scot slid his Focus off the road into a fence post l.Skms from the end of the stage. A misheard pace note call was the excuse, a damaged radiator and a retirement the result.

Sainz showed some potential in the Ford on SS2 and 3 before spinning on SS4 along the Whanga Coast. The spin put him back to

To earth with a thud: Burn’s Rally NZ- and title hopes - ended with a massive shunt on Day 2, above.

(PhoSo by sutton-lmages.com)

eighth behind Markko Martin.

Makinen and Solberg were doing a fair job for Subaru, filling fifth and sixth, but with a 40 second deficit to Burns, it was not enough.

Both Subarus suffered brake problems in the early stages.

Tommi Makinen also lost power with broken water injection in the closing stages and Better Solberg again lost brakes on the penultimate stage of the day. motorspori news

WRC ■s D

1 2 3 4 5 B

Gronholm/Rautiainen Rovanpera/Silander Makinen/Lindstrom Sainz/Moya Kankkunen/Repo Loix/Smeets

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Peugeot 206 Peugeot 206 S ubaru Impreta WRC Ford Focus RS Hyundai Accent Hyundai Accent

3:58:45.4 4:02:33.0 4:03:11.7 4:04.34.3 4:05:55.6 4:06:37.9

Drivers points: Oronholm 67, Burns 34, C. McRae 33, Panini 31, Sainz 29, Rovanpera 24, Solberg 23, Makinen 13 Manufacturers points: Peugeot 147, Ford 89, Subaru 50, Mitsubishi 9, Hyundai 9, Skoda 8

WRC Round 12

Rally of New Zealand The ChampionshipI is Finnished: Gronholm, above and left, was untouchable once Biurns fell by the wayside.

Red letter day: Paasonen, right, pulled out one of the best Mitsubishi (Photo by Jon Thomson) performances of the whole season.

Day 2

B

urns set out to stamp his authority on the rally, attacking with the purpose of someone who was out to win a World Championship.

The Englishman was fastest on three of the four special stages on Saturday morning and was opening a commanding lead on Gronholm who had fought back past Rovanpera to be second.

Gronholm had all but conceded the win to Bums, safe in the knowledge that the Englishman had all the work to do if he wanted to keep his title hopes alive.

Paasonen started the day in the same attacking way that he had on leg one and was determined to catch Rovanpera. However on SSll, the young Finn arrived too fast at a comer and rolled out of the rally, a holed radiator finishing his chances.

With Paasonen out, a Peugeot trifecta was firming, but the longest and toughest day of the rally had plenty in store.

Martin had been the best positioned of the Fords in sixth and only 39 seconds behind Makinen when the Estonian went off in SS14. Ford’s chances in the manufacturer’s title were now looking remote as only Sainz, now in sixth, remained.

Martin’s car wasn’t badly damaged, but it ended up a couple of metres below the road and the hot exhaust set fire to the undergrowth.

Martin and co-driver Martin Park quickly extinguished the flames.

No sooner had they finished fighting the fire when a Group N competitor rolled into the Focus, badly injuring a WRC film crew retrieving the video tape from the car.

On SS15 the complexion of the rally changed dramatically when 16 October 2002

Burns rolled out, handing the lead and the championship to

Gronholm.

It was a fourth-gear righthander and I slid a little wide, said Burns.

‘There was a left-hander straight after it and it sent the car into the air. We went over a fence and cartwheeled into the trees - it was a pretty wild ride.

With Burns gone, Solberg moved up to third with Makinen fourth, while Sainz was making up time in fifth.

Possum Bourne, after some early hiccups (including a cracked diff housing), regained the Group N lead from Kristian Solberg in a Lancer by the end of leg two.

Gronholm dominated the final four stages with fastest times to take a 55.3s lead over Rovanpera at the overnight halt.

Day 3 would not have blamed With nothing to play for, you Gronholm if he had eased off and gone for safety, but the Finn had the knife into his rivals and was now twisting it to underline his supremacy.

The Peugeot driver scored fastest time on every one of the final leg’s eight stages to lead Rovanpera by a massive 3m47s.

Then Rovanpera started to suffer from hydraulic problems and had to nurse the car through the final stages in the Maramarua forest, some of the pressure being relieved when third-placed Solberg’s engine blew three stages from home.

The demise of the Solberg Subara meant Makinen could salvage some pride with a podium, while Sainz moved to fourth.

But Sainz also had problems, going backwards off the road on SS24 and hitting a tree, collecting a cameraman in the process. The

lensman suffered a broken leg.

The Spaniard was able to continue and maintain his position over fifth place Juha Kankkunen in the Hyundai.

In the end however, Gronholm’s performance was just too strong.

“It feels good, you know different from 2000 but good all the same,” said Gronholm.

“The first championship in 2000 was a good fight until the last stage and it was a very different feeling. It’s a good year. We have retired only once and the car has been very good.”

Makinen was third, 29 seconds behind Rovanpera, while Sainz

V\ ●● I

hung on to fourth another lm22s behind but ahead of the Hyundais of Kankkunen and Loix, who picked up valuable manufactm-ers points in fifth and sixth.

Bourne won)the Group N category in his Subara, just nine seconds ahead of Sohlberg, who took the Production World Championship points from Martin Rowe, both driving Mitsubishis.

With the championship now decided, the final two rounds in Australia and Britain will be a fight to redeem some honour for the likes of Bums and McRae, while Gronholm will be out to complete an almost perfect season

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Communication breakdown: McRae’s difficult season continued when (Photo by Jon Thomson) he crashed out of the Rally on the first day.

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Aussie crews had mixed results in the Rally of New Zealand with only two of the four crews making the finish.

As well as the all-Australian crews, Perth’s Toni Feaver was entered alongside Kiwi Emma Gilmour in an Evo 3 Lancer and was the first of the Aussies to go out of the rally, retiring with a blown turbo on SS4.

Cody Crocker was probably one of our best chances for a shot at victory in Group N, but after just eight stages the gear shift in his Subaru broke and he was out.

Crocker’s luck in New Zealand has been less than favourable, crashing out in the biggest possible way last year and being excluded in 2000 for a minor technicality after winning the

Group N class. His Kiwi team mate Possum Bourne won the Group N class this year.

Perth’s Dean Herridge and Glenn MacNeal in the Subaru Rally Team Japan entry struggled with a lack of power in a car that was well below the standard of their ARC machine and came home 25th, keeping their noses clean on the way through.

Canberra’s Michael Thompson and Gordon Klebba had a steady run to come home 35th in their Subaru, while Sydney crew Brett Middleton and Andrew Benefield were in 35th and looking strong when a gearbox pump seal let go on the long transport back from leg two and forced their retirement on the liaison stage.

- JONTHOMSON

Czech signing?

11' *

Photo by

DIDIER Auriol could make a full time return to the World Rally Championship with Skoda after a year on the sidelines.

"It's true that I'm in discussions," Auriol said.

"We're well advanced, but there's nothing signed. I'm interested in coming back. The passion is still there, but it has to

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be with good people."

The 44-year-old Frenchman could marginally reduce the average age of Skoda's driving squad, as he might replace 46year-old Kenneth Eriksson, even though the Swede has often outpaced the Czech team's 28year-old Finn Toni Gardemeister.

- JON THOMSON

Gronholm: Burns a threat NEWLY- crowned World Champion Marcus Gronholm believes that Peugeot colleague Richard Burns will be his biggest threat in 2003, even though hasn’t won a raliy for more than a year.

“If the situation is not changing, I think Richard is the best,” Gronholm said after his win in New Zealand.

“He was very fast here.”

The Peugeot driver believes that Colin McRae will not be a championship rival when he moves to Citroen next year.

“On the tarmac rallies, I think he will have trouble with Sebastien Loeb and Philippe Bugalski, and in the gravel rallies, I don’t know that the car will have the pace,” Gronholm commented.

- JON THOMSON 78

Colin and Nicky AFTER denying reports that their partnership was over in November last year, Colin McRae and Nicky Grist have announced they are splitting immediately.

The day one crash in New Zealand that eliminated McRae from the title fight has triggered the divorce many people believed has been coming for the past 12 months.

The announcement that co driver Nicky Grist had been sacked came just three days after the NZ failure, and will see McRae revert to 1995 championship-winning partner Derek Ringer for the final two rounds of the season.

McRae announced that he and Grist would part company immediately, after what has been described as a tense relationship over the past 12 months.

"This is a joint decision by myself and Nicky," said McRae. "Our in-car relationship has been strained for the past 12 months or so, and after long discussions we've decided that a change is thabest way forward for both of us.

"Since we joined forces in 1997, we’ve won 17 world rallies with two different teams and enjoyed some great moments. I wish Nicky well for the future and thank him

for his support over the past s seasons.

"I would like to finish the ye»'-. _i and my career with Ford, in a _; positive fashion and that meafii^l . '' _i X going all-out for victory in /.4_Australia and Britain. . r.

"My thoughts are now focused on those two rallies^ and I'm looking forward to ’● .Derek helping me and Ford tOva successful end to the season-." ' % MNews reported the likely ● split of the Ford duo in late November 2001, a report whiqh, was strongly denied by Ford arid

i

Carlos bound for Hyundai?

CARLOS Sainz could be heading to Hyundai in 2003 if Ford fails to come up with the funding to pay the Spanish star.

Sainz has said that he wishes to stay with Ford, but the British team is under severe financial pressure and it is far from certain that the money can be found to keep Sainz or to run a third Focus in 2003.

Hyundai team director David Whitehead is pressing hard to run three cars and has said that he is

keen to recruit Sainz.

“I am talking with Hyundai. If Ford has no money, I don’t have any option,” said Sainz.

If Sainz joins Hyundai, Juha Kankkunen’s future with the team could be in doubt.

The Spaniard has also talked with Subaru, but team director David Lapworth emphasised that an extra driver would not he recruited if doing so compromised the development programme.

- JON THOMSON moiorsport news

RAirriNG

WRC calendar uproar Financial concerns to prompt schedule sfi ake-up?

McRae at the time.

However, there were many pointers that McRae was unhappy with Grist's pacenote calling, and the blame for the Kiwi crash was placed on "a misheard call."

"Having made the decision to split, we have decided it is better to make it immediate' and have Derek alongside Colin for the final two rounds of this year's championship in preparation for next season in a new team," said Grist.

"I have not yet thought about

my future and 1' take time to assess my options. Co-driving is still a strong possibility and I would like to stress that this decision does not signify my retirement from the sport."

Ringer, also a Scot, has been released from his contract with Mitsubishi to rejoin McRae. Ringer was with McRae in his junior days in the sport and the pair rose to the top, winning the 1995 world title on the final round in Britain.

Their partnership ended at Subaru after the 1996 season,

WHILE some drivers have welcomed the demise of the Safari Rally, arguing that it had become too fast and too dangerous, others have expressed regret.

“The Safari has changed a lot in the last few years,” said former Safari winner Carlos Sainz.

“Already last year we complained it was like European speed, but more dangerous.

Personally, I feel a bit sad.”

Meanwhile, Prodrive Subaru Sporting Director George Donaldson took a broader view.

‘T think it’s a classic event,” he said.

“I think the World Championship is about more than the drivers going fast down a short stage.

We’re losing a continent - that hurts. We’re becoming more and more a European championship.

16 October 2002

“I would hope that the Safari could either sort itself out or we find another rally in Afiica.”

Peugeot Sport Director Corrado Provera has called for the FIA to restore an Afiican round to the World Rally Championship, but expressed few regrets at the loss of the Safari in its present form.

“As far as I know, the decision has been taken for economic reasons. It’s a pity. In the meantime, we have to admit that this rally, being so dangerous for spectators and so expensive, was not fitting for the World Championship.

“We would like an African event as soon as possible, either in Kenya or another African country.

The World Championship should have an African rally.”

- JON THOMSON

THE announcement of the 2003 WRC calendar just before the Rally of New Zealand roused plenty of discussion, and the warning is that there are more changes to come as the FIA and ISC move to streamline the shipping of cars and equipment.

Even Rally Australia is not safe from the changes, with a push for it to be scheduled in March or May to group it with other Southern Hemisphere events.

Currently, Rally Australia stands liable for some major freight cost penalties if it runs in September as slated on the draft calendar.

The demise of the Safari event in Kenya and the inclusion of both Cyprus and the Turkish Anatolia rally will mean that 11 of the 14 rounds next year will be held in Europe, begging the question of whether this is a true World title or a European championship with some Antipodean supplementary events.

The African event has struggled financially and the reform of the calendar is being driven by financially expedience.

Works teams have demanded that Cyprus, Anatolia and the Acropolis be held in quick succession because of their geographical proximity. Similarly, Australia, in March, New Zealand in April and Argentina in May is the preferred option. This would then allow the Ro-Ro ship

carrying the cars to bias back in Europe in time for the ‘●''Acropolis in early June.

The Cyprus and Anatolia rallies do not have dates yet, but speculation is that Cyprus will be a fortnight after Acropolis in June, while Turkey v/oould be run in early July, a fortniglTit before the Deutschland Rally..

Rally Finland will maintain its late August date, and:iff Rally Australia is moved to,^'^arch there would be an eight-weak gap to San Remo in early October.

San Remo would sttart a four rallies in six weeks marathon, with the Italian eventfc-ollowed a fortnight later by Corsraca then another fortnight later tby Spain, with the final rally oftNe year in Great Britain just two weeks after that.

The key to the calendar is Australia and its move to an earlier date to ensure; the teams can use just one setor«f equipment sent by bosal: This may be difficuie- if not impossible - to achievve, unless the dates are altered. QOne of the main goals for 2003 w?as to make it possible to contest ttiie series with one set of equipment.

“If you look at the calendar today, the Ro-Ro boat doesn’t work,” comn^nted Raalliart Directory John Easton. There are more discussions t to, come about this calendar, mark my words.”

- JON THOMSONS

Safari reactions

Sure, it’s safer for the termites: The loss of the famous Saifari Rally from the WRC calendar has prompted calls for a new African event.

(Photo h>rf Plmto4/BOTHWELL)

29

WSS for PCf December date for World Series return

Season to

NASR secures insurance policy for2

The boys are back in town: The WSS boys will be at PCRfor thefirst time (Photo by John Morris/Mpix) since January 2001.

THE World Series Sprintcar tour is returning to Parramatta City Raceway.

After an absence of nearly two years from the venue, WSS will run the sixth round of their series on December 14.

"Naturally we're pleased to be going back to PCR." said WSS Managing Director David Lander.

"It's the major promoter of Sprintcar racing in this country and the improvements they have made to the facility are unbelievable.

"I think the Sydney fans will be pleased to see us back there too."

Steven Green, PCR's Track Manager, said that that the venue was looking forward to the World Series returning.

A bit of Lasoski for Loadsman BRE'TT Loadsman is waiting for the ex-Danny Lasoski Eagle to arrive from the United States, hut win race the car this summer.

At this point of time, the car is somewhere between Australia and the US,so Loadsman will be back in the Maxim he used last year to begin with.

The ex-Lasoski machine was purchased for Brett by Ken and Barbara McPhail from Glacirium Ice Skating Norwest.

Ken met Loadsman at one of the racer’s successful ‘Squirt in the Dirt’ days and was so impressed his team that in the off-season, he went to the US and purchased the Eagle for this summer.

Loadsman will also have the use of a new engine and that too was purchased for him by another ‘Squirt in the Dirt’ runner, Dick and Robyn Thomson.

- GREG BOSCATO 80

"We're delighted to announce that World Series Sprintcars is coming back to Parramatta City Raceway.

"Thanks to Bill Mann's Performance Wholesale we're going to have quite an event on our hands on December 14. I know a lot of people are looking forward to it.

"We have a very exciting incentive scheme for our local drivers competing in the WSS round, but that will be released shortly."

"It's a good thing for all concerned," said WSS car owner Noel Gessner.

"PCR should have a round and WSS should always be there. It's good for us to race at that facility and good for the Sydney fans too I'd think."

- AARON NOONAN

by AARON NOONAN SPEEDWAY fans can rest a bit easier now in the knowledge that the 2002/2003 racing season will kick off at full speed this weekend after NASR announced late last week that the NASR/FAS Insurance Policy had been placed.

With the ever-increasing cost of Public Liability Insurance, doubts had been raised over whether the

season would actually get up and running, though NASR placed the policy just hours before the expiry of the current policy.

Many circuits had been unable to afford the higher cost of insurance and that made the NASR scheme unviable, though NASR is going to subsidise the cost to tracks, allowing more tracks to be able to run events as scheduled. ’ “It was a very hard decision to

The Hy looks at WSS VETERAN Sprintcar racer Ian Lewis may be joining the World Series Sprintcar tour.

Car owner David Challons is keen to take Lewis and the Camden Neon J&J on the road for the November 16 start of the series in Bunbury.

"We have some sponsorship opportunities in WA," said Challons, "and we think if we can pull those together we've got the most expensive part of the WSS road-trip covered."

"We've enjoyed our time with the SRA in Victoria but we want to branch out and enjoy our racing in other corners of the country."

Lewis upset some of the WSS heavy-hitters at the Avalon round last season, where the 48-year-old veteran out-ran them to snatch a heat win.

motorsport news

SPEEDWAY

Start

What does it mean?

TilNE successful eleventh hour bid by NASR to secure the FAS policy just hours before the expiration of the existing cover Ii3raves some interesting issues. i|n order to do this, NASR had to guarantee $1.6 million, of wliich the tracks will contribute $1.2 million. The-other $0.4 miillion is rumoured to be coming from a NASR board member but rntay also come from a number of other options, including a oneo.ftf $150 extra charge against competitors, an increased pit gate charge for competitors, nomination fees, or significant cuts in pxrizemoney.

While the insurance dramas should predominantly be an issue fbtr promoters, it has had an effect on competitors. r'Motorsport News understands that one team missed out on a ne-w-to-speedway national sponsor at the last moment thanks to puiblished comments from NASR General Manager Tim ML'cAvaney. McAvaney's comiments about the state of the industry amd its insurance problems stopped the deal just days before the d©al was to be signed.

The problem therefore remains that speedway is heading for amother turbulent, fractured, season where unless there is some Scevernment intervention or some common sense, both of which seem to be very rare occurrences within this industry, then many of the smaller tracks may be forced to take a hiatus or worse yet permanently close, - BRETT SWANSON

D02/2003season

Sir'"-

Back on its wheels: The sorting of insurance has meant that speedway racing has been able to clear its biggest issue.

SA Schemes

looks break cover in South Oz

(Photo by John Morris/Mpix)

make,” said NASR General Manager Tim McAvaney.

“The NASR Board has had to guarantee $1.6 million to ensure we can race this season, and to guarantee that sort of money, you have to he pretty sure you can raise the funds.”

“I think this illustrates the need for the peak body. I doubt whether this deal could have been put in place without the framework that NASR provides.”

Tracks have collectively committed to $1.2 million of the bm, while NASR will be responsible to pay the balance.

However, the 11th hour deal was too late for some tracks on the weekend, with many tracks, including Parramatta, cancelling their events.

But with the insurance in place, speedways around the country wHt be roaring into life this weekend for the 2002/2003 racing season.

SCHLITH Australian Sprintcar teams have had their first hit-out in preparation for the 2002/2003 season.

Tiirevor Green’s ADRAD machine, above, was among the SA runners totake to Riverview Speedway at Murray Bridge. The first SA Sprintcar iFTieeting of the season will be this weekend T & R Murray Bridge Sprintcar Gold Cup. - PARIS CHARLES

Max Dumesny Motorsport Australian Distributors for -

jftiosiff

^^ RACING tire:

For more /n/bfmot/on on Hoosier Dmg and ^>ee<Say Tyr» caft

NSW;02 9679 1990 l Fax 02 9679 / 187 VIC:03 9331 6477 l Fax 03 9331 7444 SA:08 8332 0800 l Fax 08 8364 0296 16 October 2002

Champions of Champions for Speedcar racers THE top Speedcar racers in the land will have 20,000 reasons to win the Champion of Champions Speedcar event at Parramatta City Raceway on January 25/26, with $20,000 up for grabs.

"To have such a high-profile event at Parramatta is tremendous news," said driver and NSW Speedcar Club president Brett Morris.

"Good luck to anyone who oomes here to race it... because the local guys will be no easy pushovers!"

One interstate speedster who could lay possible claim to being a genuine threat to the NSW boys is four-time Australian Champion Michaei Figliomeni.

"I can't wait to get there and race that event. I have not been this excited about raoing a Speedoar for a long, long time," said 'The Fig'.

Figliomeni is leaving nothing to ohance either, buiiding a new car and purchasing brand new equipment for the season ahead and the Champion Spark Plugssponsored Champion of Champions event.

Even his long-time supporter and engine builder Joe Fontana is keen to see Figliomeni strut his stuff at PCR. "Joe is very excited about me racing this big event and is building a new motor for me so I can put my best foot forward.

"Some guys there used to run Fontana engines but have sinoe moved on and I think Joe wants to remind them how strong his engines can be," The embers that became the fire of the Champion of Champions Speedcar Event was instigated by Barry Graham, father of current day superstar Steven Graham.

"We thank Barry very much for opening the door on the opportunity to meet with Motospecs (distributor of the Champion brand), which has now seen this event become a reality," said PCR Track Manager Steven Green.

"This race has all the potential to be one of the highest paying and most prestigious Speedcar events in Australia."

2002 WORLD OF OUTLAWS SPRINTCAR SERIES Lowes Motor Speedway October 12

1. Daryn Pittman 2. Danny Lasoski 3. Joey Saldana 4. Johnny Herrera 5. Craig Dollansky 6. Greg Hodnett 7. Steve Kinser 8, Shane Stew/art 9, Stevie Smith 10. Brad Furr

11. Jason Johnson 12. Jac Haudenschild 13. Kraig Kinser 14. Tyler Walker 15. Kenny Jacobs 16. Ricky Logan 17. Randy Hannagan 18. Tom Busch 19. Jeremy Campbell 20. Curl Trainer

Standings to Oct 13

1.Steve Kinser ....

2.Danny Lasoski ..

3.Craig DoliansKy . .

4.Joey Saldana .. .

5.Tim Shaffer 6.Mark Kinser .... y.Donny Schatz .. .

6.Brad Furr 9.Stevie Smith .... lO.Randy Hannagan

.9736 .9440 .9435 .8377 .9285 .9266 .9072 .9058 .9037 .8519

81

PPI to head inhouse in 2003 PPI Motorsports has announced it will build its own engines in 2003 for its switch from Ford to Pontiac, while the restrictor plate power for Daytona and Talladega will come from the Richard Childress Racing stables.

Owner Cal Wells recently purchased an old Yates building and has hired Yates employees to run the operation.

Ricky Hendrick, son of multi-team owner Rick Hendrick, has retired from racing effective immediately.

Hendrick suffered a hard wreck at Las Vegas in March, breaking his shoulder in many places and sitting out for six races before he felt he was ready to return.

However, during recent tests in Atlanta he was off the pace from other cars on the track and not driving into the turns as hard.

"I am not mentally ready to drive a race car again," said Hendrick, 22.

"Something is haunting me getting into the turns. It was a hard wreck and one I'll never forget."

His father commented, "He showed a lot of character by making a tough choice."

Ricky was to complete one more year in the Busch Series before stepping up to Winston Cup in 2004.

He was the youngest winner in the Truck Series race at 21, when he won at Kansas Speedway. n In 2003, Jimmy Makar will step away from the crew chief role at Joe Gibbs Racing that he's held since its inception in 1991 to become full-time team manager, a role he's juggled for a few seasons. The lack of good finishes has put a strain on the strong personal relationship between driver Bobby Labonte (the 2000 Winston Cup champ) and Makar, who is Dale Jarrett's brother-in-law. n Although already working at DEI, Tony Gibson will not replace Paul Andrews - who left DEI and Steve Park - to crew chief the Pennzoii Chev, until 2003. Gibson recently departed his position as car chief for Jeff Gordon at Hendrick Motorsports where he won the 2001 title with the team.

He also has a second championship under his belt, ironically with Andrews as crew chief for the late Alan Kulwicki. n Qualifying at Talladega was rained out so the 43 car field started in points order, with rookie Jimmie Johnson on pole. Missing the show were Kerry Earnhardt in a Chev entered by his Busch Series team Fitz Bradshaw Racing, Robert Pressley in a Mailing Dodge, Geoffrey Bodine and Morgan Shepherd.

- MARTIN D CLARK 82

Marh out fop st

Winston Cup points contemien topced to sit out

by MARTIN D CLARK

STERLING Marlin will not win the 2002 Winston Cup. Instead, the Ganassi Dodge pilot will have to sit out the rest of the season after a hard hit with the wall at Kansas on September 29 caused a broken C2 cervical vertebrae in his neck.

The injury was revealed by an ' MRI that he should have taken after an accident at Richmond earlier in the month.

“Obviously I’m disappointed,” said Marlin, who broke the same vertebrae as Christopher Reeve.

“I want to be out there, but it’s great to be able just to walk arormd.”

Marlin headed the points from Rockingham on February 24 until September 14 and, although fifth in points exiting Kansas, was still in the points hunt mathematically.

“Sterling is obviously upset because he had a legitimate chance at winning the championship, especially with the tightness of the points race,” said Ganassi team co owner Felix Sabates.

Marlin, who has never missed a race through injury, won events at Las Vegas and Darlington this year and posted 14 top-10 results until his slide in the last four events.

Jamie McMurray was scheduled to run Phoenix, Atlanta and the 2002 finale at Homestead-Miami with a partnership between Ganassi and Mailing Racing before he joins Ganassi full-time in 2003.

However,the rookie will now drive as substitute for Marlin in six of the remaining seven races - his Busch Series schedule will keep him out of the October 20 Martinsville event.

Jacked off: Sterling Marlin, right, will have to sit and watch his 2002 title hopes fall away.

(Photos by sutton-images.com)

Marlin could have run the remaining events, but surgery would have been necessary during the off-season. By sitting out now he will sport a neck brace, but avoid surgery.

McMurray’s debut at Talladega saw the 26-year-old finish 26th after stalling once on pit road and running dry offuel to drop him from the lead lap.

for the Burtons TOMMY Baldwin has parted ways with Bill Davis Racing I as crew chief for 2002 Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton’s CAT Dodge, left. He was replaced immediately by ; Frank Stoddard,former crew j chief for Ward’s brother, Jeff, at Roush Racing.

“They have won twice this I year and although I was caught i off guard by the opportunity I J am excited about working with ^ Ward,” said Stoddard, a Stoddard has apparently I only signed on for the

remainder of the year and both sides will make a decision on 2003 later. There's no word on where Baldwin will end up.

“I was surprised by the decision,” Baldwin told Motorsport News. “I have nothing lined up right now.”

Baldwin has strong ties with Greg Zipadelli, crew chief for Tony Stewart, from NASCAR Modified racing in the north east, so he could be in the running to replace Jimmy Makar at Joe Gibbs Racing.

- MARTIN D CLARK motorspon news

lason!

With neck injury

NASCAR

Jamie who?

THE Ganassi Coors Dodge was back in victory lane at Charlotte on Sunday,one year after Sterling Marlin took a win in the same race.

This time though, it wasn’t Marlin behind the wheel, but rookie stand-in Jamie McMurray,in only his second Winston Cup race.

McMurray was brought in last week at Talladega to sub for the injured Marlin, and held off previous Charlotte winner Bobby Labonte and points leader Tony Stewart for the win.

“I don’t beheve it,” said McMurray. “It’s a really hard situation with Sterhng hurt and everything, but Sterling has been supportive of me and the whole team. Last year in the Busch Series this was my worst race track, but the team kept making the car better all day. I’m going to ask them about going to Martinsville now.”

McMurray will drive for Ganassi full-time next year in the Texaco Dodge, and was due to miss the Martinsville event this Sunday due to his commitments in the Busch Series.

Truck racer Mike Bliss will possibly take the wheel.

“It’s up to Clarence Brewer whether he runs at Martinsville,”

commented Ganassi. “His contract is with his Busch Series team.”

McMurray’s win is the earliest a driver has won in his career since Johnny Rutherford won in his first race at Daytona in February 1963.

Labonte closed in on McMurray in the waning laps due to heavy lapped traffic during the 334 lap event that started three-plus hom’s late after heavy rains.

McMurray lead the most tours, 96, 30 more than Jimmie Johnson who dominated the early going.

Other leaders that looked strong were Kurt Busch, Labonte and Matt Kenseth, but both Kenseth and points contender Mark Martin fell off the pace with soured Roush engines.

The points race remains the closest in history, the top six cars within 211 points of leader Stewart, Martin’s 16th placing dropped him to third, while triple champ Jeff Gordon remains in contention in sixth, but those in front will have to falter for him to take another crown.

- MARTIN D CLARK Final result; McMurray(Dodge),B Labonte (Pontiac), Stewart (Pontiac), J Gordon (Chevy),R Wallace (Ford), Johnson (Chevy), Newman (Ford), Earnhardt Jr.(Chevy), Blaney (Ford).

Little E’s 3-Peat

DALE Earnhardt Junior's late father had many nicknames.

One was'Mr. Restrictor Plate', which can probably be handed down to his son as he became only the second driver in history to win three straight Talladega races, with a victory over Tony Stewart on October 6.

"I was really surprised Tony stuck with me," said Earnhardt Jr, right, who also won an extra $2 million in the Winston No Bull Five event.

"He tried real hard last year to beat me here, with the pack thinned out to four or five cars it's harder for them to push a guy past the leader."

However 'Little E's' victory was not the major talking point.

The points race again shifted gears with Stewart moving to the top of the table after a bizarre start to the race took out the first two in points entering the event.

"It means a lot to be leading right now for my team," said Stewart, "I've led championship's before, but the 16 October 2002

i day I want to be leading is on the Sunday after Homestead {the season finale)."

The race was started in points order due to rain in qualifying, Mark Martin starting alongside point leader Jimmie Johnson. On the final pace lap Martin was weaving his Roush Ford back and fourth when he suddenly veered left into Johnson, the pair ending up on the tri-oval grass.

"I don't know what the heck happed to Mark," said Johnson, "It knocked the right front fender in on the tyre. Whoever has been leading the points has had problems, so I'm glad we don't have to go on with a voodoo doll on our back."

With Martin and Johnson one lap down, Jeff Gordon and Stewart stood to close in on the points leaders, but after leading 27 laps and looking like Junior's only challenger, Gordon retired with engine failure.

Hats off were due to NASCAR for their new ruling of 13 gallon fuel tanks compared to the usual 22 gallons. The multitude of stops appeared to break up the warp speed drafting packs, as ail 188 laps were run caution free with 35 lead changes among 12 drivers.

Final result; Earnhardt Jr.(Chev), Stewart(Pontiac), Rudd (Ford), Busch (Ford), Jeff Green (Chev), Park (Chevy), Newman (Ford), Waltrip (Chev), Jarrett (Ford), W Burton (Dodge).

- MARTIN D CLARK

n 2001/2002 IRL champ Sam Hornish visited Hendrick Motorsports's facility during the first week of October just to observe how things are run at a top flight Cup operation, n Jim Smith, owner of Ultra Motorsports that fields cars with Ray Evernham for Casey Atwood, is expected to be prosecuted for illegal dumping of chemicals, including acid, in a California sewer system. Smith owns Ultra Wheels, a custom wheel manufacturer, and could face hefty fines and possible jail time if found guilty. If fines are levied, it could effect the future of his Truck Series and Winston Cup operations. n MB2 Motorsports, which has been fielding Pontiacs for Ken Schrader, is building new cars for 2003, a sign they may have a sponsor lined up to replace M&M's.

Apparently talks have taken place with the US Army as a possible backer for rumoured driver Jerry Nadeau, n After weeks of speculation, Penske Racing made it official on Sunday that drivers Rusty Wallace and Ryan Newman will switch to the Dodge marque in 2003.

The Penske contract with Dodge is for three years. Penske-Jasper Engines, owned two-thirds by Penske and one third by Jasper, will continue to supply Ford power to the Jasper team through 2003. n Eric Martin, 33, was killed instantly in a violent crash at Charlotte on October 9th during a practice session for the ARCA Series.

Martin hit tlte wall rearwards exiting turn four and radioed to his crew that he was OK. Deborah Renshaw, a rookie driver, hit Martin's car in the drivers door some 15 seconds later at a speed estimated around 160mph. Two cars had already passed the stricken Martin without making contact and the caution lights around the track were switched on.

Apparently Renshaw's spotter, veteran driver and team owner Bob Schacht could not see Martin's damaged car exiting turn four, but neither have been available for comment. Renshaw received factures to her left ankle and foot.

The accident left NASCAR to introduce a new ruling that a spotter must be present from each team in the spotter tower when all Cup, Busch and NASCAR Trucks are on track during any practice session. n Rusty Wallace was docked 25 driver points, Penske 25 car owner points and crew chief Bill Wilburn fined $25,000 after the rear spoiler was found to be of inconsistent thickness prior to the Talladega event.

The points erasure could play a pivotal role in the title battle in a few weeks time.

- IVIARTIN D CLARK 83

Clay's streak ends Millican falls in first round but still takes 2002IHRA Top Fuel title

1 by David Ostaszewski

JACK Ostrander ended Clay Millican’s bid for a perfect season when he defeated the IHRA Hooters Top Fuel point leader in the opening round of the Mid-Atlantic Nationals at Budds Creek, Maryland,two weeks ago.

Both drivers lost traction, but it was Ostrander,above, who recovered first to take a 5.58/246 victory.

While Millican lost a round for the first time this season, the Werner Enterprises team did clinch the 2002 IHRA Hooters Top Fuel championship and it’s US$200,000 winner’s share.

After defeating Millican, 64-year old Ostrander stopped John Sipple and finalist Paul Romine to grab his first Top Fuel win since 1993, his third in 14 final roimd appearances.

The Vista Food Exchange/RMX Logistics dragster clocked a final round 5.19/275 to stop Romine, who lost traction and slowed to an 8.61/131.

In Pro Mod, Mitch Stott defeated Shannon Jenkins for the secondstraight event.

Stott’s Radiac Abrasives Corvette recorded a final round 6.22/227 to stop Jenkins, who rattled the t3rres and lifted in the pair’s third consecutive final round meeting.

“I said after Epping that Shannon would have mort^ heck getting me off of his back, and I’m a man of my word,” said Stott.

Stott qualified third at 6.22/226 in a field led by five blown cars, with brother Quain on the pole at 6.19/228. In eliminations, Stott rode a string of 6.29/227, 6.25/228, and 6.26/227 passes to defeat Alan Pittman, Ed Hoover, and Rickie Smith.

Jenkins defeated A1 Billes, Thomas Patterson, and Tommy Gray to advance into the final round and takes a 94 point lead over Billes heading into the series final event. Aussie Troy Critchley failed to 84

Slammin’ TOP Doorslammers will return to the Bob Janeowned Calder Park and Adelaide International Raceway drag strips this December.

The Doorslammers, which have not visited either track since the facilities broke away from ANDRA sanctioning after the 2001 Nationals early last year, will headline non-ANDRA events at AIR on December 7, and Calder the following weekend.

Also on the bill will be Super Comp, Super Mod, Super Gas, Super Eliminator, Super Sedan, Super Bike, Pro Street, Rotary, and Junior Dragster.

A calendar for further eventds in the early part of 2003 is expected to be announced soon.

IF you live in the west though, you don't have to wait until December to get your fix of drag racing.

Quit Motorplex kicks off its season 2002/3 season on October 26, with the awesome Nitro Funny Cars of Allan Greene and the Baily Brothers topping the bill.

Backing them up will be a huge support cast of around 180 racing teams, making for a perfect start to what promises to be a great summer of racing.

:i

make the show, recording a 6.37/220 for the 17th spot,just missing the program.

Brian Gahm,above, notched his fourth win of the year and clinched the IHRA Hooters Sunoco Pro Stock World Championship.

Gahm’s Ford Mustang recorded low e.t. of the weekend in the final round at 6.55/212 to stop John Konigshofer.

Gahm defeated Carl Baker, Gary Henry, and Floyd Cheek to reach the final round. The title was decided in round two when John Montecalvo’s title hopes were eliminated by a red light start.

Laurie Cannister recorded her first Alcohol Funny Car victory when she powered past point leader, Jimmy Rector, in the final round, 5.80/244 to 5.83/242 to win by a narrow .0077s margin.

Cannister qualified on top at 5.81/242 and established a new IHRA mph record at 246.26 during elimination victories over David Ray, John Vouros and Dale Brand.

Doug Vancil moved closer to winning his second consecutive Nitro Harley championship with a final round victory over Ray Price.

Vancil recorded a final round 6.47/208 to stop Price, who trailed at 6.61/203.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

to Calder and AIR mark

f

llHSBANE’S Steve Hanker scored a nun in the final Division 2 Lucas Drag Racing Series event in Darlington, South Carolina.

After qualifying at 5.80/246, Harker took a 5.74/247 win over Craig English and singled in the semis at 5.80/246. In the final, Harker recorded a winning 5.87/246 to defeat Michael Ferro.

In Dallas, a 5.78/251 landed Harker in the 12th spot in the Alcohol Funny Car field.

He repeated it during a first round win over Vern Moats and improved to a 5.68/251 in the

(Photo by Dirk Klyiwtiiih)

second round, but unfortunaMy^ fell to Jay Payne% 5.63/256.

MEANWBDyE,Melbourne's Peter Russo made an attempt to qualify his Dodge Avenger into the Dallas Funny Car field.

Russo skipped both sessions on Friday, and shook the tyres, and chcked it early on a 8.87/96 pass Saturday morning, Down to his final shot at cracking the 5.18 second bump, Russo made his burnout, but was forced to shut off with a small leak.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI moiorsport news

Kalina on a roll

DOUG Kalitta motored to his third win in four races as he piloted the Mac Tools dragster past Cory McClenathan in the final round of the O’Reilly Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex.

Kalitta blasted to a final round 4.58/322 to stop McClenathan, who lost traction and trailed at 6.56/130 and will go down in history as the winner of the 500th Top Fuel event contested in NHRA Drag Racing.

Also leaving Texas with professional victories were Del Worsham in Funny Car and Jeg Coughlin Jr. in Pro Stock.

The Mac Tools dragster qualified eighth at 4.62/323 and stepped up to record 4.58/320 and 4.56/323 early round wins over Clay Millican and low qualifier, Andrew Cowin. In the semis, Kalitta lined up against Kenny Bernstein, who was looking to gain some valuable POWERade points on Larry Dixon, who he had beaten just one round earlier. In a tyre-smoking contest, Kalitta was able to recover first to squeak out a 5.46/289 to 5,88/203 win to stop Bernstein and any further damage to Dixon’s 108 point lead.

“When we won in Reading a few races back, we decided to play the role of spoiler and that’s what we've done,” said Kalitta.

“We started the year wanting to win the championship, but we were humbled early. It’s reaUy satisfying to rebound like this and get some momentum for next year.”

McClenathan moved into his third final round of the season, stopping Tony Schumacher, Doug Herbert, and Rhonda HartmanSmith in the early rounds.

Andrew Cowin top qualified for the fourth time this season, recording a 4.55/321on Saturday. A round one 4.57/325 stopped Scott Weis, but engine problems slowed Cowin to a 4.61/296 in his second round race with Kalitta.

Worsham notched his fourth win of the season and moved into third place in the standings with a final round win over Bruce Sarver.

Worsham recorded a 4.86/319 to stop Sarver, who smoked the tyres, pedalled, and blew a supercharger burst panel.

“It’s great to be back in third place,” said Worsham.

“We had to break up that John Force Racing 1-2-3 deal. That just doesn’t sit right with us. We just need to keep it up these last two races and make sure we’re there at nthe end of the season. Force and Tony (Pedregon) have gotten all of

16 October 2002

Drag briefs THE Mitch Stott/Radiac Abrasives Race Team have put out a bounty on Pro Mod racer Shannon Jenkins for the season-ending event in Rockingham.

If Jenkins fails to make the show, any driver who qualifies in the field by the number of spots Jenkins misses by, will receive US$500. In eliminations, any driver that eliminates Jenkins in the first round will receive US$1000 from the Stott camp. The final event at the 'Rock' could become very interesting ... n Johnny Rocca returned to active IHRA competition in Budds Creek.

In his familiar blue 'IronHorse''49 Mercury, Rocca attempted to qualify for the Pro Mod show. Rocca recorded a 6.60/221 best, missing the show, but tested the following day and put up a stout 6.28. Rocca will contest Rockingham and the final AMS Pro Mod Challenge event in Las Vegas.

Striking back: Worsham, above is doing his bit to keep the Force juggernaut under control.

<● ■

■ Cory McClenathan will have a team-mate for the final two events on the NHRA trail, with team co-owner David Baca taking the seat of a second car in Las Vegas and Pomona.

Baca will replace McClenathan next year, but the team has not ruled out keeping McClenathan on for a two-car effort if proper funding became available. McClenathan's name has also been mentioned as a possible addition to a two-car effort from the Mac Tools/Connie Kalitta camp.

Back in the hot seat: David Grubnic, right, was in action qualifying 11th before falling to Darrell Russell in the first round.

(Photos by David Oslaszewskij

the attention lately with the points race, and Tony with his three wins in a row, but today we got the win and the cheque and that’s what matters.”

The Checker-Schuck’s-Kragen Pontiac moved into it’s sixth final of the season with bracket-like consistency in 4.88/314, 4.90/305, and 4.85/312 wins over Bob Bode, Frank Pedregon, and Tommy Johnson Jr, Sarver in the White Cap Toyota Celica qualified second at 4.79/320 and defeated Dale Creasy Jr., John Force, and Gary Densham to reach his fourth final of the year.

Force’s lead in the standing was cut to 13 points during qualifying as both he and Tony Pedregon were eliminated in the second round. After Force had been taken out by Sarver, Pedregon lost to Johnson on a holeshot, 4.89/311 to 4.85/319, losing by just .0015s.

Jeg Coughlin continued his hot streak in Pro Stock as he stopped Gene Wilson in the final round, 6.82/202 to a redlighting 6.83/202.

Coughlin’s Jog’s Mail Order Parts Chevrolet stopped George Mamell in the opening frame then single handedly took out point contenders Greg Anderson and Jim Yates in the following rounds.

“Those guys can’t complain now,” said Coughlin.

“They both had their shots at me and we came out on top both times.

We beat two of the baddest cars out there today. Greg almost took a holeshot win from me, but we were able to drive around bim. Then Yates redlighted, but I tbink we

DRAG RACING

had something for him anyway.”

Wilson, in reaching his second final round in three races, drove the David Nickens/Mopar Parts Dodge to wins over former IHRA rival Tom Lee, Steve Schmidt, and Kurt Johnson, who recorded the second-fastest speed ever for a Pro Stock at 204.03 mph, in a second round win.

Mike Ashley defeated Bill Kuhlmann in the AMS Pro Mod Challenge final round, posting a winning 6.27/223 to stop Kuhlmann, who rolled the beams and was disqualified. Ashley’s Gotham City ’41 Willys qualified sixth at 6.29 and was able to get around Andy Neyer and Rickie Smith in the opening rounds.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI POINTS: Top Fuel; Larry Dixon Jr 1797, Kenny Bernstein 1689, Doug Kalitta 1313, Tony Schumacher 1303, Cory McClenathan 1277, Darrell Russell 1252, Doug Herbert 1182, Andrew Cowin 988, Rhonda Hartman-Smith 891, John Smith 783. Funny Car: John Force 1543, Tony pedregon 1530, Del Worsham 1354, Gary Densham 1322, Whit Bazemore 1119, Scotty Cannon 1057, Ron Capps 1022, Tommy Johnson Jr 1005, Dean Skuza 942, Johnny Gray 880. Pro Stock: Jeg Coughlin Jr 1478, Jim Yates 1370, Greg Anderson 1282.

■ Longtime Alcohol Dragster racers Tony and T.J. Zizzo will step up to Top Fuel ii\2003 and run a limited schedule on the 2003 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Tony Zizzo was teamed with the late Al DaPozzo on an Alcohol Dragster team in the mid-1980s, winning several national events.

■ Snap-On Tools and Doug Herbert Racing have agreed on a three-year deal that will enable the Snap-On Tools banner to continue to fly on the Top Fuel dragster of Doug Herbert, Snap-On has been the primary sponsor on Herbert's dragster since 1995.

■ Mopar Parts and David Nickens Racing will part ways, leaving Nicken without factory backing for next season. The Mopar dollars will instead be heading toward the Mopar camps of Larry Morgan and Allen Johnson, along with drivers Darrell Alderman and Gene Wilson.

■ Mike Green will rejoin the Don Prudhomme Skoal 'Blue' Funny Car team for 2003. Green was released following this year's season opener in Pomona, and resurfaced with the Gwynn team in mid-season, tuning the Andrew Cowin-driven dragster back into a contender, following their dismal early season performance.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI 85

Touring for Targa TARGA Tasmania always manages to fill its quota of entries, but one area that tends to languish is the Historic Competition.

In an attempt to address the problem, organiser Octagon Motorsports has announced the establishment of an additional non-competitive category for rare and exotic historic and classic cars.

To be known as the Touring Group category, it is aimed at encouraging those with suitable vehicles to dust them off and experience the fabulous scenery and roads of Tasmania.

“This (category) has been set up to cater for those who want to share in the Targa experience without actually racing.

Thanks to the very generous sponsorship of Shannons Insurance, it is proposed that a small but extremely classy group of vehicles will be invited to participate in Targa Tasmania 2003 and will be permitted to drive over the course - on closed roads - at the head of the field,” said Rob McGuire, the General Manager Tasmania for Octagon.

For invitees, there will be no competition, no timing, and no inconvenience or expense of

having to modify their special interest cars - they will be driven over the closed Targa stages at normal road speeds.

The aim is clear. Give these entrants a taste of Targa and they’ll be back next year taking part in the Historic Competition.

Let’s hope it works!

Rex Broadbent, winner of the Classic Competition this year in his 1974 Porsche 911, has already entered for 2003, as has the 2002 Shannons Touring Classic Competition champion Phillip

From

Nichols in his trusty 1958 Austin Healey Sprite. This year’s Shannons Historic winner, John Lawson,intends to return, but not with his 1938 Alfa Romeo Mille Miglia Spyder.

He plans to run his 1926 AC Amilcar Grand Sport in 2003.

Six-time winners of the Modern Competition Jim Richards and Barry Oliver head the 2003 entry list in the same turbo Porsche that has taken them to victory the past two years.

- BRIAN REED

Good GEAR Reunited THE Golden Age of Auto Racing (GEAR)which is based at Wakefield Park near Goulburn has plans to issue a two-tier licensing system that will enable members eligible for a Level 2 licence to run at other invited events at Wakefield Park next year.

The Wakefield Track Licence is also accepted by the Queensland GEAR located at the Willowbank Raceway. A reciprocal arrangements exists for Queenslanders wishing to run at Wakefield Park.

GEAR now has 220 members but is concerned about the future of historic motor sport in Australia due to the small numbers of younger drivers entering the ranks.

It is making an all-out effort to attract the offspring of current members to try their hand at the sport, and already there are signs of progress, thanks to the example set by President Terry Harris.

Terry runs the Nota Din, and at their August gathering at Wakefield Park, number one son Greg had a steer of the car - his first drive in 12 years.

But there’s morel Number one grandson was also brought along for the day to get the smell in the nostrils and soak up the atmosphere. If others follow the lead, the future of the sport is assuredi GEAR runs mid-week meetings at Wakefield Park, and the next one is scheduled for Wednesday, October 16. Competing cars must be pre-1961, later cars by invitation only. And please note, entries will no longer be accepted on the day.

Event Secretary Robyn Snape requires at least three days warning if you intend to take part. Phone her on (02)6945 3165.

- BRIAN REED 86

AT the recent Eastern Creek Historic meeting, John Dymond's immaculate Penrite Oils Brabham BT15 was reunited with the man who drove it some 30 years ago Jan Bussell.

The Brabham was once owned by New Zealand's Howden Ganley and was later raced by Bussell.

He now lives in Australia and was invited to the Creek to see his old car. He wasn't disappointed - it won the 'Best Presented Car' award at the meeting. And to show just how small the world is, sharing the garage with the Brabham was Max Brunninghausen, who was competing in his Chevron BMW. In the 1968 Macau GP, Bussell won in the Brabham and Brunninghausen finished third.

They hadn't seen each other since 1968, There are plans to celebrate 50 years of the Macau GP next year, and John Dymond is

At least the car looks happy: Jan Bussell, son Angus, and John Dymond’s Brabham BT15. hopeful that Jan Bussell will be able to make the trip.

"The Brabham certainly will," said the Penrite Oils boss.

- BRIAN REED motorsport news

HISTORIC5

Tassie to Sicily

Another world to rule: Having made Targa Tasmania virtually their own, will Jim Richards and Barry Oliver get the chance to have a crack at Targa Florio in 2006?

COMPETITORS in the Targa Tasmania over the next three years will be fighting for a new Targa Florio Trophy.

Octagon’s Geheral Manager Tasmania Rob McGuire said that the prize would be open to competitors who finished all stages within their trophy class time in each of the next three years, starting with the 2003 event.

Those who qualify will then go into a draw to win a trip to Sicily for the 100th anniversary of the famous Targa Florio in 2006, and will also receive a replica ofthe original Targa Florio Trophy.

The replica Targa Florio Trophy will be a plate featuring the Florio family emblem. This recognises Vincenzo Florio, the son of a prominent Sicilian mercantile family, who established Targa Florio in 1906.

“In Italian the word for plate is ‘Targa’and so the original event was named Targa Florio,” said McGuire.

“The prize for each winner was a plate with the Florio family emblem and this is what we are basing our replica on.”

The 2003 Targa rally has already attracted 208 confirmed entries.

Tarrengower time

THE 22nd Mt. Tarrengower Historic Hillclimb at Maldon, Victoria will be held on October 26-27 and has attracted 80 entries.

As well, the vintage and classic motorcycles will be back in action - although numbers are expected to be down somewhat on 2001 because of the busy bike schedule at this time of year.

Scrutineering will take place on Saturday 26 in the picnic shelter, Butts Reserve at the foot of Mt. Tarrengower between Sam and 1 pm, after which cars that are capable of climbing the mountain in 60 seconds or less will be invited to practice. Also, practice is compulsory for all first-time competitors.

On Saturday night all entrants are invited to the Mt. Tarrengower Hillclimb Dinner to be held at the Maldon Hotel, Main Street, Maldon. Guest speakers will be two of the icons of historic motor sport, Harry 16 October 2002

Back to the mountain: The 22nd edition of thefamous Mt Tarrengower Hillclimb will run later this month.

Firth and Graham Hoinville. It will be a good fun night!

Competition commences on Sunday 27 at 9am, and the day will conclude with a Top Three Shootout (time permitting) for the three fastest competitors.

The Mt. Tarrengower event is Australia's oldest existing

hillclimb, with its history dating back to 1929. The meeting is organised by the Vintage Sports Car Club of Victoria and the Bendigo Car Club Inc. For further information contact the meeting secretary Roger Boehme on (03) 5443 7008.

- BRIAN REED

Briefly historic THE Vintage Sports Car Club of Australia in NSW will be conducting a one-hour Bol d'Or reguiarity event and average time hillclimb at Wakefield Park, Goulburn on Sunday, October 20.

A Bol d'Or is not a race meeting the fastest car on the day doesn't necessarily win.

Instead, consistency and the ability to maintain steady lap times is the essence of the event.

There will be classes for vintage and post-vintage cars manufactured prior to December 1940 and for sports and racing cars built before December 1972.

In order to compete a CAMS Level 2 licence is mandatory, or a Wakefield Track Licence.

For further details, contact John Hills (021 9591 1107, or Barbara Rowe, the secretary of the meeting on roweauto@ozemaii.com.au n There's a new track in Queensland which has been described as 'a perfect circuit for Histories'.

Morgan Park has been similarly endorsed by Queensland enthusiast Richard Harris who says it is already attracting plenty of interest amongst the local Historic fraternity.

Morgan Park has lots of rise and falls, with the main straight going through a cutting with plenty of twists and turns.

The spectators mainly view from the inside of the circuit after crossing a footbridge pyrehased after the Sydney Olympics.

Morgan Park has been likened to sections of Lakeside and Amaroo, with Catalina Park tossed in for good measure.

The only thing missing will be the fog at Katoombal n Thanks to the enthusiastic band of VHRR members who meet for lunch on Wednesdays at the clubrooms in Box Hill, the new facility is looking good with the library taking shape.

It has been a^mammoth job sorting through the vast collection of books, programs and magazines donated to the club but most are now in order and available for the use of club members.

Noel Robson is in the process of decorating the clubrooms with framed poster from Phillip island and Sandown Park - the two major meetings organised by the VHRR. He is looking for the following missing posters: Sandown -1992, '93, '94,'97 and '98 and Phillip Island -1989,'90,'99 and 2001.

Can anyone help? Contact Noel Robson on (03) 9499 6701.

- BRIAN REED 81

natitMl

scene

etftedby

Glendenning

Panorama Porsches Porsche Cup and GTS invitationals go head-to-head at Bathurst

WITH some GTS Cup cars added in the mix via invitation, the Porsche Cup support races at Bathurst came alive.

In a big field of 40 cars, Peter Fitzgerald (Falken GTS Cup)took the first race easily but the second race on Sunday morning was a cracker.

Wayne Hennig took his turbo Noosa Cat machine to an early lead, though Jonathan Webb got all out of shape entering the Chase on lap two, looping it and parking the left door of the GTS in the back of Hennig’s machine.

Hennig recovered for 11th by race’s end.

That left Matt Coleman (Bob Jane T-Marts GTS)out in front and the 2002 Porsche Cup Champion had things in control, though Tony Quinn took the VIP GTS Cup car past him on lap five at Forrest’s Elhow, leaving Coleman to fend off Fitzgerald and an impressive Scott Shearman to the end.

Quinn cleared away by a full 11 seconds, with Paul Whitmarsh, Dean Grant, Trevor John and Martin Wagg following Shearman home.

- AARON NOONAN

Porsches a-plenty: A field fo Stuttgart’s finest thunders down toward Hell Corner, above.

(Photo by Marhsall Cass)

One of those days: Wayne Hennig, above, had been leading on Sunday morning until he had a coming-together with Jonathon Webb.

Mountain man: Peter Fitzgerald, right, took race one honours.

(Photos by Marshall Cass and John Morris/Mpix)

88

motorsport news

%

NATIONAL A tale of two cities THE City of Melbourne and City of Adelaide Titles were both held recently at the Todd Road and Bolivar circuits respectively.

In South Australia, Tyson Pearce was the fastest qualifier for the Pro Clubman feature class, but Richard Davis looked to have the pace, winning all the heats and pre-final.

However it was Tim Slade who grabbed the $1500 first prize, after an impressive run through the field in the heats after qualifying back in 18th.

Davis held on for second with Remo Luciani third. Reif Corbett (CRG)took a clean sweep of Rotax, winning every race ahead of Ben Savage and Tyson Pearce, while Matthew Hall took the Junior National Pro honours ahead of Josh Tynan and Nick Karavas.

Formula Australia was the feature classes in Melbourne, Matthew Wall leading from green to chequer to head home pre-final winner Reif Corbett and Ben Savage.

Wall also picked up the Formula 100 title with fastest qualifier Timm Weitzel second. Jason Hryniuk demonstrated why he carries the #1 in Clubman Light with a perfect score, the CRG driver also taking second in Rotax Light, Corbett picking up the win. Jordie Lindstrom beat National champion David Sera to the Junior National Light win with Andrew McFarland third on his junior debut.

Sera made amends winning Junior Clubman over Shane Price while Rick Pringle (Junior National Heavy)Adam Bullas (Clubman Heavy)and Luke Skinner(Leopard) also took victories.

- MARK WICKS

Fun while it lasted

THE Group N Historic Touring Cars, above, made a fleeting appearance at Mount Panorama last weekend.

Cameron Stubber claimed early honours by winning race one in his Chev Camaro ahead of polesitter Brad Tilley's Mustang and Cameron Tilley's Falcon XT GT.The second race, however, was canned due to a combination of early race incidents and the tight running schedule for the weekend.

How the west was won QUEENSLAND'S William Yarwood racked up another couple of state titles when he won two classes at the Western Australian Championships on October 6.

Yarwood (Arrow) beat Michael Mansfield to the Formula Australia Heavy title, while in Clubman Heavy he had to contend with former Australian champion Kip Foster.

Birel drivers won two of the drawcard events, Michael Patrizi leading Bart Price and Daniel Elliott home in Clubman Light, while NSW's Nick Lowe showed Patrizi how to do it in Rotax Light, the two finishing ahead of Karl Reindler.

16 October 2002

The Kandola brothers had a most successful meeting, Deepal claiming the Junior National Light championship while Amrit wound up the Rookies Champion.

Other championships went to Jayme Light (Open class), Mark Williams (Clubman Super Heavy), Ron van der Meulen (Rotax Heavy), Melville McKee (Midgets), Wayne Gough (Over 40s), Jedd Stojakovic (Junior National Heavy), Simon Gwilliam (Senior National Heavy), Adam McGuire (Senior National Light), Jade Hogan (Formula Australia Light) and Blake Mills (Junior Clubman).

- MARK WICKS

KARTING 0inCOMING EVENTS 19/20 Oct Bendigo Country Titles — ' Ballarat 27 Oct

Club

2/3 Nov

SAvan Hill Ford Road King Street Series Bd 4 - Sivan Hill

10 Nov

□

Findlay AA.emorial — Geelong

K

For further information on any of the above events call the Victorian Karting Association

03 5443 3332 or 33 33321144 YVClOWANKMaVNG ASSOQMION WWW.vka.asn.au vka@bl40.aone.net.au 89

National IS this you? Motorsport News is on the lookout for some enthusiastic writers from all over Australia who would like to make occasional contributions to the National Scene section.

If you can write well, meet deadlines, and stick to a word limit, then scribble down a little bit about yourself and details/examples of any prior work you may have done and send it to: National Scene Editor, Motorsport News, PO Box 7072, Gardenvale, Vic 3186. Include a daytime phone number and email address. n Leah Unsworlh has won the NSW Junior Clubman Championship, beating home Max Wright and Andrew Thompson in a thrilling 25 lap final.

Thompson had been the pace setter on the Grenfell circuit, qualifying fastest and winning both heats before DNFing the pre-final.

Unsworth took seventh (recovering from a heat DNF herself) as Kristian Lindbom and Nathan Antunes finished one-two, well clear of the field. In the final, Antunes and Lindbom collided at turn one, both falling off the track and out of contention, but able to continue.

This allowed Ashley Walsh to lead for several laps before Leigh Gallace, then Unsworth. took over the front spot. Leah went on to victory ahead of Walsh and Thompson.

Thompson had a clearer run in Junior Piston Port, leading the entire distance.

Benjamin Chong Sun took second ahead of Roddy Bell Bowen and Nick Simmons.

Jason Pringle got up to beat Kristian Lindbom and John Butler in Junior National Fleavy, whilst in the Light division, Thomas Phillips fended off Sam Walsh and Richard Rapa.

Chaz Mostert led the entire Midget final winning by nearly 10s over Jesse Fenech and Steel Guiliana. In Rookies, Robert Munnerley and Kyle Ensgey fought for the honours all weekend and raced hard in the final before they both crashed out on the second last comer.

This allowed Max Carter through for the win. Carter holding on by the narrowest of margins (O.OOSsI) over Justin Tate. n The final round of the APS CIK Australian Championship series hits Geelong on October 26-27, and all three championship classes, plus the two support categories, are set to go down to the wire.

Adam Graham holds a narrow advantage in Formula A over Andrew Tomlinson and Troy Hunt. Benjamin Chong Sun will be looking to hold out Andrew Thompson in Junior ICA with n Blake Mills just one point further adrift.

Luke May (CRG), Karl Reindler (Tecno) and Glenn Powles (Trulli) head the Senior Intercontinental A points, despite none of them having won a round I Jason Bums and Reif Corbett head the supportIntercontinental C and Biland 250 categories.

- MARK WICKS/STAFF 90

Magic debut for Morgan

THE Queensland State Championship set christened the newly lengthened Morgan Park in its first full racing meeting on the weekend of September 22/23.

Considering the available budget and time constraints, a superb job was done to create a state level circuit. Drivers and spectators were universally enthusiastic for what is essentially a 35 year old, new venue.

The circuit has just completed a 900m expansion to extend the circuit from 1.2 kilometres out to 2.1 kilometres, which takes in six. new corners and allows two small

Changes afoot A NUMBER of industry proposals at the recent Australian Karting Association’s annual conference are sure to have repercussions for the future of the sport.

The ARC A1 National engine has been accepted to be used, but only for evaluation purposes.

The engine, a 10Occ air-cooled version of the ARC Sped 00, is to have the equivalent performance of the immensely popular Yamaha J engine that is used in the Junior and Senior National classes.

The engine comes with a clutch and electric push-button starter and is to be evaluated for parity against the J for the next 12 months.

Another significant outcome was the AKA’s acceptance of preliminary specifications that will make the Midget and Rookie classes a spec one-design chassis formula with manufacturers having to build to a common blueprint.

This fits in with the AKA's planned class re-structuring, although the AKA pointed out that this will involve minimal impact on existing members and will include a substantial phase-in period.

Other outcomes included: n The Rotax D2 two-speed engine and PRD 125 being accepted into the Open class. n Due to increased insurance premiums, licence fees are expected to increase significantly, although the actual figures are yet to be finalised. n Clutch and electric starters will be eligible in National, Clubman and Formula Australia classes. n Kevin Jenner re-elected as President and awarded life membership of the AKA. - MARK WICKS

circuit options to be operated independently for smaller events.

"Aibsolutely fantastic, can't wait to get back there again," said new Queensland Formula Ford Champion, Ash Lowe.

"For the amount of money they've spent, they've done a tremendous job. You can see pretty much all of the track from by the bridge. A fast sweeper, fast chicane, pretty much everything a good track has.

Everyone thanked Bill Campbell and CO for the work done."

"We're rapt. We were a little bit shocked at first," said new Queensland Sports Sedan and outright lap record holder Geoff Gillespie.

"It's a real equaliser track. We were being hounded by cars we wouldn't normally see at

** l n v

Queensland Raceway. It's a fantastic club track, total opposite end of the spectrum. By the time we got to the main race I was starting to really enjoy the racetrack."

A number of state championships were decided on the weekend. In addition to Gillespie and Lowe claiming their series, Shane Hart regained the Formula Vee Championship, Troy Chaplin won the Racing Car Championship, Scott Nicholas claimed the Saloon Car crown, Dave Blunt is the HQ champ and Adam Uebergang had already won the Improved Production title. The Gemini and Sports Cars titles will go down to the wire at Queensland Raceway on November 24.

- MARK JONES (>

J

'-li.

'1

Winton winners SOME clarification is needed for our report of the Winton Six Hour race from last issue (MN#241).

Overall winners of the handicap event were the Porsche Centre Melbourne GT3 team of Ken Jarrett, Romano Piva, Phil Verwoert, Marc Cini, Paul Girt(PCM 911) and Gary Tierney, who took a one lap victory over a rival PCM team of

911 RS models.

The ‘Outstanding Performance' award for most laps completed was claimed by the four-Porsche Weltmeister team of Lyle Potgeiter, Rob Bailey, Rian Nott and John Trende, who completed a total of 205 laps, six more than the overall winners who opted for a more conservative fuel strategy.

Party time: The Winton Six Hour winners celebrate at the Presentation Dinner at Bell’s Hotel. motorsport news

INDUSTRY NEWS n The Creatives Ones are preparing for their long awaited move this week.

Packing has commenced and the move to their new office at The Monash Corporate Centre, Level 1, Suite 9/570 Blackburn Rd, Clayton North, is due to start this week.

Graphic designers specialising in motorsport. The Creative Ones, have produced posters for teams such as Glenn Seton Racing, Rachelle Splatt, Victor Bray and Glen 'Bad Boy' Barnes.

The Creative Ones offer a complete motorsport marketing service which includes sponsorship proposals, paint schemes, business cards, posters and websites. For more information phone 03 9530 9011 or the new number 03 9544 2011 after next week, or visit www.thecreativeones.com.au.

W^id Wheels

ROCKET Industries has added Weld Racing Wheels to its array of performance products.

Weld Racing Wheels was founded in 1967 by USAC Sprint Car champion Greg Weld. With the experience and knowledge gained from his racing career combined with a keen sense of style and aptitude for engineering. Weld led his company down the road to the point where they are the largest manufacturer of aluminium wheels in the United States.

The first shipment has just arrived in Rocket’s warehouse and includes a wide variety of the most common sizes in Draglite, Rodlite and Pro Star styles.

At this stage, wheels to suit Ford and Holden/Chev five stud bolt patterns are available.

Weld Racing Wheels are available from specialist tyre stores who will be able to advise on the coiTect fitment for your ear.

If you can’t find a stockist in your area, contact Rocket on (02)8825 1900 or email sales@rocketind.com and they’ll steer you in the right direction.

16 October 2002

Cold Air Induction PIPERCROSS have just launched the carbon fibre \^per Reverse Flow Technology Air Filter(Inside) range of Cold Air Induction Kits.

Using technology first used in 150mm die Alloy Ram Pipe the Lotus 340R, Pipercross are now making it available for an ever increasing range of popular Laminar Air Flow road cars.

The \Tper uses ‘velocity air force’ to direct cold air directly into the engine.

100mm dla Alloy inlet The cold air feed takes air from behind the grill straight into the Hot UnderViper’s 100mm diameter inlet, swirling it through a unique Bonnet Air Pipercross velocity filter Carbon Fibre Heat Shield contained within a carbon fibre heat shield, and then into a ram ' maximising the laminar air flow so the system can be removed pipe to increase its pressure when the time comes to sell your into the engine, which Pipercross before feeding it into the car. state will increase power. induction system.

The kit also includes a The carbon fibre heat shield The Pipercross Viper comes complete with fitting kit and Pipercross Cold Air Feed Pipe to protects the air charge from colour instructions and is easy to duct air from the grill to the Viper under bonnet heat keeping it cool inlet.

- and therefore more dense install with no drilling required.

The installation utilises For more information contact thus introducing more oxygen Fabre Australia on 02 9758 1966. into the combustion mixture. existing underbonnet bolt holes The reverse flow technology filter and 150mm ram pipe make use of the physical phenomenon of air tending to move towards surface areas, creating more air flow on the edge rather than in the centre of the inlet.

The unique design of the filter cone and the inlet ‘tune’the moving air flow to increase its speed and therefore its pressure R&R SPEEDSPORTS have released a new 5-point latch/link race harness suitable for speedway and off road competition.

Some ofthe features incorporated into the new ERG race harness include an easy release goose-neck lever and an easy grab rolled end on the four adjustment straps. The ERG race harness is approved by the SFI

n Racebrakes have continued their push north with the opening of a Queensland branch.

Following the success of the Sydney store which opened last year the Melbourne based company has announced a distributor in Queensland.

Racebrakes Queensland is situated in the middle of a growing

automotive centre at 4 Darnick St Underwood and will offer all of the Racebrakes products and services.

Performance brake upgrades, pads, custom made rotors and caliper conversions with brands such as Hawk and Endless will be available.

For more information call 07 3341 9911 or 03 9326 6088

New Harness

Foundation USA which ensures R&R Speedsports will always have the latest dated belts at the ready, lb laimch the new harness R&R Speedsports are offering a $20 trade in on your old outdated belt regardless of which brand it is-this

offer will close at the end of2002.

The ERG race harness is available in black, red or blue and will sell for $199 including GST, ($179 with your trade in).

For your nearest stockist or for further information contact R&R Speedsports on 02 9709 4655.

C’.'i

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Ph: 08 8363 5566 CRANE Fax: 08 8363 5633 TECHNOLOGIES PTY. LTD. wwwxranecantsxo(n.au

FLYWHEELS

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. Ph 03 9555 5522 Fax 03 9555 4152 www.yellaterra.com.aO

ONE PIECE RACE PUSHRODS GUDGEON PINS & RINGS ^Performance VlWHOLESALE’^Z

Phone (07) 3808 1986

Visit our website for your nearest distributor.

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Corporation DYNO’S, FLOWBENCH, DATA ACQUISITION & DYNO SOFTWARE ’fgyURFORMANCE (VWHOLESALEfS I r.it> T

Phone (07) 3808 1986

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www.performancewholesale.com.au

Ferrea \7/\L\7£S

COMPETITION STAINLESS & TITANIUM VALVES, RODS & GUDGEON PINS

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Phone (07) 3808 1986

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Simpson Safety Equipment Australia 91 Rookwood Road Yagoona NSW 2199 AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTORS

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Extensive detail on how to rebuild a Holden V8 rrp $38.45 Available at all good matoring outlets^ For your nearest sleckist call 03 S439 SHOD

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ENGINE FASTENERS & ACCESSORIES

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Hotorsport Connections 02 9838 7272

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Trade enquiries welcome

AUSTRAL I A

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Fax. 02 97J8 1133

Ph.02 9758 1066

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Premium Motorsport Hose & Fittings!

Contact your state distributor...

Hardiman Auto Supplies (02) 9771 5877 Motorsport Connections (02)9838 7272 (03) 9794 5177 Victorian Speed Pro Performance Wholesale (07) 3808 1986 (08) 8363 5566 Crane Technologies Gogear Racing Services (08) 9443 4400

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PORTABLE FLOORING Workshop

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Installs quickly Rolls up for storage

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Professional race car logistic and event specialists Security for car and equipment

1

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MARKET PLACE

Classifieds online classifieds Jaamj

news

Find hundreds more race vehicles and parts for sale at www.my105.com

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your motorsport vehicle, parts, memorabilia with our all-new combined magazine/internet classified service.

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Yes 6 months on my105.com AND one insertion in Motorsport News for just $25! HOW?

Just log on to www.my105.com and follow the prompts!

Alternately, you can still use the classified form on these pages (surcharge applies for the service of entering the ad onto my105.com)

LOG ON NOW — IT’S THE.SMART WAY TO SELL YOUR EQUIPMENT!

Sedans/Sports Cars

^'1 213

Mazda RX7

1 Race since total rebuild. Car has dual brake boosters with incar adjusters and Foam Cell Fuel Tank.

J New Autometer Instruments, Cobra j seat, and Data Logger with Digital j Dash. Extensive spares package ! including Engine, Gearboxes, i Wheels, Guards, Brakes/Pads. i Tandem trailer (optional). Cams I Logbook. Data/Setup supplied. ' $22,500 ONO. Allan 0418 276 945 or (AH) (02) 6621 2512 243

www.myl05.com/57784

nn '■ T

1

V8 SUPERCAR, vs Perkins built, ready to race, Perkins Chev PE 151, all long distance gear fitted, spares, wheels, tyres, etc, very tidy car, all this for just $60,000 Lawson 0417 778 188.

243 www.myl 05.com/60808

fe ^ M-

r.

PORSCHE 944 CHALLENGE, This is the current series winning 944 Porsche, holding a number of lap records. All the best parts, bilsteins, coil overs, fresh engine and gearbox, secure the car now by deposit and take delivery after the final round of Vic state chamlonships. $43,000 Call Brendan on 0419 818 788 242 www.my105.com/43071

1 r

Mazda RX3 Improved Production Car, car #77 2nd outright 2001VMRC 100% finishing record, 13B Bridgeport 5 speed, 4.4 diff & new brakes. Heaps of spares. Fast reliable competitive car, ready to race, Phillip Island 1.50, WInton 1.36, Calder 65 $10,000 with spares. $10,000 Neg. Paul 0408 550 677 or 03 r 9729 1496 242 www.my105.com/22171

jr iri: i\ ■'

Porsche GT3, Perfectly maintained by PCM, Approximately $25,000 worth of spares available. Ready for Race / Rally / Road, Structured financing available. $210,000 Neg. Dean 0418 507 403 242 www.mv105.com/7289

Datsun 1000, Very fast and light oar, Queensland Raceway lap record, 55.7 Lakeside, Microtech fuel injected. Microtech dash, many components, carbon fibre filter mount and) mirrors, koni shocks, has had many wins and top 3 finishes, includes traitor to suit, ugent sale, will trade for formula ford. $12,000 ONO. Gary 07 4635 0272 or 0417 703 649 242www.my105.com/88159

Mazda MX5, Finished 3rd in class for Production Sports Cars 2001 and 4th out right in the 1 Hour endurence race. Lap times; Eastern Creek: 1m 50- Oran Park: 1m 19- Wakefield: 1m 08- Winton: 1m 36Queensland Raceway (Clubman): 1m 04.

Currently 3rd in the 2002 Prod Sports Drivers championship. Easily converted to GTP specification. Trailer also available. $18,000. Zane 0414 402 410. 242 www.myl 05.com/17035

Flat Spyder Convertible 73, Professional restoration, bare metal respray, rebuilt 1800 HC -engine, new steering, brake and suspension, transmission components, dashboard timber and crash pad, console original carpets and upholstery, campagnola wheels, new windscreen, door mbbers and vinyl top, delightful to drive, attractive Italian classic, collectable investment. $21,750. Justin 0407 002 726 242 www.my105.com/4755

Ci ■3P

MK2 CORTINA Sports Sedan, Winner of 1999 and 2000 NSW Hillclimb Championships, microtech computer, fresh rebuilt engine, ultra reliable, log book, well sorted and maintained, heaps of spares, ready to race, complete with dual axle tilt trailer. $11,500 Neg. Glenn 0410 529 701 243 www.my105.com/39079

!

.f.

Saloon Car, Only raced two meetings, fast reliable car, some spares, urgent sale. $25,000 ONO. Troy (07) 3209 8755. 243 www.my105.com/42401

Honda Prelude Sports Sedan, Australia's Fastest 2Lt Sports Sedan, Full Space Frame Construction - 770Kg, Nissan SR20 Super Touring Engine, Hilux Roar LSD, Willwood Brakes, Motec, All Lap Records At Willowbank and Morgan Park, Wiilowbank National CCT 1-15-2, Spares Include Engine, G/Box's, Diffs, Moulds. $40,000 Includes Trailer. David 0408 720 560 243 www.my105.com/40279

HONDA CRX, ZC Twin Cam 1600cc, 5speed, A032 Yohohamas, Lakeside 62,8.

243 $7,500.

0412 578 474 www.my105.com/4547

Nascar Oldsmoblle Rolling Chassis, With T-10 gearbox, only needs fuel cell and motor, spares available, including wheels, parts, etc. $10,000 ONO, Graham (03) 9898 8202 or 0418 344 067 242 www.myl05.com/39638 FORD EA SALOON CAR, No expense spared ready to race. $22,000. 242 www.my105.com/85910

Porsche 944 Turbo, Sspeed LH drive, ideal race car project or convert for australlan compliance. $10,500. 0412 578 474, 243 www.my105.com/82497

16 October 2002

mi

Nascar Oldsmoblle, 23 degree engine, T10 gearbox, set up for road course, top five car, comes with spares. $30,000 ONO. Graham (03) 9898 8202 / 0418 344 067.

242 www.my105.com/26836

Escort Mkll 2 Door Rolling Shell, Feb. 76, 3/3J log booked with 11 point alloy cage, very good standard shell with no modifications, never raced, various spares Included, call Simon for any other details, $1900 ONO. (03) 9500 9073 or 0403 179 073 242 www.my105.com/52670

95

Ford Cortina MK1, Lotus block and rods.

105e head, twin 45mm webers. log book, fresh engine, ready to go. Plenty of potential, must sell to make way for new project. $8,850 ONO. Leo 0410 474 238.

241 www.my105.com/92180

Open Wheelers AU XR 8 Future Tourer Team for sale. Not a tired, worn out AUSCAR. New AU XR8 built from bare shell, new engine, big horsepower, air jacks, all harrop suspension, heaps of spares. Mitsubishi truck, 6 cyl, turbo diesel, dual cab, 30 ft pan. Plus EF falcon AUSCAR as a promotional car. This is a genuine "clean the shed deal" $160,000 Neg, Tony 08 8250 1903 242 www.my105.com/48094 XE 351 Street Sedan and Transporter, Immaculate XE351 4 speed Street Sedan, steel bond cage, ground up rebuild, 4 meetings old, 52.0 Oran Park South 1st outing, full spares, motor and gearbox just refreshed, price includes immaculate restored classic 1966 F350 transporter, selling due to health, many thousands spent. $35,000 including F350 Transporter Or Best Offer. 0404 074 842 242 www.myl05.com/76135

Mazda RX7 Series 7, Ready for GTP or eligible for Bathurst 24hr { no data loga fitted) comes with a package of spare parts. Chrome Molly cage, MoTeC M4 Pro. $45,000 ONO. Paul (02) 4877 1677. 241 www.my105.com/24864

uj.O)rub ){

2000 Aussie Car winner Commodore Ute, 23 Point cage, 300+HP V6, Proflex suspension, fully equipped, recently rebuilt.

Ready to race and meticulously maintained. Spares package negotiable. $26,000. Paul 0412 259 207 241 www.myl 05.com/5081 0

Nissan GTR V-Spec N1, Vehicle is ready for Targa Tasmania, Rally Tasmania, and other circuit events. 2 intercoolers, 4 turbos, N1 disc rotors. Engine just been freshened up and yet to be un in. Has not competed in any events since the engine been back together. S75.000 ONO. Lee 0418 145 111 241 www.my105.com/62981

March 77B, Available now as top-line Hillclimber and suitable for Historic restoration. Supercharged Cosworth 2 Litre.

Trailer, loads of spares and all information.

Immediate sale, make me an offer, everything must go. Trade and terms considered. Best offer. Peter 02 9873 1773.

243 WWW.1 05.com/81 256

Complete Package Supercar & Transporter, Ex Valvoline, Scania, 41ft anex & lighting , Sleeper cab. Roller ramps & winch. Chrome Rims, Vic Lie. V8 Supercar, Benson Motor, Motec Dash, Ohiin Shocks by 4, VT- Uprights, Setups Endurance & Sprint rounds. Lots of good spares, $135,000 Neg. Gary 08 9397 0317 0419 935 107 241 www.my105.com/90299

Formula Ford - Van DIemon RF98, Immaculate car, meticulously maintained & prepared by Michael Ritter ready to race. Ex Greg Rltter/Alex Davison 1998, 99, 2000 & 2001 Nat Championship pole sitter & race winner. 2002 Vic Champs race winner & top piacegetter in Nat Champs, best available, CA/V Circuit set up, Motec logger, Koni shocks & much more. $39,500 ONO. Enclosed tandem trailer 12mths old, $5,000 ono.

Tony 0417 355 433 243 www. 105.com/88054

CELICA GT4 GRP A TARGA CAR, Run 3 Targa Tasmania's. Prior to these events it's had engine and gearbox rebuilds, new springs/struts, brakes. Three sets wneels, tyres. Terratrip, Temaphone, 6 point, Momo seats great car. Need garage space for new car. $25,000 Neg. David 0411 747 821 241 www.my10 5.com/58809 Torana Sports Sedan LJ, Modified P76 V8 powered, borg wamer transmission and dtff, 4 wheel disc brakes, 16 x 10 wheels, spares include engine, gearbox diff, panels wheels.

Oran park 2001 enduro piacegetter, reliable simple car. $11000 ONO, trailer to suit available $2000 Kevin 0417 405 590 24i www.my105.com/8075

□ Parts □ Engines □ Trailers

□ Speedway

□ Wanted aPhotogiaphs

SUPERKART ZIP EAGLE 250 NATIONAL. Rotax 250 cc single Very reliable and fast.

Fully rebuilt Jan 2002 Comprehensive Spares Barbagallo long circuit 62.6 seconds $6500 ONO. Spare Engine, Rotax 250 cc Single, Fully rebuilt, Includes pipe, IgniUon, carburettor, spares. $2950 ONO David (08) 9298 8501(AH) 241 www.105.com/98380

D Brag □Oilier

2Ltr Formula Ubre Hlllclimb Car, motor with all good gear, centrifugal clutch, Falacon rods, Wisecos, Cams, etc. Microtech computer controlled alcohol injection, 1st in class + 2nd outright NSW HCC this year with 7 hiildimb class records, comes with freshly rebuilt .engine, new tyres and seat belts, spare noses, moulds, wing and stays, dies, and much more. $14,900 ONO. Tom (02) 9606 9181 or 0407 167 397 242Www.105.com/33664 MANTIS AF2, A well presented car with many spares including two extra engines. $29,500 Or Best Offer. Tom on (02) 9588 www.105.com/49011 9443 242

ELFIN 630B FORMULA ATLANTIC, Fresh Cosworth BDD ,FT200GB. completely race ready. Complete with trailer and spares, must sell. $45,000 ONO. Jon 0419 777 229 241 www.105.com/30123

1

onirne classifi«eds Category: □ Sedans □ Open Wheelers

HISTORIC MARCH 73B, Arguably the most successful group Q car. Fresh BDD Cosworth engine and Hewland FT200 gearbox. Significant early UK history. Many local lap records and wins. Spares include extra chassis and engine - will separate.

Price depends on package. Richard Carter 02 9999 3606. 243 www.105.com/20217

□ Jobs

Description; Please keepads tone morettian 50 words, plusupl0"€ photos if desired.

Formula 3, 398 Dallara TOMS Toyota, very competitive Level 1 car, Motec dash and ecu, professionally maintained, set-up data supplied, large spares package also available, $80,000. Mike 0403 046 403. 243 www. 105. com/731 72

THEwaytosell your gear!

From lust$25’justiog on (*$25 applies to ads entered directly onto myl05.com) Advertising can also be supplied using thisform (SI0/$15 surchage to text only/text -f pic advertisements) Advertisements will appear in next possible issue of Molorsport liews PLUS themy105.co;i. websiteforsixmonths. i enclose cheque/money order for $35 (text only) / $40 (text plus up to six pictures) made out to myl 05.com, or please charge my □ Amex □ Bankcard □ Visa or □ Mastercard for the amount of $35 (words only) / $40 (words and pic).

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molorsport news

1

MARKET PLACE

I Tiga FA 83 Repco-Brabham, Ex Alf Costanzo Porsche Cars, Winner 1985 AGP Formula Pacific support Race in Adelaide, Winner 1993 & 1997 Australian Hill Climb Championships plus numerous State Championships and outright track records, Ex Formula 1, Aluminium Konis, DG 300 gearbox, Salisbury 70/30 LSD, triple plate clutch, many spares including 3 sets wheels, suspension, springs, uprights, engine parts, body, gear ratios etc. Complete & very unique package. Awesome potential for Hillclimbing, Possibly eligible for Historic racing, All assistance given to new owner. PDA. Roger 0409 363 242. 240 www.105.com/8525

Blue printed KT100S YAMAHA, KT100 S clubman motor, blue printed by J&A Tuning v/good engine raced once since iast rebuild, C/W carby and headers. $1,400 240 www.myl05.eom/7064

UNICHIP, Increase your Horsepower by this add on Chip. This chip was used in Safari once only, Repacement cost $550+. $375 ONO. Russell 03 9579 2166 / 03 9836 7331. 241 www.my105.com/27963

Raschella Racing, 496 JP1- 5/8 Velasco crank, Brooks rods, K motion springs.

Titanium retainers, crane roller cam and lifters. Donovan gear drive, Hansen heads, 14:71 Littlefield blower, Bird injector, 990 pump, single plug, spares eight Venolia pistons, four new BRC pistons. Two sets rods twelve runs old. Spare roller cam, rings, bearings, gaskets and rockers. $28,000 Neg. Nick 0417 848 743. 240 www.myl05.com/9723

Koni Aluminium Racing Shocks, f8212 Special D . 4 off 350mm/240mm. Good order, checked by Koni, Suit Historic racing cars and others. Best offer over $2000.00 for the set. Peter 02 9873 1773. 241 www.myl OS.com/94409

Sprlntcar Engine, Chev l/w alloy block , Brodix 18o heads, Kinsler injector, Moroso alloy sump and oiler r/covers, JE pistons, jesel rockers, alloy Summers Bros gear drive, complete with pwr radiator, extractors and mufflers, DSR fuel pump and fuel system, new alloy universal, 20 shows fromnew, just been freshened $36,000 0410 493 242 or 03 9728 4839. $1,400 242 www.my105.com/52492

Transporters/Traiiers

For Lease

' l "f :

Super Sedan AU Falcon, 2001 John Brown chassis, has done one race meeting as new, fresh engine, dry sump, 365cc Ford, Willwood brakes, AFCO front end, aluminium radiator, Charlyn power head, Burt box, open axle, quick change, aluminium wheels, sell complete or as a roller. PDA. 0419 989 010 or (02) 4730 3440. 243 www.myl05.com/85436

Engines Holden 202 Blue Motor, Knife edged, balanced crank .01 inch brgs. $350 Holden 202 short motor ex-supercharged speedway race motor $750, 202 billet camshaft, Bruce (03)5422 1942 or(03)5422 7037, 243 www.myl05.com/89493 Honda, Nissan & Mazda Engines, Honda S2000 motor & 5speed no computer 19000klm $7500. Nissan FJ20 turbo & 5 speed computer, airflow meter & harness $1750, Mazda Rotary 13b turbo series5 0412 578 474.

243 $1500. www.myl05.com/4775 Super Touring Engine and Parts, Engine 2lt Super Touring Engine for sale $17,000, Tilton clutch plates 7/8x20 spline $199, Dunlop camber gauge $200, Intercomp scales trolley alloy ramps $2800. David 0418 794240. 243 www.my105.com/64B8 Nascar 23 Degree Engine, Just been rebuilt, roller cam, new top end, valve train, etc, around 600HP. $25,000 ONO. Graham (03) 9898 8202 or 0418 344 067 242 www.myl05.com/53737

16 October 2002

Hewland Mk 9'gear ratios, Mk 9 gear ratios 18-34,19-32, 20-30, 20-31, 20-32, 21-29, 2228, 23-27, 23-28, 24-27, 25-27, 25-26, 24-24, $125-00 each. Quick lift jack to suit historic open wheeler $ 150. 03 5443 5720, 0419 371 289. 241 www.my105.com/18785

*

Speedway

Super Sedan, Rayburn Chassis, Camaro Body, Willwood Pedals, Speedway engineering Diff and rack. Sweet power steering and ram, Muncie box, 2 radiators, triple plate AP clutch, Spare rims, tyres and panels, 180 deg headers, flowmaster exhaust. Complete roller minus engine and fuel tank. $5,500 ONO. Pete 0749 822 061 or 0409 321 401 243 www.myl05.com/81914

Hlllclimb Wings and Hlllclimb Tyres, Pilbeam MP62/82 rear wing twosetsof flap arrangements. Support bracket and end plates Included, Aluminium 1400 mm, , P.Gumley-made carbon libre/aluminium front set with double flaps 1500mm, Best/offer over $2,000 for pair. Avon 9.0x20.0x13 A40 compound and 13x.24,4x13A39. Two complete carsets, less than 12 months, little use. Best offer. Peter 02 9873 1773. 24i www.my105.com/81944

86 Isuzu FVR rigid cab. Takes up to 4 open-wheelers plus equipment, belly lockers, new awning, long rego, reliable vehicle. $26,000. Mike 0403 046 403. 243 www.myl05.com/36345 Coach Transporter, 38ft mid mount 250HP turbo Volvo 4 speed, pre select gearbox, air brakes, exhaust brake, tables tyres, alloy tailgate and ramp tyre rack, electric winch, front selection, loung and fridge, rego. $23,000 ONO. 0419 989 010 or (02) 4730 3443.

243 www.myl05.eom/20346 Fully enclosed trailer, Tri-axle 26’ long with kitchen and power outlets, water tanks, new tyres and spare and annexe. $10,800.

0438 128 287. 243www.my105.com/20285 1972 Ford Bus, 6cyl Turbo Diesel, P/steering, rear entrance for car, seats 8, double bunks, storage area. $9,800 ONO. Ray 02 43 334 070 or 0408 246 032 243 www.my105.com/9599

*8 -J

Lotus Exige For Lease, This car is available for lease for the entire 2003 season. Price Neg. Chris 0411 571 222. 242 www.my105.com/78417

Formula J1600 dally or weekly Hire, Formula J 1600 open wheel racing car Japan spec series car.Available for Lap dashes. Club days, Hillclimbs, Sprints, Etc. Neg. Ted 0412 288 060 242 www.myl05.com/981

Other

I

Pit gear for sale, Raytey temp gun $350, Go jacks $285, Five Motorola GP300 radios five spare battery’s two chargers (one six piece) two Uniden scanners one in car kit four head sets $4750, Dorian timer $300, Three Suntec %drive rattle guns 700ft $600, Snap On torque multiplier $750, Five Harris high flow regulators $1200. David 0418 794 240.

243 www.my105.com/61464

Wanted Lotus Twin Cam Cylinder Head, DCOE 45 Weber carbs, Hewland Mk 5/6 g'box complete with pawl diff etc. John 0415 621 898.

243 www.my105.com/21503 4 X YOKOHAMA A032R 205/60x15, tyres (or similar), suitable for club level hillclimbs etc. Rodney 02 6332 4072. 24i www.my105.com/88254 TRAILER WANTED, Lightweight single axle Trailer to suit historic rear engine openwheel racing car. Car weighs only 450kg and need internal dimensions 14’ x 6'.

Require some cover so can be fully enclosed or at least weather-proof. Please call (02)9949 3996 home or(02)9499 3911 work.

241 www.my105.com/37982

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OPINION

motorsport EDITORIAl STAFF Editor: Phil Branagan »editor@mnews.com.au Assistant Editor: Aaron Noonan » noonz@mnews.com.au Staff Journalist: Mark Glendenning l mark@mnews.com.au

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ADVFRTISINB Advertising Manager: Brendon Sheridan l ads@mnews.com.au

ADMINISTRATION Managing Director: Chris Lambden " publisher@mnews.com.au

CONTACTS 357 Nepean Highway, Brighton East Vic 3187 (PO Box 7072, Gardenvale, ViC 3186) Ph: 03 9596 5555 Fax: 03 9596 5030 Email: mnews@mnews.com.au

CONTRIDUTORS FI: Joe Saward, Adam Cooper Europe; Quentin Spurring, Gary Watkins, David Addison US: Phil Morris, Martin D. Clark Speedway: Brett Swanson, Julie Pearce, Geoff Rounds, Wade Aunger, Tony Millard (UK), Greg Boscato Rally: Jon Thomson Histories: Brian Reed Drag Racing: Greg Ward, Jon Asher (USA), Dave Ostaszewski (USA), Nick Nicholas, Steven White, Ken Ferguson National: Mark Wicks, Sean Henshelwood, Erin McCowatt, Mark Jones Photographers: Sutton Motorsport Images, Dirk Kiynsmith, Bothwell Photographic, Marshall Cass, Nigel Snowdon & Diana Burnett, AF1 Images, Neil Hammond, Slipstream Photographic, Phil Williams, Allsport, John Morris/Mpix, Frank Midgley, Peter Bury, Mike Patrick (UK), Chris Carter, James Smith, Paris Charles, Bob Potts Cartoonist: Allan Schofield Motorsport News is published by Australasian Motorsport News - ABN 55 125 120 702 Publisher: C Lambden Printed by: Offset Alpine Printing Pty Ltd, Lidcombe, NSW. Distributed by: NDD Ltd Material published by MOTORSPORT NEWS is copyright and may not be reproduced in full or in part without the written permission of the publisher. Freelance contributions are welcome, and while all care will be taken, Australasian Motorsport News does not accept responsibility for damage or loss of material submitted. ●Opinions expressed in Motorsport News are not necessarily those of Australasian Motorsport News or its staff.

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Post your cheque/money order to the address above, fax your credit card details (Bankcard, VISA, Mastercard, o_r Amex) to 03 9596 5030 or email to mnews@mnews.com.au

98

His viewing displeasure While I appreciate Channel Ten’s effort with TV coverage of the V8s, must we watch three minutes of ads, followed by the old ‘TODAY’S V8 TELECAST IS BROUGHT TO YOU BYYADDAYADDA YADDA? If that is not enough, we got their long-winded spiel about old cars and old drivers, taking us away from even more viewing. It took about three laps to show the #600 car spin!

Also, Ten’s coverage was missing Barry Sheene more than ever at Bathurst.

Matthew White stated after about two laps that DJR car #18 driven by Ritter had dropped seven places from its starting position of seventh, when Blind Freddie could have seen that the car started from 15th grid position.

(I am guessing he was penalised for an infringement after an exceptional qualifying and shootout).

Then ‘The Rat’ hit Steve Ellery, who was obviously slowing mid corner after a half-lose, and was crucified by the Ten crew.

Do the Ten telecast team watch the same shots we watch, or do they stay transfixed upon the plethora of ads and other crap they waste our viewing time upon?

Hurry back Baz.Win, lose, draw, well done Brocky, hard luck Rat and Junior, and go the Fords.

Thanks Motorsport News.

Mike Routledge mikerl0@bigpond.com

A (long) list of demands On behalf of long-time fans of Touring Car racing in this Country, here’s what we want: 1. We want to know why the Safety Car doesn’t pick up the next car (eg P2) when the leader pits.

Why did they pick up Besnard’s car, effectively putting them a full lap down?

2. To Channel 10. We want to see as much racing as possible. We don’t want a short story on the XUl or the GTHO Phase 3 when going to commercial. Show us more racing.

3. When going to commercials, show us the full race positions.

Many of us were interested in Brock’s return, and it would be nice to see where he (and everyone else!) was running when going to a break. They could use the time wasted on their little infomercial to show us the full field.

4. We want to see Kim Jones say it as he sees it, without having to dance around the topic like a football coach in case he offends anyone.

The ones blowing these crucial

converter Sentj us your thoughts: mail: PO Box 7072, Gardenvale, VIC 3186 fax: 03 9596 5030 email: mnews@mnews.com.au

decisions are the ones ‘Bringing the Sport into Disrepute’.

5. There is very little point tapping into the team radios during the race if the TV commentators won’t shut up long enough for us to hear what’s being said.

6. Whoever decided to reduce the driver’s names to three initials, and then have different graphics to show you the full names of the drivers and what the initials represent their names, should be beaten and left to cover golf matches.

7. A five minute penalty for Murphy? If it wasn’t for his sponsors, Murf should have just driven to the top of the Mormtain, and parked it. To penalise a competitor over two laps, when he’s sitting second on the road is something I’m certain that even the Ford fans wouldn’t want to see.

Can you image this happening in Formula One? The crowd would have come over the fence and attacked the Race Controller.

Jason Priddle jpriddle@ozemail.com.au

Open letter to Mr Polites Mr Polites, I am a long time Ford supporter having just returned from another trip to Bathurst to

-I"

see Ford have their hutts well and truly kicked once again.

With all the hype at Bathurst about the release of the new BA V8 Supercar, it had better not be just hype. It needs to be a race winner regularly. We have heard this type of hype and been given optimism before without results being delivered.

After five years of virtually no results in the championship, and only two wins out of 10 at Bathurst since the category started, we need results now. We are not happy with an occasional fortunate win as happened at the recent Queensland 500. We want wins on our own merit and on a regular basis.

Ford fans have had an absolute gutful of the bagging that we get from Holden supporters. After the recent Bathurst debacle, we endured ridicule, were laughed at, and even pitied by some for supporting such a loser.

Mr Polites, get out into the crowd and see what we have to put up with. Get out of your corporate facilities and into the public amenities at race tracks around the country.

The walls of these establishments are littered with colourfully written sentiments aimed directly at your company and at us as supporters of your product.

For the s^te of the category, lets hope that the BA and Project Blueprint bring a balance in results in the immediate future.

However for the sanity of all Ford fans, lets hope that the BA dominates for a long time.

Unfortunately, history shows that if this happens changes will be made a lot sooner than has occun-ed with the current imbalance.

We can only hope that the powers to be at Ford would vigorously fight any such move so we can finally achieve some longawaited results.

Paul 'Winter Loxton, SA

L-

A sad end: The Murphy/Kelly Kmart car looked promising throughout the (Photo by Marshall Cass) weekend untii being stung with a vicious penaity.

motorsport news

4

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